A propos of yesterday’s post on strategic planning, Cameron Norman has a nice post today on working with organizations as a consultant engaging in strategic design and helping contracted work land and be integrated within client organizations.
My buddy Tenneson is inviting a little weekly practice with his Wander Wednesday series. Today he asks What is a gift of slowing down for you? I’m about to join him on a call with a client in the next hour, so this little space here, a chance to read inspiring bits from my blogroll and take a moment to reflect on them without just scrolling by, that is the gift. In face since I’ve been blogging nearly daily again since June, I find that this practice has slowed down how I consume the great ideas that surround me and invited me to reflect on them. I’m not really writing for anyone other than me (but I hope if you drop in here you also find stuff that resonates with you). The gift of slowing down is the chance to try things on. Like I’m looking at some really nice shirts on the rack at the store, but unless I can see how they look on me I may never remember that I saw them. And the way my brain works, it’s not a slam dunk that anything I post here or reflect upon will stick, but by writing about things – by ACTUALLY engaging – I get to try them on.
Do things because they are just worth doing. Not everything nets you a return. Blogging is to social media what hiking is to commuting I think.
The Ambassador Bridge is a crucial piece of international infrastructure connecting Canada to the US, between the cities of Windsor and Detroit. I had no idea it was a privately-owned bridge, nor did I understand the extent of to which this bridge has exacerbated misery in Detroit for decades. The emergent outcomes of this structure stemming from what it is, who owns it and what it means are incredible. 99% Invisible has a great episode on the bridge with a harrowing postscript. That’s my “today I learned…”
As things scale they become their own things, different from the parts that make them up, and exhibiting characteristics that are unpredictable given the way smaller scales work. This is the phenomena of emergence. When I was a kid, being a geography nerd, I learned about Bosnywash, the megalopolis that stretches from Boston to Washington. The only region like that in Canada is the Golden Horseshoe, perhaps including Ottawa and Montreal. Travelling in these spaces, one realizes that the mega city operates similar to the smaller cities, but at a huge scale, and without regional governance. Instead of subways there is a regional train network. Instead of markets there are hundreds of thousands of hectares of warehouses and distrubtion hubs. A new kind of city emerges, similar but different from its constituent parts. And those constituent parts are themselves emergent aggregations of the original villages and settlements that existed before. Doc Searles reflects on this phenomenon today in a post worth reading with some great links.
If you want to really go down the emergence rabbit hole, check this out. Here is a short paper on consciousness as an emergent property of life. Consciousness is not a guaranteed outcome of a living system but life is neseccary for consciousness. That paper is a response to this one: “Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism”, which is seeking to understand the issues of consciousness in AI form an emergence perspective. Anil Seth argues for biological naturalism, which to me is a relief. But the story isn’t easy.
We are entering a period of knuckle-down trade negotiations with our closest trading partner, The United States. This whole year has been a whitewater ride of trying to keep an economy going, while random and arbitrary trade sanctions have been placed in the way of the cross border streams. Here in Canada, many people are outright refusing to buy made in US goods. Sectoral tariffs have hit industries like steel making very hard, whose operations are vulnerable becasue they are tied into long-term market obligations with US buyers. Likewise the forest industry who is finally pivoting to asking for help with value added operations instead of just exp[orting raw logs and basic milled lumber. That’s not a bad thing. Today, the CCPA published a kind of benchmark report on where we stand after six months of Presidentially induced tariffs (implemented under the completely phone guise of a “national emergency” it should not be forgotten). This is where we are beginning from as we see whether or not the mercurial admonition to the south is able to negotiate and commit to a comprehensive trade deal for economic stability, or whether they are really invested in playing the chaos game long term.
More benchmarking articles from the feed: Mowles on where we are with AI, Gioia on where we now stand with the culture wars
An amazing story of a group of Liberian refugees who settled in the US in 2003 and where they are now. No one works harder than refugees in making a new life for themselves in countries which provide them the safety and security they lacked at home. Here’s another article about the deep history of that region and it’s interlacing with slavery, civil war, colonization and the geography of exploitation.
