#academia is a skillset

[an-ruraiocht]

nothing highlights the different writing styles and expectations in adjacent academic fields like reading consecutive chapters in a book on a specific theme where one is about that theme in medieval lit and the other is about it in early modern/modern lit

likelihood of comprehensible sentences decreases 10% with every reference to hegel

[genderkoolaid]

In regards to the "there's only one big video essayist who is trans masc" I think it's worth pointing out that Alexander Avila spent 6 and 1/2 years of his 7 year YouTube career closeted as a cis bi man. He only came out as transmasc 6 months ago, literally 2 videos ago. (And 5 videos after he ended the AreTheyGay series that his channel was built on, when he shifted full-time to video essays.) And I don't begrudge him that, in part because if he hadn't been closeted I think transphobia would have kept him from growing his audience. (And also would have led to lots of harassment.)

Like, the AreTheyGay series would have been torn to shreds as "fujoshis fetishizing homosexuality" coming from a trans man and not a cis man. His video essays would immediately have been labeled "trans video essayist" which would have people evaluating him on his transness, and since hypervisibility has people thinking of trans women when they think the trans community, they would have silently regarded him as "not trans enough" to listen to on trans issues.

I think he got where he is in part because he has an amazing understanding of audience expectations, is a wonderful communicator, and creates interesting content that's super well-framed. And I think he got where he is in part because, if he hadn't been in the closet all these years, no one would have ever given him the chance to showcase his skillset. And I fucking hate that.

Honestly I think you're right on the money here. I'm glad you pointed this out cause yeah, now that you mention it, its really fucking suspect that the only trans guy I've seen get recognized in this kind of online amateur-academia space got his career started while stealth. & you are also totally right about him being called a fujo if he had been out.

[applesaucesims]

His heart was beating in his chest as if it was trying to run away from him, as Louis joined warmup with the rest of the first-year ballet students. Some of the other kids were already stretching their muscles, while others were practicing some exercises at the barre, and then some were simply talking and waiting for the teacher to arrive.

Said teacher announced her arrival with the clicking of her heels on the polished floorboards and a loud tapping of her walking stick as she stood in the middle of the room. The students quickly walked to form a line in front of the barre, facing their teacher who introduced herself as Miss Lambert.

As Louis stood there, listening to the teacher's introduction of the academy, his nerves were not going down at all. He had been taking children's ballet classes for some time now, but he was not sure whether it was enough to truly meet the skillset expected from him. Looking over at the other children lined up next to him who seemed to already know what the next steps would be, he could not help but feel a bit lost. He knew he wanted to dance more than anything in his life, but was it really what he was cut out for?

Though he tried pushing his worries deep down, it seemed obvious to him throughout the rest of the day that he was far below everyone else's level. Whether it was just his mind telling him that, remained to be seen.

[TRANSCRIPT]

*indistinct chatter* *tired student noises*

*click click*

*tap tap*

Miss Lambert: "Good morning, new students! Please stand and form a line."

Miss Lambert: "My name is Miss Lambert and I'm one of the dance teachers at this academy."

*shuffle shuffle shuffle*

Miss Lambert: "You'll have most of your classes with me, particularly the girls. At those times, the boys will be with Mr. Booth, whom you'll meet tomorrow."

Miss Lambert: "You'll be learning your academia here, too, of course. But we all know that's not what you're really here for. You're here to dance! And I'm here to show you how."

Miss Lambert: "Since, you've made it to the academy, I'm sure you already know the basics. I expect you to know a bit more than that, actually. I'm aware your current skills will be at different levels. But here's where we'll truly see who's got the most talent and discipline!"

Erin Branch

- grew up on a small farm

- practiced dancing with the farm animals since age four

- made it here with talent alone - and a scholarship

César Roques

- from a long line of dancers and choreographers

- pretty much born dancing

- trained with some of the most famous names in ballet

Rozaliya Fortova

- daughter to a couple of successful travelling dancers

- speaks five languages

- visted ballets in every country she's been to

Kavi Gupta

- a boy of many talents

- supposed to take over the Gupta Shipping Co.

- his parents still think dancing is just a hobby - though they do support it

Sophie Welles

- middle child of five of a wealthy automobile business owner

- taught dance and other arts by the family's nannies

- her two older sisters are already academy alumni

Zachary Turner

- lives with his aunt and practices with her daily

- disowned by his lawyer father for choosing dance

- dad's still waiting for him to "come to his senses"

Celine Walton

- top of her children's ballet class three years in a row

- daughter to the mayor of Brindleton Bay

- used to always getting what she wants and being the best

Louis McGregor

- newest at dancing of the whole class

- still wondering if he would have made it without his father's fame

- has no idea what he would do if dancing does not work out

Miss Lambert: "Well? Let's get on then!"

Miss Renée Lambert

- head ballet teacher at the academy

- had a promising career as a prima ballerina herself, until it was foiled by an ankle injury

[talenlee]

Decemberween 2024 — Youtube Academia

Hey, I’m in academia, here are some people I look to for ‘how to communicate and make a point in academia and what you can use it to do.’

