Category: Thoughts

  • Totally Watching Television

    Totally Watching Television

    I’m on the couch, on a Friday morning. British and Irish accents mix with the sound of cars outside the window. Tiger Woods is putting for birdie on the 15th hole. The Open Championship is at St. Andrews this year. After waking, I made cranberry-chocolate-chip waffles. Ralph, the goldendoodle, slept on his bed in the…

  • My Procrastination Habit…

    My Procrastination Habit…

    I’m reading Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Show How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Dr. Judson Brewer. I love reading it. It’s written in a simple, chatty, and example-laden way and it works well with the way that I learn. I’m savouring the last couple of chapters. I…

  • This Is How You Lose The Time War

    This Is How You Lose The Time War

    Aside from being an evocative phrase, “This Is How You Lose The Time War” is a book. It became this week’s reading material on recommendation from a friend with readerly and writerly practices and aspirations similar to mine. I read it in two ways: The way that I read when I was a kid on…

  • Something For My Friends To Read

    Something For My Friends To Read

    This morning I read this week’s edition of Notes From A Small Press, a regular newsletter from Anne Trubek, the founder and owner of Belt Publishing. I love what Anne does with this newsletter. It brings me into the world of publishing, invites me to discover new writers, and encourages me to pursue my own…

  • Surprise Us With Grace

    Surprise Us With Grace

    This morning I read You Are Not A Server: Nor Are You Finalizable by Alan Jacobs, in the Hedgehog Review. The article invited me to: Challenge the simile, “my brain is like a computer” and question its (the simile’s) usefulness. Expand my options and consider the third response. Imagine alternative relationships with social media. Read…

  • I’m Here Reacting | #OurLondonFamily

    Trigger Warning: This post contains discussion of the recent terrorist attack in London, Ontario and documents my experience of hearing the news. I was sitting in a warehouse in Halifax, waiting to be called to set, when I found out about the terrorist attack in London, Ontario. I heard the news from my dad, in…

  • Could I Live On A Farm With Friends?

    I gather the first moments of the day through an uncovered bedroom window. The field sits in the foreground, full of plants that I never thought I’d understand, and a stand of trees paints upwards along the horizon. A blue pickup turns towards the road, exhaust floating over the corn stalks that frame the driveway.…

  • Learning About Vision from A Blueprint for Dramatic Change

    Learning About Vision from A Blueprint for Dramatic Change

    Riche’s article reminds me of the importance of visioning, a practice known elsewhere and otherwise as imagining or dreaming. Riche does these things in this article and I’m going to bet that he can do it, in part, because he practices storytelling and creating.

  • A Smile: iPhone to Computer Sound

    I started my morning at work, alone in the office, listening to my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. The Spotify app on my desktop always takes a few minutes to start, so I began my listening on my iPhone. There’s something liberating about playing music out loud in the office, without headphones, before anyone else arrives.…

  • We Don’t Have a Clue What School is Like

    I always look out for the word “our” when I’m listening to institutions speak. I pay particular attention when institutions are speaking about young people. The word “our” comes up a lot in the world of children, youth, and student work. I regularly notice it when myself and others say things like, “our young people,…