Back in the saddle

It has been a very long time since my last post. So long in fact, that I can't remember anything that I have shared so I don't really know what has and hasn't been shared. There is no time to be funny, so I will just do a little summary of where I am at these days. Here is my current biking status:

current bike : Breezer uptown 8 LS
km's to date for 2017 : 1075
km goal for the year : 1500 (stretch goal 1750)
Total lifetime km's on my new bike (2014) : 5899
Total lifetime km's since tracking (2013) : 6504

I bike-commute to work 3-4 times in an average week, and bike an additional 10-30kms outside of work.

Things that are changing in my world of biking : I have noticed over the past few months and years, that I consistently bike in my hardest gear at all times, even going up most short hills. I gear down only when stopped, and I basically go down to my easiest because I can and not have to worry that I'm already stopped (internally geared). However, I could easily start in a harder gear. My top speed is pretty much 22-23kms/hr unless I'm going downhill, in which case I might go faster but I can't really pedal much.

I have taken my bike to the shop as I would like to increase my max speed a bit. I've asked to swap out the cassette to get a few more teeth in, which should allow me to bike in an easier gear and still have capabilities to change gears if I want to go faster. A little bit sad because it probably means I will lose my full chain-guard which I LOVE, but it's a sacrifice I will make for a bit more speed.

I was seriously contemplating getting an electric bike for the past year or so, but I think if I can cut my commute down a bit by making this change, I would settle for what I already have because I love the posture of my current bike. I am hoping to increase my max holding speed at somewhere between 25-27 kms/hr (but who knows, maybe I will go even faster) which should finally drop my commute to under 30 minutes. I might still go rogue and buy an e-bike (or most likely convert a bike), but maybe not for another year or so.

Also, I lost my bike helmet in a freak accident where I left it accidentally on the back of my car, and drove away without remembering.

That is a quick update on my current biking status - I hope to post a bit more regularly now that I remember I have a blog - but I'm not going to make any promises because chances are I won't.

An 8 minute walk is only a 3 minute bike ride

And yet.. I had to walk to the grocery store because I don't have my bike with me at work today! As my baby sister says, "I hate walking because it takes twice as long to get away from creepy old men who are hitting on you" - preach on sista! Why walk when you can ride? But anyway, crisis averted and I was able to buy my corriander for the awesome meal I plan to make tomorrow night.

So, I have been neglecting my bike blog, mostly because I'm not really a blogger. Some updates - my new bike is just as awesome as I thought it would be when I bought it - I have biked 685kms to date on my new bike and plan to hit 1000km by the end of the year. My goal is made significantly easier by the fact that just by biking to work 4 days a week, I hit 100kms. However, I have not been biking every day. Some of my excuses thus far - it's raining out (though I have actually done a few rain bike rides and they weren't as bad as I thought they would be); I have to be (at some location) by x time and biking has me arriving home 45 mins later than by driving; and my current excuse for the month of July is that I am celebrating the month of Ramadhan by fasting and I won't survive the day without water. But.. starting in August.. I will resume biking to work!

Other news, my old beater bike has been gifted to my mother, who has now also started biking to work. The first time, I went with her on a weekend so that I could show her the best route (after which we stopped for a lovely picnic in the park). I have also encouraged her (and have gone with her) to the grocery store, which takes pretty much the exact same amount of time as driving there. I've convinced other people to bike more often, or to buy a bike period. Basically, I'm an awesome bike advocate... which is why I'm so active on this blog. I also saw this girl wearing a super cute skirt with bikes all over it, and told her it was awesome.

I've also taken to following bikers on twitter, to find out what is going on in the NCR world of biking. When I think of another awesome bike post, I will share it here.

kthxbai

I am NOT Riff-Raff

Remember how I bought a beater bike last year? - I wanted to see if I would like biking enough to justify buying a really cute bike, that was also a little more sturdy and had a few more bells and whistles (Actually, I only needed 1 bell, and no whistles, but you get the idea)

That is what led me, a few months ago, to go into a LBS, just to see what was available. I had been doing a little bit of research online, so I wouldn't find myself in exactly the situation that occured. I didn't want to look like I had no clue about what I wanted, and what I was talking about. Let me preface this whole thing by saying that, as I mentioned in my previous post, looks trump all! So yes, I wanted an awesome bike, that had all the things I was looking for.. but I also wanted to look mega-cute while riding my bike!

