Category Archives: Inspiration

Hell Years: Introduction to an Annotated Bibliography

Reading. Reading is my comfort, my addiction, my solace. For most of my life I have been able to get lost in a book. Get lost in a book. I never really thought about that phrase before, what it means. But I think it is apt, in the sense that I used to read toContinue reading “Hell Years: Introduction to an Annotated Bibliography”

You Only Meet Yourself

  It is strange how things come into your life when you most need them. I made a friend recently.  We met at a social networking event. The room was crowded and noisy and you had to yell to be heard. I was wedged between strangers on a circular bench table. He was on theContinue reading “You Only Meet Yourself”

New Year’s Resolution #1: Boycotting the Monkey Exchange

My motto for this coming year: Not my circus, not my monkeys. There is nothing we humans like more than to surreptitiously gift our monkeys to someone, and taking on other people’s monkeys can become second nature if we don’t watch out. The problem with monkey gifting is that it affects our circus ecosystems. WeContinue reading “New Year’s Resolution #1: Boycotting the Monkey Exchange”

Making Friends with the Anvil: On Bearing Witness

I went to see Monumental by Holy Body Tattoo and Godspeed, You Black Emperor a couple of weeks ago. It was unbearable. Unbearable in the way Art with a capital A should be: a gut-wrenching reminder of the joy and suffering, the struggle and the weariness, the futile resistance and the final giving up, theContinue reading “Making Friends with the Anvil: On Bearing Witness”

Burning down the house: Using Woolf’s Three Guineas as a template for a manifesto against gendered cyberviolence, part I

I attended a symposium about a month ago for stakeholders of a Status of Women grant to brainstorm strategies with which to “eliminate and prevent cyberviolence”. I know. Kind of a herculean task, don’t you think? Might as well ask, how do I prevent war? Oh wait… As those who have been reading my blogContinue reading “Burning down the house: Using Woolf’s Three Guineas as a template for a manifesto against gendered cyberviolence, part I”

On Killing the Angel

First of all, I just want to put this out there: I am in love with Virginia Woolf. Although I had read Mrs. Dalloway (twice) and To the Lighthouse and loved them, I never realised how prolific she was and how fierce and intelligent her essays were. I have recently finished A Room of One’sContinue reading “On Killing the Angel”

Dear Ms. Moran: On Reading How To Be a Woman

Dear Ms. Moran, I think we should be friends. I know, I know. You probably have all of the female half of the British Empire clamouring to be your BFF, but for reals – we have a lot in common. Let me put forth my case for your perusal. An eerie number of personal dataContinue reading “Dear Ms. Moran: On Reading How To Be a Woman”

Thoughts on Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

 I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be female, a topic I have deftly avoided until now. I guess having two teenage daughters will do that to a gal.  Why are they so hesitant to put themselves out in the world? Why do they shy away from praise and well deservedContinue reading “Thoughts on Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg”

Mile End Hour of Code

For the past year, I have been increasingly convinced that every kid should learn to code. Since I have daughters and I work at an all-girls’ school, my interest tends to lean toward getting girls interested in programming, but I guess boys can still learn too (before you get your knickers in a knot- IContinue reading “Mile End Hour of Code”