That one chapter would be a lot better if you included that obscure quote from Virginia Woolf that you don’t quite remember. Re-read all of Virginia Woolf’s diaries.
Netflix.
Have you called your mother recently? Now would be a good time to properly consider doing that, and then to also not do that.
A few weeks ago, Geoff Marcy was being discussed as a potential Nobel Prize honoree. Then BuzzFeed leaked the story that Marcy had been found guilty of sexual harassment. Last Thursday, my colleagues and I received an email from the Chancellor of UC Berkeley informing us that Marcy had resigned.
When I learned about the goat who refused to leave a Tim Hortons in Martensville, Saskatchewan, I cried real tears. At the time, I was sitting in a café. It wasn’t a Tim Hortons café, unfortunately, because I decided to go to grad school in America. It’s a decision I question every day of my life. Because: aren’t we all the goat who just can’t seem to quit Tim Hortons?
I became preoccupied not only with the unaccustomed sense of freedom but also with the paralysing horror that had come over me at various times when confronted with the traces of destruction, reaching far back into the past… --W.G. Sebald
Two years ago, I was halfway through earning a degree in history, learning about the kinds of stories people tell in their historical scholarship. I was learning how to write well, and how…
If Julian of Norwich were your professor, you would ask her what would be on the final, and she would reply, “All manner of things shall be on the exam.” If Julian of Norwich were your professor, you could drop by with a question anytime, and she would be in her office. There would be rumours that she actually lived in her office. Even on the rare occasions that her door was closed, you would…
Kathryn Ionata's previous work for The Toast can be found here. During my first semester as an adjunct instructor of English at two universities, I had come to dread Wednesdays. In the morning, I taught composition to a class of sleepy-eyed freshmen whose staunch refusal to participate in class discussions rivaled their unwillingness to crack a smile. After an interminable fifty minutes, I retreated to the “bullpen,” as a colleague referred to the small,…
About nine months ago, as it became obvious that I was With Child to even the most absent-minded professors in my engineering research center, I had the following conversation about two or three times a day: Nervous Graduate Student: So, um, when are you going out on maternity leave? (I wrangle all of the ~50 graduate students ‘round these parts.) Me: Well, my due date is March 7th, but since [university name redacted] doesn’t have…
Before I start my science-story, let me tell you a little about myself. I’m working on my doctorate in evolutionary neuroscience at Emory University. My research focuses on the anatomical specializations in the human brain that support language and conceptual thought.
“But where’s her degree?!” I hear you folks asking. Don’t worry, guys – even if I am still in grad school, I am a legit serious scientist-lady. Like we’re
While cleaning up my hard drive recently, I found a folder of papers I wrote in grad school. Some of them aren’t total shit, but the titles are. So I’ve renamed them to reflect my post-academic hopes: that somebody besides me might ever want to read them.I swear to God, the original titles are real. Feel free to make fun.
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Original Title: The Usefulness of Unease in Jacobean Tragedy New Title:…
Ten months ago, I bought myself a brown corduroy blazer. With elbow patches. As it settled around my shoulders, I felt a surge of confidence fill me—a knowledge that, while I may look like an utter dweeb, I was doing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I took a picture wearing it—a professorial selfie—and shared it with my friends. Who does that? It would be so much easier to say goodbye to…
Q. So you guys commute between New York and Atlanta? A. Yup.
Q. And you’ve been doing it how long? A. Ten years.
Q. Don’t you like each other? A. We quite enjoy each other’s company.
Q. Ha-ha, that must make marriage a lot easier, right? Cuz you don’t have to see each other all the time! A. Yes, it is wonderful. When we were looking into
Women are massively under-represented in physics and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, at all levels, firstly I will explain why this matters, then I will discuss what we can do about it. What's the problem? In the UK, female students made up about 20% of all those studying A-level physics (a qualification which is needed for most university level physics courses.) More worryingly, almost half of schools have no female students who continue to study…
My friend Jane handed me her copy of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin (1991) fourteen years ago, on top of a stack of Sandman comics. She was headed to a semester abroad in Scotland, worlds away from our Midwestern university town. As she handed the book to me, Jane said, "Thomas Lane is the perfect man. But you're going to wonder why Janet spends so much time talking about her bookshelves." Jane was three years…
As The Toast searches for its one true Gal Scientist, we will be running a ton of wonderful one-off pieces by female scientists of all shapes and sizes and fields and education levels, which we are sure you will enjoy. They’ll live here, so you can always find them. Most recently: Why We Study. “You know about the drop-off between women who get PhDs and women who become faculty, right?” It was my first interview…
This is why your professor hated you, and probably still does. "Remember to breathe when cisgender friends who think they’re being supportive describe trans men as 'female-bodied'.” The world's loveliest and dirtiest profile of Edie Windsor. Paywalled, but what a great time to subscribe. Flannery O'Connor: it's all about the money, money. She did not want to make the world dance, etc.
