#elistudies

i’ve officially begun my phd! i haven’t shut up about it on substack and i feel like i need to bring in back to my roots on tumblr where I first began as a highschool student entrenched in studyblr and later that sweet dark academia aesthetic. if you’re interested in knowing more abt grad school or following along on this journey, you can read all about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/scholarlyhermit/p/lessons-from-my-first-day-as-an-english?r=3n75bv&utm_medium=ios

My sensitive soul recently decided to return to Substack and pour out my heart (and thoughts) on the emotional costs of academia because they’re not always talked about! We focus so much on the mental and financial costs of academia when, sometimes, all we have guiding us is a feeling: passion. But what happens when that feeling is corrupted by the material context of the world? What happens when passion is not enough?

Read the full essay here: https://open.substack.com/pub/scholarlyhermit/p/refusing-to-romanticize-academia?r=3n75bv&utm_medium=ios

The latest installment of The Scholar is something we’re all familiar with: Dark Academia. Around the time of the pandemic, Dark Academia experienced a resurgence and made its way out of Tumblr and into the mainstream of TikTok and Instagram. Since then, it has become everything from a genre category to fashion and home decor. But there are still a few of us who remember when DA sprouted from studyblr, when the aesthetic centered around learning—doing and not performing. I’ve created this series to explore how the aesthetic has changed over time and to counter some of its common critiques. Part One of course returns to its beloved roots in this hellsite :)

A new installment of The Scholar is out now! This time I bring you a list of books to read when you’re feeling like you want to go down a rabbit hole of knowledge but without inducing more academic burn out. I’ve split the list into two: 1) Slightly more academic texts with a focus on social justice, feminism, and ecocriticism and 2) Fiction books that pair well with the theories introduced in the first half. Give it a read and see if any of these tickle your fancy!

The fourth installment of The Scholar is OUT! We’re once again revisiting what the Canon and the classics we hold dear mean in the context of Western Imperialism. Here are 1,000 words describing its origins, its uses, and misuses.

Give it a read, leave a comment, like and subscribe to support a soon-to-be broke PhD student. As always, thank you for reading! :’)