Category: Writing

Anything on the process or results of writing as an activity and a passion

Toronto350.org bibliography party

One element of developing Toronto350.org has been learning how to do complex cooperative work using a devoted group of volunteers.

This afternoon, we are having a ‘bibliography party’ for our University of Toronto divestment brief.

We will be taking all the sources people have collected and putting them into biblatex format. It will then be easy to incorporate them into our LaTeX document and produce nicely formatted footnotes and a good bibliography.

Then it will just be a matter of finishing each section of the brief and sending it out to experts for comment. It will need to be run by some people who can comment on the science, others who can comment on the law, and others who are familiar with the U of T administration.

In the end, we should have an authoritative and meticulously cited document explaining why divestment makes ethical and financial sense, and why it is in keeping with the university’s existing divestment policy.

In which I continue to have no time for fun

An extremely preliminary version of the Toronto 350.org divestment brief has been pulled together.

Now to work on the second version of my self deception paper (due Tuesday), a new paper on globalization for my Canadian politics core seminar (due Thursday), my forthcoming presentation on the patriation of Canada’s constitution (the 26th), and my two term papers.

I also need to sort out the details of moving out of Massey and into cheaper accommodation for the summer.

38 more days

I am entering the final long run of work for this term.

For Toronto350.org, the big thing is the brief we are preparing explaining why the University of Toronto should divest from fossil fuels.

For my coursework, I have three major papers to complete. The final paper for my Incomplete Conquests course – which can be up to 8,000 words – is due on April 5th. I have a meeting with the professor tomorrow to talk about possible topics. Given that I need to give a presentation on the patriation of Canada’s constitution for that class on March 26th, it will probably be a good idea to incorporate that material into my essay. I also need to write the major paper for my year-long Canadian politics core seminar (20-25 pages). It’s meant to be something suitable for submission to a conference or a journal, and it may end up being about climate change and federalism, extending on the short paper on that topic I already wrote for that class. The first draft of my paper for my Self Deception class was not well received. Apparently, a lot more engagement with the literature was expected. Given that I am not actually enrolled in the course, I will need to decide how much time to allocate to the next two drafts, given competing commitments. In addition to all that, I have two more short papers due on the 21st and 28th of this month as well as all the ordinary assigned reading for my three weekly seminars.

For my teaching assistant work, I have a few more tutorials to teach and essays to discuss – then a second midterm to invigilate and grade, as well as final grades to prepare.

At this stage, my own research work (the ostensible purpose of a PhD) is completely on hold while I deal with coursework and teaching obligations and try to keep things moving with 350.org.

This week, I should learn whether I have been accepted to the Global Power Shift conference in Istanbul from June 24th to 30th. That will influence what sort of paid work I end up looking for for the summer.

Finally, for this Friday I need to decide whether to stay in Massey College for the summer. Rent rises to $1,000 per month, and the only meals provided are breakfasts. I could save money by moving somewhere cheaper, but there would be the inconvenience of moving twice. I also need to bear in mind my forthcoming comprehensive examination in Canadian politics. I need to write it on either May 23rd (71 days from now) or August 22nd (162 days).

It’s probably for the best that my camera is still broken.

Mark Jaccard on the Harper government’s climate legacy

Mark Jaccard in The Walrus:

“The Harper government supports accelerating the extraction of fossil fuels from our soil, which will send more carbon pollution into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, that same government brazenly assures Canadians that it will keep its 2020 and 2050 emission reduction promises. But I know these assurances are worthless, for the very reason that Chrétien’s Kyoto promise was worthless. The 2020 target is only seven years away. Emissions have fallen slightly because of the global recession. However, the combination of economic growth and oil sands expansion will increase emissions. In a chapter of the Auditor General’s spring 2012 report, “Meeting Canada’s 2020 Climate Change Commitments,” his commissioner on environment and sustainability, Scott Vaughan, noted, “It is unlikely that enough time is left to develop and establish greenhouse gas regulations… to meet the 2020 target.” Instead, Canada is on a path to be “7.4 percent above its 2005 level instead of 17 percent below.””

Strongs word from the author of Sustainable Fossil Fuels.

“Star Wars civilization”

Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and the rest of life.

Wilson, Edward O. The Social Conquest of Earth. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2012) p.7 (hardcover)

Now a last-minuter

From a time-management perspective, I seem to have become a much worse student since my undergrad days.

Right now, I am on a computer in my study working on drafts of two papers simultaneously (one due tomorrow, one due Thursday). Occasionally, I am drifting back to the well-lit zone in my bedroom to do the readings on which these two papers are ostensibly based.

Peppering all of these tasks are asides in which I make note of things to discuss at tomorrow’s 350 meeting and try to schedule this week’s remaining obligations.

Mid-February meltdown

Somehow, this coming week is shaping up to be even more insane than the weeks so far this term.

I have to grade all the papers from my international relations students by Thursday (after re-reading the papers they are based on), as well as do the reading for this week’s tutorials and teach them on Monday.

I have two papers of my own to write: a book review for my ‘incomplete conquests’ class and a paper for my Canadian politics core seminar on: “Does the Canadian study of federalism suffer from too much or too little theory?” (I don’t even know what that means!)

I have two sections of the Toronto350.org divestment brief due tomorrow, hundreds of emails to answer (as always), two term paper topics to decide on and begin researching, the Toronto350.org Termly General Meeting on Tuesday night, and all the ordinary reading for next week’s three classes.

I also need to send my 24-70 lens back to Canon because, in fixing the fall damage, they broke the autofocus/manual focus switch. Plus, there is lots of routine stuff that has piled up, like six issues of The Economist to read.

Burke on rights and generations

“The political philosopher par excellence of the organic constitution was the Anglo-Irish theorist and statesman Edmund Burke, who wrote a century after Locke. Burke did not share the Age of Enlightenment’s optimism about the capacity for each rational individual to discern fundamental political truths. ‘The individual is foolish, but the species is wise.’ Instead of abstract natural rights, Burke believed in the real rights and obligations which grow out of the social conventions and understandings that hold society together. For Burke, the social contract which formed the foundation of society was not between individuals here and now but from one generation to another, each handing on to the next the product of its collective wisdom. The Burkean notion of an organic constitution has little appeal for those who, unlike the English, have not enjoyed a long and relatively uninterrupted constitutional history. But it was certainly congenial to the Canadian Fathers of Confederation who, though organizing a new country, did not for a moment conceive of themselves as authoring a brand new constitution.”

Russell, Peter. Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign Poeple? Third edition. p.10 (hardcover)