Howdie / Ey up / Salut / Tjena
My name is Ian Babelon. I am a Frenchman in Yorkshire with an English first name and a last name that fittingly only sounds epic in anglophone social interactions. I have spent more time doing research than any other professional (or creative) pursuit, which is both a boon and a curse. My diverse interests range from music and placemaking to citizen engagement and well-made things of all kinds. I even pretended to be an electrician in a former life, in a galaxy not so far away named 'Dordogne' where limestone, walnut trees, toads and snails seem to know more about synchronicity than most bipeds.
ℹ️ Disclaimer: I mostly don't know what I write about. This is why I find writing enticing - namely, to acknowledge how little I actually know and explore how things seem to work under the hood, all the while learning to tame and transform the dragon within. By taking stock of what is, and what we find genuinely meaningful, I wish to engage with continuous improvement ('kaizen') and explore how we can become modest masters of our day-to-day lives with at least some measure of compassion, insight and gratitude.
🧔🏻 You can also find yours truly on LinkedIn and ResearchGate
Above: Mural of a philosophical geezer found in 2021 on the walls of the old city centre in St Malo, France. Mural artwork and aphorism: by @LaDactylo who can be found on the web 🌐 at Street Art Cities and on their personal website
Picture credit: by yours truly.
A tentative translation (minus the puns and the rhymes):
The past is healed
The present is to come
The future remains to be thought through