Oordt remembered as a prof who inspired students

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:57:34 +0000

The following is a story that appeared in the Apr. 13 edition of the Lethbridge Herald

By CAROLINE ZENTNER
Generations of university students were blessed to be taught by Marty Oordt although they may not have known it at the time.

Oordt was one of the first faculty members hired at the fledgling ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 1967. Owen Holmes, the dean of arts and sciences at the time, remembers meeting a lively and enthusiastic young man who wanted to inspire students.

"Marty was a real enthusiast for liberal education. I think of him as Mr. Liberal Education at the university," Holmes said. "In that context he was a great inspiration to a whole generation of students and a really great colleague when we were all trying to foster that kind of a beginning for the university."

Oordt passed away April 8 at age 73 after a brief illness. Born and educated in the United States, he joined the English department at the U of L and stayed for 30 years. He received the Medal for Distinguished Teaching in 1996.

Oordt was a writer and poet and, after he retired in 1997, publisher of Lethbridge Living magazine. He supported several local organizations as a volunteer.

"He was certainly an inspiration and a mentor to many students and to many people," said Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, a former student who took over Lethbridge Living from Oordt and his wife Mary in 2006. "He was always easy to talk to and you could always pick up where you left off when you saw him last. He was certainly more than just an instructor and he took a great deal of interest in his students and the projects they were working on."

Schmidt-Rempel had been a freelance writer for Lethbridge living for several years before she became managing editor in late 2006. As a student, she said Oordt helped her learn to think critically about her creative work, to take a step back and look at plot, structure and development. At the same time he was encouraging.

"Out of all the things that I really remember is probably my first day at university sitting in his English 1900 class. He was asking us to come up and develop characters for a short story that we were working on," she said, adding she had what she considered a ridiculous idea about a child and a cat. "He was really encouraging about that and he said 'You know what, it's your idea, go for it.' The whole thing spawned a series of probably 12 to 15 stories about this kid and her cat."

When Oordt joined the U of L, he came with the attitude that students should come first.

"Education was the flourishing of the student more than just the transmission of information. That was the spirit of it and Marty was right in that spirit all the way through," Holmes said. "He and some others organized a special program called Colloquium Study at the university. That was a pure form of liberal education; it was a
wonderful experience."

A celebration of Oordt's life is scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Galt Museum.

Whetstone Magazine revived

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:27:17 +0000

If you are an aspiring writer or photographer who dreams of having their work published, you are in luck. Whetstone Magazine is back, and it's just waiting for your literary and visual art submissions.

"To my delight, there was a great interest in reviving the magazine," says Dr. Jay Gamble, the English professor who, along with managing editor Rylan Spendroth, proposed giving the magazine a facelift and bringing it back into circulation.

Gamble runs the Creative Writing Association at the U of L and had heard about Whetstone and its history. He asked if anyone in the CWA was interested in reviving the publication and a preliminary meeting was organized to gauge participation. Over 20 students answered the call.

"We not only had students interested in seeing the publication come back, many of them were eager to take on senior editing positions," says Gamble. "That initial interest and enthusiasm bolstered the desire to renew the publication."

Whetstone is a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge based literary magazine that consists of submitted prose, poetry, photography and graphic design images. It was originally established in 1971 with the help of English faculty advisors, and buoyed by a dedicated incoming flow of submissions and donations from the community. The magazine survived until 1999 when it was discontinued due to declining interest.

The plan now is to publish Whetstone bi-annually, with issues out every fall and spring semester. And while the Whetstone name remained from its first incarnation, a twenty-first century upgrade was definitely in order. One of the main changes, its size, came out of necessity.

"Due to the fact we had relatively few submissions in the latest edition, the magazine was able to take a full size format, cut it horizontally in half, and use the look as a new publishing trait," says Andrew Penner, a third-year English major and the public relations advertising manager. "The result is a reenergized Whetstone 2.0."

Gamble says that Whetstone can provide a wonderful outlet for both aspiring and established writers alike.

"It offers a great opportunity for emerging writers to not only have their work published, but to have it showcased alongside more established authors," says Gamble. "Our first issue, for instance, includes work by respected Canadian author Robert Kroetsch."

Penner, who is a poet,attended the preliminary meeting held by Gamble and Spendroth because he was interested in possibly getting some works published. He walked away from the meeting as a member of the executive committee.

"It is really exciting to be involved at the grassroots level of a magazine that has the potential of becoming something very big," says Penner.

Whetstone is available for purchase at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Bookstore.

As sales increase and the magazine's budget expands, Whetstone will look to similarly expand its distribution. Until then, the main focus of the magazine is on southern Alberta and the prairies.

"Whetstone will help to establish a community of writers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, in the city of Lethbridge and surrounding area," says Gamble. "I would eventually like to see the magazine grow to become a part of the landscape of Canadian Literature."

Those interested in submitting works for inclusion in the magazine can send their works to Poetry.whetstone@gmail.com or Fiction.whetstone@gmail.com.

For general comments or questions, contact the editor of Whetstone at Editor.whetstone@gmail.com and check out the Whetstone Facebook page.

The next submission deadline is tentatively set for Dec. 1, with the edition scheduled to be released Mar. 15, 2011.

UNews - managing editor

Oordt remembered as a prof who inspired students

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Whetstone Magazine revived

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