Ship of Fools (1506), from the Othmer Library

Man overboard! Alexis Smets left the Ship of Fellows after finishing his short-term fellowship at the end of October. Otherwise, however, the Ship is sailing along smoothly, and the crew is busy scrubbing the decks (i.e., reading everything in sight at the Othmer Library), scouting the horizon (applying for jobs for next year), and walking the plank (presenting conference papers).

Now that it is getting cooler outside and tea and coffee taste ever so slightly better than in the summer, and now that the days are getting shorter and it is so cozy to snuggle up with a book, the Fearless Fellowship Leader has had fellowship-related books and movies on her mind. Here are some of her favorites:

David Lodge, Changing Places (1975). An exchange of professors between the English red-brick university of Rummidge (eerily reminiscent of Birmingham) and the University of Euphoria, aka “Euphoric State” (cp. Berkeley [California], on oh so many levels), which uses humor to point out the cultural differences between British and American academia. In a way this is The Office for academics—and quite appropriately, in book form.

Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue (1974). A satire that takes the University of Cambridge by its gowns and runs with it. The fictional Porterhouse college abounds with foppish fellows, a heated debate about the admission of women to the college, and balloons of a, ahem, different nature. If you have never been to Cambridge, do check out the TV series of the same name, which features the fabulous Ian Richardson: taken with a large grain of salt, it makes for good academic entertainment.

Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim (1954). Another satire that was made into a movie. It tells the story of a young lecturer, Jim, who tries (and fails, again and again) to impress his professor in the hopes of saving his job at an English university. Why should you read (or see) this one? For many reasons, but above all for the anti-hero’s rather alcohol-fueled lecture on “Merrie England”: instead of just calming his nerves, Jim mocks academia, England, and his professor. Borrow and adapt his rant and lecturing techniques for private performances as needed.

Alexander McCall Smith, The 2 ½ Pillars of Wisdom (2003). This time, a satirical look at German academia and the disillusionment of German academics. It comprises three novels: Portugese Irregular Verbs (the title of one character’s monumental book), The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs (supposedly something German academics ponder every once in a while), and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances. Like the other novels mentioned above, this one hits rather close to home for anyone who has experienced German professors and their universities . . .

All of the above are to be enjoyed with a hot chocolate—and with a fellow of your choice.

What is your favorite campus novel? Feel free to add to the list in the comments!

The art of bending oneself into unbelievable and sometimes even unmentionable shapes, also known as yoga, seems to be everywhere these days. Correction: it is everywhere, including the Chemical Heritage Foundation! For our fellows, young minds striving to untangle the chaos of chemical history, the practice of yoga is particularly useful: it teaches the mind to look at things from a different angle.

Many fellows and travel scholars arrive with a perfect technique when it comes to their asanas. And we can all learn from them! Today’s pose: 

The Writer - in action at the Othmer Library

The writer (scriptasana).

Props (compulsory): 1 chair, 1 desk, 1 researcher, 1 book/pen & paper/laptop

Props (optional): desk lamp, book pillow

Step by Step:

1. Sit on the chair in front of the desk. Feet parallel and hips distance apart, knees and hips at a right angle, back straight, then rest your forearms on the desk beside your reading or writing material. Imagine the spirit of your most revered historian floating up your spine and swirling around your brain.

2. Exhale and slump your torso forward. Broaden the small of your back and narrow your hip points toward the navel so that they get closer to your thighs. Shuffle feet underneath the chair. Option: wrap ankles around the legs of the chair. Breathe unevenly yet steadily.

3. Twist your neck into the direction of your reading material and round your shoulders. Adjust arm position to accommodate the forward position of the torso. Feel how the weight of your thoughts pulls you deeper.

4. Apply pen to paper/fingertips to keyboard and write smoothly.

Scriptasana is a working pose. Stay anywhere from 8 to 15 hours. Beginners may break to shake out thoughts and wrists as needed. To come out of the pose, submit an article or other piece of writing to a journal, publisher, or supervisor.

The Writer - with props

Watch a video of the Othmer Library and researchers in action on our new Research and Fellowships Web page!

And in case the irony of this pose is just too painful to behold, rest assured: yoga of the traditional kind happens at CHF at regular intervals and counteracts the effects of the pose demonstrated here quite well, if I may say so myself.

Like any institution worth its sodium chloride, →CHF is awash with acronyms and backronyms* that confuse outsiders and insiders alike. In order to add to the confusion and unlock hitherto unsourced potential for further puzzlement, here is a short glossary to terms our fellows encounter and master in their everyday lives.

CHF: Contrary to Google results and general public knowledge, this is not just Congestive Heart Failure, the Swiss Franc or the Children’s Hunger Fund, but also the Chemical Heritage Foundation: Library · Museum · Center for Scholars; aka Home of the Fellows.

CHF: Center for Scholars

BBL: Brown Bag Lunch or Brown Bag Lecture. A well-established forum for munching one’s way through another researcher’s work in progress. At →CHF in particular, BBLs are opportunities for our fellows and invited speakers to present their work to a wonderfully eclectic audience (CHF staff members, →PACHS fellows, →Penn students and the odd museum visitor). And while the audience’s brown bags do not contain anything more exciting than sandwiches and yoghurts, our speakers always have a bag of tricks to amaze their listeners. Every Tuesday during term time, 12 noon.

Penn: The University of Pennsylvania, one of the educational facilities whence we may source our fellows. Hosts of the HSS (History and Sociology of Science) Monday Workshops, which are a welcome opportunity for CHF fellows to mingle with other fellowy folk and get out of Old City.

PACHS: The Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science, better explained as the organization that brings all history of science institutions in the greater Philadelphia** area together on one handy Web site. IRL (“in real life”), PACHS also organizes colloquia, offers fellowships, and does many good deeds to keep the conversation between member institutions going. PACHS fellows like to attend CHF →Yoga and →CALCIUM.

The American Philosophical Society, home of the PACHS fellows. Photo courtesy of the APS website.

Yoga: Not the Yukon Oil and Gas Act in this context, but a reference to a practice that keeps us Young, Original, Graceful & Awesome! An exercise of bending mind and body into new shapes, practiced weekly at →CHF.

CALCIUM: Conversations And Literature about Chemistry (Including Unusual Materials): the work-in-progress seminar we offer for our fellows every other week. It has been proven to be good for the brains. We recommend taking CALCIUM with a cup of coffee and a cookie.

T&B: Tea & Biscuits, CHF’s weekly “tea party” with sweets and conversation for and by CHF staff. Every week, someone brings homemade cookies or goodies otherwise procured; most of the time, there is no tea provided. But we are always happy to catch up with our real and imaginary colleagues in this popular social hour! Curiously, “TNB” otherwise refers to Trinitrobenzene in the chemical world.

T&B at CHF

Do you have unique acronyms to share? That’s why the creator of this Web site invented the comment box below. Good-bye!***

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* A backronym, as my old friend Wiki Pedia informs me, “is a phrase that is constructed ‘after the fact’ from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and critic Anthony Burgess once proposed that the word ‘book’ ought to stand for ‘Box Of Organised Knowledge.’”

** PACHS currently includes the Academy of Natural Sciences; American Philosophical Society; CHF; the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; the Franklin Institute; Hagley Museum and Library; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Library Company of Philadelphia; Princeton University; University of Pennsylvania; and the Wagner Free Institute of Science.

*** Getting Out Our Dreams, Between Your Ears. QED, not all short words are acronyms . . .