Hit and Miss #173: Revisiting

December 27, 2020

I’m cozied up in bed, looking out on snow-covered trees, a few birds hopping form branch to branch, doing the quiet work of staying alive on this bright,...

Hit and Miss #172: Five books for the year

December 20, 2020

I have few traditions in my life. One, though, has emerged from this newsletter: a pre-Christmas roundup of significant books from my year’s reading. (For...

Hit and Miss #171: Ugh, algorithms

December 13, 2020

We’re living in one of the least interesting timelines, as far as consumer algorithms go. Allow me to weave a few threads together… 1. Revealed preference...

Hit and Miss #170: PolySeSouvient

December 6, 2020

Today’s newsletter is heavier, discussing violence against women. All good if you’re not in the headspace for it. Today is the anniversary of the École...

Hit and Miss #169: Waiting

November 29, 2020

Whew, here we are. The end of November. I hope you’re keeping well. C’est busy, hereabouts. I muddle through by grasping at little routines: the morning...

Hit and Miss #168: Adventuring

November 22, 2020

Hello! I’m off on an adventure this morning, to buy valve oil from a music store in suburban Ottawa. Ah, the joys of living without a car. But I’m excited to...

Hit and Miss #167: For the love of knowledge

November 15, 2020

Shortly after I sent it, the title of last week’s newsletter took on new significance. I wrote “Trivial links” to bring together some different pieces that’d...

Hit and Miss #166: Trivial links

November 8, 2020

Morning! If your week went anything like mine did, there was a lot of refreshing Twitter, scrolling, doing something else, refreshing Twitter, scrolling, etc...

Hit and Miss #165: Blowing hot air

November 1, 2020

A windy Sunday to you! I love intense winds: walking in them, buffeted about, breath catching unexpectedly—what a thrill! I’ll be brief today, as I have some...

Hit and Miss #164: Argh

October 25, 2020

It’s been a heavy week, and the first section of today’s newsletter reflects that—if that’s not for you this week, that’s totally cool. Please skip ahead to...

Hit and Miss #163: On Mi’kmaw waters

October 18, 2020

Sometimes Twitter* seems to turn its attention to one issue. The feed fills with folks discussing something unfolding in real time. These past few days have...

Hit and Miss #162: A sense of perspective

October 11, 2020

Hi! It’s been a weekend full of long walks and calls with family and friends—wonderfully so. I spent the morning rambling among trees, yellow, orange, and...

Hit and Miss #161: Leafing through

October 4, 2020

The last days of September and first few of October are always special ones, but this week especially so. It was filled with anniversaries, birthdays, time...

Hit and Miss #160: Books at hand

September 27, 2020

As stores gradually reopened over the summer, I realized it’d been several months since I’d bought a book. This was probably a good thing—growing the stacks...

Hit and Miss #159: COVID crime

September 20, 2020

A fine Sunday to you! Earlier this week, Ontario announced a new set of “compliance mechanisms” to try to reduce community spread of COVID-19. Billed as “the...

Hit and Miss #158: Rainy morning adventures

September 13, 2020

Hullo! This morning was spent adventuring along Ottawa River paths with a fun group of folks. Trying to respect public health measures while not spending...

Hit and Miss #157: Maintenance, care, attention

September 6, 2020

Good morning! It’s been a quiet week for me, filled with walking and reading. I’ve been happily in my own head—but am looking forward to emerging and re-...

Hit and Miss #156: Week in review

August 30, 2020

Good afternoon! The morning: I’ve been back in Ottawa less than a day, and I’ve already walked 12 km. I feel like Craig Mod after a long walk—refreshed,...

Hit and Miss #155: TV time and world-building

August 23, 2020

No, you spent two and a half hours diving into digitized microfilm this morning instead of, I dunno, enjoying the sunshine or something. (If you’re curious,...

Hit and Miss #154: Remembering (how) to relax

August 16, 2020

Friday afternoon, I wrapped up work and began my longest stretch of time off since 2017. It started with driving country roads to a windy fish and chips...

Hit and Miss #153: Roads

August 9, 2020

Yesterday was a driving day, so naturally I’m thinking about roads. Antidote, my dictionary app of choice, tells me that “road” is “from the native lexical...

Hit and Miss #152: Rainy day thoughts

August 2, 2020

I put two ice cubes in my glass fifteen minutes ago, and they're only half melted. That’s a good sign—the temperatures this morning are reasonable (indeed,...

Hit and Miss #151: Some links

July 26, 2020

Hullo! I’m trying to not over-do the computer time today, so I’ll just send along some links. How does civic tech (in the broadest sense of the term)...

Hit and Miss #150: Virtual community

July 19, 2020

Hello there! I spent yesterday driving back to Ottawa (yay for family visits, yay for roadtrips!), and meant to take today slowly to recover. Stuff came up,...

Hit and Miss #149: Snapshots of the week

July 12, 2020

Another quiet week for my brain—filled with family time and working time, with little else going on. And that’s okay! Some snapshots of my week (in words...

