Digital hoarding and organisation tips from your friendly neighbourhood librarian. I make playlists. Every year Spotify unwrapped tells me three things consistently: I listen to more music than most people, I statistically make my own playlists, and I am a top listener of Taylor Swift. I would like to assert that in order to make... Continue Reading →
Braindead Takes
or, the power of the narrative you want to believe. It was reading New York Magazine's interpretation of Patient Zero that really hammered home to me how much people have the blinkers on about Taylor Swift. To me, this song was an obvious homage to a friend [1] who is "sick of him" but still... Continue Reading →
How I Journal
A step-by-step guide to creating custom growth, commonplace, reflection and daily planning journals. I have kept a journal on-and-off for what feels like my whole life. I have diaries dating back to being 12, and I currently go through one notebook in about three months. Neither the past or the present is more awkward, or... Continue Reading →
Unfollowing Ghosts: Navigating Social Media Connections
How do you separate people you used to know from people you DO know?
Ozempic, selfie-culture, and self-esteem
Paint me in oils, don't take a photo.
Contemplating The Fridge Magnet
Home Décor: Tourist Style
Reading Recommendations based on Why You Liked 50 Shades
Brought to you by my PhD chapter on 50 Shades being heavily underway (dare I say almost complete?) 50 Shades of Grey is a peculiar artefact in that it is astoundingly popular and also near immediately forgotten. Similar to James Cameron's movie Avatar, this book shows considerable understanding of genre and audience in a way... Continue Reading →
A Room of One’s Own and Middlebrow Entertainment
Debating the dead: Virginia Woolf edition Virginia Woolf, famously and with great perspicacity, imagined Shakespeare's sister. Without A Room of [Her] Own in which to write, Woolf argues, she is "washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed". Woolf recognised the powerful pull of labour, income, and duty over the less practical creative... Continue Reading →
Queer, Sultry Summer
A review of recent Sylvia Plath events 25th June - Waterstone's Hampstead (London) Heather Clark (author of Red Comet) and Helen Bain (author of The Daffodil Days). Highlights: What is the difference between a biographer and a historical fiction writer? Helen used historical fiction to go where a biographer could not - moments we have... Continue Reading →
What’s In My Bag?
Sequel to What’s In My Pencil Case. THE BAG My King Jim Carchette in beige is the single item I get the most compliments on, and from an astounding array of people. I always wanted to be a briefcase person, and now I have found the perfect briefcase / handbag for me. I'm torn between... Continue Reading →