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Find a Book Club, a club that does what it says on the tin, asked me to recommend 10 books for book clubs (including two of my own).- Loading Quotes...
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Author Archives: Angela
When This Is Over … and some Christmas Lights for the dark Winter Nights
When this is over, may we never again take for granted a handshake with a stranger, full shelves at the store, conversations with neighbours, a crowded theatre, Friday nights out, the taste of communion, a routine check-up, the school rush … Continue reading
Posted in Christmas, Coronavirus, Creativity, Good News, Good Things, Love, Poetry
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Bookshop.org: an online bookshop that supports indie bookshops. And, ‘It’s easier to be a Dad, this morning … .’
Bookshop.org, as the Guardian articles below suggest, is exactly what the publishing world has been waiting for. Bookshop.org supports independent bookshops (it doesn’t undercut them, as the unmentionable does) and it makes it possible for independent bookshops to benefit from online sales … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Books, Bookshops, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, Good News, Good Things, History, Human Rights, Living Standards, Morality, News, News Outlets, Politics
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October is Black History Month in the UK. But shouldn’t Black history be taught all the time?
Black History Month began in America as an annual History Week, in 1925. That year, Black historian Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, announced Negro History Week: A celebration of a people that many in this country at the time believed … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Democracy, History, Human Rights, Psychology, Racism
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The Doll Test and the heartbreakingly detrimental effects of segregation
In the 1940s, in America, Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of tests known colloquially as The Doll Tests. Children between the ages of three and seven were asked to identify the race of the dolls … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Equality, Psychology, Racism
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Deborah Alma’s Poetry Pharmacy: Poetry Prescriptions
Last week I had a telephone consultation with a pharmacist. Not an unusual thing to do in these corona-times, but this pharmacist doesn’t dispense drugs. Deborah Alma is a Poetry Pharmacist. Before corona I’d planned to go to The Poetry … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Bookshops, Creativity, Fiction, Love, Mental Health, Poetry, Psychology, reading
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What does it mean to be white? It means I’m racist
In a recent interview, Robin DiAngelo, a white person, said that to understand my racism, as a white person, I need to ask myself: What does it mean to be white? She said that if I ask myself if I’m racist … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Equality, Human Rights, Psychology, Racism, White Fragility, Writers, Writing
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George Floyd: I Can’t Breathe: BlackOut Tuesday 2 June 2020
LA Reid, record producer and founder of HitCo, posted this on twitter two days ago: And George Floyd’s brother, Philonese, says this on YouTube. He calls for peaceful protests and for people to use their votes in the coming US election … Continue reading
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Shonaleigh Cumbers: Grief is Love with Nowhere to Go; and One Green Thing: clean aviation fuel
Shonaleigh Cumbers is a Drut’syla. To quote from here: She’s a living tradition holder. It’s a tradition you probably won’t have heard of. It’s a tradition that flourished in Jewish families, but that was wiped out during the holocaust. Almost wiped … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Coronavirus, Creativity, Good News, Good Things, Health, Love, One Green Thing, Storytelling
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Stories for Children in Lockdown
At the beginning of April Yahoo set up a short story competition for stories to entertain children during the lockdown. Yesterday, 27 April, they announced the 20 shortlisted stories and mine, FLYING COLOURS, is one of them. The stories are now … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Poems for these Coronavirus Times
Read by Christopher Eccleston, written by Matthew Kelly for his partner, Jill Scully, who is a district nurse. And here’s one from our poet laureate, Simon Armitage, which, as explained in this Guardian article, moves from the outbreak of bubonic plague … Continue reading
Posted in Coronavirus, Poetry
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Wise and kind words for the Coronavirus pandemic by Adrie Kusserow
This poem for these strange times is written by Adrie Kusserow after Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese : it speaks for itself. Mary Oliver for Corona Times, thoughts after the poem Wild Geese, by Adrie Kusserow, ethnographic poet You do not have to … Continue reading
Posted in Coronavirus, Creativity, Poetry
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Can we ever know our parents as individuals? And One Green Thing: cling film storage alternatives
This year my sisters and I had the family ciné films transferred to DVD and I’ve just watched them all. And as I watched the parts where we children didn’t feature, I wondered if it’s ever possible for children to … Continue reading
Posted in Drink, Food, One Green Thing, Parents, Plastic, Storage, Storytelling, Writing
2 Comments
A Warming Valentine to the World (and vegan vogue)
A friend of mine told me about the speech Prince Charles made at this year’s Davos World Economic Forum who say, in their Mission Statement: We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Creativity, Good Things, Health, Human Rights, News, One Green Thing, Women
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Good news to begin 2020; Splosh! (to reduce plastic) and beautiful new year lights
So often good news doesn’t make the news, so here are a few good pieces of news to start 2020 with, from Future Crunch (where you’ll find 99 other good pieces of news, divided into categories). One of the founders of Future … Continue reading
A Vote for the Planet; a Christmas rose; and plant a tree for Christmas
By the time you read this we’ll know the result of the UK General Election and I hope with all my heart we’ll have voted for the planet above our membership (or not) of the EU, and everything else that … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Gardening, One Green Thing, Politics
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100 Novels That Shaped Our World; free travel with a book and One Green Thing
Four women and two men have just chosen 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. The choosers are: Stig Abell, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Syima Aslam, founder of the Bradford Literature Festival, authors Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal and Alexander … Continue reading
Greta Thunberg and climate change; There is No Planet B; Extinction Rebellion and solastalgia
On Friday 20 and Friday 27 September Global Climate Strikes took place across the world, inspired by Greta Thunberg who began her Friday school strikes in August 2018. She sat outside the Swedish Parliament to protest against the lack of action on … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change
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City Tales, and Hive
Since 2004, Oxford University Press has been publishing volumes of City Tales, collections of short stories set in European cities translated into English. The guiding idea is to give the English-speaking reading traveller (I paraphrase): Stories expertly translated by writers with an … Continue reading
Janet Clare on getting published later on, and Vice’s Broadly.
I’ve been meaning to read this article by an older writer about starting to write later in life and how, after a very long writing journey and the discovery that every writer makes at some point, that all writing is … Continue reading