First up, hand over heart, this is going to have a real sampling bias. I’m going to point to three diferent academics who make stuff in spaces I can participate in and all three of them are dudes, and white enough that my dad would mostly consider them white. He’d probably be on the fence about Daniel Immerwahr. This is a problem in academia in general and it’s a problem with me in the specific: The stuff that I’ve gotten attention to, even the stuff that is explicitly about broadening my access to and understanding of nonwhite cultures and the nonwhite parts of the world is coming to me through white guys from academia. I’m not wild about it but it’s better in my mind to acknowledge it and present the sources then pretend this isn’t where I’m coming from.

Anyway, hey, here’s an essay titled Why Hip-Hop is the Most Important Artistic Movement In Human History.

Why Hip-Hop is the Most Important Artistic Movement in Human History: A Professor Skye Video Essay

Watch this video on YouTube

I think this is a good starting point for Professor Skye’s work.

Professor Skye presents three kinds of work. One is album reviews, where he breaks down and analyses components in how albums work and what they present in their messages, in a way that explicitly is not seeking to centre his interpretation but rather academically recognise a useful generalised language bridge for people like me who use the term ‘generalised language bridge.’

Second to that there are kind of larger, high-concept comparisons, where he provides a meaningful explanation to people outside of hiphop interest as to what’s going on. This led to him going extremely viral thanks to explaining the Kendrick/Drake beef this year which, god that was a thing, wasn’t it. The third thing that Professor Skye does is historical and academic contextualisation of music media. That can be things like ‘here’s iconic stuff from the 1980s,’ and it can be ‘behold as I use Proust to discuss this album.’

In each case I think there’s a sort of meaningful value to ‘doing the readings.’ Listening to the albums he talks about or the songs he talks about as and when he starts to talk about them means that each video is a sort of expository piece to accompany the text. I watch media analysis all the time of stuff I have not and never will watch, like Victorious, but in that case, the analysis is explicitly trying to present the text so you don’t need it. That’s not what Professor Skye is doing. This is not a channel trying to convince you to enjoy a thing or to enjoy the thing without the thing. It is a textual engagement with the album, and that is a really cool thing to do. You might not even have the mental muscles practiced for that at this point.

I'm What the Culture Feeling

Watch this video on YouTube

By the way, if you listen to Skye and go ‘oh hey, this is interesting and I’d like to know more,’ here’s a video essay from FD Signifier which is long, yes, but also extraordinarily good, about the same kind of topic and coming from inside the culture. If Skye makes you think ‘hey, I could be interested in this,’ then you should probably then check out FD Signifier.

Your Grammar Is Basic Compared to Black English

Watch this video on YouTube

But hey while I’m talking about language bridges (I was, honest), what about a language expert to talk about distinct grammatical differences between English (as I am used to calling it) and Black English. Language Jones is an interesting guy with a specific skillset, which is expertise in linguistics at an academic level, specifically the way your brain picks up and relates to linguistics. When you do that, you stop having to focus on formal and proper structures and instead get a lot more inclined to seeing the way language slops into the grooves in human brains and social spaces. Sometimes that means explaining to you and me what a wug is, and that’s interesting, but I find it much more interesting when he does dives like this one.

In this video, what Jones is doing is picking apart Black English into the toolkit I have in my head for understanding proper English, with terms like subjunctive and participle, and then demonstrate that the way Black English works is entirely a coherent grammatical structure, it’s not vibes or habits or attenuating with a specific person, it’s a whole other form of English and it’s really fucking nuanced. There’s a degree of fineness in Black English that is simple absent from Proper, Formal English. Formal English that I was taught is structured such that there are a host of unintuitive, hard to maintain stiff forms for completely correct conveyance of intent (“can I” vs “may I”), while Black English instead has a coherent grammatical structure that gives more fine control for intention, tense and position and the listener is there to interpret it rather than to enforce it.

This is not totally surprising, and if you talk to uh, any Black people, you probably already know this. What this gave me is a useful toolkit for reconstructing the grammar form. Really interesting stuff!

Daniel Immerwahr How to Hide an Empire

Watch this video on YouTube

Look, I’m sure I’ve talked about Daniel Immerwahr’s work in the past. I share this video from him every time I want to get people to think about American colonialism in the ways that make them uncomfortable. It’s a good talk, it uses its time well, and it also highlights a topic and the relationship of ourselves to the way things communicate their identity through their names and symbols of themselves.

Oh and if you don’t like that, check out Daniel Immerwarh’s podcast talking about the real world histories of Dune. Talks during the pandemic were restricted, but dang some of them were on wonderfully untypical topics.

There’s more. There’s always more. Dr Kipp Davis shows up when I look for academics I follow, but his interest is in Biblical studies. He’s part of the Diablocritics, which means Dr Jennifer Bird is on there, and it’s a way I can check out her work in a way that I find very accessible and interesting, and the other members of the Diablocritics are there, too.

