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.

Zaffar Kunial’s (2022) ‘England’s Green’ is a miraculous book of poems divided between those gathered under the term ‘IN’, and those similarly gathered under ‘OUT’. This blog is a way of preparing to hear him read at the Durham Book Festival at the Gala Studio on Friday 13th September 5.30 – 6.15 p.m.

September 11, 2023

Zaffar Kunial’s (2022) England’s Green is a miraculous book of poems divided between those gathered under the term ‘IN’, and those similarly gathered under ‘OUT’. These lines are an example from the first section (from Ings):‘against the edge of an unseeable force that stops things / short or holds things / in. Life, within life, … More Zaffar Kunial’s (2022) ‘England’s Green’ is a miraculous book of poems divided between those gathered under the term ‘IN’, and those similarly gathered under ‘OUT’. This blog is a way of preparing to hear him read at the Durham Book Festival at the Gala Studio on Friday 13th September 5.30 – 6.15 p.m.

Why you still don’t ‘out’ the athletes who identify as LGBTQI+ but still have to ‘respect them most’. To emphasise that I name no living athlete, even those who have dared openly living as gay or queer.

September 10, 2023

Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why. At last, I thought, the daily prompt question setters at Word Press have set a question I cannot turn to my own purposes neither politically nor personally. Maybe however, I am underplaying the extremely weird connectivity of the synapses controlling links in my memory and … More Why you still don’t ‘out’ the athletes who identify as LGBTQI+ but still have to ‘respect them most’. To emphasise that I name no living athlete, even those who have dared openly living as gay or queer.

When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. So why bother losing ‘one word’ when it might be any word..

September 8, 2023

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be? One may not be such an authority on how even just you use even one word of which you think you are master. Hear out this debate, one that ought to matter a lot in the discussion of languages … More When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. So why bother losing ‘one word’ when it might be any word..

The lies of an alcohol dependent person are understandable. The willingness of others to be co-dependent for their own interests in the name of ‘friendship’ is too. But is it unforgivable too?

September 7, 2023

Are you holding a grudge? About? Loving an alcohol dependent person is a messy business particularly when you need to believe in the person who is thus dependent. Even now it feels terrible to point out those terrors because alcohol dependency too often makes the person misrepresent their reasons for starting and maintaining their dependency. … More The lies of an alcohol dependent person are understandable. The willingness of others to be co-dependent for their own interests in the name of ‘friendship’ is too. But is it unforgivable too?

If home is a construct made up of habitual behaviours, ideas , emotions and senses, so are the distances we travel from it.

September 6, 2023

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. I am obsessed with Freud’s idea of the Heimlich I think. Being at home is a feeling of safety and security that doesn’t always correlate with a physical place and time in space. We can travel many miles and for many hours and carry … More If home is a construct made up of habitual behaviours, ideas , emotions and senses, so are the distances we travel from it.

‘Now and forever more he was a marked man’. ‘At one time I thought I was going against my natural inclinations, that I was in fact homosexual’. A sequel to a blog on the Irish novelist, John Broderick, having read various short journalism and his biography: Madeleine Kingston (2004) ‘Something in the Head: The Life and Work of John Broderick’.

September 5, 2023

‘Now and forever more he was a marked man’.[1] ‘At one time I thought I was going against my natural inclinations, that I was in fact homosexual: but this sordid device so horrified me that I thought I would go mad’.[2] A sequel to a blog on the Irish novelist, John Broderick, having read various … More ‘Now and forever more he was a marked man’. ‘At one time I thought I was going against my natural inclinations, that I was in fact homosexual’. A sequel to a blog on the Irish novelist, John Broderick, having read various short journalism and his biography: Madeleine Kingston (2004) ‘Something in the Head: The Life and Work of John Broderick’.

The uncanny is the ideal as it looks to you behind the mirror of appearances!

September 5, 2023

What does your ideal home look like? The appearance of order and the reflection of what we would like to think of as our ideal image is relatively new historically and relates to the aesthetic of interior design. Nevertheless, it is there in van Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage picture as much as any edition of Ideal … More The uncanny is the ideal as it looks to you behind the mirror of appearances!

BOOKER 2023: This is a blog on Martin MacInnes (2023) ‘In Ascension’.

September 5, 2023

BOOKER 2023: The narrator of the most of Martin MacInnes’ novel In Ascension, Leigh-Ann Hasenboch (but mostly Leigh), is a marine biologist and researcher, with incredible powers of learning and self-application, who incidentally is also lesbian. Her life becomes haunted by a quest for learning. In her first venture towards seeking these aims, she affirms, … More BOOKER 2023: This is a blog on Martin MacInnes (2023) ‘In Ascension’.

BOOKER 2023: Paul Lynch’s ‘Prophet Song’: A book of humanity set against injustice (and other deeper things).

September 3, 2023

BOOKER 2023: Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song may be a book that fuels opposing views of its quality. Melissa Harrison in The Guardian says it is: “powerful, claustrophobic and horribly real. From its opening pages it exerts a grim kind of grip; even when approached cautiously and read in short bursts it somehow lingers, its world … More BOOKER 2023: Paul Lynch’s ‘Prophet Song’: A book of humanity set against injustice (and other deeper things).