Juvenilia: A Ghost Story
Jumping ahead from the other juvenilia I’ve posted, enjoy this short ghost story and my slightly-puzzled commentary. I think it’s just about readable.
My Favourite Kind-Of-History-Related Podcasts
…well, maybe not so much ‘favourite’ as just ‘all the ones I listen to because I’ve only just got into podcasts and am working my way through a few different ones.’ And my favourite podcast of all is The Black Tapes, which I couldn’t relate to history if I tried. But yeah, podcasts. Didn’t really used to bother with them, because I’d have rather been listening to music or reading, now something to listen to between going to bed and going to sleep, or in the bath (less risk of soggy technology death with a phone on the floor than a Kindle in the bath). Now I have ones I particularly like and everything.
In which I miss studying early modern America
I’ve mentioned a few times on here that I tended towards the early modern period for my BA and MA, and switched to 1850-1950 for my PhD purely to make the ‘only children’ idea viable. I still carry a torch for the early modern period, as demonstrated by my decision to teach on the first-year course. In my third year of my BA, my special subject was ‘The English in America, 1607-92′, and a few things I’ve come across and read recently have reminded me of what I learned and how interesting I found it.
Things found in second-hand books
When I was reading autobiographies, I became well-aquainted with a number of Amazon Marketplace dealers, selling what I needed for 1p (+ £2.80 postage and packaging). The pre-loved books I’ve received have all been in readable condition, and I even want to hold on to some of them after I’ve finished because they’re interesting, look nice, or are just delightfully old. A few have inscriptions and other such bits in them, which provide a small window into their previous lives.
‘I’m Just a Little Bit Scared of What Comes After’
This thesis is getting finished in the next few months. There’s little doubt about that. It’ll be cool to not have to work on it any more, and to be a doctor. But honestly, I’m terrified about what’s going to happen after that.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
I nearly have a draft for Chapter One (public perceptions of only children) again! I just need to read it over and slap on a conclusion, which I should hopefully manage today. This chapter was a real struggle to get off the ground, partly because the original was pretty rubbish and I started again from scratch on it, and partly because there was a lot of information to put in order. But I finally hit my stride and it contains everything I wanted to put in it! Hooray!
#storypast: Threads by Julia Blackburn
Having missed the last Storying The Past Twitter discussion due to teaching commitments, I was keen to get involved in this month’s conversation about Threads, by Julia Blackburn
My PhD busts the old stereotypes about 'selfish, smug' only children
Just plugging a little article I wrote for the Guardian Higher Education!
More Juvenilia
I’m _hoping _to spend today doing a lot of writing, so I thought I’d make thing a bit easier for myself by doing a more picture-based than text-based blog. This is ‘My History Book’, not an actual history this time, more of an annual format/advertisement for myself really. I’m guessing I was six when I wrote this one as well.
A New Year’s Progress Report
Well, I’m back to work and blogging after the Christmas break (okay, I may have done some work in purgatory between Christmas and New Year, not because I’m a ridiculous PhD student who never takes breaks but because I get REALLY BORED with unstructured time at home). Let’s see how far I’ve got since I blogged about having a full draft but needing to massively do-over my literature review and first chapter, and struggling to rewrite said literature review.