When the whole world has stopped: Connecting with myself through poetry

When the whole world has stopped: Connecting with myself through poetry

By Desiree Baolian Qin Stopping 8:30am, March 23, 2020 This morning I woke up to a thin layer of snow  covering all the still gray bare branches, the lawn that’s slowly turning greener every day. The whole world has turned black and white, like a Chinese landscape painting. The whole world has stopped — no planes overhead, no cars zooming by, no trains rushing through sounding their horns carrying millions to work, to trips, to…

Navigating Work from Home with Fear as A Companion: 11 Selected Blog Posts

Navigating Work from Home with Fear as A Companion: 11 Selected Blog Posts

By Kimine Mayuzumi Fear Fear has always been an essential companion to our lives. It tries to defend us from given threats. Fear caused by a traumatic event brings us the energy stored for emergencies to the front and creates our hyperarousal state so that we can quickly deal with the event or minimize our risks. So there is nothing wrong with holding onto fear. What I learned and tried to practice in the pre-pandemic…

Unpacking the “Slowing Down Circle”: An Interview with Dr. Kayt Sunwood

Unpacking the “Slowing Down Circle”: An Interview with Dr. Kayt Sunwood

By Kimine Mayuzumi   Dr. Kayt Sunwood is a contingent teaching faculty member at University of Alaska after retiring from staff positions in higher education in 2017. She participated in one of the services that Being Lazy and Slowing Down offers, Slowing Down Circle (SDC), last year by driving for an hour to attain a decent internet connection and attend every single online meeting early in the morning while it was still dark and cold outside…

Is slowing down a privilege or a choice?

Is slowing down a privilege or a choice?

By Kimine Mayuzumi Is slowing down a privilege and therefore unworthy of attention for many (e.g., working-class, racially minoritized, etc.)? Or is it one’s choice? Would I have said that slowing down was a privilege six years ago when my family lost any source of income? In 2010, we returned to Toronto, Canada, after my partner’s visiting-scholar contract ended in the US. I worked on my Ph.D. dissertation and my partner seeked a job. Our…

Why slow down even before tenure?: An interview with Dr. Soko Starobin

Why slow down even before tenure?: An interview with Dr. Soko Starobin

By Kimine Mayuzumi   Dr. Soko Starobin is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University. She identifies herself as a woman of color (a native Japanese and thus, non-native English speaker), a mother of two, married to a Russian man, and Jewish. She recently added another layer of identity as a cancer survivor. She finished her last radiation treatment last month and is currently on medical leave. After an inspiring conversation between me and  my…