Writing Activities

Still writing, writing, writing and going through tons of theory which I’m categorizing along epistomological, spatial and temporal scales (wow!). I’m sick of my music, and I don’t like CBC radio after the morning, so I have discovered the beauty of 89.9 FM, Radio Canada. French speaking is so smooth on the radio, I can tune in and out (I really like the human voice as soothing background) and they play tons of world music in all kinds of languages. This should last me a few weeks at least.

And in the ongoing battle of The Chrysalids versus Fruit Flies, I am tipping the scales in my favour! Matt Galloway openly complained on Metro Morning about all the damn fruit flies in his house and urged listeners to call in to give ideas about how to get rid of fruit flies. I have tried the following solution: put a piece of fruit (mine is a rotting apple) in a container, cover with plastic wrap (I used an elastic to hold it taut) and then poke holes with a fork. Apparently fruit flies will sniff the fruit and get in, but not out. It wasn’t working at first, so I aided the stink and rotting of the fruit with balsamic vinegar, and presto! I currently have at least 10 fruit flies and counting. When I get a functioning camera I will post pictures.

Good Title Award

Some of you may have noticed how much I make fun of big “G” Geography titles. They usually rely on alliteration, and sometimes don’t even make sense (at least not to me). Here is an example of a title that jumped out of the boring titles containing the words “energy”, “productivity” and “growth”. It definitely gets a prize for cheekiness, at least in my books, especially since economists are NOT known for clever titles. Ever.

Blackorby, C. and R. R. Russell (1989). “Will the real elasticity of substitution please stand up? (A comparison of the Allen/Uzawa and Morishima elasticities).” American Economic Review 79: 882-888.

See? So funny and lame at the same time.

Contributions III

I’m hanging with my cousin and uncle, and we’re playing the contributions game. I said I was proud that I managed to put ‘dogma’ in one title, and a goal of mine is to use the word ’synthesis’ in a real paper title at some point. We came up with this:

Geography: A Synthesis of Dogmas

So so true sometimes. I wish I had this as title of my analysis paper of the changes in theory and methods in human geography.

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We hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a french restaurant and boozed and ate chocolate mousse (cake). Here is what we came up with. It makes no sense at all, kind of like academia:

Geography: A House is not a Home Without Dogma

Canine Identity: Dog or Dogma?

Moustaches: Deconstruction of a Post World War II Superiority Complex (not sure about this one)

Chocolate Mousse or Chocolate Mousse Cake: A Post-Modern Synthesis of Chocolate Narcissism. Is There Any Truth?

Whoopee Cushion: An Appropriate Response to Everything. (my favourite)

Contributions II

I can’t stop the alliteration. Here is a proposed title for my next paper, which I will mull over before handing it in on Monday:

In Search of “Sustainability” in Geography: Rejecting Dogma for Debate and Differentiation.

I think I am turning into Sydney from the comic book dykes to watch out for.

Dance your PhD continued

I just can’t get enough of this contest. I stayed up late last night watching all sorts of entries.

This one is my favourite, and I understand transcription now.

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This is one of this year’s winners. I really like the costumes, and how they show how the experiment works with the camera sequence.

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And this is not a winner, but I love the sheer enthusiasm of the dance. I don’t understand the science part at all, though.

“Dance your PhD” contest

This was pretty much the best wake-up ever. Codejill and I have already worked out how to choreograph and costume the dances to explain the co-evolutionary process between economy and environment, and then how to explain how ecological economists embed the economic system within the earth’s processes to depict a more accurate version of how these two systems interact. So exciting. I just have to do my research for a few years to come up with the rest of the dance (the intro we worked out can definitely be for “Dance your comprehensives”).

Check out the winning PhD thesis:

What to do with a good name?

I came up with this idea as a child, probably my first of many acts of questioning social norms, but also common sense since my last name is so damn cool. Glad to see that other people are finally displaying common sense.

Contributions

In what must have been an attempt to eliminate the theoretical and conceptual overload I’ve been feeling, and maybe revealing how ridiculous I think all of this analysis can get, I came up with my own silly titles as if I had achieved eminent thinker status (since they can clearly do whatever they want). The following is the life of TheChrysalids as submitted to Transactions or Progress in Human Geography, or, my next conference presentation titles.

• Fruit fly migration. Compression of fruit fly space and expansion of human place: introduction of the green bin programme to Waterloo Region.
• Transnational doll migration from the global to the local: towards a synthesis of family, place and space.
• The Million Mile Muffin*:  mouth-watering miracle or culinary catastrophe? An investigation of materials and the role of space in baking global warming.
• Energy prophet, not for profit: an inspirational framework of virtuousness for global climate change action.
• Is it complicated or is it complexity? The misunderstanding of complexity theory as metaphor in the social sciences: emergence and paradigm in motility and mobilities.

*Please note the Million Mile Muffin is attributable to codejill and LL.

Blogress

“Blogress” is my ingenious attempt at hybrid word invention meaning progress for a blog.

My feedback committee has made some suggestions, and I have taken some action as well as inaction.

• I am taking advantage of the Web 2.0. Please note the RSS feed link at the bottom of the page (no icon, so you might miss it). Look around for a few more Web 2.0 goodies which may be lurking in other dark corners.

• Also, if you’ve tried to open this in Internet Explorer, well, good luck. I noticed the format is off cuz there’s something funny between WordPress and Explorer. So, use Mozilla instead. If you are a die hard Explorer fan, I encourage you to evolve.

In terms of blogress, this is just the beginning. Inspired by my Mobilities presentation, Mademoiselle K and I brainstormed a totally blogressive idea today to be implemented soon.

Feed your neighbours

This morning when I got back from my run, I heard a knock at my door. I opened it to find my two small friends in their pajamas (Spiderman designs!). They offered me a warm Montreal style bagel wrapped in a paper towel. “But”, they screamed,  “you have to get your own cream cheese!” I am so lucky to have such friends living downstairs!

That set the theme for the day. In my development studies class we had guest speakers from Haiti. Their organization, called Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal (KPL), is linked with the Mennonite Central Committee, and they work to promote a local food and product movement. Haiti is flooded with imports which are cheaper (and not as high quality) than the local fare. KPL wants Haitians to buy from their neighbours and support the local economy. They made a commercial to advertise their message, which aired last February. It is one of the most fun commercials I’ve ever seen, and according to them, it had a big impact. Check it out!

The man who jumps back at the end of the video was one of the speakers. I think he is a Haitian version of Rick Mercer. He told us that the next video to come out will be of him interviewing politicians to find out whether they prefer local fare or import. Apparently they all say local, but when he threatens to call their houses and find out what is cooking on the stove, they admit they buy “Miami rice”. Tsk. Tsk. He is quite a funny man, and very dedicated to the movement.

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And….speaking of neighbours, and things that go in mouths (well, a bit of a stretch here), but did anyone see this? Hilarious!