By Min Yu “Our lives are limited, But knowledge is limitless. To pursue the limitless With the limited Is dangerous.” – Zhuangzi Ever since grade school, worrying about not knowing enough has heavily presented in my approach to learning and the world around me. These feelings grew stronger over the years – the more I learnt, the more anxious I became – and reached a tipping point when I came to the…
By Michelle Boyd If you’re like many scholars I know, you may have found yourself looking around at the end of last semester, wondering how—despite your best intentions—you ended up so exhausted. I recently found myself there too, and the more I listened, the more I found others facing the same problem. These words, from a scholar I’ll call Mina, struck a chord when I read them in one of my online support groups: “I’m…
By Kimine Mayuzumi Dr. Beronda Montgomery is Michigan State University Foundation Professor in the Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory. Her research focuses on understanding how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist. Beronda also pursues the research theme in the context of effective mentoring and leading in research environments. She often shares mentoring and faculty development issues on Twitter. My partner, Riyad, and I, met Beronda last…
By Kimine Mayuzumi Do you have difficulty in writing lately? What gets in the way? Procrastination, distraction, lack of motivation or imposter feelings? A productive and sustainable writing experience often requires a good state of mind and physical wellness. In our past blog post, Why today (more than ever) you need writing rituals?: 5 reasons, Riyad Shahjahan suggests that we as writers need “a mind that is decluttered so that we can give our…
By Riyad A. Shahjahan “To be able to face our fears, we must remember how to perform ritual. To remember how to perform ritual, we must slow down” (Malidoma Somé) Given the everyday distractions of social media, feelings of inadequacy/unworthiness, and/or world wide events, how can I as a scholar/writer write? How can I write in the midst of privilege and oppression? How can I focus on my “work” for today? In my numerous conversations…