Still, sometimes something academic is just something interesting. I don’t think Josh Worth is a doctor or professor or something. I think technically, he’s just a designer, as in a User Experience designer, that kind of specific discipline of having a clear, meaningful purpose for a visual expression. I share to you this graph Josh Worth made of the solar system if the moon, our moon, was a single pixel.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[familyabolisher]

What degreedid you get and why don't you respect English majors?

i did an english literature degree, i don't respect a specific type of ~english major~ poster on this website because they tend to treat [english/anglophone] literary studies of the sort that one would encounter in an institution of higher education as morally sacrosanct + spiritually enriching to the point where those who lack a particular literary skillset and/or aren't interested in [these or any] literary studies are regarded as spiritually and morally bereft, and tend to be the worst offenders in the "participation in academia represents an ennobled pursuit of intellectual enlightenment before it represents a means of accessing certain pathways to stability" posters.

[clonerightsagenda]

hi! I found your answer to the anon who asked about library school super interesting and helpful.

I recently finished an anthropology/archaeology phd but am transitioning out of traditional academia and have been thinking about trying to get library work instead (among a slew of other options). I absolutely do not have a library degree though and and am wondering if you have any thoughts or advice about breaking into the library world if you have a different type of higher degree?

(feel free to ignore if you don't feel like answering though!)

For sure! I hope you don't mind me answering this publicly in case other people might find it helpful.

First of all, a higher non-library degree can be very helpful or even required for some library jobs. Many larger colleges and universities have subject liaison librarians, whose job involves developing the collection and working with students and faculty in a specific department or group of departments. Subject specialists often are required to have a masters (or higher) in that subject alongside their MLIS. Similarly, law librarians are often required to have a law degree. (This gives librarians with non-humanities backgrounds a real competitive edge. One guy I knew was always getting contacted by headhunters because his undergrad was in biology.) So if you're ok with staying in academia, that's an option, although those jobs are going to ask for an MLIS as well. Again, you might be able to start at a lower level and work up to the MLIS, or some places (probably smaller ones) might hire you as long as you've started the program.

Now with an anthro/archaeology background... you might consider some of libraries' cousins in the GLAM world - galleries, archives, museums, and historical societies. In archives and museums you often see people with MLISs rubbing shoulders with people who came into the career from a history background or something else connected to that institution's focus. These positions often involve a lot of research, writing, grant proposals, and networking, which can make a PhD skillset a good fit. I will warn you that many of these positions may be a bit ephemeral. Often museum and archives positions are grant-based or low paid. There are exceptions, but competition is likely to be fierce.

A last thing that comes to mind based on your background would be a professional researcher. Back when I interned at my local branch of the National Archives, there were often paid researchers coming in to go through records on behalf of their clients. (We had BIA records, and one guy was there trying to help a tribe make their case against the government.) I don't know what frequency of demand there is for that work, and I imagine it involves all the troubles of freelancing (marketing yourself, living off gigs, figuring out your own taxes, etc.) but your PhD would set you up for the research portion, at least! Speaking of which - congrats on finishing it! That is no small accomplishment.

[greatwyrmgold]

If I had to give one all-encompassing thesis about My Hero Academia, it's at its best when it's critical of the superhero society it created, and at its worst when it lionizes the superheroes in it.

For one example, look at UA's hero-teachers. That's an obviously bad idea; teaching is a skillset which does not overlap much with superheroing. Also, the teachers seem to still be actively superheroing to various degrees, and that cuts into the time they can spend on teacher stuff.

But for a superhero-obsessed society like MHA's, that makes some amount of sense. Being able to say "all our teachers are active, certified superheroes!" is a pretty compelling hook, especially for teenagers looking to join the superhero industry. And who cares if the education quality suffers? Making industry contacts through the teachers is more important to reaching the Hero Billboard Chart JP than understanding algebra. Same for the business students, and maybe even the support-equipment-designers. (Crappy gear with high-profile clients sells better than great gear no one has tested.)

The thing is, MHA's teachers aren't actually bad teachers. All-Might has to go out of his way to learn teaching, but he does go out of his way and he does learn. And it's his first year. The implication seems to be that most teachers are experienced and skilled, and that the educational experience they provide is good. This is supported by, among other things, that time some of Aizawa's former students looked back on their time with him with universal positive nostalgia.

If the heroes at UA were allowed to be properly flawed—incompetent, callous, focused on their hero career at the expense of their educational career, whatever—that could be another effective critique of this world's superhero institutions. They idolize superheroes, assuming that A Superhero Solution is the best solution, even though any young adult with an MAT degree would produce better education.

But they're not. They're superheroes, they need to be heroic! So they aren't allowed any real flaws, and superheroes like Endeavor who do have unheroic flaws end up smoothed out over the arcs. And that defangs everything that initially made the setting potentially interesting.

[azuresquirrel]

Me failing at being unnecessarily negative today - but good lord academia is so fucking stupid because it requires both research and classroom teaching and in my firsthand experience the overwhelming pressure of research/publishing pushes out everyone who excels at classroom work/EDUCATION, leaving only people who cannot speak words to save their life. So here I am sitting through the 150th presentation I've heard given by a faculty member talking like they have never given a lecture in their lives thinking "JESUS, GIVE ME THE FUCKING MIC."