So.. my research had me looking and finally even understanding what is meant by different components, different frame materials, different styles of bikes (once I even told Bhel all about my research into French vs. Italian vs Dutch style frames, and as we were walking along, I would point them out to her). All this to say, that when I walked in to that LBS, I was no n008 (n00b?).

So I walk in, and lay down my specs! "I'm a hard-core biker, commute 25km round trip, several times a week (but not in the winter, are you crazy? Well actually, winter bikers aren't crazy, I'm just not into that), I'm no FWB (Fair-weather biker, for those not in the know - except for the fact that I started my own bike club... the Fair-weather Bike Club. In retrospect, the title might have been a mistake but I already got my letterhead printed...)".

So the guy, takes me to the bike section where the window is, and... I may have kind of casually mentioned, why are some bikes on one side of the store and others on the completely other end of the store (this is where is gets interesting). "Oh, we keep those bikes on that side to keep out the riff-raff" he says to me. That's fine, he was taking me to the hard-core side! No worries there.

Anyway, he shows me a pretty nice bike, a Raleigh (don't remember the model off the top of my head), hybrid, 24 speed, last year's model so on sale at a great price - but... not really what I'm looking for. No fenders, no rear rack, but I could have added those on if the bike fit me well and I liked the way it rode. But.. the deal break? Black. So I asked, "does it come in any other colours?"

Answer? "No, but I don't mind black." Me thinking - but.... *I* mind black, I will definetly not look cute riding a black bike.

I may have looked a little apprehensive because then he started showing me some other bikes that were in white or grey or something, but that weren't hybrids, had no features I wanted, and all-around not for me. THEN, he took to over... to the other side of the store.. you know.. the riff-raff section? He said, "I think one of these bikes might be better suited to you." Uh.. I don't think so... Full on dutch bike? Heavy frame? Not made for commuting long distances at all. Who did he think I was? Didn't I mention what I was looking for?

I kindly thanked him for his time, and left the store feeling very put-off... I am not riff-raff.. I want a good bike, that meets all of my needs.. and I want it to come in a nice colour. I ended up spending a good chunk of $ on my bike (story to be maybe told later)... I'm not about to spend that kind of money on a bike that is ugly.

Beater Bike

Now that I'm a hardcore biker, I deserve a new bike. Well actually, because I got a fairly sizeable chunk of money I deserve a new bike. But before I tell you of my adventures in trying to find a new bike, I'll start with talking about my old bike.

(ok, well I haven't gotten around to taking a picture of my bike - it is currently still sitting in my storage locker, next to all my other sporting equipment. Instead, here is a quick description - bright turquoise SuperCycle bike, probably from the late 90s, with fenders and a nice rear rack - It also includes my life-hack - neon pink milk crate attached to my rear rack for bonus storage space)

This is my bike. Biggest pro about this bike - It looks so cute, I love the colours! Cons? Heavy and the chain slips off if I go over too big a bump. But the pretty-factor wins out every time.

Last year, I went to a local bike sale hosted by the Boy Scouts (and Girl Scouts too) because I had decided that it was totally possible to bike 13kms for work. It would save money in gas (to be re-allocated to Shawarma and Booster Juice!), it would get me active in the mornings and afternoons, it would be fun and get me in tip-top shape. But before I totally committed to it, I would need to make sure it actually was possible. So I decided to buy myself a cheap bike to see if I liked it. Introducing the Kermit.

As those who know me, know - I suck at directions. Like, really suck. Actually, I think one of my early blog posts on my 1001 things mentions this particular talent of mine. So I google maped (and studied the street-view) a route and printed it off. Then I took Kermit on a test ride on the weekend. I even arranged to have my mother be available to pick me up should I decide that a return trip was not possible. After a few detours and back-tracks, an hour later, I could see my work down the road. I decided that seeing it was enough, I didn't actually need to make it there and touch the end point (what I do when running). I called my mom, called off the ride, and headed back. Another hour later, where I daringly improvised parts of the route to make it less confusing, I reached my apartment, completely exhausted. My mom was there with a meat pie in hand to congratulate me on my accomplishment.

