Like most others, I’ve been working hard managing myself, family, work, teaching, research, community, bike riding and a myriad of other commitments.
Usually, I can do this well. Other times not so much.
If I am honest, I am feeling tired… like… REALLY tired.
I worked hard during COVID to support the students, staff and colleagues I work with and despite looking after myself, I can feel my adrenals burning out.
So many of us live in a constant state of stress, rushing from one task to the next with little time to rest or relax – and this can have a serious impact on our physical and mental health.
As I come to the end of this year and look ahead…now is a good time to take a break.
Taking a break is essential for maintaining health and well-being.
It gives the body, brain and spirit a chance to recover from the constant demands of society, the workplace and our relationships with ourselves and others – and the need to constantly ‘be on’ ALL THE TIME!
It can be exhausting.
So, for the first time since I started this blog six years ago, I’m taking a break. I’m taking time to recharge, refocus and refresh.
During this break, I’ll be reflecting on riding, teaching, work and my PhD. I’ll also be reassessing my priorities, health and current life direction.
I’ll be back in 2023 with more inspiring bike-related projects.
Until then, take care friend! I hope you also take some time to recharge.
Happy holidays all!Instead of celebrating Christmas, I celebrate the holidays. As we wind up for the year, my thoughts turn to ‘t(r)ail’ holidays and riding bikes with four-legged friends. The December break is a wonderful time to get out and visit your favourite trails and explore new ones. Riding mountain bike trails with your dog is one of the most enjoyable things you can do. To whet your whistle, here’s an offering from Kona which introduces Rosco the mature trail dog and his MTB owner Lacy. This short video puts together all the best things about MTBing with furry friends – and more. Enjoy! NG.
Roscoe the trail dog and Lacy. Image: My Kona Lacy Kemp (video still).
The company of dogs when MTBing is the best feeling in the world. They love to explore new places and meet new people – and they ALWAYS love being on trail.
I’m a BIG fan of bikes and dogs. I’ve previously shared stories like:
When you ride with a dog, you are never alone. You always have someone to keep you company and make you laugh.
Dogs are also great motivators. They always want to go faster and harder than you do, which can push you to ride at your best.
Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of cruising through the woods with your best buddy by your side.
I love riding with my 11-year-old trail dog Zoe. Zoe is a fit and keen kelpie who loves the outdoors and we have had many happy trail adventures together.
Recently I saw this short video (below) by Kona. Kona is an American bike manufacturing company so it makes sense they would promote themselves as gender-inclusive, exciting, and approachable for a range of riders.
Rosco is a nearly retired trail dog. At 11 years old, he’s still got plenty of spunk, but these days he prefers to lounge at home while his human counterpart hits the trails – but not always! Lacy started riding mountain bikes with her dog Rosco as soon as she got him, and the two have been shredding together ever since.
These days when they ride together, they do 30mins ‘old-man laps’ so Rosco can still get his paws dirty.
They take it slow because Rosco needs a few rests along the way – awww bless!
I agree with Lacy that you always learn new lines following your dog.
As an avid night rider – I loved seeing Lacy shed in the evenings, although we don’t get snow where I live, so seeing that was next level for me.
Lacy likes snowy night rides because its ‘like riding sugar’ and its where ‘shadows pop’.
Most riders can relate to Lacy’s sentiment when she says:
‘I feel weird, I don’t feel whole if I don’t get out on my bike.’
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a first-time rider, we all feel the joy of riding mountain bikes with dogs. And if you haven’t managed to do this recently, this video will help until you do!
So next time you hit the trails, be sure to bring your furry friend along for the ride.
In the previous blog post, I detailed a project I was involved in earlier this year called Reading with Reciprocity run by The Ediths. In that post, I explained the contributor’s brief, what we did and how we did it. In this post, I am excited to share the final output that contributors cocreated. It’s such a wonderful way to wrap up the year. What a project! So exciting! Great ideas on how to research more generously. See more below. NG.
Image: The Ediths
The Ediths are a feminist interdisciplinary research collective based at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. The collective uses socially engaged creative methodologies to conduct ecologically responsive research.
