My husband is nearly finished with his doctorate and currently wading through the muddy waters of searching for an academic job or post-doc and so, understandably, I found this video about what motivates humans quite interesting.  It isn’t earth shattering news or anything.  In fact, I’d bet that most of you will nod along and by the end of the video will want to join me in saying, “Well, duh! I didn’t exactly need ‘science’ to tell me that!”  But it did get me thinking; In the publish or perish world of academics, where young professors often make enormous sacrifices to secure tenure in order to provide for their families, what would it look like for higher education institutions to motivate academics (like my husband) with these ideas?  And it made me wonder what university would look like if we could motivate students with these ideas.  Food for thought this Monday.

What do you think?  What is the strongest motivator in your work and/or personal life?  What about your spouse?

-Deanna

Did you see this piece in the Huffington Post last fall? A friend shared it recently and I had to post it.

“How old is too old?

To let your toddler play on the lawn in his skivvies?

To still use a bottle? Wear a bib? Need a nap?

Parents wonder, and also judge.

Back when Vittoria Cerioli was an infant,her mama, Licia Ronzulli brought the girl to work — which just happens to be the floor of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where her mother is an Italian representative.”

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This piece is fascinating to me!  Scroll down to see the slideshow at the bottom of the article.

What do you think?  Too far?  But where is the line?  Is there a balance?

And regardless of your thoughts, isn’t she the cutest little thing? :)

Some food for thought today!

-M.C

So I am sitting in a tiny little dentist office in Headington (area of Oxford) and I’ve just grabbed the clipboard from the funky red-headed receptionist.  I’ve settled into a rather comfy chair by a stack of magazines.  I situate the clipboard to start filling out the form and find it funny that there is a pencil attached to it instead of a pen.  I unclip it and begin to write my name.

As I grip the pencil I feel my heart beat a bit faster.  Can this really be?  Is this the real thing?  Where on earth could this have come from?  It’s been close to twenty years since I have seen anything like it.  I’m almost star-struck…

And you won’t believe it, but I am holding a Lisa Frank pencil.  That’s right, all you kids of the 90’s, you know what I’m talking about.  It’s the legit thing.  A neon pink pencil with a sort of leopard print design inside some stars and the little eraser holder is even shiny blue like it should be.  I can’t help but look around the room at the other patients and smile.  I want to shout out, ‘Did you all get Lisa Frank pencils too?’  I begin to wonder if the red-head pulled it out of her trapper keeper that she found hidden under her childhood bed at her parents’ house or something crazy like that. I have to fight the urge to steal it rather than slip it back into the office clipboard.

– – –

A few months back I went to a women’s forum event hosted here at Oxford for women academics.  I attended (even though not an academic myself and came as ‘married to an academic’) and greatly enjoyed the thoughts and discussions.  When going around the room to introduce ourselves, we had to state our names, why we were in Oxford, and what we were doing when we were ten years old.  Amazing introduction, right?  It was fascinating to hear what every woman around the room was doing when they were ten.  Most of us were from different cultures and continents but many of us commented on doing things that still somewhat could be considered important to us today.  Holding that Lisa Frank pencil and reflecting on ‘what I was doing when I was ten’ has really gotten me thinking lately.  What were my dreams, desires, and visions for my future when I was ten years old?

What were yours?

For me, the past few years of growing, moving, changing has involved a great deal of self-discovery and self-awareness.  It’s been a love/hate journey of where I have come from and where I am going.  I’ve learned a great deal about how to understand, consent and ‘live into’ the woman I am, the woman who I am becoming and to look back upon the woman and girl I once was.  The idea of looking back…thinking back to when I was ten, used to be somewhat of a challenging thing to do. It’s funny though, because now more than ever I wish I could sneak back in time and sit down for tea (or maybe for a pack of gushers) and chat with my old self.  Not to change or teach or ‘enlighten’ the ten year old me, but just to listen.  To listen to what I thought about when the world seemed so big…or rather so small.

Hmmm, not our typical food for thought, but something fun to think about this Monday:

What were you dreaming about when you were ten?

Are any of those dreams similar to what you still dream of today?  Are you living them?

Did any involve tall, dark and handsome, robed academics? J

And do gushers and Lisa Frank still exist?!

-M.C.

I mean yikes!  Just check this guy out? 

To be honest,  around this time last year I didn’t even know what quinoa was, better yet how to pronounce it.  Today, it’s a staple on our grocery list and we eat it at least once a week…from quinoa flakes in our homemade muffins and museli to our new favorite quinoa salads.  This weekend, I came across this article in the Guardian and can’t shake it.  I know we’ve had quite a few ‘food for thoughts’ recently that have actually centered around our food, and this is yet another one to chew on.

But in the case of quinoa, there’s a ghastly irony when the Andean peasant’s staple grain becomes too expensive at home because it has acquired hero product status among affluent foreigners preoccupied with personal health, animal welfare and reducing their carbon “foodprint”. Viewed through a lens of food security, our current enthusiasm for quinoa looks increasingly misplaced.

Yikes. Are you on the quinoa bandwagon? Do I/we stop and think where my/our food is coming from?  Does it add up?  What do I do about it?

-M.C.