When I was a kid, I loved to hear the story of Dayw-Mayw. Dayw means Monster. Mayw does not mean anything. But if Dayw is Monster, then Mayw could be its antithesis -- a silly phonetic logic. The story goes like this. A young boy lives with his only grandma alive. They have a cow to survive... Continue Reading →
Have you thought how an online course could help you learn differently than an in-class one? This post is about ways of learning that online courses can offer. In the past two terms, I have been teaching both online and in-class graduate courses. The general sentiment is still in favor of in-class courses. I say... Continue Reading →
Since publishing the blog on knowledge translation, I have received a number of questions about what knowledge is, how it is produced, how we save it, and different forms of it. I find them all related and provide a brief summary of them all through reviewing a book. I am warning that this reading might... Continue Reading →
This blog was first published on March 24, 2010. It is edited and revised on its 7th anniversary. Do you remember your parents or grandparents shouting into a telephone, forcing their voice to reach the other end? The voice was the loudest if the call was intercontinental. My dad is much better these days,... Continue Reading →
On the first day of spring 2017, the day of Nawroz, they have produced a report on happiness and called it World Happiness Report only to say that the developing, the poor, and the third world countries are also the unhappier countries. Are you serious? I am celebrating this Nawruz in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada,... Continue Reading →
Speaking of suicide again, have you thought about the way we talk about it? We say commit suicide. I have done it too. One of my students in an online discussion raised this excellent point regarding the way we frame people into conditions through the use of our language. I want to quote her here, "saying a... Continue Reading →
Some stories are made in heaven. They are the kind of stories that start with once upon a time. They are the kind of stories that go down the history as legends because if they were told as events that happened, people just won't believe them. Unbelievable stories. Miraculous. In the history of soccer champions... Continue Reading →
Have you ever thought of suicide? I am not talking about committing suicide, I am talking about suicide as a mental health problem. Now, when someone commits suicide, the public judgment is to blame the victim. They could be called weak, coward, crazy or mental. Guess what, the world we live in creates at least... Continue Reading →
There are many adages that urge change from within. Probably, the most memorable one is by Gandhi, "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." Although very attractive, I find problematic for a number of reasons. First, it promotes individualism. These adages carry a notion that puts individuals at the center of the... Continue Reading →