I didn't bike to work that week, my butt was a little sore. The week after though, I was ready! I packed everything in my nice pink milk crate and headed out to work with my sister (well, only the first 30 seconds with her - basically until the end of the parking garage). Made it to work in 50 mins - only getting lost once on the way! Success!

Until I made it to work, and couldn't figure out how to get hot water in the shower... fail.

Re-launching my blog

Instead of starting a new blog, I have decided to rebrand my current blog. This way, I already have fun content, but I will have new stuff to add to it.

A little about me: Although I've known how to bike since I was a kid, it had been years since I've actually ridden one. This wasn't helped by the fact that my former bike had no seat. Last year, I made the decision to begin commuting 13km to work each way (about 25km round trip). I bought a cute green hybrid for 40$ and outfitted it with an amazing neon pink milk crate. It makes me look so cute! Like, adorably cute! And everyone at work knows its mine. "Hey, I saw your bright pink milk crate this morning!" One time, I was meeting a friend at Starbucks and my sister walks in to saying, "I knew you were here, I saw your milk crate outside."

Last year, I only biked when it was sunny, and stopped once the snow hit. But, before you go thinking I'm only a fair-weather biker, note that even when it was frosty outside, I still biked to work, all bundled up. But the snow? That was a little too much for me. My people come from the tropics. When they first came to Canada, they described snow like falling garlic skins... I'm allowed to drive in the winter!

This year I'm thinking I will bike even in the rain, but I have back-up bus tickets just in case I change my mind... But, as I recently took the bus for the first time last week, I found out it takes justs as long to bus to work as it does to bike. In that case, might as well bike and spend my 3.50$ on food and electricity to heat my water tank after taking a long shower!

So, now that the switch over to the bike-friendly interface has taken over, prepare yourself (and by yourself, I am talking to my 1 dedicated reader) for all my biking-related posts that I have planned for you!

Digital Archives

My work has recently acquired two new photographic printers. As the printer heads need to be used every week to keep them from getting jammed, we were all told that we could get some prints from our collection printed for our office if we knew which ones we wanted. With this incentive, I took myself to the LAC homepage to find some interesting photographs. While there, I reflected upon a theme that we had discussed during the photography class - Archival Encounters. In particular, I reflected upon how the LAC's digital archive of photographs, and the colonial legacy, shaped the way that I encountered that archive.

On the LAC website, there is an option to search through the photographs where you need to select one or several key words. As I was doing this, I really came to understand that I would have to conform to the keywords pre-selected by an archivist who would have assigned keywords to photographs. I was unsure of what these keywords were, and initial attempts to find images of war posters did not yield the expected results. I initially tried searching for what I considered the images to be, "war posters" which only came back with 1 result.

A second attempt, "war poster" without an 's' took me to a photograph with the caption "MIKAN 3396789: Two Canadian soldiers reading a War Bond poster in a ruined village in their lines. December, 1917." Upon seeing this, I realized that I might have been using the wrong term in my search, so I switched the term to "war bonds" which brought up a larger amount of relevant results. In the end, I decided on the following image to be printed: MIKAN 3668563: Our Daddy is Fighting, Buy War Loan Bonds and Help Him Win the War.

Although I selected a few other images that I wanted printed: MIKAN3387419: Tobogganing at the Chateau Laurier,MIKAN 3386153: Girls' Hockey Team, and MIKAN 3192911:

Byward Market in my searching I found myself getting constantly frustrated while searching for keyword terms that I felt were appropriate only to be faced with finding limited results, even when I knew a picture existed. As well, I realized that I had to frame my search terms in particular ways to be able to find images the way that the archivist had categorized them. Often, I would turn to very basic and fundamental key words when I wanted to find a large amount of relevant results, for example, the blanket term hockey which came back with 276 images. Even then, I was unsure if there remained images that I was missing due to my keywords.

This experience is very relevant to the James Opp piece, the Colonial Legacies of the Digital Archive because it brought to the surface how important the archivist's role is in future searches of the digital archive. In the process of digitization, the archivist assigns keywords that must be replicated exactly by the researcher if they want to locate that image. The experience also highlighted to me the fact that the archive is not the 'neutral, impartial observer' it is often made out to be. In order to 'unlock' the digital archive, one must work within the framework that has been created by the institution, something that may require the researcher to put their own ways of thinking aside or else be faced with the dreaded red sentence: No documents containing your search terms were found.

