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.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”: Beware those who claim that there is only thing you need to know.

November 2, 2023

In a review of a book of poems by Paul Muldoon in 2015 Fran Brearton in The Guardian writes that: ‘In a 21st-century context where everything seems instantly “knowable” for everyone, where we are “assailed by information”, what is “worth knowing” or what remains unknowable have become pressing questions. … The earth … is now also … More “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”: Beware those who claim that there is only thing you need to know.

Children, even the ‘child inside’, are the object, and sometimes the victim, of theories not based on finding ways of effectively finding out about them from them. Isn’t it time we changed all that?

November 1, 2023

What does it mean to be a kid at heart? You always have to start with terminology in these questions and the most glaring term here is ‘kid’. For, of the many stereotypes Western society (and perhaps more globally now with the primacy of Western values on social media and the long reach of the … More Children, even the ‘child inside’, are the object, and sometimes the victim, of theories not based on finding ways of effectively finding out about them from them. Isn’t it time we changed all that?

Why three wishes when even one is prone to: ‘The secret ambush of a specious pray’r”?

October 31, 2023

Daily writing prompt: You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for The line of poetry in my title comes from Samuel Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes (read the poem from this link if you wish), a very specifically English eighteenth-century version of a satire by Juvenal. The story it tells so … More Why three wishes when even one is prone to: ‘The secret ambush of a specious pray’r”?

This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

October 29, 2023

This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with … More This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.

October 27, 2023

This blog could appeal only to those who identify in some way with the view that only what Romain Felli calls ‘environmentalist, democratic socialism’ is the ‘best hope for reducing climate catastrophe and maintaining freedom within a nature – irreducibly both biophysical and social  – which is complex and divided’, and even then perhaps it … More The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.

The art of eating.

October 26, 2023

What food would you say is your specialty? The interesting thing about today’s  question is I suppose what is meant by specialty. The word has a kind of professional air to it, so that a working chef would talk of a specialism that they could say they were expert in. It might be a food … More The art of eating.

The ‘major’ events in history will turn out to be the ones we only half-understood at the time and were little publicised.

October 25, 2023

Today it was reported widely that the Israeli government has called for the resignation of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) for saying that, though the attacks on Israeli land and people killing an estimated 1400 were ‘appalling’ (as of course they were and more) they were not an event that happened in … More The ‘major’ events in history will turn out to be the ones we only half-understood at the time and were little publicised.

My birthday visit to The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle: An exhibition of automata. 24th October 2023 and 69 today

October 24, 2023

It was a dreary start. Rain and gloom and a memory that 69 is one year off 70, but hubby Geoff had gone to some trouble to get me a range of little birthday gifts and greetings for Joanne, Linda, Mike and Ian helped cheer the old man up. And then we remembered that the … More My birthday visit to The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle: An exhibition of automata. 24th October 2023 and 69 today

Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) ‘Philip Guston’.

October 24, 2023

Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) Philip Guston Washington, USA, Publishing Office, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Philip Guston is a force … More Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) ‘Philip Guston’.