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katytheinspiredworkaholic · 3 years

Text

Correspondence, Chapter 01

Pairing: HotchReid

Summary: An AU where Reid never joined the FBI, but got roped into consulting for the LA field office while working and teaching at Caltech. Hotch gets his email referred from a fellow agent, and they start to work on cases together -- until they start talking on a regular basis. Regular becomes frequent, frequent becomes constant. They know nothing about each other, but they don't really mind.

Rating: Mature/Explicit (eventually)

Chapter CW/notes: some profanity, a side character who is a dick about Reid, set in season 06, self beta’d

Word Count: 2437

Masterpost Link

Ao3 Link

Chapter 01

March 2010

Dr. Spencer Reid

(Current Tenure: California Institute of Technology): Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics; Director, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department Head of Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy at Caltech.

- (Degrees, in order) Ph.D. Mathematics, Caltech, 1995; Ph.D. Chemistry, Caltech, 1997; M.A. Nuclear Science, MIT, 1999; Ph.D. Engineering, MIT, 2000; M.A. Sociology, Columbia University, 2001; M.A. Philosophy, Georgetown, 2001; Ph.D. Psychology, Georgetown, 2002; M.A. Applied Analytics, Columbia University, 2003; M.A. Socio Economic Statistics, MIT, 2004; M.A. Geology, Caltech, 2006; Ph.D. Geography, Caltech, 2006; M.A. Economics, Caltech, 2008; M.A. Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Caltech, 2009

- (Teaching positions, in order) Professor of Mathematics, Caltech, 1995-1997, Professor of Mathematics and Statistical Analysis, MIT, 1998-2005, Visiting Associate, Georgetown, 1999-2002; Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 2002-05; Kavli Professor, Mathematics, Caltech, 2005-; Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, 2006-; Deputy Chair, 2005-; Director, 2008-.

“Jesus.”

The dossier is just an information sheet; no photo ID, no news articles beyond text component pieces, but it is a thick stack of correspondence and case consultations that S.S.A Aaron Hotchner holds in his hands.

“Five Ph.D.’s and eight separate M.A.’s in fourteen years? What was he doing before that?”

“Who knows? You don’t earn a Ph.D. overnight, even if his accommodation sheet makes ‘em look like they pop up like mushrooms,” Mark Anderson says, audibly tired through the phone speaker on his desk. He was one of the Unit Chief's from the teams at the FBI L.A. field office, who’s phone number was given to him by an old friend, Sam Cooper -- another BAU team leader. Hotch had hit dead end after dead end on this case, and sitting at his desk in Quantico, Virginia, he looks down at the recommended consultant’s extensive list of degrees and teaching positions with a building headache behind his dark eyes. He wasn’t a fan of Anderson, or his briskness, but at this point he’d take anything he could get. “I’m pretty sure that man has never lived outside an academic field. He’s a handful, runs my agents up the damn wall, but he knows his stuff.”

“I hope so. I’ve been on the phone the past three days trying to find someone with a background in Obscure Cognitive Linguistics,” Hotch reads from a separate file, filled with violent images and depraved acts described in morbid detail. “Our unsub sites a very particular thesis about a Study of Language from a Cognitive and Developmental Law, and I keep getting sent to experts in adjacent fields. I don’t see anything in this Dr. Reid’s background about language.”

“Oh, trust me, Hotch -- you’ll get more than you bargained for. This is your guy. He’s basically an expert on everything, and if he doesn’t know anything about languages I’ll eat my tie. He never shuts up.”

Frowning at the speaker phone, Hotch keeps his comments to himself. He’s sure that Anderson probably doesn’t appreciate having an old professor puttering around the field office, but that didn’t mean he had to insult the man. Especially when he was there as a consultant.

“Okay, fine. Thank you. I’ll give him a call now-”

“Oh, you don’t want to do that. Just send him an email. Trust me.” Anderson all but groans like a petulant child. Graining on Hotch’s nerves excruciatingly.

“I’m sure he’s busy enough with his students, he doesn’t need to be fielding emails from the FBI,” Hotch hedged, still frowning.

“Not too busy to write you a dissertation in reply, I’m sure, but you’ll at least get the answers you need. You could be on the phone with him a half hour before you get to what you called about. Hopefully it won’t take you too long to sift through.”

Alright, now he is done listening to the other agent.

“Right. Thanks, Mark.”

“Anyti-” Hotch hangs up on him before the man could make any other remarks. His patience is non-existent after the past week and this extremely brutal case that only seems to compound exponentially in it’s viciousness with each passing day. If Anderson felt like being an asshole to some old man with nothing better to do than rack up Ph.D.’s, he could do it on his own time. Hotch needed help, and this man seemed to be the only person around who might be able to finally do so.

Dr. Reid’s office number is in front of him, as well as about three different lab location phone numbers, and one email address connected to the school faculty. He considers for a moment just ignoring Anderson’s advice and calling the old professor, but he has a meeting with his Department Chief, Strauss, in twenty minutes and the team would be arriving from canvasing the dumpsites soon.

So with a suffering sigh, Hotch pulls up a new email (for what feels like the millionth time for this case) and composes a standard correspondence introduction. Who he is, credentials, case numbers and specifics as far as clearance rates for civilians go, and then finally the questions he needs answered. There is something about this particular thesis that has to be very tongue in cheek to the unsub, saying something that isn’t really there, and this could just be another dead end -- but if it led to them saving a victim from becoming another dead body, he is willing to give it one last try.

Thank you for your time, S.S.A. Aaron Hotchner Unit Chief, Behavioral Analysis Unit, FBI Quantico, VA.

Then he hits send, and leaves the response up to the universe.

The team came up with nothing fruitful. Strauss proceeded to ream Hotch six ways from Sunday for wasting valuable bureau resources and coming up with zero results. His day was spinning down the drain in a hellish cyclone when he sits down behind his desk in his office an hour after leaving it. Case files still piled to one side, grotesque photos stacked within them, and Aaron Hotchner wants nothing more than for them to disappear. For the case to be solved and to be able to go home to his son and his quiet house. But there was no break in sight, no new information, nothing.

Except a new email in his inbox.

Agent Hotchner,

I know that thesis paper well. I can help you.

All air seems to have been sucked from the room as Hotch reads the words a couple of times, not quite comprehending after the morning he has had that someone wasn’t giving him more bad news. That this Dr. Reid said he could help him.

A single click of the email opens up the correspondence reply, and the agent is met with a giant wall of text. Scrolling down for pages, and a quick skim of the material shows such a complex, comprehensive amount of information that there is no way it’s just copy and pasted from any one source. Or even several. It’s a long email spanning a vast number of pages, covering every topic he had asked about (and then some).

The thesis paper, the tongue-in-cheek citation from the unsub, how this killer is acting like he’s being clever when it’s really ‘very obvious what he’s doing, as long as you know the paper’ and detailed links and quotations and references to locations and side tangents on items mentioned that could be evidence to look for or weapons of choice, and so much else Hotch’s head feels like it’s spinning. Like reading the cliffnotes of a complex spy novel, with all the spoilers in one place.

It takes him half an hour to read through everything Dr. Reid sent, meaning the professor had to have been typing a million words a minute from the moment Hotch had emailed him to get everything replied so quickly, and Hotch was baffled to realize that an old man with a handful of Ph.D.’s and no FBI training just solved his case.

Not a figment of speech.

Dr. Reid just solved the case, without even holding the file in his hands.

Hotch is dialing a phone number on his speed dial without even looking away from the screen.

“Garcia? Call the team into the briefing room, and phone SWAT to mobilize. We’re going down to the riverfront in thirty minutes.”

“--Wait, what are you talking about? Did you figure out the unsub’s code?”

Not me, Aaron thought to himself, standing up and printing Dr. Reid’s email after forwarding it to the entire team and their tech analyst, Penelope Garcia. He didn’t have time to explain it that many times, and the amount of information in that single email would be enough to send any of them tumbling heels over head. But it solved every aspect of their case. Hook, line, and sinker.

And the clock was ticking.

“Now, Garcia.”

He rushes from the room with the stack of files in his hands and his laptop open to Dr. Reid’s email. Not even thinking to thank the man for his help as he heads across the bullpen with profound determination.

They have work to do.

They catch the unsub that very day.

Quick, efficient, completely by surprise. They saved Amanda Sutton and another girl they hadn’t even known was missing. No one died. None of his team was hurt. The unsub hadn’t confessed, but Rossi and Morgan had played him like a fiddle in interrogation and now all of his team members were walking to the elevators leaving for a long weekend where they wouldn’t have to worry about serial killers or another dead soul on their conscience. Today was a win. As close to a win as they ever can get, in their line of work.

And it isn’t until he’s back at his desk, the hours ticking into the night, that he opens up his email and there in his inbox is the very reply that started everything. Dr. Spencer Reid. CalTech Department Head. Professor of everything under the sun. Expert on anything, even the obscure.

The reason Hotch will get to spend the weekend with his son, without the overbearing aftershocks of a case gone so horribly bad plaguing him.

His hands are moving before he can stop them. Opening up the email, typing out a response to Dr. Reid thanking him for his help. Relaying what happened, detail by detail much in the same fashion he had completed the paperwork piled on his desk. Letting him know that his information really did end up helping them. All of it. Even the side tangents.

I don’t know how I can ever thank you for the extensive consideration you gave this case, or how to explain how it solved it so seamlessly, but your time and effort does not go unnoticed by me.

Okay, so maybe he fluffs it up a bit more than the dreadful bullet-point list descriptions required by the Deputy Chief and the Director and SWAT Team justification reports. Just so it doesn’t look so inadequate in comparison to the man’s thesis-paper-length email he sent to aide Hotch and his team. The passion he has for his work leaps off the page, but it was a lot -- and if the old man put that much dedication into a basic FBI correspondence email, then he was probably used to it being a thankless effort.

Hotch sends the reply, and continues with his work. He always takes a bulk of the paperwork, so his team can go home and rest and recharge. He needs them at their best for each case, and if that means he spends a couple hours longer after when they finish a case, it is worth every minute. But this time, once he finishes, he gets to take the coveted time off as well.

It’s as he’s finishing up, everything stacked neatly and ready to be dropped at records, in the mailroom, Strauss’s office, the director’s, and he’s about to log off his laptop that he sees a surprise -- Dr. Reid replied to him, again.

It’s much more brief this time.

Agent Hotchner,

I’m so glad I was able to help you.

You are one of the only agents to reach out and tell me how the case went after my consultation, and I’m very grateful to know that my information actually helped your team catch the killer. I know I tend to spout facts at random, but I do have methods to my madness and it’s such a nice change to correspond with someone who understands that.

My services are always at your disposal. Anytime. Whatever I can do to help.

Sincerely, Dr. Spencer Reid

Hotch types out a brief reply. Thanking him for his offer, for lending him his expertise, and letting him know in not so many words --

I’ll have to take you up on that.

He’d be a fool not to. Someone with that much knowledge and the ability to connect it all in the way Dr. Reid had in the span of an hour? He could be a real asset to the BAU, as a permanent consultant, even through email correspondence.

He sends the reply just as he stands to leave. Turning off his office light, and his chest feels lighter for the interaction. For giving the professor that sense of assurance that what he had to say did in fact do some real good. Hotch even finds himself smiling softly, sadly, that he has also found a little bit of solace in helping another lonely old man across the country find a sense of purpose that night. Who was working late, as well, despite it being the end of the week. Speaking to not much waiting for him back at home, in whatever shape ‘home’ takes for the man. But Hotch can relate to that, too. Jack is at Jessica’s until the morning, and there is nothing at his apartment to greet him but silence and bare walls and memories he’d rather not dote on. Maybe this Dr. Spencer Reid is in a similar boat, finding comfort in his work when he can. He certainly seems to, with the amount of time he’s poured into his doctorates and degrees. In the number of departments he runs and monitors.

Hotch can’t help but feel a connection, a companionship between empty offices. Thousands of miles apart, but maybe -- possibly -- at least similar in that aspect.

Not so alone, even if only for a brief moment.

(tbc...)

Tagged list: @spencehotchner @ssa-sarahsunshine @gothamapologist @reidology @marsjareau @dragon-snaps-fandom @emmyraebird @just-an-emo-rat @aaron-hotchner187 @dk18077 @more-heid-pls

#omg i forgot to do tags #Jesus so ive been so excited for this and here it finally is and i fuck it up .2 seconds in go me #this is a S L O W B U R N fic and we are starting all the way at the beginning and im so excited im kind of shaking #updates every saturday evening #message me if you want in on the tag list #also on ao3 #HotchReid #Heid #katyswriting

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 4 years

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Hello! I just found your yt channel (it's amazing) and watched your video on writing diversely. What an awesome video, I learnt and took away a lot from you and your thoughts, especially as a white writer. I am still however a little conflicted on one thing. Not just writing the characters as another race or gender or identity of any kind from the writer, but the actual main character. Would it automatically be offensive and destined for failure for a white author to write a black main protag?

Hi there! I’m happy you found the video helpful, thank you for watching! This is a link to the video if anyone reading this has not watched it.

To be honest, I think I explained this as concisely and accurately as I could in the video as it’s truly the thesis of the video itself. I don’t want to fully reiterate what I said in the video because I feel like I won’t be as accurate/coherent, so I urge you to rewatch the video and take care to look at the timestamps as that may clarify your particular question, first and foremost! Taking a look at some of the comments too might also be helpful.

Stay in your lane as a detrimental, albeit well-intentioned, mantra

As I say in the video, it’s not as easy as saying “white people can’t write XYZ main character” or “we can write whatever we want”, nor is it as easy as and saying “stay in your line” , which may inadvertently enforce the majority as publishing is majorly white (stats are in the video). I believe I did address main characters too in that video, but whatever I said about characters in general 100% applies to POV/main characters as I was rebutting the well-intentioned, but perhaps detrimental idea that it’s only appropriate for a marginalized POV character to be written by someone marginalized in the same way (IMO, long-term, this will cause an influx of white POV stories which is the opposite of the intention [people say “stay in your lane” will allow marginalized folks to represent themselves rather than have white people represent us] as the publishing industry a) is mostly white and b) only seems to care to actively publish white people. “Stay in your lane” may also inadvertently define the role a marginalized person should play in the writing industry [responsible for writing stories about their marginalization]).

Writing POC main characters = automatically offensive/destined to fail?

