A colleague of mine is researching demolition. His work is really compelling, and thinking about his research has prompted me to return to some thoughts I shared on this blog in 2011. I’ve written before contrasting the degree to which buildings are torn down and replaced in Edmonton with the experiences of Scotland (and London)… Read More
against violence
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about when, if ever, it is acceptable to invoke violence to achieve certain means. I certainly have had to employ physical force to protect myself in the past, and the memory of that fear and terror never really leaves the body. For years afterwards I jumped at loud noises.… Read More
rivulets of meltwater rushing down dusty alleyways…
That’s what I miss — the thaw and break and re-awakening that comes with a prairie spring. In Aberdeen things are just always in a various state of wet. Grey, tinged with a green that I am unable to discern as mold, moss or algae (maybe various permutations of such?). This has its own magic.… Read More
Ghosts of East Central Alberta, part 3: Ribstones and why I never heard about it OR The absent aboriginal
Last summer, I lived out in the country again for a while. I had just moved back to Canada after completing dissertation fieldwork in Mexico, then Alaska, and we had neither a place to live nor anything to put in it. So, I stayed at my dad’s farm for a month or so, the longest… Read More
The “Struggle”
I’m back in Aberdeen. Aberdeen in all its grey, granite glory. Sometimes described as the ‘armpit of Scotland’ (or far worse), it is not the most glamorous place. When I tell English people I’m living and working in Aberdeen, they invariably wrinkle their noses and say something disparaging about the city. One woman I met… Read More
