Scattered Leaves

Some miscellaneous.

Fall is here and this is what it looks like from my vantage point on the 12th floor. Wish my office had a window...


I've finished my first assignment and presentation and got my feedback/grades - suffice it to say that I am pleasantly surprised at how they have been received. Brag brag brag. Now back to work.

Daija is still not eating and the pediatrician has ordered us to reduce her breast feeds in order to "encourage" her to eat. This makes for a grumpy girl. Which makes for grumpy parents.

New album out (well, out last month) from the folk super group Monsters of Folk. Made up of M. Ward, Connor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes fame, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket this is a diverse, pleasant album. Check it out.

We are realizing our jackets, clothes, etc... from Victoria are simply not going to cut it here (and it's not even really cold yet!) Time for some shopping.

I am now officially 2/3 completed my semester - where did the time go and wow, those final papers are coming up fast!

Being the season, we've been making some pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin pie milkshakes and Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread both from a local food blogger, Closet Cooking. Next up, Pumpkin Butter and Pumpkin Pie French Toast!

Now you're up to date and I've successfully procrastinated for 10 minutes!

When God Shows Up

How many times have you heard the phrase, usually after some intensely emotional church event, retreat, camp, worship night, etc..., "God showed up tonight" or "I love it when God shows up, it was awesome!"? When I hear this it grates on me. God showed up? Like a party guest, he knocked on the door, waited for you to let him in and then ate all your pretzels? Or was it more like the Aladdin genie who, with a rub of the lamp, popped out ready to give you your heart's desires? What do we mean by this?

Certainly there are times in scripture that give us some basis of this "showing up" phenomenon. There was the Holy of Holies in the temple where God permanently crashed, there was God talking to all sorts of people in the Old Testament (Moses in a burning bush, Elijah in a cave, Gideon, etc...), he arrived in tongues of fire at Pentecost. So let's not dismiss that perhaps God does indeed "show up" at times. What strikes me though about these examples, is that they are all to some extent physical manifestations of God (as long as we read the stories literally). Voices, bushes, flames - God showed up in ways that were direct, physical and validated in a sensory manner.

Is this what we mean when God shows up at the latest worship night? I hesitate to argue the point, but most likely no one saw any physical manifestations of God (unless someone spotted his outline in a grilled cheese...) The intended meaning is usually something akin to "I felt God's presence." Again, nothing wrong with this, that's a powerful feeling to be in the presence of the divine.

Yet, this statement feels to me a little juvenile, perhaps based too much on emotion. I think it feels this way to me because I believe God is everywhere. I know with every breath I take he is the sustainer, with every bud that grows that he is the creator, with every relationship built that he is the glue, with every trial faced that he is the healer. The idea behind the Pentecost was that that God left his spirit here to do his work among us, not just in prayer meetings or church services or summer camps, but in everything.

Perhaps, what really happens in settings such as church is that we are finally able to remove the multiplicity of distractions that close our eyes to God around us. In those moments we become aware of the closeness, the intimacy of our relationship. Perhaps it is not that God "shows up" but, in fact, we who "show up". The party has been going on the whole time, God has been in the house eating pretzels all the while, and finally we took time to stop, look around, knock on the door and join.

So when we say, "God showed up" it seems to me that the onus is on God to make an appearance - as if once in a blue moon he takes to the red carpet and graces us with his presence. In fact, every moment of every day he is there. The onus is on us to realize it, to see grace in the day to day, to interrogate what it is that is closing our eyes to it. Perhaps it takes a worship night to lead you to that place, maybe it's a quiet walk in a park while the leaves fall, it could be a the feeling of belonging as you tuck into turkey dinner with your family, perhaps a pint at the pub with great conversation and chicken pot pie. Whatever it is, God is there - it's up to us to see him.

Hart House Farm

This last weekend I had the chance to get out of the city for a 24 hr. retreat with people from my program. As we're all from different departments and different specialties I don't often meet or run into them so it was nice to gather, meet some new people, talk shop, get into the country etc...

We went out to a university owned property north of Brampton. First day was a foggy mess but we had fun tromping through the wetness. Here are some pics.


