The end of academic year is traditionally the time, when I suffer (not surprising). The suffering is related to my own assessment of where did most of my energy go over the last 10 months. Yes, yet another year is passing by when I promised to myself to write more, to research more, and to dedicate more time to my students. That was around the end of September of 2021, when it seemed we’re freshly (almost) out of the pandemic. The pandemic years seem to have coagulated into one, long and greyish stretch of time filled with butt-, spine- and eye-hurt instigated by the endless Zoom or MS Teams meetings and bureaucratic nightmare of equally endless chain of paperwork following the pattern: print-sign up-scan-email. Occasionally, I had a chance to engage in collaboration that brought about a few satisfying projects. I paid a lot of attention to be regularly present in my permacultural garden and continue herbalist passion that I started a few years ago.

So I’m trying to switch gears as much as possible, and this website is yet another attempt at keeping me disciplined about some of my own promises. To remember when I’m getting angry and disillusioned with the structure of academia, preying on my life energy and effectively turning me into zombie.

June 28th, Cancer New Moon, late afternoon, after a mild thunderstorm which alleviated a bit the severe drought that has been devastating this mountainous region in Central Europe for the last couple of years. I’m starting yet another blog, curious where it is going to lead me.