There and back again

The past 3 months have been jammed packed for me and I think my body has decided this was the perfect time to strike me with the illness of the decade (I don't know if it's COVID, but my PCR home test should arrive today). So, this update will be short and sweet.

To those of you who may not know, I have successfully passed my PhD viva (oral defense) and am now Dr Spinoodler, PhD, will all but my diploma in hand. I have spent the ensuing weeks launching two podcasts, one of which (Philosophy Casting Call) is directly relevant to my desire to amplify the experience of philosophers who are underrepresented in the academy. This involves swallowing my pride and cold-emailing strangers, but the result has been so enriching and I hope my listeners feel the same.

With Bookshelf Remix, I indulge in my love for fiction that I had set aside, not entirely consciously, during my PhD. So far this year I have read 93 books to make up for lost time and it has definitely improved my mental health. Bookshelf Remix is a chance for my friend Sophia Basaldua-Sun and I to broadcast our nerdy 2-person book club as we lean into our analytic reading skills unabashedly (and somehow find a way to discuss colonialism in basically every episode. It's not our fault if it's there!).

But what about your philosophy research?, you may ask. Well, I am currently a research assistant on the ground floor of the upcoming Scottish Institute for World Philosophies and that is very excio, especially since I have started to train myself in Filipino philosophy. I am also currently applying for a grant with Laval University's Shared Decision-Making Canadian Research Chair, so fingers crossed on that.

I am immensely proud of everything I have accomplished and, because hardships don’t change my core personality, as you can see I have kept barrelling through new projects and learning new skills. But I also wanted to share the video above as it documents an important part of my PhD journey that I do not want to forget.

I created “Syncopation” as part of a digital storytelling workshop for disabled people working in higher education that was ran by the ReVision Centre at the University of Guelph. I met incredible people, witnessed raw vulnerability and resilience, and learned new skills (a personal favourite, as you may have deduced from the above).

I wanted to share my experience to express how cultural and institutional barriers to disability inclusivity still have an impact even of people are individually well meaning and “nice”. I chose to pan some of my knitting projects because the manual act of knitting and creating beautiful objects, as well as the community it allowed me to form, was a huge part of what got me through my PhD.