Not My Preferred Bunting

This coming weekend is the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee in the United Kingdom. Because it's the Platinum Jubilee, we have an extra Bank Holiday on Friday. As a resident of Britain, I am obliged to have thoughts about it; so, I put down my cup of tea for a moment, made myself a cup …

Sharp Spear, Crystal Mirror: Martial Arts in Women’s Lives by Stephanie T. Hoppe

Focused primarily on the specifics of martial arts practice but also showing how those experiences pervade other areas, Hoppe provides female perspectives on what is stereotypically a very male world. Hoppe interviews a broad range of female martial artists, seeking similarities and differences in how martial arts have shaped their lives and how their experiences …

International Women’s Day 2022: Carla Denyer

As International Women's Day 2022 is tomorrow, today's post is a short paean to the rather inspiring Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party since 2021. Her years reading mechanical engineering, working in the renewable energy sector, and serving as a Bristol City councillor are filled with many great achievements, but here are a few …

Being Glad

As many of you have probably also found, things have not been effortless here recently which betimes was a bit of a drag on the old noggin. So, it seemed like a moment to share something that brings me a small joy in case it sparked a joy in you also. Today, I have mainly …

Speak Just Words to Me

The ability of the human mind to build patterns is wondrous and horrific. We can make instinctive judgements that avoid issues before we are even aware they exist or find our way through a city we've never visited without a map. But we can make instinctive judgements that create issues that didn't exist or lead …

Will You Enjoy This Post Before You’ve Read It?

One of the online communities I'm in is engaged in the discussion of the difference between preference for the familiar and prejudice. Instinctively, we recognise there is a difference but where it lies can be much harder to pin down. For me, the starting point is pre-emptive denigration. We all have preferences, both general and …

A Sprained Ankle of a Deal

After going into extra time, COP26 has produced a result. A result that has been cast as great or terrible by different sources. I'm still pondering the nuances but my immediate impression is that it's as good as falling from a second-storey window and spraining one's ankle. Imagine falling from the window, that hollow sensation …

WICKERPEDIA, ed. Kristin Garth & Nick Morrissey

Mixing perspectives on the power of belief, both good and bad, to shape lives with attempts to capture the experience of believing, the Garth and Morrissey create an experience as filled with poetry, awe, and horror as the films that inspired it. This anthology features twenty poems, five flash fictions, three articles, and two pieces …

Green Joy

The Green Party Conference was last weekend, marked—among other things—by the first speech of Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey as new Co-leaders of the Party. As the last forever years show, pretty speeches don't necessarily result in progress, but I found this one inspiring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzuf9Ikv6eg I love the clear enthusiasm to learn the lessons of …

A Chain of Infinite Length Can Still Be Cut

Today is Anti-Slavery Day in the United Kingdom, a day that is not—as one might hope—a celebration of our victory over the scourge of oppressive servitude but a solemn reminder that slavery remains a close part even of the modern Western world. How you might best oppose slavery will vary depending on where you live …