Social calendar for month was full with Toronto Biennal of Art, Luminato, Taste of Little Italy and Toronto Jazz Festival, plus family dim sum and dinners.
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
Moments in June 2015: Toronto; Riverside Beats & Eats StreetFest; Waterloo, Ontario; Toronto Jazz Festival; Luminato Festival
Toronto; Riverside Beats & Eats StreetFest; Waterloo, Ontario; Toronto Jazz Festival; Luminato Festival
Orient Express kiddie ride. Dragon head could be the most menacing part on carnival ride that is being set up for weekend in west end park. Garish display from street for roller coaster that may only get to 10 feet off the ground means teenagers unlikely to get thrills from steep rises and drops. (Christie Pits Park, Blood Street West, Toronto) 20150604Bicycle-powered music. Music by @Mirian_Kay and @petitsnouveaux amplified by cyclist on @TuneYourRide for @RiversideBIA Beats & Eats StreetFest. Sunny Saturday afternoon, relaxed pedestrians discovering short intersections off Queen Street East. (Munro Street, Toronto) 20150606Pedal your own smoothie. Almond milk + fruit @OmaChiropractic, blender 20 seconds on bike @RiversideBIA Fest. @CycleToronto kiosk next over if wheels go astray. Seat was a little high for short riders, so parents had to ride for kids. (Munro Street, Toronto) 20150606Glen Road bridge. Tranquil view south over Rosedale Valley to tunnel by Sherbourne TTC station east exit, tunnel under Bloor Street above, then Howard Street and the towers of St. Jamestown. Despite having been around Toronto for 40 years, still discovering nooks off the beaten path while bicycling around town. (Glen Road bridge, Toronto, Ontario) 20150608U Waterloo convocation. Picked up gown, found name in program, waiting in the bleachers for ceremonies in about an hour. Brothers and grandfather came to see Adam receive diploma for Masters degree in Applied Science in Systems Design Engineering. (University of Waterloo) 20150613@TorontoJazzFestival opener. Tara Davidson sax, @DanielRFortin bass, @ErnestoCervini drums @TorontoLibrary North York concourse for early evening set. Band has known each other more than a decade. Played a lot of new original songs, yet to be recorded, including “31 Days”, which is how long it took Tara to write it last year. (North York Central Library) 20150615Grooveyard @torontojazzfest. Toddlers @shopsdonmills dance with happy feet as jazz musicians play pop and R&B repertoire. Slight personnel substitution due to double booking with other events around town? Maybe the kids will appreciate more sessions jazz when they get a little older. Grooveyard gets the audience to sing along, while their other personas would not have words. (Shoppes at Don Mills) 20150618Choral jazz @BurdockTo: Isis Giraldo Voces project @torontojazzfest, unexpected a capella harmonies in a warm set with an excellent sound system. Performers from Montreal have a different sense of musicality, great that they can share this on tour. Opening for Emma Frank. (Burdock Music Hall, Toronto) 20150618Dreampop jazz @BurdockTO: Emma Frank @torontojazzfest stretches the genre with contemporary vocal phrasing and pacing. Isis Geraldo on keyboard, Simon Millerd on trumpet. Drums and string bass follow the Montreal style of musicality, pushing the rhythm forward. (Burdock Music Hall, Toronto) 20150618Fleet of PanAm @TO2015 cars: Two weeks before the games start, a lot in Toronto Portlands is where the new cars with PanAm stickers are parked. Staging area is near the West Donlands Athletes Village, remarkably close to downtown Toronto. The contribution of General Motors as a transportation sponsor is significant. (Cherry Street at Commissioners Road, Toronto) 20150620Looped cello @Luminato: @cris_derksen with electronics and live drummer on the Festival Garden Stage, as part of National Aboriginal Day. Pattern played into machine, layers built up, and then soloing on top. Audience sprawled out on astroturf enjoying the weather. (Pecaut Square, Luminato Festival, Toronto) 20150621Hoop dancing @Luminato: Nimkii Osawamick performing with @cris_derksen on the Festival Garden Stage. Wrapped up in multiple hoops with looped cello and drummer on National Aboriginal Day. (David Pecaut Square, Luminato Festival, Toronto) 20150621
I didn’t get to the CD release of Michael Occhipinti’s “Chasing After Light” album, but caught up to him at a performance of the “Sicilian Jazz Project” at the Luminato Festival at the Distillery District.
I enjoyed jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti‘s 2000 Creation Dream: The Songs of Bruce Cockburn album, where he reinterpreted the compositions of Bruce Cockburn (who is a pretty great guitar player, himself!) With the same group of musicians, Occhipinti recently released a new album Chasing After Light. One of the disadvantages of travelling so much is that I sometimes miss performance that I’d like to see in town. Occhipinti plays in (and leads) many different permutations of musicians, so I noted that he was scheduled with the “Sicilian Jazz Project” for the Luminato Festival.
For the November 2023 Systems Thinking Ontario session, historian and policy advisor Dr. Michael Bonner was invited for an interview by Zaid Khan. In organizing the sessions, we’re trying to avoid the trap of systems thinking becoming a discipline, through learning with a sweeping-in process. The session opened on a map of The Sassanid Empire […]
It the systems sciences are an open system, then learning more and more about systems of interest are foundational. This was called a sweep-in process by C. West Churchman, in the heritage of Edgar A. Singer. Jr. A concise definition is found in the entry on “Experimentalism” in the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics: […]
For the Relating Systems and Design RSD12 symposium on October 14, 2023, members of the Explainers subgroup of the Systems Changes Learning Circle conducted an in-person workshop on “Explaining Systems Changes Learning: Metaphors and translations” at OCADU in Toronto. RSD12 included both in-person sessions and online sessions. In the planning phase for the symposium, our […]
Judith Rosen agreed to give an online presentation for the Systems Thinking Ontario meeting in October 2023, after we converted her in-person meeting at OCADU in August into a discussion circle. Channelling the anticipatory systems approach of her father, mathematical biologist Robert Rosen, Judith has been extended those ideas in her own continuing observation of […]
An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science. It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook. Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, […]
In a return to original Systems Thinking Ontario format, we reviewed an (old) systems thinking paper from 1998. Mohammed Badrah served as reviewer. Kelly Okamura was the discussant. The author, David Hawk, was available during the discussion period for extended knowledge. As compared to prior Systems Thinking Ontario sessions with the word “entropy” in the […]
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 […]
