so much

On Saturday May 3 I presented at a conference for the first time. I presented at the Critical Disability Studies Conference. My presentation was titled "Sweet, Sweet Toronto: A critical overview of homelessness in Toronto". I showed my short film and spoke about it, followed by a discussion on homelessness in Toronto and the relationship between homelessness and disability. I was extremely nervous before my presentation, but as soon as I got up and started speaking it felt as though all my passion towards these issues were exploding out of my heart. It felt good and inspiring. I believe that I am ready to overcome my fears of speaking in front of groups of people.

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I have not received anymore phone calls for interviews for my research. I know I have a lot of information already and there is quite a bit to be transcribed, however, there is something about interviewing that is so full and filling...

I foresee future projects.

I have connected with a PhD student that I met at the Homelessness, Housing and Poverty Working Group. He and I share a lot of similar interests, especially in terms of spreading messages throughout the city.  I look forward to working with him on some "city work" : )

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Yesterday was the first day of the MRP course and Nancy spoke about "passion" and how important it is when doing research. How wonderful it is to have people around us with that "burning passion", whether it is for the same thing or not. I think about this. I think about my passion and how refreshing it feels to meet other people with that passion....

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Something that I noticed in class last night was that after I presented my MRP topic, I somehow felt discouraged. Something about the way students were talking about interviewing and timelines discouraged me. I know I have done quite a few interviews for this project...but I also know that is what I had to do....I need it for my research. I wouldn't feel right only doing a literature review with this project, because to me that would be silencing and non-inclusive...

So much to say...so much to think about....