I'm thrilled to say - I am DONE! I handed in my final research paper this week and now I await graduation. I have been fortunate to have the support of an amazing community on my academic journey. I am tremendously grateful to the following people: First and foremost, my husband Ken, who has always been my biggest champion. Thank you for supporting me in every way. The MACT 2018 cohort – you guys are the best! Thanks for the solidarity in learning. The MACT team – Professors

Many years ago I hiked the West Coast Trail. It's a 75 km stretch of rugged terrain on the west side of Vancouver Island. After 7 days of traversing gruelling (but beautiful) trails and coastlines, not showering, living off freeze-dried food, falling into a surge channel, suffering through blistered feet and feeling sleep deprived, I saw the sign that said I had ONE more kilometre left to go! I feel the same way now with just over a week left before I hand in my final researc

Years ago, I attended a leadership program at the Banff Centre. The first team building exercise involved being strapped into a harness, climbing to the top of this very high pole and jumping off, trusting that the people I’d met just a few short hours ago would do their part to break my fall. I found this especially terrifying given my fear of heights, but I did it! While subsequent visits to the Banff Centre haven’t resulted in such extreme levels of physical risk, every vi

I'm having that moment of guilt when you realize that your last blog was close to two months ago! Time to dust off the cobwebs with an update. Late 2019 was spent writing my literature review. The rest of the year was spent recovering from writing my literature review! This major element marks the completion of the coursework for my degree and I can now focus exclusively on my research project. My literature review will undergo revisions and additions but it forms the foundat

This blog is serving a dual purpose for me. It's both a space to share information I’m discovering and a place to work through the process of conducting research. This post is focused on the later part (and yeah, its going to get a little whiny – consider yourself forewarned). You learn a lot about yourself while doing research. As in life, you tend to gravitate towards the things you love doing and procrastinate or avoid the things you wish would go away. I love looking for

I can’t take credit for the title of this post but it sums up an issue that we all face - we trade our privacy for convenience. This line is from an episode of Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast which featured “reformed” Silicon Valley insider Roger McNamee. McNamee, who was one of the early investors of Facebook, is now on a mission to warn the world of its evils. And it's not just Facebook itself, but the addictive and exploitative nature of the business models that underpin