An Apple a Day?

Interesting entrepreneurial combination…an apple researcher who is allergic to apples, a sommelier & wine-maker, a chemistry PhD, a food & drink industry expert --- and the fabulous orchards of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley!   

Read more about Annapolis Cider Company ….and if you are in Wolfville, check out the cidery and tasting bar on Main Street!

 

On the water front

Tina Pittaway 

A lifelong love of the natural world has led Alex Mifflin (BA’08, Dalhousie) around the world as he explores the world of water in the award-winning television series Water Brothers, now in its third season. The series looks at the paramount role of water in people’s lives, from the slums of Nairobi to the fishing villages along the Mekong River in South East Asia to salmon farms on Canada’s West Coast. And it takes a hard look at the role humans have played in the destruction and manipulation of water over the years.

“At school I studied international development and environmental studies. With the marine sciences courses, the more I took, the more I wanted to take,” Mifflin explains during a break from editing at the family-owned SK Films in Toronto, which his parents founded. Those fields of study were the perfect companions to his brother Tyler’s degree in film studies from UBC. The two co-host and co-direct the series.

Their first foray into filmmaking was a documentary about monarch butterflies and when they completed that, they realized they were great partners and wanted to take a run at a series. They traveled to Cambodia and Belize and shot the pilot to Water Brothers. It was picked up first by TVO and is now carried in more than 40 countries.

“For me this is the dream job. Everything I do is related to international development issues,” Alex explains, sounding like he still can’t believe he gets to do this for a living. “How we use water is directly related to development and often it is the most marginalized that are lacking in clean water and sanitation and most exposed to water pollution.”
Tapping expertise

The kinds of development stories the duo cover focus on sustainability and are a lot more involved than just digging wells. “No Woman, No Water” looks at the impact that not having access to clean water has on women, who are often tasked with gathering water. In Nairobi, the duo profiled a community group who manage a local water station and toilet system funded primarily by Canadian donors.

“We spoke with women who had never had stable employment before and now they did,” says Alex. “They managed the project, which was not a charity, fees are charged. For them it is sustainable employment. And that’s one thing I learned in school: the world doesn’t need charity, the world needs sustainable economies.”

For Alex, seeing the theories that he learned about at Dalhousie play out in real-world projects is something he feels privileged to be able to share with a wide audience. As well, he’s tapped into Dal experts, including Boris Worm (right, Biology professor) and Chris Harvey-Clark (marine biologist and university veterinarian) for an episode about tracking shark and sea turtle migration near Costa Rica. As well, Sue Malloy (researcher, adjunct professor and consulting engineer in ocean engineering) advised on an episode about tidal energy.


To see for yourself, visit thewaterbrothers.ca.

This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of Dalhousie Magazine.  Reprinted with permission.

East Coast Fashion: Amanda & Laura’s Story

       Amanda Kincaid

       Amanda Kincaid

Another fashion story -- this time from Halifax where fashionistas Amanda Kincaid and Laura Corkum have launched Nova Fashion Incubator!    Their goal?   To provide co-operative space, equipment, expertise, ideas, and inspiring support to emerging east coast fashion design talent!  

As Amanda and Laura told Bill Powers:

        Laura Corkum

        Laura Corkum

“…there is a ready market for an incubator in the region, with about 30 people graduating annually from programs like the Centre for Arts and Technology’s fashion design and merchandising program, Dalhousie University’s costume studies program, and the University of New Brunswick’s craft and textile program.

Learn more about the Nova Fashion Incubator here.

Kay Bye: Ottawa Comic Moves to L.A. to Further Career

By Annette Dawm, WorkStory Ambassador

Graham Kay is a stand up comedian, an actor and a television writer! All three of his jobs sound amazing, but the one that Kay prefers most is his role as a comedian. According to Graham, “it's a combination of everything and I get to be the director and editor. Saying what you want and how you want is an amazing experience in artistic freedom.”  The artistic freedom is what he loves most, along with the hours that he works: “Being my own boss and setting my own schedule is great. Also, making people laugh is OK too. It feels good.” Graham has made people laugh with a variety of subjects, both at live shows and on his album, Comedy by the Graham (available on iTunes). Topics range from haircuts to the Canadian Healthcare system, as well as what it was like to live with dial-up internet. (No, he didn’t like that sound either.)

