My blog is my Memory

This title is a quotation from Wendy Mitchell. She has been diagnosed with Early Onset Dementia. This came to my attention through the CBC Radio program Out in the Open presented by Piya Chattopadhyay. The January 4th edition is called If Memory Serves.

If you check out the podcast, you will also find Wendy’s blog describing her interview with Piya. It is very inspirational.

Indeed my blog is fed by both my day to day experiences, as well as a lifetime studying the geographic sciences.

After listening to the podcast, my first reaction was to go to the bookshelf and pull out Matthew Crawford, The World beyond your head. On becoming an individual in an age of distraction.

Last week, I had a meeting with Ed Symons, instructor in Community Planning at COGS. We discussed the need for asset mapping as a pre-requisite for evidence-based decisions at the municipal and provincial level. The context was a concept we have called PENCIL.

It has two elements: PEN and CIL. PEN refers to Place-based Educational Networks and CIL refers to Collaborative Ideation Laboratory. Together, they stress the need for learning networks that focus on ‘a sense of place’ and the necessity for a laboratory where groups can share ideas, technology and different approaches to problem-solving.

This concept fits well with community planning and the engagement of citizens in the day to day management of our natural and human resources.

Later this week, there will be a meeting of the Ernest Buckler Literary Event Society (EBLES). We will discuss the possibility of a new event in 2019. Stay tuned.

Addendum

This afternoon, we went for a cross country ski down to the Annapolis River, through the old provincial forest nursery. We ended up at Lunn’s Mill. Every second Sunday, they have an Irish Jam session from 1-4 pm. Afterwards, we skied home. Imagine, in rural Nova Scotia, in January.

Acknowledgements

I want to acknowledge my conversations with Ed Symons, Edward Wedler and Heather Stewart.

References

CBC Radio. January 4th, 2019. Out in the Open. Hosted by Piya Chattopadhyay.

Recording an Interview for Canadian Radio. November 8,2018 Wendy’s blog

Matthew Crawford. 2016.The World beyond your Head. On becoming an individual in an age of distraction. Penguin Books.

Matthew Crawford. 2009. Shop Class as Soulcraft. An Inquiry into the Value of Work. Penguin Books.