I’ll tell you what I’m really sick of right now: my university telling me that they understand change is hard for their staff. I’m an academic in an Australian university and I’ve chosen to publish this anonymously for reasons that should be obvious. This post is a rant. It’s not a reasoned tracing of the […] … learn more→

Whenever I teach courses on hip-hop at the University of Virginia, I provide a brief overview of where hip-hop music began. One of the important dates I use is Aug. 11, 1973. That’s when DJ Kool Herc, who was 18 at the time, threw a “Back To School Jam” for his sister Cindy in the […] … learn more→

I’ve been asked about writing a theory chapter. But should I say anything? I feel a bit iffy about the very idea. What to do? Take your own advice here. Write for ten minutes about a theory chapter. Write about why you find this topic difficult. Write about anything to do with theory and chapters […] … learn more→

Even in the 21st century, women writers are often consigned to what American novelist Meg Wolitzer has called “the second shelf.” Women’s novels are designed and marketed with a female audience in mind and publishers still presume that novels about women won’t appeal to male readers. Unfortunately, even in 2021 there may be some truth to […] … learn more→

As a child, I had a great deal of anxiety. If you’ve ever seen me speak in public, that might surprise you. But anxiety among children is extremely common and affects almost all children, to varying degrees. During pre-pandemic times, researchers noted that as many as 7% of children had a diagnosable anxiety disorder that disrupted their […] … learn more→

Scientists can make fairly accurate predictions about the future. But predicting what the Earth will be like in 500 years is a difficult task because there are so many factors at play. Imagine Christopher Columbus in 1492 trying to predict America today. We know that there are two main types of processes that change our planet: One […] … learn more→

Remote learning online has been a common tool in the battle against COVID-19. School and university campus closures have affected over 1.5 billion learners in 165 countries. The reduced need for students to be in their physical classrooms gives them greater autonomy, with more choice about what they do with their time. Some might skip classes, but […] … learn more→

Since its inception in 1975, the Common Application, the undergraduate admissions application used by more than 900 colleges, has required students to provide their “sex,” with only “male” and “female” as choices. But starting in August 2021, the Common App is also asking students their gender identities and the names and pronouns they go by. As a […] … learn more→

The COVID-19 pandemic plunged Australian universities into crisis. From early 2020, many voices declared increased specialisation and difference between institutions was the way for them to survive. Yet our soon-to-be-published study has shown if we dig a little deeper each university is a complex patchwork, especially in the area of research. Australian universities present an array of sometimes competing interests, […] … learn more→

There’s a period of PhD study that I have come to call ‘the loopy la-las’: when you become highly capable of doing PhD work, but start to become incompetent at, well – almost everything else. I remember the day it started to happen to me. It was 2008 and I was deep in a Foucault […] … learn more→