i got my phd, i am a doctor now! i have been for almost a year, actually. i don't really keep tabs on tumblr anymore, but it just felt appropriate to give this blog something akin to a happy ending.
[photos taken at the british museum]

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@sagittarius-studies
i got my phd, i am a doctor now! i have been for almost a year, actually. i don't really keep tabs on tumblr anymore, but it just felt appropriate to give this blog something akin to a happy ending.
[photos taken at the british museum]
naïve highschooler/undergrads: man, being an academic must be so cosy and nice, you just bundle up with books!
literal university of edinburgh to its postgrad faculty: oh so you went on strike to ask for wages above 17p/h for teaching undergrad and master's level students? is that so? here are some new "budgetary measures", you no longer get heating in the offices over the weekend and we won't stock coffee or tea in the office kitchens anymore! all the while turning MASSIVE profit! obey, peasants!
la bohème x oatmilkcream
currently home in turkey and im just really so tired of my phd. it feels like it's just taking away opportunities from me because i want to go into workforce and earn more than minimum wage (which i can do with or without the phd). but, of course, i have to finish it. these are the things i have to do:
*edit my paper according to reviewer 1&2s comments
*continue with the lit rev section
*rework your analysis into 3 analysis chapters (perhaps)
*methodology
look: our neanderthal ancestors took care of the sick and disabled so if ur post-apocalyptic scenario is an excuse for eugenics, u are a bad person and literally have less compassion than a caveman
Yes but they also when extinct which implies whatever they were doing at the time wasn’t fit for their environment.
So, it’s been awhile since I took a human evolution course, so some of this might be a little out of date, but
1) Whether or not Neanderthals went extinct is still kind of up for debate, and seems to hinge largely on whether you think that Neanderthals are a H. Sapiens subspecies or not, which often seems like a mildly pointless argument to me since it’s largely a fight about which definition of “species” to use
2) Even if we argue that Neanderthals are our direct ancestors and never went extinct, several Neanderthal *traits* (like their noses and their forheads) *have* left the population. Care for the disabled is not one of them.
Saying “Neanderthals cared for their sick and injured and are now extinct, therefore care for the disabled is maladaptive” is like saying “Dodos are extinct therefore beaks are a terrible idea”
Statements about “less compassion than a caveman” still stand.
–Peter
I teach human evolution to college students, so in addition to that, here’s what we know. There’s some citations (and footnotes) behind the cut, if you’re interested.
So Neanderthals aren’t our direct ancestor- more like a branch of the family tree that didn’t lead to us. Close cousins- close enough to breed- but they evolved outside of Africa about 400kya, while our species evolved in Africa about 200kya*. This is important because it means that altruism can’t possibly be a Neanderthal trait that left the population during the evolution into modern humans; we didn’t evolve from them, so it’s not like we can say “well, this was maladaptive in our ancestors.” This is a behavior you see in two temporally coexisting species (or subspecies), and I do mean two, because it wasn’t just Neanderthals practicing altruism. We did it too.
We have really good evidence that early Homo sapiens sapiens (i.e., us, just old) also took care of their injured, elderly, and disabled. At Cro-Magnon in France, a few individuals clearly suffered from traumatic injury and illness during their lives. Cro-Magnon 1 had a nasty infection in his face; his bones are pitted from it. Cro-Magnon 2, a female, had a partially healed skull fracture, and several of the others had fused neck vertebrae that had fused as a result of healed trauma; this kind of injury would make it impossible to hunt and uncomfortable to move. This kind of injury can be hard to survive today, even with modern medical care; the fact that the individuals at Cro-Magnon survived long enough for the bones to remodel and heal indicate that somebody was taking care of them. At Xujiayao, in northern China, there’s evidence of healed skull fractures (which would have had a rather long recovery time and needed care);
This evidence of altruism extends past injured adults, as well. One of the most compelling cases is at Qafzeh, which is in Israel. Here we see evidence of long-term care for a developmentally disabled child (as well as a child who had hydrocephaly and survived). Qafzeh 11, a 12-13 year old at time of death, suffered severe brain damage as a child. Endocasts (basically making a model of the inside of the skull, where the brain would be) show that the volume of the brain was much smaller than expected; likely the result of a growth delay due to traumatic brain injury. The patterns of development suggest that this injury occurred between the ages of 4 and 6. They very likely suffered from serious neurological problems; the areas of the brain that were injured are known to control psychomotricity. This means that the kid may have had a hard time controlling their eye movements, general body movement, keeping visual attention, performing specific tasks, and managing uncertainty; in addition, Broca’s area might also have been damaged, which likely would have affected the kid’s ability to speak. Long and short of it, without help, this kid wouldn’t have survived to age 12-13.
