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Rewilding the self

Header image: ﻼF Main Mall runs down the centre of the UBC Vancouver campus. The northwest end terminates at the UBC flagpole where the Canadian flag flies high over Flag Pole Plaza. Nearby, there is a viewpoint overlooking the stunningly symmetrical Rose Garden, from which people can look across Burrard Inlet at the mountains to […]

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Ed Tech and the collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery

Header image: ﻼF [I am going through some old notes and I found this piece I wrote back when I thought my dissertation was heading in a different direction to where it is heading now] Cochrane (2000) outlines the biological crisis that arose in the global fisheries industry in the 1990s, where overfishing in different […]

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ﻼF Fragments

Header image: KF in Dall-E I did not write for 25 years. All those thoughts churned around inside my head,a host of ideas and inspiration,my very purpose,the song of my soul,  stillborn for want of expression. My companion dis-ease undermined me,Eroding and eating into my sense of self,Until, I came crashing down,And could not recognize any […]

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Pilot Protest

Header image: KF personal pic; view from Blackrock And so, they decided to do it. The pod had considered it for weeks, knowing that it would mean death, even for the young ones. Even so, the refused to teach the young ones that doing nothing was preferable. So they beached themselves, hoping the Takers would finally […]

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Large Language Models and ‘Obedience to the Unenforceable’

Header image: KF in Dall-E Commentary in relation to John Fletcher Moulton. (1924). Law and Manners. The Atlantic. ➡ https://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/NewspaperArticles/LawandManners.pdf I first came across the term “Obedience to the Unenforceable” in an Al-Anon meeting a few years ago and its message has stayed with me since. Written 100 years ago, Moulton’s words seem like they might […]

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Shame

Header image: KF personal pic, mosaicked [writing in progress] The Irish do have a despairing quality of gaiety, but they have also a dour and brooding ghost that rides on their shoulders and peers in on their thoughts. Let them laugh too loudly, it sticks a long finger down their throats. They condemn themselves before they […]

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Citizens for a Canadian Republic

My Under the Crown piece found support in places I hadn’t expected (from some older Canadians) and ruffled the feathers of some in a way that surprised me (younger Canadians and new Irish-Canadians). I’ve made this page to add my notes/thoughts, as they relate to the goal of Citizens for a Canadian, specifically, “advocating the […]

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Under The Crown

Receiving my Canadian passport last week and seeing the Canadian Coat of Arms on its cover, I was again struck by seeing the appropriated symbols of my country of birth on another document that embodies what it means to be Canadian. 🍁At the outset, let me be clear: I am grateful that I have been […]

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Google knowledge panels

Almost everyone has seen these but it’s unlikely that you’ve given them much thought. I have given them quite a lot of thought, so read on and allow me to do some of the heavy lifting for you. ➡ In short, I believe you should claim your knowledge panel (if/when you get one). ╬ Google […]

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May you be adequate

Header image: From https://harrypotter.fandom.com/ This post was prompted by my remarking to another teacher that, as in schools in British Columbia, they use a proficiency scale for grading at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.In the end, I worked out my point: “adequate” is the goal. I get the reasoning behind proficiency scales but, in […]

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Thermi

Header image: KF in Dall-E Deep within every life, no matter how dull or ineffectual it may seem from the outside, there is something eternal happening. This is the secret way that change and possibility conspire with growth. John Henry Newman summed this up beautifully when he said, “To grow is to change and to […]

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2024

Header image: KF personal image Jan 1, 2024 I just got 2024 off to a great start with my regular 8-9 meeting. One of the readings was about the concept of “home” and I shared that, having recently become a Canadian citizen, I am now “home”. But also, more than that, channeling John O’Donoghue, I feel […]

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Donations

Header image: KF in Midjourney I made my annual donations this month to: I also made my first donation of blood to the Canadian Blood Services. Ireland had been on the ineligible list on account of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) but this restriction was lifted Nov 27, 2023. Now a citizen and no longer considered a mudblood, I […]

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Currere: The agentic (re)writing of the self

Header image: KF in Dall-E My first solo publication came out in December 2023. It was the end of a writing process that began with a paper for a course in autoethnography in 2020 which, eventually, developed into one of my comprehensive exam papers in 2021. Forde, K. (2023). Currere: The agentic (re)writing of the self. Currere Exchange Journal, […]

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O Canada

Header image: KF composite in GIMP I will become a Canadian citizen in about an hour. Much to write and think about. After spending 20+ years living on visas in various countries, it was something of a relief to be able to say that I am “home” again. Chambers (1999) A Topography for Canadian Curriculum Theory

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Self-identification: On Irishness

Header image: KF composite in GIMP Our move to Canada was a huge decision. We’ve accomplished what we came here to do and, in the process, laid a foundation for a future here. I am close to becoming a Canadian citizen and this has given me much pause for thought. I spent almost all of the […]

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AI, AI, and chicken nuggets

Header image: KF in DALL-E & edits in Gimp Until recently, when I saw the abbreviation AI, I thought of “academic integrity”. Now see it more often referring to “artificial intelligence”. For this post, I’m thinking about artificial intelligence as artificial learning (AL), arguing that LLM output often only offers a resemblance of learning: a substitute […]

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Möbius musings

Header image: KF in Dall-E I have been fascinated by Möbius strips for several years now. It began in a Teacher Inquiry class where we were using a textbook called Spirals of Inquiry. At the time, I mentioned to the instructor that the image of a spiral of inquiry didn’t sit right with me as, by […]

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Averted Vision

Header image: KF OCT image I went for an eye test yesterday and they took an Optical coherence tomography image of my corneas. It reminded me of this piece that I wrote a while back. It’s not complete yet, but there’s something in it that draws me back to the ideas quite frequently. ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ We know that […]

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Using my Right to be Forgotten

Header image: KF in Dalle-E The 2016 RTBF policy brief from @article19org is an excellent overview (Mar 29, 2016) Policy Brief: The Right to be Forgottenhttps://article19.org/resources/policy-brief-the-right-to-be-forgotten/… Another overview can be found here: (Oct 5, 2023) The EU’s right to be forgotten is migrating to other countries https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-eus-right-to-be-forgotten-is-migrating-to-other-countries.php ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ Considering @article19org’s Requirement 1: The courts or independent […]

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On humility

Header image: KF personal pic of an old Irish postage stamp “In humility we possess self-esteem, accept ourselves as we are, assets and defects alike, and extend the same acceptance to others. We are learning to recognize humility in others; we are attracted to them and we learn from them.” ― Al-Anon Family Groups, Paths to […]

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Is féidir le aois óg na hÉireann a bheith dòchasach faoi an tsaol ata rompu

When I was about 16, I expressed an interest in being on my secondary school Irish (language) debating team. I have no idea what possessed me to do so. My command of the language was, among my classmates, average at best and this was setting a low bar for competency in a language that no […]

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On Grades in grad school

Header image: KF in Dalle-E A note sent to the class I TA with (EDUC 500 Research Methodology in Education), many of whom are getting worried as we come to the end of the semester. ╬ Given that many of you are, understandably, worried about your grades I thought it might be helpful to share this […]

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Onlife: A Möbius Trip

Header image: KF in Dalle-E I regularly return to an idea I had during one of my courses in 2018. We were looking at a book called Spirals of Inquiry as part of a teacher inquiry study. I piped up and said I didn’t like the title and then I had to explain what I meant. […]