The trouble with academia is, you set out to master a field but you end up demanding perfection of yourself, forgetting that perfection is not possible. Real mastery is not an outcome but a process, ie, embracing continual curiosity and being unafraid to confront what you don’t know to open the door to learning more. Karen and Kel talk about recovering this beginner’s curiosity by asking: Who is the inner/outer critic telling you you’re not good enough, and remembering that no external validation will make you achieve “perfection” -especially when the systems of validation are racist, sexist, classist, and exclusionary. As Toni Morrison says: the goal of racism is distraction. In the end, you can say this: I don’t have prove it to you I just have to deliver it.
Karen and Kel stay on the theme of “never enough”; this week, they talk about how the academy revolves around” competitive overworking,” and how...
Nothing is normal and you’re angry, scared, exhausted…on repeat every day. Karen and Kel talk about our new emotional landscape and accepting where you...
We did a survey recently and the message loud and clear was: please give us more advice about just… surviving in academia! So today...