Hit and Miss #148: Halfway through 2020

July 5, 2020

Well, here we are. Just over halfway through 2020. I’m trying to relax, so maybe just a few links. The philanthropy-driven not-for-profit sector allows...

Hit and Miss #147: One link to listen

June 28, 2020

Hi, I can’t seem to do much other than yawn and lay around this weekend. So it goes. Just one link from me for you today. Nina Simone performing “Stars” at...

Hit and Miss #146: Heat, work, history

June 21, 2020

Hello there! It’s hot. A few years ago, I linked to some articles on the social and political dimensions of heat, and a piece on the social construction of...

Hit and Miss #145: Who’s watching?

June 14, 2020

Hello there! It’s a gorgeous day in Ottawa, as far as the weather goes. It was good to get out and breathe a bit today—life hasn’t let up, but being in the...

Hit and Miss #144: What to say

June 7, 2020

What to say—what not to say. When to speak—when not to speak. To whom to listen, to whom to cede the floor. Struggling over words aside, there’s one phrase...

Hit and Miss #143: A difficult week

May 31, 2020

Friends, it’s been a week. Personally, professionally, and, well, for the world at large, but especially here in North America, this has been a week of long...

Hit and Miss #142: To your taste

May 24, 2020

Hello there! It’s a gloriously sunny Sunday. The heat approaches, but I’m quieting my anxiety over that, trying to enjoy today. Here are some links I...

Hit and Miss #141: New shelves

May 17, 2020

Hello there! In the first issue of this newsletter, I described the process of unboxing and reshelving my books after moving to a new apartment. Accepting...

Hit and Miss #140: In memoriam

May 10, 2020

Hello, A heads-up before we start. Today’s letter will be a little more personal—and longer—than usual. It’s about death and grief during these different,...

Hit and Miss #139: Beautiful words

May 3, 2020

We could all use more beauty in our lives. Beautiful words can carry important reminders or profound thoughts, they can inspire us to reflection or to...

Hit and Miss #138: Wordy cookbooks

April 26, 2020

Good day to you! It’s cloudy here, but that’s not getting to me too much—things feel decidedly alright. Mine wasn’t the best of weeks. There was nothing...

Hit and Miss #137: Day off reading

April 19, 2020

Good morning to you! Today’s going to be a day off for me (though not an off day). Here are cool things I encountered this week (thanks to friends who shared...

Hit and Miss #136: Parliament carries on

April 12, 2020

A fine morning to you! I started my day thinking I’d avoid computers entirely. Then I remembered realized that today’s Sunday (extra long weekends, oops). So...

Hit and Miss #135: Personal websites

April 5, 2020

Good morning folks! It’s a drizzly Sunday morning—I’m soaking up the quiet and watching Urbanized. Last week, Ethan Marcotte wrote about redesigning his...

Hit and Miss #134: Do nothing struggles

March 29, 2020

The collected answers to last week’s question (What comforts you?) are at the end of the email. There’s a new question this week! Hello there! A friend...

Hit and Miss #133: Sims

March 22, 2020

I’m trying something out, a little more interactive, with this newsletter. Consider sticking around until the end, or skipping ahead, to participate. I’m...

Hit and Miss #132: Now so fast, history so slow

March 15, 2020

Six weeks ago was the end of January. My head thinks February just started. I have to remind myself that I was home for a whole week, for my birthday, in the...

Hit and Miss #131: Finding focus

March 8, 2020

Good morning, folks! Actually, as I write this, it’s no longer morning—but it’s sunny outside my window, and the clocks just changed, so everything feels...

Hit and Miss #130: 2x3 links (misc, archives) and a phrase

March 1, 2020

Hello there! A bright Sunday morning to you. Despite being buried in schoolwork the past week, I’ve somehow managed to accumulate a fair number of...

Hit and Miss #129: Spring, feelings, readings

February 23, 2020

Maybe the groundhog was right—spring feels on its way. We’ve a run of above-zero days, the Canal has closed “until further notice”, and the air is gradually...

Hit and Miss #128: Family time

February 16, 2020

Two things happen when I return home to Waterloo: I track my time much less rigorously. Of the time I do track, much of it is filled by long stretches with...

Hit and Miss #127: Collected links

February 9, 2020

Hello there! I’ve had a bit of an off week, thanks to some health troubles. No alarm bells going off today, but heading in for more checkups tomorrow. Fret...

Hit and Miss #126: Mining my messages

February 2, 2020

Somehow it’s February already?? This morning, a friend and I did a site visit for a course on Indigenous histories and public discourse in Ottawa. (We went...

Hit and Miss #125: Facilitating access

January 26, 2020

I’m writing to you from one of my favourite spots, a library. Libraries are institutional versions of the role I’d like to play in life, that of a trusted...

Hit and Miss #124: Snow slow

January 19, 2020

Snow has been the story the past few days, here in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada—particularly in Newfoundland. There have been some entertaining stories...