Family photo albums - context is everything

I found the readings this week particularly compelling, since they are asking us to re-evaluate the way that we think about the seemingly private domain of the family photograph album. I decided to use this blog post to further reflect upon some of the readings in particular that touch upon the same theme, one of the context of experiencing an album. Deborah Chambers and Kirsten Emiko McAllister discuss how the album has a particular function within the context of the familial and private sphere, that colours the way in which the album is analyzed. By altering that context of the private when an image is seen from an archive or museum, these family albums are torn from the social context that made them meaningful. Moreover, this new context of viewing changes the types of stories that come out of the albums. This was also apparent from the workshop that we did during class. I also drew upon Martha Langford’s piece when thinking about how a researcher might experience my family album without the benefit of familiarity to the subject.

My pictures that I chose for this blog post are extracts from my own family album that I brought to class today. While going through the album with my mother and sister, I was coming at this album from a familiar context - I had seen many of this pictures before but still felt compelled to listen to my mom, telling me the same stories, reaffirming what I already knew about them. However, this time was different than in the past because I was reflecting upon this week’s readings. As Chambers writes, family albums are often devoid of any writing to provide names, dates and other contextual information (as mine is), which Chambers suggests that these albums function within an oral framework – the album serves as a jumping off point where, as Chambers argues, women take on the role of filling the story behind the photos through storytelling.

Taking this into account, I reflected upon my personal experience interacting with one of my own family albums, in my mom’s home – a private and domestic space. When I was looking at my family album, I felt that the photos in it provided a cohesive narrative, although perhaps not linear – all of the people and places depicted within the frame were of importance to me, and I understood who the people were, and what was the significance behind the changing locations of the pictures as my family moved from Uganda to Karachi, Kitchner and finally a few seemingly random recent pictures in Ottawa. When I looked at my family album, I was really able to understand the album holistically, as an entity in its own right. More importantly, I had my mother who was able to provide context, insight and extrapolations from the pictures. With my mother’s oral testimony, the photos were able to function as a whole to provide a narrative of my family’s history, that fit within a larger story about Indians living in Uganda and their expulsion in 1972.

This personal experience differs drastically from how one might experience the same family album when the context of viewing is altered, to that of an archive, or museum. The workshop that we did in class provided me with a glimpse of how a researcher might experience it, much in the way that McAllister experienced the images of Japanese families in internment camps, or the way that Langford tries to piece together an unfamiliar album. When the class looked at my family album from a pseudo-research perspective, they were unable to locate the pictures or situate them in time beyond a fairly large window. Furthermore, in this context, I found that the pictures became more individual stories, grouped together in clusters, rather than as part of a cohesive whole. This experience was similar to that of McAllister and Langford, who attempted to do close readings of the albums. With McAllister in particular, due to the images being stored without a physical album, it was difficult to analyze the images within the family context. Instead, as her article demonstrates, they were used to understand larger trends taking place within the Japanese community during this time period. As for Langford, although the pictures are stored in an album, without much contextual information, it is difficult to piece together the narrative of the whole album. However, in her case the physical album is able to provide some boundaries for thinking about the pictures. In an archive, my album would likely be disassembled, resulting in making the pictures even more individual pictures as opposed to pictures to be understood within their larger framework within the album. Instead of reflecting the personal story of my family as they made their way from Uganda to Canada, researchers would likely only look at the pictures as they fit into their particular topic of study, if they could even locate them in time and place.I felt that this week allowed me to gain a better appreciation for the context under which images are viewed deeply affect the way those albums can be understood.

Quote from Susan Sontag

A while ago we were asked to read Susan Sontag's On Photography and take a look at the quotes listed in the back of the book. I picked the following quote to reflect upon:

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug a camera. - Lewis Hine

The reason that I chose this quote in particular has to do with the fact that I led the seminar discussion last week where we were discussing documentary impulses and the place of the photo-essay. This form of photography relies heavily on the written word to accompany photographs, so I felt that this juxtaposed with how Lewis Hine articulated in his quote. From Hine's quote, it seems as though he feels that photographic images are able to speak in a way that words cannot articulate.

I did a quick google search for some of Lewis Hine's work, in order to see how he employs language with his photographs, and stumbled upon the following link which contains Lewis' work along with original captions made by Lewis.

