It is the season of exams and marking. For all of us higher education people, it’s a time of procrastination, as well as the usual and expected work, overwork, and unnecessary extra work which is entirely your own fault. That is to say: as well as them, and because of them, in what is sometimes a vicious circle and sometimes a creative constructive critical virtuous spiral.

Because I am an essentially virtuous person, in my case the procrastination took the shape of making three sites on UBC Blogs: one is published, the other two will be work in progress for a while. I’m thinking ahead to the next writing on here, proper writing, about teaching and learning and knowledge. Reflecting on what(ever) I’ve done this year, and undone, and not done.

It can help to write about those apparent negative spaces so that they don’t turn into a void and swallow you up. Sometimes you’re writing to commemorate them and turn their passing into a rejoicing, a celebration of an idea’s short life with you before you pass it along to potential future other lives with other people.

The site that’s up is an institutional professional* version of some of what’s already on here. It’s a proper serious teaching portfolio. Remember those Web Sites that people used to make back at the beginning of the century and further back into the fin de siècle prehistory of the internet?

It really is, seriously! And 100% propriety!! And I didn’t even need to write in corporatese and give myself moral and physical indigestion let alone hives, which would have been unfortunate as we’re already into allergy season and I’ve had nearly a week of photosensitive rashes and need to restock on antihistamines. See? I’ve even avoided unnecessary fuss and complaint, when I had an opportunity for them. Hashtag “Adulting For The Win” if we still do that sort of thing and it’s not #cringe.

That does mean that the site is simple, though, as a linguistic compromise intended for multiple audiences.

Simple can be pretty too.

It’s at https://blogs.ubc.ca/julietobrien/ and it looks like this:

* By “professional” I mean of course the proper sense of radical professionalism, on which see my antique ramblings from a few years ago. I still stand by what I said, I wouldn’t change a word. In anticipation of May Day next week, here they are again.

• an introductory post (2017-08-15): mostly screenshots, setting up the rationale for the series: a need to talk about The P-Word

• Radical professionalism (1): it is not neutrality (2017-09-03)

• Radical professionalism (2): it is not about appearances (2017-09-04)

• two other entremets posts (here and here).

• Radical professionalism (3): what it is and what it could be (2017-09-18)

• Radical professionalism (4): it exists and it’s medievalist (2017-09-19)

And here’s my mouthiest May Day post, from 2020; affectionately remembered as Add Insult To Injury Year.