PinnedJust Not Here.I know there is compassion for people living without adequate shelter in our communities, no question. But how deep does compassion go? In my work in looking at how we might shift the stigma around people who are homeless, I have found myself seeing the homeless population as two main groups. First is the group that has become under-housed through a series of circumstances outside of their control: fires, floods, renovictions, job…4 min read4 min read
PinnedThe Design of Thinking“Design Thinking is not a panacea for business. It is not the right tool when innovation is not the desired outcome. Design Thinking is all about innovating. If you know what you want; if you have determined your process, you’re not looking for innovation.” Over the past 25 years, I…Design Thinking5 min readDesign Thinking5 min read
PinnedHow big is the space between us?There is something inside us that we believe when it tells us that someone is “less than” we are —an “other” — not to be trusted, spoken to, or even to be seen. What is that? How big is that “space” between us and them? — Why do we fear —or hate —someone who has a different bone structure, skin colour or physical ability. What about clues to status and financial security? And how about behaviour?Homeless3 min readHomeless3 min read
Aug 1, 2021What’s the Difference: A Case for EmpathyWe’ve been at this for a while. The Quran, the Bible, the Torah, the teachings of Buddha all prioritize the equality of all human beings. And yet… — Many human beings (perhaps all, to some degree) are still influenced by our primitive brain’s anachronistic priority to see difference. Our amygdala works to protect us, to recognize physical danger — like lions and tigers. But somehow it still rules us to the point that we can see age, race…Empathy4 min readEmpathy4 min read
Jul 24, 2021Farming in a sort-of-wild backyardIt is a strange kind of voyeurism watching the food you grow advance to producing edible things. I look closely every day. My garden boots are the only required equipment. I’m often out in my nightie, and the boots, peeking at my plants. — I plant them as seeds and they break through the soil as tiny two-leaved beings, almost indistinguishable one from another. As they get a bit bigger, I cull the smaller ones that are crowding the strong ones. (I usually carefully wash these sacrifices and throw them in my salads as…Backyard Farming4 min readBackyard Farming4 min read
Apr 30, 2021Do I really know what it’s like?In a grocery store lineup one day, I asked myself a big question. As I clutched my bag of brussels sprouts and a bottle of house red I pondered, what if I was black, Indigenous, south Asian, or Asian, what would my experience be like in this exact scenario? Would I feel — truly— that I could stand straight and tall and meet…Privelege3 min readPrivelege3 min read
Feb 29, 2020Canada is EveryoneA point in time from my thesis proposal for my Graduate Liberal Studies degree at Simon Fraser University, back in 2017. — Helping Canadians to Bring the Homeless into “the Circle of Human Concern”.¹ Keywords: Homelessness, Othering, Design for Behaviour Change, Community-based Research, Social Justice, Social Innovation, Co-creation “The most important good we can distribute to each other in society is membership”²7 min read7 min read
Feb 25, 2020Where Have I Gone, and Where Am I Going?I woke up this morning from an intense dream, so vivid and detailed, I had to walk my husband through it. As I talked, I realized I sounded slightly insane. And at the same time, I started to realize why I had had this dream. — I realized that I had not dealt with my transition from having some celebrity in my chosen profession to no longer having it. I had not yet mourned the dissolution of what I considered to be my primary identity. I look back on my great fortune of having an outstanding…3 min read3 min read
Feb 22, 2020How Am I Doing So Far?Why is it so hard to understand the Wet’suwet’en protests? — In a personal attempt to understand colonization in Canada and its effects on our First Peoples, I write this as a documentation of my limited understanding. It is an invitation to intelligent, rational feedback. …5 min read5 min read
Nov 25, 2019#Shiftdisturbing on a Friday NightA diverse group of people with mad skills decide to gang up on the conditions that make a city unliveable — Chief Janice George, dressed in her own beautifully woven regalia, looks over the train tracks of Gastown to her home on the North Shore. This is the traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) People. Chief George tells us about the night the Vancouver of 1886 went up in flames. Her…Homeless4 min readHomeless4 min read
