The pandemic has introduced me to a guilty pleasure that I must confess: I really enjoy watching videos of people freaking out about having to wear a mask or other protective face covering in public places and when shopping. It is equal parts educational and deeply disturbing to watch someone simply lose. their. shit. when … Continue reading Coronavirus 8: masking up and throwing down
Tag: Canada
The Confederacy, revisited
Just about three years ago, I wrote a post here about the debates over removing Confederate monuments in the US, primarily but not only in the South. In that piece, I provided multiple examples to make my point, which was this: The debate over whether to remove these monuments and memorials must be, I think, … Continue reading The Confederacy, revisited
Coronavirus 6: distance decay
There is an important but perhaps underused concept in geography known as distance decay. While this emerges most directly from Waldo Tobler's "first law of geography," it is easy enough to understand without ever having read the academic research behind it. Tobler's first law states that "everything is related to everything else, but near things … Continue reading Coronavirus 6: distance decay
Coronavirus 5: the pandemic university
This past Friday was the last day of classes at my university, though no one has set foot in a classroom here since March 13, when the University of Windsor Senate unanimously passed the Emergency Academic Plan. This waived a number of bylaw provisions that govern how faculty are supposed to teach classes, and we … Continue reading Coronavirus 5: the pandemic university
Research update
So far this summer I have spent a lot of time traveling, as well as many, many hours dealing with technical and bureaucratic headaches associated with a new IT system at my university. It has been challenging not just to find time to write meaningful and interesting blog posts here, but also to get research … Continue reading Research update
On becoming Canadian
We arrive 10 minutes before the appointed 1:00 pm deadline on my invitation letter. It reads less as an invitation and more as a list of instructions, but represents the final step on my road to Canadian citizenship. The large waiting room is already packed, families in nice clothes, children laughing and running around, those … Continue reading On becoming Canadian
Research reports available
A quick post while I hammer away at a post on Trump and borders, actual research papers for publication, and, most recently and frustratingly, a bunch of IKEA furniture. I have written here before about my general research focus on the state as a workplace and the geography of expertise in the state, and the … Continue reading Research reports available
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
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
