We all need a mini-Mophead in our lives: that little cartoon version of ourselves that sits on our shoulder and nudges us to do the thing we really want to do rather than the thing we think we should.
Thank you, Mophead and Mini-Mophead, for this beautiful prompt. I realized that writing in and with color (the topic of my Day 26 prompt) is "the thing that no one EVER has to tell me to do" -- and now it's my day job as well, playing with color (literally and metaphorically) in the WriteSPACE and on Substack.
Nov 29, 2023·edited Nov 29, 2023Liked by Margy Thomas, Helen Sword
I absolutely love this prompt, Selina - and that is definitely my hair in the cartoon!
One way this “infusion” has showed up in my academic work is my natural instinct to weave material from the humanities and sciences together in whatever I’m writing. Even as an undergraduate, I would include song lyrics, poetry quotes, etc. in my essays, and in my M.Sc. environmental policy dissertation, I started every chapter with a ‘non-scientific’ quote. It has been interesting to see the different responses doing this generates. Some lecturers, supervisors, etc were fine with it but they have been in the minority, while the majority were very uncomfortable, seeing it as inappropriate and something that they thought undermined the seriousness of my work. In this way, it has also acted as a marker of which academics are more open to cross-disciplinary ways of working, which is actually becoming more and more crucial given the complexity of problems and crises we are facing in the world today.
So, I will continue to honour my instincts and have made my peace with my “unruly” ways of working – but am still working on my “unruly” hair…
What a great way to look at your own scholarly risktaking, Anne; it provides a barometer for gauging other academics' openness to interdisciplinary thinking and new ideas.
Oh this is such a beautiful prompt--not only does it give the writer a concrete way into what feels onerous about writing, it also gives us a way to see what IS working in our scholarly lives. What is there already that we really love but sometimes miss because we're so busy and stressed. We all have them, but it's hard to remember what they are. Thank you Selina (and Mophead)!
I feel like I'm experiencing this exploration with my narrative academic writing. I'm not much for doodling, but I've been playing a lot with language towards narrative form in academic writing. It's been a challenge, and I've been hiding from it most of the semester, but this week I decided to embrace it, I also have a deadline coming up, and it's been such a fun experience to get lost in the playfulness! I have young nieces and nephews and added your book to my gift list for them, will be so fun to read and explore knots with them during Christmas! 🙏🩵💫
Absolutely love how this prompt makes me feel like a children’s book character 😍. Thanks, Selina!
We all need a mini-Mophead in our lives: that little cartoon version of ourselves that sits on our shoulder and nudges us to do the thing we really want to do rather than the thing we think we should.
Thank you, Mophead and Mini-Mophead, for this beautiful prompt. I realized that writing in and with color (the topic of my Day 26 prompt) is "the thing that no one EVER has to tell me to do" -- and now it's my day job as well, playing with color (literally and metaphorically) in the WriteSPACE and on Substack.
I absolutely love this prompt, Selina - and that is definitely my hair in the cartoon!
One way this “infusion” has showed up in my academic work is my natural instinct to weave material from the humanities and sciences together in whatever I’m writing. Even as an undergraduate, I would include song lyrics, poetry quotes, etc. in my essays, and in my M.Sc. environmental policy dissertation, I started every chapter with a ‘non-scientific’ quote. It has been interesting to see the different responses doing this generates. Some lecturers, supervisors, etc were fine with it but they have been in the minority, while the majority were very uncomfortable, seeing it as inappropriate and something that they thought undermined the seriousness of my work. In this way, it has also acted as a marker of which academics are more open to cross-disciplinary ways of working, which is actually becoming more and more crucial given the complexity of problems and crises we are facing in the world today.
So, I will continue to honour my instincts and have made my peace with my “unruly” ways of working – but am still working on my “unruly” hair…
What a great way to look at your own scholarly risktaking, Anne; it provides a barometer for gauging other academics' openness to interdisciplinary thinking and new ideas.
Thanks, Helen!
Oh this is such a beautiful prompt--not only does it give the writer a concrete way into what feels onerous about writing, it also gives us a way to see what IS working in our scholarly lives. What is there already that we really love but sometimes miss because we're so busy and stressed. We all have them, but it's hard to remember what they are. Thank you Selina (and Mophead)!
Yes! Thanks for the reminder, Michelle.
I feel like I'm experiencing this exploration with my narrative academic writing. I'm not much for doodling, but I've been playing a lot with language towards narrative form in academic writing. It's been a challenge, and I've been hiding from it most of the semester, but this week I decided to embrace it, I also have a deadline coming up, and it's been such a fun experience to get lost in the playfulness! I have young nieces and nephews and added your book to my gift list for them, will be so fun to read and explore knots with them during Christmas! 🙏🩵💫
It is a gorgeous book, they'll love it!