I think the caption for this one should read something akin to - "I think there's supposed to be trees around here somewhere... we just can't seem to find them



The next morning was clearer and it was nice to get out, play some frisbee golf, etc...



Ontario is actually pretty in the fall, you just don't really notice it in the city. Often I go my house, subway, my office, subway, my house - I just don't get the chance to see much besides buildings and streets. So it was a nice escape. And then it was back to the real world and an impending assignment....

P.S. For those of you not on Facebook, I posted pictures of Daija and you can see them here.

My Education in Education

A number of people have asked me what I am studying here in Toronto and when I give them the 4 word answer they stare at me rather blankly and I know I've failed to convey what it is I'm doing here. So, here's the full-meal deal of what I'm doing for those who are interested or have time to waste and so my wife can read this and know what I'm doing as well! Ha. As well, I find the more I have to explain what I am doing, the more I refine exactly what it is I'm doing!

I am enrolled in the Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE) in the department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE). Within this I am enrolled in the Comparative, International, and Development Education (CIDE) program which is a collaborative program involving all the departments in OISE.

I am taking 3 classes this semester and completely neglecting any thought on a thesis - though in all reality the research projects I am working on in these classes are part and parcel of where I want to head with that.

Foucault and Research in Education and Culture: Discourse, Power and the Subject
This course examines the writings and theories of Foucault with an eye to how they can be used to challenge current thinking in educational research and practice. Foucault was a French thinker who looked at how we view history, how discourses are created and used, and how institutions (such as schools) have been created by these discourses. For my research paper in this class I am looking at how indigenous oral traditions have been devalued by the dominant discourses of rationality and logic and how we can re-center them for use in a critical pedagogy.

Indigenous Knowledge and Decolonization: Pedagogical Implications
This course looks indigenous and marginalized forms of knowing and how we might use them for educational and global change. The idea is to look at how we validate certain forms of knowing and to challenge how, not only have we devalued forms of indigenous knowledge, but also appropriated and commodified certain values or techniques as our own. The purpose then of using indigenous knowledges is for decolonization on a variety of levels. For this research paper I am still somewhat undecided (which is not a good thing!) and am considering looking at how we might use indigenous knowing as a methodology rather than merely as a topic of study.

Spirituality and Schooling: Pedagogical Implications
This is in the same series of special topics on pedagogy as the last class and looks at how we might inegrate spirituality into the classroom and research. It looks as spirituality as a vital part of the individual's lived experiences and looks to ways that we can include that in the classroom in hopes to create an environment that engages the learner in a more holistic way. For this paper I am going to look at how in Western cultures we have created this idea or discourse of spirituality in response to the hegemony of organized religion but in the process we have individualized the concept and forgotten the collaborative/communal nature of spirituality, and in doing so limited the power of transformation.


This hopefully gives you a loose idea what in the world I'm doing here. I am working with indigenous knowledge forms and all that entails to see how we can integrate them into school systems as to reflect the lived experiences of the students, the connect their experience to the schooling process.

That said, all this is bound to change to some extent as a I wrestle it down to a thesis question and then try and grapple with the thousand aspects that need considering.

Wilco @ Massey Hall

This past Thursday I had the chance to attend a concert at the venerable Massey Hall in Toronto. For those not in the know, Massey Hall was the first theater in Canada built specifically for music performances in 1894, has held and had recorded some of the greatest shows in Canadian history (Bob Dylan, Dizzie Gillespie, Gordon Lightfoot, Oscar Peterson, etc..) as I learned by browsing the plaques/posters in their lounge. It also clued into me that this is the home of the Massey Lectures, of which I am a big fan of Stephen Lewis's 2005 lecture, Race Against Time.

It's quite an impressive venue, high vaulted ceilings with a real classic feel to it.


One of the posters from the 1940's I believe talked about how Massey Hall was THE place to be seen and last year's ballgown was just not good enough!

Now it holds a more modern audience and more modern shows and I was there in my jeans to see one of my favorite groups, Wilco. If I had a list of Top 5 concerts to see they would likely be on it - and it did not disapoint. I had a sweet seat as well, center 1st balcony half way up.

