Oh, this is brilliant. You gotta read this. Naylor, inspired by of Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison, tells her tales with compassion, wisdom and an unflinching eye for human weakness, self-delusion and well, evil. The longest section is the first, about a woman called Mattie, who grew up in the Deep South and is... Continue Reading →
Presumably (I am not an historian of the period) when an escaped slave was recaptured they were punished publicly in horrific ways, with the intention of sending a message to anyone else who was contemplating a dash for freedom. Because, you know, you want to break their spirits, their minds... This comes to mind from... Continue Reading →
One last November and now another... Here's what I sent - they edited it lightly. Pilita Clark writes with her customary verve and clarity on the dangers ahead from climate inaction and special pleading by the corporate sector ("Magical thinking on fossil fuels endangers safety, FT Weekend, April 30). Four pages earlier, you reported resolutions demanding... Continue Reading →
Absolutely brilliant/essential reading. Guy asks about whether apologising for abuse is a good idea. The considered reply includes this. Or, if you want the text: "To be a woman in this world is a Sisyphean task. It is large rocks and steep hills, forever. That’s not all it is, of course, it’s also wonderful shit... Continue Reading →
I came to the "Horatio Hornblower" books only when I was 18, sadly - too much bloody ropey Doctor Who in my youth. So it goes. There's one of these stories, set during the Napoleonic wars that comes to mind every-so-often. Hornblower is a midshipman and the ship he is serving on captures a bunch... Continue Reading →
Go read it here. Someone asked me what grok means. From the wikipedia entry I ended up rabbit-holing to "William Tenn," who was an engineer and sci-fi writer (with a sardonic/satirical bent) And from there to the wonderful short story The Liberation of Earth (wikipedia page), which even has a climate mention (not carbon dioxide... Continue Reading →
For those of you who aren't up with the lingo: When we burn fossil Fuels (coal, oil and gas) to get energy, we release carbon dioxide. This is bad because it adds to the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and more carbon dioxide traps more heat, which melts ice caps, causes droughts... Continue Reading →
The problem for satirists these days is to make their fiction as outlandish and unbelievable as reality. Tricky job. But "these days" is the hostage to fortune in this, because fifty years ago Philip Roth faced the same dilemma with Richard Nixon. And his brilliant "Our Gang" (no, seriously, you should read it) has some... Continue Reading →
Warning - incoherent-and-dashed-off-when I-should-be-thinking-and-writing-about-Something-Else rant Measuring "success" of social movements is notoriously difficult. Did a law get passed? Repealed? Did social attitudes change? Over what timescale? Who did what to what effect? Or did things change BACK, or not change (not all social movements are 'progressive'!). And on and on. But sometimes an organisation comes... Continue Reading →
This is a couple of weeks back, but I realised I am probably gonna use it again and again, so want to put it somewhere it can be found. Rochdale Council deleted the tweet, and the Twitter monkey responsible probably got sent for re-education. You can DO these things of course, but you're not supposed... Continue Reading →
