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.

‘We raised him and we saved him and when he was old enough he accused us of keeping him from becoming his … true self’. This blog  is a preparation to see Lemn Sissay’s ‘Kafka’s Metamorphosis’, an adaptation of Kafka with more than a glance at Sissay’s memoir ‘My Name Is Why’, for that book underlies the drama too. I shall be seeing it at York Theatre Royal on Thursday October 12th at 2.00 p.m.

October 2, 2023

‘We raised him and we saved him and when he was old enough he accused us of keeping him from becoming his … true self’.[1] This blog  is a preparation to see Lemn Sissay’s Kafka’s Metamorphosis, an adaptation, retelling (and more) in a new dramatisation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis with the company Frantic Assembly with more … More ‘We raised him and we saved him and when he was old enough he accused us of keeping him from becoming his … true self’. This blog  is a preparation to see Lemn Sissay’s ‘Kafka’s Metamorphosis’, an adaptation of Kafka with more than a glance at Sissay’s memoir ‘My Name Is Why’, for that book underlies the drama too. I shall be seeing it at York Theatre Royal on Thursday October 12th at 2.00 p.m.

Facing 😈demons and slaying 🐉 dragons: the power of being counselled.

October 2, 2023

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow? Tomorrow, as it happens, is the second session of a seven week counselling session I have started to try and reconfigure a life gone awry and an emotional economy in crisis. Sometimes, you start these things with a sense of how an episode like this in your life has been … More Facing 😈demons and slaying 🐉 dragons: the power of being counselled.

“Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation”: does hard work fulfill only when it were ‘as if’ it could make anew a world in which work has become to seem futile and counter-productive.

October 1, 2023

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? Alasdair Gray quoted Canadian poet Dennis Leigh when he used the phrase in my title. On the outer wall of the Holyrood building of the Scottish parliament it appears as a monumental word art work and its authorship is attributed to him alone. He spent … More “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation”: does hard work fulfill only when it were ‘as if’ it could make anew a world in which work has become to seem futile and counter-productive.

I like to think I value the fact that critical thinking is an early response when I approach questions asked of me. But is critical thinking a trait? And why is it so unpopular? This blog is on whether trait theory helps in self-understanding.

September 30, 2023

What’s the trait you value most about yourself? Trait theory derived from the work of the psychologist, Gordon Allport. It contends that human personality is characterised by traits that resemble states of being, feeling and thinking but which are stable and enduring.They emphasise a view of psychological development that is heavily influenced by innate oor … More I like to think I value the fact that critical thinking is an early response when I approach questions asked of me. But is critical thinking a trait? And why is it so unpopular? This blog is on whether trait theory helps in self-understanding.

And for the living … I wish you a good death. A beautiful production at York Theatre Royal.

September 29, 2023

Naomi, the only role in this play despite its huge local cast literally powering the production on bikes which really or in fiction, and no doubt only partially, by generating energy from bikes on the stage, has been left to tell the story of the great Extinctions that have occurred through geological time. We are … More And for the living … I wish you a good death. A beautiful production at York Theatre Royal.

Work from which you learned, grew as a person and gained personal fulfillment used once to exist. Here are 3 examples from my past career.

September 29, 2023

During my working life which started in the late 1970s, work changed its nature, the largest symptom of which was the growth of public service managerialism. In the name of efficiency and resource economics, work changed to match business models. It followed that  objectives like increased well-being and secure attachment in relationship-based work were turned … More Work from which you learned, grew as a person and gained personal fulfillment used once to exist. Here are 3 examples from my past career.

Looking for Bliss in Masculine Objects: A blog on an Exhibition at Bishop Auckland Town Hall named ‘Quest for the Perfect Shirt’ by Richard Bliss.

September 28, 2023

Looking for Bliss in Masculine Objects: A blog on an Exhibition at Bishop Auckland Town Hall named Quest for the Perfect Shirt by the Newcastle artist Richard Bliss. The catalogue and the artist, Richard Bliss. A wonderful man to chat with: but what will he do with what you say? Me and my husband, Geoff, … More Looking for Bliss in Masculine Objects: A blog on an Exhibition at Bishop Auckland Town Hall named ‘Quest for the Perfect Shirt’ by Richard Bliss.

The assumptions in this question that concern me are those of ‘ownership’ and ‘pride’ in ‘one’ culture. Are those implicit claims compatible with an open attitude to the world we live in and the beings that inhabit it?

September 28, 2023

As soon as we seek to possess and venerate a ‘culture’ (even assume its its nature as thing with boundaries that has internal integrity or unity, wholeness and exclusive definition) we are already in deep water. Even ‘pride’ is problematic except as a claim for recognition for a culture that has been marginalised and is … More The assumptions in this question that concern me are those of ‘ownership’ and ‘pride’ in ‘one’ culture. Are those implicit claims compatible with an open attitude to the world we live in and the beings that inhabit it?

There is a terrible truth in the origin of the term ‘brand’ for me, which stops me ever associating with it.

September 27, 2023

Wikipedia is, as always, helpful, wherein on the subject of ‘Human branding’ it says: Human branding or stigmatizing is the process by which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_branding A further extract on the use of … More There is a terrible truth in the origin of the term ‘brand’ for me, which stops me ever associating with it.

More! But isn’t it true that less is more! Hardly! And here’s why. LOL.

September 26, 2023

It horrified Bumble the Beadle when Oliver asked for ‘More’. The very word turned his face to burning coals; his heart, so hard for so long, crumbled as if for a moment it were becoming ash and falling away. But return it did to its ancient, petrified state: the kind of fear that is as … More More! But isn’t it true that less is more! Hardly! And here’s why. LOL.

The best advice is to, by all means, listen to advice but be wary of acting as it prescribes that you do.

September 25, 2023

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Perhaps the best advice about how to act next in any complicated human situation is to be wary of acting in the way you are told to act, however respectfully one listens to and hears out the advisor. Keep in mind too that the advice will … More The best advice is to, by all means, listen to advice but be wary of acting as it prescribes that you do.