Truth or dare

Prof. John Cameron as superhero "Sustainable Development Person." (Nick Pearce Photo)

If you wanted to see Professor John Cameron dress up in spandex, a flowing red cape, ski goggles and dorky green rain boots, while running around the classroom and jumping on desks pretending to be a fictitious hero, how would you get him to do it?

You’d dare him, of course.

Alex McPhedran approached Dr. Cameron with a dare, as part of the A Dare to Remember campaign. The campaign, initiated by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, involves individuals or groups completing dares in order to raise awareness and money for AIDS in Africa.

“It was really completely (Alex’s) initiative,” says Dr. Cameron, assistant professor in the Department of International Development Studies. “She dared me to dare the class. Then together we cooked up this idea that if 30 students took on dares, then I would do a dare, suggested by one of them.”

He saved his dare for the last class of the term. As guest lecturer and fellow IDS professor Matthew Schnurr, wrapped up his talk, Dr. Schnurr surprised the class by playing the Superman theme song. Suddenly, Dr. Cameron burst from the door near the bottom of the Scotiabank auditorium, dressed in his spandex.

With incredible energy and enthusiasm, Dr. Cameron whizzed around the lecture area, leaping onto desks as part of a skit that mocked the progression of international development studies.

He started as heroic “Dependence Man,” here to save backwards, traditional societies from themselves. Dr. Schnurr would then point a problem with the hero’s purpose. So, Dr. Cameron morphed from “Dependence Man” to “Post-Development Man” to “Sustainable Development Man” to “Sustainable Development Person.”

The class certainly enjoyed the skit, laughing throughout the whole thing and cheering at the end.

“I was impressed. Everyone was very impressed,” says Ms. McPhedran, 20. “I thought it was very intelligent – the combination of theory and class work into a very educational skit.”

Dr. Cameron says that he responded to the dare with enthusiasm for several reasons. “It’s important, especially in an intro to IDS class, that students have the sense that they are not powerless and that individual actions are important,” he says.

“Also, that we can laugh and have fun. We can deal with these serious questions, but have fun doing it. We don’t have to be all dour and depressed all the time.”

Ms. McPhedran adds, “It’s a very easy way to fund raise too. You get to do something that you want and that’s fun and exciting or different.”

John Cameron aka Sustainable Development Person and Alex McPhedran, who made the dare. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Ms. McPhedran, an IDS and Gender and Women’s Studies major, completed two dares herself. One was a dare to talk about sex. She partnered up with the Halifax Slam Poetry Team at the Just Us cafe on Spring Garden to talk about sex and the stigma surrounding it.

Her second dare was Dares to Walk for Everyday Heroes. On November 21, she and eight other people walked downtown wearing red capes to symbolize those who have AIDS or are affected by AIDS.

She says that A Dare to Remember campaign is great because you can do whatever you want to do. “It’s pretty limitless,” she explains.

Ms. McPhedran suggested Dr. Cameron could make his skit a regular event for his Intro to Development I class.

“Well I just need to be dared,” responds Dr. Cameron with a smile. “If enough students next year get on board with their dares, then – what is it? – Sustainable Development Person might reappear again.”

LINK: A Dare to Remember, The Stephen Lewis Foundation