Winter break
See you in Spring
Hello all,
I’ve been fairly consistent about this blog since 2023, if you you can believe it. I certainly can’t. But I’m taking a break until September. Here are a random selection of posts from the past 3 years, should any of them pique your interest. But if you’re feeling like me and need to hibernate, just ignore them all and read a good book instead.
See you in September.
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Seeing to Make Visible
Happily, for me, this review was published in the Daily Maverick today. Here is the link:
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Following on from my previous post about Tár I was reminded of another cinema experience, where I didn’t get it at the time, but on reflection, came to laud the film as a superb piece of feminist art, and that is Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Imposter ‘imposter’ syndrome: mind-mapping the evolution of an idea
This week I read an article in the New Yorker about the origin and evolution of that now ubiquitous pop-psychology phrase, ‘imposter syndrome’. I’ve always found this idea helpful in articulating my experience as a young academic, but also somewhat anaemic in offering up any suggestion as to why I would feel that way in the first place.
The Mystery of the Desert
My son’s favourite thing to do is make books. He loves the natural world and has facts in his brain that I have no idea how they got there or how he retains them. I love his books. He draws the pictures, sticks the pages together and then brings them to me to transcribe as he dictates, with the dictatorial (haha) flair of any great creative tyrant. I al…
'Father, this is a first for both of us.'
My publisher sent me a photo of a physical *printed* copy of my book today! I am as excited as the two-year-old in this photo from 39 years ago.
I can either have a clean kitchen or a soul
I love the feeling when you are kind of meditating on something in your own life and then all kinds of reading comes your way that addresses your current preoccupation. This is what Anne Helen Petersen’s recent columns, “Who Gets "Quality" Leisure?”, “
Go well Hannah, enjoy the break