News

A new year, a new websiteJan 24, 2012 | Read

“If this is your new website, it looks suspiciously similar your old one,” you may be thinking. And, yes, it’s almost exactly like my old one. In the overused vernacular of my Thai friends, it’s same, same — but different.

At the beginning of every year, I start a new notebook of article ideas, review last year’s notebooks, and set some goals, most of which primarily serve to entertain me at year’s end. When I went through this process this month, I realized that my website wasn’t accomplishing what I wanted. I’ve always intended to be a prolific blogger, dutifully recording my thoughts and experiences as I travel and report, but I’ve rarely published to my blog more than monthly. So instead of focusing this website around regular blog updates, I’ve reorganized it to be more of a portfolio. My hope is that my online home highlights my best work and current interests, keeps my friends and colleagues up to date on my whereabouts and latest projects, and is easier to navigate.

The “Featured articles” category, which I’ve used to collect some of my favourite assignments from the past few years, is the easiest way to check out a varied cross-section of my writing. Select one of the articles featured along the right side of the homepage or click on “Featured articles” from the drop down menu under “Portfolio” or the categories along the bottom of the homepage.

The other categories listed in the drop down menu and along the bottom highlight work related to my regular beats: education, overseas reporting (specifically in Asia) and food.

You can also click on “All articles” to view a nearly complete archive of all my published work.

Click here to read more about my book “The Canadian Campus Companion” or visit its website campuscompanion.ca.

Finally, I’ve also added a “Where is Erin?” tab in the navigation bar to update friends and colleagues on my upcoming articles, travel plans and projects.

I hope you find the website easier to navigate. Let me know what you think.

The latest from the roadNov 9, 2011 | Read

I write this from an open-air restaurant near the airport in Kuala Lumpur, where I await my second try at boarding a plane to Thailand. I distractedly missed my plane yesterday, and so I have involuntarily enjoyed the whole Air Asia experience by staying overnight in their hotel chain. Despite the fact that my room is so small I can’t open my suitcase anywhere other than on the bed, it’s really not that bad. I’m not sure that I would agree with their claim to “Five star accommodation for one star price” but it’s better than expected.

Anyways, what better time could there be to update the old website? But, first, you ask (yes, that’s you mom), where the hell am I going? I started this trip in Doha, Qatar on November 1, writing about the World Innovation Summit for Education, a major international conference initiated by Her Highness Sheikha bint Nasser, pictured here. WISE is an amazing experience for an education journalist as there are over 1,000 brilliant people doing innovative things in education in attendance. My first article, “Arab Spring could mark new education era”, can be read here. Upcoming articles will appear in the Globe and Mail and University World News, and I’ll post them here as they are published.
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“The Canadian Campus Companion” is now available in ebookOct 26, 2011 | Read

Ben and I received Kindles for Christmas presents last year, and we have been loving them. I particularly like the convenience of having all my favourite books on hand together so I can reread that great quote or interested factoid anytime, anywhere.

So we are super excited that “The Canadian Campus Companion” has been released in ebook format, both for Kobo and Kindle. Being a comprehensive guidebook, not the type of thriller you would read cover-to-cover, our book is the kind of book that I prefer to have on my Kindle. I can easily access it when I need it, search the text for the exact information I’m looking for, and navigate between the topics and chapters.

The Kindle version is available here.

The Kobo version is available here.

Searching for Leaky’s Third AngelOct 25, 2011 | Read

With its uniform wall of nipa palms broken only by scraggly trees, the jungle alongside the Sekoyner River lacks the towering trees, tangled vines and dank darkness of the Borneo in my imagination. But as the sun rose over the brown, brackish water while our boat slowly chugged towards the research station Camp Leaky, the unimpressive forest came alive. First, melancholy calls of gibbons, like an orchestra of musical saws, pierced the drone of cicadas; then a family of proboscis monkeys emerged, their long noses giving them a cartoonish air; a three-meter-long crocodile resting on a log disappeared in one fluid movement; and, finally, I spotted what I’d come all this way to see: the reddish coat of a wild orangutan slowly, intentionally receding into the green.
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