If you’re viewing or questioning if writing a POC MC is “automatically offensive” or “destined for failure” I really urge you to rewatch the video because this is covered quite extensively but particularly take a look at the “trade fear for empathy” section as this question in itself is laden in a black and white binary of right versus wrong. If you’re asking this question, it might be that you are lacking the empathy to understand what I’m saying in the video (which is okay! there are many others who I’ve further discussed with in the comments). Writing POC isn’t something that’s destined to fail just because you’re a white author IF you do your research, be respectful, write empathetically and craft well-rounded, complex people. If you’re thinking you might automatically fail in this department because you are a white person, I did mention in the video that you may not be ready to write diverse characters in the respectful, robust ways necessary because you may be viewing POC as a “pass or fail” system which is obviously not what we are. If you want to write a diverse POV character and you do your research, write empathetically, speak to those people from that community (with their consent) and be willing to adjust your representation with that feedback without getting defensive, I don’t see how this would be automatically offensive or destined for failure, just like anything else that requires research.

Disproportionate amounts of white versus POC writers being published

In terms of publication failure, white people are actually the ones being majorly represented to write marginalized stories (when they don��t share that marginalization), so you probably wouldn’t have a problem getting a POC-lead story published (not saying I think this is right) because publishers treat diversity as a quota/marketing tactic and IMO, don’t seem to actually care about representation on a structural level, but rather on a topical, superficial level (which is why my main point in that video is that publishers, not individual writers, need to be held accountable).

White writers accidentally “dehumanize” POC in a misguided attempt at being empathetic

I think some white people, (and I don’t exactly want to use this word because it is quite severe but illustrates what I mean) may accidentally “dehumanize” people of colour in worrying that whatever move they’re going to make is automatically going to offend us, when in reality, if you take the time, and put in the effort to research and get to know people of colour (from my comments, these worries often stem from white people who don’t know many people of colour IRL), you will see that yes, we are different from you and difference is good, but no, this difference does not make us an untouchable, unknowable species. I don’t mean to make this seem like an “I don’t see colour” or “the only race is the human race” argument, which would be harmful, but rather a reminder that people of colour are also human beings and as you would write a white character with empathy, integrity, and vigour, you should also do the same when writing characters of colour (I address this in more detail in the video).

Doing personal research in times of confusion

I understand that as a white person, thinking about and understanding these issues may not be particularly easy, and even after a nearly hour long video of me expressing these thoughts, I genuinely do understand why someone who is not affected by these issues daily may still struggle with grasping these concepts. That’s because anti-racism is not something you can accomplish by watching one video, or reading a few articles--it’s a lifelong commitment, and so that’s when you would take your privilege as a white person to do more digging before you ask questions to those who have to expel emotional labour to answer them for you (not saying I have any problem answering your question at all, but putting this out there because there are many well meaning white people who I’ve encountered in my comments that do ask me or other BIPOC questions before turning to other resources that wouldn’t require free labour). Take some time to ruminate with this info, and then do some digging of your own. If you haven’t checked out these, these are my favourite anti-racism resources, all of which are free to access (noted otherwise):

Jane Coaston - The Intersectionality wars

A pretty comprehensive place to start with Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality

Peggy McIntosh - White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Wonderful place to start in understanding white privilege for those who don’t understand the differences/nuances between race VS class VS gender privilege etc

Article that explores white privilege beyond McIntosh’s ideas

It’s really important that white people also learn the systemic ways in which they benefit from white privilege and not just the “bandaids are made in my skintone” examples (though those examples are often used first because they’re the easiest to understand for a white person who is affected by other intersections, i.e. class, sexuality, gender, who does not feel they are privileged in other ways i.e. race).

Documentary on white privilege (Jane Elliott’s Brown Eyes VS Blue Eyes experiment)

Angela Davis - How Does Change Happen?

bell hooks - Ending Domination: The Struggle Continues

Abena Busia - In Search of Chains Without Iron: On Sisterhood, History, and the Politics of Location

I was able to access this reading through my university but IMO it is a must-read, especially for non-POC who may not fully understand the privilege of whiteness.

Claire Heuchan - Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Racism in the Feminist Movement

**Absolute must-read: “The theory did not emerge in order to aid white women in their search for cookies – it was developed predominantly by Black feminists with a view to giving women of colour voice (Heuchan).”

Tamela J. Gordon - Why I’m giving up on intersectional feminism

Powerful perspective on Intersectionality and how it’s been used in white feminism

Jennifer L. Pozner - How to Talk About Racism, Sexism and Bigotry With Your Friends and Family

Really good place to start if you have loved ones in need of education.

Maria Lugones - Playfulness, “World”-Travelling, and Loving Perception

This is the absolute crux of my points in writing empathetically.

"The paper describes the experience of 'outsiders' to the mainstream of, for example, White/Anglo organization of life in the U.S. and stresses a particular feature of the outsider's existence: the outsider has necessarily acquired flexibility in shifting from the mainstream construction of life where she is constructed as an outsider to other constructions of life where she is more or less 'at home.' This flexibility is necessary for the outsider but it can also be willfully exercised by the outsider or by those who are at ease in the mainstream. I recommend this willful exercise which I call "world"-travelling and I also recommend that the willful exercise be animated by an attitude that I describe as playful" (Lugones 3).

^^^ For writers struggling with the prospect of diversity and trying to find a place to start in what I call in my video "letting go of fear and voraciously welcoming empathy" I highly recommend this article as it is a powerful account of travelling across each other's "worlds". Read it for free with a free JStor account or through your institution, like your public library.

How to BLACK: An Analysis of Black Cartoon Characters

A FANTASTIC video that is an absolute must-watch (covers writing empathetically, writing with care)

If you have not already, read through the sources I used to formulate and argue my thesis in my video (much more detailed than I could do in an hour!):

Corinne Duyvis (ownvoices creator) on # ownvoices

CCBC - "Publishing Statistics on Children's/YA Books about People of Color and First/Native Nations and by People of Color and First/Native Nations Authors and Illustrators"

Hannah Heath - "5 Problems Within the Own Voices Campaign (And How to Fix Them)"

Saadia Faruqi - "The Struggle Between Diversity and Own Voices"

Kat Rosenfield (Refinery29) - "What is # ownvoices doing to our books?"

Lee and Low - "Diversity Baseline Survey 2019 Results"

Vulture - "Who Gave You the Right To Tell That Story"

School Library Journal - "An Updated Look at Diversity in Children's Books"

TL;DR: if you’re more overcome with the fear of offending people (often grounded in white fragility) instead of making the active, albeit sometimes uncomfortable, decision to do the hard work necessary to empathetically represent someone outside of your marginalization in fiction, I don’t think you’re ready to write POC in the nuanced, complex, empathetic ways necessary for good representation, and I would encourage you do more independent anti-racist work. (Note that “you” is not individualistically aimed at the asker!!)

Questions like this don’t necessarily have a clear-cut answer, and that is essentially the point of my video (I know, not super helpful, but I hope that makes sense!).

Hope this helps!

--Rachel

#asks #writing

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psychorangey · 4 years

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Hey I’m going into my final year of undergrad also studying psychology. I’m hoping to become a clinical psychologist. Do you have any advice on how to write good reports I’m kinda freaking out over my fyp because I haven’t done particularly well with my write ups so far. Thanks for your time ! -👙anon

Hey! Firstly, congrats on getting this far in your degree! You must be so excited to be on the tail end of the first milestone!

This probably isn’t really the answer you were looking for (my apologies), but just like everything else, writing amazing research reports is something that will come with practise! During undergrad, my marks for reports were less than ideal (actually they totally sucked) and it wasn’t until I got to my actual thesis that I really started to improve!

If there is any advice I could give though:

Justify everything: by this I mean, explain all of your decisions - why did you select a particular measure over others, why is your research important, why did you manipulate variables in this way, why were results significant/non-significant?

Read far and wide: this is something I was guilty of not doing during undergrad. I got into the habit of reading abstracts and then skimming through the papers until I found something useful. Instead, if you read the literature thoroughly, you’ll have a MUCH better understanding of the literature, and this will be reflected in your writing!

Don’t be afraid to critique other papers: if the relevant research you’re talking about didn’t do something that you believe is important, don’t be afraid to include this in your lit review! E.g., would their results be more powerful if they used active controls? Was the measure they used psychometrically sound? Is their sample a good representation of the gen pop?

This one might not apply as much in undergrad, but is something I find important all through, and that’s to be transparent about everything: if you make a mistake, or if you think you could have done something differently, say it. For example, there was accidentally a coding error in my experiment which meant I ended up recruiting one too many participants (resulting in unequal sample sizes). Rather than ignoring the participant or just pretending it didn’t happen, I explained myself to the reader and then spoke about how I would go about rectifying the problem. Transparency is key, and I love the Open Science Framework for exactly this reason (if you haven’t already - check it out! I always register my research on here and state my hypotheses ahead of time to hold myself accountable!)

Be concise: In comparison, I feel that a straightforward and simple sentence is going to be much more effective than a complex sentence that uses big and difficult words. This might just be my opinion, but I favour clarity over complexity. Short and to-the-point sentences are no less intelligent than big-worded complex ones. Anyways, I hope some of this has been helpful! Good luck in your final year, please let me know if you have any other questions I might be able to answer! :)

#Q #studyblr #psychblr #uni

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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You know what I think is funny, fandom loves to throw "the animation and writing teams don't work together" as a reason we can't read into different things happening onscreen (Which regardless, that's really stupid, since acting/animation/intonation of the lines/etc can impact the way the story is perceived). But they're also the same ones talking about how the animation is showing the little love things between Blake and Yang and other small tells we see that shows the team hasn't changed much.

This is a problem with all analysis and something that everyone is inclined to do (simply because we all have our opinions and we all want to be right lol). At its most basic, it’s pointing to certain events in a story as proof of an argument while simultaneously ignoring other events that disprove it. We see this all the time when people discuss characters they like/don’t like: you’ll either get a list of all the good qualities or a list of all the bad, with the “analysis” refusing to engage with that other list. Once you move past that roadblock - once you train yourself to consider everything in the text, even when it’s frustrating - you get more complex readings. The stuff that says, “Yes, on the surface it looks like this character has all these bad qualities too but we need to take context into account as well. Like the fact that when they did this Bad Thing someone was blackmailing them into it whereas they did this Good Thing of their own accord.” Or, “Yes, this character has a mix of Good and Bad qualities so maybe we should be acknowledging a more nuanced reading of their morality rather than insisting ‘They’re the devil’ or ‘uwu they’re a baby who did no wrong’” The purpose of analysis is for the text to drive your argument, not for your argument to drive the reading of the text. When something doesn’t fit well you need to take that into account and re-evaluate your thesis. You don’t ignore/twist that wrinkle in an effort to maintain the argument you first started out with. Which is why you analyze the text first and come up with the thesis second.

Now yes, apply all this to the animation issues. We cannot simultaneously say, “Aspects of the animation prove that Blake/Yang is becoming a thing” as well as, “It doesn’t matter if we saw Clover wink at Qrow. That’s meaningless.” Authorial intent does have some bearing on how we read this, in that we’ve gotten confirmation that some animation choices - like Oscar running down the hall before punching Neo - were mistakes, but in order for that to fully drive our reading of the show as a whole we’d need confirmation regarding every single piece of animation. Did you mean for Ren to look sad in that scene? Were Blake and Weiss supposed to exchange that glance? Is it a mistake that this character rolled their eyes or was that, unlike some other things, intentional? Unless we get a comprehensive list of every animation choice - which we will literally never have for obvious reasons - analysis must function under near absolutes: either the animation has meaning or it doesn’t. Pick one and stick to it (though preferably pick the former because, as you say, of course our visuals impact the reading of the show. They were always supposed to!) You cannot say that the animation choice is full of meaning when Ren and Nora cast loving glances because you adore them as a ship, but then claim that the animation choice to have Yang, Weiss, and Blake draw their weapons on Qrow is meaningless because you don’t like the idea of the girls doing something awful and having to grapple with that. Anything else is just the behavior of the first paragraph, emphasizing the things you like because they support the arguments you also like, while failing to either a) acknowledge these other aspects at all or b) explain how they don’t actually undermine your argument like they appear to at first glance. That’s why I acknowledge the ramifications of Ironwood shooting Oscar. It doesn’t matter how much I hate it, it exists in the text and needs to be taken into account (work a). It’s likewise why I explain in detail why arguments about the Ace Ops losing aren’t persuasive. They initially look persuasive, but poke at them a bit and you’ll see all the holes (work b).

For the record, this stuff is really hard. There’s a reason why we take classes in analysis. There’s a reason why you study for 6+ years before you’re considered good enough to start publishing papers. These trends - particularly ignoring parts of the text or trying desperately to twist them into something that fits your original argument, rather than revising the argument to fit the evidence - are all mistakes that everyone makes when they first start analyzing things. I did! And those mistakes will seem very persuasive to others who don’t practice analysis enough to recognize when they - or others - are repeating those trends. Which is how you end up with posts arguing non-persuasive or even nonsensical things but are praised extensively. You have to learn how to spot those mistakes and learning how to avoid them is even harder. It’s not just a skill but a kind of mental fortitude. In order to produce persuasive and compelling analysis you have to be willing to potentially chuck your argument in the bin at any given moment. It’s a lot like science that way. Oh, something just disproved our theory? That sucks but we can’t ignore this new evidence just because we spent years chasing something else. We can’t allow personal desires to overcome facts. (Though that’s not to say the chase was wasted. The mere act of working through “wrong” arguments is an important part of hitting on the “right” ones.)

For the record, this kind of difficulty with critical thought/rhetoric is the same reason why dangerous bigotry like “Getting vaccines will give your child autism” or “Accepting trans people will lead to women getting attacked in bathrooms” take off. Those are both arguments, but the people consuming them often don’t know how to work through the evidence provided to decide if that argument is persuasive - or even know to look for evidence at all. They stop after reading the statement, taking it as an automatic fact, just like a newbie writer in their Freshman high school course may write out a thesis and think that’s it. What do you mean I have to prove it? What do you mean my proof is subjective, unsubstantiated, and is ignoring other pieces of evidence? It’s not proof at all? Oh... It gets particularly difficult when you chuck in the sheer complexities of most political situations and add in a dash of learning that the mere existence of some evidence (“evidence”) doesn’t automatically outweigh all the rest. A perfect example being:

Don’t be that woman. But all that takes time to learn and it requires the ability to admit you were wrong. Sometimes about small things (“Oh yeah, I forgot that happened!”) as well as about incredibly massive things (“Shit. I’ve been basing my identity around this inaccurate concept and using it to hurt many, many people...”) Both of which are needed to create compassionate human beings who, by default, are not born knowing All The Things Ever. Thus, this is why analyzing “stupid” shows like RWBY isn’t the useless activity that many would prefer to paint it as. If you can learn how to critically engage with what people say about your favorite show, you’re developing the same skills needed to critically engage with, say, what the president is currently tweeting about...

