It is hard to write this week. The words come sluggishly and feel awkward. Nonetheless I have several writing tasks to complete—a module for a teaching development online course, a workshop on academic integrity—and dozens of works in progress. At the top of the list is a plan for two new research projects … Continue reading Uncertainty
Health
Where we are
Until now I have been a creature of habit around the university. I regularly eat the same meals at a couple of places. I sit in the same spot during committee meetings. I take familiar paths between the car park, meeting rooms, cafes and my office. I have done so repeatedly and unseeingly. I have … Continue reading Where we are
Strategies for working during tough times
Last year, while the centre I worked in was being disestablished, I watched an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine with my son. My daughter was railing against the absence of girl trains on the show. I replied: 'those carriages being shunted are the girls.' In that mundane moment, I had a startling insight: the … Continue reading Strategies for working during tough times
Ragged schooling
My 11 year old daughter has missed six weeks of school this term as a result of her uncontrolled epilepsy. We are slowly getting there and hoping for a gradual return next term, starting with one hour and working up to half days. It will be some time before she is able to renew the … Continue reading Ragged schooling
Bad feelings
This post returns to an idea from Rosalind Gill's review of Les Back's Academic Diary. She asks about bad affects: Academic Diary is ... overwhelmingly positive ... Where are the other, less palatable, affects and behaviours? Where is the envy, the rage, the nastiness, the bullying, the bad behaviour, the competitiveness, the mean-spiritedness, the colleagues who dump on … Continue reading Bad feelings
Complicity
Like many of you, no doubt, I have been watching The Handmaid's Tale. The first episode includes a scene of (what Atwood called) particicution (combining the words “participation” and “execution”) where the handmaids kill an alleged rapist with their bare hands. I struggled to fall asleep afterwards for thinking about brutality and complicity. So, ever … Continue reading Complicity
