Vicky Biggs

@Puzzledbyadream Applying for funded PhDs is bruising, as is academia itself. I lost count of how many flat "nos" I had for lectureships. Handling rejection on repeat has become a necessary skill on a par with research. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. If it's what you want, keep trying. ❤️

Gorgeous and rare #eriskaypony in the Outer Hebrides. I love this pony, I always like to say hello to him when I’m passing 🥰🐴 @EachNanEilean

@NoreenMasud @Freya_Gowrley I've been there. Multiple times with multiple strangers. The last time involved me telling a shopper in Tesco, "Have you found that toothpaste yet?" in the belief that he was my husband. (He wasn't. Similar hair and glasses though.) I hope the barista got you a free cup of tea.

I came up behind @Freya_Gowrley in a cafe to say hi, but it wasn’t Freya Gowrley, and now the baristas are being extra specially nice to me

@Harrylegg1998 It's a sobering time for you to be doing oral history. I'm really looking forward to reading what comes out of your project. The topic has ramifications for the study of racialization's role in contemporary genocides.

Have set up an interview with a non-Jewish "Jew", the first such event of my PhD. Previously I had corresponded via email with one other NJJ. The possibility of this gets rarer every day and it reminds me that answers to unasked questions will soon be lost forever.

On @BBCRadio3 at 10pm, @DrMatthewSweet discusses memories of the holocaust and how we pass them on with @RichardZimler @daniellee550 @TaleSpinning and @stuarttaberner1 #HolocaustMemorialDay bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Tonight I'm on @bbcfreethinking with three other academics and writers who are working with the legacies of the Holocaust. I came away having learned a lot, and it was a privilege to share a snapshot of my current research as part of the conversation. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

I feel seen.

@hagenilda Oof. That stings.

New article out today: compassion as an agent of historical change! Do think empathy is a helpful tool for the historian? Well maybe read on… #twitterstorians doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rh…

@BurgandiLeeds My supervisors used to tell me that a PhD doesn't need to be perfect, it only needs to be finished, and you should think of it as the starting point of your academic journey rather than the grand finale. Good luck. I'm so excited to read your thesis.

I could make these chapters perfect if I had 6 more months but I suppose I'll make them as good as they can be in the confined amount of time I've been given and Oh WAIT is that the point of a PhD?!

@Sarah_M_Hall You've reminded me that I've been planning to submit an abstract for something. Unfortunately I've forgotten what the conference was and what I planned to say. 👀 I will follow your lead and reclaim that bit of my brain for something else!

As conference calls are released, it's a good time to share that I had an abstract rejected last week for an event that is smack bang in my research field. It happens. It's OK. It's not a reflection on me. Their loss. And now I will reclaim those days for something lovely! 💐

@rmason717 @ChrisKempshall Same. I decided that if I couldn't get a permanent job as my next step that I wasn't going to chase after fixed-term and zero hours contracts any more. At one point I was commuting in three directions for two zero hours gigs and one part-time temporary job. It's not sustainable.

@ChrisKempshall Great thread, Chris. You've reminded me of the very reasons I decided to stop accepting zero hour contracts and take my expertise (and sanity) elsewhere. Such a sad, sorry state of affairs for all involved. Solidarity to all on strike action (again).

I can imagine, and understand, that these strike dates will be greeted with a fair amount of shock, surprise, and concern from students and their parents. £9k a year on university fees is a lot. So I want to explain just how much these institutions value students. 1/

@saqeram Sigmund Freud in Trieste with the Eels sounds like an avant-garde novel (or at least a band with its warm-up act). Someone needs to write it.

@theaurorac @thenameishyde That behaviour is telling because it suggests that whatever solidarity they offer GRT people is conditional on them being able to control the conversation. Native Americans who call themselves Indian/NDN get exactly the same bad-faith hectoring for the same reasons.

Lately it's been impossible for me to sit down for longer than 4 seconds without my lap being filled by 3.5kg of purring cat. This is all very lovely except for her desire to have full editorial control of my work, which means every 10 minutes she tries to knead the keyboard.

@saqeram You are doing God's work with that. 😊 I hope they took literature or a rarely taught ancient language instead.

One good thing to emerge from this pandemic is the array of online learning. It used to be almost impossible to find a Yiddish class in the UK outside Oxford and London. If you've always wanted to learn Yiddish (and of course you have) here's your chance. yivo.org/Classes

@lingerie_addict It's not that they didn't understand what you wrote, it's that they resent it and they desperately need you to be the unreasonable bad guy.

@lingerie_addict People feel defensive about fast fashion etc because they know these things are lethal to the planet and that workers are exploited to the point of slavery, but they don't want to sacrifice their convenience. Rather than admit that they invoke disability as a get-out clause.

It’s not the poor reading comprehension in and of itself that bothers me. The honest truth is lots of people can’t read. But there’s a particular type of malevolency that accompanies illiteracy on here. As though it’s the poster’s fault that you didn’t understand what they said.