Intro: I am working to develop a chronic illness methodology. Since beginning this program, my health has demanded more and more of my time, money, and attention, to the point where, in addition to weekly therapy, I have at least one other medical appointment every week: rheumatologist, bodyworker, gastroenterologist, GP, psychiatrist, acupuncturist, physical therapist, &c. These demands, in addition to my full-time student status, two teaching jobs, and research assistant duties, are burdensome. This is also preliminary work for orals/early stages of dissertation planning. I’m developing these protocols and strategies for my own long-term projects, and building in a lot of flexibility surrounding time management and enough flexibility to accommodate for my periodic pain/fatigue/brain fog flares, which occur probably twice a month. My aim is to flesh out a relationship between my self-care needs and my intellectual work at a sustainable and steady pace.

 

Research Questions: how to articulate/thematize/hold space for the emergence of critical sensibility/aesthetic of chronic pain (“that thing is making me write this way; I am forced into writing this way because of this thing”); Liberate yourself from judgment surrounding the writing that emerges. Critical femme sensibilities. Sick aesthetic. Archiving illness. “Risking the obvious” – Sedgwick; Intimate simultaneity? #sickgirlglam? Sick girls doing sustainability in labor, right? How can I make an archive of sickstuff? How do I do a dissertation that incorporates my own self-archive?

Criteria:

 

• Can [X] be done lying down? Lying down may be interpreted creatively, e.g., reclining, propped up, in repose, wrapped in heating pads/ice packs, etc.

• Does [X] demand non-crip time restrictions? Does [X] have a firm, unmovable deadline? Can [X] get pushed back if you have a flare and can’t visit the archive/look at a laptop screen/get out of bed?

• Does [X] acknowledge the limits of the body? e.g., chronic pain is forcing me to write from bed while watching Bravo reality TV with pillows behind my head and knees. How must I shift my interactions with [X] to accommodate my body?
• Can [X] be accessed from multiple devices? How can I ensure that [X] functions across platforms? Are there media that I can add to [X] that offer multiple modes of knowledge-making (e.g. YouTube, PDF, open-source softwares)?

 

 

Practice (Access):

 

• Can I get an extension?

• Can I get last-minute coverage of my writing center shift tomorrow morning?

• When my bras all get washed in putrid, fragranced laundry soap at the laundromat and I wind up flat on my back with a migraine rippling down my skull, can I take enough time away from it to get better?

• Can I use this list for Orals/other exams and requirements?
• Can this project move slowly? Can I make room for this research to move slowly?