And it just honestly chaps my ass hearing these people who are supposed to TEACH be unable to hold any attention whatsoever. it is something you can and NEED to LEARN in your WORK!!!!

And SO many jobs require the ability to speak clearly and confidently and hold the attention of a room and convey information in an understandable way and so many people just refuse to train this skillset and maybe its just because it always came easy to me but GOD its so fucking painful to witness how little care other people put into it.

[xiaq]

(this can be answered publicly) Hey X, pardon me if you’ve answered this before, but I was just curious on how you ended up transitioning from academia to tech and what role you started with in tech? Also, so you have any advice for someone looking to break into tech from a non-STEM background? Thank you!

Hey! I haven't answered it publicly but it's a popular question, so I will now (warning, long answer is long).

So I was so fed up with academia for sundry reasons I won't get into here but I wanted a career that would allow me to A. retire some day (something that paid generally well), B. would allow me some measure of work/life balance without high stress, and C. Would ideally let me use my communication/writing/speaking/presenting skills in some way.

My parents and my partner all work in tech and were like, "did you know that we desperately need people with your skillsets in the tech world?" and my partner, who works in technical sales was like, "You would kill at my job, I am not lying." And I was like, every job listing in technical sales that I see requires either a degree I don't have or past experience I don't have, or both, and my mother was like "Do you know how many mediocre resumes from unqualified men come across my desk? Apply for the damn positions anyway." So I reworked my resume to focus on applicable skills/experiences and wrote a cover letter for each position I applied to saying "hey, I know I'm an odd candidate but let me tell you why that's a good thing." And I got a lot of positive responses!

I was interviewing at 2 different tech places when I accepted the offer for my job now. I had an initial screening call interview with HR, then a zoom interview with the hiring manager, and then I was given access to a limited demo environment and had a week to teach myself the software and put together a demo for a fake customer which I did for the hiring manager (my future boss), one of my current peers, and the VP of the org. I was offered the job the same night I did my fake demo. So in total it was a 2 week interview process, and I started working 2 weeks later. **

I'm a pre-sales solutions consultant, which basically means I'm paired with a sales guy who does all the money and business value talk with customers, while I get to learn about a customer's data problems and then demo for them how our products can address those problems.

The learning curve was (and still is) steep. But it was basically like going back to school, and I've always loved learning new things. The job is super fun. It fulfills all of my wants I listed above with the added bonus of being completely remote (aside from occasional travel to meet with customers for in-person demos). The people I work with are supportive, management is communicative and constantly giving me feedback/talking about my trajectory. I've won internal awards, already received two raises and one promotion and I haven't even been there a year. I'm making more than double what I did as a professor and the concept of retirement doesn't feel like a laughable pipe dream anymore. I miss teaching a lot, but I'm healthier, happier, and better prepared for the future now. And my work is genuinely fulfiling because I'm showing people how they can fix problems. Also, playing with data management software and putting together custom demos is neat. It's like all the best parts of a college project--research, making a preso, knocking everyone's socks off while giving the preso, but I'm getting paid for it. I'm glad I followed my mom's advice.

So I guess my advice is the same as hers: even if you're not "qualified," apply for the position anyway. Make custom cover letters for each position and if there's not a way to include the letter with the app, do some googling and find the hiring manager on LinkedIn and message/email them. The person who hired me said that my cover letter was what got me the initial interview. So that shit works. If you have friends or family working somewhere with open positions, use those connections. Having an internal referral will go a long way to getting your resume looked at. I know we're all like, boo nepo babies, but networking is a huge part of any industry. Use it to your advantage if you have the advantage (no, I'm not working for my parent's companies, but if there'd been an open position I was interested in, I would have applied for it. No shame).

**I also, on the side, applied for the Austin Fire Department because why not. After a whole lot of mental and physical prep, I was accepted to the academy (in the first class, no less, holla) right before I was offered my current job. But I had to be realistic and say that probably wasn't a good long-term career option for someone who is 110lbs and was barely meeting the physical testing requirements who also has issues with getting overwhelmed in high-input sensory situations. So. Into the tech world I went. This side note just to say, I was keeping my options very open and there's nothing wrong with that either, lol.

I hope this helps!

[1ore]

Hi, I've been following you since Ye Olde Esk Days and you've always been a huge inspiration for me as a fellow gender-questioning neurodivergent lesbian both in art and science.

I've been wanting to reach out because I'm considering enrolling in Enviroinmental Sciences (or something in that ballpark) in 1 or 2 years and wanted to ask how your experience studying it has been to you as a person with an artistic bakground? I am afraid my ADHD might get in the way of maths, and that I might not be "smart" enough to pursue a degree in STEM, despite the fact I've always been interested in scientific subjects and in the conservation efforts around the area (and the river) I grew up in. so, yeah, I don't really know what else to say xmx I hope this message wasn't too much, and thank you for taking the time to read it. Your art and its message has always meant a lot to me! (also, happy Pride month!)

