summa cum latte

Orsi (33, Hungary) // PhD in medieval history

[summa-cum-latte]

summa cum laude with 100%! 🎉✨

technically, I'm not Dr. Varró yet, but, after the most turbulent seven years of my life, it's only one administrative step away. I'm exhausted but immensely grateful for all the help and support I've gotten from everyone since 2018. from the shores of the French Riviera to the middle of nowhere in Michigan, I had so many unexpected adventures, and I've made so many new friends along the way. I don't know where this road will take me, but, for now, finiunt conventi.

"... For the rest, I would be the easiest wave, loving just enough for nature's sake. The world would move under me and I would always be exactly where I am, dragonflies angling around my head. ..." (Fleda Brown: If I Were a Swan)

[update: I was officially conferred the degree by my university's Doctoral Council in March 🎉]

[summa-cum-latte]

now that it was time to submit an academic paper, a research proposal, *and* my IELTS certificate, I'm terrified that I'll get accused of using AI because the Writing part has very little to do with academic writing and the result does not reflect my actual level of proficiency.(*) in fact, I scored lower after my academic prose had improved. the practice scoring clanker penalized me for things you'd ideally want to do as a writer and then condescendingly praised me for "attempting complex sentences." I know exams are in a huge part about how familiar you are with the exam, but the discrepancy between IELTS Writing and actual human writing is so glaring that it kind of feels like a scam.

I'm turning off reblogs because this is just a rant and I don't want it to breach containment.

(*) clanker: "your vocabulary is limited and lacks precision" actual humans: "we are impressed by your facility in written English, which is as fluent as it comes; indeed it is better than that of many of our students"

[summa-cum-latte]

I wonder how much it reflects on the quality that "4_Varró_research_proposal" wasn't exported from "proposal 8 final FINAL 2 this time for real KILL ME" one minute before the deadline

[caecilius-est-pater]

I was searching the Latin/Greek section of a used bookstore for some ~aesthetic~ antique Latin books, and I came across this beautiful 1889 tome: 

This is going to look great on my “look at me I’m a pretentious twat” bookshelf.

But then… the first few sentences read:

“In 1875 delegates of the Oxford University Press proposed to me that I should undertake the compilation of a new Latin-English Lexicon, of something the same compass as the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott. I acceded to the proposal in the expectation, for which I had at the time what appeared to be good grounds, that I should obtain adequate assistance in the work. My hopes were, however, disappointed.”

Ouch.

He goes on to detail how he spent 12 years working on A all by himself. Then the university asked him to publish what he had, so he threw together the rest of the book, clearly caring less and less the further he got in the alphabet - the entire Q section has four entries - and published… this.

Obviously this is going straight onto my pretentious twat shelf as a goofy conversation starter, but it is interesting and potentially useful if obscure Latin words are your thing. (Did you know “ramen” is a hapax legomenon meaning “a small chip or shaving”?)

So if you ever come across a really obscure Latin word or name that you can’t find anywhere, hmu… but only if it starts with A.

[summa-cum-latte]

this is a bit like my dissertation lol. 24% of the main text minus the introduction on Saint-Victor's supposedly 11th-century adventures (as indicated in the title) are actually about the 10th century. I would have needed just a few more years to turn the rest into the magnum opus I originally envisioned in 2018.

I don't even want to know how much of the other 76% is just a few almost-never-ending case studies, but at least it made me realize that my strong suit is microhistory.

[witchhzel]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

writing adult emails is awful

its like

hi [name of person], 

this formatting is making me uncomfortable but I have to tell you something / ask you something that is vital to my career as a student. 

I re-read and edited that sentence for an hour, but you’ll probably just glance over it for half a second.

thanks! 

- [name]

[duskeos]

k

-professor

[ischemgeek]

I have a stock format and structure I use.

Dear Person I am Writing To:

This is an optional sentence introducing who I am and work for, included if the addressee has never corresponded with me before. The second optional sentence reminds the person where we met, if relevant. This sentence states the purpose of the email.

This optional paragraph describes in more detail what’s needed. This sentence discusses relevant information like how soon an answer is needed, what kind of an answer is needed, and any information that the other person might find useful. If there’s a lot of information, it’s a good idea to separate this paragraph into two or three paragraphs to avoid having a Wall of Text.

If a description paragraph was used, close with a restatement of the initial request, in case the addressee ignored the opening paragraph.