But they did. They lived, and they were loved. When they died, they were given a funeral- we know this based on body position and funeral offerings. Mortuary behavior was common among both Neanderthals and archaic Homo sapiens, and this burial was particularly interesting. The body was placed on its back, its legs extended and the arms crossed over the chest. Deer antlers were laid on the upper part of the chest; in the archaeological context, they were in close contact with the palmar side of the hand bones, meaning it’s likely that they were placed in the hands before burial. This points to Qafzeh 11 being valued by the community- why go to the effort for somebody you don’t care about? Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.
Keep reading
“Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.”
Would you be alright with me borrowing your words when someone poses the above comments’ line of thought to me?
Of course! (And feel free to use anything else in my anthropology tag.)
Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.
Question. Given two stores or shopping centers that appear to be completely devoid of living people:
One is a messy, half empty, recently looted and abandoned-looking store, with stuff scattered all over the floor and only half the lights working;
The other is a well-lit store that is impeccably stocked, where everything is perfectly in the right place to a degree you’d never see in real life, with music playing overhead;
Which one of these is more eerie and why?
i think the second one needs to be more developed in more solid terms for it to be equivalent to the first one. i cannot think of a reason how everything would be in their right places "to a degree ive never seen irl", like i dont know what in a perfectly stocked place would tick me off in that sense. the first one has many well-defined elements that invoke fear (lights, stuff scattered, recently looted) while the second doesnt (apart from the music overhead). does that make sense?
Working on my last paper 📝 and yeah I have a plant obsession 🍀🌵🌱🌿🌷
moleskine = bad
IT'S SO BAD AND I HATE IT
moleskine makes people hate pens and is probably a huge part of why so many people give up on good pens.
to folks who might not know, moleskine is extremely famous AND infamous. they are hardcover notebooks with elastic enclosures. they are expensive, and sold everywhere from pharmacies to bookstores, and does collaborations with a variety of brands including james bond and pokemon. moleskine has tried to establish itself as a luxury notebook, which it technically is.
as long as you do not write in it.
moleskine paper is wholeheartedly shit. it is complete fucking garbage. you might wonder, what makes good paper? well the first thing is how well it can be written on. good paper can handle ink well. good ink handling means clear, solid lines without any feathering (fuzzy spreading), not bleeding through the page, and not ghosting. basically, you want paper that can do crisp lines with a variety of different inks and be used on both sides.
moleskine does not do that. anything more than a ballpoint or pencil will look fuzzy and gross and bleed right through the fucking page. the paper is shit. and that makes people think their pen is shit. and ballpoint pens can be seen on the other side of the page.
common knowledge is that fountain pens, rollerball pens, gel pens, felt pens, and more work better on good paper. good meaning good with ink. but when many people think good paper without knowing any better, they will reach for a moleskine notebook. because moleskine is expensive and advertises itself as good and is widely available. so people try out actually good writing implements on this shit paper, see how bad it works, and then blame the pen.
fountain pens, gel pens, and rollerball require much less pressure than ballpoint pens. they are ergonomic. easier on joints, easier for chronic pain. and moleskine makes people give up on them. nobody wants shitty bleeding feathered lines.
in the united states, our ideas of good paper and good stationery in general are extremely warped. so much of this is because paper here fucking sucks. a lot of paper performs like moleskine. there is shit paper at all price ranges. but you can pick up caliber brand paper (the ones that say made in vietnam) from cvs and have infinitely better performance for pennies. even though it looks low quality, caliber paper (vietnam) can even handle calligraphy ink clearly. bad paper makes people hate good pens and bad pens make people hate writing.
another thing really important to mention, a lot of people think thick paper is always better. this is extremely wrong. in terms of being able to handle a wide variety of inks clearly and cleanly, some of the best paper in the world is tissue thin (tomoe river).
do not buy moleskine. even if the stand is right there. they have some of the worst paper you can get at that price point. expensive paper is not always good paper, good pens need good paper, moleskine paper makes good pens seem awful, and moleskine is something you should only give to someone you loathe.
There are so many great options:
- Leuchtturm;
- Rhodia;
- Clairefontaine;
Notebooks made by pen manufacturers.
Seriously, there are so many options, just ask other pen buffs.
Also, if you have to use shitty paper (besides Moleskine, bc Moleskine sucks), then mind nib size and ink.
I could correct copies with a M nib TWSBI Eco with Iroshizuku ink and no bleedthrough. (On moleskine, though... yes.)
