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.
“I built a stoa leading to the heart Of my dream palace, where I hung the heads Of lovers fooled by words”. Verse satisfied The rhythm of the loss he felt. Meanwhile The hole where once care lived, burnt red and raw, As if with Lightborn’s rod, cooled leather-hard. Edward, the second he knew this, … More Beware Edward the second you see him: a fictive man of taste. A little story!
Do I really ‘want’ to read more books by Naguib Mahfouz? The psycho-cultural limitations in creating and destroying the desire to read & the ‘vital necessity’ of reading. Prompted by his 1975 novella Heart of the Night (trans Aida A. Bamia, 2011, The American University in Cairo Press). Naguib Mahfouz (2016). “Sugar Street: The Cairo … More Do I really ‘want’ to read more books by Naguib Mahfouz? The psycho-cultural limitations in creating and destroying the desire to read & the ‘vital necessity’ of reading.
‘Homosociality – or even homoeroticism – is the conscious as well as the unconscious underpinning of the almost unbearable build-up of visual and psychic tension. … How is it played out …?’[1] The queer vision in the black hole at the centre of Tom de Freston’s narrative work (2023) in Wreck: A Story of Art … More The queer vision at the centre of Tom de Freston’s work (2023) ‘Wreck: A Story of Art and Survival’.
Rhetorical questions are those which ask you to assume a lot of meaning before you answer them. ‘Where can you reduce clutter in your life?’ First of all I must assume I accept a common definition of clutter. Yet there is no definition of this word that is culture-free and value-free. It assumes notions of … More The fallacy of ‘allow not nature more than nature needs’. The danger of reductionism and a blunt Occam’s razor.
If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be? Sports have never been my thing, and to be frank I don’t think, but can’t be sure, that this has anything to do with what people used to see as a masculinity compromised by me being queer. As a student in London … More Men in Lycra (to play Sports of course), it’s time to forget your ‘Macho’: Let ‘The Shiny Shrimps’ Ride Again (in rainbow colours)!
Not seeing ‘the Maidenhead angle’ on stories about the refugees of war and oppression. Is One Life a film relevant to today or a prompt to easy emotion about events without current context? I saw this film with Geoff at the Durham Odeon, Monday 1st January 2024, 11.30 a.m. Geoff and I saw this film … More Not seeing ‘the Maidenhead angle’ on stories about the refugees of war and oppression. Is ‘One Life’ a film relevant to today or a prompt to easy emotion about events without current context? I saw this film with Geoff at the Durham Odeon, Monday 1st January 2024, 11.30 a.m.
Seeking streak numbers growth’s an affliction Just to find a topic from the day’s hoard That captures my taste for fact or fiction, Won’t bore me! Try be the freeway billboard?
In a society where, as Guy Crashnitz in Gary Indiana’s Rent Boy (the crooked medic who sells stolen internal human body organs for a nice fortune) says ‘the global criminals, the ones gouging out billions here there and everywhere, not only never go to jail but in fact run the government from behind the scenes, … More A blog on Gary Indiana’s ‘Rent Boy’. In a society run by a ‘gang’ whose purpose is ‘to perpetuate itself and its ownership of everything’, then being a ‘penis for sale’ may teach you about the rule of power and money over human desire and self-worth.
Okay, said young Tithonus, to the goddess of the Dawn, as she senses that this boy has prominent qualities that make him worth the effort of capture – ‘but as long as I can live forever’ he says. At which the Goddess possibly smiled. Humans never work their wishes through do they? Tennyson says it … More A very long life? ‘Tis ‘A white-hair’d shadow roaming like a dream / The ever-silent spaces of the East’
List your top 5 grocery store items. Go to town today and buy a good book But whilst you are there, why not take a look At the market, you could draw up a list Of groceries needed, items you missed When last you dashed round Aldi, at least five Come to my mind straight … More A bibliophile talks to himself almost all the time! Even when shopping 🛍️
Frank Ormsby a Northern Irish poet who has Parkinson’s Disease, experiences, like others with the same diagnosis, presences near to him that are usually ‘silent and unthreatening’. He writes about them in his poem Side Effects 1, thus for example: “… Who is that girl / I sense at my shoulder?”[1] This is a blog … More Frank Ormsby a Northern Irish poet who has Parkinson’s Disease, experiences, like others with the same diagnosis, presences near to him that are usually ‘silent and unthreatening’, like, for example: “… Who is that girl / I sense at my shoulder?”[1] Ben Alderson-Day (2023) ‘Presence: The strange science and true stories of the unseen other’.
A Whited sepulchre with corpse in box, A philosopher (in need of Botox), Can other colleges boast this – a deal done, Won! University College London Here in the grossest monarch’s finest build Its spires aspire still, to values instilled By Forster, except from Cam’s fens one midge Sings, “‘Tis I alone own Kings College … More Colleges attended – a doggerel response
