The Almost-Normal Days of The Second July of COVID
Who knew it is the second Friday? I thought to myself, looking at the pop-up sellers on James Street North during my Friday walk. Life is quickly returning to some semblance of pre-COVID patterns. There are only a handful of pop-ups this Friday night, a few selling knick-knacks, with some original art in the mix. The flea market vendors are
An Rare Typical Day
Without realizing it until now, today was my first day of normality in nearly two years.
Council Speeches are Important: Blathering is Not
The problem of Council blathering cannot be solved by telling them to blather elsewhere. In fact, speeches at Council are more valuable than ever.On COVID Fatigue
The COVID third wave is the most demoralizing of the pandemic for me. In the first wave, during the early days when it was a crisis, I was too busy responding on campus, moving others out, and then moving myself out. It was the most exhausting, I managed to hold myself together from that exhaustion, but at times barely. TheMedia Criticism, "Celebrity" Candidates, and Covering the Issues
Much as the establishment candidates are not speaking to issues of voters, the establishment media (and it does not get more establishment than the NYT) needs to be mindful to choose issues which matter to voters to illustrate candidates qualifications, or lack thereof.
Aren't You a Bit Old to Be in This Class?
I continue to work on some posts for the coming weeks to encourage journalists to apply to be a Fellow-at-Large of the University of Toronto and Southam Fellow at Massey College. The tags for these posts is: Southam Fellowship "Aren't you a bit old to be in this class?", asks the student sitting beside me. I laugh out loud becauseKreigsfilme and Community at Massey College
I continue to work on some posts for the coming weeks to encourage journalists to apply to be a Fellow-at-Large of the University of Toronto and Southam Fellow at Massey College. This adds to the community aspects of the role. I write this on Wednesday night, as I watch A Midnight Clear on my tablet and enjoy chat discussion onWhen I Thought Libraries Shouldn't Have Video Games
Time: Summer 2007 Place: A restaurant Setting: Editorial planning meeting Twice a year, we gather to brainstorm the feature style articles for upcoming university issues and the website. One of my story ideas was to highlight that McMaster University's Library now had videos games for checkout and a gaming lounge for students. At a time when academic libraries were cash-strapped,
Grad Student Lecture Nights at Massey College
I continue to work on some posts for the coming weeks to encourage journalists to apply to be a Fellow-at-Large of the University of Toronto and Southam Fellow at Massey College. This adds to the community aspects of the role. Being a Fellow-at-Large of the University of Toronto was a great experience, especially because the role places one among theFinding No Routine in the Age of COVID
I love my routines, I'm at my happiest when I'm repeating patterns and doing the same things on a weekly or monthly basis. "Boring" is how one my closest friends described me for years. My life in Hamilton is good. Each morning has a routine, while go to a different coffee shop depending on the day of the week, IInstalling TT-RSS on Opalstack
I use Tiny Tiny RSS (TT-RSS) for my RSS reader, it is the most versatile of the self-hosted open source platforms. This audience for this tutorial are people like me, who can do simple tasks but are not actually developers.
10,000 Hours and The Skill Level of Local Politicians
Malcolm Gladwell's 10000 Hour Rule is one of those idioms which captures an idea we want to be true. It is a more catchy variation on the idea that practice makes perfect. In actual practice, the 10000 hour rule is shown not to work in a variety of circumstances. There is a certain amount of innate talent needed for certain
Reclaiming Hamilton, the book, Look on the Brightside
Brightside no longer exists as a physical neighbourhood, yet it is one of the more vibrant communities in Hamilton. How is this, and what is the story behind this community? The neighbourhood itself was mostly demolished and paved over in the 1960s as Hamilton's industrial sector expanded and the industrial highways made wider. Sixty years later, the children of Brightside