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.

If the city that promised you love has closed its gates on you, is there any other city to which you can go: My heart in longing for some Jerusalem the Golden.

December 18, 2023

What cities do you want to visit? Jerusalem the Golden by Avram Graicer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36291082 An earlier prompt question and my response helps me to situate myself in relation to this question. The old question was: ‘Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?’ I wrote … More If the city that promised you love has closed its gates on you, is there any other city to which you can go: My heart in longing for some Jerusalem the Golden.

“Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again”. (‘King Lear’ Act 1, Scene 1, line 99).

December 17, 2023

What we create from all creation comes, No something from some nothing comes at all And brightest lights still travelling from suns Long after their death, engendered fall. Though we do not see that act of making It depends upon those many at work To make it; source material faking Its absence and worker’s struggle … More “Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again”. (‘King Lear’ Act 1, Scene 1, line 99).

‘When he became an adult, people loved his beard and his brown eyes. He also grew to have broad shoulders and a big back. …. When you have dark, brown eyes and a big back, you tend to almost forget your past self’. When a friend writes stories, you see him everywhere. A blog on J.P. Cline-Márquez’s story ‘The Witch of Nordisk’.

December 15, 2023

‘When he became an adult, people loved his beard and his brown eyes. He also grew to have broad shoulders and a big back. …. When you have dark, brown eyes and a big back, you tend to almost forget your past self’.[1] When a friend writes stories, you see him everywhere. A blog on … More ‘When he became an adult, people loved his beard and his brown eyes. He also grew to have broad shoulders and a big back. …. When you have dark, brown eyes and a big back, you tend to almost forget your past self’. When a friend writes stories, you see him everywhere. A blog on J.P. Cline-Márquez’s story ‘The Witch of Nordisk’.

I hope people say he had a fascination of what’s difficult’.

December 14, 2023

Tell us one thing you hope people say about you. Jack B. Yeats (the poet’s brother) Man in a Room Thinking 1947 The immediate temptation with a question like this is to imagine what people gathered around your grave at your funeral would say. I hope that they might say ‘he had a fascination of … More I hope people say he had a fascination of what’s difficult’.

This is a blog on understanding why there is an impersonal and public politics of variations of intimacy in relationships and attachments that feel private. It is also on why this blogger feels inadequate to review, other than as a distant voice in a desert, Matt Colquhoun. ‘Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures’ (2021) and ‘Egress: On Mourning, Melancholy and Mark Fisher’ (2020).

December 13, 2023

In the wake of the passing of Mark Fisher which Matt Colqhoun describes in their books, Matt finds significant meaning in words from the funeral address  of Mark’s colleague and friend, Kodwo Eshun, which describe Mark’s ability ‘to “gather people into gatherings”; his talent for “making movement”’. Both Kodwo and Matt link this to Mark’s … More This is a blog on understanding why there is an impersonal and public politics of variations of intimacy in relationships and attachments that feel private. It is also on why this blogger feels inadequate to review, other than as a distant voice in a desert, Matt Colquhoun. ‘Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures’ (2021) and ‘Egress: On Mourning, Melancholy and Mark Fisher’ (2020).

To ‘judge character’ is easy. The difficult thing is to appreciate a person.

December 13, 2023

A ‘judge of character’ is a tautology. Sometimes we go to great lengths to harmonise the various supposed signals of the notion of character, as we adjudge it, to persons, assuming for sake of control of a world that can seem to be unreadable, I think, that we can even assume a correspondence in inner and outer … More To ‘judge character’ is easy. The difficult thing is to appreciate a person.

‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms’: Stevie’s returning to Kokoschka.

December 11, 2023

Oskar Kokoschka ‘Knight Errant’ c. 1914 https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/2224 The Guggenheim is very insistent on the meaning of Kokoschka’s painting, which it owns but which so fascinates me, though never seen in the flesh. They say in the record to their online entry to it it that ‘is to this day read as an expression of the … More ‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms’: Stevie’s returning to Kokoschka.

I admire those that are ‘careful and troubled about many things’ and do what they can as they can and try to be their best in many things.

December 10, 2023

There are so many things that the figure of Jesus Christ in the New Testament says that even a non-believer like myself has to applaud. However, just as I do not accept that there is ONE God that is the repository of all truth whether I or anyone else understands it, I also cannot accept … More I admire those that are ‘careful and troubled about many things’ and do what they can as they can and try to be their best in many things.

‘These words that sculpt us from nothing but silent matter into monsters’. The art of Gary Indiana in ‘To Whom It May Concern’ (2011): a co-production with Louise Bourgeois.

December 9, 2023

‘These words that sculpt us from nothing but silent matter into monsters’. The art of Gary Indiana in To Whom It May Concern (2011) London, Violette Editions (still available it seems) a co-production with Louise Bourgeois. Louise Bourgeois with that phallic monstrosity of a sculpture, ‘Fillette’ (‘little girl’)  she carried with her frequently, and Gary … More ‘These words that sculpt us from nothing but silent matter into monsters’. The art of Gary Indiana in ‘To Whom It May Concern’ (2011): a co-production with Louise Bourgeois.

Making an ass of myself: Playing Bottom (in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ of course)

December 8, 2023

Making an ass of myself: Playing Bottom (in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ of course. When I taught English Literature at the Roehampton Institute I played Bottom in a perambulating production in the grounds of the then Froebel College, a constituent part of the Institute. It started off in a grove in the gardens and ended in … More Making an ass of myself: Playing Bottom (in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ of course)