Tag: discipline

  • Poem: My Missing Skin

    I think I left my skin somewhere. How else to explain This longing, yearning To return to the sea the sky the land To crawl through the undergrowth Belly-ground touching, Scales tingling with Anticipation Oh, to eat Unencumbered To fly, knowing that This is all there is! To leap, fully alive, From the depths and…

  • Don’t Link to Your Blog. Ever.

    (Anita: Don’t read this. It’ll just piss you off. This warning is only for Anita. And it’s only on account of you don’t want me to worry so much what other people think. I don’t think it is a generally pissing-off kind of post.) I have recently started hanging out a fair amount on Google+.…

  • Thinking about Thinking

    You might not be surprised to hear that I’m big on metacognition. It’s one of my things. It might actually be my thing. I have struggled with this, because in the academic world I was brought up in, one does not become an expert in process, one becomes an expert in object. The topics in…

  • Analyze This: On Not Giving Stuff Up

    This post comes with a caveat: It is an exploration of systems, the limits of agency, and the social constructs that  preclude giving up my car… yet. I am not looking for sympathy, nor am I beating myself up over my limitations in the face of the myths of Western civilization. I recognize that I…

  • Greenwashing of the Week

    I am hereby bestowing my illustrious “Greenwashing” award, which will be noted by at least 50 people, to the company Future Shop, for their not-quite-stated Earth Day flyer. It is hard for me to write this, because they have pulled off the most creative and effective form of greenwashing, namely, making a significant financial contribution…

  • The Mythic They

    You probably wouldn’t guess it if you are newcomer to my world, but I am, by nature, a rules follower. I was that girl in school – didn’t cut class, got straight A’s, studied all the time, did the readings, followed all the rules. Let’s put it this way: I was the one that the…

  • Slowing Down

    A radical, heretical proposal to our energy problems. Use less energy.

  • On Pickles, Particle Physics, and Work-Life Balance

    When I started writing this post, I felt pretty good. I had a great day. I made the pickles that have been sitting in brine for the last 5 days. I wrote about nuclear physics for 2 hours, refreshed my memory on alpha and beta decay, and came up with a good analogy. I had…

  • Crab Bucket

    I was reading a Terry Pratchett book the other day (Unseen Academicals) and I came across the phrase, “Oh, it’s all crab bucket down there.” Fortunately, Terry Pratchett was so kind as to explain this to the character in question (although not until later in the book.) It was an expression I hadn’t previously heard,…

  • On scripts, social performance, and knowing your place in the world

    “We are all born naked. The rest is drag.” Rupaul* We have these dual drives within, for Society and Self. Acceptance and Agency. We hear the messages: Strive… but not too high, or you will become vain. Succeed… within these boundaries. Find your tribe, and then stick with them. They know the ropes. But we…

  • The Illusion of Choicelessness

    I first wrote this title down several months ago, but that was how far that particular post went. This week, however, I had a moment on the cushion when I realized that I really could do everything completely differently. I am not trapped by promises and contracts, I choose to uphold them. I could: Sell…

  • On the Care and Feeding of Trolls

    Warning: Contains obscenities, which is almost completely uncharacteristic for me. Just in case you care. I got a troll on twitter. Just one, and it was mild, and I did not deign to reply. I chose instead to revert to my sister’s IRL approach (which she brilliantly came up with at 14, I might add.)…