Edward Hopper
here’s a list of things i learnt about myself during my phd:
i cannot spell for shit
i definitely work better with a deadline, even if it is self-imposed
i find ‘big milestones’ very underwhelming
i do not know when to use ‘lie’ and when to use ‘lay’
i (still) hate reading feedback
i love spreadsheets
i both love and loathe eebo. i will miss you, my mortal enemy.
i really hate proquest. galegroup is also on thin ice with me after they revamped ecco
i do not, under any circumstances, belong in academia but i will always love historical and literary research.
palaeography still scares me
i work best when listening to korean r&b but the d-2 mixtape is a winner too
i’m an unhealthy perfectionist – i knew this already but wow, my phd confirmed it
i enjoy being an educator and i enjoy teaching high school pupils but i’m not sure i’d ever want to be a high school teacher. maybe if a private school pays me enough…
i love my research topic. a lot. early modern drama is the best.
i have a lot of research interests. far more than when i started my phd. i might make a list of them one day.
i often rely on bread to make me feel happy
i really dislike attending academic conferences but i enjoy organising them
i want to physically fight both horace walpole and david garrick
marlowe is still my boy but he has competition from thomas middleton
i will take every opportunity to talk shit about hamlet
apart from the research genre specific stuff, this is SCARILY similar to my list if i ever made one.
trying to speak spanish after focusing on norwegian be like
052121 - absolutely exhausted.
28.08.20 // 📚 finally getting through my reading list for my children’s literature module this year, starting with Northen Lights by Philip Pullman. I got to read in my gf’s conservatory with the rain really heavy against the glass and it was heaven. A really nice time after a tough start to the week!
Graduate student and game designer Kathryn Hymes joined speech pathologists, fellow designers and people with aphasia – a disorder affecting communication – to develop three games that support language recovery and social engagement.
“In a year when many of us worked virtually, a small group gathered online with the common goal of making speech and language therapy more accessible – while having some fun along the way. Their project, called Aphasia Games for Health, focused on producing games that can provide therapeutic benefits for people with aphasia – a language disorder that can affect speaking, comprehension, reading and writing, which is often the result of a head injury or stroke. It was equally important to the group that the games were entertaining, inherently social and easy and affordable to access.”
things i need to do this week, off the top of my head:
send E. the details re. our abstract for the conference on Monday
meeting with supervisors on Tuesday at 10am, so prepare how to present your data.
public engagement training 8.30-15.30 on Wednesday
xray at L. building at 10.45 and VACCINATION at 12.14 on Thursday
SEND EMAIL TO TESOL GROUP FOR HOSTING MEETING & SET UP MEETING
send the abstract to the conference on endangered languages by Friday
attend talk: tlang by chinese/english bilinguals in diverse contexts on Friday, 14.30-16.00
SEND L.E. DOCUMENTS OFF on Friday
APPLY TO HELD SUMMER SCHOOL!! DEADLINE JUNE 1ST
further notes:
a&a will send me previous PhD students' theses as examples
meet A. in June in Glasgow?
end of June: deadline for first draft
look into Lippi-Green and ask A for those two sources
post on Plansız Şeyler to advertise TESOL multiling edu chat
email A. again for a few other backup conferences for the findings chapter, the ones you found last night. try to also look for ones that will publish proceedings!
ideally:
write 750 words for the findings 1 chapter after supervisory meeting by Sunday. this might be affected by the sheer amount of things you need to do + vaccination side effects, so don't stress too much!
translate 500 words for the project
PROOFREADING DUE BY END OF MONTH
STOP APPLYING TO JOBS
23 May 1992: Strage di Capaci
23 years ago, on this day, the judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and three men of Falcones’ security guard, Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo, and Antonio Montinaro, were assassinated by Cosa Nostra near Palermo.
Following the verdict of life-long sentences for many mafiosi in the Maxi-trial of January 1992 (led by Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, in the picture above, among others), 0,2 tons of explosive material were put under the highway A29 near the exit for Capaci, where the cars of judge Falcone and his security guard were to pass.
The car of the security guard was thrown out of the highway by the explosion, while the car driven by the judge hit the wall of concrete that had been raised by the explosion.
i hate the non-italian media's representation of the mafia as something quirky like an all-boys club. up until i got together with my (italian) husband i did not know how deadly and terrible the various mafias in italy can be and how their corruption of the government is a big problem for many cities in the south. this is a big problem for italy, so please stop valorising "la mafia" in any of its forms.
some things i’ve learned about adulthood that no one warns you about
you will in fact continue to have acne past the age of twenty
you will eventually hit a point where you start to feel icky inside if you go too long without eating some sort of vegetables
depending on your current level of athleticism/physical activity as well as the kind of activities you did as a kid/teenager, your joints may start acting whack in your twenties, despite what everyone says about that not happening until middle age
eventually you will reach a point where you wonder how you were able to stay up until 3am nearly every night and be perfectly fine the next day (and this moment will come much younger than you expect)
it is much harder to meet new people after you’re done with school than sitcoms would have you believe
don’t let society tell you shit: it is perfectly acceptable to live with your parents after you graduate, there’s no need to be broke and miserable just so you can have some misguided attempt at independence straight out of school
very important and all true. especially the one about joints!!!