Category: Toronto

Rapidly approaching the end of January

Like the week before it, this weekend is set to be busy.

Tonight is a Robbie Burns dinner at Massey, with sword-dancing and a charity auction to follow, along with one of the infamous ‘low table’ parties. I will be taking photos during the formal parts of the evening.

Tomorrow, there are three climate change events in Toronto: one at city hall, one at Allen Gardens (including a march to the Ontario Liberal Convention at Maple Leaf Gardens), and one at a site along the route of the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline. A member of Toronto 350.org will be speaking at the third event.

Sunday, I have tutoring at 10am (helping my student complete a law assignment), followed by a meeting at 2pm. Sunday night, a friend and classmate of mine is hosting a party in Mordecai Richler’s old apartment at Trinity College.

Of course, I also have heaps of reading to complete for next week’s classes, deferred midterms to grade before my Monday tutorials, and innumerable little chores to accompany it all. I am also reading several new books: Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief in support of my self-deception class, Peter Russell’s Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? for one of my Canadian politics class, and Boyce Richardson’s Strangers Devour the Land for an academic book review.

Term two, week three

This is going to be a busy week.

I have a few deferred midterms to grade before teaching tomorrow’s tutorials – for which I also need to redo the readings and devise an enhanced random selection system for student presentations. I will also have office hours and a lecture which I should attend, along with a club event that may be of some interest.

Tuesday we have a 350 meeting, for which I should be working on refining our divestment PowerPoint presentation and advancing logistical preparations for the Presidents’ Day trip to Washington D.C.. I also have my ‘incomplete conquests’ class, for which three books and a chapter have been assigned (topic: the Treaty of Niagara). There is also an ‘EcoFair’ at OISE, where Toronto 350.org will have a booth.

Wednesday I have my self-deception course. We will be discussing Freud’s “The future of an illusion” and Becker’s “Human nature and the heroic; The terror of death; Human character as a vital lie”.

I have a paper due for my core PhD seminar in Canadian politics on Thursday, on the topic: “Have Canadian political scientists devoted too much attention to issues of responsible government to the detriment of analysis of other important questions about Parliament?” For this seminar, there are seven chapters of reading assigned, along with four scholarly articles.

In amongst all this, I need to work on preparing and selling prints for my camera repair fund; work on the major term papers for my Canadian politics classes; figure out a way to pay my second term tuition and Massey fees; respond to 128 emails; track down some comprehensive examinations in Canadian politics from previous years; send various thank you cards; sort notes from last term; and generally advance miscellaneous projects and discharge various obligations.

Wednesday mornings are for self-deception

Today was the first seminar of Jordan Peterson’s Self-Deception course, and it was quite something.

The man is a gifted speaker, and devoted most of the class to describing a process for writing well and the importance of doing so. The course assignment is unusual: three successive drafts on the same topic, first of three, then six, then nine pages. After each round, students are to be provided with comments.

Strictly speaking, I am not allowed to take the class (as a non-psychology student). My plan is to keep doing the readings and showing up, with the aim of writing the assignment as well. Grades and course credits don’t really matter for me at this point, so it won’t make much difference if I can ultimately convince him to let me into the course or not.

Starting winter term 2013

The winter term begins today. I am continuing with the Canadian politics PhD seminar from last term, as well as the international relations course where I am working as a teaching assistant. I am picking up a new Canadian politics course taught by Peter Russell called: “Canada in Question – a Country Founded on Incomplete Conquests“.

I am also hoping to audit Jordan Peterson’s psychology course: “Self-Deception: A Comprehensive Analysis” and perhaps continue to drop in on some of Nick Mount’s “Literature for Our Time” lectures.