At New Criticals, Alison Kinney has written a powerful piece comparing police violence against suffragists to the police violence against Occupy activist Cecily McMillan. She starts with this story: “Constables and plain-clothes men who were in the crowd passed their arms round me from the back and clutched hold of my breasts in as public…
I am writing a piece about tenure/promotion criteria and public engagement. My hunch as I went in was that most universities do not count public engagement. To my surprise, as I do this work, I find that I’m wrong. So here are my questions/requests: 1. If you have the time, could you look at your…
I took a semi-writing break this week, playing with my kids and re-charging energies, as well as experimenting with homemade soba noodles (good flavor, texture not quite right yet, in case you were wondering) and finger limes (delicious!). Mostly, this week I provided links rather than my own writing, with the one exception here – Handwriting…
Here is a collection of resources for my latest piece. People who are arguing to move to dissertation away from the monograph model. The recent MLA report is the catalyst. It reads: Reimagine the dissertation. An extended research project should remain the defining feature of doctoral education. Departments should expand the spectrum of forms the…
♫I enjoy being a man!♫ Says the author of this piece on academic dads. http://t.co/ZLHhkltDDA — Karen Kelsky (@ProfessorIsIn) May 19, 2014 What do we, as writers, owe other writers? I’ve been thinking about this in the context of my “talking while privileged” argument. In general, when making arguments about privilege and power, I try…
Dear Adjuncts, Grad Students, Post-Ac, Alt-Ac, and other academics who are getting or have PhDs but who do NOT have a FT faculty position. UPDATE: Or people in TT jobs not doing much research due to teaching load! The MLA, via this report, has recommended reducing time to degree for people in MLA fields. Reduce time to…
Language moves. In the world of disability, phrases enter our lexicon to replace other terms that become pejorative, then they too have to be replaced. This is a normal process and does not mean we cannot work for better language, because representation matters. Representation shapes reality and reality shapes representation. This assertion is a fundamental…
There’s a handwriting system that my son’s teachers use called “Handwriting without Tears.” They have an app (that I don’t really like) and all kinds of classroom curricula (which teachers seem to like). I always laugh a little at the name, because for me, handwriting caused tears. As an adult, I’ve come to terms with…
I often write against a generalized “happy happy” language that permeates certain aspects of disability discourse, particularly in the Down syndrome community. Our community pushes a kind of “life is great” mentality, driven especially by the abortion issue, and I strongly support drives to fight the stereotypes of horror and worthlessness. The joys in our life with…
Last week I was working on footnotes, so I didn’t plan any pieces. Naturally, I wrote four essays that are some of the most-read pieces in the history of the blog. In reaction to the UCSB shooting, I wrote a piece on Elliot Rodger and Intersectionality. I coined something called “The shrug,” in which either as…