Archive for 2014

Navigating academia when you’re poor

Yesterday I wrote a post for Tenure, She Wrote about what it’s like being poor in academia, what you can do to increase your odds of success when you are poor, and how to support poor graduate students. It really seemed to resonate with a lot of people, both poor and not. I’d encourage you […]

Through rose-coloured glasses

I didn’t know I could be outside without being in pain. Light is not a migraineur’s friend. Migraine attacks make just about everyone sensitive to light. Many people with migraine have attacks that are triggered by different kinds of light, like bright sunlight or flickering fluorescent lights. I have chronic migraine and find anything brighter […]

Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps

J. P. Morgan had started before the war, as the son of a banker who began selling stocks for the railroads for good commissions. During the Civil War he bought five thousand rifles for $3.50 each from an army arsenal, and sold them to a general in the field for $22 each. The rifles were […]

While you’re waiting for the bus

Stuff worth reading The Best Thing a Loved One Has Done For Me Since I Got Sick Surprise sobbing Intel announces that every processor released in 2014 will be conflict mineral free “In my high school yearbook there is a note from a girl who wrote, “I like you even though you are…” Perhaps it […]

Questions for the job creators

 In Newark, New Jersey, a rally of several thousand demanded the city give work to the unemployed. And in New York, fifteen thousand people met at Tompkins Square in downtown Manhattan. From there they marched to Wall Street and paraded around the Stock Exchange shouting: “We want work!” 1857. From Howard Zinn’s A People’s History […]

How I feel after a typical science communication workshop

“you know what, I’m gonna pass because I just don’t feel inspired …you should be more like Malcolm Gladwell.”At this point I kind of lost it. Can you imagine? Think about it: an actual scientist who produces actual knowledge should be more like a journalist who recycles fake insights! We need to talk about TED