Clarissa AL Lee's Lateral Worlds

 For the first time in my academic career of 6.5 years since PhD graduation, I am expected to teach both an undergraduate and postgraduate course, within about a month since commencing my duties as a senior lecturer at my present institution. This is both exciting yet a little anxiety-provoking, not because I do not believe in my capabilities, but because there are so many new things to grapple with, and also because I am given the free hand of figuring out my course content (as long as the institutionally-approved learning outcomes are intact) while figuring out how to deliver them to students whom I have not met, and who are very different from the students I had been surrounded by prior. The exciting about the courses is that I get to learn along side the students (I mean, I have never taught classes specific to drama/performance arts!) and at the same time, use this time to question what I understand about art (because this is the first time in my entire academic career that I ...

UPDATE: Someone pointed me to this common-sensical and yet often forgotten tenet of self-care, especially for those in the intellectual/creative profession s.  One thing that comes to mind, especially in that powerful opening, is how we sometimes transfer our own insecurities/inadequacy/self-loathing into our interaction with others - we say and do things that hurt others without thinking of the consequence, perhaps because we do not have to bear the consequence directly, at least not immediately. I think an important thing to do is learn how to balance between truth-telling and thoughtfulness in all our actions, which could only come with cultivated EQ. Many of us in intellectual-centric professions tend to valorise intellect over intra- and interpersonal intelligence, and put minimal effort into cultivating the latter; which is dangerous for society especially if your work involves influencing lives, and detrimental to your own personal life in the longer term.  In the pro...