Fairfield, Iowa; Iowa City; Iowa; Coralville, Iowa; East Moline, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois; Evanston, Illinois; Kerwood, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario
Fairfield, Iowa: Mock duck with spinach, mock abalone curry with coconut milk and avocado, successful experiments with canned Chinese vegetarian glutens. Rainy day with everyone falling into afternoon naps in the house by the farm, recovery from long travel yesterday. (Fairfield, Iowa) 20170501Visual Arts Building, U. Iowa: Striking central atrium with ramps spiralling multiple levels upward. Arts installations still in progress, with end of term nearing. Walking tour of campus on a clear spring day. (Visual Arts Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa) 20170502Coralville Center for the Performing Arts: Iowa City Girls Choir spring recital in an opulent venue. Our block of seven sent upstairs to the balcony, as ground floor space was packed. Experiencing the American lifestyle, as foreign visitors. (Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, Coralville, Iowa) 20170502Maharishi University: Collection of instruments in the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, to observe and align with natural law. Walked around campus with a local resident who has friends who studied in the school, providing some explanations of the contrasting belief system. (Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa) 20170503Deere & Co. World HQ : Combine has 14-foot wide wheelbase, so can be legally driven on the road, if the corn header is removed. Impressive front entrance display for a Fortune 100 company. (Deere & Company World Headquarters, East Moline, Illinois) 20170504Deere & Co. World HQ : Henry Moore (1973) Hill Arches, on island beside water fountain, in landscape designed by Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche. Crossing on small bridge over koi pond, swan approached as threatening, mate on other side nesting. (Deere & Company World Headquarters, East Moline, Illinois) 20170504
Deere & Co. World HQ koi pond:
Koi flock towards walkway on island when a human being approaches. Dropping crumbs into the water leads to bigger fish jumping over smaller ones. Swans later joined the action. (Deere & Company Worldwide Headquarters, East Moline, Illinois) 20170504
Chicago Diner: Pre-35th-Kellogg-reunion with MIS program leader from 1980 who hasn’t seen our family in almost 20 years. Remembering some of the faculty who are still with us, plus many who aren’t. Personalities haven’t changed much over the years. Sons appreciated vegan non-dairy dishes and desserts, as replicas of food they’ve been too allergic to previously try. (Chicago Diner, Old Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) 20170504Block Museum of Art : Kristine Aono (2017) “The Nail That Sticks Up The Furthest”, 120,313 holes, some with nails, over copies of the testimonies given during the 1981-1983 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Interment of Civilians. One hole for each Japanese American interred during WWII. Installation is across campus from Kellogg School 35th class reunion. (Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois) 20170505Kellogg School Global Hub: TGIF at 35th Reunion of the Class of 1982, on the second floor terrace around the atrium in the just-opened building. The more senior year reunions met upstairs, and recent graduates met on the ground floor. Former classmates attended some of the 4 lectures offering during the day, saying they don’t remember sitting to listen so long. (Kellogg School of Management Global Hub, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois) 20170505Kellogg School Global Hub: Dean @SallyBlount update @KelloggSchool, first alumni reunion in Collaboration Hub atrium. Tiered steps up to second floor with former students having graduated 1 to 55 years ago. (Kellogg School Global Hub, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois) 20170506Cai: Dim sum with International family first introduced in 1980, when I was first a foreign graduate student at Northwestern University. Solid Cantonese cuisine with xiaolongbao on menu means serious chefs. (Cai, South Archer Avenue, Chinatown, Chicago, Illinois) 20170507Smart Museum of Art: John Chamberlain 1963 “Untitled” painted automobile parts. Already on south side, small diversion for art on campus. Return drive northbound past Hyde Park mansions. (Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Illinois) 20170507Second City Chicago Mainstage: View from the sound pit alongside the stage during intermission. “The Winner of Our Discontent” put humour into the current political situation following the last presidential election in the United States, plus some local Chicago humour. Improvisation is live and well. (Second City Mainstage, North Wells Street, Chicago, Illinois) 20170507Twin Anchors: Two full racks of ribs split amongst four mouths, orders placed just 10 minutes before kitchen closed as after-theatre dinner. Historic restaurant served fall-off-the-bone pork. Photographs on the wall include Frank Sinatra as a patron, and The Dark Night as a movie venue. (Twin Anchors Restaurant, North Sedgwick Street, Chicago, Illinois) 20170507Kerwood. Wind farm in western Ontario, alongside Highway 402 en route from Sarnia to Toronto. Farmland looks different from open fields on Iowa and Illinois, more trees, and less isolation. (Kerwood, Adelaide Metcalfe township, Middlesex county, Ontario) 20170508Cineplex Queensway: Given choice between 2D and 3D, still preferring the older technology. Arrived early, as last time in different cinema was crowded, but this time isn’t during a school break. Luxury of time to see matinee of Guardians of the Galaxy v2. (Cineplex Queensway, Etobicoke, Ontario) 20170509Pizzeria Via Mercanti: Massive blue-tiled wood-fired oven with pizza spatula follows traditional Italian methods in the branch located in Little India. Diningroom has lots of space at lunchtime, as a good place for a relaxed business discussion. On diets, we split a pizza and a salad. (Pizzeria Via Mercanti, Gerrard Street East, Little India, Toronto) 20170511Lalibela: Ethiopian injera on platter with veggies, then grilled beef and lamb on top, and two deep fried fish on the side. No cutlery, this Mother’s Day dinner was eaten with our fingers. Confirmed that the meal was gluten-free, the injera is made from teff. (Lalibela, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170514Ralph