I am a senior lecturer in social science research methods at Birkbeck, University of London, in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, and director of Birkbeck’s postgraduate programmes in Social Research. My pronouns are they/them/their/themself.
A poem
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and
milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
— E. E. Cummings