Brielle Thorsen and the Order of the White Rose

On this week’s episode, we chat with Brielle Thorsen, Master of Applied Science Candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the Student Programs and Outreach Assistant, Aboriginal Access to Engineering, and Winner of the  $30,000 Order of the White Rose Scholarship from Polytechnique Montreal.

Polytechnique created the scholarship as a to the victims as well as the wounded, the families, the faculty members, the employees and the students who were forever affected by the Dec. 6^th 1989 Montreal Massacre. White roses have become the symbol of Polytechnique Montréal’s commemorative activities to mark the tragedy.  The 30,000 scholarship is awarded annually by the Polytechnique administration to a woman engineering student who intends to undertake graduate studies in engineering (master’s or PhD) at the institution of her choice, in Canada or elsewhere in the world.

Ms. Thorsen chats with us about her research, her work on Aboriginal Access to Engineering, the scholarship she has won, and the challenges she and other women and Indigenous peoples have faced building careers in STEM disciplines.

After our chat with Ms. Thorsen, around the 18:40 mark, we open a new segment with Nikolas Yuen, Kingston-based vocal artist, actor, and host of CFRC’s jazz program Shed Progressions (Mondays, 11 PM EST).  Nik joins us to chat about MAW: A Community Celebration of Vocal Arts taking place December 12th 2020.

When we think of the vocal arts, we tend to think of singing – the sonically pleasing, broadly accessible, and widely popular sounds that vocalists make. But what about other vocal arts and practices, to which some dedicate themselves with all of the passion and hard work of the most celebrated singers. Are bird calls, auctioneering, ventriloquism, and sound healing somehow the products of a lesser commitment to craft?

The Kingston Frontenac Public Library, King Con, and the Tone Deaf Festival are co-presenting Georgia Webber’s immersive concert series, “MAW,” which will attempt to answer this question and the celebrate the human voice in all its permutations. Often blurring the roles of audience and performer, “MAW: A Community Celebration of the Vocal Arts” brings together an array of vocalists to perform and reflect on their vocal arts. At this Kingston edition of MAW audiences will hear from local artists like Nik Yuen who chats with us here about his vocal arts, his artistic work in the community, and his craft.