LETTERS

MODEST POUND

In the story, "The Alchemist" (Fall '95), it was mentioned that Dick Pound "was not above giving his time at less levels of volunteerism." Your readers should know that one of Mr. Pound's "lesser" achievements was to participate in the creation of the Quebec University Athletics Foundation. As a Founding Governor, he was instrumental in the development of this Foundation, which is dedicated to providing bursaries to high-level university athletes. Close to $1 million has been donated since 1986 and the Foundation has accumulated a capital of $1.5 million. Dick Pound is probably too modest to have mentioned his contribution to your journalist.

HARD TO EXPLAIN

I take exception to the "Quebec and Canada bashing" (Letters, Summer '95). While it's good to hear the medical ban on out-of-province students has been lifted, those letters seem to go further.

Although I'm an anglophone from western Canada, my 15 years spent in Quebec were among my favourite, and I still consider it my "home" even though I'm currently an expatriate. I also don't believe it would vote for separation. Quebec is certainly not the only province where people talk about it! (But then Ottawa bashing is a national pastime for all Canadians.) Surely it's better to reconcile differences than to create a new country in this day and age.

Canada is a very highly respected country among the many nationalities I'm in contact with. People are always asking me: "What's Canada complaining about?" Hard to explain when you're talking to an ex-Yugoslav or an Ethiopian. And the recent UN Human Development Report again rated Canada in first place (i.e., ahead of the United States), based on such criteria as life-expectancy, education and income. It's nice to walk down the street without worrying about being shot at, blown up, or sued.

Can the American health care system really be justified as being better? (Maybe just for the rich.) Can Ontario really claim to be more tolerant of minority rights (where towns declare themselves "unilingually English")?

Quebec's not perfect. Canada's not perfect. But don't throw stones in a glass house.

BELLAIRS AWARDS

Thank you for you article on one of McGill's most exotic outposts, the Bellairs Research Institute, St. James, Barbados (Sun, Sea, and Science, Spring '95). I thought it appropriate to add that, since the mid-seventies, the Bellairs Research Institute has provided the setting for an important graduate and postdoctoral fellowship program administered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. Originally entitled the "Metcalf Foundation Fellowships," these fellowships provide support for graduate and postdoctoral level research in marine biology, oceanography, geology and other natural sciences, as well as social science research related to tropical development.

In 1990, the awards were renamed the "Commander C. Bellairs Fellowships" to reflect the source of funds, principally the income on shares left by Carlyon Wilfroy Bellairs, from his investment portfolio to support operations at the Institute. Since 1990, an average of two to three Commander C. Bellairs Fellowships have been offered each year. The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research also administers the complementary "Rosemary Woodhouse Graduate Travelling Award," established in 1989 in memory of Rosemary Woodhouse, a long-time employee of the Faculty, in recognition of the interest she took in the Bellairs Institute. The award provides additional assistance to graduate student awardees to travel to the Institute in the Barbados.

A MOTHER'S LAMENT

I have chosen to do the most important work towards contributing to a healthy and sane society. I have chosen to use my McGill education to instill upon my children the values and commitment that a stable home life provides. On two prior instances, I have written to Alumnotes with my occupation as mother, and you have chosen not to recognize this job as worthy of publication. I was proud to have attended McGill, but obviously McGill is not proud to have educated a mother.

ed. note: We have indeed moved to liberalize the Alumnotes to include personal information, such as children, marriages, etc., which we recognized were obviously as important to our alumni as their professional accomplishments. Ms. Sundaram's point is well-taken.

NIGHTMARISH THOUGHTS

I was interested in your article "Exam Nightmares" (Fall' 95). I started having similar nightmares in 1958 cramming for the old Ministry of Education departmentals. Strangely enough these dreams persisted for some 27 years. The situations varied from writing and writing and nothing appearing on the paper, to studying for the wrong exam, to arriving and not seeing anyone from my class. These stress- related nightmares may have resulted from either the fact that I had been frightened by a mouse during the writing of an English paper or by the fact that I had actually fallen asleep in an exam after trying to "pull an all- nighter" ñ the last time I ever tried that trick!