ANYWAY, that’s a bit more of a deep dive than the ask probably meant to produce. But here we are :D

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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qqueenofhades · 5 years

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Hi there. I've been scrolling through your "school stuff" tag but thought I'd ask directly - how did you find the transition to actually moving outside of the U.S. for your PhD? I'm looking at something similar and I'm wondering about your experience with the logistics (finding somewhere to live, visa, etc!). Thanks in advance, and congrats on being a doctor!

Oh lord. Why would you do that to yourself? I feel like that tag is mostly just intense kvetching, bogglingly obscure nitpicking complaints, and existential despair, and/or yelling at various institutions and/or people who could not do their god damn jobs. If you have read that and still actually want my advice, I salute you. I’m presuming you’re asking in regard to the UK, since it’s the only experience I can speak on, so hopefully that’s applicable?

In my case, I studied in the UK for a year as an undergraduate, at Oxford, so I was already familiar with the process (at least somewhat) when it came time to do it again for the PhD. Upfront, we must acknowledge the ugly deformed rabid elephant in the room that is Brexit, and the idiotic reform of UK immigration policy currently ongoing. Long story short, they seem to think they can function without low-skilled migration, that the domestic UK workforce will just happily lark off to do the jobs that working-class EU migrants have been doing, that this won’t totally bomb-crater the NHS, that they can run a country by basically only allowing in PhDs in STEM making over £30,000 a year, etc… so yes, this is a complete joke of an immigration policy and it’s what happens when you elect floppy haired xenophobic douchewads and their nightmare party as prime minister! ANYWAY, they’re introducing a points-based system from 2021, which may not affect you for an application under Tier 4, but UK immigration policy is going to have a lot of very stupid reforms and you’ll want to keep on top of those. If you have an offer in hand from a UK university, it is made somewhat easier, but you’ll still need to budget for processing costs, an NHS subsidy paid in for every year you will be there (something like $300/year), and a trip to a UK visa office to have your fingerprints and biometric information taken. If you don’t live near one, that will be travel expenses and so forth. You then have a temporary visa issued for first entry into the country, and a Biometric Residence Permit which you pick up at your university.

That, at least, was the process the last time I applied for a student visa, and it may all have changed by the time you do it. As noted, there are a lot of upfront visa costs, so you’ll want to be aware of those. You need a number of supporting documents, including offer of study, proof of income or ability to financially support yourself (since most Tier 4 visas either don’t let you work or only work a limited number of hours), proof of English proficiency (as a native English speaker/person from an English-speaking country, you won’t need this), and so on. You can’t start the process before you have the offer, but you’ll want to start it as soon as possible afterward, because it can take several months, and obviously needs to be done before you can travel. You will also want to open a UK bank account as soon as you arrive, which can be done once you have your residential address and a certificate from the student services office at your university verifying that you are in fact a student there. It’s pretty difficult to pay out of non-UK accounts, at least for monthly/recurring transactions, and there are international fees. You will also want a UK phone. I still have my UK phone/phone number despite my current hiatus in America, since most carriers offer free or low-cost roaming in Europe (though subject to change with EU trade negotiations), which is nice. I pay only a little extra to have Global Roaming in North America, so I can still use my phone as if I’m in the UK. If you’re planning to be traveling, this is a nice perk to have.

As far as finding programs goes, I’m sure I don’t need to give you advice on what you’re interested in and where you’re looking. Obviously, universities in the UK are grouped as “Oxford and Cambridge” and “everyone else,” though there are also rankings within those. I have been at both of these; Oxford as an undergrad, and then I did my PhD at a large public university in the North that ranks within the top 10 in the UK. The North will be much lower, living-cost wise (actually, if you can swing it, just… don’t do it in London, the cost of living in London is out of control. Of course, if the program you really have your heart set on is in London, then go for it, but just be aware of what you’re getting into). It’s also a rule of thumb that you don’t go anywhere for a PhD unless they’re paying you. Don’t self-fund a PhD, it’s just too expensive, and any decent university will give you some kind of financial stipend. I had a scholarship that covered three years of full tuition at international rate, which was good, though I had to take out some living-cost loans. So if you’re trying to decide between two programs that have both accepted you, a situation I was also lucky enough to be in, it sounds crass, but: take the money. One university had already offered me the tuition/scholarship, while the other had accepted me but wasn’t sure about funding. So I took the one that paid the scholarship. You need every penny you can get. You will be comically, absurdly, unbelievably broke as a graduate student. I was looking back on it like “wow I really lived for four years on BUTTFUCK NOTHING.” It is not for the faint of heart; you will have financial stress along with academic pressure, and while I was lucky enough to have generous friends and family contributing to my living costs, I still barely scraped through. It is something you should be aware of.

I don’t know if you’ve studied in the UK system before (I’m assuming not), but the structure for a PhD is much less determined than in the American system. It will also vary from university to university, so it’s worth establishing contact with a potential faculty supervisor to ask questions and refine your project proposal. I made contact with my eventual supervisor at my PhD university before I actually applied there; I gave him my (much too broad and pretty unrefined) project proposal and what I was interested in, and he helped me tailor it into something that could be done in a feasible time frame and which would make use of his expertise and contribute to the field. Whatever you’re thinking about pitching as a thesis topic, you probably need to make it more specific. I don’t know what field you’re in; I’m a humanities/history person, obviously, so the rule always seems to be WRITE MORE, INFIDEL. But the point is, the UK system has much less structured time, and basically relies on you to have the self-motivation to go out and conduct the research and write it up, and if you’re someone more used to rigid requirements and classes and so forth, you might find it a little hands-off. If you’re like me and can just be set loose in your field of interest and do your own thing, you’ll like it. I feel like anyone who is serious enough about their subject to want to do a PhD has to be primarily self-motivating, but some people function better with clear guidelines, and those are not always forthcoming. I can’t count the number of times I wished my supervisors would just TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK TO DO, but they usually highlighted something and had me work to figure out how exactly to fix it. They weren’t negligent or uncaring or unsupportive, and the project became much better as a result, but yes, it’s on you to do, and it can again be frustrating.

As far as living, I didn’t try to rent a flat from afar, sight unseen, in my first year. I just registered for postgraduate campus housing, and lived with four predictably horribly messy roommates (why???!) before I managed to escape and rent a private flat for the next three years. You will need a guarantor with a UK address (i.e. not your parents in America) to sign on the lease agreement, especially if you fall below a certain income threshold, and go through the usual background checking and approval. If you want to have the place to yourself, it will be, as noted, much cheaper to find something you can afford in the North and not-London in general, though southern England and the London commuter belt will all be expensive. If you’re okay living with roommates, or you make friends during your program, it might work to room together and share costs, but I am a pathological introvert and don’t like people, so I lived by myself.

Anyway. Right now, I am in the second round of applications for a Big Deal UK postdoctoral award, which would be for three years starting this fall if I got it, at another high-ranking large public university in the south of England. (So yes, everything that I just said about how much it costs to live in London/London suburbs is me playing myself). I would be applying for a Tier 2 visa (i.e. the permanent/settlement track/full-time work visa) if I got this, which would be another barrel of laughs and different requirements from a Tier 4. That is definitely unhatched chickens which we can’t count yet, as this is a highly competitive/prestigious award and there is absolutely no guarantee that I would get it, but it would mean that I would go through the international moving/visa application process for a third time, so I would once again become too unfortunately familiar with whatever bullshittery is happening now. Le sigh.

I don’t know if any of that is helpful; hopefully so. Let me know if you have more questions, and good luck.

#school stuff #anonymous #ask

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ninja-muse · 5 years

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Heart of Europe - Peter H. Wilson

In brief: An incredibly comprehensive macro history of the Holy Roman Empire, from its founding to dissolution, with the general thesis of “No, no, this actually existed, it was important, and it was not actually backwards. Historians who say otherwise are being ahistorical.”

Thoughts: How do you review what is pretty clearly the work of decades? When you’re not entirely sure you understood everything, because there was just so much to understand?

About how you write such a book, I think: by compartmentalizing.

First, some explanation, though, because the Holy Roman Empire isn’t that well-known of a historical entity. Basically, we’re talking about German-speaking Europe with some extra bits—northern Italy, bits of Poland, bits of France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Hungary—between the late 700s to the early 1800s. (Napoleon ruins everything.) The HRE was a pretty big deal in a lot of ways too, like, part of the “Holy” and “Roman” was that many Emperors either chose the Pope or protected the Pope and the Church.

As you can maybe guess by that half-joke, this doesn’t have the structure I’d expected. Wilson starts at the beginning and ends at the end, yes, but he does this multiple times, running through the changes of dynasty and ideas of kingship, the wider political structures and wars, the social order, and the justice system so that the reader gets a good sense of how one state of affairs lead directly into another, but less sense of concurrent events. For instance, he’ll discuss an emperor’s ruling style in one section, the war he was fighting in another, and the peasant uprisings he was contending with in a third. Honestly, I’m kind of impressed how well Wilson manages to remind the reader of information, but it’s not perfect and when I need to reference this book in the future, I will be very grateful for the timeline of events, the genealogies, and the index.

I’m equally impressed by the amount of research and synthesis Wilson’s done. Even if he didn’t read through all the tax records and law codes and contemporary political writings himself, he has to have all the articles and books that discuss them, and to have read a whole lot of 19th and 20th century histories of the Empire to boot—and then somehow he’s managed to write a narrative in reasonably non-academic English. It’s still pretty dense and dry, but the book gives a good overview of the Empire in all its facets without getting bogged down in details (and yes, the names of kings, emperors, and popes are frequently details, that’s how macro this book gets).

Those two points alone are enough for me to call this a solidly good history book and to recommend this to people genuinely interested in the topic, but then we come to Wilson’s thesis, which honestly? I wasn’t expecting to get. I enjoyed seeing him pointing out the more than a little biased historical readings out there, the ones that, say, apply a 19th century idea of a nation state and political identities to the past and find the 1100s decidedly lacking, and seeing him point out, at the same time, that not only was the 1100s in the HRE about the same as the neighbouring countries, but that in many ways, the fluid, flexible, “works for us” structure of the Empire gave it more stability over time than other regions of Europe. Probably Wilson comes with his own biases—he certainly is passionate about his subject—but it’s also a bias that works for me.

So those are a few of the biggest things I took away from reading this: the overall history of the Holy Roman Empire and how it was structured and run; the Empire more or less in context of the rest of European history; and the ways history can be misdirected but also interrogated. I also learned a lot about historical political systems and social orders in general, and have a better idea of what Europe looked like in the past when it wasn’t being British or, occasionally, French. There were also a number of wars and uprisings that I’d only heard vaguely of or didn’t have the historical run-up to (like the Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War) which I have a much better idea of now.

If you quizzed me on any particular aspect, though, a month from finishing this and nearly three from starting it, I’d be hard-pressed to give more than a vague answer. There’s too much scope in the book for that. I was a little disappointed too that Wilson assumes the reader has a decent general understanding of European history, and will mention the Pope fleeing to Avignon or a monarch outside of the Empire or a war without filing you in on context except for how it relates to the Empire. (And that he scraps a lot of social history in favour of politics.) Can’t say I really blame him, since this book is already 1000 pages long, but all the same. It’s something to go in aware of, I think.

In sum: this book was excellent. It does everything a history book of this scale should, does little if anything such a book shouldn’t do, contains more information than a human brain can retain in one go, and is, dare I say it only having read the one book on the topic, the definitive book on the Holy Roman Empire. If you’re interested in European history, medieval history, or anything else that the HRE touches on, especially if you’re working in an academic framework, this is an important book to have. I’ll definitely be rereading sections and working through the index when that one writing project comes up on the docket.

To bear in mind: This is a heavy book, in terms of both size and content. While the sentences are always readable, the paragraphs and sections often need time to sink in, and even if you’re an actual historian of the HRE or adjacent topics, I’d highly advise giving your brain a rest at least at the end of every section. Also, I spent most of my reading time with this either held in both hands or propped up on some object or other and I definitely strained my thumb at one point, so there’s also that.

Also, fair warning: there is reasonably frequent reference to historical Muslim peoples as a “threat” or “menace”, as in “the Ottomans are threatening our borders and political stability”, and also the occasional reference to or discussion of early medieval slavery, intra-European racism, poor treatment of women and peasants, war and famine, and similar things which I’m undoubtedly forgetting now but should probably be expected in a history book. Oh, and historians and political leaders using the HRE’s existence to support their own agendas.

9.5/10

#books #booklr #book reviews #history #europe #the heart of europe #peter h. wilson #non-fiction #book recommendations #read in 2019 #adult booklr

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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711

How fast can you say the alphabet? I can say it quickly without my accent failing me, I guess? I’m too lazy to time it. What are you allergic to? None. How many serious relationships have you had? Just one. If you could read one person's mind, who would it be? I wouldn’t want to target one person like that. I’d only be picking my dog’s so I can hear what he thinks of me, ha. If someone dared you, what dare would you be afraid to attempt? Eating/drinking anything rotten.

How do you like your eggs? Scrambled or over easy. What's your most expensive piece of clothing? Probably my shoes. Most of them are several thousand bucks. What was your last big achievement? The last objectively big achievement I made was finishing the first half of my thesis and getting the go signal to finish the rest of it. But if we’re counting tiny steps that feel like big achievements, it’s having an article published in my org’s publication this week. I co-wrote it with JM and Rick, but it still feels nice to get to say I was productive during the quarantine. What famous person's memoir would you like to read? I’m willing to read anyone’s biography/autobiography since it’s one of my favorite genres. But at the moment I’m probably most willing to read something about Kim Jong Un since it’s generally hard to find material in North Korea as it is, and it would be fascinating to hear about their life and culture there. Have you ever had a "false alarm" moment, what was it about? Sure. A few months ago I was in Manila for a workshop and my car wouldn’t start when it was time to drive back home. Pressing any button on the key fob wouldn’t work and I couldn’t open the doors, so I was pretty much just locked out. I was already stuck there for a while and I was starting to panic, so I called up my parents to ask for help and they were already getting dressed to drive all the way where I was. Right before they left the house Jhian was mysteriously able to make stuff work and opened my door and I gave my parents the happiest “false alarm” ever haha. Do you know how to ride a bike? I don’t. My dad recently pumped air into the wheels of the bike that we have in the house so I can practice riding it throughout the quarantine, but I just can’t. I never did learn what my friends say when they tell me to just “find my balance.” If you could breed two species together what new animal would you create? No thanks. What 5 world leaders would you make sit down in a room to discuss issues? Isn’t that already the point of UN? If you were in the hospital who are the two people you'd want by your side? Gab and my dad. When was the last time you cried and what made you cry? Ooh ya got me. With this quarantine not letting me go anywhere and giving me new experiences, I’ve had no reason to cry lol.