The caption that Lewis used for this particular photograph reads: October 1911. Lowell, Mass. Standing: Michael Keefe, 32 Marion St., been at work in No. 1 mule room, Merrimac [Textile] Mill, eight months. Apparently 13 years old. John Risheck, 391 Adams St.; Cornelius Hurley, 298 Adams St., been at work in No. 1 mule room in Merrimac Mill for six months. About 13 or 14 probably. Sitting: John Neary, 211 Lakeview Ave.; smallest is Robert Magee, 270 Suffolk St. Apparently 12 years old. Been working in Mule Room No. 1, Merrimac Mill, one year. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine

After reading the caption for the image, I wonder how Hine would feel about the value of the photo-essay, and if he felt that his work fell into this genre. From the above caption, I believe that his work fits in quite well with the nature of documentary photography, as his aim with his photographs was to bring awareness to child labour, a practice that he felt quite strongly against. It seems to be quite in contrast to his quote, but it leads me to wonder if he would feel the same way. Perhaps he would argue that, without the photograph, he would not be  able to tell the story of child workers in a compelling way. From this quote, I feel that Hine would argue that although the words may add to our understanding of the picture, it is the picture that comes first before the text. This is in contrast to our readings about the photo-essay which felt that the image and the text were equal contributors to our final understanding of the image.

Clowns having a bad day?

I found this image on the Library and Archives facebook page the other day with the description reading only "What Have We Here - Tell us what you think this image is about. Stay tuned! We'll reveal the caption in a few days."

This image really got me thinking about two of the articles that we read in particular: Roland Barthes "The Photographic Message," and James Opp's "Picturing Communism: Yousuf Karsh, Canadair, and Cold War Advertising." While it may not seem at the outset that these two articles have much in common, it was really two key messages in the articles that I was thinking about in my viewing of this particular image.

As I had mentioned in class, Barthes wrote something that intrigued me in his discussion of text as it relates to images. He writes that "the text constitutes a parasitic message design to connote the image, to quicken it with one or more second-order signifieds. In other words... the image no longer illustrates the words; it is now the words which, structurally, are parasitic on the image"

When I first came across this image of clowns, it was Barthes' words that I was reflecting on as I analyzed what I was looking at. When I discovered this image, the first thing that I did was to click the image on facebook in order to find the description of the image. I was looking for some words to tell me explicitly what it was that I was looking at: a date, location, or a reason why this image was significant. Essentially, I was looking for some textual descriptors to tell me what I was seeing. Without these textual indicators, I was reluctant to rely on my visual assumptions of what I was seeing. As Barthes implies, I (as a viewer) am not looking at the image first in order to clarify the accompanying text. Rather, I am looking for textual clues to clarify what my eyes are seeing.

This leads into Opp's piece where I was struck by his analysis on the role of text in anti-communist advertisements. Opp writes that "[p]aradoxically, the more concrete the images of communism became, the longer the textual explanation had to be to contain the possible meanings that could be "read" into the photograph. Rather than making the nature of the threat more visually self-evident, photographs seemed to make it less so." Although the image of clowns is not about anti-communist advertising, the sentiment is applicable in that it implies that a photograph without textual accompaniment can be quite ambiguous.

Thus, when I looked at this image, without any textual cues to guide my viewing of the image what I saw was what I assumed was a circus troupe of some sort. I noticed that none of the clowns seem to be smiling, and while I could not date the picture, I saw some clues that, given the proper knowledge, might help someone to attach a date. I noticed that one of the clowns are aboriginal in stereotypical dress, only two women, and a black man. I also noticed a man dressed as a soldier that was holding a gun and that many of the clowns are holding instruments, which leads me to believe that they had some type of marching band. Other than this, I found myself really unsure of what it was that I was seeing.

Both Barthes and Opp drew my attention to issues surrounding the use of textual information with photographic images, and this really brought to my attention how this text really can influence the way that images are read by their audiences, myself included.

And by the way, after this image had been posted for a few days, LAC posted a link to the description of the image. Title: Clown Band. Date: 1914-1919. Place of Creation: No place, unknown, or undetermined. Subject Heading: Sports & Amusements - Musical. Does this change how the viewer "reads" the image? That is for another blog post.

89. Complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle

My mother recently came back from a buisiness trip to Sweeden, and brought back a giant puzzle of the Sweedish transportation map - including subways, highways, traintracks, water ways and all the other types of ways. Lucky for us, the map is written in Sweedish, in a cylyndrical tube and with a very limited drawing of what the finished map is supposed to look like. And by lucky, I mean that it is a wonderful oportunity to practice my Sweedish... yeah.. that's what I meant... Du fristard tu Swenska? Inteso-brah. Fristard Engleska (or something along these lines)

A few weeks ago I come home to find that my brother had started putting this puzzle together - after a hard day of work during tax season, he decided that staying up until 2am would be a good idea before he had to be back at work bright and early the next day. Good idea, but he only managed to get the edges of the puzzle together.

Now can you imagine my delight when I came home the next day after work to see this partially asembled puzzle on our coffee table? (It went a little something like this - Hey! Who did this? When? Why wasn't I invited?)

Over the next week, me along with various members of my family would sit in front of this puzzle, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes a couple of hours and slowly pieced this puzzle together. It is now sitting proudly on the coffee table, being used as a glorified coaster.

02. Train for and complete a 10k run

A while ago, I blogged about training for a 5k run. But this last summer, I actually ran a 10k race in the Ottawa race weekend (without cheating).

The first thing I needed for training was new shoes! My old ones were about 3 years old and falling apart, so this meant one thing - shopping! The shoes I bought have mesh on them so things are quite airy when a gust of wind comes my way.

Training for this was another story. I decided to use my lunch break at work to train, and methodically used googlemaps to plot out my training circuit (during non-work hours of course), which ended up being 4.8km on googlemaps (plus a nice hill/shortcut that google's system did not recognize). And, because my lunch is only 30 minutes (plus 15 mins since I get in early), I had plenty of motivation to get back on time (or get fired..).

Considering that a few years ago, 5k was hard for me, my training went pretty well, except for my first day. As I have blogged about many times before, I am HORRIBLE with directions. It was all going fine until I came to a road that I couldn't remember if I was supposed to go left or right at (as usual, in doubt, I went left). What saved me was good-ol OC transpo. I used one of their handy bus-stop maps to locate myself and get back to work after a solid 38 minute run.

The race weekend went much better for me, since I had over 10,000 running buddies to follow and didn't have to worry about directions (huge arrows mapping the route ) and the fact that I followed a lovely man dressed in a bunny outfit. I finished the race in 1:06.12 and am planning on getting to 1:00 next year!

Into the Heart of Africa

From Toronto Star,  February 24, 1990, F11

Take a close look at this advertisement. If you were to see this ad presented in conjunction with an exhibit entitled Into the Heart of Africa, you would probably think it was highlighting African art, culture and other traditions wouldn't you?

Wrong.

This is an exhibit about Canadian imperialists and how they collected African objects that eventually found their way into the Royal Ontario Museum...

29. Don't rack up fines on my library card for 1 year

I am notorious for forgetting to return library books. Luckily, as a Masters' student, I get to keep them for 4 full months per book, so I can put off returning my books for a long time without getting fines.

The solution to this problem, is to simply stop reading. And since I have no more time for leisurely reading, I won't be borrowing library books (except for academic ones, which as previously mentions, I can keep for 4 months), so I think that I can cross this one off my list!

07. Wear sunscreen every day for 2 weeks in the summer

Did I ever tell you the story of when I went to the spa, and the aesthetician was trying to extract my blackheads from my nose? Well, sit down and listen because it is quite the amusing tale.

So there I was, listening to the gentle and soothing sounds of waves crashing on a sea shore (which, fyi actually really stresses me out) and this lady is trying to clear my pores when she turns to me and says, 'oh, I thought those were blackheads, turns out they are just sunspots. You should really wear sunscreen since it is much easier to prevent sunspots than get rid of them'


Well la-de-dah. Sorry if I happen to freckle easily. Besides, aren't I paying you? Why are you ruining my day of relaxation. Go give your advice to someone who cares. Did I ask for your opinion? No? Then let me get back to the sound of waves.

