Another challenge in writing this dissertation is the idea that I also have to lay the groundwork for the next phase of my academic career, such as it is. So aside from the fact that I have to believe in myself and my potential for doing good work – despite the barrage of self-reproach that I too often inflict on myself because I’m swimming in the mud of dissertation writing every day – I simply have to find the time…
Dissertation Blues Writing this thing is like building a house. Only I can’t actually see what I’m doing, the plans keep changing, and there are periodic earthquakes. It’s a wonder that I’m this far along at all! A brief progress report: I broke ground on this, officially, on February 28 2018, so almost a year ago. I know this because I’ve been keeping a strict work diary so I don’t lose track of myself or the overall sweep of things….
I co-organized a panel in the Human Geography stream at the Annual Swiss Geosciences in Bern. We aimed it at early career researchers and entitled it as shown above: “Diverse paths to an uncertain future…” Tellingingly, this appeared in the conference program as the more anodyne “PhD, What Next? Early career options in Human Geography.” We found it indicative of the relative powerlessness of our positions that the title was changed without our knowledge or permission. I can hardly imagine…
It’s not easy, doing this. I’ve never really bought into the idea – omnipresent but not so often explicitly stated – that the academy is something special, that by virtue of doing a PhD we are smart and unique. I don’t think being an academic is really much different from being an airplane mechanic, a plumber, or a soldier. We’ve all seen those group dynamics, where people working in any of those professions could identify with a broader community of…
In April this year I had the opportunity to give a talk at Smith College with Martin Müller and Chris Gaffney. The event was called Sport Mega Events and Urban Development: Cases of Brazil 2014, Rio 2016, Sochi 2014, Russia 2018, and it was hosted by Andrew Zimbalist. If you don’t know him, Andrew is a sports economist, hugely accomplished, a very friendly man and admirably prolific. After the talk, Andrew took us out for dinner. And over beers he started…
Working on any large project – whether writing a dissertation, recording an album, or hosting a mega-event – means keeping track of a lot of moving parts. When I was working as a musician, I hung a large whiteboard on the studio wall where I’d draw a project management grid for each album. One axis listed every song and the other showed all the steps needed until completion, from recording individual instrument tracks to mixing and mastering. In my academic…