The moral ambiguity of the Scottish English borderlands This is a story where one can not easily divide groups of people into good guys and bad guys. For those who are fans of the show, Peaky Blinders, it is like diving into the world of Thomas Shelby, the leader of the criminal gang, who is…
The end of the road as “queer space” This blog post captures my thoughts I had while walking the littoral zone…
Last summer, Nancy and I walked the border between Wales and England, the birthplace of the relatives on my father’s side. My fascination with borders, identity, liminal space, and words found fertile ground during this walk. My search for understanding the meaning of Cynefin and Hireath became the quest of this pilgrimage as these two…
Am I part of the problem? After spending most of the last month travelling both in Canada and the UK, I can start to understand why many countries in Europe are turning against tourism. Is tourism of any kind sustainable, let alone the mass tourism of cruise ships, bus tours, and wall to wall all…
My morning hike on the eve of the winter solstice begins just as the sun emerges above the horizon at 7: 53 am and by the time I arrive home it feels like the day is fully here and just as quickly shortly before 5:00 pm, the sun is gone on the shortest day of…
A year ago in 2023, a simple question from my sister has taken me to places I could not have imagined. Why exactly, did our grandfather Mathew Bell have Pinkerton for a middle name asked my sister Jennifer. Mom had little to say to Jen other than “it was a family name.” When…
I do not know how old I was, but I remember wondering if anyone was important in my family, had we done something significant? My childhood answer to myself was a resounding no. It was not something we talked about when our family met for celebrations, and it was not something that was part…