Category: Notes
Being what most would simply call ‘blog posts’. Quick posts [usually] about a single idea.
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WandaVision
Today the family and I enjoyed a picnic above Wanda Beach, just north of Cronulla. Earlier in the year we purchased a pop-up sun shelter that makes it easy to get outside without worrying as much about Australia’s brutal sun. I intend to use it at every opportunity. There’s something very nice about grabbing some […]
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À bout de souffle
Godard | 1960 | France 3rd watch; first in cinema. And what a delight to see the recent 4K remaster on the Ritz’s biggest screen in the dark of the matinee. Godard’s manner of punctuating nods to his influences with idiosyncratic formal touches is what makes him inimitable. This is my favourite of his films […]
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The Surfer
Finnegan | 2025 | Australia One need not scratch much varnish off the surface of Australia’s easygoing reputation to uncover darkness. I went into this prepared for a critique of the “locals only” mentality that continues to foment social unrest on beaches in Australia (see also: the Cronulla race riots). Instead, my brain got turned […]
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Remembering Jerry West
You knew him as the silhouette in the NBA logo and one of the greatest to ever play the game; I knew him as West Virginia’s favourite son and a personal hero. However you knew Jerry West, the news of his death has likely touched you deeply. There have been two times in my 39 […]
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A Great Cup of Coffee
I am a lover of coffee, though the origin of this love is difficult to meaningfully trace. While working the most romantic of the various jobs I’ve held in my life — cinema projectionist — in the summer between my Junior and Senior years of college, I was handed my first cup of coffee on […]
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Ten Years of ToVa
On this day ten years ago, I launched this blog: Toward Vandalia. That’s me (in my younger and more impressionable days) in the photo above, smiling at Rupert, who helped me with post photos in those early days of the site. In early 2023, I wrote a post outlining how the blog has changed through […]
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When Does the Work Day Begin?
We recently relocated to another suburb of Sydney – one which is farther away from the CBD (where I work) than our previous home was. My commute used to involve only an 11min train ride, which never afforded much of an opportunity to read. Not only am I a slow reader (so I might get […]
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A Silly Little (Very Important) Photo
I snapped this photo five years ago today. At first glance it is wholly unremarkable. However, it’s assumed unexpected – and evolving – importance to my work over the years. It will be immediately familiar to anybody who has seen me present on design thinking. I initially stopped to take this photo because the scene […]
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An Open Letter to West Virginia University President Gordon Gee
President Gee, I am distressed by virtually every proposed element of the West Virginia University “Academic Transformation” as announced by the University on August 11. These proposals include the elimination of the MS and PhD Mathematics programs; the discontinuation of all World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics programs; the elimination of the MFA Creative Writing course; […]
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Bookshelves Lined With Your Personality
I don’t get to read much fiction these days. As an academic, I read more non-fiction than most people (yet somewhat less than I’d like to read). Unfortunately, I can only read so much in any given day before I hit a point of diminishing returns in regard to my ability to engage with and […]