Category Archives: Epidemics

In which normal life flickers just ’round the corner

Posted on April 10, 2021 by Jennifer Rohn

Today on a neighbourhood walk with my son, blustery and cold with a few flecks of rain, we passed a window that still had a faded child-drawn rainbow and the advice to “stay safe”. It struck me as rather quaint, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Epidemics, Research, The profession of science, Work/life balance | Comments Off on In which normal life flickers just ’round the corner

In which we near end-game

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Jennifer Rohn

January and February are always my least favorite months, but I can’t remember a winter when I longed for spring as desperately as this one. It’s the pandemic, of course, which has sucked the world dry of what little joy … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic bliss, Epidemics, Gardening, Joshua, Work/life balance | Comments Off on In which we near end-game

In which life imitates art, and an epidemic leaps off the page

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

In mid-November, a journalist from BBC Southeast contacted me about a perplexing rise in COVID-positive cases in the nearby borough of Swale, a mainly rural part of Kent known for its fruit orchards, beer hops and vast areas of marshland … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemics, LabLit, science funding, The profession of science, Writing | 5 Comments

In which winter sets in

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Although winter has not yet formally begun, this is the time of year when the darkness stretches ahead into infinity. In the face of this, the prospect of brighter days, of snowdrops and crocuses pushing up from the bare earth, … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic bliss, Epidemics, Gardening | 7 Comments

In which business is not quite as usual: the post-first-wave lab resumes

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Business as usual is the sort of mentality that’s probably only certain in retrospect. At the moment, the jury is still very much out. My lab reopened its doors a few weeks ago. This is, of course, a wonderful thing. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Careers, Domestic bliss, Epidemics, Gardening, Joshua, Staring into the abyss, The profession of science, Work/life balance | Comments Off on In which business is not quite as usual: the post-first-wave lab resumes

In which the pandemic unfolds: a postcard from The Big One?

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Epidemics are works in progress. At any given moment in time, you can’t know how they will end. They are a curve on a graph of ultimately unknown trajectory; when you are just a dot on a growing curve, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemics, Nostalgia, Scientific thinking, Staring into the abyss, Work/life balance | 1 Comment