Today I was thinking about how much my emotional state affects my brain function. I went to work grumpy after one of those mornings, and I had a hard time shaking it off. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon reviewing a manuscript, and afterward I found myself struggling to focus. Some of the issue was that the article upset me: using structural equation modeling doesn't actually allow a person to assert causal relationships if the starting points are bogus. And if they are a racist kind of bogus-- ugh. I took my vexation to Twitter:
Before today I'd never reviewed a paper that made me want to say, "Do not use your scholarly platform to perpetuate systemic racism." Yikes.
— Jamie (@mostgladly) September 14, 2017
I'm curious about how malleable my capacity for cognitively challenging work might be. To complete this review I was firing on all cylinders, drawing alternate causal maps and scouring my SEM book and digging through the literature in search of other work in this area. And then afterward? My brain was all done. I had planned some lightweight tasks -- copying exams and grading participation -- but my brain had pretty much unplugged itself for the day. How much plugged-in time can I expect of myself, I wonder?
This evening I went to church to sing at a prayer service, and our music director talked me into singing with the choir this Sunday. More music ministry involvement has been on my mental list of "things I probably ought to do," but the in-person conversation nudged me into actually doing it. Stella and I haven't been reading very much together lately, but we got in half an hour's worth of Wind in the Willows. Will Rat and Mole find their way out of the snow-covered Wild Wood? Tune in tomorrow.
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