Dear friends, the muses have left me. I desperately want to continue the conversation with you all, but I am not finding it easy to convey anything today. I have started at least three different topics and I can’t crystalize anything genuine about them. I want to tell you about the meaning of dancing in my life, as suggested by my dear friend Lina. I want to write about Latin America too. My friend Jose Plata is an inspiration. He writes the most amazing chronicles about his travels.
I want to write about Hong Kong, a place in which I strangely felt at home and that may have changed after the turmoil. I want to pay tribute to Santiago, another place that may be unrecognizable, and which I remember with unbound appreciation and love. I want to share my excitement and anxiety about work. I want to talk about women at work. And here I am, unable to devote my 400 words at a time to any of these cherished ideas.
Writers’ block was one of the most distressing and recurrent afflictions I experienced while I was writing my dissertation. I remember the horror of writing the first sentence. I remember writing and rewriting the same paragraph over and over. Before going through that experience, I didn’t understand the genius idea of an outline. I felt uncomfortable writing sections and preferred torturing myself trying to develop full drafts from the start, revising over and over each line until it was perfect. Of course, it was never perfect. It was a waste of time, but I couldn’t help it.
I am glad the dissertation process taught me to accept that if you are stuck on something you can move to something else and get back to it in due course. So instead of punishing myself for my lack of inspiration, I acknowledge the impasse and ask for your indulgence.
Before we all forget about them, what did you think about the Oscars? For the first time in years I saw most of the nominated films. I loved “Once upon a time in Hollywood”. I was deeply moved by “Joker”. I was mostly revolted by “Parasite”. “Marriage story” made me reflect about parenting. Which one did you like best? Did you feel like me that Tarantino should have won Best Director? Was Pulp Fiction a defining movie for you and your friends like it was for mine? Did you look for Ezekiel 25 17? I did.
Mariangela Parra 
I LOVED Pulp Fiction back then. And I watched it in German, so watching it in English a few years later made me appreciate it even more. For years (till today actually) I use quotes (and moves) from that movie…not such a fan of Tarantino’s later movies.
I have yet to see Parasite, and the trailer of Joker felt appalling, so I never went to see it. Once upon a time in Hollywood seemed boring but I may watch it eventually, same as The Irishman. Marriage story I started but then it just hit too close to home and I couldn’t finish. I loved “Two Popes” – I think it got nominated as well. Judy I missed, but want to see. Overall, I wasn’t impressed with this years crop of movies or with any of the performances.
For writing the PhD thesis: A book that saved my life was Umberto Eco’s “How to write a thesis”. He wrote it back when computers where not yet a thing, but it was still immensely helpful on how to approach and structure your theses and organize your writing process. It’s a small book and totally worth reading: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/umberto-eco-how-to-write-a-thesis/
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Awesome Susanne! There should be a place to put all the tips for PhDs, a complement to the guidelines perhaps! Eco’s book came to me when I was already in the midst of messy research so it didn’t help me so much. If only I had seen it early on! Once upon a time in Hollywood takes time to start, but the scenery, natural and human is so gorgeous that I didn’t mind. It had violence, as expected in a Tarantino movie, but almost funny as it was inflicted on bad guys only. Mariage story is brutal, I agree. If you didn’t see it, please look for whe scene where Driver sings “being alive”. Sensational. I was not interested in “Two Popes”. If you loved it I will give it a try!
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