This sentence is just a platitude (usually thanking them for their time) because people think I’m standoffish, unreasonably demanding, or cold if it’s not included.

Closing salutation,

Signature.

People always ask me how I can fire off work emails so quickly. Nobody has figured out yet that it’s the same email with the details changed as needed.

[helloitsbees]

reblog to save a life holy shit

[summa-cum-latte]

reblogging again because it works every time

[softest-punk]

While I understand the desire to make Big Art entirely and viscerally I think it's worth considering that small art often leaves an outsized impact on its audience. Short stories, teensy indie games, short films, sketches on scrap paper, carved or sculpted figures that would fit in the palm of your hand, etc. etc. are all things that, when they hit your psyche at just the right angle, can stay lodged in there forever specifically because they are small. It is not necessary for a thing to be sprawling for it to have impact.

[summa-cum-latte]

A Short Hike is one of the best video games I've played, which isn't many, but it's been two years and I still think about it often (it's time to replay it! I accidentally finished the main quest before I was done with some of the side quests)

[moleshow]

[summa-cum-latte]

type 2 fun, a truly universal experience across all disciplines

[eddieintheocean]

Introductions to academic papers will be like "everyone knows that the sea is cold (citation), as well as salty (5 different citations). Things live in there (citation) and the environment is important to that (2 citations)"

[disorganisedautodidact]

these tags gave me thesis writing flashbacks

[saltedweather]

the thing about writing history. Is that you get used to this. And sometimes, some of us get too comfortable and so we're writing shit like

"Murder is bad. In the time period discussed, people sometimes committed murders (2 citations). And most people agreed that murder was bad, but it was widely known that murders still happened."

And your advisor goes, "Did most people agree, though? Was it widely known?"

And you go (sigh.). Okay. And do twelve hours of going back through your readings. And rewrite.

"Murder is bad (4 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations)."

And you look at your draft. And you go. But. But we all — I mean, the archival sources from the time are in fact QUITE CLEAR about how widely known it was! Like–! I've read hundreds of letters and a third of them mention murder! I've talked to so many historians of this time and place and we ALL talk about the murder thing!

And you look at the twelve goddamned hours of searching you did. And you write several increadingly desperate emails to colleagues. And after another few days, you come to the agonizing realization that, in fact, there are no citations of published work establishing that people knew murders occurred despite them being bad and against the law. And then you spend another week looking up those archival sources. And you rewrite again.

"Murder is bad (6 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations). While no conclusive study has been done, from communications in this time, we can say that at least a significant number of people knew that murders still occurred (18 citations)."

[bucketofdeltav]

I currently have exactly this problem.

"Everyone knows that [reaction A] works like this and [reaction B] works like that". Very common way to start a paper or thesis in this field. Everybody knows this, we can carry on with the more interesting stuff about [reaction C].

Huh. These 73 citations all cite each other in a ouroboros and the only original source in the lot is a popular science book which is indeed worth citing, but it's a memoir, which I have read repeatedly, and the author of the memoir just threw this out there as another example of "things everyone just knew in those days".

...I am now doing a PhD on "Hang on just one second, we have no concrete evidence for how [reaction A] or [reaction B] work and even whether they're different at all."

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Tumblr tag reading: #and you just know someone spent like 12 hours trying to find those goddamn citations /End ID]

[summa-cum-latte]

"there are no surviving sources about this or that from the period in question" CITATION NEEDED

fine, here are five secondary sources stating the same

[beemovieerotica]

if you work in a creative field...or if you do creative hobbies like writing or drawing...you need to make friends with people who don't do those things. you need to befriend normie Steve who has never written a story in his life. and this is because when you are in a creative job or hobby and spend all your time doing that thing, surrounded by very capable people, who you inevitably compare your own progress and skills to, you forget what the baseline human skill at that thing is. and it's usually zero. normie Steve has not written a story since the 3rd grade when his teacher made him do it. he's very good at other things that are not storytelling - but if you tell normie Steve that you wrote a full 300-page book from start to finish, he will think you're some kind of savant. he does not know ANYONE else who has done this. you need this perspective. because when you're constantly on Let's Write Stories dot Com then everyone on Let's Write Stories dot Com will inevitably be like "oh of course everyone on earth has written a book or several at this point!" and you canNOT let yourself think that. that is not even close to the average human experience. you are in a bubble. do not put yourself down. do not give up.

