Week 46
Yet another big week at work.
We had a couple of really important assessments - very definitely go/no go points - and as a team we nailed them both. Reflections: first reflection - that I wasn’t especially phased by either (including one in front of the Audit Committee), because I’ve done this all before and I was confident we were collectively in a great position. Second reflection - we came out the other side of the week with some really fantastic documentation and storytelling for what we’ve done so far and what we’re planning. It took these two assessments to catalyse the synthesis process - we’d been heads down designing and delivering thus far. Until this point it was a “should-have” we hadn’t gotten around to yet. So it’s great to have a forcing function. I wonder if we could engineer them in future - it’s a risky strategy though…
I watched “The history of witchcraft and contemporary feminism”, a lecture from the institution of historical research. The poor speakers really struggled with the technology as it was a hybrid session. But I learned plenty. Interesting to see how much the discourse on witchcraft was shaped by the legal/administrative sphere - the witch trials - and the impact that has. Felt like it had parallels with some of the points made in the book Data Feminism, which explains how society’s thinking, histories (and stereotypes) about particular groups is shaped by record-keeping and data availability. If, instead, you look for narratives that start with the role of women in communities, as midwives and healers and elders and ages, the story is very different. Was also fascinated to hear about the countries where men were more likely to be accused and put on trial as a witch; and how common it was for women to report other women for being witches. The relationship between witchcraft, feminism and the patriarchy is not as black and white as we might believe (when are things ever?).
It is official jigsaw season. Every year Chez Fletcher, as it approaches winter, we clear a surface and start the first of many festive jigsaw puzzles we’ll work on over the coming weeks. Is a very firmly established family ritual - closely associated with slippers and hot chocolate. A very “cosy core” vibe.