I am finishing up my first year on the tenure track, and something amazing just happened to me last week. So, I am finally sitting down to write about what this all means, and I will share that amazing thing with you all. I am very proud of myself not for the reasons you might…
All posts by Kino
Another job market data point
I recently came across Jeremy Davis’s writing on his five years of job market experience. I especially enjoyed his candid storytelling style. Reading it has made me want to write down my own job market journey. I have already written about my grad school journey here, which includes my first two years on the market,…
Our place in the fediverse
It began as shelter. A little over two years ago, I deleted my account on Douban, which was the only Chinese social media site I really ever used. My decision was a response to the increased censorship, which was not in its beginning at the time, and certainly not in its end. It was also…
Some thoughts on giving written feedback on writing
I recently received some unhelpful written feedback. I say “unhelpful” not because the reviewer misinterpreted my writing or didn’t try to help or that I believed my writing was perfect. The feedback was just written in a way that didn’t help me. For example, one sentence I wrote was ” this view implies that programs…
So I’m doing a podcast!
So I’m doing a podcast! It’s called Off Campus, in which I interview people with PhDs from the humanities (or people who seriously pursued PhDs but ended up not completing their degrees for various reasons) who currently work in careers outside the academy (“alt-ac careers”). In each episode, I ask my guest a little…
Great book | Against White Feminism
I have read a few books/articles critiquing mainstream capitalist white lean-in feminism at this point. This book definitely ranks amongst the highest. The title might give off the impression that it’s a collection of problematic behaviors white women who claim to be feminists have engaged in, but the book is emphatically not that. In fact,…
It’s good to be back
1. I join a circle of friends in the hotel lobby. We haven’t seen each other in months, but it’s the first day of the conference and I am exhausted from travel. All I can do is mutter repeatedly, “it’s so good to see you; it’s really good to see you.” My friends smile and…
Things I cannot say | Minor Feelings
I recently finished the book Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong that my friend Jingyi has recommended to me. Here are some unorganized thoughts on it. When I read McMillan’s book Thick, there was one expression she used to describe something she read that stuck with me: I didn’t know this was allowed. This expression…
A reanalysis of an old episode
I know it’s been a while. Basically, I want to keep this blog <50% rant. And I felt like I was about 50%, so I didn’t want to post something ranty. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything non-ranty to post. So I didn’t post. Today I’m writing about an epiphany I just had. You know how…
Waiting for permission
I recently graduated (yay!), which means I am in a long and sometimes painful process of handing over various service obligations to the very few people who, chances are, have already been disproportionally burdened. But this will not be a primarily ranty post; I promise. I have noticed a strange phenomenon lately. As is typical,…