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

So, funny enough, math anxiety is part of what what led me to Environmental Science in the first place. My degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science, not a Bachelor of Science, because IIIIIII didn’t want to take more semesters of calculus and organic chemistry than I had to 🤪 I struggled with math in highschool, and by the time I went back to school, it had been more than 5 years since I last took a math class. I was also more interested in the interdisciplinary parts of Environmental Science, so a BA let me put more credit hours towards classes in policy, law, social science, humanities, etc.

As far as I know, having a BA hasn’t held me back. I’ve been accepted into internships and other programs doing “real science” just fine. Maybe this won’t always be true, but I’ve figured out that I like teaching and engaging people in science more than I like being in academia, so that works out fine for me.

As for my experience with ADHD and math/science courses, I have euuuauuuehhh a lot of thoughts. This gets dense, sorry.

First, my ADHD came with a side of anxiety, which manifested as a compulsion to do well academically regardless of how much my mental health suffered. Doing busy work felt like hell on earth for reasons that were then mysterious to me, but disappointing my teachers felt Worse. So I became really good at, like, academic minmaxing, not so much learning or taking care of myself. It’s hard to articulate. I want to say I was muddling through these classes as a professional test-taker and not a student, and also not applying myself fully. But at the same time, I felt like I was well beyond my breaking point? This made more sense to me later when I got the diagnosis LOL. my capacity for doing the things I’m supposed to do, the way I’m supposed to do them, is lower than other peoples’. So either I do what I’m not supposed to do, or I do it “the wrong way.” <- meaningless.

I say all that because coursework is a poor metric of how “good” you are at science or math, or whether you'll enjoy doing them outside of the classroom. We know this LOL but I want to reiterate it. I learned how to get really good grades without learning how to reason my way through why xyz methodology is justified, or how to ask questions and be curious about what’s happening around me. It’s corny but it’s true. on one hand I still struggle with these, because I’m still working under the assumption that whatever’s going on in my head is the “wrong” way to do it. But ADHD does a lot of heavy lifting for us with lateral thinking and being able to make connections that other people can’t always see. If you want to do Science ™ (as in academic research,) this is an awesome tool to have in your toolkit.

There’s also a whole world of environmental work outside of academia that demands its own skillset, which coursework may or may not teach. Like, if you want to do hands-on restoration work or interpretive work or field technician stuff, this is less “can you spit out the balanced equation for photosynthesis on command” and more “can you operate a woodchipper” or “are you comfortable with public speaking and customer service.“ This is another part of what attracted me to envirosci--how wide-ranging the job market is. The backdrop of science is the same, but your day-to-day responsibilities can look wildly different.

Also, if it’s any encouragement, being an arts person has been a huge plus in my experience. My most recent employer told me outright that the artsy scicomm stuff in my resume is what made them think “oh, we need her.” Art and science are wives LOL a lot of the skills you hone as an artist are invaluable in science, especially if you’re doing any kind of communication work. (<- has seen some poorly-written papers and incomprehensible figures in her time)

Going along with that, back when I was yea high and wanted to do art professionally, I remember people telling me that you only go to art school for the professional connections. A lot of STEM careers are locked behind having a specialized degree, but I think this advice is still applicable here. Being a “good student” hasn’t helped me as much as abandoning my anxiety and sending cold emails, showing up at peoples’ guest lectures and office hours, participating fully and sincerely, etc. The stuff I did outside the classroom was more meaningful to me, in the end. (That said, I was lucky to have several classes that were more skills/training-oriented for things like GIS, field botany, conducting environmental assessments for NEPA, etc. You can swing projects for classes like these as opportunities to build skills or create portfolio pieces.)

OK. I thiiiink that’s everything I have for you? I hope that answers your question. If not, I can give it another shot. I'll also leave you with this answer from beloved mutual Heedra re: what Environmental Science as a major is like. I can't believe it's 6 years old because it's part of what put Environmental Science on my radar in the first place LOL

[darkmaga-returns]

President Donald Trump has only been in office for less than a week but seems to be more focused on getting things done and truly draining the proverbial swamp. So far, the president has resurrected sound policies eliminated by his predecessor and dedicated much of his first week to instilling his agenda with an unabashed sense of true purpose, deciding not to rest after a historic political comeback – perhaps a redemption arc or hero’s journey.

In 2016, candidate Donald Trump won the hearts of millions of voters, proclaiming he would “drain the swamp.” He was not able to do so in his first term but has already begun to dismantle the Deep State’s infrastructure by firing Biden appointee loyalists and slashing the wasteful, useless DEI appendages within federal departments. On the former, while the Left and mainstream media are complaining about the firings, they were absent when it came to similar criticism when former president Barack Obama did the same in 2009. On the latter, the DEI industry has proven both impeding and expensive for both the public and private sectors (as well as academia). It would be overly optimistic to say DEI as a whole has been defeated, and its proponents will totally surrender. While we know such high-cost DEI departments in businesses passed prices down to consumers, colleges passed tuition costs down to students, and governments shoved those costs down taxpayers’ throats, professional activists will try to defibrillate their cause and maintain their lifestyles through their limited skillsets. Trump, however, had the foresight to add to his orders the assurance that DEI would not come back under a different guise. It looks like there is more draining to come.