The last most vivid reason I remember crying was that one Wednesday in February where everything went wrong – Andrew and I got red marks all over our thesis and we got practically yelled at over how bad our work had been so far; accidentally spewing peanut sauce all over the said thesis draft immediately after it was returned to us; almost losing this one thing for the org that I 100% WAS NOT allowed to lose, and having to ask Andrew to go back to campus at mid-fucking-night just to retrieve it and feeling shit the whole time for asking that of him; and having to deal with an unresponsive source for an article I needed to write and finish ASAP. I cried nonstop until like 2 AM that night. If you could ever take a street sign, what sign do you want? It’d be such a pointless steal, so no thanks. What is your favorite ride at any amusement park? Haha anything mild and for kids tbh. My stomach can’t handle rides. Have you ever raised money for charity? I haven’t spearheaded any fundraisers but I’ve donated for some, like whenever workers from exploitative corporations go to UP to visit some classes, talk about their struggles, and ask for support. How do you feel about growing older? I’ve got little time to be scared of it because getting old just happens all the time and constantly. I just take it for what it is and learn along the way. What wild animal scares you? Probs lion. I’ve never seen one in real life and movies and shows have conditioned me to think they’ll attack any human that comes close enough, soooooooo no thanks. I’d love to be corrected and to find out that they’re big softies, though. Do you think actors and athletes are overpaid? I can argue that for some actors, but definitely not athletes. Athletes bust their ass day in and day out and are in constant need of training, transportation, and the adequate gear, equipment, etc. Some actors just have to sit pretty and they wouldn’t even be good at it. Have you ever been alienated, if so for what? This was me for most of what you’d call middle school. People were starting to be more conscious of trends and using it as a basis for who to hang out with, so while everyone had a Blackberry, got side bangs, and listened to The Summer Set, I was struggling to fit in a place where my love of wrestling would be accepted. Of course there was none, and I felt left out for a while.

More recently, this was also me in applying for AIESEC but I’ve already touched on that a couple of times here. The alienation was so bad my friends and I just resort to laughing about my experience whenever it gets brought up. Have you ever not returned something you borrowed and if so what was it? I have a couple of Gab’s jackets, but she doesn’t mind me keeping them since I get cold quicker and more often. When you pack your lunch, what's your favorite packed lunch? Loooove when my dad makes curry for me to bring to school. What was the one most important thing you learned from your parents? It’s impossible to start at the bottom and work your way to the very top. I’m constantly worried about staying at the bottom, so it’s always comforting to see how far they’ve come.

On a parenting note, I’ve learned that I should talk to my future kids the way they are – kids. Ever since I can remember my mom has always gotten mad at me as if I was already an adult, so it’s made me permanently terrified of all adults/the idea of pissing anyone off. She would always just get mad, banging stuff around, and never explain to me what I did wrong, so to this day I get very self-punishing when I feel like I’ve done something wrong but don’t exactly know what it was I did.

How fast can you run? I used to be good as a kid which is what landed me on the track team in grade school, but I didn’t enjoy running so I did it less and less every year. Now I’m just meh at it. Have you done something you worry could come back to haunt you, what? Nothing that bad, no. What is your most favorite feature of your favorite electronic device? I’m very happy with the battery life of my laptop, considering how 1) my old Macbook Air only had a battery life of one hour, and 2) the laptop I had before had a damaged battery to begin with so I couldn’t even use it/bring it anywhere unless it was plugged in. The 10-hour battery life for my current one is a fucking dream for me lmao. If you had to build a small ark, what 7 animals would you save? All the endangered ones so like an elephant, Philippine eagle, panda, orangutan, tiger, and a rhinoceros. I’d save the last slot for a stray dog. What is your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition? I love going over to my mom’s cousins’ place and have our tradition of exchanging gifts singing My Monito/Monita. What novel would you love to be transported into to live out your days? I prefer non-fiction, soz. What is your favorite hiding place? MY CAR. It’s seen my worst breakdowns, my sleeping sessions in the middle of the day, and the days where I’m okay but simply need a break from everyone. If I feel like being alone I just head inside, recline my seat, and tune out the whole world. What is something your parents love that you actually love too? Indian food. Have anyone ever said "I love you" and you couldn't say it back. This is me with my mom. I’ve stopped saying “I love you” ever since I came to terms with the fact that she has brought a lot of trauma into my life and it would be unfair to the both of us (mostly me, heh) if I said it back. Have you ever ridden a camel? I haven’t. It would be very difficult to find a camel on this side of the planet.

What's been the hardest loss you've had to take? My grandfather and Nacho. What emotion is your least favorite and the one you are not in touch with? I hate feeling embarrassed obviously, but I’m regularly in touch with it because there’s always at least one event a day where I fuck up and I feel extremely embarrassed. Do you think facial moles or freckles are cute? I don’t mind them. They’re not a common facial trait where I live, so I’m more fascinated by them than anything else. Would you ever pick up a hitchhiker? I’ve read too many accounts of serial killers where hitchhikers were involved to feel skeptical about them but I know I’d also feel bad if I ignored them. I honestly don’t know what to feel about them as I don’t live in a hitchhike-y area.

What was your funniest computer or phone wallpaper? Eh, I don’t really pick wallpapers to find them funny. If you're searching for a relationship, where is your go place to look? Unapplicable for my demi ass. When and where are you happiest? Either anywhere with Gab or Skywalk with my orgmates. What was your favorite age, so far? 16 has so far been the year with the least fuckups. What is your favorite part of the day? Typically, it would be the moment I realize I’m done with everything that needed to be done for that day, like if my last meeting has ended or if I’m finished with my last class, and all that’s left to do is to drive home. What book have you read multiple times? The Septimus Heap series up til the 5th book (there are 7) only because in the past I had always made plans to restart and finish the whole series, but I never did get around to finishing it so I’ve only just kept restarting and restarting the books. Do you keep a budget? No budget. What matters to me is at least being able to have savings at the end of the week, which is tbh not the smartest thing to do. Have you ever test driven a car you knew you weren't going to buy? Nope, I’ve never gone car shopping like that. Pretend you're doing an interview, what's the first question? Uhhhhhhhhhh idk depends on what the interview is for? What do you have a hard time visualizing? Everything. I’m not a very visual person and creativity is my weak point, so I genuinely struggle if I do have to imagine anything. Abstract reasoning has always been my least favorite part of tests. What makes you feel uncomfortable in group settings? If all of them already know each other and I am just starting to try and fit in – it’s worse if they’re all loud and extroverts. The former is what made my internship hard for me in the beginning, but thankfully they were all very nice and could tell I was shy so they knew not to overwhelm me by being too loud. What was your worst date ever? I haven’t had a bad date. Have you ever gotten in a bidding war on Ebay, if so for what item? Nope. If you had to pick one food to eat everyday for life, what would it be? Risotto or chicken wings. For dessert, macarons. Are you supportive of your friends even if you don't agree with them? As long as their choice doesn’t entail stepping on human rights, e.g. not being pro-choice or supporting a president that supports killing the poor, I’ll be fine with the disagreement. Have you ever used the opposite sex restroom in an emergency? Yeah I had a bad nausea attack one time and needed to vomit but I only had enough time to run to the men’s bathroom before I started throwing up everywhere, so that’s where I ran. What did you think was stupid until you tried it? Ube cheesecake. I really hate ube flavor and I hate everything it’s in, but I gave it a chance when a local bakeshop incorporated ube in cheesecake since it’s my favorite kind of cake. I ended up really liking it and now I often look for it when we have family get-togethers. What subject do you and your parents never see eye to eye on? Politics, duh. Where do you see yourself in 1 year's time? Having a job, out of the quarantine, maybe saving for a trip. How scared of the dark are you? I’m fine with the dark as long as I’m not somewhere that’s meant to be haunted. What is your favorite type of seafood? Crab fat, sashimi, eel, and sea urchin. What triggers your inner shopaholic? I don’t really have a trigger. I don’t even consider myself a shopaholic. I just shop for new clothes once I feel like I’ve been repeating my clothes too much. What is the rudest thing a person can do to another person in your opinion? Insulting dead parents is one. Except if you’re the Marcoses, heh. What public figure do you disagree with the most? President Duterte, obviously. I wanna barf just having to call him President. Do you think you could ever be a firefighter, why/why not? Nope, because I’m terrified of fire and I don’t have half the stamina needed to carry the shit they have to lift when they have to put out fires. What is/was your favorite bedtime story? I don’t have any. My favorite kids’ book was Corduroy, though. What was the last thing to make you feel happy? My dog going down the stairs and going straight to me for pats once he was done. What is your opinion on rats as pets? Rats are pests here so I find it pretty disgusting. I think hamsters are fine, though. What is something you're afraid to try? Cliff diving, bungee jumping... anything that would give me the sensation of leaving my stomach behind lmao. What cartoon character best describes you? Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman. What keeps you interested in your goals or dreams? The fact that I went through so much shit as a child/teenager that I absolutely have to make myself happy in the end, and I can only do that by achieving my goals. What is your favorite actress beginning with the letter J? Jessica Chastain. What song makes you dance uncontrollably? Crazy in Love by Beyoncé, heh. If you wanted to live off the radar where would you live? I was gonna say Sagada but everyone knows it’s my favorite place so it’d probably be one of the first areas they’d start to look... so I’d go with Batanes. That place can’t get any more secretive with their sporadic phone signal and nonexistent internet/data connection. Do you like nachos, if so what topping is a MUST have? Melted cheese. Do you have any subscriptions? Netflix and (technically) Spotify. Which is better, Mario or Sonic? Mario. I’ve never played a Sonic game and I’ve only ever encountered him playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is a Mario-themed game to begin with. Who is the most creative person you know? Alex, someone from my high school who can recreate any. thing. Art is in her blood; she was my seatmate for one sem and she was constantly doodling and drawing and making new stuff in every class we were in. Besides a pickle, what is your favorite thing pickled? I hate pickles and anything pickled :/ Not really in the Filipino palate. What did you do for your 21st birthday? If not, 21 what are your plans? I celebrated it mostly alone because Gab couldn’t be present. Angela made me feel better by taking me to dinner and an arcade.

Are you a role model for anyone in your life? I dunno. I hope so, for at least one person. What song do you hate the most? Any song by The Vamps or Meghan Trainor. Do you think you need to slow down and enjoy life more? Isn’t slowing down what we’re all kinda forced to do right now? Can you impersonate anyone famous? Eh, sure. It’s fun to copy Gordon Ramsay for one hahaha. If you could go back in time to change one thing what would it be? Going out of my shell as early as freshman year and avoiding the semester-long breakdown/depressive episode I had. Can you honestly say you're enjoying your life right now? I can’t say I’m unhappy lmao. I have no problem doing nothing at home for more than a month – besides, this already serves as the break I planned to have shortly after graduating. After this I’ll be really ready to start looking for a job. What is your favorite salty snack? Pringles. What is your favorite restaurant? Yabu, Torch, Pound by Todd English, or Frankies. Idk man, I’m craving so much shit now that I haven’t eaten out for more than a month. Have you ever been in a play for school? Yeah, we were all required to be in all the annual school productions from kinder to senior year.

#survey #surveys

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Transcript: Home Brew 07: Abandoned Places, Liminal Spaces

Hey ya’ll! Thanks so much for supporting ☕Home Brew☕ thus far - especially because we a still a pretty young podcast and not yet in the wide world of Apple/Google yet.

Ever since Danny and I dreamed up this project, accessibility has always been a part of our vision - especially as audio recordings can be tough for some of our audience to process. Thanks to some kind and incredible volunteers, we will be able to bring you transcripts of the episodes soon after they are published!

Please explore this transcript of our latest episode at your leisure and look forward to more transcripts to be posted here and on the homebrewpodcast.podbean.com page.

Thanks again everyone!

-Johna💚

Transcript: Home Brew 07: Abandoned Places, Liminal Spaces

Order of events:

☕ Make Talk Good

☕ Main topic: LIMINAL SPACES!!!

☕ Mythic feature: John Henry: The Steel Drivin Man

☕ Devotional thought with Danny

DANNY: Hi, and welcome to Home Brew podcast. I'm Danny…

JOHNA: And I’m Johna, two pagan friends exploring spirituality in the Modern Age.

DANNY: We’re queer…

JOHNA: And definitely not so white.

DANNY: So please be aware that we are grown-ups, who may discuss sensitive topics as they relate to our own experiences.

JOHNA: That being said, we welcome and incorporate the experiences of our listeners. You can contribute by messaging homebrewpodcast.tumblr.com—

DANNY: Or by tagging @homebrewpagans on Twitter. And so, let’s get into the episode!

[transition music]

JOHNA: All right, we have our order of events. The first thing on our list is Make Talk Good, as per usual.

DANNY: And, we are very very excited to introduce our main topic, which is liminal spaces, specifically abandoned places.

JOHNA: [chuckle] So after we’re done being nerds about that, I am going to share a myth with you. This is going to be the Ballad of John Henry, the steel-drivin’ man.

DANNY: And we're going to close out with a devotional thought about plants! [chuckle]

JOHNA: Yay!

DANNY: Yay!

JOHNA: [sing-song] Make…Talk…Good!

It's Make Talk Good again. This is our update on our language learning efforts, which are an act of ancestor veneration. So, let me tell you what I have for this week. It is “Paki-ulit?”

DANNY: Ooh!

JOHNNA: “Please, paki-ulit?” Uh, so, okay, Danny, let me explain to you. This is like saying, like, “pardon? Excuse me, can you repeat that? Can you do it again?”

DANNY: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

JOHNA: [long sigh] This is important, because there's like a lot that I've tried to learn, but I’m not always able to like, use it, and not always able to, like, talk to other people, and it's hard when you're always learning new things, so just like reviewing what I...you know, started out with since we first started doing this.

You know I learned "Kumusta ang lahat," which is “Hello, everybody.” It was really important to me that I learn that. "Na--[laugh]--Nag-aaral ako ng mga multo." You need to know that I study ghosts. And then there's that, you know, very heartfelt one, "Minsan lahat napupunta sa impyerno," which I feel a lot better about but I also feel more strongly about how everything can go to hell.

DANNY: Yeah. I remember that one. [chuckle]

JOHNA: But things like "Tao po?" Easy. Paki-ulit is going to be regular, so regular. I need that phrase a lot. Pardon me, you guys, I needed time to review. It’s important. [laugh] But how about you, Danny?

DANNY: Um, I can start saying sentences!

