There seems to be a lot of silver-bullet thinking when it comes to the state of the world and any attempts to make it better: the idea that there can be one solution to all the problems of the Chthulhucene, or even that there can be a solution at all and that things will either get better or return to some sort of ideal state after that One True Solution ™ has been applied.
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Stop: Shower Time!
This water timer on my shower wall was given to me by a friendly young volunteer at the Waterloo Region tent at my local farmer’s market this past summer. It’s a simple blue octagon bisected with a small hourglass; the top reads STOP IN TIME in white block letters, and the bottom features the Region’s brand image. It came with a rubber suction cup so I could stick it to the wall of my shower, able to view it easily when showering. It is my nemesis.
Surviving the Wilds of the Panhandle: an expression of queer futurity in (spite of) the present world
Earlier this summer, the curator of The Art Gallery at University of West Florida commissioned a text from me to accompany the ceramic art exhibit of Justin Quaid Grubb. Here’s the catalogue with my essay, in all its glory.
The new hawtness
Listening to the latest “What on Earth?” podcast episode from CBC and, among other things, they are discussing the heat dome that killed upwards of 600 people in British Columbia in summer 2021. The heat dome also extended east over Alberta, and amiskwaciwâskahikan (where I was living at the time) was in its grips for…
Podcast – Academics on Air
This spring, I was part of producing a podcast about a UAlberta campus radio show from 40 years ago. Check it out at https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/academics-on-air/
dread is a luxury emotion
and i am privileged af to feel it, but i don’t know that i’ve felt its sharp edge since before the accident. yes, with the pandemic came a certain generalized existential anxiety that the whole world shared in, and certainly the rise of crypto-fascism coupled with accelerating climate breakdown has been an ever-present fear these…
Deaths
This weekend I’m going to visit with family, and visit my Beppe’s grave for the first time since she passed away in March 2021.
Dark night of the soul
It’s Good Friday, so I feel this is an appropriate theme for the day. From the category description: “In religious circles, the phrase “dark night of the soul” indicates a stretch of time (not necessarily a single night; it can be much longer) when one is undergoing a crisis of faith and feeling utterly abandoned….
Seed bomb pedagogy
Sounds real fancy, doesn’t it? Didn’t go to college for nothing, you know. In no particular order, what seed bombs can teach us:
On consuming (animal products) ethically
But the reasons are inconsequential and frankly nobody’s business. It is a process, and a long one, dependent on so many factors. However, I am a firm advocate for the power of the small actions of the many: too often we are seduced by the myth of the Perfect Individual, the zero-waste, vegan hero who lives a completely sustainable and unproblematic life in harmony with the world around them. This person is a fairy-tale, but I’m such a sucker for stories; I, like Mulder, Want To Believe.