[aeyliia]

Amaya Khan, Engineer

Age: 28

Origin: Born and raised in Bangalore, India, to a family of engineers.

Appearance: Amaya has a warm complexion, and a thick mane she often keeps pulled back in a braid. Her eyes are a mesmerizing shade of hazel, reflecting the curiosity that burns brightly within her. Her hands are strong and calloused from years of tinkering with telescopes and building gadgets.

Personality: Intelligent and driven, Amaya possesses an insatiable curiosity about the universe. She's fiercely independent and happiest lost in her research. Despite her focus, she has a dry wit and a love for Bollywood dance parties.

Backstory: Though surrounded by logic and numbers growing up, Amaya gravitated towards the mysteries of the universe. Late nights spent on the rooftop with her grandfather, a retired astronomer, sparked her fascination with the stars. Amaya excelled in science but felt stifled by traditional academia. Instead, her passion burned for a more hands-on approach. After devouring dusty textbooks, she was able to build her own telescope at 19 years old. With the help of her family’s engineering skills, she was able to bring her idea to life and build the specialized equipment she needed for her pursuits.

Current Life: Amaya now works as an engineer, traveling the world and using her unique skillset to help people find their ideal homes, businesses, and even artistic inspiration based on the stars. After long work days, her nights are spent under starlit skies, charting constellations and dissecting the sky.

Quirks: Amaya always carries a worn leather-bound journal filled with her research and sketches. She collects meteorites and has a small, cherished collection of antique astrolabes. Despite her love for travel, she gets terribly seasick on boats.

DLCs Used:

Cottage Living | Island Living | City Living | Get Together | Get To Work | My Wedding Stories | Spa Day

Download here

instagram | patreon | youtube | ko-fi gallery id: aeylliia

If you would like to support me, consider buying me a coffee ☕️🤍

[alephzdraws]

Got bored af and began drawing Mr. Aizawa from My Hero Academia. I did not expected for it to come out so well from me being a person who almost exclusively draws Sonic mobians. (I'm slowly actively trying to expand my skillset).

I'm trying to free myself from my own equivalent of the Sonic Cycle. As in I try to draw something new, it looks like ass, I give up, and I start drawing Sonic again.

It feels like I'm mentally cheating myself into drawing humans but in a good way.

[songsofbloodandwater]

Kind of an update?

I've just started training on smoke cleansing. Or perhaps incense making is a closer translation? Except it's not just the making? Really, in our Nation there's the role of the Sahumadora, which kind of translates to "the one who works sacred smokes" (sahumos) and yes part of that work is smoke cleansing, but it's not limited to that. Smoke is used to call on Spirits, to send Spirits away, to heal many different physical ills and spiritual ailments, aswell as used as an offering, among many more uses. It's the intersection of herbal allies with Tayta Nina and Mama Nina (the dual Spirits of Fire) and one road I hadn't delved particularly deep into before. So now I'm strengthening that skillset too. Fun!!!!

I'm also still mundanely bound to the monster of times and responsibilities stemming from Academia, which means my brain right now is finding times when I'm dedicating 100% of my focus to native medicine and then switch to a 100% focus on biological research. Not so fun for my brain. Lying. Kind of fun because at the moment I'm specifically reading physiology papers and there's a lot of overlap with what I've been researching about medicinal herbs so... fun until my brain is too tired to think.

All this to say Cancel Culture Anon I swear I am not ignoring you!!! Your ask got me thinking a lot and it'll require an answer that's a bit more on the longer side, for nuance's sake. I'll post it as soon as I get the time to organize my thoughts and put them into words. I'm on it!

[asrisgratitudejournal]

Jam terbang

Kemarin udah nulis ini di note hape tapi belum kesempetan buat mindahin ke keyboard beneran.

Jadi beberapa hari ini lagi susah banget kerja. Mau pake alasan Ramadan tapi kok ya jahat banget sama agama sendiri. Sebetulnya karena lagi tahap nulis aja sih. And I dread writing. Kenapa yah. Penyakit avoidantnya keluar lagi. Jadi, harusnya ini draft udah diberesin 2 minggu lalu tapi jujur 2-4 minggu ini gak kesentuh samsek. Alasannya sih ada aja: ya sibuk bikin visa lah, sibuk eksperimen lah. Tapi betulan begitu eksperimennya selesai, sebetulnya ya gaada alasan lagi buat gak menulis. Huft.

Anyway, yaudah itu masalah. Terus akhirnya anxiety dari being unproductive ini trickling down ke mana-mana, termasuk ke meeting kemarin sama collaborators yang di mana aku projecting BIG TIME. Mereka beneran gak ngomongin aku tapi ku takut banget diomongin kaya gitu??? Yaudah lah tapi kalau kata Mas Rangga mah mereka juga pasti projecting juga in some ways dari kata-kataku atau just from seeing me on screen. Kata Deva juga dengerin spv aja Non, collaborators mah gaada hubungannya sama PhD project u. Yaudah jadi ku akan brush it off for now.