Anyways, when I went on vacation this summer, I made a conscious effort to apply sunscreen every day, especially to my face. I don't like putting sunscreen on my face because it makes me look very pale, and if I am nothing else, I am gloriously tan (or caramel as I like to call it). But because I had sunscreen on, I didn't wear a hat when I got home I had more freckles than ever, so I'm not sure if it helped or not. At least I don't have blackheads...

Power, power, power

I never really gave much though to how power plays out in the world around me. People have always told me it does, and I believed them but as I start actually reading and researching for my papers this year it has really become clear just how pervasive it is in places that are traditionally regarded as institutions of 'truth'.

I am writing two papers at the moment, one on the South African archives after apartheid and the other on the place of the 'other' in museums (specifically looking at the ROM's exhibit Into the Heart of Africa) and I keep finding examples of how power plays out in practical ways.

The first one made me aware of the idea of archival authorship, which questions the notion that archives simply hold the past, in its true form. Instead, this paper has begun to show me how people and institutions actually construct our knowledge of the past. They can direct information into the archive, (and by the same authority, prevent other records from entering the archive). It makes me question how this knowledge was selected, and makes me wonder what else was prevented from becoming knowledge.

The other paper is still in its formative stages, but what is interesting to me is how this exhibit, in talking about the experience of colonialism in Africa, is not even really about the African experience. The exhibit is actually about the missionaries and soldiers who were in Africa and imperialist ideology. Interesting then that the exhibit was showcased as a "historical journey through sub-Saharan Africa". The problem with this is that the museum is in a position of authority but doesn't offer any counter-narrative against the ideology so it almost seems like they are endorsing it (which I don't think they were).

I am still percolating my ideas in my brain, but I will see what I find when my papers are finished.

90. Wear matching bra/underwear every day for 2 weeks

Disclaimer: this post discussed feminine undergarments

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Still reading? Well, I can only do so much to keep people from getting in trouble at work. Upwards and onwards explorer. This might be the wrong expression for the topic. Maybe I should be saying 'on to the dirty laundry'?

Ok, so I know many people who wear matching bra and underwear every day,  but I am not one of those people. Actually, I like to wear mis-matching underwear in as bright as a colour I can find. I like when people look at me and they have no idea that I am wearing neon green and polka dots underneath my demure and unassuming historian facade. But I decided to try this out, to see how the other half live. (And other half in this case, does not mean men, it still means women... so.. moving on)

First, I defined the rules. Matching includes undergarments with similar themes: stripes, colour, pattern (for example, reindeer and snowflakes are both winter themed), etc. I actually planned it out, and matched up my bra's to their appropriate co-ordinated underwear. Turns out, I don't have that many matches, so I broadened my strict rules to allow for design (lace of different colours counts as a match) and complementary colours (everything goes with black) and I had it! 2 weeks of co-ordination.

The actual task of wearing matching bra/underwear was not as much fun as I thought it would be since I like to pick my bra and underwear on the day of, looking for as much contrast as possible. I especially did not include this 'game' to include matching my bra and underwear to my clothes as that would have been too much for my inherently rebellious character, and I have since gone back to my organized mis-matching of undergarments. So, the next time you see someone, maybe you will wonder just how much you can really tell about the person from outward appearances alone. Or maybe, they're going commando... in which case, that's a whole different blog post.

The Canadian War Museum

I had the opportunity to go to the CWM this pre-rememberance day. For this reason, this post is not going to have the humour of many of my other posts. I had to write a report outlining my observations and I decided to focus on the way that text is presented at a museum, and what is it that makes someone chose to read or ignore parts of the text that is presented. What I observed was museums are a place of individualized experience, and that while some dedicated individuals will read every single piece of information in an exhibit, the majority pick and chose what they are going to read, so that they don't end up spending 8 hours there. Below I offer some analysis as to why we read some text and not others.

The sheer amount of information at museums is often quite overwhelming, and at the CWM, I gravitated towards information that was part of the larger narrative rather than looking for information on specific artifacts or art pieces. In the main gallery, I noticed myself reading panels of text that explained larger implications and meanings of themes presented such as life on the home front, or discussion of nationalism and the South African war. In contrast, I chose not to read text that looked at specific battles, or historic figures. Due to the overwhelming amount of information presented, it is difficult to absorb all available text in a single visit. Reading text on larger themes and narratives provides the observer with the option of getting the most ‘bang for their buck’, in that they are able to construct the larger story with the start, middle, and end. However, with textual overload, the observer often cannot absorb information that would provide colour to the story, or fill the missing gaps. For this, multiple visits may be required. With each visit, you can chose to focus on developing your knowledge on different aspects of knowledge that is presented.

