Author Archives: Michael K. Barbour

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About Michael K. Barbour

Michael K. Barbour is the Director of Faculty Development and a Professor of Instructional Design for the College of Education and Health Sciences at Touro University California. He has been involved with K-12 online learning in a variety of countries for well over a decade as a researcher, teacher, course designer and administrator. Michael's research focuses on the effective design, delivery and support of K-12 online learning, particularly for students located in rural jurisdictions.

Dieppe, 83 years after the disastrous raid

An item from the Legion Magazine.


Front Lines
Front Lines

Detectorists scavenge the main beach at Dieppe, France. The pickings were slim.

[Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Dieppe, 83 years after the disastrous raid

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

For the purposes of an invasion—or, in this case, a raid—nautical twilight is an opportune time of day just before dawn when the sun is between six and 12 degrees below the horizon. It’s called nautical twilight because the brightest stars can still provide peacetime—and wartime—mariners with points of navigation.

On a typical pre-dawn morning along France’s Alabaster Coast, at Dieppe in particular, it’s often foggy. The twilight is just enough to give inbound vessels a shadowy land reference but, looking out from shore, there’s not much visibility.

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Sacred Canadian Sites of the world wars
The Briefing
The Briefing

Hours after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, this fire-storm cloud developed over the burning city. Author Iain MacGregor explores the Japanese experience of the bombing in his new book The Hiroshima Men. [WIkimedia]

Humanizing the enemy: author shines new perspectives on 1945 bombing of Japan

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

It’s no surprise that the devastation the August 1945 atomic bombs brought to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has continued to be investigated by authors and academics alike. One of those authors, British historian Iain MacGregor, has chosen a surprising way to approach the much-discussed topic in his new book The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It.

The narrative details the decades-long journey toward the detonation as much as the detonation itself. Moreover, instead of focusing solely on the U.S. perspective, MacGregor delivers a groundbreaking exploration of the Japanese experience so often missing from western discourse.

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New grad fellow studies Indigenous cultural renewal on BC’s Pacific coast

A newsletter from a fellow Canadian organization in the Bay Area.


Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

News from Berkeley

• New Hildebrand Fellow Luis Amaya Madrid explores Indigenous cultural resurgence on BC’s Pacific coast

Academic Opportunities

• Nominations needed for ACSUS student awards

External Events

• Silicon Valley Terry Fox Run

• Kim’s Convenience at ACT San Francisco

NEWS FROM BERKELEY

New Hildebrand Fellow Luis Amaya Madrid Explores Indigenous Cultural Resurgence on BC’s Pacific Coast

The Canadian Studies Program is pleased to announce that Luis Amaya Madrid has received our final Edward E. Hildebrand Research Fellowship for Summer 2025.

Luis is a PhD student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Originally from the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, he is particularly interested in thinking about history of Indigeneity on the Pacific coast of North America. The Pacific coast was naturally the last stop of the extractive project of the colonial nation state in Mexico, Canada and the United States, and his work seeks to uncover archives and connections to think about Indigenous cosmologies and lifeways on the Pacific.

Luis’s Hildebrand Fellowship will support his investigation of the ways in which Indigenous art, culture, and stories are being brought into larger conversations about history and identity in Pacific Canada. In his fieldwork in British Columbia, Luis will look at the ways in which Indigenous communities interacted and continued to interact with settler groups along the extractive frontier in British Columbia, ending with current political, artistic, and social movements. During his fellowship, he will visit sites and archives in Vancouver and Victoria.

Luis has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and linguistics from the University of Arizona and a master’s in Latin American and Caribbean studies from the University of Guelph in Ontario, where his research focused on the role of storytelling in marginalized communities of Canada, Latin America, and the United States.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Nominations Needed for ACSUS Student Awards

Deadline: September 1

The Association of Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) is seeking nominees for the following student awards. For further details and submission guidelines, please click on the links below.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Silicon Valley Terry Fox Run

Sun., Sept. 14 | 9:30 am | Palo Alto, CA | Learn more

Honor the legacy of Terry Fox as you follow in his footsteps to raise money for cancer research! Join the Eh Team – Run for Terry, proudly sponsored by the Government of Canada, the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco, and the Digital Moose Lounge. Join with your fellow Bay Area Canadians running, walking, and biking to continue Terry’s efforts of finding a cure for cancer. Darrell Fox, Terry’s brother, will make an appearance as the guest of honor!

