Weekly Report: May 26th - June 1st 2025
The Week in Summary:
- The weekdays were fairly relaxed with lots of reading and biking, but a few highlights were going for dinner at Tibet Kitchen, visiting Calgary's downtown Hudson's Bay Company building one last time (got a pure linen shirt for 30% off), and having an early morning breakfast at Phil's with Amy, Macs, Jeff, Alexis, Taylor, and I.
- Additionally, on Friday evening, I went to the city's monthly Critical Mass Rally for a second time. With the beautiful sunny weather, there were hundreds of folks of all ages there with every sort of bicycle (as well as rollerblades, e-scooter, and e-unicycle). This time after cruising through the downtown, we went up to Bridgeland/Renfrew/Crescent Heights to ride around, before coming back through downtown before reaching Stanley Park. This time I tried my hand at corking a few intersections with the help of a few other cyclists, and it went fairly well!
- On Saturday morning, Katelyn and I went to the Calgary Canoe Club to rent a canoe and take it out on Glenmore Reservoir for a couple hours. I haven't canoed in awhile, so I am glad I had someone to show me how to use a paddle again! Afterwards we went to Kensington Pub for lunch and went to a few nearby shops. In the afternoon and evening, I started reading my new book on the Sahara and played a session of Elden Ring Nightreign.
- On Sunday morning, Katelyn and I went on a bike ride to Dale Hodges Park. After a wrong turn, we had a detour through the Bowness neighbourhood and ended up circling through Bowmont Park - which had an absolutely picturesque viewpoint of the Bow River. Eventually we got to Dale Hodges Park (which acts as a storm water pond and lively wetland habitat) and lingered around for awhile observing a bunch of different birds (like American Coots, red-winged blackbirds, and some type of sandpiper). After lingering around for awhile, we biked back and stopped at Angel's Cafe on the way home. In the afternoon, I hung out at home recovering from the biggest bike rides of the season (so far!). I managed to clean the condo and listen to new music I found browsing RYM.
- Earlier in the week, Taylor and I tried out Balatro on the PS5 (thank you Avery!) and it was extremely addictive. We have instituted new rules regarding how often it will be played within this household as a form of harm reduction (though some might arguably call it fun reduction). Later in the week, Elden Ring Nightreign was released and it has been a excellent so far, though it is certainly an adjustment compared to previous game - specifically because this is basically a glorious and unapologetic asset-flip turned into a rogue-like battle royale!
- This week, I also finished reading Kōhei Saitō's Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto. Since the pandemic, post-growth economics have greatly appealed to my political imaginations. I find the arrogant and unwavering embrace of "growth" as a civilizational ambition to be utterly outrageous and though I found Saitō's obsession with correcting the interpretation of 20th century Marxist theory to be a bit much, I do appreciate the criticism of what he deems "left-accelerationism". I have a lot of thoughts on this book, as I often do with degrowth.
The Week in Images:
The Week in Links:
How a plant identification app helped me find happiness and satisfaction
I’m no expert, but knowing my neighborhood’s trees and flowers by name makes me feel grounded
Estelle Tang
Kohei Saito: “Degrowth needs to learn from communism”
Kohei Saito has gained international attention with his work on degrowth communism. What can socialism and environmentalism learn from each other?
Kohei Saito