Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
“It’s toxic masculinity. Male entitlement. Men and boys in a sweetie shop, helping themselves, and yet they’re ragin’. If you’re still thinking “Not All Men!” you are part of the problem.” I needed a news blackout. Waking in the mornings and searching for that elusive cause to my existential angst, the images of a medieval-style […]
“Each decade we declare that we buried class- each decade the coffin stays empty.” Richard Hoggart, 1989 introduction to George Orwell’s Road to Wigan Pier. Lately, rather than sitting down to BBC Breakfast or Sky, I’ve been watching the previous nights American chat shows; Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel or Seth Myers, or news from CNN or […]
Anti-racist scholar and activist Tim Wise came to Olympia for a two-part lecture series on February 26th, 2020. Wise’s arrival was part of a speaker series organized by Shawna Hawk of the Women of Color in Leadership Movement. It began two years prior with Dr. Joy Degruy, author of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, and continued the […]
2020: The (second) Year Without A Summer Seattle University student AJ sat in her apartment on Seattle’s Broadway stretch on the evening of June 6th. She had heard coverage of protests heating up in the area, but as a counselling student, her studies had to take center stage that day. Sharp noises rose in the […]
‘[W]e can today celebrate the achievements of all learners. Young people have received awards that recognise their hard work and allow them to move onto the next stage in their lives.’ – John Swinney (4th August 2020) ‘[W]e did did not get it right for every young person and I want to apologise for that’ […]
Indian novelist and activist Arundhati Roy penned an article in the Financial Times last week on the global effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Many writers have offered ideas on this topic, but Roy’s stood out as some of the most prescient speculation on the new groove of a post-COVID world: “Our minds are still racing […]
Hello, Firstly, I would like to thank you for still being accessible while in these unprecedented times. I hope you and your kin stay well in this frightening climate. I have been following the Scottish governmental and national health service advice and staying home. I have multiple sclerosis as well as other health issues and […]
So 2020 is coming, that seems quite absurd to me. It’s the end of the decade and yet feels more impending than 1999 or 2012 did. Remember the millennium bug? Or the Mayan calendar prediction? Mind how afterwards there was the chat that there was no year 0 so really the end of the world […]
Today is the day I start to write again. I have not written any political or journalistic pieces for a while. I chose to take a break from writing to focus on my PhD thesis and other work commitments. But a general election is looming. And I want to ‘do my bit’. Right, here goes… […]
When you’re so desperate for book recommendations that you turn to a bald twenty-something burnout for help. Gods above help you. Ross W. Greene, Ph.D. – Lost At School “…consider whether your expectations for each kid are truly realistic. We often place expectations on kids that we know they can’t meet, and then punish them […]