Writing

23 April 2008
The Centre for Human Ecology is feeling the financial crunch that's squeezing all of higher education. Its response is to call upon its most valuable resource: its graduates.

Research Ethics

19 March 2008
Ethics paperwork protects the rights of research participants... But is there more to ethics than paperwork?

» More Columns

political essays

In Defense of Sociology & Geography

15 June 2011
Why Social Science? Why Higher Education?
Looking Behind Strathclyde’s Disinvestment Strategy

The Politics of Hope and Fear

07 March 2008
Hillary Clinton threatens to tear America apart -- will Barack Obama's vision be strong enough to sustain us through the long struggle ahead?

An Ex-Pat’s View of Obama

30 January 2008
For the first time, there is a candidate I really believe in. It's a wonderful gift.

» More Political Essays

other

History of the Big Pink Banner

11 June 2006
Story of the Fans For Peace Banner, well-known phenomenon in the world of Goo Goo Dolls fans.

The Beltane Table

31 July 2004
Or: another tale from Synchronicity City. Beautiful things can happen when the right elements come together.

Astrology for Skeptics

22 July 2004
A different way to think about astrology, and why it's a useful tool in life.

» More Random Writing

old poetry

gypsy girl my role in the dance
rage state of the world
eager to bleed misplaced priorities
this web hope for the future
vision the walls come tumbling down

reflections #3 the dance
water mirror surreal or real?

dawn on the sea loving the world
leaving edinburgh slipping away
logan airport nostalgia and insight
capture trying to catch beauty
journey north essence of a place

almost gone reflections on time
I’ve learned shattered expectations

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other published pieces

Sociology at Strathclyde under the axe due to ‘critical’ stance

30 November 2011
What's the real reason behind the closure of the Sociology programme at Strathclyde? Published in Network, the magazine of the British Sociological Association.

Unsustainable system

09 December 2010
Do academics have a moral obligation to freeze their pay? A letter published in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

Scotland’s Greenest MSc

20 June 2007
The Centre for Human Ecology offers a radical, transformative MSc.... And its "green graduates" are changing the world. Published in the Scotsman.

» More Published Pieces

narratives

05 December 2007
My second year of university, I started a Pagan student group. This is the story of its beginnings and continued growth as part of a diverse and tolerant religious community. Published in If: a journal of spiritual exploration.

Against My Will: Death, Life, and Meaning for an Activist

22 October 2007
In Findhorn, I learned that facing mortality can bring new meaning to an activist's work.

Hours of Darkness

22 January 2006
Story of my failed emigration attempt of 2002, finally answering all the people who asked, what happened?

» More Narratives

thesis projects

MSc Thesis: December 2005
Telling Mythologies: Pasts and Possible Futures in Activist Literature

Analysis of the implicit stories that drive activist literature, and the kinds of futures they foretell. Eventually I'll create an overview page. For now:

Abstract (PDF)
Full Text (PDF)

Undergraduate Thesis: May 2002
It Will Always Be There: Ethnography of an Imagined Community

Ethnography of my early-entrance class, the community we built, and its metamorphoses over our four years of college.

Selected text, by chapter