I am delighted to announce the Edith’s Reading with Reciprocity Project has just been released. Congratulations to the organisers, Mindy Blaise, Jane Merewether and Jo Pollitt and to all book responders.
I was very honoured to be invited to contribute to this project and to have my book response included.
Reading with Reciprocityis an initiative by The Edith’s inspired by the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research’s (CLEAR) blog post,#Collabrary: a methodological experiment for reading with reciprocity (2021), which draws on the scholarship of Joe Dumit (2012), Zoe Todd (2016), and Eve Tuck (2017) to learn reading practices that are “humble, generous, and accountable” (CLEAR, 2021). We were interested and impressed with the ways in which this methodological experiment was creating reading practices grounded in a feminist ethic committed to making room for diverse knowledges.
This initiative began by first curating a list of books based on the research interests of the membership and our commitment to privileging different voices. After sending out an expression of interest, we were surprised and humbled at the overwhelming response to the invitation and selected 11 members to take part in Reading with Reciprocity. Similar to the care taken in deciding which books to read and review, we also selected members with consideration and intention, including representation of early career, mid-career, and experienced researchers. Because we see the roundtables as part of postgraduate supervision and an expanded form of mentoring, some of the students we supervise were also selected to participate.
Those who took part in Reading with Reciprocity were asked to read the (CLEAR) blog post, #Collabrary: a methodological experiment for reading with reciprocity (2021) and then submit a review that was based on reading a selected text with reciprocity. We hoped that participants would reciprocate the gifts that the authors had given in their writing.
Reimagining how we might read and review these books with care, reciprocity, and generosity ended up not being as easy as we first thought. It is clear that there is such a dominant way of reviewing work that makes being generous to authors so out of the ordinary and unsupported in the academy. We have to do better! Reading with Reciprocity is one way that we can do this work, individually and as a community of scholars who are interested in doing academia more kindly and generously.
The Ediths
I enjoy being part of The Edith’s collective because the group’s ethics, topics and discussions align so well with my research and personal interests. When we meet, we focus on exploring the material and situated effects of environmental change on feminist bodies and practices and the relations between social justice, ecological sustainability, and Indigenous self-determination. This means a strong commitment to the decolonization of Western knowledge production.
Being part of this research collective creates opportunities for dialogue and collaboration among feminists from diverse backgrounds and to contribute to the development of more just and sustainable societies – such as this Reading with Reciprocity project!
It is so helpful for researcher-writers to have like-minded people to process, feed and be inspired by – I hope you have your own group that does this for you!
Earlier this year, I was invited by The Ediths to participate in a new project they are undertaking called: A feminist initiative towards reading with reciprocity.
The Ediths wanted to explore what it might look, feel and be like to work with #Collabary practices as a way towards becoming generous and accountable scholars.
For me, it was a toss-up between A/P Fikile Nuxmalo and Dr. Laura Rodríguez Castro. Both these scholars work have direct overlaps with my research interests.
In the end, given the direct application of Post-humanist/New Materialist approaches and because of the place-base(ness) of site-specific work (aligns with emplaced bike trails and accounting for other-than-academic/outside environments) with a deliberate engagement with First Nations, Black and People of Colour perspectives (which I have an ongoing interest in), I chose:
Once chosen, you get sent a copy of your selected book – and of course, that copy is yours to keep as a token of appreciation for participating in the project. Woohoo!
3) Using the Collaborary and Dumit resources/links above as inspiration, we are encouraged to experiment with one or more of these reading practices (close reading, constructive reading, positive, generous, slightly genealogical, methodological in focus, and ethical).
4) Then write a 600–800-word review that is informed by one or more of these above reading practices to show how a reciprocal, generous, and accountable review might be done.
We had a generous 6-weeks turn-around to get out work back to the organiser-editors who will then feedback our piece before release.
Once finalised, all project contributions will be publicly available on The Ediths website.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
On March 8th, A/P Deondre Smiles and A/P Max Liboiron did a #Collabrary Zoom session. Here, they discuss: Feminisms from Unthought Locations: Indigenous worldviews, marginalized feminisms, and revisioning and Anticolonial social science by Gaile Cannella & Kathryn Manuelito from the Handbook of Critical Indigenous Methodologies