[beemovieerotica]

REAL AND TRUE. my newest normie steve does 40 mile bike rides on a whim and excels at outdoor rock climbing. i will always hype him up.

[writingdose]

I am once again begging people to realize that AI checker doesn’t work. it’s never worked. it’s notoriously known to have flagged human-made works as AI and AI-generated works as human-made. and by feeding it people’s works, you are feeding more works to AI, because apparently the machine itself is AI.

the only thing AI checker does is harm genuine artists and people in general too.

[summa-cum-latte]

who knew that one day being an excellent writer was going to be a literal curse. everyone is proud and encouraging until the Witchfinder General comes to town

[deathandmysticism]

Hen that laid an egg with a comet depicted on its shell, 1680

[summa-cum-latte]

the last 24 hours before my PhD defense | vlog

I enjoy spontaneous vlogs, and this one has:

last-minute errands,

weird superstitions,

uncertainties around my makeup and outfit (not that exciting),

nostalgic montage,

a few random medieval fun facts

enjoy!

[arctangram-deactivated20260707]

I do not "subscribe to journals", I do not "access through my institution". I paste the DOI into Sci-Hub, and if it's not in the database, I KILL MYSELF

[byjove]

waking up from a horrible nightmare ruins your whole day. like, hold on man, I have a horror hangover. the lingering feeling of dread is accompanying me to this Kroger.

[summa-cum-latte]

last night I had a very long, elaborate nightmare about my PhD defense, again. I woke up even more exhausted than I was when I went to bed

[summa-cum-latte]

it started as a fun vlog about trying to see the comet back in October, partly because I had already uploaded a comet vlog in late October last year, and I found it an interesting coincidence.

however, I knew that the comet's last visit was in the 670s, probably in 678, and as I was preparing for the adventure and writing the script, I found myself in deeper and deeper rabbit holes, mostly about Frankish history.

so this video is the cursed love child of a vlog and a not exactly well-structured video essay. I'm not a Merovingianist, but I enjoyed teaching early Frankish history back in the day, and it was nostalgic to flip through my old notes. I hope I'll get to teach again in the future—I'm sure you'll see how enthusiastic I am about Frankish culture 😂

[summa-cum-latte]

PhD, 2018–2025

I finally submitted my dissertation (The Integration of the Monastery of Saint-Victor of Marseille into the Aristocracy of Eleventh-Century Provence) in September!

it was cursed through and through (as a particularly delicious cherry on top of the sad clown sundae, I had to undergo a surprise life-saving surgery in February, two months before an important deadline), but I already miss the people I was constantly thinking and writing about for seven years. it was enough time for some interesting headcanons to develop naturally, which makes this final (?!) goodbye even more bittersweet. (AO3 fanfic incoming?!)

I've been told a lot since my high school days that I tend to get lost in inconsequential details, but for me those were among the most enjoyable moments of the writing process. when I was feeling depressed and adrift (since it had been obvious for a while that I had to leave academia after my PhD), my advisor also encouraged me to treat my dissertation like a sandbox and have fun with hypotheses—which I did, and I think some of my results could be valuable, if I ever get to publish them in French or English.

despite the current general animosity towards humanities, I had overwhelmingly positive encounters with people outside of academia (at least face to face; the comment section on my YouTube channel was bleak), and I've developed a deep passion for teaching.

... and, of course, most importantly, I got to spend two months on the French Riviera!!

so much hardship, but so many good memories to cherish.

[fluentisonus]

medieval manuscripts will show you As and Ts you never knew existed

[fluentisonus]

"ta", "ta", and "at" respectively

[fluentisonus]

believe it or not this one's also "at"

[summa-cum-latte]

oh wait, I have something to show y'all too:

believe it or not, it says "AUCTORITAS"! Merovingians loved to make everything big and squiggly.

so here on this blog we believe in Merovingian chancery script supremacy 🙏🏻 because nothing beats a jet2 holiday those 'e's and 'r's, and look at those ascenders! and the ligatures!

by the way, the Carolingian reform wasn't the end of the world (yet); the above examples are:

donation of Sigofred and Erleuba to the monastery of Saint-Victor of Marseille, 840 (Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône, 1 H 2/2)

Emperor Lothar I's privilege to Saint-Victor, 841 (AD 13, 1 H 2/3).