By Soko Starobin I thought I took care of my body fairly well during my tenure-track years from 2008 to 2013. I went to the gym three times per week and cooked healthy meals at home as often as I could. During those years, I thought it was normal to experience some physical symptoms like a cold, sinus infections, and neck aches. Therefore, I paid little attention to these symptoms. As I reflect back to…
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…
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…
By Riyad A. Shahjahan “Pain can be a path to body knowing and self-centering like no other” (Donna King) I naively thought I was in control of life until a few weeks ago. My semester was going well. I already had a well-developed semester plan. I planned weekly on Sundays, and wrote every work day. Everything collapsed once I became sick a few weeks ago. Our four-year-old daughter got Bronchitis. While she was getting better…
