tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post3494460248573904547..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: It is the Connection of Desire to Reality that Possesses Revolutionary Force, or, Why I Decided Not to Commit Suicide, After AllCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-9392181629121512972016-01-20T09:36:20.259-05:002016-01-20T09:36:20.259-05:00Hi Eileen, thank you for your blog post and all th...Hi Eileen, thank you for your blog post and all the posts here. I find the ITM posts very interesting and challenging and - I admit - I don't understand everything that's said.... but I knows I like it :) I am just starting to learn literary theory and try and apply it to my thinking, and a lot of it bewilders me, so it is nice to have 'bite size' introductions and more informal explanations on here. <br /><br />On that note, and this is a bit weird, but thank you for making public your struggles and feelings of despair. I read this post at exactly the right time. I am trying to find the will to finish a dissertation at the same time as becoming increasingly less abled bodied due to early onset illness. I try to feel fortunate and lucky in all I have, especially and all the kindnesses and accommodations that my family and university and supervisor make for me, but I have lately been feeling a lot of despair and feelings of 'is this worth it' and very frustrated, aimed at myself and not at anyone else. My academic struggles are of course not the big struggles of publishing and department funding, and probably not unusual at all for students trying to finish a course or dissertation. But your post reminds me that actually studying old literature is a very glorious and very strange enterprise that is worth doing, and to keep going with it, even if the rewards are unconventional by modern standards. Furthermore going through the archives here is introducing me to disability theory and that is proving to be really helpful for me, and is giving me positive and more constructive ways to deal with physical change and becoming disabled. Particular to that and this post, your comments on the importance of kindness and how to make a shared space with others, really struck me, about having to feel free (even if that is not always a real possibility in terms of health, or debt, or physical space or so on) and that there are many ways to encourage that freedom. That's lovely. Thank you for putting that out there. I thought it was very insightful, and made me more hopeful about a future in teaching or academia, not only in how academics and education departments might think about more unconventional members (creatively, mentally, physically, etc), but has given me better tools in how I can frame conversations about inclusivity in ways that are a lot more inviting to others than getting all grouchy about the lack of disability ramps. And to also be aware of, and think about people, who are struggling in different ways and / or have contributions to be shared in different ways as well. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> So thank you very much for teaching and showing me models for thinking with (including accepting difficult feelings towards academic projects and how to find help with it). Thank you for sharing a very personal story, I hoped it helped you in the telling, and you sharing that story has genuinely helped one other person (on the other side of the world and totally unknown to you - the internet is wonderful!). I am sad that you will no longer be contributing posts, but thank you especially for making that one. With gratitude, from a student you've never met but still taught and still helped. <br /><br /> <br /><br />ps apologies for misspellings and grammar etc...using voice software and it punctuates like Christopher WalkenMarianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-32385731526750235622016-01-16T13:55:07.716-05:002016-01-16T13:55:07.716-05:00I cannot imagine parting words more beautiful than...I cannot imagine parting words more beautiful than this, Eileen -- and take some comfort in the fact that you are not leaving, but more intensely cultivating some adjacent and necessary spaces.<br /><br />Thanks for making In the Middle what it is. Without your eloquence, creativity and joie de vivre it would never had the palpable energy, exuberance, passion of the last ten years. <br /><br />You will be sorely missed here.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-46426711885584603782016-01-13T16:05:16.915-05:002016-01-13T16:05:16.915-05:00Eileen:
So now in our age of social media blog c...Eileen: <br /><br />So now in our age of social media blog comments are a dying art/forum, but have just read through this entire post (with the your expanded SubCon talk) I'm sad to realize that you'll now be moving on from ITM. But, at the same time, I'm so very excited that you are now (with various structures in place) dispersing the efforts of punctum books, postmedieval, BABEL, many things that you have been doing so much to build/foster/perpetuate -- in order to commit to new things beyond/outside of Medieval Studies itself. I'll be very interested to discover what directions Studium/punctum records will take from here!<br /><br />It always takes time to think and compose and collect my thoughts with these sorts of things, and there's a lot more I'd like to say, but at this point I just want to express my admiration/love/appreciation for you as a human being and for everything you've been working so hard to create. I am even certain that these alliances/revolutions will continue. <br /><br />- JonathanJonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.com