Hit and Miss

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...

Hit and Miss #123: Retreat to the wholesome

January 12, 2020

Well, it’s been quite the start to the year, hasn’t it? It’s been a hard week in Ottawa, in Canada, and beyond. And this morning Ontario Twitter came...

Hit and Miss #122: Archives and walking and links

January 5, 2020

Hello! Here’s to you, here’s to 2020—let’s take this one with gusto, shall we? (Or, y’know, with whatever we can muster. I’m here with and for you...

Hit and Miss #121: Engage!

December 29, 2019

Hello! Apologies if you only got last week’s issue yesterday. My newsletter provider had a bit of a hiccup, but it’s been sorted. I’ve been home sick since...

Hit and Miss #120: This year’s books

December 22, 2019

Goodness, am I glad it’s the Sunday before Christmas. I was drawing a blank as to what to write about—it’s been a long week—before remembering that in 2018...

Hit and Miss #119: Top shelf (think books, not booze)

December 15, 2019

Hello there! Today’s been for squirrelling away on a paper, hence the late(ish) hour. (But it’s an interesting one! Comparing civic tech to the American...

Hit and Miss #118: Thirty years later

December 8, 2019

Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the École Polytechnique shootings. Thirty years on, we find ourselves still grappling with the same issues. The freshly...

Hit and Miss #117: Principles of parliamentary practice

December 1, 2019

It’s the start of December! While that carries with it bits of stress for various reasons, we’re* lucky this year because it also marks the start of a new...

Hit and Miss #116: Web links

November 24, 2019

When I want to feel optimistic about technology, I turn to people who help shape the web. (Woo, “web”!) Often these folks have thoughts on blogging, on web...

Hit and Miss #115: P-p-p-policy!! (Or, what Lucas does at work)

November 17, 2019

Hello there! A happy Sunday to you. I’m writing after a weekend of coffees, walks, reading, and Don Giovanni. Also rom-coms. I hope yours was equally...

Hit and Miss #114: A parliamentary (precinct) tour

November 10, 2019

Yesterday, some friends and I toured the House of Commons and Senate. On the way over, one asked whether I’d hold back from correcting the guide—which I...

Hit and Miss #113: Stories beyond the data

November 3, 2019

Happy day of the time change, “when 2 becomes 1”! Datasets can be seductive. A series of aerial photos, a building registry, or a big table of biographical...

Hit and Miss #112: Public service

October 27, 2019

Earlier this week, a friend shared a profile of Art Allen, an American public servant whose quiet work over several decades greatly improved marine search...

Hit and Miss #111: Functions of a living situation

October 20, 2019

Last night, I was reflecting on the essential functions of a living situation. What kind of activities should a living situation support? I arrived at a...

Hit and Miss #110: The sites I visit

October 13, 2019

Hello! Waterloo for the long weekend, voted yesterday, and visiting with family. It’s a good time. I’ve been playing with structured data a lot lately (more...

Hit and Miss #109: The slump

October 6, 2019

Whether feeling especially up or down, it’s good to remember that the other will come soon enough. The peak transforms into a slump. But some things can pull...

Hit and Miss #108: Models for decision and action

September 29, 2019

How do we organize to take decisions and act on the results? Thinking here of processes that often—but not always—produce some thing as a result. Two...

Hit and Miss #107: A drop-in space

September 22, 2019

Hello there, My parents have been part of a walking group for almost 6 years; it’s been around for at least 12. Every Saturday morning, folks meet up, walk...

Hit and Miss #106: Bookmark finds

September 15, 2019

Hello! I’m in Waterloo for a brief family visit. It’s nice to be here. Enjoying time together, I’ve had little time to read or write. Here, then, are some...

Hit and Miss #105: Travelling in place

September 8, 2019

Next weekend, Ottawa’s LRT will open to the public, after more than a year of missed deadlines. In the coming weeks, most of the system’s routes will shift...

Hit and Miss #104: Through the eyes of another

September 1, 2019

This weekend, I visited some family friends. We discussed many things during my visit, conversing over meals and a puzzle and a campfire. A few times, we...

Hit and Miss #103: Structure

August 25, 2019

Hello there! Structure matters. It often goes unnoticed, unmentioned. But it’s always there: a guiding force, influencing what happens within, around, or...

Hit and Miss #102: A geography of intentional sound

August 18, 2019

A neighbour’s A/C unit powered on, adding a buzz to the sounds of bees, cicadas, and traffic. It was quiet there, in a suburban backyard, quiet and private....

Hit and Miss #101: Happy days

August 11, 2019

Hello there! I’ll try to keep this one short, as I’m soon off to help a friend move and then head home to Waterloo. Yesterday was a very happy day. One I’d...