The Friends of the University of Alberta present Raise The Bar
with Dr. Ted Bishop

The Social Life of Ink

Ted Bishop will talk about the invention of the ballpoint pen and the resurgence of fountain pens. Dr. Bishop will bring along the materials for making the ink used by Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and the author of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Audience participation! We’ll smash gall nuts with a hammer, grind them with a mortar and pestle, add liquid, and then write with the iron-gall ink using dip pens. Copies of Dr. Bishop’s book “The Social Life of Ink” will be available for purchase.

Blue Chair
9624 – 76 Avenue NW

Tue, Apr 22, 2025

5:00 PM Doors Open
6:00 PM Speaker + Q&A

Ticket includes 1 drink (beer, house wine, non-alcoholic)
Drinks Menu at The Blue Chair Cafe

Ted Bishop is professor emeritus of English literature and film studies at the University of Alberta. Ted has made a career of investigating original texts, poring over stains on paper by some of the greatest minds in literature. He has taught creative nonfiction, book history, and modernist literature.

Ted has written about striding in a fashion show (“Strange Tales from the Catwalk”), sliding in an avalanche (“Sluff!”), and dripping enchiladas on an ebook (“Living with the Kindle”). His shorter nonfiction has appeared in the Globe and Mail and other Canadian newspapers, Enroute, Prairie Fire, Cycle Canada, Alberta Views, and Rider.

His first book, Riding with Rilke, a motorcycle odyssey that combines the sensory seduction of the road with the intellectual rewards of archival research, was a Canadian bestseller and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Ted’s latest book, “The Social Life of Ink” is a rich and imaginative discovery of how ink has shaped culture and why it is here to stay.

Then mixed with water, or vinegar, or beer and then some iron sulfate. The internet has Jane Austen’s ink recipe and extensive explanation of “small beer”, but I digress. The audience learned a new phrase to challenge the Quick brown fox. We all had the opportunity of writing something profound, but some of us just wrote something profound. More than one attendee noted their penmanship was improved with the dip pen.

Thank you to Dr. Ted Bishop, Blue Chair staff for hosting this event and the RTB team. The Friends look forward to our next event in June 2025 – we hope you are able to join us.

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Raise The Bar is a program designed by The Friends of the University of Alberta to provide engaging learning opportunities delivered by U of A researchers in a causal setting – like a bar. We’re raising the bar on the way people consume content!

The Friends of the University of Alberta present Raise The Bar
with Dr. Andrew Derocher

Polar Bears: a cultural and climate icon

Polar bears evolved from a grizzly bear ancestor and moved onto the sea ice to exploit seals as their main prey. This incredibly rich food resource allows the bears to live in an extremely dynamic and challenging environment to which they are superbly adapted. Polar bears are one of the world’s most identifiable species and have been infused in art, history, and culture. Past over exploitation from commercial and sport hunting greatly reduced polar bear abundance across the Arctic but harvest controls and scientific monitoring allowed them to increase. However, climate change has emerged as a new challenge to their long-term persistence.

Tue, 11 Feb 2025
5:00 PM Doors Open
6:00-7:30 PM Speaker + Q&A

Blue Chair
9624 – 76 Avenue NW Edmonton
View on map

BIO
Andrew Derocher has studied polar bears and other Arctic species for over 35 years. Other research species include barren-ground grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, Arctic ground squirrels, Dall sheep, and peregrine falcons. His focus is predominantly in the Arctic but to facilitate graduate student training, he has also established a cougar research project in Alberta. His research has an interdisciplinary approach and he has worked in a diversity of areas including ecology, behaviour, physiology, anatomy, and ecotoxicology. Andrew has worked with a wide variety of specialists and has used polar bears as a model organism. His research has a strong collaborative component with international and national partners. In recent years, Andrew’s research has focused on the effects of climate change on polar bears.

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Raise The Bar is a program designed by The Friends of the University of Alberta to provide engaging learning opportunities delivered by U of A researchers in a causal setting – like a bar. We’re raising the bar on the way people consume content!