Sekarang lagi di VHL. Ku dari kemarin akhirnya cari distraksi. Habis bantuin teman yang mau apply PhD ke Cambridge, ku nge-review research proposalnya dan senang banget, belajar super banyak. Dia ngerjain Education dan interestnya di intersection antara disability education dan family dan healthcare. Very fun.

Yang mau ku-highlight adalah akhirnya ku telponan kan sama teman ini setelah kukasih feedback, dia bilang “duh beda ya emang bahasanya kalau orang academic, pemikirannya juga terstruktur banget”. It was a huge compliment. Karena ku impostor banget sehari-hari di kampus. Jadi begitu doing something voluntary especially for my friends yang outside of academia jadi berasa WOW banget gitu skill menulis super standard ini…

Kemarin habis projecting itu juga ku ngepos story speaking in English karena saking syoknya (video aslinya 5 menit karena ku sekalian memproses apa yang terjadi dan perasaan apa yang kurasakan, tapi yang kupos di story insta cuma 1 menit kayanya). Terus ada yang komen “kak Bahasa inggrisnya bagus banget seperti native”. Padahal mah sebetulnya aksen gak penting-penting amat selama substansinya clear, tapi emang ku punya tendensi sangat mudah picking up accent dan tone jadi yasudah mau gimana lagi.

Nah dari 2 compliments ini ku jadi tersadar beberapa hal… kayanya ada trigger lain tapi lupa apa ya, di twitter gitu deh, awalnya mau ku-twit tapi pas baca lagi kok kaya terlalu provokatif dan might come across as sombong, jadinya gak ku-twit, tapi beneran udah lupa banget apa yang mau disampaikan waktu itu, baiklah, skip. OH INGET! Aku ngepos di story karena rame template “post when yall started dating” terus aku akhirnya ngepos foto-foto ku mulai belajar ke field lah ya 2009 ke Merapi, Sinabung, Jonggol, Tangkuban Perahu. Itu 15 tahun yang lalu. Terus ku mau bilang (ternyata di story, bukan di twitter) bahwa it took me 15 f-ing years to be this good at geology (yang masih super payah di standar barat terutama Oxford).

Ku tersadar bahwa untuk Bahasa Inggris-ku se…lumayan sekarang, skillset geology-ku juga, intinya bisa sejauh ini tu skillnya nggak kebangun overnight. Ada yang namanya JAM TERBANG. Ku bisa mikir dalam Bahasa Inggris ya karena selama 4 TAHUN TERAKHIR kerja pake Bahasa Inggris… Membuat otakku kesetting kaya gitu secara bahasa, struktur kalimat (saintifik), sampai cara berpikir runut di pekerjaan sehari-hari. Kalau minjem bahasa-nya orang neuroscience: ada brain plasticity, neuron pathway-nya yang sering dipake di situ. Makanya sangat wajar jadi lebih cepat buat aku nulis email dalam Bahasa inggris misalnya, versus orang yang sehari-harinya nulis email pake Bahasa Indonesia, atau parahnya lagi kalau dibandingkan sama orang yang nggak nulis email bahkan, cuma whatsappan untuk berkoordinasi sehari-hari (palmface). Dan ini bukan karena pinter, jenius, apalah, betul-betul sesederhana kalau atlet jago main badminton ya gara-gara setiap hari latihan aja. Sama persis kaya gitu.

Berlaku juga buat skill lain ya ini, nggak cuma bahasa aja. Ya ngajar, baca buku, berteman! (as in ngobrol sama orang lain, bisa kelihatan lah mana yang emang terbiasa ketemu berbagai macam orang dan yang nggak), memasak, bersih-bersih, CRITICAL THINKING, menghitung, análisis data, mengelola uang, menyetir, berenang, lari, dan banyak hal lain. Intinya, nggak ada orang pertama kali melakukan sesuatu langsung bisa/bagus. Kalaupun ada, biasanya karena skillset yang dibutuhkan untuk melakukan sesuatu ini ternyata sama/mirip dengan skill yang udah dipunyai sebelumnya. Misal: ada teman yang bilang belum pernah main badminton, tapi dia main tenis, akan ada posibiltas pas si teman ini pertama kali main badminton dia ga mengalami masalah yang berarti, atau bisa langsung jago malah.

Nanti ujungnya ini turun ke kalau ada orang yang memberi compliment tapi kaya gini: “ah Noni mah pinter, makanya gampang buat dia ngerjain X”. Jujur ku berterima kasih sekali kalau didoain yang bagus-bagus kaya gini, ku amin-in aja. Tapi di dalam hati juga sebetulnya ada slight (very slight) (SANGAT TIPIS) kekesalan kaya: “hah tahu apa sih dia betapa kerasnya ku bekerja untuk bisa sampai di level yang dibilang ‘pintar’ itu”. Walaupun maksud si orang ini juga bukan mendiskreditkan usaha/effortku ya, tapi tetap aja, ada sedikit implikasi seolah-olah aku lahir dengan kepinteran itu gitu. Padahal dia nggak tahu aja, BROHHH IT TOOK ME 15 YEARS supaya bisa mikir kaya gini?

