Urban Scientist. Community Builder. Keynote Speaker.
In the last few weeks, people have been discussing the issue of diversity in urbanism. At the recent CanU conference, there was an all-white all-male panel that got people talking. What happened at CanU isn't uncommon; many urbanist conferences often have a lack of gender and racial diversity in their speaker and panel rosters. So, … Continue reading A City That Works For Everyone: Reflections on the Necessity of an Intersectional Urbanism
I can still remember the moment I got down and kissed Canadian soil. It was tarmac, actually. I'd been travelling for 45 hours from northern Russia to my home of Victoria, BC. I spent that summer with my best friend (both of us having just graduated with our bachelor's degrees) running a Canadian International Development Agency project in … Continue reading Canada 150: Shifting From Celebration to Reflection
I've always been acutely aware of the colour of my skin - save for a few childhood trips to India, where I "blended in". Even then, I was contemplating my identity as a Canadian Indian kid and I knew that I still had not found my place of belonging. As a child, I can remember … Continue reading Towards an Inclusive Edmonton: How can we go about having a meaningful and productive conversation about racism?
Last Sunday, I witnessed something magical. It was perhaps the most "Edmonton" experience I've had since moving to this city in 2012. In October, I was tweeting back and forth with a (then) stranger about having a snowball fight. I had recently watched the Human Scale documentary, in which they showed a spontaneous snowball fight … Continue reading yegsnowfight: We made something, Edmonton.
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to introduce Dr. Gabor Maté. Dr. Maté was in Edmonton to speak as part of the Edmonton Public Library’s Forward Thinking Speaker Series. As I had mentioned in my opening speech, I was a little star struck. In my world, Dr. Maté is a bit of a rockstar … Continue reading Combating a Toxic Culture in Edmonton: Some Thoughts on Dr. Gabor Mate’s Wisdom
What is community? Merriam Webster defines community as : a group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighborhood) : a group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc. : a group of nations As you can see, the definition isn't particularly clear. I’ve been … Continue reading What is community?