JOHNA: Ooh, say a sentence now. Like right now, say a sentence.

DANNY: Oh geez, okay, alright, okay. I'm going to say an untrue sentence. “Ni-TLAca-tl--” Aww, but you know what, I forget that the syllable is not going to be in the middle, it's going to be the second to last syllable, so let me try that again for everybody.

JOHNA: All right, take two!

DANNY: “Ni-tlaCA-tl.” And “Nitlacatl” means “I am a man,” which I am not.

JOHNA: [gasp] You’re not, though!

DANNY: But that is the first sentence that they teach. I'm not, but that's the first sentence that they teach in this book. I'm going to once again plug it. It's called Learn Nahuatl: Language of the Aztecs and Modern Nahuas by Yan Garcia. It's a workbook, it's neat, and I am learning simple sentences. And basically how these simple sentences work—

Last week we talked about plural nouns. And we learned that an, a noun in Nahuatl ends with what's called an absolutive ending. And what we are doing now is we are taking that noun and we are also adding a subject prefix, if you wanna just do a simple sentence.

So, in the sentence that I used, “tlaca” means “man.” What you do is, if I wanted to say, “I am a man,” the way that you would conjugate that noun is to add the prefix “ni-,” so “Nitlacatl,” that's a way smoother way to say it. But, as we kind of covered last week, if it's a plural noun in certain situations, the ending is M-E-H. In this sentence, if I wanted to say “we are men,” I would say “Titlacameh,” instead of “Nitlacatl”.

[sigh] So, pronunciation is still not a strong point, and this is a lot. This is, like, very very different than how they do things in English, um, and they only kind of do this in Latin, which is the only other language I know sort of how to do. But I am very excited to be able to start even conceptualizing simple sentences now, ‘cause so far it's just been, like, kind of words a little bit.

JOHNA: Hell. Yeah. Dude. Awesome. Sooooooooooo…

DANNY: Let's get into our main topic!

JOHNA: [laughs]

DANNY: So, in this episode…this is probably, I want to say, our most dense episode yet. It's not necessarily our heaviest, but it's really packed full of stuff. We cover a lot of terms, we cover a lot of concepts, and we introduce some ideas that are only barely like getting revisited post-Enlightenment in the Western World. So if it feels a little confusing and we get a little academic, hang with us, we just have to kind of cover a couple of things.

So our main topic here is liminal spaces, with a specific focus on abandoned places. The reason why we chose to split this up is that if we just talked about liminal spaces as a whole we would be here for a thousand years.

JOHNA: So many thousands.

DANNY: And it would be way more complicated than, like, anybody is prepared for. Did I discover that I wanted to write a thesis on liminal spaces more than usual when doing this prep? Yes.

JOHNA: [chuckle]

DANNY: But we narrowed it down for you because we wanted to, um, really give each subcategory of liminal space the time it deserves. But we're going to get into a lot of good stuff. But for right now, let’s start with some foundation work.

So, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines liminal as “relating to or situated at a sensory threshold, specifically being barely perceptible.” And then space is “a physical space independent of what occupies it.” There are a couple of different definitions that were also listed there, but I picked these two because I felt that they directly related to liminal space as a concept, and also was helpful to connect liminal spaces and abandoned places. A liminal space is a physical place that situates itself between the perceptible, or the real world, and the imperceptible in such a way that creates an overlap between now and the past-slash-future in various ways. Phew! [laugh]

JOHNA: Yes. Okay. That's a good place to start, aaaa… I mean, in layman's terms, I feel like liminal places tend to be busy, you know--

DANNY: Mm-hmm.

JOHNA: --sort of like byways, and that haunted places tend to have, uh, more consistent residents. Even if there is a doorway, there tend to be the same characters around. Does that make sense?

DANNY: It does. And I think, also, before we kind of jump away from haunted places, it’s kind of important to talk about what haunted means. Um, at-at least in terms of how we're, like, looking at it from this podcast. Because we are taking the ‘hauntedness’ out of abandoned places for those who might think that those things are interchangeable.

So let’s kind of go back to the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition. There's two that I really want to kind of chew on. The first definition that I want to kind of look at is haunted as “to visit or inhabit as a ghost.” So that's, like, that was one of the first ones that they list online. But another one, alternative definition, is “to visit often or continually seek the company of.” And I think that that is a more interesting dichotomy for, like, what haunted means. The idea of just visiting often, seeking the company of, is inviting us to consider that things other than ghosts can haunt places.

So while we might consider haunted places to be liminal, and they have liminal qualities, we are going to talk more here, like how you phrased it, like, we're going to talk here more about spiritual byways, rather than like, a haunt. That will be later.

JOHNA: [laugh]

DANNY: So that’s sort of--[laugh] But that’s where we’re approaching this difference.

JOHNA: Mm-hmm. So a common belief among non-western religions is that existence, not just life, is primarily spiritual, and may express itself physically. So this idea has been pretty well eradicated from Western culture, like, particularly after the enlightenment, but it has been something that has been sort of rediscovered by a lot of Western Pagan traditions. So essentially we can recognize this life as an expression of our being, but far from the sum of it.

That invites you to consider, like, how does that apply to things that physical beings have constructed? Does this mean that places and objects existed spiritually, too? Are we able to create spiritual objects or beings by creating them physically first? I think that this is, like, typically the first way that we sort of try to approach that, but that kind of question implies that we're asking whether the chicken comes before the egg. In my theology, and sort of in the perspective of this podcast, pretty much everything is an egg that occasionally makes chicken shapes. You see? Like, you get it? Do you get the--?

DANNY: Yeah, yeah. I kind of love that, too. I like that relationship, I guess, between like our spiritual life and our physical objects we make and like what does what first. And I think that, okay, if we assume “yes,” that at least part of our spiritual life impacts the physical non-living objects we create, it kind of leads, like you were saying, to the question of like, “what happens to these places, objects, spaces when we're done with them?” Like, the idea of leaving a spiritual footprint is how we can kind of connect liminal space to abandoned place.

And I think, also, and here's kind of where things are going to get, um, I guess, a little non-western here, is that time, like you were saying, is a really strong factor here as well. So if a building, for example, can hold onto the physical, the spiritual footprint of those who used to utilize the space, even after the people themselves are gone, then liminal spaces become a really useful tool when conceptualizing how time and spiritual energy becomes less linear than we are accustomed to thinking about that in this day and age. That is to say that liminal spaces sort of become an example of how time exists all at the same time. [chuckle]

Our spiritual footprint kind of leaves the-the energies that we imprinted into the ground on one specific day, and holds it for potentially forever, so that, like, one day that you were there can be sort of suspended in this liminal space for all time. And I think that understanding space as it relates to nonlinear time and overlapping energies can be a really really useful tool when growing in your faith as a pagan, or even just as a spiritual person. I know that personally this kind of interaction with space and liminal spaces has improved my relationship with my gods, um, has simplified and improved how I interact with the natural world, and also how I handle my own mortality and the concept of death as a spiritual person.

JOHNA: Mm-hmm, you know what, I do like that. I like that the Western world is warming up to nonlinear time--now that we have, like, math to theoretically explain it so it's not laughed at as much. But, like, as you continue to deepen a practice with your gods, your ancestors, or just your exalted self, you come to experience, like, dialogue and answered prayers as something that isn't limited to your experience of time, right? Like, you might pray for a job and thank your ancestors for the answered prayer, and then realize that it was possible because they made a demand of you like months before you even needed that job, before the need for that job existed.

So it's difficult to examine how this happens in relation to our own lives, sometimes, when you’re thinking of time totally linearly—

DANNY: Mm-hmm.

JOHNA: --so it helps to, you know, study liminal space instead, and use that as a starting por—sorry, use that as a starting point. So, like, I understand that the way that we talked about this, like, lacks academic nuance sometimes, and, like, for now I'm okay with that ‘cause, you know, when it comes to paranormal subjects, the field is still incredibly new, we still rely on a lot of anecdotal information, but that's not to say that you can't trust your own observational skills.

DANNY: Yes, absolutely. And sort of speaking of anecdotes, I-I do have a lot of perception about liminal spaces with regards to abandoned places in particular, and I wanted to sort of highlight a couple of things to sort of have like a real world example of the concepts that we’re talking about. This is sort of to underline the—the concepts and ideas that we've introduced so far and how I use them in my practice, and also kind of in my hobbies, which, as we all know, end up overlapping eventually.

JOHNA: [chuckle]

DANNY: I very casually do urban exploration. I don't live in a place where it's super easy to do. All of the good good stuff is, uh, really hard to get to, and it’s also hard to find again. If you find, like, a sweet sweet house that you want to get your little fingers in, it's hard to find it later.

BOTH: [laugh]

DANNY: But, and I’ve been doing this for a while, but only recently have I started conceptualizing urban exploration as part of my spiritual exercise, and I find it actually really meditative, sort of before I knew that I-I needed to have a meditative practice. It's a really unique experience for me to sit quietly in a space and to try to feel all of that energy that's ever been there. That is to say, like, if you sit quietly in a messed up house in the middle of nowhere and settle your mind for a second, it really feels like you can feel everything that has ever come in, has ever been around, and has ever passed through that house. And it's a little different than, like, interacting with a forest or, you know, like, your favorite park. It's a, it’s a very very specific energy that is different in every place that you go. And for me that's like, it’s… as closest as I think we can get to straddling a few different worlds, sort of because of the way time happens in liminal spaces. It’s really beautiful.

But I do want to have a disclaimer. [chuckles] And my disclaimer is: please be careful when urban exploring. Be mindful of No Trespassing signs, be mindful of security cameras. You might approach a house that looks really cool, but the structural issues will make it too dangerous to go in. It is not worth dying for the aesthetic. Do not walk into a house that looks like the entire floor is covered in bird shit without a respirator. Do not go onto second floors unless you're absolutely sure that it is safe and secure. I always recommend that you go urban exploring in pairs, at least. I'm happier if people go in groups of three or four, that way if somebody gets hurt you can have someone stay with the person and you have someone go get help. There are times you will lose cell phone reception. That's when you're going to want and need partners. Bring flashlights, bring batteries, don't tag up the joint. Thank you.

JOHNA: Mm-hmm. Good advice from the neighborhood weirdo.

DANNY: That's me!

JOHNA: So I myself, like, I don't like to visit liminal spaces. I like to look at them from a comfortable distance. Now, like, okay, I hate to apply the word “sensitive” to myself because I think that word is used to excuse how other people would rather, like, completely deny their own experiences and the experiences of other people instead of considering that reality is not what they taught themselves to expect, right? But I guess I am, uh, some kind of sensitive in the way that, like, a sensitive person is someone who uses some kind of psychic ability, right?

DANNY: Yeah.

JOHNA: Whether that’s conscious or not. But I also hate the sound of that, because it makes it sound like it's supernatural, but it's not. It's a normal and regular thing that people are. [sigh] Okay, anyway, anyway.

I don't like to hang out in liminal spaces ‘cause they feel…busy. It's like I'm standing in the middle of a hallway, you know, and everyone around me knows where the hell they're going and why they’re there, and I’m just taking up space. Like, I feel like I'm bumping into people at an intersection, because I'm not actually going anywhere. And I don't have business there, and I know it, and whatever or whoever's there knows it, and I'm just standing there, and I’m being impolite, and I don't like how it feels. Unlike you for who it sounds like you sort of like it, like white noise.

DANNY: Yeah.

JOHNA: And I get that. But for me it's not white noise, it's just so noisy. But I do like to observe from a distance, because it's a little like people watching. Which is pretty much what you do up close. But because it’s too much activity for me, I’ll like sit further away and sort of watch, like, an abandoned railroad. And when you quiet yourself, you can sort of feel the land’s memory of trains rushing past. Sometimes you can feel when, like, spirits use them as byways, and sometimes you'll see—well, I say see—but sometimes you can sense people or entities, like, congregating nearby, waiting. And in that way it’s sort of calming because there's this reassurance that people have always just been people.

And sometimes it's just this frightening awareness that it's not just the spirit of a person that’s aware of you, it's the spirit of a place that's become aware of me, and they have an opinion on that. And when that happens I just leave, ‘cause I don't like people watching if I also have to be watched. You know what I mean?

DANNY: [laughs] It's a one-way street.

JOHNA: Mm-mm, I don't like it.

DANNY: We’ve touched on this before, but I think about it every time we talk about this. Um, especially when you were talking about how it feels to, like, sit by an abandoned railroad and feel like the trains rush past, etc. It makes me think of Spirited Away, in that, my, wh-… how do I wanna put this. The feeling for me of, like, watching a world, like… At the very, very beginning when they, like, actually like pass through the tunnel and they're in what appears to be an abandoned theme park, and then that transitions into, like, a thriving place where people are doing stuff, that is how it feel—like watching that, is how it feels for me. But I feel like for you, experiencing…

JOHNA: [laughs]

DANNY: …a liminal place is, like, what it's like to be Chihiro. [laughs] Whereas—

JOHNA: Yes.

DANNY: --I’m still at least enjoying, like, watching Chihiro, I’m st—I’m, don't feel like I am physically a part of the energy, it's just kind of, like, not acknowledging me. Whereas for you it seems like there are eyes on you and you are—someone you know has eaten a bunch of food they should not have.

JOHNA: Oh man. Aw, man.

DANNY: Does that kind of…does that seem like kind of…?

JOHNA: No, it just…feels like… It feels like when you, like, walk into a classroom that you’re not supposed to be in, but you walk in…

DANNY: Oh my gosh.

JOHNA: …with so much purpose that everyone’s just like “ok, and what did you bring?” Aaand…I don’t have answers!

DANNY: Yes, actually, that makes so much sense, like the walking into a classroom and everybody kind of looks at you like “well, you’re here, aren’t you?” And you’re like, “this isn’t the right place.” That makes a lot more sense to me, of all of, like, the times you’ve talked about, like, your feelings about liminal space, I guess.

JOHNA: Yeah.

DANNY: But like, kind of on that vein, we—you know, we touched on Spirited Away, which is a Japanese film, and we are, you know, we're talking about a North American experience. And, like, there is this concept that I sort of want to like touch on before we, we move on, that abandoned places as a liminal space are a really really interesting part of the US, like, the United States experience, in particular, because as an established country, we are pretty young.

So someone who…a hypothetical listener listening in like, England or Japan, might have a different perspective on abandoned places altogether. Because some people…when I went to England, like, some people were living in houses that were older than the established country I live in.

JOHNA: [laughs]

DANNY: And obviously, like, disclaimer, like, we understand that, like, the indigenous peoples of America have been around just as long as every other settled place, you know. We're sort of talking about that in the post-colonial timeline, unfortunately.

