sunnie-studies

[sunnie-studies]

20.08.25

still on my summer holiday so i’m trying to do some reading not directly related to my thesis. i picked up this book targeted towards late middle school/early high school to work on my japanese reading skills and i’ve slowly been working my way through a non-fiction book on the evolution of romantic love in england before and after ww1.

[sunnie-studies]

JSTOR gothic

you open a tab on JSTOR to begin research for a paper. you leave momentarily for a cup of tea; when you return, there are two more tabs that you do not remember opening. you look away to find your notes, and when you look back, there are five more tabs. eventually, there are thirty tags open in your browser. you can no longer access any site other than JSTOR. somehow, this does not seem strange to you.

an article pops up in your search that, while interesting, does not seem to relate much to your research topic. still, you read it anyway out of curiosity. it cites several other articles that are also on JSTOR, and you decide to read them too. each article brings several others with it. suddenly you are an academic theseus, winding your way through the labyrinth of citations, but you have forgotten the thread that should have led you safely back. it is two in the morning and you are reading about foraging behaviors in south american flamingo. you are a shakespearean scholar. your eyes cry out for sleep, but you cannot stop reading.

you are scrolling through the pages of articles to find what you need. eventually you notice that you have seen several of these article titles before. confused, you click to the next page of articles and scroll more slowly. it is exactly the same as the last page. another attempt yields the same result. no matter how far you go, you make no progress and find no new articles. you keep scrolling.

you have been reading so long that you find you can no longer form a sentence without using “nevertheless,” “reminiscent,” or “quintessential.” you also find yourself occasionally slipping between popular academic languages. it has finally happened: you have become academia. your friends and family can no longer understand you, but you can at least read all of the literature in your field. you figure it is a fair trade.

you pull up JSTOR to search for an article, but before you can type in your search, JSTOR pulls up exactly what you need. you are wary, but you try to read the article. JSTOR flips to the page that contains the exact information you needed for your argument. alarmed, you realize with horror what is going on. you are no longer reading on JSTOR. JSTOR is reading you.

[sunnie-studies]

Manuscripts don’t burn.

(Novacella Monastery ~ quote by Bulgakov ~ pics all mine)

[sunnie-studies]

so metropolitan museum of art has a register of books they’ve published that are out of print and that you can download for free! they’re mostly books on art, archeology, architecture, fashion and history and i just think that’s super useful and interesting so i wanted to share! you can find all of the books available here!

[sunnie-studies]

What's a difference between historians people who just like to study history?

idk maybe the fulltime yearslong professional training by other professionals and constant peer review aka quality control? what's the difference between a five star chef and someone who makes homemade meals every day.

[sunnie-studies]

いよかんドーナツ

[sunnie-studies]

this album was my favourite last summer

[sunnie-studies]

something awful happening on this blog where i post arguments that historian is a proper profession and not a glorified hobby and then post news that a major us university has halted all language studies admissions (including classics and other historical languages) and is revising its entire undergrad curriculum because they deem anything not english and not ''''american'''' superfluous and not beneficent.

your anti-intellectualism does not exist in a vacuum. the humanities is not a hobby. scholars are not the enemy. administrations working with and bowing down to a fascist regime are, and this is what kills diversity and critical thought. this is another form of censorship.

[sunnie-studies]

BOX AND COVER (JAPAN), 19TH CENTURY

[sunnie-studies]

oh hp deskjet 2710e we're really in it now

[sunnie-studies]

Usagi ranma

Just perfect for the usagi minka, is this ranma we have had for many years. It was to be installed in either an entrance mon, or perhaps in a legit ranma space, but we never found the right opportunity.

Instead of gathering dust in the corner of a room, we cleaned, waxed, and mounted above the minka's main entrance off our genkan (to gather dust). The frolicking usagi details are gorgeous...

[sunnie-studies]

Big Maneki-Neko, Japan (By edamame note)

[sunnie-studies]

studying isn't always aesthetic, and that is totally ok.

not every study session is accompanied by a cool bright matcha and and a perfect messy bun. not all of your notes will be written in beautiful looped cursive and perfectly highlighted.

sometimes the only way you can study is in your pyjamas, sometimes the only place you are sitting down long enough is the bus, sometimes your notecards are tatty and ripped.

you don't always have to be perfectly aesthetic, let go of your performative notes, write notes that help you.

wear things that are comfy and easy to concentrate in.

be gentle with yourself, learn what works for you and stick to it.

[sunnie-studies]

A Japanese student leafing through a big volume sitting in the university library. Kyoto, 1970

Ph. Mario De Biasi

[sunnie-studies]

So it's come my attention that there are a lot of students, particularly in humanities and social sciences disciplines, who need to hear this, so here goes:

Do the readings.

Oh my God, just do the readings. I promise, it gets easier once you get into the habit of it.

What makes a good student? Doing the readings. Literally just doing the readings is enough to make you a good student.

[sunnie-studies]

last day at my first apartment. i'm going to miss this view and the squirrels on the tree.

[do not repost without credit, reblog is okay | instagram: dionwrites]

[sunnie-studies]

An afternoon of cherries and journaling

coffeeandbookss