Spaghetti Sauce and the Power of Reflection
This evening I made spaghetti for dinner. [Editor’s note: John’s spaghetti is fairly amazing]. As I chopped and stirred and blended and spiced I reflected on the day – as well as the weekend, which was socially busy and did…
Size Matters – Making the Big Small
Last week I spoke at a Bishop’s University recruitment event – I was one of three alumni who were tasked with answering questions from prospective students and their parents about the Bishop’s Experience. Most of my conversations wound up with…
Talk to Strangers and Embrace Overheards
My bathtub drain used to be clogged. It’s not anymore. And I can thank the following community-minded things for water no longer building up into some sort of “foot bath” during shower time: Talking to strangers. Overhearing community. Being un-plugged…
Joel Plaskett’s Microcosm of Community
Joel Plaskett can rock with the best of ’em (“Lightning Bolt”), he can make you tear-up with a love song (“I’m Yours”), he can make you dance with a catchy pop song (“Through & Through & Through”), and he can make you laugh with some of the most creative lyrics this side of K’Naan (“North Star” or “Come on Teacher” or “Extraordinare” or “Fashionable People”). Oh, and he’s got some sentimental gems that get to the heart of community (“I Love This Town”).
Living Happily with No Regrets
One of my mentors recommends that our lives should be about collecting stories to tell our grandchildren. It’s a great message, for sure. And these are some of the stories that I hope to collect in my life.
The Lost Art of Conversation
When was the last time you had a proper conversation? I’m talking a real-life, animated conversation with eye-contact and gestures and the occasional accidental hurling of spit at your fellow conversationalist? And don’t even try to say it was in…
School at Work – Learning that Grows Business
Developing talent through innovative learning is cool. And a lot of companies are doing it. Transforming their recruitment, retention, development, and even business processes by emphasizing education and online approaches. Such a focus that empowers people with resources and tools tends to authentically marry – or, simply put, “combine” – learning with technology. Instructional Designers refer to this sort of evolution in the classroom as an ecosystem (“interconnected not linear” or “discussion-centric not broadcast-driven” learning), where the instructor behaves more like a master of facilitation-judo who builds awesome activities instead of a sagely projector of information to an audience.
Our Future Community Project Charts a New Future for the VSB
Last night the Vancouver School Board released a massive report titled Vancouver School Board Sectoral Review: Our Schools, Our Programs, Our Future. The report presented dozens of important recommendations that if eventually adopted by the VSB, could have a profound impact…
Grantland, The Wire and Smacketology
But that’s not what I’m talking about. The Souperbowl isn’t the thing that’s rocketed Grantland into a new whole class of awesome.
Smacketology is what’s rocketed Grantland into a whole new class of awesome. It’s got all the cool components of the Souperbowl and is also edutaining and important.
The Night I Got Away With Murder!
On Saturday, February 18 I attended my very first murder mystery party. The evening was the best kind of controlled, community-minded chaos. Approximately 20 of us put on 1960s-era and/or “higher education” clothing, adopted a “Cold War mentality”, and did our best impressions of students, administrators, academics, spies, assassins, and even a reporter who all found themselves together in Maudlin College, a hypothetical university with a great rowing team somewhere in England.