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The way my brain works: I'm like a slot machine, that pays jackpots every time. The only catch is that *someone* has to pull the handle, or *something* has to trigger a turn. I am not, if you will, a self-lighting firecracker. Remote teaching is HARD for me. 1/8
This is why I find intellectual isolation so difficult as a work environment. It's mostly spontaneous interactions with people that pull the handle--teaching, meetings, conferences. I will spit quarters out literally all day, no problem, but only in interaction. 2/8
I'm really bad at conjuring things out of thin air. I'm more Spiderman: I can't fly but I can achieve a flying effect by swinging from one building to the next, one idea to the next. I'm going to need a lot of metaphors: get ready-- 3/8
If you ask me: what are the 10 essential readings in your field? I have LITERALLY NO FUCKING IDEA. I really struggle with that kind of question. But I can name you 40 essential things if you start by "Sherry Turkle used to think computers were cool, but now she doesn't?" 4/8
If I have the first building--Sherry Turkle--I can swing and swing and swing and swing. There needs to be a first building, or I'm standing in the treeless north, shooting webs at lichen. Not going anywhere. 5/8
Right. So putting together syllabus readings is excruciating for me because I have to conjure a term out of thin air. I can pitch a course with a research question but it's SO HARD for me to plan it, no matter how much I know about the topic (I know A LOT). 6/8
This is why I'm always bugging my colleagues, running into their offices with a syllabus question, hoping they'll pull the handle on my brain and I can move forward. Thank you forever, @Digidor , you're the greatest. 7/8
Online remote teaching is like planning syllabi. There's no one to pull the handle. I'm trying to create pullable handles in the course, so that I can function to my regular standard, but if I could INTERACT with people spontaneously again? This would be so much easier. 8/8
