Month: July 2014

Tomorrow is the last day of the summer when lunch will be served at Massey College. This is at least triply unfortunate, since lunch is often the most enjoyable social event in the college, having it provided saves a lot of shopping and cooking time, and free lunches are included in my contract with the summer residence program.

In addition to enjoying my last Massey lunch before the fall, I will also be on the radio briefly tomorrow, providing an update on the activities of Toronto350.org. In particular, that means our work on the Energy East pipeline, divestment, the September climate march in Manhattan, and incorporation.

My public policy comprehensive exam is in 31 days.

Levels of dread and terror are spiking.

According to the examiners, the basic requirements for students are:

1. being familiar with the major approaches (and their authors) advanced to explain the policy process and policy outcomes;
2. understanding how these approaches differ in terms of their ontological assumptions about what units of analysis (individuals, collective entities of social action, institutions / social and economic structure, norms, etc) best explain policy-making;
3. understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different epistemological approaches (qualitative / quantitative) to explaining the policy process and its outcomes.

Between the core course and study group sessions, I have read a lot of the required material. The trouble is how it doesn’t really ‘stick’. I need to find ways to keep enough ideas, authors, and references in my head to satisfy the examiners on August 22nd.