alright pals i've been off twitter for a while, but thread incoming - how NOT to talk to grad students about the current situation in academia, ESPECIALLY if you have tenure

in case you haven't noticed, it's a tough time to be alive. this thread is in no way comparing the grad student experience to any other experience - and 100% acknowledges that the "grad student experience" isn't a monolith and varies from person to person.

but but but - it's a tough time to be a grad student. if you're in the beginning of your program, suddenly you're off campus with very little support in some cases, trying to learn how to be a scholar by yourself in your room.

or you're a mid-track student trying to figure out why you can't work - you were doing fine a few weeks ago and now nothing! and maybe not a lot has changed but also the world is on fire, so of course it's hard to write your prospectus.

or maybe you're at or near the finish line and you're suddenly trying to figure out what your options are becasue there are no jobs, but there's no funding to stay either, and all the while the finish line, which is supposed to be a celebration, is lonely and scary and sad.

all of it sucks - and all of it is of course compounded by the fact that it's happening on top of incredibly global instability and in a lot of cases, personal loss and grief. it sucks it sucks it sucks it sucks.

and if you aren't a grad student - but you do interact with them - then i get it, how do you support someone who is just in the throes of a terrible situation that you can understand parts of, but aren't really in yourself? how do you help??

well, brene brown to the rescue - the trick is empathy, not sympathy! there's a great video that describes it here - but it's feeling with people without judgement