Daniel R. Laxer

Daniel R. Laxer was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and received his undergraduate degree in History and Music from the University of Alberta in 2005. After receiving his Master’s degree in Canadian history at York University, he continued on to do his PhD at the University of Toronto, which he received in the Spring of 2015 for his dissertation “Listening to the Fur Trade: Sound, Music, and Dance in Northern North America, 1760-1840.” He has won various accolades and awards including the SOCAN award for best paper in Canadian music in 2011, as well as teaching assistant of the year in the U of T history department in 2013. He is currently revising his dissertation into a book for McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Thursday, April 7, 2016: Social Time 7:00 pm, Business Meeting at 7:30 pm, Speaker at 8:15 pm,  Annette Library, 145 Annette Street, Toronto

Due to unforseen circumstances, author Rona Arato is not available for our March program.

Longtime WTJHS supporter, past president, and general bon-vivant
Gib Goodfellow has stepped in to provide us with a fascinating narrative of his recent wandering in Italy:

Italy: Sites You Nave Not Seen, Stories You Have Not Heard

“At the hotel pool in Katmandu I overheard the tour organizer bragging that he had been to Italy a dozen times but his next trip would include all the things he had not done.  Sure enough. We landed in Rome and took off immediately for Sorrento where we had two nights.  We drove right past Pompeii on our way to Herculaneum, the city buried in ash which preserved both wood and decorations.  We spent some time on the Amalfi Coast but did not make it to the Isle of Capri because our leader had been there.  We had the best meal of the trip at a farm in the Sila Mountains in Calabria.  The network of tunnels and aerial-highways are feats of engineering.

“We took a ferry to Sicily where we stayed in Taormina, Agrigento, and Palermo to visit Mt. Etna, the Greek sites at Syracuse, the Roman hunting lodge at Casale, and the Valley of the Temples.  Then on to Sardinia where we spent four nights with days full of sightseeing including fortified dwellings and stone towers built before the Phoenicians arrived. The spectacular Emerald Coast offered wonderful vistas.  At Alghero I experienced the most beautiful swim of my life.

“We had our second overnight crossing, disembarking at Genoa, Italy’s largest port.  After a city tour we drove to the Cinque Terre Region, where Phyllis, a friend and I walked through 12 kilometers of vinyards between the five villages which cling to the cliffs.  In Tuscany we explored the walled medieval centre of Lucca and walled village of San Gimignano on a mountainside.  Enroute to San Gimignano we drove by the leaning tower of Pisa.  The leader had not intended originally to stop but there was a vote taken and the bus made a U-turn.  We had a one day tour of Rome and another day to explore Rome on our own.  The finale and one of the highlights was a trip to Villa d’Este with its 200 fountains in Tivoli.”

Thursday, March 3, 2016: Business Meeting at 7:30 pm, Speaker at 8:15 pm,  Annette Library, 145 Annette Street, Toronto

Author and  Novelist Ken Leland

Ken Leland will be talking about and reading passages from his historical novel, 1812 The Land Between Flowing Waters. The novel is set on the Niagara and Detroit River frontiers during the War of 1812. After escaping to Upper Canada, the Benjamins found freedom from slavery. With their white neighbours and friends, the Lockwoods, both families must defend a new homeland from impending American invasion. These families are Loyalists, living near Niagara Falls. The Babcocks are pacifist Quakers, yet they too are threatened by the coming onslaught. For Kshiwe, Kmonokwe and their children, 1812 is just another season of fear among First Nations. This Neshnabek family lives many days travel to the west, in a place settlers call Indiana. In the shadows of Brock and Tecumseh, all join in the struggle to endure.

Ken Leland is the winner of the 2015 Carleton University, Creative Writing award for his short story “Meant For This World.” see this link.

Samples from Leland’s novel, historical background for each chapter and published short stories can be found on his website:  www.kenlelandauthor.com 

Thursday, February 4, 2016: Business Meeting at 7:30 pm, Speaker at 8:15 pm,  Annette Library, 145 Annette Street, Toronto