I recently had a chance to travel to the Outer Banks, a string of barrier islands along the coast of North Carolina. There was an elemental feeling to standing on the beach at Nags Head with the waves crashing against the breakwater just a few yards away, the sea foam rushing around my calves as … Continue reading Outer Banks and then some
Windsor 5: imperial monuments 2
I offered in my last post an account of an implement of war, an old Russian cannon, recast as a monument to the British empire's military power and to Canada's contribution to it. This presentation of the physical spoils of war as a celebration of national glory and imperial reach was common in the 19th … Continue reading Windsor 5: imperial monuments 2
Windsor 4: imperial monuments 1
I promised in my last post to write something soon on two monuments that I recently discovered along the Windsor waterfront, and which demonstrate two moments of Canadians' participation in the long history of imperialism. One, a Russian cannon, is perhaps less a monument than a military prize, shipped from Crimea and displayed at what … Continue reading Windsor 4: imperial monuments 1
AAG 2018 New Orleans
I recently returned from the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), held this year in New Orleans, Louisiana. I skipped last year's meeting, the first one I had missed since I first attended in 2000, that year held in Pittsburgh and myself as a newbie MA student at Syracuse University. I passed … Continue reading AAG 2018 New Orleans
Early April snippets
I am currently sitting in the Detroit airport, on my way to New Orleans for the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), where I will be presenting a paper on collective bargaining and institutional culture in the Canadian foreign service, co-written with a former research assistant. It has been a hectic few … Continue reading Early April snippets
Commuting
For close to eight years, I have lived in between two cities, commuting almost weekly between Toronto and Windsor. I have not intended this blog to be a confessional, so I won't get into why I have done this, except to say that the choice to take up residence in Toronto while working in Windsor, … Continue reading Commuting
Faculty strikes
There are two notable, large strikes going on in the education sector at the moment, one in West Virginia where public K-12 teachers are on a wildcat strike that is now entering its second week, and one in Britian, where university faculty represented through the University and College Union (UCU) have been on strike for … Continue reading Faculty strikes
