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.

Alice Diop’s great film ‘Saint Omer’ makes it as clear as such a thing can be that there are things that “we can’t be clear about”.

September 20, 2023

In a seminal conversation in Alice Diop’s great film Saint Omer, the mother of a woman who killed her own daughter says to Rama, a young female novelist witnessing the daughter’s trial in order to obtain material for her next novel, that she will not discuss her daughter’s motivation because there are things that “we … More Alice Diop’s great film ‘Saint Omer’ makes it as clear as such a thing can be that there are things that “we can’t be clear about”.

A celebrant of the holy days of retirement. Some thoughts about the fate of ritual in a world defined by scheduled work.

September 20, 2023

How do you celebrate holidays? Given I am retired, I have to redefine the term ‘holiday’. But, why not start with the term holiday itself. The Word Press question-setter follows precise grammar (though that precision is rather dishonoured in everyday use I think) by using the plural ‘holidays’ in this question here to refer to … More A celebrant of the holy days of retirement. Some thoughts about the fate of ritual in a world defined by scheduled work.

This blog reflects on the fate of ‘the Word’ (text and books) as an element of ‘Art’ in post-religious subcultures or cultures. It follows up thoughts from my earlier blog (at this link) based on reading Michael Petry (2018) ‘The Word is Art: Text and The Written Word in Contemporary Art’.

September 19, 2023

This blog reflects on the fate of ‘the Word’ (text and books) as an element of ‘Art’ in post-religious subcultures or cultures where religion is displaced from having a central authority over authenticity of the the non-material, spiritual or conceptual forms we venerate. It follows up thoughts from my earlier blog (at this link) based … More This blog reflects on the fate of ‘the Word’ (text and books) as an element of ‘Art’ in post-religious subcultures or cultures. It follows up thoughts from my earlier blog (at this link) based on reading Michael Petry (2018) ‘The Word is Art: Text and The Written Word in Contemporary Art’.

If the way to a straight  guy’s heart is via his satisfied stomach, this was some failure to woo. A student day’s tale.

September 19, 2023

Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail. I was a student at UCL in the early 1970s and in my first year had a room at a single-sex University of London residence near Kings Cross (it’s lost to history now in lots of ways and replaced by a glossy privatised version of student … More If the way to a straight  guy’s heart is via his satisfied stomach, this was some failure to woo. A student day’s tale.

I wish I had believed about myself what Socrates was said to believe about himself when Plato quotes him as saying, “I neither know nor think I know”.

September 18, 2023

Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life. It is almost certain that Socrates never said, as people sometimes believe, anything like, ‘All I know is that I know nothing’, but then can we we truly ever be certain about anything. How people came to believe he said this is explained in … More I wish I had believed about myself what Socrates was said to believe about himself when Plato quotes him as saying, “I neither know nor think I know”.

‘The swirling bonfire of change of the “sixties” put down for all of us to see’. Further thoughts on the meaning of male beauty in painted images, using this re-found treasure: Patrick Kinmonth (1985) ‘Patrick Procktor’.

September 17, 2023

‘The swirling bonfire of change of the “sixties” put down for all of us to see’.[1] Another book found (at the PBFA Bookfair at the Knavesmire Suite at York Racecourse on the 15th of September 2023. Further thoughts on the meaning of male beauty in painted images, using this re-found treasure: Patrick Kinmonth (1985) Patrick … More ‘The swirling bonfire of change of the “sixties” put down for all of us to see’. Further thoughts on the meaning of male beauty in painted images, using this re-found treasure: Patrick Kinmonth (1985) ‘Patrick Procktor’.

To want to see oneself as a leader is the first danger to overcome in ‘thoughtful leadership’. But, in any case, I don’t think I have the skills for it or any other kind of leadership. A little bit on Wilfred Bion.

September 15, 2023

Do you see yourself as a leader? Thoughtful leaders are first of all concerned with keeping their organisation ‘on task’. In pursuit of this, thoughtful leadership provides containment, is available for thought, and mobilises others in the organisation to be thoughtful. Throughout the paper lessons are drawn from the work of the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion … More To want to see oneself as a leader is the first danger to overcome in ‘thoughtful leadership’. But, in any case, I don’t think I have the skills for it or any other kind of leadership. A little bit on Wilfred Bion.

In 2018 Lewis Segal wrote in The Los Angeles Times of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ and praised ‘the members of the swan corps: feathered, bare-chested virtuosos whose sense of menace kept the work from collapsing into short-lived camp’. Is this a work that STILL demands attention from everyone in the queer community. I saw it on 13th September at the Gala Cinema, Durham City, UK.

September 14, 2023

In 2018 Lewis Segal wrote in The Los Angeles Times of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, playing there at the time and praised in particular ‘the members of the swan corps: feathered, bare-chested virtuosos whose sense of menace kept the work from collapsing into short-lived camp. Bourne created the work at a time when a law … More In 2018 Lewis Segal wrote in The Los Angeles Times of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ and praised ‘the members of the swan corps: feathered, bare-chested virtuosos whose sense of menace kept the work from collapsing into short-lived camp’. Is this a work that STILL demands attention from everyone in the queer community. I saw it on 13th September at the Gala Cinema, Durham City, UK.

My favourite word is NOT ‘WORD’. Because the Word on its own is not everything but it keeps pretending it is.

September 14, 2023

What’s your favorite word? This piece is dedicated to Heppy, who as well as being a man of his word is also wise because he knows words are links to each other and between us all. He is a hero. And a teacher. Lucky students. Whether we are religious or not, we live in a … More My favourite word is NOT ‘WORD’. Because the Word on its own is not everything but it keeps pretending it is.

As I was reading Mark Griffin’s (2018) ‘All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson’, I think I concluded that Rock Hudson’s story and life-performance illustrates that the art of ‘passing’ was never the opposite of ‘coming out’.

September 14, 2023

As I was reading Mark Griffin’s (2018) All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson (New York, Harper), I think I concluded that Rock Hudson was neither insightful nor supremely talented though he was sometimes a very good actor and performer indeed (though also sometimes not so good and – by his own estimation … More As I was reading Mark Griffin’s (2018) ‘All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson’, I think I concluded that Rock Hudson’s story and life-performance illustrates that the art of ‘passing’ was never the opposite of ‘coming out’.

This evening I am seeing a screening of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ at the Gala Cinema, Durham.

September 13, 2023

What are you doing this evening? Swan Lake was the first ballet I ever saw, apart from a rather ill-understood experience of Don Quixote in Moscow on a programmed trip of Moscow & the then Leningrad arranged by Intourist (the state tourist agency of communist Russia – Gorbachev was President then). I wrote about it … More This evening I am seeing a screening of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ at the Gala Cinema, Durham.