The past week has been increasingly turbulent as the start of the academic semester approached. Lots was happening in my work and personal life and instead of riding the wave or even treading water, there were moments when I was sure I was beginning to feel the undertow. Yesterday I was reminded of the need …
I woke up this morning and my first thought was, well it feels good to sleep until 8am. (it was 6:15) I lay there for a while and when I leapt out of bed and opened the curtain, I was greeted with this magnificent sight. Every year as the earth tilts on its axis and …
This evening I went out to the shop down the road to get some bread and maybe fruit. We had two ends of stale bread left and I thought they might have some nice bread for tomorrow’s sandwiches. That and I like to check in case there are any tasty things being reduced. (I’m one …
It is the summer. A hot one. It reminds me of childhood summers in Chicago with blazing sun everyday, grass that was green-now brown, and long, long days. As an academic my job follows termly ebbs and flows of students, teaching timetables, and exams. This is the first year I have not been writing or …
This is a completely non-academic, short post about the wonderful beauty of everyday. Yesterday, while cooking some veg (you can hear the pepper and leek sizzling in the background) this blackbird did some preening about three feet away from me. There was a pane of glass between us, but he definitely saw me, and didn’t …
Intention has come to the forefront of my thinking lately. Intention and action. It originates with a combination of motivation, desire, and questioning what and why. Over the past week or so I asked my dearest friend, how do you do it? He is amazing. This calendar year he made a decision, a bit like …
I have time; it is a priority. This is a short reflection on Chapter 5 of the book We make the road by walking by Myles Horton and Paulo Freire as part of the book club created by Bryan Alexander. (3 min read) Paulo: “But we can also create space inside of the subsystem or …
I haven’t blogged in a few weeks and time has been slipping through my fingertips. Oh, there’s been plenty on- Many wheels are moving and the way people are coming together to work and make things happen is amazing. Monday I submitted my final (I hope) typescript for my upcoming book: Fostering self-efficacy in higher education students, and …