Tag Archives: critique

3101, 2019

Organics for the Care for our Common Home

debs/ January 31, 2019

This semester I have the opportunity to formalize some of my past year’s gardening experience by taking the Organic Master Gardener online course through Gaia College. This weekend I had the privilege of attending Guelph Organic Conference. Both activities were mutually informative and are giving me a lot to think about (so much so that I have to write about it!) and I am so grateful that my employers would sponsor my personal and professional development in these ways.

2910, 2018

For Example,

debs/ October 29, 2018

I’ve been thinking about how much I rely on examples for both functions of communication: comprehension and expression. I appreciate having examples to understand, but I fear using example to express. As I become more conscious of how I engage examples in communication, my relationship with them becomes more akin to “reverence”. Examples are powerful communication tools.

2107, 2018

3 days in Iceland

debs/ July 21, 2018

And so we arrive at the our final hurrah before we go back to Canada and real life (aka unemployment) begins.

In late June, my trip began with a 1 day layover in Iceland. Back then, the sun did not set.
Early September, our trip ended with a 3 day layover in Iceland. At that point, the nights were just long enough for potential aurora sightings. This leg of my trip is the focus of this post.

Iceland–a significant place in its own right–will also forever be personally significant to me for bookending this season of my life. I would like to think my second time here was different from the first, that I left that side of the Atlantic a changed person… I mean, that’s the kind of outcome and introspection that makes good blog material. But in reality, I think this layover was different from the first not because I’ve changed/grown/crossed-thresholds/seen things, but moreso because I am coming under different circumstances; I envy people who can be so sure otherwise.

2805, 2018

debbie dumpster dive!

debs/ May 28, 2018

A memory I have that will always bring me a smile was the moment we met our Tønsberg WWOOF host.

We were still reminiscing our time at the Gjøvik farm, when we stepped off the train from Oslo to Tønsberg into an epic downpour. In our entire time in Norway, we would never seen it rain as hard as it did this day. Without phones to call (both our phones were broken by now) or WiFi to use my laptop, we were left at the train station waiting, trusting that our host would pick us up. Obviously, we didn’t know what the host would look like, but we were hoping our Asian-ness will be enough of an eyesore to catch his attention.

Several minutes later, we see a tall (even for Norwegian standards!) man roll up on a bike in front of us …

2310, 2017

Agrotechnooptimism

debs/ October 23, 2017

The techno-optimism in agrotechnology makes me a little queezy.

At first, the image of the vertical gardens of produce grown in abandoned urban spaces seems like such an attractive idea. One can only imagine how I fawned when my eager mind saw a possible union between community-based agriculture, environmental conscientiousness, and engineering.