Author Archives: Jennifer Rohn

About Jennifer Rohn

Scientist, novelist, rock chick

In which summers shrink

Posted on 27 June 2021 by Jennifer Rohn

Academics talk nostalgically about rosy-tinted times of yore when summers meant a lull in lecturing duties. The months would unfold before you, a vast landscape of research possibilities. It was a time to write papers, craft grants, catch up with … Continue reading →

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In which normal life flickers just ’round the corner

Posted on 10 April 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 →

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In which we near end-game

Posted on 23 February 2021 by Jennifer Rohn

Sight for sore eyes 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 … Continue reading →

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

Posted on 29 December 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 →

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In which winter sets in

Posted on 29 November 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Unexpected color 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 … Continue reading →

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In which we face the rain

Posted on 4 October 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

One of our white wine 2018 vintages How quickly strangeness becomes familiarity. As autumn hunkers down, and the COVID infection rates continue to rise (nearly 13,000 cases reported yesterday in the UK), I see things around me that I never … Continue reading →

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In which Frank leaves the building

Posted on 28 August 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Martin onstage at “Trop-a-Delic” Last night I lost a friend. I couldn’t think of a more graceful way to start this post, as I am still a little bit in shock. But last night, I lost a friend.

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

Posted on 23 August 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Suspended animation: the lab awaits the return of its researchersBusiness 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 … 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 we venture out

Posted on 25 May 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

We are poised on the edge. As the world teeters between spring and summer, cloaked in lush green and bursting into flower, there is a sense that our pandemic lockdown is coming to an end. Not all at once, of … Continue reading →

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In which we lock down

Posted on 13 April 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Pandemic existence: reaping what we’ve sownThere is nothing I can write about life on lockdown that has not already been written. Doing so risks the scorn of the likes of Times journalist Matthew Parris, who on Saturday opined: I’m encountering … Continue reading →

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