Having submitted my MA dissertation, I now find myself invited back to help on a support day for the next cohort. However, this involves editing my 18,000 words down to around 3,500 - a 20 minute presentation's worth. This feels rather sacrilegious, coming so soon after completion. Some of my own colleagues are already considering what next for them academically, but I am not sure I am either ready or, indeed, capable of another major research project. What I did addressed a significant area of interest for me and I think I need to do some implementing and reflecting before I think of tackling anything of a similar or greater complexity.
In the meantime, I am catching up on books I have had on the "to read" list. I finished the wonderful Thunderclap by Laura Cumming. I feel inspired to do a bit more research on the Dutch masters of the 17th Century, not least Cumming's favourite, the misfortunate Carel Fabritius. A van trip to the Netherlands would be in order.
I have also now read Chums by Simon Kuper. Certainly, there is nothing in here which casts a favourable view on Boris Johnson and his likes. A small group of men who devoted themselves to the art of rhetorical combat in which the style was more important than the substance, meaning that when we faced the two largest crises of the last 80 years, Brexit and COVID, we had people in charge who were able to bluster and blag their way through, dismissing facts and consequences with ease, as they were firmly in the belief that these things didn't apply to them.
Next up, Colin Heber-Percy's new book Lost in the Forest. This is reminding me of the need to explore Savernake Forest once more, and to photograph the named oaks.
For now, on with the editing!
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