Kind of in that vein, in the short amount of time that the United States of America has existed as a country, we have gone through several changes of Industry that has created and then abandoned factories, apartment buildings, whole cities. Uh, pretty much every time that America, like, encounters a change in capitalism, so that’s, so like an economic boom or an economic crash, we change the landscape of our land. We changed the shape of that space, um, as part of our, like, perpetual manifest destiny bullshit.

So the idea here also, the thing with liminality may also relate to how we as pagans or as spiritually sensitive people interact with the energy of our North American culture, and how--

JOHNA: Hmm!

DANNY: --someone who's Japanese would be interacting with their Japanese culture. So, like, liminal spaces might be completely different energetically, depending on where you are! And I think that that's also really super cool!

JOHNA: Oh my God. That's a thing that we're going to have to talk about later, for sure.

DANNY: Yeah, it's a lot to think on right now.

BOTH: [laugh]

JOHNA: But for now…do you wanna hear a story?

DANNY: I would love to hear a story. Let's bring it back.

JOHNA: Whoo whoo whoo! Okay. It’s…this is going to be a story told through song. As I mentioned before, of John Henry, the steel-drivin’ man. This is a version of the song that has been adapted from a Harry Belafonte performance. There are so many different versions of this. The song became popular in the early 1900s when locomotives were first getting popular and companies were laying tracks down all across the country.

Just a preface, a steel driver is someone who hammers down screws that tack down the railroad. And for your reference during the song, a shaker is somebody who twists the screw in between the hammer hits. So, labor intensive, took a lot of people to do this. And locomotion tycoons wanted to make as much money as they could, so they tr--worked hard to be able to replace people with automated drills. So here is The Ballad of John Henry, the steel-drivin’ man.

John Henry was a little baby

Sittin’ on his papa’s knee

He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel

Said “Hammer’s gonna be the death of me, Lord!

Hammer’s gonna be the death of me.”

The captain said to John Henry

“Gonna bring that steam drill ’round

Gonna bring that steam drill out on the job

Gonna whoop that steel on down, Lord!

Gonna whoop that steel on down.”

John Henry told his captain,

“A man ain’t nothin’ but a man

But before I let your steam drill beat me down

I’ll die with a hammer in my hand, Lord!

I’ll die with a hammer in my hand.”

John Henry said to his Shaker

“Shaker, why don’t you sing?

I’m throwin’ 30 lbs. from my hips on down

Just listen to that cold steel ring, Lord!

Listen to that cold steel ring.”

John Henry said to his Shaker

“Shaker, you’d better pray

’Cause if I miss that little piece of steel

Tomorrow’s gonna be your buryin’ day!

Tomorrow be your buryin’ day.”

The Shaker said to John Henry

“I think this mountain’s cavin’ in!”

John Henry said to his Shaker, “Man

That ain’t nothin’ but my hammer suckin’ wind! Lord!

Nothin’ but my hammer suckin’ wind.”

The man that invented the steam drill

Thought he was mighty fine

But John Henry made 15 ft. of track

The steam drill only made nine, Lord!

The steam drill only made nine.

John Henry hammered in the mountain

His hammer was striking fire

But he worked so hard, he broke his poor heart

He laid down his hammer and he died, Lord,

He laid down his hammer and he died.

Now John Henry had a little woman

Her name was Polly Ann

John Henry took sick & went to his bed

Polly Ann drove steel like a man, Lord!

Polly Ann drove steel like a man.

And John Henry had a little baby

You could hold him in the palm of your hand

The last words I heard that poor boy say

“My daddy was a steel-drivin’ man, Lord!

My daddy was a steel-drivin’ man.”

They took John Henry to the graveyard

And they buried him in the sand

And every locomotive comes a-roarin’ by

Says “There lies a steel-drivin’ man, Lord!

There lies a steel-drivin’ man.”

Well every Monday morning

When the bluebirds begin to sing

You can hear John Henry a mile or more

You can (heal--) hear John Henry’s hammer ring, Lord!

You can hear John Henry’s hammer ring.

Doo-doo!

DANNY: Wow. I told you this earlier when we were planning, but it’s been like a hot minute since I've heard the story of John Henry, and like, it gets—I’m like, that's some good stuff, dude.

JOHNA: Yeah, that's some good shit.

DANNY: Mm-hmm.

JOHNA: Um, historically, John Henry was a real man, an ex-slave. And it's generally believed that he drove steel in, like, the Virginia area. There’s uh, things to support that, things to refute it. But, generally we agree in the late 1800s he was driving steel. And the warning of John Henry is, I think, especially meaningful today, the way that it was in the early 1900s. That is to say capitalism is bad and the man ain’t here to help us, so you should go unionize, like, yesterday, and your ancestors all agree to stick it to the man, but… [chuckles] …also…

DANNY: [chuckles] It's true.

JOHNA: Yeah, as heroic and glorious our people are, we are gonna have to stick together and work together in order to take care of each other, because these companies certainly do not. That’s it. Over to you, Danny.

DANNY: Thank you. That’s, like, its own devotional thought, honestly.

JOHNNA: Yeeeah.

BOTH: [laugh]

DANNY: Fuck capitalism! And also! [laughs] …bought a mint plant. That’s your devotional thought for today. No. I bought a mint plant--

JOHNA: Congratulations.

DANNY: Thank you, it's so finicky. Um, and I only say that because I'm used to taking care of succulents and cacti, which are not. And…but caring for this, this mint plant kind of got me thinking about life, as plants usually do. And how if you neglect one thing--it doesn't have to be anything big. Say you don't mist your mint plant that day, or you don't rotate it so that it gets all the good good sun around all of its little leavies, the whole plant gets uh, unhappy. It gets brown, crusty leaves, it lists to one side, it looks real stupid. And--

JOHNA: [chuckles] Oh…

DANNY: --most importantly, it doesn’t fix itself on its own. Mint plant, your mint plant, whatever that, like, may be for you, things that rely on you to take care of it, are important. But also remember that you are also reliant on you to take care of yourself.

So take some time at the beginning of winter to check in on your needs, uh, physically, mentally, emotionally. Make sure that you're stocked up for what is typified as a fairly barren time, winter. And if you feel off-balance, if you feel like you are getting the proverbial crusty leaves or a part of you feels like it is listing off to the side, or if it's wilting, it just means that something you usually do to take care of yourself isn't happening right now. So, you know, check in with yourself, stock up on yourself, be kind to yourself, and turn yourself towards the sun every once in a while. It's, it’s gonna be okay. [chuckle]

JOHNA: Aww, yay.

DANNY: I love you.

JOHNA: Thank you, Danny. [laughs] I love you, listener.

DANNY: I fuckin’ love you, dudes. [laughs]

JOHNA: So okay, we're going to send us off. I love our question this week, it's great.

Have you seen Spirited Away, the excellent excellent Miyazaki film by Studio Ghibli? Spirited Away? Have you heard of it, yet? Go see it now, immediately, and when you’re done…

DANNY: Immediately go watch it.

JOHNA: …when you're done, get back to us online and tell us, which Chihiro moment do you relate to most?

DANNY: Hell yeah.

JOHNA: Yeah. For me, obviously, it's like, when the sun goes down and Chihiro finds herself in the middle of a busy intersection, and she doesn't know what to do and has no money and everyone…kind of wishes she weren't in the way.

DANNY: [laughs]

JOHNA: That's it. [laughs]

DANNY: I just want to be the boiler man. [loud laugh]

JOHNA: Oh man, good one.

DANNY: That's not a Chihiro moment, I just wanted to make that known to everybody.

[outro music starts]

JOHNA: Oh, definitely get back to us on that you guys. Thank you so much for joining us this week. You should look out for new episodes every other Friday.

DANNY: A big thank you again to Vexento for the use of our theme song, “We Are One,” and to The Miracle Forest for the background, “The Magical Tearoom.”

JOHNA: Again, you can send your comments and experiences to us on Tumblr and Twitter with #homebrewpagans.

DANNY: We are at homebrewpodcast.tumblr.com and @homebrewpagans on Twitter. We’ll talk to you real soon. Bye!

JOHNA: Bye!

DANNY: See you!

#home brew podcast #home brew pagans #homebrewpodcast #homebrewpagans #transcript #podcast transcript #pagan #pagans of color #queer pagans #liminal space

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l2gkiug-blog · 5 years

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PhD as a job

I recently reread this passage in David Graeber's _Bullshit Jobs_ (by the way, I highly recommend reading the book):

In the spring of 2013, I unwittingly set off a very minor international sensation.

It all began when I was asked to write an essay for a new radical magazine called Strike! The editor asked if I had anything provocative that no one else would be likely to publish. I usually have one or two essay ideas like that stewing around, so I drafted one up and presented him with a brief piece entitled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.”

The essay was based on a hunch. Everyone is familiar with those sort of jobs that don’t seem, to the outsider, to really do much of anything: HR consultants, communications coordinators, PR researchers, financial strategists, corporate lawyers, or the sort of people (very familiar in academic contexts) who spend their time staffing committees that discuss the problem of unnecessary committees. The list was seemingly endless. What, I wondered, if these jobs really are useless, and those who hold them are aware of it? Certainly you meet people now and then who seem to feel their jobs are pointless and unnecessary. Could there be anything more demoralizing than having to wake up in the morning five out of seven days of one’s adult life to perform a task that one secretly believed did not need to be performed—that was simply a waste of time or resources, or that even made the world worse? Would this not be a terrible psychic wound running across our society? Yet if so, it was one that no one ever seemed to talk about. There were plenty of surveys over whether people were happy at work. There were none, as far as I knew, about whether or not they felt their jobs had any good reason to exist.

This possibility that our society is riddled with useless jobs that no one wants to talk about did not seem inherently implausible. The subject of work is riddled with taboos. Even the fact that most people don’t like their jobs and would relish an excuse not to go to work is considered something that can’t really be admitted on TV—certainly not on the TV news, even if it might occasionally be alluded to in documentaries and stand-up comedy. I had experienced these taboos myself: I had once acted as the media liaison for an activist group that, rumor had it, was planning a civil disobedience campaign to shut down the Washington, DC, transport system as part of a protest against a global economic summit. In the days leading up to it, you could hardly go anywhere looking like an anarchist without some cheerful civil servant walking up to you and asking whether it was really true he or she wouldn’t have to go to work on Monday. Yet at the same time, TV crews managed dutifully to interview city employees—and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were the same city employees—commenting on how terribly tragic it would be if they wouldn’t be able to get to work, since they knew that’s what it would take to get them on TV. No one seems to feel free to say what they really feel about such matters—at least in public.

It was plausible, but I didn’t really know. In a way, I wrote the piece as a kind of experiment. I was interested to see what sort of response it would elicit...

[Graeber reprints his poignant essay]...

If ever an essay’s hypothesis was confirmed by its reception, this was it. “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs” produced an explosion.

It occurred to me that, just as "bullshit jobs" was taboo to discuss but of wide resonance, the same might apply to **the steps one should take to pick, perform and/or leave jobs if one has internalized that one's job or career is indeed bullshit.**

At least it seems that way in my university's PhD programs. I suspect many of my peers don't like their PhD jobs, and distinctly, many have jobs they "secretly believe [do] not need to be performed." I suspect many of those peers are actively interested in how to deal with these situations: should I leave PhD? If not and if I haven't yet chosen a boss, how should I choose? If I'm already stuck with a boss, should I switch? Should I try shirking and see what happens? Should I just keep working as I am and stop worrying about the utility of my work, which could very possibly make me happy? Will bringing in my own funding give me more negotiating power? I'll call these questions "bullshit job considerations." But it's taboo—I haven't found students talking about these questions, and almost always I'm the first one to bring up that I've even _considered_ these questions (which evokes one of a few reactions: giggles, "don't say that!" or rarely, "yeah maybe I should think about that too") before meaningful discussion ensues.

This is not to say that there aren't many students who enjoy their PhDs: it seems highly variable. On the question of the usefulness of their jobs, I suspect many students would say that they feel they're contributing to knowledge, teaching others and helping advance health and medicine.

But for those students who don't feel so positive, I think it could be very helpful to open up spaces in which to discuss what to do in reaction to those feelings, to make this area of discussion and thinking non-taboo. For example, many students entering PhD are confronted with the decision of which boss and lab to work for in their thesis research. Each PhD program, older PhD student and postdoc will recommend criteria with which to make this decision. Commonly, I've heard "Make sure your PI [principal investigator, aka boss] and you get along," or "Look for a PI has your interests at heart." I agree that these are important criteria, depending on the definition of "your interests." I think these criteria would be greatly supplemented by "Look for a PI who gives you ample free time," "Look for a PI and lab that don't believe in 'work as an end and meaning in itself' (Graeber), e.g. a PI who won't be happy or sad with you depending on the number of analyses or experiments you run," or "Look for a PI who won't pressure you into working on a project whose usefulness you don't understand or believe, even if that means long spells of no visible production." I myself am unsure whether I can realistically find a PI matching these criteria, given that my university research environment feels very productivity-focused, but I think these criteria are at least worth acknowledging as things to aspire to.

Talking about leaving the PhD is even more taboo, although surprisingly, I've heard more talk about that than about tactics for increasing free time, either by shirking (which seems to be more commonly discussed and practiced in other industries) or by winning negotiating power with your boss by "providing value" to them. The latter is a major subject in multiple books, including Tim Ferriss's _4 Hour Workweek_, which enjoys popularity outside my university's academic bubble. (This again deepens my stereotype that we have a longer way to go on these issues in academia.)

I sometimes feel, inspired by Nassim Taleb, that a very good work setup for me would be either complete freedom (i.e. retired and pursuing my own projects) or sinecure-cum-freedom (i.e. having a job that disappears after I leave the office at 12pm each day, and complete freedom afterwards)[1][2]. Another good setup would be in an organization I really believed in (a combination of many factors) and could contribute to. At this point, these feel mostly compatible with my PhD, pending finding a compatible boss, but I haven't seriously imagined if life not in the PhD would be better for pursuing these.

Footnotes:

I've experienced complete freedom and I think that some balancing force of commitment, i.e. the sinecure-cum-freedom, might actually feel better. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why—perhaps some routinized social interaction or feelings of immediate usefulness to your co-workers.

What counts as a "very good work setup" probably depends a lot on the person, but at the same time, I do think many people look for similar things. I think control and freedom over one's time and one's self is a common value, and I think the work setups I mention above are trying to honor exactly that value.

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thelastspeecher · 6 years

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Hi! So like five months ago I sent you an ask about applying to grad school and you gave me a super amazing answer. And I'm back now because holy shit I got into grad school (CalArts for Creative Writing) and in the last one you said there was a whole 'nothing list of tips if you actually get into grad school? And I got in and I'm curious what the tips are? If there's anything you've learned in the last few months that changed your perspective on grad school? Thank you so much!

