Toronto, Ontario
Water’s Edge Promenade: Walked south on Sugar Beach arriving just in time to see #JudyChicago start A Tribute To Toronto @TorontoBiennial performance. Barge with flashing light released purple smoke first, drifting east. After 5 minutes, the wind shifted north, forboding us to retreat back to a grassy knoll minutes before the crowd majority turned to follow. (Water’s Edge Promenade, East Bayfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20220604Yonge-Dundas Square: Facing southwest @YDSquare, four of 12+ screens @EdwardBurtynsky (2022) In the Wake of Progress @Luminato Festival with 360-degree immersion and booming sound. Plaza occupied by small groups of viewers looking upwards at images captured over 40 years. Second evening of two, arrived at dusk. (Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, Ontario) 20220612Congee Queen Agincourt: Weekday lunch becoming more normal, yet restaurant running below capacity. Comfort food with Cantonese fried noodles, grouper with tofu hotpot, bok choy. Day of meetings for community programs, lab tests. (Congee Queen Agincourt, Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220615Very Fair Seafood Cuisine: Reservation made for table of seven, for first family dim sum after years of takeout. No cart service, so ordered way too much food off the menu. Leftovers packed up for three destinations. (Very Fair Seafood Cuisine, Milliken Boulevard, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220618Pre-Fathers Day: Two sons still in town, so Saturday lunch uptown to meet with grandfather. Summer schedules are getting complicated, hard to find a day not already booked. Life is good, lots of changes on the domestic fronts. (Very Fair Seafood Cuisine, Millken Boulevard, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220618Little Italy: Street corner @TOLittleItaly trio @micheldequevedo hand drum, @ericstlaurent guitar @composer_jordan bass. Lyrics in Spanish appreciated by Mexicans and Venezuelans audience members, rhythms encouraged couples to dance. On break, Eric said this was only the second performance under Michel’s leadership, the non-Latin licks in guitar and bass give a freshe feeling. (College Street at Euclid Avenue, Little italy, Toronto, Ontario) 2020619Village of Yorkville Park: Tetrahedron @TorontoJazzFest @ernestocervini drums, @nirfelder guitar, @Richthealgoritm bass, @luisdenizsax alto. Performance delayed from CD release in March 2020, unfortunate timing at pandemic. Attentive audience under shade of trees in late afternoon, stage facing west. (Village of Yorkville Park, Cumberland Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario) 20200624House of Gourmet: Neighbourhood seafood dinner, casual occasion for introductions as our family network expands. Talked about summer travel plans, eastbound, westbound, overseas. Walked back to apartment for first look after many months of renovations, street life is now more active with the warm weather. (House of Gourmet, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220625Victoria University Quad: Trio @robocchipinti bass, @adreanf piano, #MarkKelso drums @torontojazzfest . Live music changeup in program, in respect of recent societal changes, to play Somewhere (West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein) followed by Is This America (Pat Metheny). Emotion in music sometimes doesn’t need words. (Victoria College Quadrangle, University of Toronto) 20220626Victoria University Quad: ES:MO duo @eshepherdmusic piano @Occhipintimusic guitar expanded for @torontojazzfest with @robocchipinti bass #NickFraser drums. Stories of the two travelling across Canada together borne out by long introduction to Riverman programmed live into loops with guitar, voice and keyboard bass. Performers are well-known in town, a large crowd was gathered on the lawn before they took the stage. (Victora College Quadrangle, University of Toronto) 20220626Village of Yorkville Park: From Montreal, #CODEQuartet @TorontoJazzFest @cjensenmusic sax, @lexfrenchmusic trumpet, #AdrianVedady bass, @jimdoxas drums. Behavior consistent with self-description as a collective, as each player called out the rhythm at the start of their composition. More openness and lightness in the chordless ensemble, without a guitar or keyboard to fill in space. (Village of Yorkville Park, Cumberland Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220627Victoria University Quad: Singer-songwriter @sammyjacksonxo @torontojazzfest backed by @IanWrightMusic drums, @markgodfreybass . Wide stage with #TomFleming guitar, #ChrisPruden keys. Languid melodies and family back stories on a warm summer late afternoon. (Victoria College Quadrangle, Uniersity of Toronto) 20220628Village of Yorkville Park: Quintet @markgodfreybass @toronojazzfest with @IanWrightMusic drums, @mattworoshyl sax, #ChrisPruden keys, #KaeMurphy trumpet. Recognized by @TOArtsFdn as Emerging Jazz Artist of 2019, released album in Feburary 2020 just in time for pandemic shutdown. First live performance of the original group reformed for this day. (Village of Yorkville Park, Cumberland Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220629Village of Yorkville Park: Bridges @jesseryansax @torontojazzfest with #DanielAnthony drums, #JulianAndersonBowes bass, #EwenFarncombe piano, @andrewmarzotto guitar, offstage @alexjazztrumpet. Emerging Jazz Artist @TOArtsFdn was Jesse in 2020, now Andrew in 2022 announced minutes before taking stage. Trinidadian heritage in compositions, updating into contemporary jazz with Caribbean and South American influences. (Village of Yorkville Park, Cumberland Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220629
Market Street: Shaded patio table on pedestrian mall was the venue for the Systems Changes Learning Circle core members. First occasion for a face-to-face meeting, after over 2 years online due to pandemic. With rhythmic shifts having become central to our approach, we reminded ourselves that some emerging subgroups may similarly experience years of disordered thinking before reaching a convergence. (Market Street, St. Lawrence Market, Old Town, Toronto, Ontario) 20220630
