Posted by alexandra_k on December 9, 2013, at 18:12:38
In reply to Re: damn, posted by alexandra_k on December 8, 2013, at 17:29:07
ahaha about no more new ideas.
yesterday i spent the day at PhD students talks. which was nice. good to support the graduate students. etc. see that... i should have finished already. some nice talks, though. nice projects.
today is phil bio day and intense... two really wonderful talks. one a new p-doc working with my supervisor. it was a lovely talk. all the more lovely because she is starting out working on his stuff... seeing how she is learning stuff... working it out... then a really nice talk from a bio-chemist. damn. looking forward to next year indeed. the evolution of... metabolic processes. f*ck, yeah.
women... when i first arrived there were the 'bio boys'. but now we seem to have the 'bio girls'. funny ha. i have very mixed feelings about this 'women in philosophy' kind of movement thing that means a lot to some women... perhaps because i don't like the idea of other people defining who i am as a woman etc...
but it is cool to have female role models, yeah.
and... there is more...
i'm starting to see that lots of people (inside philosophy, outside philosophy) well... you need to get yourself way from them. protect yourself somehow. i see that lots of people are scathing about my supervisor for this and that... mostly that he does this 'in group, out group' thing. that he does. but i'm coming to understand why he does it. he surrounds himself with friends. who are productive. who care about advancing knowledge (rather than appearing clever) and who come through on their promises to deliver work (which ensures funding / the continual success of the ongoing enterprise). he... is a good leader for his group. and if you want in... you just have to... persist. and try. and show him that you want it and will work.
it is soul destroying listening to people bitch and moan about why some people get jobs and others don't (publications and persistence) about about how it is all about 'who you know' (reputation to those with reputation) etc etc etc. how some environments are 'competitive' (either care about the work and do it or f*ck off)... people don't seem to get what it is about. hell... i feel i didn't for the longest time, either... but i did eventually work it out. i think. and i see how it is soul destroying to hang about with people who don't get it. and i see that you do have some sort of obligation as a post-doc (to help herd the phd students through) but that your obligation to do that should surely lessen the more senior you are (when you are instead chasing up mid-level professors for their work for your journal or book collection, for instance).
and i see... i just have to be rude and cut people off to get away... so i can go learn from that interesting person over there who actually knows what they are talking about... and so on... the social thing is hard for me, yeah. it is too easy to find yourself surrounded by people who will happily waste your time... so very much harder to to find yourself surrounded by people who are helpful to you... i need to get my thesis done. and see about getting to philosophy of science conferences... i need to produce. to try, at least. people will help me. i need to... get people sending me their drafts again... quid pro quo clarisse...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1055362
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20131110/msgs/1055826.html