Preliminary ponderings on properly PhDing

Hello again! At last, after some weeks' absence, I've finally found the time and head space to update this blog. (Huzzah!) Since this also appears to be my twenty-fifth post already, it feels rather apt that it be about how it feels to have properly got going with my PhD.

I say 'properly got going' when I'm actually still spending the majority of my time floundering around in a sea of theory and primary sources, and wondering when someone is going to have the sense to call me out on my inadequacy, but this week is the first of the four so far in which I've been able to make out some sort of direction. This is partly because I've had hugs and catch ups with friends who are in the final stages of their theses, and they've told me that my feelings are universal, however individual they may seem. It's also because this week was Warwick Students' Union's Disability Awareness Week, and I was very kindly asked by the Disabled Students' Officer (and my friend), Jenny, to give a presentation on the early stages of my research. It was super helpful to get feedback on my ideas from some of my peers in a fairly informal setting, so thanks, Jenny!

I've also booked onto my first conference (as an attendee, not a presenter or panel member just yet!) as part of UK Disability History Month 2015, which I'm very excited about, understandably. It's at the British Film Institute on 19th November, so more about that closer to the time! I should probably tell you dear readers more about my thesis, too, but I want to solidify a few aspects first. I'm submitting a single-page synopsis for my next supervision, as an exercise in focus, so maybe I'll post some of that here, if it won't then mean I'll be self-plagiarising. Let me know if you'd be interested!

Much love 'til next time

Jx

First thoughts on Warwick (for the second time around)

Today's post is brought to you (sans sponsorship, of course!) courtesy of the cosiness of what was always one of my favourite Student Union outlets - our very own vintage tea shop, Curiositea. So I suppose I should start here. It's as gorgeous as I remember, with a few additions that have only made it more welcoming, like the stickering of a table at the front for priority access by people with disabilities (photographic evidence below). Huge thanks to Warwick Enable (the disability society, which had only just started when I left) and the SU for this subtle but significant change - no more awkward bumping into tables for me! As I sit here on a Tuesday afternoon, staring out at the rain and sipping on a mint hot chocolate (some things never change!), I know I'll be whiling away just as many hours in this manner over the course of my PhD as I did as an undergraduate. All that's missing are the friends I used to share it with - especially my intellectual twin and fellow JP, Jade Passfield - but lots of you are back, so let's chill here soon, please?

The theme of newfound (and new-created) accessibility pretty much sums up my experience of returning so far. The central area of campus has been hugely revamped and, whilst that is rather confusing because I thought I knew my way around (as my friend Lily put on Facebook last night, where do you get a bus!?), it is mostly proving to be a good thing. The dropped curbs can legitmately be called dropped curbs (a rarity in this largely non-wheely world!), it's far less crowded on pavements than it used to be, and there's a proper double and automatic door on the grocery shop, probably because it's no longer Costcutter and has recently been taken under SU ownership. So, aside from the fact that I nearly couldn't collect my student card last week because the lift up to the Panorama Room was broken and I had to send my dear Mama to beg, I'm pretty impressed.

And that's before I've even had departmental inductions. Eep!

Which reminds me, I'm now officially a doctoral student, though how exactly that happened I'm not sure. I still feel like a baby fresher...but this year's actual baby freshers were born in 1997. WHAT!?

On that somewhat sobering thought, I'll sign off - because, however old I feel, it's really good to be back. I've missed you, Universitas Warwicensis. Here's to the next three or so years, eh?

Hello and apologies for the hiatus

Having not posted for a (rather long) while, today I want to say two things - I'm still here, and I'm very sorry for having been away. It's not that there haven't been things I've wanted to write about - far from it, and the post about camp will surface soon! - but that, through a mixture of circumstances, I've had to limit my time on web-based social media over the last month and a bit.

This is partly due to mere practicalities. For instance, we've made frequent trips up to Warwick in preparation for the new term, which involves staying somewhere that doesn't currently have any kind of internet access, let alone wifi, and that's meant I've missed the opportunity to send lots of people messages on their actual birthdays (sorry!) or even missed messages I've been sent completely. I'm working on the extensive backlog I've managed to accrue.

It's also because I don't think I quite realised how much I've been on the go for the past two (or more) years until I got a proper break. So, like the dreadfully slow pages of Internet Explorer that we all loved to hate in days of yore, I just needed to take some time to refresh.

That isn't meant to be an excuse or a sob story. Not at all - in fact, in many ways, this summer has been the easiest and most comfortable in about a decade. As I'll write about more explicitly and emphatically in my upcoming (and long time coming!) post on camp, I almost feel as though my body is going backwards in a very positive way, and rediscovering some of the freedom and ability it had this time ten years ago. So plans I had for socialising and reconnecting have most definitely not been scuppered by pain this time around - or at least not nearly as much as they used to be - and I have been able to catch up with a considerable number of very lovely people. Just not quite as many as I would've liked!

I just needed to give myself some space and time to take stock - and I'm very, very, very sorry that, in some respects, it has made me a rather neglectful friend over the summer. I'm happy that that seems likely to change from here on in.

As this date marks the start of my first Warwick adventure (five years ago!) and because tomorrow marks the official start of my new one, I thought it was serendipitous to rejoin the world of blogging today, buoyed by a combination of excitement and disbelief. I'll endeavour to keep it up from now on, along with being a more engaged friend and person in general.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Much love to friends old and new. Sincere thanks for being in my life.

Jx