There's a good write up of the show, pictures, and video here at BlogTO - livewire opening act of Liam Finn from Australia, all the favorites from Wilco who rocked out (man, when they get all 3 axes going there is some serious rockin' going on!), special guest appearance by TO native Feist to perform her duet of You & I - it lived up to my expectations.

I had read a review of Wilco's first show the night before and it mentioned something along the lines that Wilco was now "dad-rock", which slightly shocked me seeing as I don't view myself as quite that aniquated. At the show I took the time to look around and realize I was certainly in the younger half of the audience and much to my chagrin there certainly were a good number of dads there. I guess I am no teenage rocker any more, no college rocker any more, just a lover of good ol' "dad-rock"!

Russian Imperial Stout Cheesecake

With Nolana gone (almost done week 1 of 3!) I took the chance to make something she wasn't all that appealed by - Russian Imperial Stout Cheesecake. Though I'm not sure why it wasn't appealing - what girl doesn't like a rich, chocolaty, cheesecake?

For those of you not in the know, Russian Imperial Stout is an old English style that was made extra strong for export to the Russian courts. It typically has rich chocolate and roasted malt characteristics. It's ultra dark and ultra big, often weighing in near the 10% alcohol mark.

I found this recipe over at BC Beer Blog and I used Green Flash's Double Stout. Normally I find Green Flash a little on the hoppier side of stouts but this had about a year of age on it and had mellowed considerably. For those in BC or Alberta, North Coast's Old Rasputin would work or Phillips The Hammer when it comes out in January, or any other Imperial Stout.

First step is degassing the beer which involved pouring the beer between 2 containers to get all the carbonation out.

Next main ingredient was the dark Belgian chocolate which was melted in a makeshift double boiler and was super tasty!


Everything was then blended into the cream cheese, and all onto the Oreo cookie crust.


Into the oven, and out comes an amazing chocolate cheesecake. All the while, the best part of cooking with beer is that there's usually leftovers!


For serving it I held back a few chips of the Belgian chocolate, melted them and drizzled it over the cheesecake and then just slivered some white chocolate on top.

It was fan-frickin-tastic! Decadent, rich chocolate flavor - can't tell there's beer in there. We paired it with Great Divide's Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout which was terrific. It's also suggested that you can garnish with a fruit and then pair it with a nice fruity lambic which would work in my opinion. If you could get your hands on bottles of Wisconsin's New Glarus Raspberry Tart or Belgian Red, those would be phenomenal with this.

After all this, I'm saving a piece for Nolana and I to share when she gets back - I'm pretty sure she'll love it.

2 Weeks Down, X to Go

All my good intentions about regular blogging hit the wall called Grad School and I can tell you now, the outcome wasn't pretty.

Two weeks into my studies and more often than not I feel overwhelmed. Though there have been lots of good moments when I feel I can show my profs that I belong, etc... More so, it's really trying to settle in my own mind that I belong, that I can do work at this level, and that I can excel. It's more the peripheral stuff that's overwhelming. Research grants, papers, ethics reviews, orientations, getting office space, late Friday evening discussion groups, thesis proposals, supervisors, review boards... all this stuff that it seems I'm supposed to know about!

Though in 2 weeks I do feel I've progressed in determining my path here... which only muddles more things. Going into my degree the program was all coursework with an option for a theses and I think I'm going for that option. My meeting with my advisor went something like, "Yeah, that sounds great (after hearing my loose proposal), lots for your thesis there, don't waste time on your Masters, get it done and get into your PhD and that's where you'll really get into the research you want." PhD? Ha.

Anyways, aside from school, Nolana has left today for 3 weeks of cross the country visiting of family with Daija, leaving me to fend for myself for that time. We'll meet up for a day in Calgary in the middle for sister's wedding but, other than that, flying solo for 3 weeks. That's a long time.

Daija is growing up like crazy. First teeth are coming in, finally. She's been wanting to learn how to walk recently but no dice there yet, only a lot more spills. Heck, but who knows what she'll be doing in 3 months time.

I put pictures of her up here on Facebook, you can check them out even if you're not a Facebooker.

I'll check back in over the next few weeks so you all know I'm still alive.