Author: stevendouglasblog

Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.

Join me and James Joyce at Burton’s Restaurant,  Duke Street, Dublin. Let your gorge rise.

April 14, 2024

What is your favorite restaurant? The Duke still exists on Duke Street, as does Davy Byrne’s eatery, but I do not know if The Duke in which we know Joyce dined regularly was also the ‘Burton restaurant’ referred to Episode  8 of James Joyce’s Ulysses. That episode is usually known as the Laestrygonians, since it … More Join me and James Joyce at Burton’s Restaurant,  Duke Street, Dublin. Let your gorge rise.

In lieu of an answer and avoiding the personal: a short story with too much telling and not enough showing, perhaps.

April 13, 2024

‘When I think it through, this wasn’t a random encounter’. James’ thinking had a tendency to be spoken aloud and that could be embarrassing. He checked around him. No-one seems to have heard. The boy with ear-plugs, who was sitting next to him on the train, still nodded his head to the same beat, his … More In lieu of an answer and avoiding the personal: a short story with too much telling and not enough showing, perhaps.

The holes in Tommy Orange. The author’s account of multiple contemporary Native American life-stories across time-and-space. This is a blog on the massive over-significance of Tommy Orange (2024) ‘Wandering Stars’.

April 12, 2024

The holes in Tommy Orange. The author’s account of multiple contemporary Native American life-stories across time-and-space. This is a blog on the massive over-significance of Tommy Orange (2024) Wandering Stars London, Harvill Secker. The character Sean Price in Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars is defined by a hole in the texture of social meaning: he feels … More The holes in Tommy Orange. The author’s account of multiple contemporary Native American life-stories across time-and-space. This is a blog on the massive over-significance of Tommy Orange (2024) ‘Wandering Stars’.

Make morning not mourning my ritual now! Xxx Love to Geoff.

April 11, 2024

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? Posted on April 11, 2024 by stevendouglasblog Mishearing, of rituals of mourning I thought they queried, as if discerning Some loss was still raw in mind, too unkind In their ‘concern’. Will today again find My first hour, like a cymbal crashing sleep … More Make morning not mourning my ritual now! Xxx Love to Geoff.

Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024.

April 10, 2024

Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024. Sophie Teasdale’s book Dressing Room No. 1  (it can be purchased at this link as I did) preceded this exhibition which was commissioned by the Bishop … More Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024.

This is a blog on intersectional nuance and Black queer sexuality focusing on Michael Donkor (2024) ‘Grow Where They Fall’.

April 8, 2024

‘Kwame had slept with more than thirty men, and he reflected again on the fact that only three of them had been Black. … reciprocating didn’t come easily. He was always tentative, because, with each of these three Black men, as distinct and variable and beautiful as those encounters had been, with each there had … More This is a blog on intersectional nuance and Black queer sexuality focusing on Michael Donkor (2024) ‘Grow Where They Fall’.

When I was five … The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore.

April 7, 2024

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up? The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore. When I was five, the moon was green cream-cheese. Freud thought I … More When I was five … The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore.

What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? I reflect on an essay by Pankaj Mishra.

April 5, 2024

What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? Where, if anywhere, does my responsibility lie for the actions of people with whom I share a characteristic linked to my identity or is it, as of course it is, everyone’s responsibility (though more so of those with power of … More What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? I reflect on an essay by Pankaj Mishra.

To know someone or something is an illusion of the moment, to ‘understand’ is to accept that you must live in or amongst every facet of their very life or ‘spirit’.

April 4, 2024

What’s something most people don’t understand? Lots and lots of energy are expended on meanings and how they touch upon lives, or even bludgeon some peoples lives into submission, like the words that are taken to infer not only a meaning but also a social status, and these are legion. Queer was once such a … More To know someone or something is an illusion of the moment, to ‘understand’ is to accept that you must live in or amongst every facet of their very life or ‘spirit’.

Stevieism: a belief that though truth is a complicated thing, the duty to be open to it is ‘peremptory and absolute’.

April 3, 2024

If you could have something named after you, what would it be? I, the Stevie in question, was just about to start the process of registering my patent in this belief system when I realised yet again there is nothing new under the sun, and the best things have been said many times. The words … More Stevieism: a belief that though truth is a complicated thing, the duty to be open to it is ‘peremptory and absolute’.