#phd-on-fire

Today I learned about Katherine Switzer. She was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an official, registered competitor.

During her run, she was assaulted by race manager Jock Semple. He tried to grab at her shirt, trying to strip her bib number, trying to tear at it. Please note that the rule book for the Boston Marathon made no mention of gender. But it was widely understood that women were prohibited from running in official competition: the rules of the AAU, which governed the Marathon, declared that women could not compete in AAU-sanctioned races over a mile and a half.

Her predecessor was Bobbi Gibb, an unofficial runner of the marathon. Bibb was rejected from her marathon by the BAA director, stating that "that women were physiologically incapable of running 26 miles". She completed the marathon anyway, despite not being a registered runner.

During Semple's assault, he managed to take off some of Katherine's clothing. Her trainer, Arnie Briggs, tried to stop him but Semple shove him to the ground. At that point, Katherine Switzer's boyfriend, Thomas Miller (SZA certified big boy), threw Semple to the ground himself. This allowed Katherine to complete the marathon.

It is easy to forget how women of history had to fight for the right to even compete in sports. It is easier to forget that they had competed against men in the past. However, it is important to look at our current privilege with gratitude, because we did fight to get here, and will continue to fight in many aspects of our lives as women.

Part 5 of my Studyblr University Orientation Week 

I’d just like to preface this with two things: 

I’m from Canada, where the legal drinking age is 19. I’m legally allowed to drink in my country, as are many other university students, including many first years. So before any Americans come for me about condoning underage drinking: I am not American. I do not condone underage drinking. 

Okay now that we’ve got the disclaimers over with, let’s talk about alcohol. CW: discussions of vomit and rape. 

You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to. Some people will be assholes about this. Ignore them. There are lots of reasons not to want to drink, including flat out just not liking it. 

It’s not a clear cut between people who never drink and people who get drunk every weekend. Some people drink every weekend but only have one beer. Some people go out with friends once a month and get really drunk. Like so many things, this is a spectrum. 

Know what you’re drinking and how it will affect you. This means knowing if your drink has vodka or rum in it and knowing that rum makes you really sleepy. Don’t have five shots the first time you try vodka. You don’t know how that shit’s going to affect you and you don’t want to find out the hard way that it makes you really horny. 

Make sure that you’re either drinking with someone or you’re giving someone updates and not drinking too much. Getting drunk on your own can be dangerous. Don’t do it. 

Drink lots of water. 

Eat something before hand. No drinking on an empty stomach, y’all. 

Throw up in the toilet. Not the sink. Not all over the toilet. 

Clean up your own vomit. It’s rude to make your neighbour do it, especially when you projectile vomit all over the toilet. 

Don’t text while drunk. 

Hey sober buds? Don’t let people tell you important shit when they’re drunk or tipsy. And if they do, don’t hold it over their heads. They aren’t thinking clearly and it’s a shitty feeling to have something you didn’t mean being held over you like it was something that you did. 

Hey sober buds? DRUNK PEOPLE CANNOT CONSENT. IF YOU ARE SOBER AND YOU HAVE SEX WITH SOMEBODY WHO IS DRUNK THAT IS RAPE. 

Hey sober buds? Keep an eye out for your drunk buds. Use the buddy system and don’t let them wander off somewhere alone. 

Don’t leave your drink unattended. If you do, don’t drink it anymore. 

Pour your own drinks at parties. 

Don’t drink and drive. 

100 days of productivity - 12/100 (18-09-17) 

31.03.17 // Mini study desk!

Guys, check it out! My latest study investment: a wee adjustable laptop desk. Now I can work down on the floor without my back complaining. Every. Time.

Might also begin to use it as an art desk?

It’s been another full-on week, mainly because I was asked to provide extra cover at work. This is very helpful financially, but less so for my research progress. So, I’m trading off: I’m skipping out on this morning’s research seminar and calling it a writing day.

Task Priorities

Finish article due today (not academic, though it’s about my research): Complete. Edit. Send. Update: Done

Thesis writing: complete a very rough draft of the current section.

Plan research: figure out the basic argument (and structure?) for next article on music as theology.

The university is quiet. Most students have finished their exams and gone home for the summer. The ghosts of what they lost here remain.

Those students who still have exams this week wander from venue to venue. Trapped. Today is their last exam. Tomorrow they will come back for another. That will be their last exam, too.

I pick up the exams I’m due to invigilate today. The Exams Officer greets me with a song. Her fixed smile tells me the darkness has consumed her.

An invigilator is off sick. One more exam means nothing to me now. I pick up the papers. The Exams Officer starts serenading me. I leave, a spectre of my former self.

08.05.17 // It's exam season!

I'm working pretty much full-time as an invigilator over the next 2 weeks. It's more fun than it sounds, because I'll get paid.

It's a super busy time of year, so of course I've bought a whole bunch of new art supplies...

Pyrography tool! One (1) experiment so far, burning the alphabet onto MDF wood and squiggly patterns onto scraps of leather.

A stand to keep my pyrography tool safe. It's basically a soldering iron stand. Soon to arrive: heat-resistant glove.

Glass paints: ready for a new art project. I have zero experience with glass painting. Hoping skills are transferable from other areas?

I'm unlikely to have time to test them out until exams are over, but it's fun to see them arrive.

In the meantime, I'm keeping myself from dying of exam dullness by re-acquainting myself with the concept of fiction books. Not academic. Fictional.