Rituals and Sabbaths for Large Family Life
We all have family rituals, whether we realise that is what they are or not. In a larger family these rituals start to take on a life of their own, becoming a sort of adhesive that binds the family together. They might take a little bit of effort to set up, but if the fit is right, I reckon they become the things kids grow up and remember as part of themselves, helping them feel they belong. They communicate a sense of collective belonging that is one of the key ingredients to intrinsic wellbeing.
Care-Work on Fieldwork
Reblogging from 2015: Every time I publish an article based on my personal PhD experiences with fieldwork, I tell myself it will be the last. So far, I have four. … Continue reading
Making my own life-work manifesto
Lately I have been feeling very disillusioned with the academic life. I mean, I’ve always intellectually known that our reach is often short, our work ignored and overlooked, and our … Continue reading
Saying yes, saying no: 4 years tracking my voluntary academic activities
Recently in my Twitter circle, I’ve been part of a few conversations about academic workloads, work-life balance, and managing the pressure of early career researcher decision-making. It forced me to … Continue reading
The work of “Life Admin”
I recently read Elizabeth Emen’s 2019 book The Art of Life Admin. Well, perhaps inhaled is a better verb to describe what I did with it. I got it out … Continue reading
Three Words 2018: Less, Dwell, Write
In the last few years I have been choosing some focus words for each year, rather than a New Year’s Resolution. In 2018, after reflecting on the words and things … Continue reading
Becoming a quality scholar through deep work
How do we become scholars that produce quality thinking and research, and stay sane in an academic environment where bringing in salary recovery dollars and churning out publication ‘fluff’ sometimes … Continue reading
Collective Strategies for Deep Work
In a previous post reviewing Cal Newport’s book Deep Work I promised I would write a post sharing more collective strategies for enabling deep work, in particular for people with … Continue reading
Three Words 2017: Prepare, Deeper, Joy
Prepare, deeper, joy. For 2017, these were my touchstone words, reminding me of the things I was to ponder and experiment with this year. Choosing a word for the year … Continue reading
An article six years in the making…
I am just so ridiculously pleased to finally have this article out. I first presented the material that became this article in July 2011 in Sydney, Australia. I have … Continue reading
On (the impossibility of?) settling down
It seems to be thing. Couples who fall in love with each other, commit to a shared life together, then at some point discover their idea of home is — … Continue reading
Slow, painful, rewrite #9
I’m guessing about the #9, actually. I’m pretty sure I’ve completely rewritten this paper more than nine times, it’s just nine for this title. But for what it’s worth, I’m … Continue reading
Thinking-with, Dissenting-within
I am about three chapters in to Maria Puig de la Bellacasa’s book Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. In the same way that Richard Rohr seems to … Continue reading
Completion: On getting stuff done
Every year, I choose three words and write them on a post-it note above my desk. They help me guide my decision-making for the year in a more intentional way. … Continue reading
How much is enough? Setting some limits on ‘voluntary’ academic work for the new year
Every year, I try and do some work on being more intentional about the things I say yes to.
How to do slow reading
My previous post ‘slow scholarship starts with slow reading’ prompted some questions around slow reading. What do I really mean by slow reading, and how do we do it? It … Continue reading
Slow Scholarship starts with Slow Reading
I wonder if you know the feeling: You have a few hours, or a day, to get some writing done — to get it finished, in fact! You have been … Continue reading
Writing a book proposal I: From concept to submission
Publishing an academic book is a bit different from publishing a novel, I’m told. All I can do is tell you the process I went through, and offer suggestions on … Continue reading
What I learned about emailing students… from my two-year-old.
I recently posted about writing emails to lecturers in New Zealand universities. I made some suggestions for appropriate email etiquette in NZ based on deconstructing a few representative emails and … Continue reading
You Won’t Believe How These New Zealand Undergraduates Email Their Lecturers
My tongue-in-cheek clickbait title is meant to illustrate via awkward engagement how inappropriate the norms of social media are to academia. Nowhere is this more obvious than when students try … Continue reading
Enacting a postcapitalist politics
So it has been quite a long time since I blogged — mostly because the second half of 2015 was taken up with intense teaching and a return to fulltime … Continue reading
Frocks on Bikes
I am a frock cyclist. If I have to get changed to use my bike, I am unlikely to bother. I am actually more likely to cycle when I am … Continue reading
Managing Maternity-related Gaps in your CV Part II: Upbeat ways to make caring work visible
When it comes to applying for jobs as a mother, there seems to be two approaches to explaining any gaps in your CV. The first approach is to maintain that … Continue reading
Managing Maternity-Related CV Gaps Part I: The ‘ideal fit’
Early career researchers are often applying for a limited number of jobs in a really competitive market. In New Zealand, this is compounded by the fact that universities are partly … Continue reading
Small victory for breastfeeding on campus
Last year I bought a semester parking ticket because, even though I bike or walk in each day, my husband parks near my building and brings the baby up for … Continue reading