Similarly, I would read text on subjects that I was already aware of. For example, I read the panel explaining rationing at home to provide materials for the war-front. As with the idea of reading panels that discuss the grand narrative, deepening my knowledge on subjects on which I had previous familiarity allowed me to incorporate new information without being overwhelmed. I took my visit as an opportunity to reinforce knowledge already possessed rather than learning specific details regarding areas of Canada’s military history that were completely new to me. Applying this to the general observer, when presented with an over-abundance of text, textual information serves to strengthen pre-existing knowledge and interests. More importantly, by using this approach, it can be inferred that individual observers will focus on different aspects of the gallery’s text, varying with each individual’s previous knowledge and own personal interests.

What I did not read were panels and written text surrounding ‘big ticket’ items, such as Hitler’s car, or large gun displays. In these situations, the artifact became the singular object of focus, and I did not feel the need for additional narrative. The downside of the object becoming the centre of focus is that the context of the object can be lost. While it is true that Hitler’s car is one of the biggest draws of the museum, very few people read the surrounding text to understand how and why Hitler was able to rise to power and the atrocities committed under his rule. As a result, the object is seen simply as a ‘cool’ item. The seriousness of Hitler’s role in WWII is diminished when observers do not take the time to read the information provided in the accompanying text. I fell into the trap that many do of looking at only the item being displayed, and not looking at why this object has significance, and what the object can tell us about a person, place or event. However, this also adds credence to the notion that observers only read text when they can adequately absorb it.

Taking my experience as an observer provided me with an interesting opportunity to analyze the place of text at the CWM.

64. Give successful directions to somewhere in Ottawa 6 times

For anyone that knows me, the idea of being in a car with me with no GPS probably raises mixed feelings of terror and dread. With a 50% chance between left and right, the fact that I was wrong last time surely means that the next time I will be right, right? Ok, I will be the first to admit that I can get easily confused between left and right. (But when it doubt, always chose left). That being said, I do not easily give up, or admit that I am lost.

I recently was trying to get on the 401 in Toronto, looking for the exit for Bayview (the punchline of the story is that there is no exit/entrance for Bayview). What a terrible feeling it is to be able to see the highway, but not being able to find the on-ramp. The worst part is, that I had told my sister that this "detour" would be easier than the way Google Maps had suggested. Oh, I am so naive... Well, lucky for me I had my iPad with me. With some minor wireless-piracy tactics, I finally made my way to an on-ramp 1 block ahead 45 minutes later. Not bad for a nice Sunday drive.

The moral of the story is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if the "it" you are referring to is my internal compass, your best chance is to get out of the car and take the bus...

69. Call in to work sick just because

Not that I am admitting that I have done this, but if I had (or were in the future to do this), hypothetically speaking, the sequence of events may have gone as follows:

- call into work early in the morning before clearing my throat so that I can pull of sounding sick

- go back to bed for at least 2 hours

- wake up leisurely and eat breakfast

- sit on the couch and watch bad daytime tv
- go for a nice walk
- meet up with a friend for coffee

Good thing I am a hardworking employee who does not abuse the sick-leave system... Because that would be very very wrong. Very wrong.

81. Do 3 good deeds anonymously

I found a cell phone on the bus the other day. It was a nice, shiny, blackberry bold, but I resisted the urge to sell it for photocopy money (as a grad student, this urge is quite strong) and looked through the contact list for someone under 'Home', or 'OMG Call if Found'. Lucky for me, the most recent person to text was 'Mom'. I got in contact with her, and she went into what I like to call Super-Saver Mode. This is something that all mom's do when they need to get something done for their kids. My mom did this for me when my phone and wallet were stolen in Rome, so I know this mode quite well.

That being said, a few days later I dropped off the phone to its rightful owner and I guess karma worked out for me because I finally talked to my insurance people and they are going to give me 400$ to replace my stolen phone. So... what that means is.. iPhone 4s here I come!

As an aside, I may have slightly tainted my good deed by snooping through her pictures and videos. Just for some background research of course.