Aku termasuk orang yang percaya NURTURE dibandingkan NATURE. Mungkin emang ada ya orang yang naturally talented/gifted, tapi mereka persentasenya kecil banget lah kalau dilihat di distribusi normal. Nah, buat orang-orang biasa-biasa aja kaya kita gini, ya yang akan bekerja adalah nurture. (Sumpah semoga ini aku ga come across as nyebelin kaya orang-orang berprivilege itu. Ini aku gak bilang “supaya bisa seperti aku, kalian harus berusaha keras!!!” gitu nggak ya sama sekali). Cuma ya itu, akan kelihatan sekali di interview misalnya, orang yang memang pernah ngerjain sesuatu lama, dengan pengalamannya (they will exude this certain energy and confidence), versus yang faking.

Terus kemudian pertanyaanya “yah kak tapi aku memang ga pernah dapet opportunity/ keekspos dengan pengalaman yang akhirnya bisa bikin jam terbang aku tinggi”. NAH ini dia sebetulnya masalah yang terjadi dengan perempuan (mulai masuk ke agenda feminis lol). Tapi iya, ku pernah terlibat diskusi dengan teman dia bilang “Tapi emang loh Non jarang banget ada pemimpin cewe yang OK banget leadershipnya. So far, kayanya best leader tu masih cowok sih, makanya ke depan pun akan kaya gitu terus trendnya kata gw.” Di sini lah argumenku masuk: “tau gak kenapa cewek shitty banget at leadership? Karena gak pernah latihan. Jam terbangnya dikit dibandingkan cowok. Pas mereka kecil, di sekolah, di uni, ga pernah dapet kesempatan buat leading, akhirnya kesempatan belajarnya jadi lebih kecil dibandingkan cowok.” Di sini pentingnya ngasih KESEMPATAN BELAJAR yang sama buat semua orang.

Jadinya apakah kalau jam terbang kita belum tinggi, kita bakal susah buat dapetin pekerjaan/sekolah lanjut/posisi? Ini nanti jadi kaya meme “dicari pekerja x minimal umur 20 tahun dengan pengalaman kerja 25 tahun”… Ini juga masuk ke debat yang kemarin sempat rame orang mau apply PhD di US udah punya publikasi pas master, padahal tujuan PhD itu ngerjain riset, kalau lu udah udah punya publikasi mah ya berarti lu dah tahu dong riset itu ngapain dan gimana, terus buat apa ambil PhD ??/

Pada akhirnya ya memang akan bergantung sekali dengan policy dari company atau lab atau deptnya. Apakah mau ambil orang-orang yang jam terbang rendah, tapi POTENSIAL tinggi? Biasanya ini dilihat dari motivasi. Atau kalau misalkan professional hire atau companies yang gak punya uang buat nge-train pekerjanya, biasanya ya mereka akan pilih orang dengan jam terbang tinggi. Mudah soalnya bagi mereka, ga perlu investasi lagi untuk upgrade skill karyawannya.

Jujur ini panjang dan bacot, tapi intinya gitu lah ya. Semoga ke depannya kalau kita ngelihat orang yang jago banget dalam suatu skill, kita bisa appreciate more their efforts and their long hours yang gak keliatan. Bisa aja orang itu udah belajar skill itu 5 tahun, 10 tahun, 15 tahun. Bisa juga ada trauma yang sebetulnya terjadi dari belajar skill itu. Intinya kalau nggak tahu, yaudah puji aja tanpa undermining them.

Sekian. Mari pulang mencari takjil.

VHL, 16:22

21/03/2024

[jadagul]

would you recommend, to a fairly smart undergrad, trying to go into math academia? was it worth it?

My most generic advice is no, do not go into any sort of academia, it is a terrible fucking job market.

Like I enjoy being an academic, quite a lot. But (1) I got pretty lucky with my jobs, and (2) the job fits me really well. (I deeply, desperately love teaching.) But I'm continually aware that I could almost certainly double my income, possibly with less time spent on the job, if I weren't doing the academia thing.

Basically I'd say you should only try to go into academia if you can't imagine doing anything else with your life—if either the research, or the being on campus, are super important and fulfilling to you in a way that covers for the other problems. And even then you have to be aware that you might not make it, for reasons that are no fault of your own.

That said, I'm going to be somewhat less pessimistic about grad school, as long, as you go in with and maintain that attitude. Grad school is generally not, like, financially optimal, but if you go in with an eye to keeping non-academic career paths open it can be really rewarding.

(One of my mistakes was committing so hard to pure math that I didn't develop any concrete job skills in grad school. If I'd done something that developed a coding portfolio, or a stats/data analysis skillset, or a modeling skillset, I would have had a lot more options on the job market. It's a good thing I like teaching so much.)