Month: February 2025

Stupid unprecedented times

On By Tanya NoelIn life, teaching & learningLeave a comment

A few weeks ago, I posted about my plan to reflect on and share some of what I’m learning and thinking about in my study leave. While I have been reading and posting, I’m increasingly feeling like this is not the time, and I am not in the right place to do this right now.

I still will be reading and working on my study leave projects – that’s a given, as it’s currently my job. Blogging and sharing on this topic, on the other hand, are feeling increasingly irrelevant and pointless in this moment.  As a scientist and university educator* living in the US, it’s devastating to see the massive cuts and layoffs in these areas. People close to me have lost their jobs; others are at risk of losing them. Meanwhile, the H5N1 influenza virus is sticking around, so the gutting of public health in the USA seems particularly ill-timed. (I was glad to hear that Canada has ordered H5N1 vaccine doses, with the intent of making them available to high-risk people.) The damage that is being done now is likely to have an impact for a very long time, and while I am lucky enough to work in Canada, we have our own issues and constraints. (If you can vote in the Ontario election, please check out the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA)’s 2025 Ontario election advocacy platform.)

So … I am not sure what blogging I will be doing in the future, but for now, I’m putting the study leave reading and blogging focus on hiatus.  (I’d still love to talk to other folks about this stuff, but that may be better done in conferences/workshops.)

I will share  a resource that might be of interest to those of you who are struggling with the onslaught of awful news. I sometimes feel like I can’t escape it – on the banks of TVs at the gym, flooding Bluesky (I follow a lot of folks in education and science, many who are based in the USA). I’m limiting my deliberate exposure to most news sources and social media, but it also feels irresponsible to completely escape the news. Liz Neeley and Liminal are doing the work to sort through the news, through the lens of science and science communications (“… sensemaking in a noisy and complicated world”). Check out the weekly posts/newsletter here.    

* And a human who cares about science, education, other folks …

Itty bitty update

On By Tanya NoelIn life, professional development, teaching & learningLeave a comment

A very small Study Leave reading update for Valentine’s Day. (Not FOR Valentine’s Day … it just happens to BE Valentine’s Day.)

I recently read Making Space for Critical Climate Education by Sharon Stein, which gave me food for thought. (One statement that really stuck with me: “Educators must do our own self-work if we seek to offer relevant climate education.”)

I learned a bit more about bandwidth recovery, and now have yet another book (by Cia Verschelden) on my list of books that I want to read.

Oh, and I’m still wrestling with how to cope with the ongoing chaos/awfulness, trying to figure out how much I need to keep informed without getting overwhelmed (or nihilistic), where to put my time and energy, etc. I know I’m not alone in this … which is partly why I am putting this out there, I guess. Take care of yourselves, folks.

 

Trying to read in a dumpster fire, Rivera’s mural microbiology, & becoming fungal

On By Tanya NoelIn book, life, microbiology, teaching & learningLeave a comment
Toy version of the "It's fine" dog meme, with cute little flaming dumpster and all.
Photo by Shannon Kunkle on Unsplash

It probably doesn’t need to be said that it’s been another challenging week in terms of concentrating on work (especially when work & politics overlap in the current US federal government targeting of science, DEI, etc. – I was really disheartened by ASM & HHMI this week, among others). I’ve been doing some reading, but only a little in my “study leave” books .

I read a paper yesterday – very cool to see a discussion of Diego Rivera’s microbiology (and public health) art in murals he created! I plan to bring this into Intro Micro next time I teach it. Not sure exactly where it will fit into my course, but given the proximity of the University of Windsor to the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum (DIA) (home of the Rivera Detroit Industry murals), I imagine a number of our students have visited it. (I go to the DIA pretty often, myself, and always visit the Rivera Court to see the murals, which appear to be a popular attraction for visitors of all ages.)

Continue reading “Trying to read in a dumpster fire, Rivera’s mural microbiology, & becoming fungal” →

Sharing something small (with some plant stuff & side of 80s TV nostalgia)

On By Tanya NoelIn book, misconceptions, plants, pseudoscience, teaching & learningLeave a comment

I’ve been reading my “study leave” books, but not a whole lot. Over the past week, I’ve read the preface of one book, and the prologue of another. I’d hoped to pick a book to maybe work through, but am finding that a bit challenging*.

A cactus with googly eyes appears to be reading a bookThinking about my plan to post at least once a week about my study leave reading, I spent some time thinking “I failed”. Looking at what I’d actually written about my plan, though, I only promised to share something big or small that I read about … Surely I can share something small!

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