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Down Here We All Float
May. 5th, 2020 04:00 pmI recently read through a threaded conversation on a subtweet and saw some rando (probably a grad student) saying that I only write positive reviews of the work published by my friends.
On one hand, that’s absolutely true!! My friends and professional colleagues do good work, and I think their writing should be appreciated and promoted.
On the other hand, I don’t really have much choice in the assignments I get. I have the ability to turn down review requests, I guess, but walking up to the editor of an academic journal and saying “let me review this” isn’t really a thing I can do. I mean, I could do it – there’s nothing stopping me – but writing academic book reviews is time-consuming and difficult, and I don’t have the energy for more than I’ve been formally requested to doand also my priority is writing pornographic fanfic.
On my third hand, I kind of want to be like, How about you become my friend so I can write positive reviews of your work too?
I feel like academia was already on the verge of collapse before the pandemic. It’s currently a horrible disaster, and an attitude that holds that “we all rise when the water level rises” is more relevant and pragmatic now than it’s ever been.
On one hand, that’s absolutely true!! My friends and professional colleagues do good work, and I think their writing should be appreciated and promoted.
On the other hand, I don’t really have much choice in the assignments I get. I have the ability to turn down review requests, I guess, but walking up to the editor of an academic journal and saying “let me review this” isn’t really a thing I can do. I mean, I could do it – there’s nothing stopping me – but writing academic book reviews is time-consuming and difficult, and I don’t have the energy for more than I’ve been formally requested to do
On my third hand, I kind of want to be like, How about you become my friend so I can write positive reviews of your work too?
I feel like academia was already on the verge of collapse before the pandemic. It’s currently a horrible disaster, and an attitude that holds that “we all rise when the water level rises” is more relevant and pragmatic now than it’s ever been.
