Snail Mail
C Dalrymple-Fraser
c/o Department of Philosophy
University of Toronto
4th Floor, Jackman Humanities Building
170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario
M5R 2M8
Email
c.dalrymple.fraser at mail.utoronto.ca
My email practices: During the regular academic terms I try to respond to emails within two business days of receipt. I often reply on weekends and holidays but reserve the right to spend them offline (and so should you! COVID-19 has made our study/life balance strenuous enough as it is). I generally respond faster to emails with clear and descriptive subject lines, as this makes it easier to locate and prioritize emails at-a-glance. If you are a student, please include our course code in the subject line of the email (to make sure it is sorted into my priority inboxes). My working day may not be your working day; please do not feel obliged to reply to my emails outside of your normal working hours. If you don’t hear back from me in a timely manner, it’s more likely that I missed your email than that I’m intentionally ignoring you; please feel invited to send me a nudge! I’ll find it more helpful than annoying.
Alternative means of contact: I know that email will not always be the most appropriate or accessible form of communication. I am happy to arrange alternative means of contact where possible, including but not limited to phone calls, video chats, mediated or facilitated communication, in-person meetings (post-COVID-19), group conversations, and other alternatives according to our joint situations and needs.
Forms of address: I am in the process of legally changing my given (first) name. Please try to refer to me just by my first initial “C” both in professional and personal contexts in the interim. People use they/them pronouns to refer to me, and I ask that you also try to use those when referring to or talking about me, whether in professional citation or in casual conversation, and to avoid specifically gendered language. Being attentive to the pronouns of others is important for building more accessible and inclusive spaces and practices.
But, I also acknowledge that it can take time to change our practices around names and pronouns, that practices of addressing people differ across languages and cultures, and that language practices can be particularly insidious and hard to change or unlearn quickly. I still make mistakes with my own friends’ and colleagues’ forms of address sometimes. This is not intended as permission to take the matter lightly: there is a considerable difference between thinking such mistakes are just not a big deal, and recognizing that there are often cultural and linguistic barriers to overcome (i.e., between disregard and language justice). Rather, I mention this to encourage us to actively recognize our mistakes, to correct ourselves as appropriate, and to interpret mistakes as opportunities to become more attentive to our learned practices and assumptions.
If you are a student and/or you find addressing instructors or academics stressful (whether because of naming, gendered titles, pronouns, or power dynamics etc) you have my permission just to start an email with “Hello!” “Good Evening,” or to jump right into the message without any lead in. I will not be offended!
Social media: I am not currently active on any social media accounts. Please contact me by email for all academic purposes. If you are looking for teaching materials or other resources I shared previously through my social media accounts, you may email me for those archived materials as well.
C Dalrymple-Fraser 