I used to torture my little sister a bit, back when we were young – I suspect most siblings do to some extent. When we played imagination games, I’d set the rules, sometimes riffing on some input from her: “The carpet is made out of lava, you can only step on these brown bits or … Continue reading
Originally posted on the open book:
Back in June, Laura Reiko Simeon wrote about how race is handled in Swedish picture books. We’re thrilled to host Laura again as she sheds light on how Swedish picture books handle gender and gender-ambiguous characters. You sit down with your favorite 4-year-old to read a sweet, wordless picture book…
Over-analysis of a viral video or springboard into progressive philosophy? You be the judge. I’m writing because this monkey video makes me happy. We tend to think animals are at their cutest when they look or act in ways that seem human. We identify something familiar in an unfamiliar form, and want to cuddle it. … Continue reading
It’s been seven months since I last popped a pill. To think that I’ve gone more than half a year without feeling the need to take medication leaves me all wonderful inside. I know loads of people who aren’t as lucky, and have to deal with the stresses of taking pills on top of whatever … Continue reading
Standing on the platform was a person who left an impression on me: he had brown skin and dark eyebrows, could have been Indian, a masculine face (straight lines and sharp angles), his hands hung loosely from raised wrists, he dragged his feet and swayed a little, he had breasts, he dribbled slightly when cheerfully … Continue reading
I’ve just got back from the mid-October sunshine of seaside Lyme Regis, and the shift into London was jarring – in a grim, grey, muddy sort of way. Getting off the train, Waterloo was all abustle and I felt like Icarus hitting the waves. So many people as I crossed the bridge to Westminster, the … Continue reading
People hijack the theory of evolution to win arguments. It pisses me off. It gives credence to those smiley fence-sitters who say, “well, science is just another form of faith, it’s really the same as religion, isn’t it,” while they sip their Starbucks and swing their legs nonchalantly. But that’s just one reason why it … Continue reading
How would you deal with a velociraptor in your kitchen? Unless you are habitual to the point of suicide, the answer would probably not involve casually making yourself a sandwich, or reading the paper, or checking your Facebook while watching The Simpsons. Whatever way you dealt with it, it would be a break from normality … Continue reading
If someone doesn’t write a play about all this soon, then consider my figurative hat eaten. I find the latest development particularly striking: Chelsea Manning has announced her new gender the day after her trial. That at some point she changed from desiring to suppress her femininity to desiring to express it is made far more … Continue reading
Us humans have some pretty cool features – imagination’s got to be near the top of the list. It’s a damn shame, then, that we often fail to use our imaginations to extract ourselves from rigidly human-centred points of view. Like the way people who claim to experience alien visitations describe their abductors as humanoids, … Continue reading
the triffid garden 