Amartya Sen is awesome!

My aha! moment this month was this (and I hope this makes sense, because it's like an explosion in my head):

I can link my specific CED project in Montreal (very concrete) with Amartya Sen's capability approach to economic development (VERY theoretical)!!

This may seem banal and very simple, and my explanation of it is very boiled down and summarised, I admit, but actually being able to take what I learn in the academic setting directly into the real world is pretty amazing (and those of you have done an undergraduate degree know where I'm coming from!)

Don't get me wrong, I think my B.A. prepared me for starting to work in my field and I value my education up to this point very much. But actually seeing how I can put into practice such a theoretical philosophy - read some Sen and you'll see just how theoretical it seems - is one of the most exciting things to happen since I started my Masters.

Ok, back to my literature review ;)
See you later!

After autumn comes...

It's November already? I have been really excited about winter this year because we bipassed it completely last year, but now that I'm cold all the time and only two of our heaters work, I'm not so sure anymore. Hopefully the skating and snow-shoeing will make up in fun what I'm lacking in warmth.

November also means I'm halfway through my first semester of my Masters program! My three courses this semester have definitely kept me busy, and I'm wondering how I'll fit in two more next semester, but overall I'm having a blast. My biggest time swallower is the first of a four-seesmter course called CED Project. This fall I'm doing all the preliminary research for this project, which will take place in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Having done all the statistical research in my first month, this month I concentrated on primary research - interviews, focus group discussions, surveys - so that I am actually getting advice and feedback from people directly in the community. My project idea is beginning to take shape and I'm so excited/nervous/terrified to actually get it started next summer.

In October, Charlie and Alix and I went to the Botanical Gardens for their annual Chinese lantern festival. It was actually the first time I'ven ever been and it is so stunning. The Montreal Botanical Gardens have a really close relationship with the Chinese Botanical Gardens, and so alot of our expositions and gardens have Asian themes and styles. This lantern exposition takes a year to complete: around this time of year, the Montreal team draws the designs for next year, then they send the designs to China, where each piece is hand-made, which takes a few month, and then they have to ship them to Montreal to arrive around July, and its taks almost two months to put them all up!

Catching up

I located more tv coverage of the SCTNow event. It's from a French station - V - and I was interviewed for it!
Click here to watch it.

Also here are some pictures from our weekend in New Hampshire this month:

Hanging out with Dan's friend, Brian, in Portsmouth

Discovering Golden Bowl restaurant in Manchester... yum!

Charlie trying to be cooperative for a picture, Dan refusing

And...

Beautiful sunset on our way home

Busy, so very busy

I have so busy that I forgot to write about my last weekend in New Hampshire! And I haven't even put my pictures on my computer so that'll be for next time.

The truth is I'm LOVING school! I cannot even fathom how much work I have to do, and even though I've been steadily chipping away at it over the past week and a half, I recently realised that I've been only working on the tip of the iceberg! But it is so fascinating and I love reminding myself that I am doing exaclty what I want to be doing.

Two weekends ago, Charlie and I went down to New Hampshire with our two very good friends, Geneviève and Dan. Of course I spent most of my time in class, but we were also able to get in some good shopping and eating together and even went to Portsmouth to visit Dan's friend one evening, where I ate a rather fabulous pulled pork sandwich.

My courses went really well, I love my classmates and my professors and feel I'm learning so much. In Principles, Practices and Policy of ICED, we had a class debate, for which I had to argue, to my utter horror, that economic growth is a better indicator of a country's progress than human development indicators (for example, infant mortality rates, literacy levels, educational attainment, political freedoms, to name a few). But my team really rallied and got very good feedback from the prof. In the end, I was glad to argue something opposite my actual opinion because it helps me better understand and formulate what I do believe.

In Project Design, which is my most demanding course this semester, we discussed primary research and problem tree analyses. In the afternoon, we divided into our three groups (the international cohort forming one group) and discussed Theory U (see earlier post for my thoughts of that). It was a great discussion. I have a lot to do to complete my research for this course, but I'm really enjoying doing the literature review and community interviews. Sometime in the near future (when I have a better handle on it myself) I'll write about what I'm researching and the issue I hope to address in my project over the next two years.

Other than that, Accounting was really fun - and I'm not even kidding! It's kind of an easy class, as long as I keep on my doing homework. This class makes me feel like I'm in grade school again, filling in the balnks in my workbook!!

Thanks for keeping up with me, I feel the love!

Posting again

Hi everyone!

I'm going to start posting again. I hope to post once every week or two.

I've really been thinking about putting together a short lesson for people about to head off on Mission Trips or Hero Vacations or any other type of trip that doesn't solely include tourism. Since living in Cambodia, I've been grappling with questions regarding how we treat those that we encounter in these situations.

I'll be going through this process to work through these questions myself, but also to try to put down on screen my thoughts in a somewhat cogent manner. I will really try to keep the ranting to a minimum and the aha! moments to a maximum.

Ok, hope you enjoy!

P.S. Julia just posted so don't forget to read her post too!

What I am reading these days...

Well, if you haven't already guessed, most of my reading these days has been for academic purposes. It's a good thing I'm lovinf what I'm studying, then, eh?

A couple weeks ago, I had to read the summary of a book called Theory U, by Otto Scharmer. He challenges leaders to look at problem-solving from an unconventional perspective. He argues that we are blind to what he calls the “source dimension” of action, which is the inner place from which individuals operate. By listening to the attitudes and opinions of others, leaders can invite those around them into the decision-making process and shape how their teams respond to situations.

As I've mulled over the article again and again over the past days, I think what really stuck with me was his explanation of the different levels of listening that we employ when interacting with one another. He desribes four levels of listening: download, factual, empathic, and generative.

Download and factual listening are superficial ways of listening, wherein we are either reconfirming (download) or disconfirming (factual) our previsouly held beliefs and knowledge. He challenges us to push past that and learn to listen to others on a deeper level, either empathically (e.g. walking in someone else’s shoes), but preferably generatively (i.e. going beyond mere communication into communion with someone).

Really, this theory is intrinsic to being an effective CED practitioner. By learning to listen to those we are working with and for, not only can we move from symptom level response to addressing systemic root level issues, we are achieving some of the very principles that define CED: participation and inclusiveness.

Very fun stuff, no?! Speaking of fun, and because I don't want to mislead anyone by allowing them to think all I do is study, here are a couple picture of the girls and me at B Side last night! It was a blast!

Stop Child Trafficking Walk in Montreal

Yesterday, over 100 people gathered in Philip's Square, downtown Montreal for the walk to Stop Child Trafficking!! Charlie and I were part of the planning committee that put together the event and it went very smoothly and very well, despite the drizzling rain that ever threatened to turn into showers. Many different community organisations were represented and Joy Smith and supporters of Bill C-268 were there as well.

The walk was a short circuit on Ste. Catherine Street and de Maisonneuve, and by the time we got back to the rally site, we had gained quite a few people! Joy Smith, Andree Ruffo and Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu were the main speakers at the rally and they were all very passionate about the issue of child trafficking. Many media outlets were present as well; here are some links to those articles and videos:
CTV article
CTV video (click on "Child Trafficking a Domestic Problem")
24H Montreal

The last debate on Bill C-268 will take place this Tuesday and the vote will be this Thursday. All parties but one are in favour of passing this bill; please email you MP to give them your support and encourage them to vote this through!