Thornton Centre: Public consultation on Unilever Precinct redevelopment, our home is might in the middle of it! Area of 25 hectares compared to London Canary Wharf 29 hectares, and New York City Hudson Yards 11 hectares. We’re 3 short blocks over from the proposed SmartTrack/GO-RER station, and heard that committee approved the TTC relief line alignment up Carlaw Avenue, this morning. A huge leap forward from the neighbourhood we joined in 1988. (Ralph Thornton Centre, Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario 20170516120 Bloor Street East: Martin Bunch at Systems Thinking Ontario presenting on Ecosystem Approaches to Health, with 3 case studies. Uptown venue for first session to include remote electronic participation, started off with the dreaded delay of fumbling with technology. (120 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170517New Century Plaza: Eye scanners at optometrist office have been a regular part of our appointments for some years. I’ve been seeing the same practitioner since I was a teenager, he’s 10 years older than me. Biannual visits are something we do as a couple, old people make dates together to see doctors. (New Century Plaza, Markham, Ontario) 20170519Pine Hills Cemetery: Lowkong Society annual cemetery visit, Victoria Day weekend so cold that we could see the breath of the speakers. Usual roast pigs, duck, chicken and steamed rice cake for al fresco lunch. We took our oranges and apples home before the rain started. (Pine Hills Cemetery, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170521Dragon City Mall: View from Spadina and Dundas, after clan dinner. Rare occasion when everyone is together. Rainy day. (Dragon City Mall, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170521Riverside: Dinner party at home with family and friends, early on a school night. Making time for the luxury of social graces, good conversations in a relaxed setting. Hairy melon soup, Chinese beef stew, hoisin chicken, watercress with garlic, shanghai bok choy with shitake mushrooms. Matched with 2000 Margaux, Château d’Angludet acquired in 2002 without another occasion to consume. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20170523The Local Restaurant: Pizza in progress in the oven of the resto in the school of hospitality, tourism and culinary arts. Lead professor seated us, saying that only two students had showed up as servers, and they were new. The technician (facility manager) tried to fill in more, but we were more interested allowing the students to learn. (The Local Restaurant, Centennial College, Progress Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170324Dragon Pearl: Table for 20, as our full family extended by sister’s clan in town for wedding. Chinese buffet restaurant laid out in long table makes conversation unfortunately difficult. More occasions for family gatherings this weekend. (Dragon Pearl Restaurant, York Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario) 20170525Transportation Services, City of Toronto: Playing @Doors_OpenTO with Litter Vacuum vehicle, parked outside the maintenance garages at one City of Toronto venue. Building wasn’t open for touring. I worked in this office in the summer of 1979 as a business analyst, before the days of electronic spreadsheets. We moved into our home just down the street in 1988. (Transportation Services, City of Toronto, 433 Eastern Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170527St. George’s Hall: Private club @Doors_OpenTO @artslettersTO Great Hall, with bright stage and banners on the wall. Club founded in 1908 moved into Elm Street building in 1908. Tour led to daylight-lit art studio on 3rd floor, library on 2nd floor. Biking cross town visiting multiple previously-unseen places was refreshing on a cool spring day. (Arts and Letters Club, St. George’s Hall, Elm Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170527
Mount Pleasant: Family of four generations, convening at the resting place of the fifth. Rare occasion to pull in members from Texas, California and Virginia, not to mention all over Toronto. Half of the group continued the conversation started at lunch, at home until after dinner. (Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario) 20170528
Within the Systems Thinking Ontario community, we were fortunate to have Nenad Rava step up to explain how the Sustainable Development Goals came to be, and relate them to systems change. This May session of Systems Thinking Ontario was a quick follow-on for the March edition on Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the SDGs. […]
The book Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2002 by Routledge, was released as open access in 2023 by Taylor-Francis for readers who don’t have access to a university library. For the March edition of Systems Thinking Ontario, we were honoured to celebrate the release with editor-coauthors Kaitlin Kish […]
A special issue on “Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens” in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics edited by Marie Davidová, Susu Nousala, and Thomas J. Marlowe has been released. In that issue, the journey of the Systems Changes Learning Circle from 2019 through 2022 is reviewed. The editorial team, […]
In the ISSS 2022 Plenary talk, the first 25 minutes were a blast through (a) the rising interest in system(s) change(s); (b) appreciative systems (Vickers); (c1) the philosophy of architectural design; (c2) the philosophy of ecological anthropology; (c3) the philosophy of Classical Chinese Medicine; (c4) the philosophy of rhythms; and (d) methods of multiparadigm inquiry, […]
The theme for the February online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was sparked from the discussion from the January session on Root Metaphor and World Hypotheses. What does it mean to have a theory? How does sensemaking contribute to this? Gary Metcalf volunteered to guide a conversation on these topics. Two prereadings were to serve […]
Philosophy underlies the distinction in the three volumes of the Tavistock Anthology: founded on the World Hypotheses of Stephen C. Pepper, the Socio-Psychological Systems Perspective and the Socio-Technical Systems Perspectives are based on Organicism, while the Socio-Ecological Systems Perspective is based on Contextualism. This thread on contextualism can be traced from the association between E.C. […]
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