Kim’s Convenience at ACT San Francisco

Sept. 18-Oct. 19 | San Francisco, CA | Learn more

The hilarious and heartwarming, award-winning comedy drama that inspired the popular Netflix hit show is coming to SF! This feel-good play about a Korean family-run corner store is an ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children. Playwright Ins Choi, who will also star in the production as the title character, calls Kim’s Convenience his “love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.”

Kim’s Convenience opens at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) Toni Rembe Theater on September 18. Thanks to our friends at the DML, you can click here or use code DML to save 20% on tickets! Limited tickets are available for a special Canada Night performance on Saturday, September 27.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

Website | LinkedIn | Email | Donate

Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley 213 Philosophy Hall #2308 | Berkeley, CA 94720 US

Join us in Honoring 250 Years of the Army Chaplain Corps

An item from the Wreaths Across America organization that may be of interest to members.


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The weather has been perfect here in Maine. I can see blueberry harvesters across the road, indicating that summer will soon wind down and the kids will return to school.

Those of you who are familiar with my monthly messages know that I consider teaching the most important part of our yearlong mission. I also like a good quote to get my point across!

Read my full message here, or keep scrolling to learn more about our year-round mission to Remember, Honor, and Teach.

Sincerely,

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Karen Worcester

Wreaths Across America’s Executive Director

 

Honoring 250 Years of the Army Chaplain Corps

KAREN D HEADSHOT (1)
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.
To honor this milestone, we sat down with Chaplain (Ret.) Karen Diefendorf, an Army veteran with over 33 years of experience in ministry, to learn more about what it means to be a military chaplain, the path to becoming one, and their impact on the lives of soldiers and their families.
 

August Events with Wreaths Across America Radio

Wreaths Across America radio will share stories of service and volunteerism from two events this month!

  • The Military Order of the World Wars National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, August 5 through 10.
  • The Vietnam Veterans of America National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, August 5 through 9.
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You’re Invited: TEACH Webinar

2025 Q3 TEACH WEBINAR

Join us for the third Quarterly Webinar of the 2025 TEACH Program on Tuesday, August 12, at 4PM ET!

We’ll be joined by co-host Mason Farr, Education and Outreach Manager at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum.

 

Featured Merchandise

Show your support of the Wreaths Across America mission with our new Embrodiered Patch Magnet!

Browse all of our memorabilia here, or click on the button below to purchase the magnet.

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Make sure to follow Wreaths Across America official channels on social media for the most up-to-the-minute news on the mission throughout the year:

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Wreaths Across America, PO Box 249, Columbia Falls, ME 04623, United States, 877-385-9504

The summer of ’44: Canadians from Normandy to the Dutch border

An item from the Legion Magazine.


Front Lines
Front Lines

Eighty-one years on, a child frolics in the shadows of the Mulberry harbours deposited along Gold Beach at Arromanches, France, after June 6, 1944. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

The summer of ’44: Canadians from Normandy to the Dutch border

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Eighty-one years after Allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy and launched the campaign to liberate Europe from six years of Nazi tyranny, the history still lives.

The bunkers and fortifications that formed Hitler’s Atlantikwall still cast a weary yet ominous presence over the English Channel. The wind, rain and ominous skies that clouded the beaches on June 6, 1944, still rage. The walls of courtyards, houses and 1,000-year-old churches still bear the scars of WW II battles.

And, of course, the cemeteries are sobering testament to the cost.

The history is not all visual, either.

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Big summer sale on Legion Magazine shop
The Briefing
The Briefing

HMCS Trentonian was sunk by U-1004 on Feb. 22, 1945, near Falmouth, England. Divers have since removed many artifacts from the vessel. [CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum]

Canadian naval historian speaks out about retrieving shipwreck artifacts

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

More than 80 years after HMCS Trentonian sank in U.K. waters resulting in six deaths, a British diver has recovered—or removed—its bell from the wreck site.

Not everyone, suffice it to say, is happy about it.

The Canadian Flower-class corvette, launched in 1943, had an arguably short yet nevertheless storied wartime career, contributing to the 1944 Normandy invasion and additional Allied convoy escort duties before it was torpedoed and sank on Feb. 22, 1945.

Five went down with the ship, a sixth later succumbed to his wounds.

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