Hello friends 🤗
Potentially a very overwhelming week coming up with lots of stuff going on, but there is also excitement in the air with a generally positive week behind me and new experiences coming up. I hope to take it all in my stride as a bit of an adventure. At least, that is what I am telling myself to calm my nerves!
📆 Activities 🛼
Monday 15 January. Supervisor phonecall with Neil for Hidden Worlds
Wednesday 17 January. Hamilton matinee and dinner with Alice
Friday 19 January. Write Here, Write Now full day writing retreat; submitted SHS 2024 Conference abstract
Sunday 21 January. Samuel’s birthday! 🥳
✏️ Chapter Progress ✂️
Feeling happier than I was last week about the chapter I am working on. Well, I should probably say chapters (plural) now since I have split it into two. I thought one might be a ‘short’ chapter, but depending on how much I cut it could just be a regular length one. I chopped it up a few different ways and I think I have settled to make chapter 2 about the transatlantic element of the long cane, and chapter 3 about its promotion with a focus on BD8.
In practical terms that means chapter two takes the reader from the long cane’s ‘invention’ in American VA Hospitals in the forties, through transatlantic exchange of information in the fifties and sixties, to Stanley Suterko’s secondment to the Midlands Mobility Centre in 1966.
Then, I will introduce the BD8 documentary in chapter 3 and include my analysis of it there. This will take some disentangling since I originally wrote all of the chapter 2 content through the lens of BD8, but I think this way makes more sense.
After Friday’s writing retreat where I decided on this structure and started re-wroking the mega chapter into two seperate ones, I am feeling quietly optimistic that I can sort this out. Unfortunately, I have a busy week ahead with other commitments and things to sort out so I can’t necessarily get stuck in straight away on Monday. But my chapters will be waiting for me on the other end. One day at a time.
🤩 Star-spotting 🤩
Wednesday was unexpectedly thrilling. On my way to see Hamilton, Peter White boarded the same tram as me!! I couldn’t believe it. I introduced myself as a fan, left it at that, didn’t say anything about my PhD because I didn’t want him to feel trapped into speaking to me for the whole journey.
But I was still shaking from the adrenaline of meeting him (and having the guts to speak to him!!) by the time I got to the theatre.
NB: For those of you who do not know, Peter White has presented In Touch since the seventies (a popular BBC radio programme by and for visually impaired people) and current disability correspondent for the BBC. I would say he is probably the most famous blind person in Britain, wrote an autobiography that I read during my masters, and is likely to come up in chapter four of my dissertation.
📑 Workshop papers 🔨
The group I was on for the emotions and disability workshop has now been disbanded after one person dropped out and another was shifted to a different group. So my paper is sitting in a different group now, giving me a new set of papers to read and give feedback on. Thankfully, I had already read one of them before this change, so I only have to read two or three more before Thursday.
Fingers crossed the others have time to read my paper despite my last minute addition to their group. I am desperate for some feedback on it, especially from the emotions history perspective. But having stepped away from it for a couple of weeks, I also think I have a better sense of the ‘big picture’ and can likely make a number of improvements already. Regardless, it will be a good opportunity for external feedback, suggestions and expertise.
🎙️ Interview Stress 🎙️
Cursing myself for not reading my emails last thing on Friday or during the day on Saturday (I blame the writing retreat co-ordinator who dared us not to check our emails, and then the weekend hit). Last night I caved and opened my emails to find a potential participant suggesting dates for an interview next week - as early as Tuesday!
This is super exciting but I now feel woefully under-prepared as I haven’t picked up the recording equipment yet, haven’t organised travel renumeration or shopping vouchers, and I haven’t contacted the library to ask about a private room. All things I hadn’t really thought about and now need to do with a high level of urgency. Likely going to be a stressful Monday morning now, but I desperately want to pull everything together to meet these requested dates. Still over the moon that anybody has expressed interest in the project and is willing to be interviewed at all.
Edit: as I was writing this, Angela got back to me letting me know I can pick up the equipment on Tuesday, so that is one thing off my mind at least! My saviour 😇
🧩 Entertainment 📺
📺 Alice has gotten me hooked on Traitors. So campy and dramatic: I am obsessed.
📺 Continuing to watch Fresh Off the Boat and The Syndicate
📘 Finished reading Malibu Rising. Solid ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️
📖 Started reading one book and put it down after not getting into it, but now fairly gripped by The Silent Bride. Why does she not reognise her fiance?? I just want answers!
🎧 Listened to the Post Office Scandal podcast, by the journalist who broke the story
🎮 Catching more pokemon on my switch
🎨 Drawing aforementioned pokemon. I’m on number 16 of the year!
🧩 Bit of work on the Wasjig christmas gingerbread competition jigsaw (but less than there would have been if I did not have pokemon to catch
Sounds like you have had a busy week and another one coming up. Great news about the interview. One step at a time and I am sure it will all come together. X