Exploring the possibility of a renewed Systems Thinking TO, #ChrisChapman convened a ST/TO: One More Pass Through the Loop session. The last in-person event met in 2019, and then the Covid pandemic interrupted a regeneration. The group put post-it notes up on the whiteboard as reflections on features of prior success, and prospects when many […]
Overhead lamp shades strung over the narrow passage may now be weathered by years of cold winters. Live-work spaces of the Artscape Distillery Studios were vacated in 2021 at the end of the 20-year lease from Cityscape Development. East end of lane terminates with white facade of The Gooderham Condos. (Case Goods Lane, Distillery District, […]
Surrealist #ChristianButterfield (2024) Cold No. 6 - Up Up Higher is acrylic and collage on canvas. Order and disorder are in contrast with sculpted geometric shapes and colours, with newspaper clippings reflecting the oversaturation of media. Vulnerability and reflection is evoked in the declarations of consumer culture, societal pressure, and/or interpersonal strains. (Corkin Gallery, Tank […]
Last day of advance poll for Canada federal election. Queue winding upstairs to second floor was a 30 minute wait, poll for surname in last half of alphabet had DY finished 15 minutes earlier. Unexpected crowd at 4:00pm, voters must have already made up their minds. (Jimmy Simpson Recreation Centre, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) […]
Bridge across Portage River in 49-acre park on a chilly spring day. Had picnic lunch with windbreak under covered shelter. Unproductive visit to city centre, discovered Kalamazoo was practically vacant on Easter Sunday afternoon. (Milham Park, East Kilgore Road, Kalamazoo, Michigan) 20250420
White tablecloth dinner of Afghan cuisine, close to home for international family from grad school days. One retired, while the other is slowly moving out of business. Catching up on kids now adults with their own children, in Hawaii and Delaware. (Kabul House, Dempster Street, Evanston, Illinois) 20250419
Fourth floor Fernanda Laguna (2018) I Love It is two panels of acrylic on canvas with cutouts. Feminst artist has cofounded galleries, publishing house, and art education program in Argentina. Works are part of the Descending the Staircase exhibition series. (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) 20240419
Freshly made deep dish Chicago-style pizza, made with soy cheese and seitan pepperoni. I used to enjoy this specialty in grad school, but gave up dairy 30-some years ago. I managed two slices as DY ate around the crust, leaving more than enough for a picnic on the drive back to Toronto, and a lunch […]
Late afternoon lunch in vegan restaurant with attitude. Followed overhead thread of light over bar, across to west wall. Ordered deep dish Chicago style pizza, kitchen prep time estimated at 35-45 minutes. (Kitchen 17, West Diversey Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) 20250419
Visiting home of CMN, lifelong career shifts from tennis pro, to high energy physicist, strategy professor, now jazz pianist. First met him as a graduate school advisor 45 years ago, when I entered my master's degree program. I recall a day biking the 20 miles up from Evanston to the prior bigger house, and then […]
Two years after submitting an academic manuscript and responding to double-blind reviews, “Rethinking work, with the pandemic disruption” has now been published in the International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior (IJOTB) as earlycite. The article has a DOI (Document Object Identifier), and should be streamed with an official volume and issue number soon. The […]
The 128th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was convened in person. The classroom was filled with current students, alumni, our regular participants, and a few curious newcomers. Moderated by Zaid Khan, the conversation was sparked by Stephen Davies and myself (David Ing) on the evolving styles in learning systems thinking. Stephen has been leading SFIN-6011 […]
The “Understanding Systems” SFIN-6011 course is a requirement in the master’s program in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADU. For winter 2025, the class is now led by Stephen Davies, breaking the incremental evolving of content since 2008. While still on faculty at OCADU, the original course designer Peter H. Jones is now a Distinguished […]
In the 1970s, five ways of knowing were established by C. West Churchman in The Design of Inquiring Systtems. In the 1990s, his student Ian Mitroff carried on the tradition and extended that work in The Unbounded Mind. Now in the 2020s, the technology of Generative AI opens up opportunties to query or request responses […]
For readers with an interest deeper than the 15-minute presentation given in August, the Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in Information Systems (STPIS 2024) have now been formally publishied. The invited paper on “Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes: From rearranging objects to repacing rhythms” was reviewed by the […]
The 125th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario coincided with the closing day for the RSD13-RSDX online program. As a regular systems convening group, we’ve had monthly meetings since January 2013. Zaid Khan moderated a discussion including me (David Ing), Tim Lloyd, Allenna Leonard, and Kelly Okamura. We recollected starting as a spinoff from Design with […]
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
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 ›
In 2024, WordPress Studio was released, making installation on a local computer simpler. The instructions were modified from MacOS to Ubuntu Linux, by Daniel Kossmann, “How to install WordPress Studio in Ubuntu Linux” | Jun 15, 2024 at https://www.danielkossmann.com/how-to-install-wordpress-studio-ubuntu-linux/ I already had NVM installed, but in Terminal, with the result “command not found”. In the […]
The appreciation of change is different in Western philosophy than in classical Chinese philosophy. JeeLoo Lin published a concise contrast on differences. Let me parse the Introduction to the journal article, that is so clearly written. The Chinese theory of time is built into a language that is tenseless. The Yijing (Book of Changes) there […]
In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
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 […]
