I’ve been on my bike ticking off kilometers for the Great Cycling Challenge alot this month. This challenge in Canada raises money for the Sick Kids Foundation to fight kids cancer. I realized on one of these rides that I don’t actually know much about kids cancers. So I thought I would do some research … Continue reading
I typically make a few charitable donations a year. One or two of these are to specific causes and organizations that I care about. Some will be in lieu of a gift and therefore meaningful to another person. And the rest are for causes that I care about but associated with some sort of athletic … Continue reading
One of the key factors when I was looking for a home was bikeability: how safe would the area be for me on my bike. This did significantly restrict my search areas and it turns out one of the bike paths was actually horrendously dangerous and another was removed from the area I chose. But … Continue reading
Several years ago, while I was living in my previous home, I had a wasp crawl up my pants on Halloween (October 31, which by the way is pretty cold where I live), while I was standing at the sink washing dishes. This didn’t end well for me (they figured I had been stung around … Continue reading
As an athlete and coach I know how important it is to have a training plan that fits the individual. Not everyone will respond to the same cues or drills. This is part of our normal variability. The same is true with learning and in how we demonstrate what we’ve learned and yet most classes … Continue reading
In lieu of writing my own post today, I wanted to share some resources on breaking down systemic barriers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). This is #BlackBotanistsWeek on twitter. This is a great opportunity to find out about cool people studying plants. I love how this resources page for #shutdownstem breaks it down … Continue reading
In the past several weeks I’ve been reflecting a lot on racism and systemic racism. I’ve read Superior: The return of race science by Angela Saini and White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin Diangelo. I’ve added other books to my summer reading list as well. This … Continue reading
When you’re used to clear water coming out of the tap it’s easy to make assumptions about how clean a water body is based on how clear it is. This means that most people assume that the North Saskatchewan River through Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is pretty dirty, particularly in the spring. The visible brown colour … Continue reading
This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote for a class during my PhD so it is a little more academic sounding than most of my posts, but I am constantly being reminded of this book and how it broadened my perspective and awareness of how society shapes science but then how the science … Continue reading
Nature should invite everyone, but it doesn’t. National parks have a long history of excluding Indigenous peoples. A group of teenagers walking through the woods is viewed with suspicion. Women fear being alone in nature because of who might come around the corner or out of the bushes. Dog walkers and cyclists have a long … Continue reading