Kimberly Hirsh

Today in Pokemon Research Reflects Real Research: an early career researcher didn’t have access to a journal article she wanted to read, she posted about it online, and a senior faculty member sent her the article. ❤️

Took the Buzzfeed Inner Aesthetic Stranger Things Character quiz & got Will Byers and Cottagecore: “If you haven’t already, you should absolutely spend a day baking, gardening, or anything else that feels cozy and homey.” Like D&D and Nintendo?

Currently reading: Different Seasons: Four Novellas by Stephen King 📚

💬📚 “…a story’s as much a house or garden as song.” Jane Alison, _Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative _

💬📚 “The essential element in nurturing our creativity lies in nurturing ourselves.” Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

💬📚 “As blocked creatives, we focus not on our responsibilities to ourselves, but on our responsibilities to others. We tend to think such behavior makes us good people. It doesn’t. It makes us frustrated people.” Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

💬📚 “Do not let your self-doubt turn into self-sabotage.” Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

I’m wearing an oversized Sailor Moon tee and black bike shorts with lace trim, so hello from 1995, I guess.

I’ve got an ARC of The Nap Ministry’s book REST IS RESISTANCE ready for me to download from NetGalley, and will probably take it to the beach with me next week. I also asked my local library to purchase it. They ordered FIVE COPIES. 📚

💬📚 “Perhaps people who experience the world in ways that are considered atypical have an intuitive feeling for the limits of typicality.” Ed Yong, An Immense World

💬📚 “A scientist’s explanations about other animals are dictated by the data she collects, which are influenced by the questions she asks, which are steered by her imagination, which is limited by her senses.” Ed Yong, An Immense World

Good to remember about all research.

💬📚 “[The senses] pull relevance from randomness, and weave meaning from miscellany.” Ed Yong, An Immense World

🔖 📺 Celia Rose Gooding, who does an amazing job playing Cadet Nyota Uhura on Strange New Worlds, wrote a beautiful guest column for The Hollywood Reporter on Nichelle Nichols’s legacy. 🖖

🍿 Watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

It was super refreshing to watch a movie that was deliberately, though not ploddingly, paced. This one’s a classic for a reason. Highly recommend.

📚💬 “Animals are not just stand-ins for humans or fodder for brainstorming sessions. They have worth in themselves.” - Ed Yong, An Immense World

I’m devoting the next few weeks to healing and rest, aside from my existing obligations. I release myself from worry about the future, pressure to have a cohesive personal brand, and the need to maximize my network. That will all keep until September.

📚💬 “It is all that we know, and so we easily mistake it for all there is to know.” Ed Yong, An Immense World

It’s August, so I’m going to do The Sealey Challenge and plan to read a book of poetry every day this month.

Finished reading: The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It by Helen Scales 📚

Real talk, I skipped the end of #CLS2022 to hang out with my kid and nap and I have no regrets.

🔖 Read Rapport or Respect? (Helen Kara).

Dr. Kara makes excellent points about how research can seem friendly but be extractive. This is why I prefer either to do insider research or to maintain relationships after the study.

I have a lot of hairs that are white at the bottom, black or brown in the middle, and white at the top. These are a useful indicator of changes in my thyroid function over time.