'Oregon Trail' Gen X Nerd

  Image from https://www.ted.com/playlists/870/what_to_do_when_it_feels_like_the_world_s_on_fire Getting creative (or, publish or perish) by Jen Davies, nerd September 23, 2026 A significant challenge for me as a university professor is the pressure to write. I've never minded writing, I'm just not good at doing it on-command, you know, like "Hey, I have an hour, let me get some writing done." My motivation to do it is not on a switch, so I have so far struggled to get done all the writing that I have to get done. The expression we use in academic is "publish, or perish" - meaning, write stuff and get it into print (preferably peer-reviewed print in the sciences) or you'll lose your job. One of many reasons I started this blog was to put myself on a weekly schedule of writing something. Anything at all, really. And it has been fun, and I don't plan to stop yet. I also chose the blog format because it's a practical outlet: the occasions when I hav...

Photo taken by https://www.instagram.com/mistymeadowsphotography/ Ottawa Comic Con: Anything for Ben Solo by Jen Davies, nerd Sept 16, 2026 You can see the IG Stories we posted here as Highlights: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18132942568645476/ And the best-ofs are here:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXIemzkkoh/ or  https://bsky.app/profile/thehuntforbensolo.bsky.social/post/3mvnx7u64dk2z (It's on all the socials at savebensolo.com if you prefer TikTok or whatever else.) Last weekend I was in Ottawa for their annual Comic Con. It was a convenient halfway point more or less for me and my fan campaign friend who cosplays Leia from Star Wars, and we figured it was time to send Ben south with her to tour the US East Coast a little. It was such a fantastic weekend! See the photos on social media (links above) - we had such a great time. Highlights included meeting Giancarlo Esposito, who was delightful. He co-starred in Megalopolis with Adam Driver, and he sh...

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn  Autumn = Change by Jen Davies, nerd Sept 2, 2026 Fall is probably my favourite season: it's warm but not hot, the leaves change and are beautiful, and generally change is in the air. I like change, too much my spouse would probably say. I have none planned for myself this fall, for a change, not even a new haircut. It's going to be a hell of a fall for me because of work. As a professor I teach, serve, and do research. I'm teaching 3 classes (that's a lot because of the other two commitments), may be integrating more effectively into the social services network in my community, and both wrapping up a small research project as well as drafting some articles. And I have an idea for a professional book. It's a lot to get done. It's also a continuation of the ongoing self-perception shift I have been having to make, from frontline service provider or service manager to faculty member. The priorities are very different...

Image from https://sacredharp.com/product/sacred-harp-2025-edition/ Filling my cup: Belonging to a community by Jen Davies, nerd Aug 26, 2026 I lost my grandmother last week, and if I could say the timing was lucky it's because just a few days later it was time for the Central Ontario (ie, Toronto) Annual Sacred Harp Convention. It's 4-part acapalla music with a tradition of travelling to sing in each other's communities, which emerged in the US in the 1800s as both entertainment and worship. It can now be found all over the world. Like a lot of people, I stumbled on it through the film Cold Mountain . It was not a great movie, but the scene in the church where people are singing in harmony and waving their arms to keep the rhythm with each other... I was entranced. I learned it was called shape note singing, the most popular book is called the Sacred Harp (ie, your voice). We found a group in Toronto and showed up at their next "singing" (a noun). Someone pushed...

Grieving my own way by Jen Davies, nerd Aug 19, 2026 If you're reading this, my grandmother has passed away. My grandmother was born in 1933 (Great Depression still raging, even in Canada) and grew up in a house with her father's parents and aunts/uncles from both sides of the family. Because that was what you did. Family and community were essential to making life happen (and remain so). And I'm feeling like I need to do more of "that". She was beautiful. She married at 18 and was a mother at 19. My mother made her a mother, the same way that my arrival in the world made her a grandmother. I had the great pleasure of taking them both to Las Vegas in 2017 or 2018, with my spouse's help of course. Why Las Vegas? I can vividly remember childhood sleepovers with my cousins in Grandma's upstairs, so "the ladies" could play poker, curse up a storm and smoke cigarettes all night at the dining table. Seeing the Grand Canyon with them was unf...

  Image from https://www.betterup.com/blog/types-of-rest Too much R&R by Jen Davies, nerd Aug 12, 2026 Apparently there is such a thing as too much R&R because I didn't get around to prepping any ideas for a blog post this week. Briefly, then, I'll talk about the importance of taking a break for refreshing your brain and therefore the quality and/or efficiency of whatever you're doing. I won't cite any resources, but it's pretty easy to find the psychological and educational research on the value of taking a break. Breaks can be short or long. Sometimes 5 minutes is all you need to refresh. My eye doctor says I should look away from my computer screen for 2 minutes every 60 minutes to let my eyeballs relax (not likely, but I do think of it, Doc!) On the bigger scale, I'm actually not a fan of long vacations, because more time off only has the effect of making it harder to get started again. Sometimes a break means doing something else , rather than doin...