First off, congrats! That’s a big accomplishment! Grad schools in general are competitive, and big names like CalArts even more so.

So, you want my advice, eh? Okay. Let’s do this.

First step is getting organized. You start in the fall (I’m assuming), so you have plenty of time. Find out where important locations are on campus, familiarize yourself with the area you’ll be spending most of your time in (I’d focus on figuring out where the closest bathrooms and places to get food are, personally), and invest in a planner. Keep that planner handy. Use it. It’s easier to stay organized if you start the semester that way than it is to try to organize yourself halfway through the semester. Make a monthly budget. Decide “I will spend X amount on groceries every time I go shopping”. Keep track of the money in your bank account (a lot of banks have mobile apps that make this very easy). Put some of your paycheck into a savings account every time. You never know when you might need a nest egg. Stay up to date on your medical needs (prescriptions, flu shots [for the love of god, get a flu shot], dentist appointments, yearly physicals). You can definitely find resources at your school to help you with some of these tasks. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be able to find a workshop on keeping a budget or other adult skills. Attend workshops for new grad students.

Second, look into different support systems for students. That means student-led organizations, departments that exist to keep the university complying with federal non-discrimination laws, and general resources. Get a support system set up right away, particularly if you are going to be far from family.

Student-led organizations will be able to help you adjust and provide you a sense of community (particularly if you belong to a minority community). Other grad students will be able to offer advice faculty or staff might not be able to. Don’t isolate yourself! That’s what I’ve been doing and it sucks! The only reason I haven’t driven myself completely insane is because I have a roommate who happens to be my best friend. If I could start over, I wouldn’t do what I did and avoid everyone because I was intimidated. I would stroll into rooms with purpose and confidence that I am the baddest b*tch there. Confidence gets you far in life, particularly in grad school.

“Departments that exist to keep the university complying with federal non-discrimination laws” is a very wordy way of saying the Title IX office, disability services, offices for students of color (schools typically have different offices for different racial minorities; find out which one is best suited for you), the LGBT resource center, and the like. If you are part of a demographic minority, find out where you can locate help immediately. If something goes wrong related to your status as a minority, you need to nip it in the bud RIGHT AWAY.

General resources are things like mental health services, university health services, survivor services, etc etc. If you have any history of mental health issues or have been in therapy at any point in your life, I recommend jumping into counseling immediately, even if you feel like you don’t need it. Just talking to a neutral party will help you more than you think. Most schools offer free counseling for students, too. If they don’t, then that’s really fucking weird, but they should be able to help you figure out a method for you to adjust smoothly without it being too much of a drain on your wallet.

Third, learn from my mistakes. Good lord, learn from my mistakes. I had a disastrous first semester at grad school. I was overwhelmed, completely out of my depth, and the one thing I thought I was doing right I discovered I was actually completely fucking up. I entered my second semester on academic probation and probation as a TA. How do you learn from my mistakes? A few ways.

The first time you TA (most grad students TA at some point), insist on someone observing you. The department should automatically observe all TAs, particularly new ones, but it’s possible to slip through the cracks. That happened to me. The head TA was too busy to observe TAs my first semester, and I didn’t find out that I was a shitty TA until I was in a meeting with department and university head honchos, who were effectively accusing me of hating my students and hating being a TA and sucking in general. That’s paraphrasing, and definitely not completely accurate, but that’s how the meeting felt to me. I got by only because I explained to them “I am autistic, I struggle with new social situations”. The extenuating circumstances in my situation allowed me to try to TA again, but this time with some accommodations and outside assistance.

Related: If you are disabled, disclose it to the department. Disclose it to the higher-ups and the professor who will act as your advisor. You don’t need to disclose it to anyone else, but I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to tell the people you will be working for. Even if you have amazing coping skills, disclose it. I’m damn good at pretending to be abled. But my disabilities still bit me in the ass. New situations and stress have a tendency of exacerbating symptoms. You can’t expect everything to go smoothly. And you can’t expect the department to hold your hand or even recognize what’s going on with you. I’m the first diagnosed autistic grad student my department has ever had. They had no clue how to handle that. You’ll be going into a field that tends to be a bit more liberal than STEM (like my area of study), so you might not run into the issue of “uh we don’t know how to help you, please talk to some people at the office of equity”, but it’s best to find out sooner rather than later.

Related: If you are disabled, get your ass down to the disability services office and get accommodations. Immediately. Start the process over the summer. Larger schools might have a more complicated process to get accommodations than smaller schools, so you need to get the ball rolling right away. Even if you haven’t felt like you needed accommodations recently, get the ones you had in the past. Don’t assume you’ll be fine without extra help.

Don’t take too many classes your first semester. And make sure the ones you do take aren’t all super difficult. I fucked up my first semester, bc I took three upper-level classes, two of them in chemistry. Yeah, three doesn’t sound like much. But when you’re juggling adjusting to grad school, starting up your thesis, and being a TA, three classes is a huge fucking amount of work. I’d recommend two classes, maybe one of them difficult, the other one sort of medium difficulty. Of course, you have to talk to your advisor for what works best for you, but I highly HIGHLY recommend starting off with a light class load your first semester.

When things start going south, bc they probably will at some point, don’t just keep your head down and try to force yourself through it. Talk to the family members you are closest to (I’m very close with my parents, so I talk to them when I’m having issues, but it could be a sibling or an aunt or uncle or cousin). Talk to friends. Talk to a counselor (PLEASE get a counselor your first semester). Talk to your advisor. Talk to the other grad students in your department. You should be able to find at least one shoulder to cry on, if not a whole bunch.

I said this before, but don’t isolate yourself. Please don’t. It’s easy to avoid people when you’re stressed. Don’t do that. Reach out to other grad students in your department. Make friends. Go with them to coffee shops. I wouldn’t recommend starting out by going to bars, bc that can be a slippery slope, and you shouldn’t have friends who only have fun while they’re drinking (that’s not a healthy behavior). My grad school has a really nasty drinking culture that contributed to my avoidance of other grad students, but hopefully yours doesn’t. And even if it does, you should be able to find someone who won’t want to always go to the bar.

Fourth, be confident. I said that before, but like the “don’t isolate” thing, it’s important. I’ve always been a confident person. I took a huge blow to my confidence when I started grad school, bc I felt like I was surrounded by people with more experience (which is an objective fact, but doesn’t always have to be a bad thing) and more knowledge and more accomplishments and who had their lives together. I was intimidated, for one of the first times in my life! I’ve always been a top-tier person, cream of the crop, A+ honors student, go-getter, award-winner. But in grad school, literally everyone else is that, too. And that’s not a bad thing! Sure, some people might be braggy, but other people will be more humble. Having all this experience in one location is good, bc it means you have more help. You have people you can talk to who have connections, who have run into problems you might run into, who can offer a unique perspective on things. That is SO GOOD. And if you’re still intimidated, think of it like this: You got there, too. You’re just as good as the other grad students, otherwise you wouldn’t be there. You have just as much potential, even if you don’t have as much life experience. You have something unique to offer to the school. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have been accepted. And it’s not like everyone else actually has it together. Some people might, but most of the other students will be as lost and nervous as you (esp other first year students).

Fifth, toot your own horn. It’s related to being confident, but not quite the same. Talk about your accomplishments. Tell people what you’ve done. Try not to come off too braggy, but don’t hide your light under a bushel. You have to promote yourself if you want to get anywhere. You’ve already succeeded at it once, since you got into grad school. Keep it up! Oh, and don’t be afraid to toot your own horn when someone else is making you feel intimidated. I was at a thing where one guy kept going on and on about how he’d been to this country, and that country, and tried this wine and that food and yadda yadda yadda. I got sick of it, so I cocked my head and stopped him in his tracks by asking him if he’d ever been to Kosovo. He hadn’t. He’d been to a million places, but there was one that I had him beaten on. That was a huge confidence booster. You have your unique experiences. Share them. And don’t be afraid to use them to stop a braggart from controlling a conversation.

Sixth, stay healthy. Mentally and physically. Walk most places (that’s how I get my exercise), bike, do yoga, jog, whatever. Get some exercise. Eat well. Make your own meals, keep track of whether you’ve had a vegetable today. See a counselor, vent to friends, write in a journal. Most schools offer wellness workshops where students can learn how to keep themselves healthy. Look into that, particularly if you struggle to eat well or keep stress down.

Seventh, take a short break if you need to. Grad school culture is intense. People work way too long for way too little recognition. Stress kills. Burn out can make you question your path. Say no to a third side project your advisor wants you to do. Take a day off, or an afternoon. Take a long weekend. Make sure that things won’t fall apart while you’re gone (in my case, I would get lab work done the day before), let your advisor know you won’t be coming in today for health reasons (you can keep it vague), and then spend your day doing anything but work on your thesis. Don’t give in to stress and burn out. It will wreck you.

Eighth, enjoy yourself! Grad school can be hell, but it can also be fun! You’re here to learn and gain experience and, hopefully, not hate every second of it. My own grad school experience has been roughly 92% hell and 8% fun, but I wasn’t prepared when I came. I did the opposite of hit the ground running. I tripped and skinned my knees and my face and I’m still trying to catch up with everyone else. Being prepared, reaching out to people who can help you adjust, those things will ensure your grad school experience goes more smoothly than mine. Just don’t expect everything to go perfectly right off the bat. It’ll take some time before you feel like you truly can enjoy yourself.

…That ended on a weird note, but I hope it was helpful.

You’ve got this! Best of luck!

#whew that turned out long but I knew it was going to be long #again I hope this was helpful #grad school #rant #ask #beatrice-babe

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purpleyin · 6 years

Text

WIP Title Meme - Snowest & Snowest(h)allen edition

Wasn’t tagged by @sophiainspace but it looked fun so I’m doing it.

Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you, or interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

The one problem with this meme is if I did ALL my WIPs, even just the ones for Arrowverse, it would be well over a 100 titles! Possibly 200 even. I have a lot of pots on the stove at once, I flit between things and eventually they get done.

I’ll do a Snowest and Snowestallen edition this time. I may resurrect this meme on another day, or Sunday instead of the six sentences meme, for a different character/pairing edition. Anyhow, for the Snowest and Snowestallen WIPs that haven’t had anything posted... Probably over explaning each but I want to, I like talking fic. Also, looks like I feel the need to name everything with at least a working title.

A Feeling Not Your Own - Snowestallen - AU where Barry works with Patty as a wedding planner and falls in love with Iris, whose wedding to Caitlin he is planning, which is bad, very bad and he pines. And then he realises he also has feelings for Caitlin too, which is bad squared and a mess of pining ensues.

Breaking Walls - Snowestallen - there was a crackfic prompt around for Barry gets a narrator (I think everyone was meant to hear but mine only has him bugged by it) who ships him with author’s choice and one of the possibilities I was considering was he thinks the narrator is shipping him and Caitlin, only to find they ship all three of them.

Don’t Mind Me - Snowestallen - Canon-divergent S2ish AU where Barry is being an idiot about whether Iris is ready to move on post-Eddie and won’t date her yet even though she knows he wants to. She’s pissed off and aims to show him what he’s missing by fake dating someone. In this Caitlin and Iris have a closer relationship earlier on, including Iris knowing Cait is bi, and Iris ends up thinking the most convenient someone to fake date would be Caitlin because she thinks that won’t be possible for Barry to miss to apply pressure and will be easy to handle, and she can tell him it was fake afterwards, it won’t last long, and that ends up so so wrong naturally.

The Other Side - Snowestallen and Ralph/Frost - this one is just a mess of an idea about Ralph and Frost hooking up casually making others confused/jealous, and the weirdness of the separation between Caitlin and Frost. Also with Iris getting to know Caitlin and appreciate her geekiness similar to Barry.

Beneath The Blue - - Snowest or maybe Snowestallen - future fic for when Barry goes missing, Caitlin helping Iris cope and them growing closer, domestic and getting together. I haven’t decided if will be just Snowest or eventually Snowestallen if Barry comes back in it.

Just In Time For Christmas - Snowest - No powers/Coffeeshop AU. Iris works at Jitters while she is getting established blogging and freelance journalism. Caitlin is writing a PhD thesis and has a crappy roomate, plus a too cold apartment, so seeks refuge in Jitters. Slow burn, turning into a Christmas fic too.

Also, bonus Snowesthallen below (i.e. with Eddie)

Belief In The Indivisibility - Established Westhallen, with Eddie not trusting Caitlin in S4, getting to know her and falling for her, and lots of negotiations about him dating her as well as Barry/Iris/Eddie and Cait sort of slowly ending up with all of them, but loads of angst of course because it’s me writing it.

#purpleyin: fanfic #fanfic meme #snowest #snowestallen #snowesthallen #wip title meme #polyam shipping #my snowestallen stuff #my snowesthallen stuff

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theworststudent · 6 years

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As some of you may know I’m currently writing my master’s thesis, and also working on a novel (or two). I’ve always loved writing, and reading. So here are some of my tips for academic writing, that apply to creative writing too :)

Disclaimer: I am not an expert obviously (but I do usually get A’s on written assignments whelp)

1. T h i n k and outline This may seem super obvious, but sometimes I want to make a deadline so badly that I forget to think about what I’m trying to say. Then I get frustrated because nothing’s coming out of my hands and I’m stuck (/defeated). So think! Close your eyes if that helps you. If you’re not writing in your first language, it may help you to think about things in your native language first, and then translate them (no matter how fluent you think you are!!).

Then I usually create an outline. It may be obvious and kind of boring, but I think teachers want you to do this for a reason. Think about each paragraph you’re going to write, maybe give it a one-sentence-summary. Make it as concise or as detailed as you want! I’ll include an example of my introduction outline here.

2. Parts of a whole So, what I mean by this is, sometimes we can see a task or project as a whole. It’s enormous and terrifying, and we don’t know where to start. What helps me is to break it down. Forget about the whole, and focus on the parts. If you’re currently working on the introduction, then focus on that. In fact, introduction is still kind of a whole, so focus on that one paragraph you’re currently writing. Then on a specific part of the paragraph, then on a sentence, a word, etcetera. Think like Neil Armstrong: a small step in your thesis writing process (like making a bridge sentence to connect two articles) can be a giant step for your whole.

3. Let your creativity flow That being said, I believe that creativity is a process, and that all writing - including academic - is creative. So if you suddenly get inspiration for your discussion, or your abstract, then just go work on that! This can also increase your confidence. If you show yourself that you can write something, it can get you out of that ‘oh my god, I suck and can’t do anything’ vibe (which we all get from time to time, believe you me!) Be mindful, however, and catch yourself procrastinating. If instead of writing, you’re meticulously editing your references (guilty), gently bring your attention back to the task at hand. It may also be a sign that you need a break. Move around & eat something & the usual tips.