And finally an update to my tribute to Rob Paterson. He died yesterday at 4pm. His daughter Hope has posted a beautiful account of his final moments and what dignity in dying is all about.
The 49th annual Bowfest festival happened today in our village. This annual rite traditionally signifies the ending of summer and the beginning of fall. It’s the last of our summer festivals, which includes a May Day celebration, National Indigenous People’s Day, Canada Day, the Dock Dance, Logger Sports and the fastpitch tournament. These are traditions around here, some newer than others, but each of which marks a moment in our shared summer, and provides a little window into the Bowen Island community.
Bowfest is one long day of musical acts, a lip synch contest, jam and jelly competitions, a community parade and a slug race. It has waned over the years (COVID really smashed it) but it is starting to come back, like much of Bowen’s community life, spearheaded by a new generation of volunteers. In the last ten years, we have sustained a MASSIVE generational shift as Elders and long term residents moved away and new families joined our community. The COVID years from 2020-2022 meant that many of these new folks became a part of the community without being hosted in to the community rhythms, events and ways we do things. There was no one to guide them and they were struggling to fit in, focused on working hard to pay for their very expensive houses (or hustle to live within their very precarious housing situations) and the time for community giving was limited.
This year though I’m starting to feel the shift. I hardly knew anyone there. The citizen of the year was someone who has only lived here for 7 years, which is awesome. People were making comments about how cool it was but how much better it could be, and I heard all kinds of folks talking about what they might do next year, for Bowfest’s 50th anniversary. I hope they volunteer!
It’s hard getting older in a place when so many of your compatriots have moved away or died. The older we get the more people there are that are younger, of course. At one point we found ourselves with a small group of our community Elders dancing together to The ’60s Band. These folks hold a particular thread of this island culture and have been here forever. And they aren’t planning to leave soon either. These are the folks that welcomed me here when I arrived in 2001 and they are the people that we built stuff with that many people take for granted, like the Island Discovery Learning Community.
These community festivals and events are important touch points and I’m realizing that it takes some practice to find oneself drifting more and more to the sidelines of community here. I’m good with it. It’s natural. But it’s a journey.
Tottenham has had a good record at Manchester City over the years and has been the Premier League team against which Pep Guardiola has had the least success as City manager. Last year we won this fixture 0-4. This was a chance to really see Thomas Frank’s principles at play: out work your opponents, defensive solidity and focus on set pieces.
In the first half Spurs pushed City and pressed on defense, resulting in a 0-2 lead at the half. Coming out in the second half, we went right into a low block with Bentancur and Palhinha sliding back to cover defenders who stepped out to frustrate City’s quick passing.
Those two are key to the strategy because as the second half unfolded we saw them bolting forward into the attack as well which helped to play around City’s press and force them back into a more defensive shape.
It paid off. We walked away from Lancashire with a 0-2 victory and the distinction of being the only team to ever beat Pep at home twice in a row. Clean sheets both times to boot.
Changing tactics like this was not a feature of the Postacoglu era and that security looks like just the thing to take us up the table this season. Not that there is anywhere else to go from 17th.
Even though this is the season of crickets and blackberries and we have just had our first Pineapple Express of the ecological autumn, the summer heat is t done with us yet. Today gusty winds are chugging down the inlet and they are warm to the face. A hot day is in store and that should last the week.
Sometimes you just want to read a little story about a collective experience of cricket, parties, new love and navigating half way across the Midlands of England by train.
What does it take to thoughtfully read 30 books a month? 2025 Booker Prize judge Chris Power shares his thoughts: read whenever you can and keep notes.
I adore Patti Digh as a smart sassy writer. She blogs nearly every day and almost always has something to offer that makes me say “yes!” Her line “the shortest distance between two people is a story” is basically my entire work life summed up. Today she opens up about her depression and this line landed with me: “shame is not a motivator. It’s a silencer. It makes it harder to ask for help, not easier. It makes you think that telling the truth will only make people turn away.”
Ted Gioia on the difference between circles and lines, the ring shout, holding opposites and why the Tesla Cybertruck is a coffin on wheels.