Dr Alex
@afedorov.bsky.social
Hong Kong & Asia | Religion, plurality & secularity
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
November 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
November 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
November 15, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
November 14, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
November 11, 2025 at 5:37 AM
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
November 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Had a chat why I picked #HK as home (if I have one). The most beautiful, layered place I know (I’ve been to 130+ countries). Partly true.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
October 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Had a chat why I picked #HK as home (if I have one). The most beautiful, layered place I know (I’ve been to 130+ countries). Partly true.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
Sunday slipped by—I barely noticed. A few rules I set months ago:
1. Life=work=fun.
2. I write every day—except meditation or digital withdrawal (ideally in Nepal).
3. Everything runs through #Asana; batched.
Conference day: registered/submitted for #CIES, #CESHK, #HKSA.
Night walk. Well earned.
1. Life=work=fun.
2. I write every day—except meditation or digital withdrawal (ideally in Nepal).
3. Everything runs through #Asana; batched.
Conference day: registered/submitted for #CIES, #CESHK, #HKSA.
Night walk. Well earned.
October 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Goldberg says she wrote her early books in cafes—each in different cafes.
Writing in cafes amazing in #Seoul: huge two-level zones with student vibes. In HK, it’s hard to get a shared (!) table for few hours.
The real writing spots in #HK are public parks on rainy nights. Or Chungking Mansions.
Writing in cafes amazing in #Seoul: huge two-level zones with student vibes. In HK, it’s hard to get a shared (!) table for few hours.
The real writing spots in #HK are public parks on rainy nights. Or Chungking Mansions.
October 24, 2025 at 1:42 AM
These days, we’re flooded with AI-written pseudo-wisdom on Threads and Instagram:
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
October 22, 2025 at 3:23 AM
These days, we’re flooded with AI-written pseudo-wisdom on Threads and Instagram:
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
What I love about Korea and Japan—where my language skills are zero—is that it feels like walking through woods, but with people instead of trees.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
October 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
What I love about Korea and Japan—where my language skills are zero—is that it feels like walking through woods, but with people instead of trees.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
At last, a beautiful day in Seoul. I walked and read my beloved C. G. Jung, surrounded by the hazy, dreamlike light.
“Christianity teaches us to suffer; Buddhism—to see and to act.”
(Memories, Dreams, Reflections)
So true.
“Christianity teaches us to suffer; Buddhism—to see and to act.”
(Memories, Dreams, Reflections)
So true.
October 15, 2025 at 6:19 AM
At last, a beautiful day in Seoul. I walked and read my beloved C. G. Jung, surrounded by the hazy, dreamlike light.
“Christianity teaches us to suffer; Buddhism—to see and to act.”
(Memories, Dreams, Reflections)
So true.
“Christianity teaches us to suffer; Buddhism—to see and to act.”
(Memories, Dreams, Reflections)
So true.
I understand writing as a conversion of my emotions into text; that’s why I choose carefully where I write and rotate.
October in Seoul is usually perfect (tried >5 times)—deep blue skies, a bright palette of leaves.
This year, though, it’s been raining every single day :((
Rain, rain, rain.
October in Seoul is usually perfect (tried >5 times)—deep blue skies, a bright palette of leaves.
This year, though, it’s been raining every single day :((
Rain, rain, rain.
October 12, 2025 at 10:25 AM
I understand writing as a conversion of my emotions into text; that’s why I choose carefully where I write and rotate.
October in Seoul is usually perfect (tried >5 times)—deep blue skies, a bright palette of leaves.
This year, though, it’s been raining every single day :((
Rain, rain, rain.
October in Seoul is usually perfect (tried >5 times)—deep blue skies, a bright palette of leaves.
This year, though, it’s been raining every single day :((
Rain, rain, rain.
October 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM
When I first began thinking about religion in Hong Kong—and in Asia more broadly—I was struck by the primacy of practice over belief. The city scripts desire; practice opens space. A non-abiding mind. In Hong Kong, to shop is to be; to see its emptiness is to be less owned by it.
#hongkong
#hongkong
September 21, 2025 at 5:14 AM
When I first began thinking about religion in Hong Kong—and in Asia more broadly—I was struck by the primacy of practice over belief. The city scripts desire; practice opens space. A non-abiding mind. In Hong Kong, to shop is to be; to see its emptiness is to be less owned by it.
#hongkong
#hongkong
I have a long habit of planning my whole year in September as if I’m still in school (which is very not that wrong).
So, it’s time to buy summer tickets! After one year missing (in favor of Boom and Mo:Dem) can’t wait to breathe the dust in my beloved Hungary 🇭🇺
So, it’s time to buy summer tickets! After one year missing (in favor of Boom and Mo:Dem) can’t wait to breathe the dust in my beloved Hungary 🇭🇺
September 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM
I have a long habit of planning my whole year in September as if I’m still in school (which is very not that wrong).
So, it’s time to buy summer tickets! After one year missing (in favor of Boom and Mo:Dem) can’t wait to breathe the dust in my beloved Hungary 🇭🇺
So, it’s time to buy summer tickets! After one year missing (in favor of Boom and Mo:Dem) can’t wait to breathe the dust in my beloved Hungary 🇭🇺
September 15, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Trying to maintain life&work balance
September 13, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Trying to maintain life&work balance
On work/writing in #KohPhangan.
Mode here: wake up at 4:30, sunrise exercise, writing block in one of my 6–8 fav spots (their cats know me).
Mid-day emails/Asana/admin.
Sunset meditation/swim.
Evening (audio)book.
8 hours of sleep. Repeat.
Sober dance night to celebrate submissions.
Repeat.
Mode here: wake up at 4:30, sunrise exercise, writing block in one of my 6–8 fav spots (their cats know me).
Mid-day emails/Asana/admin.
Sunset meditation/swim.
Evening (audio)book.
8 hours of sleep. Repeat.
Sober dance night to celebrate submissions.
Repeat.
September 9, 2025 at 3:26 AM
On work/writing in #KohPhangan.
Mode here: wake up at 4:30, sunrise exercise, writing block in one of my 6–8 fav spots (their cats know me).
Mid-day emails/Asana/admin.
Sunset meditation/swim.
Evening (audio)book.
8 hours of sleep. Repeat.
Sober dance night to celebrate submissions.
Repeat.
Mode here: wake up at 4:30, sunrise exercise, writing block in one of my 6–8 fav spots (their cats know me).
Mid-day emails/Asana/admin.
Sunset meditation/swim.
Evening (audio)book.
8 hours of sleep. Repeat.
Sober dance night to celebrate submissions.
Repeat.
Helen Sword: “Successful writers cultivate modes of thinking that emphasize pleasure, challenge, and growth” (2017, p. 4).
September 9, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Helen Sword: “Successful writers cultivate modes of thinking that emphasize pleasure, challenge, and growth” (2017, p. 4).