4. Inspiration can come at the weirdest times Like when you’re on the toilet (gross, maybe, but very true!!), or when it’s two am and you’re kinda tipsy. So my advice is to carry a notebook wherever you go. Okay, maybe not to the toilet, but you get the idea. Wait a sec, I’m actually being super old-fashioned, because you’ll probably have your phone on you!! Use it to make notes! Sometimes I just get a word in my head, and I think “ooh I want to use that word”, so I jot it down somewhere. Or I suddenly have a brilliant comment about a certain author’s thoughts. Et cetera..

5. Allow for change & don’t cramp up As I’ve tried to make clear, writing is a process. Don’t be afraid to change things. Don’t think of things as final, at least not for a while. Heck, I think I’ve changed every sentence of the prologue of my novel a couple of times, and I’ve been working on it for a week. Give yourself time. Write something, write something else on a different topic (I usually work on something new, and then review something I’ve already written), and come back to it the next day. Think of your thesis as an ugly, pink, wrinkly baby panda that’s slowly morphing into a cute black-and-white cub, and then into a majestic grown beast.

6. Steps, not leaps Again with the Neil Armstrong vibe, what!! I think it’s better to write too much, and give it a good edit after a couple of days, then to write too simplistically and be unclear. Feedback is super helpful for this (see next point), because often something is obvious in your head but not to the reader. Take the reader by hand, and tell your tale step by step. I take a lot of inspiration from Haruki Murakami on this. He’s the king of writing three sentences on the same subject. Try that! If you paraphrase an author, try writing that sentence in your own words. And then in slightly different words. And again. Maybe work those three into one or two new sentences. Again, your draft doesn’t have to be perfect, and it will always need editing.

7. Ask for help I always let my boyfriend read my stuff, because he is kind, but picky, and I can immediately give comments on his comments. So find a friend/relative/classmate/person and ask them to read your thing and point out things that are unclear to them (it helps if they are outsiders). If they say ‘I don’t get what you’re trying to say here and here’, your reaction will probably be ‘what I’m trying to say is ....’, and that’s what we want!! That right there is super valuable. Write that down and use it.

TOP TIP: Freewriting is da best My first ever university teacher taught me this. If you kind of have a vague idea about what to write, but are not sure, then freewrite. Take pen and paper, and don’t look directly at the page, but at the table/wall/your non-writing-hand/whatever. Close your eyes if you can. Or type on your laptop or pc, with the brightness waaay down low, so that you can’t see what you’re typing. And then just write away! This is daunting and kind of scary, but as Nike said, just do it. Don’t worry about capital letters or punctuation. In fact, don’t worry about making sense. I’ll give you an example.

okay i just half closed my laptop and now im freetying which is always kind of weird at first but you have to get into it and ust let your fingers go whetever aaargh im making so many typos. so anyway if you dont know what to type about you literally type that, and then wait until you get a thought doesnt have to be on topic or whatever can be about that song thats been in your head for days

Kind of like this ;) It’s nice to do this when you know you have to write about something, but you don’t know exactly what to say. I do this when I have to write a bridge between two paragraphs, when making connections, when I have doubts about an author’s statements.

Sorry this turned out freaking long, but I hope it helps some of you!

If you want more horribly lengthy advice, hmu :)

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itsthelinernotes · 6 years

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Do I Need To Know About Music If I Want To Write About It?

Somehow everyone likes Music, but simultaneously we can’t agree on what music we like. So what is it that we’re all in agreement about liking? This makes for a strange bit of sociology in terms of how music is approached and talked about. Since music has this odd type of universality it’s seeped deep into our culture and our discussions of it manifest in some strange ways. My love of music, and later love for philosophy and sociology is what led me to studying why music is so universal but not agreed on for six years and two degrees.

All this time studying music has led me to what I now arrogantly believe may be one of the central contradictions of music which is that it is worthless. I’m not trying to say that it’s worth is = 0 nor am I trying to misdirect with a platitude that it is “priceless” meaning that it’s worth is infinite. What I mean is that it simply cannot be defined in terms of having a worth at all. In computer terms you might consider this as being null. I don’t believe this worthlessness is necessarily bad or even good. What I do mean to point out is that it prevents us from thinking clearly about the role of music. When considering we live in a capitalist hellscape this provides a problem because we can’t assign its value at “infinite” nor can we value it at “0”. This is what I think leads to the never ending arguments surrounding the worth of music, musicians, their work.

Before I go on, I should make this clear: I support every musician in their right to get paid. I wrote my Master’s thesis on the labour rights of musicians and how they are abused. However I have a utopian vision where all music is free for everyone. That vision doesn’t jive with our world and until we have some massive societal revolution, musicians gotta eat and we have to play by the rules of capital for now.

The most frustrating way that this valuelessness manifests is that knowledge about music, be it music theory, music history, sociology of music, whatever, is always valued as a secondary skill even in the industries and structures built around music (I pause here again to remind people that I’m a recovering academic writing blogs on Tumblr, what I’m about to describe is personal, I’m mad about it, maybe that’s improper or biased but it’s how I understand my own experiences). Let me give you a few examples.

After entering the hell of the job market with two music degrees I was encountered with a great deal of false hope. There were actually fairly frequent job postings in or around the “music industries”. This was great for living in a small city, albeit one with a rich musical history. What quickly hit me though is that despite all these music jobs no one was actually looking for anyone who knew anything about music. Go ahead and search “music” on a job board, most of the jobs listed will not have “requires a knowledge of music or musical background” unless you’re teaching (I’ll get to this later). Most jobs in music require marketing, business, social media, administration, event planning, etc. Whats more they require experience in those fields so they are not open to most musicians or people who have dedicated their time to the actual music. I don’t mean to downplay those skills or say they are not relevant, I do mean to say that any actual knowledge of music is rarely prioritized. Of course people with passion for music are attracted to these positions but they can also become bloated with people who enjoy music passively. I guess the issue there is that I don’t know a single person who doesn’t enjoy music.

At this point you’re probably shrugging off my frustration as an idiot who thought studying music instead of literally anything else would help me get employed in music. Well you’re right I am frustrated because even the people I know with music degrees who work in music had to get a second degree or diploma unrelated to music to get that job. You might also say “well there are people who write about music who get hired based on their knowledge of music.” But let me dig at that point.

As someone who keeps a close eye on these job postings I can say with relative confidence that most job postings at major music publications (I recently saw one for Stereogum) require experience in journalism first. Their interest is not in proving that you actually understand the content you’ll be writing about but that you’ll be able to produce content on anything. This is most clearly shown in music reviews. Take any review of a new popular album and jot down a one sentence summary of each paragraph. You don’t have to do much to see that not only do these writers bring up the same points in each review, they often do it in the same order. I don’t say this to slander journalists, I think it’s a noble profession, one I don’t have the skills to do. I do this to point out that if you take an incredibly diverse set of information and give it to people who have been trained to write in a certain way, you’ll get largely the same output. If you don’t, you’ll encounter an editor who, having raised through the same ranks will see that it is. Of course it’s not always the case that journalists get hired to write for these publications (for instance, you may just have connections) but it is very common.

I realize this comes across as arrogant and entitled but I think the question of credentials is an important one. After all, I’ve spent six years writing about music under the scrutiny of academia to be told over and over I don’t have the qualifications to write great content like “Every Radiohead Song Ranked” because I didn’t study journalism. I hosted a campus radio show on music for four years to be told the same thing at a radio station. What seems to be happening is that obviously music is important. We’ll create an infinite amount of publications dedicated to the topic. It has worth. But it’s still second to skills that have value to the institution. What I hear from people hiring in music is “Of course music is important... it’s just not valuable”. My encyclopedic knowledge of music is not welcome in the working world unless it’s tied to another skill that can be more efficiently employed. This is because we can’t actually place value on music the way we can on skills with more quantifiable outputs.

This brings me to education. All through my time studying music I got “so you going to be a teacher?” it was something I found frustrating but I do love to teach so I always said “maybe”. Well recently I figured I might as well look into teaching. Where I live, to get a teaching degree you need to have a certain amount of course hours in “teachable” subjects. There’s band class in every school here and luckily I’ve taken a number of conducting classes and have plenty of class hours in music. When looking at the list of subjects considered “teachable” one has an asterisk next to it. It turns out music can only be your “secondary” teachable meaning you have to have majored in another topic and maybe minored in music. I talk to teachers I know in the province and they say that there are barely any music teachers and they regularly have to try and recruit from outside the province. I called one of the univeristies in my area and they assured me that my masters degree was not applicable and that I can’t even apply to be a teacher with only music credits. What I love about this is that I, as arrogant as it may sound, almost certainly know more about music than anyone teaching it in my province (there is a small program at my alma matter that gives degrees in “music education” but having spent a good deal of time with those people I’m not too worried about competition). More people would have education degrees not from the music education program and instead would all have music as a “secondary”. Meanwhile I’m not even eligible to enter most of the teaching programs here at all.

While this article certainly comes off as the complaints of a dumbass, I think there’s an importance in asking these questions. If you decide to pursue the knowledge of music academically, why is that so often viewed as a bonus to a primary knowledge? Why are our priorities in the music world on non-musical skill sets and knowledge, even in careers that are concerned with music knowledge like teaching and music writing? I don’t think it’s anything to do with the well meaning people I’ve thrown under the bus here and everything to do with our way of measuring value. Or better, our deep inability to deal with things that can’t have value assigned to them. Consider also that every LP when it came out was sold for the same price, but immediately some of them became collectable and would exponentially increase in value while others you would struggle to give away. The universality of price of a new LP in the 60s, a new CD in the 90s or an iTunes single in the 00s was because we just can’t place a value on its contents so we had to concede that every song is worth $0.99. Because a good deal of my identity and work has been put into understanding music now my skill set and that of others is in a weird non-value. Afterall everyone loves music, what’s so special about me?

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superlinguo · 7 years

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Linguistics jobs - Interview with a Communications Consultant

It’s the final linguistics job interview for the year! And we’re finishing on a high note, with Sabine Harnau. Sabine set up From Scratch, a communications consulting firm grounded in linguistic research. Being the boss of your own organisation has its perks, not least of all what Sabine puts on her business cards. You can follow From Scratch on twitter (@scratch_posts) or check out the website (from-scratch.net) for more examples of Sabine’s work.

What did you study at university?

I studied in Germany, where higher education is (mostly) free. This was when Germany still had its own degree structure — before the introduction of the Bachelor/Master system. So I always struggle to translate my “state exam” degree. When you compare the required credits, exams and thesis papers, it's equivalent to an M.A. — perhaps with a bit more breadth rather than depth. At the time, I was planning to teach English and German at grammar school level, so my degree covered anglophone and German-speaking literatures, cultural studies and linguistics from the pre-medieval times to the present day. In tune with the German school curriculum, I focused my linguistics courses on syntax, orthography, translation, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition. And, of course, educational studies to help me share that knowledge with young people aged 10–19. That's a lot of ground to cover, and so I spent 7 years at university and another 2 at teachers' college, using all my available free time to teach at school. Luckily, a state programme allowed me to take on long-term substitute teaching roles with full responsibility and pay (pro-rata), so I was able to gain loads of teaching experience before I had even left university.

What I loved most about my degree was applying the linguistic angle to literary criticism. For example, I really enjoyed tracking the effects of heroin on Renton's way of speaking in Trainspotting. And my thesis paper about poetry competitions combined literature and linguistics, too. That kind of perspective is still present in my current work — it's so much fun!

What is your job?

I run a communications consultancy called From Scratch. As the founder, I got to choose my own job title, and I got to indulge my love of puns! So according to my business card, I'm a Head Scratcher. Which is true — and leads to much more interesting conversations than "managing director".Day-to-day, I work with companies that want to improve the way they speak and write to their customers. A lot of this work involves multilingual copywriting, training teams and consulting on communications strategy. For example, a company might want to improve customer satisfaction with the way their contact centre handles complaints, and I'll teach tailored training workshops that will help them write better.Or there might be a mis-match between a company's website copy and the way people decide whether they want to buy that product at all. So I use UX ways of working to develop a messaging strategy and create new copy.

We work mainly with companies that stand for strong ethical values, and our clients are often creative businesses — transforming their industry or enabling customers to make things ‘from scratch’. This means their customers are likely to have special support requirements: some might question the ethics of a business decision, others may be stuck on a craft project. There’s more at stake in those conversations than in your typical account management or shipping query, so one focus of our work is building trust and conveying warmth and competence via the right language.

From Scratch also brings together a network of foreign-language writers, coaches and other experts so we can support companies as they grow and expand into new markets.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

Saying this will make me feel like a rapper dissing her peers, but: having worked in customer communications for years, I've seen a lot of unfounded platitudes being passed off as great revelations. I just don't think that anyone's business will really take off because they hear that “customer service is an attitude, not a department”. On the other hand, there's loads of linguistic research that isn't easily available to businesses. When I started From Scratch, I did so with the aim of connecting linguistics, educational theory and business. My degree helps me make research findings accessible to non-linguists. For example, interactional sociolinguistics can teach us a lot about why certain customer service phone calls don't go well. And I'm able to do a lot of proofreading with confidence because I studied orthography and punctuation in a way that a non-linguist probably hasn't. But it's also a matter of trust: I speak English with a slight German accent, so my degree reassures clients that I know my onions before they've even put me to the test!

Do you gave any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

Don't study any topic just because you think it might come in handy in your future job. That future job may not even exist yet — and you'll probably change your mind about it a couple of times anyway! Study what interests you. Career profiles are more flexible than we expect, and your enthusiasm will make you successful.

Any other thoughts or comments?

Two things come to mind:

1) I wish computers had been more interesting when I started university. Had I started a few years later, I would probably have focused much more on linguistics and tech.

2) Copywriting is a funny business: there's so much emphasis on creativity and so little on linguistics. As writers, we all want to make words work harder. Why don't we talk more about how exactly to achieve that, and why?

Previously:

Interview with a Linguistic Project Manager at a Language Tech Company

Interview with a Data Scientist

Interview with a Librarian

Interview with a Text Analyst

Interview with a User Experience (UX) Researcher

Interview with a Study Abroad Facilitator

Interview with The Career Linguist

Check out the Linguist Jobs tag for more interviews

#language #linguistics #linguist jobs #linguists jobs #linguist job #linguistics job #linguistics jobs #writing #copywriting #copywriter #linguist #lingblr

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