Hello friends 🤗
Forgive my lack of newsletters for the past fortnight. I have, miraculously, been out having a life! First it was my birthday weekend, then last weekend I went to visit my brother in London with mum to celebrate the aforementioned birthday. I consider this all personal growth, since for a long time this newsletter’s function was to occupy my weekends between PhD work. Now it seems that I increasingly have other things going on.
📆 Activities 🛼
Monday 5 February. MIT Archive online consultation
Tuesday 6 February.
AM. Teaching on Madness and Society
PM. CHSTM lunchtime seminar on polio; office birthday drinks
Wednesday 7 February. CCDS Disability Histories Event online.
Thursday 8 February.
AM. Oral history interview
PM. Online meeting with Kirstie; telephone meeting with Neil
Saturday 10 February. Birthday! Art supply shopping and haircut
Sunday 11 February. Cinema to see Mean Girls with Arlo
Last week!
Monday 12 February. Second MIT Archive online consultation
Tuesday 13 February. Teaching on Madness and Society
Wednesday 14 February. Chairing panel for Historical Perspectives seminar
Thursday 15 February. EDI committee meeting; celebrating Leah’s viva
Friday 16 February. Travel to London; Unfriend at Wyndam Theatre
Saturday 17 February. Exploring London with Samuel, mum and Dippy
Sunday 18 February. Travel back to Manchester with mum
This week!
Monday 19 February. Half-day holiday to grocery shop with mum
Tuesday 20 February. Teaching on Madness and Society
Wednesday 21 February. Effective research presentation workshop
Friday 23 February. EDS medical appointment
Sunday 25 February. Reading for book review; Residents drinks and visiting Kim
🇬🇧 Dippy takes London 🗺️
It was fun being tourists for the weekend. We went to Greenwich, saw Samuel’s place of work, walked round some markets and visited a few museums. It was only a little painful to be in the British Library without consulting the archives (the reading rooms are closed on a Sunday)!
The National Maritime Museum was neat: they had stuff on specifically for LGBTQ+ history month which I appreciated. Favourite thing was seeing a non-binary person dressed as a mermaid giving one of the talks. It is rare to see trans adults just… existing. They were maybe five to ten years older than me but it was still meaningful for me. It made me realise how dire the need for trans role models and representation is.
Anyway, if a picture tells a thousand words, then here are thousands upon thousands of words about our London escapades….
🎬 Mean Girls 💋
I may have been disappointed in mean girls if I had any expectations going into it or if I had to spend money on the cinema tickets. But as it was, it was a nice excuse to hang out with a friend and listen to some funky tunes while drinking Pepsi
🧩 Entertainment 📺
📖 Started reading The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley
📺 Watching Love Island All Stars, Love is Blind, Ambulance
📺 Started re-watching Gossip Girl
📺 Started watching Desperate Housewives (and getting into it this time!)
🎬 Watched Pain Hustlers and Mean Girls
🧩 Finished gingerbread competition wasjig jigsaw
📘 Read The Castaways. 3.5 stars
📘 Finished reading One Moment in Time - meh. 2.5 stars.
🎮 Playing Pokemon Violet…. nearly finished 😔
🎭 Saw Unfriend - pretty funny and I enjoyed seeing Lee Mack perform
🎟️ visits to Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Market, and British Library
You and Dippy have been busy. Looks like you had loads of fun.