be careful what you wish for

I passed my upgrade viva today, so now I get to study for a PhD... except, I don't get to change my supervision regime, so it's probably going to go the same way it's been going for the last year an a half. I might as well have failed. Never mind, eh...

This evening's Café Scientifique was "Science: A 4,000 year history", which was Cambridge academic Patricia Fara taking us through the last 4,000 years of science history as she saw it, recognising the contributions of lab assistants and the important and unsung scientists' partners (usually wives, and of course with the tactful omission of Millie Einstein...). While the connections were made between 'science' (meaning the natural and physical sciences, she being from Cambridge after all) and arts (meaning predominantly painting, literature and history), the social sciences (which I would argue include history) were ignored. There wasn't enough time for the discussion on this though.

I have always maintained that I have something 'in the blood' that makes me want to learn dressmaking. My mother is a 4th generation (at least) dressmaker, and nobody of my generation of the family has taken up the cause. After an abortive attempt a few years ago, when I nearly went into business with a friend making corsets and dresses, and another abortive attempt to learn dressmaking at Swarthmore, I went back to concentrating on my upgrade report. When I saw George Davies on TV talking about how he felt fashion design was in his blood from having dressmakers for a mother and aunt, I understood. I don't like to use the word 'fashion', it's not something I care about, but what appeals is the art, the engineering, and the sensuality of clothes. In a sense it's the same kind of work as my PhD - how to create a physical object which surrounds a person, and affects the way they feel by interacting with various senses. My Mum is going to teach me a bit over Easter, and I'm quite excited!