I had this feeling that the house would be a lot cleaner once I'd retired. This has proven to be completely untrue, but today I suddenly realised why. Before I reveal all, let's just think about academics and housework more generally. First, cleaners: we don't have one. Lots of my academic friends do, whether they… Continue reading Housework for academics
Author: fluff35
I blog on a range of subjects arising from various aspects of my life. On https://theretiringacademic.wordpress.com, I focus on my reactions to early retirement and think about aspects of teaching and research which I hope will be stimulating to those still working in higher education. On https://shared-conversations.com, I blog as an authorized lay preacher in a pretty standard parish church of the Church of England, who needs to write in order to find out what she thinks. I took part in the Oxford/St Albans/Armed Forces C of E 'Shared Conversations' in March 2016, worked on the Living in Love and Faith resources from 2017 and was elected to General Synod in October 2021, and continue to try to reflect on some of the issues. On https://mistakinghistories.wordpress.com I share my thoughts on various aspects of the history of medicine and the body.
I have also written for The Conversation UK on https://theconversation.com/profiles/helen-king-94923/articles
It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
When I retired, I never planned to have a clear before/after moment. Professionally, binaries of this kind have no appeal - I wrote a whole book about one such alleged moment - and when it comes to life transitions, why is one supposed to feel any different just because of a birthday, for example? In… Continue reading It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
I think it's time for another stock-taking blog post. This retirement thing is complicated, and I know I have followers who are thinking of taking the same path and want to know what it looks like, although their paths may turn out to be quite different. So, four months of retirement: what has happened so… Continue reading Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
Redundancy in universities
(written before The Open University began its extensive voluntary severance programme in 2018, but with a few relevant additions in italics...) It's déjà vu all over again... I had a bad case of déjà vu this week, as the universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth and Sunderland announced job cuts. I went through this at Reading in 2010… Continue reading Redundancy in universities
Exam season – my top tips
Students - How to survive the exam season with your sanity intact...
The travelling academic (2) Being allowed out
Should you go to that conference? What's the real cost? Can you get there from here?? And what's my top conference tip?
Harassment and sexual misconduct: discussing the unthinkable
Issues of power and consent in higher education: as harassment advisor and from the other side
Publishing the book
'There are two sorts of failures,' one said with authority, 'those who never publish their PhD and those who publish it with xxxxxxxxx'. .
The agony of marking
It's that season, yet again. For UK academics, term has ended, and coursework marking has begun. Soon to come: marking dissertations, followed by marking exams. I gave up marking when I moved to The Open University in 2011, as there it's done by the associate lecturers (aka 'tutors'), so all that was left for me… Continue reading The agony of marking
‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
The last thing I did at The Open University before leaving was to produce a MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course (still available here). I'm so glad I did this, because the challenge of writing around 35,000 words that took advantage of the FutureLearn platform - arranged in 'steps' of 750 words or five minutes… Continue reading ‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
The retiring academic 