'Oregon Trail' Gen X Nerd

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...

  Image from https://tenor.com/view/reylo-ben-solo-kylo-ren-the-rise-of-skywalker-tros-ben-solo-gif-11375326834185082205 Ben Solo Joy: A Star Wars Experience by Jen Davies, nerd Aug 5, 2026 I feel like we get Ben Solo for about 5 minutes in SW Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker - apparently we had about 8-10 minutes depending on where you think Kylo Ren goes away, but it wasn't enough. Here is a collection of most of those too-few minutes in case you're not familiar with them (links below). If you ARE familiar with Episodes 7, 8 and 9 you might choose to rewatch these things, and I'd like to encourage you to pay attention to two things that I will talk about more below: a) the incredible shift in body language from actor Adam Driver, who plays the character(s), and b) the musical themes (which return in modified form from earlier in the films). Start where Ben throws Kylo Ren away:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yENbL9YwEg4 Arriving on Exegol Pt 1: https://youtu.be/4zCuOf...

Image from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076740/ Thief, Sorcerer, and being fated to psychological work (not a D&D post) by Jen Davies, nerd July 29, 2026 Like a lot of young people, my early taste in films was influenced (and managed) by my parents, and I'm grateful that I was subjected to a minimum amount of infantalizing TV and film due to the place and time that I grew up. As a result I saw a great many high quality films that young people might not otherwise get to see, just because they were what was available. There were many FEWER choices in the 1980s and 90s. Two films that were highly impactful on me were two films you might not be familiar with, because they did not become any of the masterpieces by the filmmakers. One is Sorcerer, starting Roy Scheider and directed by William Friedkin (most famous for The French Connection), based on the French novel The Wages of Fear. The other is Thief, starting James Caan and written and directed by Michael Mann (prob...