“One colleague, as I introduced myself to a new Registry employee who asked “and what do you do here?” interrupted to say “you don’t ask Alvin Finkel what he does at Athabasca University. Alvin Finkel IS Athabasca University.”

He then began to detail key points of his career at AU. He was the first historian hired by Athabasca University, the eleventh professor overall, and he developed many of the history department’s offered courses, many of which are still taught to this day. Throughout his career, Dr. Finkel was afforded opportunities to co-author and author textbooks, where he found great success. Dr. Finkel estimates to have sold 150,000 copies of his textbooks.

When asked to describe himself in the context of his career, Dr. Finkel said “Activist Scholar”, noting that his work has been more focused on the ordinary peoples, not the “big cheese guys” and has always been politically involved to an extent as a result. In this interview, when asked how to refer to him, he said “just call me Alvin.”

Living History: Alvin Finkel’s Early Life and Influences

Raised in an immigrant family in Manitoba, Alvin’s parents and grandparents fled Eastern Europe from areas which were once parts of Poland and Russia, now within Ukraine’s modern borders, to escape the Holocaust. Alvin added that the communities that his family came from had all perished at the hands of Nazis, including his father’s whole village and the Jewish community within the city his mother was born in.

Poverty was a major influence on Alvin’s childhood.  Although the war ended, religious discrimination against Jews didn’t. Alvin’s father struggled greatly to break into fields paying good wages due to religious discrimination (something Alvin noted, that Catholics within Winnipeg also faced at the time). However, after a union was formed, Alvin’s father began making a fair wage and his family’s quality of life improved vastly.  Alvin explained that the living history of his family was what got him started on his path as a historian.

300,000 Years In The Making: Alvin Finkel’s Latest Work

Adages such as “knowledge is sacred” and “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” often overlook the many barriers to learning that the average person faces, such as jargon needlessly complicating academic literature (amongst others). In Alvin’s latest publication, Humans: The 300,000 Struggle for Equality, he took care to create “jargon-free scholarly material”—similar to a textbook, but much easier to understand. When asked about the ideal reader, he replied that his ideal reader is a person with some education and would like to have a big picture of where humanity came from and where we can go.

A worth-while effort, both contributing to the sum of human knowledge and also garnering acclaim, Dr. Finkel’s novel has been very well-received: it was named one of Indigo’s 2024 Best Books of the Year, despite being released in mid-September. Touted as an exploration of global history within a positive lens, many readers, myself included, view Humans: The 300,000 Struggle for Equality as a refreshing breath of positivity in a turbulent economic and geopolitical climate.

Humans: The 300,000 Struggle for Equality is available for purchase online and in-person at Indigo-brand bookstores throughout Canada, many Edmonton-area independent bookstores. It can also be purchased on Amazon as an e-book or physical copy.

Dr. Alvin Finkel will be speaking about his life experiences and his novel in further detail with the AUSU Speak Series on January 21st from 5pm to 7pm MST.

Nexus: A Review

On my initial listen, I was charmed and confused by the single—in a good way.  I could feel a lot of creative expression and artistry throughout the track, but I wanted to know why.  Craving a more definitive understanding, I listened to the track a few more times, carefully trying to decipher meaning from its bars.  Discordant instrumentals paired with beautiful vocal lines, cryptic lyrics with varying levels of articulation.  Some vocal lines sound like a siren, beautiful with unclear intents, while others are so clear, full. and easily understood.  Darker and mysterious tones give way to more light, hopeful phases.  These stylistic choices read like an internal battle the singer faces, further supported by the motif of angels and frequent references to truth and lies.  The structure of the song is quite unique– in pop music, the most common forms are AABA and ABABCB.  To translate, A symbolizes the verses, B the chorus and C the bridge.  An example of AABA fork in a pop song is “Apple” by Charli xcx and an example of ABABCB form is Sabrina Carpenter’s hit “Espresso”.  Nexus, however would be more accurately described  as following a pattern of ABABC, omitting the final chorus(es) many songs use to signal their conclusion, leaving the listener to feel as though the song is incomplete or never ending.

Words From The Artist: Speaking With Matangi

When asked for comments Matangi happily provided insights to her song, her artistry and her background.  She explained that “Nexus is about living with OCD and the internal battle it brings.” Matangi elaborated that it personifies intrusive thoughts, “…as an ‘entity’ that tries to take control…” while the singer fights back, with the first half being the entity’s advances and the second half being her fighting back.  Matangi added “My favorite part is the transition where the shift in power happens.  It feels cathartic to me.”

When asked about the creation of Nexus, she confessed that she often doubts herself and won’t release music, so she collaborated with a producer to hold herself accountable to release the finished track, which is now available on Spotify and Youtube.  Matangi also added that she commissioned an artist she met on Instagram for the cover art.

As for upcoming projects, Matangi replied that she’s already working on new music and hopes to release a track in coming months.  She also stated that she’d “…love for Nexus to be part of a larger project, but for now, I’m focused on releasing tracks and seeing which ones resonate with me the most.”

References

Brady, S., Hanenberg, S., Kocur, J., Langolf, L., Moseley, B., Shaffer, K., … Lavengood, M.  (2021).  Introduction to form in popular music.  Retrieved from https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/intro-to-form-in-popular-music/

Songwriting 101: Learn common song structures – 2024.  (n.d.).  Retrieved from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/songwriting-101-learn-common-song-structures