Category: Education, Art & Writing

Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024.

April 10, 2024

Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024. Sophie Teasdale’s book Dressing Room No. 1  (it can be purchased at this link as I did) preceded this exhibition which was commissioned by the Bishop … More Sophie Teasdale’s Backstage Worlds: Picturing the Times, Space, and Sex/gender Practices of Public Performance. A show of photographs at Bishop Auckland Town Hall seen on Tuesday 9th April 2024.

This is a blog on intersectional nuance and Black queer sexuality focusing on Michael Donkor (2024) ‘Grow Where They Fall’.

April 8, 2024

‘Kwame had slept with more than thirty men, and he reflected again on the fact that only three of them had been Black. … reciprocating didn’t come easily. He was always tentative, because, with each of these three Black men, as distinct and variable and beautiful as those encounters had been, with each there had … More This is a blog on intersectional nuance and Black queer sexuality focusing on Michael Donkor (2024) ‘Grow Where They Fall’.

When I was five … The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore.

April 7, 2024

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up? The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore. When I was five, the moon was green cream-cheese. Freud thought I … More When I was five … The problem of being 5 is that no one, and least of all one’s reflective elder self, can read what might have been there. This is dark fantasy, therefore.

What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? I reflect on an essay by Pankaj Mishra.

April 5, 2024

What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? Where, if anywhere, does my responsibility lie for the actions of people with whom I share a characteristic linked to my identity or is it, as of course it is, everyone’s responsibility (though more so of those with power of … More What are the limits of responsibility to mitigate a massive continuing death toll in Gaza? I reflect on an essay by Pankaj Mishra.

To know someone or something is an illusion of the moment, to ‘understand’ is to accept that you must live in or amongst every facet of their very life or ‘spirit’.

April 4, 2024

What’s something most people don’t understand? Lots and lots of energy are expended on meanings and how they touch upon lives, or even bludgeon some peoples lives into submission, like the words that are taken to infer not only a meaning but also a social status, and these are legion. Queer was once such a … More To know someone or something is an illusion of the moment, to ‘understand’ is to accept that you must live in or amongst every facet of their very life or ‘spirit’.

Stevieism: a belief that though truth is a complicated thing, the duty to be open to it is ‘peremptory and absolute’.

April 3, 2024

If you could have something named after you, what would it be? I, the Stevie in question, was just about to start the process of registering my patent in this belief system when I realised yet again there is nothing new under the sun, and the best things have been said many times. The words … More Stevieism: a belief that though truth is a complicated thing, the duty to be open to it is ‘peremptory and absolute’.

‘… he stands, weak in the knees, a fake, a copy, a boy playing dress up… To be or not to be (what you would be or feel to be) depends on it’. The Pretendian in Tommy Orange’s ‘There There’.

April 2, 2024

What Tommy Orange actually writes about his character Orvil Red Feather in his 2018 novel There There is: ‘… he stands, weak in the knees, a fake, a copy, a boy playing dress up… It is important that he dress like an Indian, dance like an Indian, even if it is an act, even if … More ‘… he stands, weak in the knees, a fake, a copy, a boy playing dress up… To be or not to be (what you would be or feel to be) depends on it’. The Pretendian in Tommy Orange’s ‘There There’.

Can poets improve community? The example of Simon Armitage in ‘Blossomise’ is what NOT to do.

April 1, 2024

I have no standing in any community I suppose. I am the worst for it. What is it that prompts people to write poetry or to call themselves poets? Is that fervour for community improvement? Simon Armitage’s latest poetry ‘project’ in community politics is published in his 2024 volume Blossomise. I began to be concerned … More Can poets improve community? The example of Simon Armitage in ‘Blossomise’ is what NOT to do.

This is a blog about preparing for and visiting York on Saturday 30th March 2023 to see Lemn Sissay read at The Grand Opera House: Lemn Sissay (2023) ‘let the light pour in: Morning Poems’.

March 30, 2024

In explaining why (his name is ‘Why’ remember) he dives ‘into words’ to find ‘under the surface the right ones and emerge’ and then lays ‘them out in a quatrain and press send’, Lemn Sissay  concludes: “So, taking the pressure of time as an opportunity, why not try to squeeze a lifetime into four lines? … More This is a blog about preparing for and visiting York on Saturday 30th March 2023 to see Lemn Sissay read at The Grand Opera House: Lemn Sissay (2023) ‘let the light pour in: Morning Poems’.