Life Love 41: An Autumn’s run in the woods

Autumn has always been my favourite season. It has always signaled new beginnings for me – perhaps because I am a university professor and I love the return of the students, the pageant of learning that unfolds around me at McMaster in September and October. I do think that it’s more than that, though – …

Life Love 40: The excitement of political action

It is so easy to feel disconnected. It’s simple to think that we are powerless in front of those who run the world, making it turn more quickly or slow it down to suit their purposes. It’s easy to slink off into a cynical corner to shut our eyes and fall into the sleep of …

15 (okay 20) authors who have marked me…

Someone challenged me to write the first 15 authors who have influenced my thinking. This was hard to do. I could probably list about 100, but these are the ones that feel fresh and foundational at the same time in my mind right now. I cheated and listed 20 – but this list feels pretty …

My Keynote at REVISE: Social Media is a Key to Personal Branding

On Friday afternoon, I gave a keynote address and three one-hour workshops on building a personal brand using social media at REVISE, an event organised by Steph Seagram, program director, Cossart Exchange in Hamilton, and Vanessa Sage, a PhD student in Anthropology (working on the James St N arts renaissance in Hamilton). The theme of …

Life-Love 39: Receiving a friendly note of support

Our days are so very full of worry and concern. We worry about our work, our friends, even our own level of fatigue. Our minds crackle with the static of constant concern and often we feel a electric jolt of anxiety at something that we forgot or that has just popped up. Perhaps it was …

Life-Love 36: Bookstore afternoons

C.S. Lewis once said: “We read to know that we are not alone.” I love bookstores – the smell of books and coffee, a chubby, old cat lying langourously on a shelf, surveying the proceedings. I love the thoughtful look on people’s faces as they browse the shelves, letting their eyes drift across the colourful …

IPR Measurement Summit Oct 6-8

For the last three days, I was immersed in a meeting of the measured minds of practitioners and academics at the Institute for Public Relations Measurement Summit. It was the first time I have attended this summit – I was invited to go with my good friend, Andrew Laing, president of Cormex Research in Toronto. …

Life-Love 35: Waking up to a sparkling harbour view

I love seaside hotels. There is no happier paradise for me than an elegant hotel in a beautiful setting, but my favourites are always grand hotels by the sea – either a room overlooking the open blue vastness stretching out to the infinite horizon, or a window that lets you watch a harbour awaken in …