At the time this article was written, Graham was preparing to move to Los Angeles, California to further his career. In anticipation of the move, he said that he was most looking forward to “a bigger stage, more opportunity [and] being challenged and inspired by a bigger pool of comedians.” He was also a part of his own going-away-party style comedy show called “Kay Bye”. Other comics who were part of the send-off included, Alex Nussbaum, Dylan Gott, Matt O’Brien and more.  

A lot of things have led up to Graham’s big move. Most recently, Kay worked as a writer for CTV’s comedy series, Spun Out which stars Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame. Graham said that his favourite part of this experience was working with his super talented friends. Among the many writers for the show are Sara Hennessy and Match Game host, Darrin Rose, who both appeared alongside Graham on Much Music’s Video On Trial.

However, Kay’s path to stand up comedy had to start somewhere:I started doing comedy seriously when I was 25, after 5 years of wishing I did it and doing the odd open mic once a year.” He waited tables and managed to save $10 000, which allowed him to quit his job.

Afterwards, he said, “[I] spent 3 months concentrating on starting my amateur comedy career. I eventually had to get another job, but I had worked out a system and figured out what kind of schedule I would need to continue. After 4 years of that, I was eventually a full-time comic and was able to quit my last day job. The rest is a slightly less than boring history.”

The Ottawa native attended Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, however he advises aspiring comics to not take a class specifically designed for comedy: “You will meet people just like you and at the same level if you go to open mics.” Kay returned to Nova Scotia to appear on The Halifax Comedy Festival stage where he spoke about his real-life experiences, including the time he broke both arms at once!

 To keep up with Graham in L.A. (and to see old photos of his broken arms) you can follow him on Twitter @GrahamKayComedy and visit his website. All the best to Graham on his new adventure!

Rising Star

By Joanne Ward-Jerrett 

Iain MacNeil (BMus’13) thought he’d become a music teacher. And then he discovered opera.

At 19, Iain MacNeil (BMus’13) came to Dalhousie intending to train as a music teacher. Instead, opera found him and set him on an exciting new trajectory. “I grew up around music,” says the Brockville, Ontario native, who started piano at age five and quickly moved on to musical theatre, capturing the lead role in a community production of Oliver! when he was 12 years old. “Everyone in my family—even my grandparents—is into music, be it listening to old favourites like John Denver, or making music themselves, singing and playing piano or guitar.”

Encouraged by his high school music teacher and mentor, Judy Quick, MacNeil set his sights on Dalhousie, imagining that he would fit right into the local music scene at this cool, seaside university. “Judy was such a great influence,” he says. “I wanted to be a music teacher just like her. And she thought I’d like Halifax.”

 But it didn’t take long for MacNeil’s career plans to change direction, thanks to the attentions of accomplished mezzo-soprano and Dalhousie voice professor Marcia Swanston. “Until I came to Dal, I had no idea that I could sing classical music, or that I had any aptitude for it,” says MacNeil. “Suddenly, I was exploring this whole world of layered and textured music.”

A natural bass-baritone, MacNeil cut his operatic teeth on Mozart, whose music he describes as “both the easiest and most difficult to sing.” Within months, the teenager was singing opera in Italy, an experience that cemented his future career aspirations.

 Now 23, MacNeil has emerged as one of the rising starts of the inter- national opera scene. “In the last year, Iain has enjoyed unprecedented success,” says Dal’s Swanston. “It’s all rather amazing for a young singer just emerging from undergraduate studies.”

 Highlights of that success include being one of only two Canadians invited to take part in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival in Austria; being invited to join the prestigious University of Toronto Opera program (he hadn’t even applied); and touring with Carmen on Tap through the United States with Julie Nesrallah. He is currently proceeding through the rounds of the New York Metropolitan Opera competition in the United States and has just been named to the Canadian Opera Companys Ensemble Studio, Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals. “Iain actually came third in the Canadian Opera Ensemble Competition,” says Swanston. “He is the second of only two Dal students who have placed in that competition the fall after graduation, so it’s almost unprecedented.”

 For all his successes, MacNeil is surprisingly grounded. “It’s dangerous to let the music business dictate your life,” he says. “Music and performing demand a lot of emotional energy, so I’m trying to enjoy it; to take the highs and the lows and stay balanced.”

 Reprinted with permission from Dal Magazine, the Dalhousie University alumni publication. To read Dal Magazine, click here