Julia Polyck-O’Neill

Yeah! Pay it forward ❤️

...(to work on other things)

OH MY GOODNESS.

The Closing of the Tabs, August 22, 2025 version, is completely wonderful. I just submitted a fresh book chapter to editors -- gaining a few days thanks to my rescheduled AC flight had a hidden advantage in that I could take a bit more writing time -- but now I'm freeeee

*in

:(

The deep, dark irony of EVERYTHING happening at once.

I can't believe I've been able to write so productively during this time of crisis in my family. It's a slow, predictable crisis, but still emotionally draining and painful. My heart goes out to friends who've endured losing a parent to slow deterioration. Not an easy part of being a human being.

One of my favourite parts of writing is the slow, evolving learning one undertakes when doing so. This is, of course, in addition to the initial research and studies for the proposal... it's all such a beautiful process when one has the time.

Calling Memory into Place How can memory be mobilized for social justice? How can images and monuments counter public forgetting? And how can inherited family and cultural traumas be channeled in productive ways? In this deepl...

Reading a chapter is a beautiful book for my almost-complete book chapter (one of two I've been working on this summer), so wanted to highlight the title for others as it's quite excellent!

Apel, Dora. Calling Memory into Place. Rutgers University Press, 2020, doi.org/10.36019/978....

A good rule of thumb: perform one or two invited reviews for each article you submit! I also like to review for major conferences. I enjoy editing work and this feels similar, plus it puts good energy into the universe!

I have now submitted all the summer reviews I'd promised. A note to mention how useful it can be to perform peer review to drafts that are well-matched to one's area of research and expertise. I say that because we're in the midst of a reviewer crisis; very few academics are agreeing to review.

I teach my "Project Management and Ethical Collaboration for Humanists" class with this, and have gotten a lot out of it myself. If you're struggling going back to work at a university this fall, grab a friend, schedule some coffee meet-ups to talk about it, and do this workbook.

Nicole is so great!

Good thing I have reviews to write, otherwise this day of brainfog and grief wouldn't be productive at all.

I participated in a fiction writing workshop this weekend and am surprised by how much it's helped motivate me to write academically now that I'm home, in front of my computer. I feel we forget how important creativity is to scholarly work.

I tried a ‘fashion’ yesterday. Felt nice!

I've seen some talk about how we are witnessing the end of the professoriate as we know it and this may be true, but I think it's bigger: it's the decimation of the mission-oriented profession.

Want to make a middle-class living serving the public good? Capitalism doesn't want that for you.

Burlington Contemporary - Journal - Spiritually overqualified: Robert Rauschenberg and ‘The Happy Apocalypse’ commission For a few days in June 2023 the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, was illuminated by an uncanny amber glow. Outside, an orange sky hung heavy with particulate matter and the atmosphere was haz...

Very pleased to share my text “Spiritually overqualified: Robert Rauschenberg and ‘The Happy Apocalypse’ commission” in Burlington Contemporary now available online in issue 12 with a number of other interesting essays. contemporary.burlington.org.uk/journal/jour...

Also, fellow academics, if you're rehashing an argument you've made (at length) in a previous publication in a new article, how do you handle this? I don't want to self-plagiarize but I have already done this work quite painstakingly elsewhere!

Relatedly, any good books on public art on your dashboard?

Thoroughly enjoying writing this article about public art. It's funny how topics that are peripheral to what sometimes feels like the 'real work' (eg the book; the teaching) feel like a clever form of cheating the system.

It might seem like a thinly veiled complaint but this is real advice! The expression "herding cats" is often bandied abt in academic admin and there's good reason!

Want a career in academia? You might consider working as an RA or other contract worker doing some combo of communications/organizational/editorial work. It chips away at the ego just enough that when you organize anything later in your career, nothing will surprise or bother you!

I love this idea.

BRAG POST:
I wrote almost a thousand (academic) words today! And it's a Monday!

rude lol

Donate to Help Us Honor Cindy's Memory, organized by Daniella Mota On July 5, my sister Cindy gained her wings. She was a beautiful, smart, strong, and funny … Daniella Mota needs your support for Help Us Honor Cindy's Memory

I'm trying to help a family here in Boulder raise a bit of money to give their aunt/sister/daughter a funeral - if you'd consider chipping in, we'd all be grateful ❤️ www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-ho...

Also, it feels sooo good to return to my work after a few weeks of not having my time be my own. Oh wait, and also the last year of all new preps and f/t teaching. A relief to discover that I can still think and read and write, perhaps even better than before -- or at least in a new way.

Working on a book chapter about public art, memory, place, and the archive. A set of ideas I've been playing with for a few projects, always in different configurations, applied to different cities I've known. Feels poetic. The Newfoundland breeze is passing through my office as I write abt Toronto.

I am never complaining. I love writing! But, there are several people in my life who likely mean well enough, but assume that I have the summer off. No! Summer is for writing and research and conferences and preparing my courses for the Fall!

Just in case you imagine me enjoying naps and long walks on the beach, please know that this submission is perfectly alinged with a new deadline for revision for another article lol.