#essays — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #essays, aggregated by home.social.
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A Soliloquy – Dan’s Last Harmonica Tune of the Evening
All right. That's enough. My lips are shot. Fingers are cold. Back's complaining. Even the squirrels have gone home. Just me, this bench, and you fellows. Six crows. Seven? No, six. You've been following me all afternoon. I played by the fountain. You sat on the fence. I moved under the oak. You moved to the oak. I played "Key to the Highway." Nothing. Tough crowd. One of you turned your back on me. Then I tried some blues. That got your attention. Three of you hopped […]https://essaysbydan.org/2026/08/13/a-soliloquy-dans-last-harmonica-tune-of-the-evening/
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A Soliloquy – Dan’s Last Harmonica Tune of the Evening
All right. That's enough. My lips are shot. Fingers are cold. Back's complaining. Even the squirrels have gone home. Just me, this bench, and you fellows. Six crows. Seven? No, six. You've been following me all afternoon. I played by the fountain. You sat on the fence. I moved under the oak. You moved to the oak. I played "Key to the Highway." Nothing. Tough crowd. One of you turned your back on me. Then I tried some blues. That got your attention. Three of you hopped […]https://essaysbydan.org/2026/08/13/a-soliloquy-dans-last-harmonica-tune-of-the-evening/
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You Won’t Get Free of It by Rachel Aviv review – a subtle study of the mother-daughter bond https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/aug/11/you-wont-get-free-of-it-by-rachel-aviv-review-a-subtle-study-of-the-mother-daughter-bond #Books #Essays #Culture
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Writing and living through friendship break-ups
Téa Mutonji discusses unexpectedly living through a friendship break-up after writing a novel about a friendship break-up.
https://bookriot.com/writing-and-living-through-friendship-break-ups/ -
Writing and living through friendship break-ups
Téa Mutonji discusses unexpectedly living through a friendship break-up after writing a novel about a friendship break-up.
https://bookriot.com/writing-and-living-through-friendship-break-ups/ -
You Won’t Get Free of It by Rachel Aviv review – a subtle study of the mother-daughter bond
By Rhiannon Lucy CosslettThe most complex female relationship is thrown into sharp relief in this moving series of essays
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You Won’t Get Free of It by Rachel Aviv review – a subtle study of the mother-daughter bond
By Rhiannon Lucy CosslettThe most complex female relationship is thrown into sharp relief in this moving series of essays
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This week's #longreads Top 5 includes:
-Behind the blockade (Associated Press)
-Splendid scribbles (Eater)
-Greenest green (The New Yorker)
-New nuptials norm (New Lines Magazine)
-Tasteless tomatoes (Offrange)https://longreads.com/2026/08/07/the-top-5-longreads-of-the-week-620/?utm_source=x&utm_medium=social
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This week's #longreads Top 5 includes:
-Behind the blockade (Associated Press)
-Splendid scribbles (Eater)
-Greenest green (The New Yorker)
-New nuptials norm (New Lines Magazine)
-Tasteless tomatoes (Offrange)https://longreads.com/2026/08/07/the-top-5-longreads-of-the-week-620/?utm_source=x&utm_medium=social
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An Essayist's Notebook is a great blog with a lot of insightful writing to read: "Ad hoc notes on essayism as method: observations, tensions, and fragments from an essayist’s working notebook".
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An Essayist's Notebook is a great blog with a lot of insightful writing to read: "Ad hoc notes on essayism as method: observations, tensions, and fragments from an essayist’s working notebook".
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Existential Author Thoughts with Xiane
I've been deeply contemplating the why I write and even more crucial, the who is this for questions lately, and the answers are pending while I try to get out of the way of the emotions tied up with my work.
https://www.christianeknight.com/existential-author-thoughts-with-xiane/
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Have some short essays coming up on internet memes and art - the first is about Anna Haifisch's The Life I Always Longed For, and how yearning can be an emotion that carries you through to a new life
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Have some short essays coming up on internet memes and art - the first is about Anna Haifisch's The Life I Always Longed For, and how yearning can be an emotion that carries you through to a new life
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Today's task is to rearrange my writings on #Kraa and prepare the way for exploring #longform #writing.
I'm particularly curious about and interested in writing #essays.
#amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #WritersSupportingWriters
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Today's task is to rearrange my writings on #Kraa and prepare the way for exploring #longform #writing.
I'm particularly curious about and interested in writing #essays.
#amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #WritersSupportingWriters
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#Memory works like a furnished room which expands to a full building.
The method of loci, also known as “the memory palace” is a technique for organizing your experience as if you are designing and decorating rooms.
When you picture a place you know well, where you could reach any corner with your eyes closed, you found the perfect storage for the memories you want to preserve.
Open the drawer and remember that romantic dinner seven years ago. Look through the window and see yourself playing with your childhood friends. See that box on the counter? That's your twentieth anniversary party.
This works so well because we are innate storytellers. But as stories go, they can alter the facts. It's hard to resist to make your version of them, especially when our brains are hardwired to find meaning — or even create it.
Nevertheless, our subjective experience is the only way to know the world, at least according to #phenomenology.
Philosophically, even #physics seems to agree, through the measurement postulate of the quantum world.
Metaphorically speaking, phenomenology is a coordinate system for experience. It doesn't ignore it, it contextualizes it in a frame that allows for a rigorous analysis, with formal methods or at least attempts at that.
I find myself lately reading more #magazines and #essays than #books, so I've put together three #articles I would like to share.
Read my short musings on them in The Gradient #blog & #newsletter
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#Memory can work like a furnished room which you could expand to a full building.
The method of loci, also known as “the memory palace” is a technique for organizing your experience as if you are designing and decorating rooms.
When you picture a place you know well, where you could reach any corner with your eyes closed, you found the perfect storage for the memories you want to preserve.
Open the drawer and remember that romantic dinner seven years ago. Look through the window and see yourself playing with your childhood friends. See that box on the counter? That's your twentieth anniversary party.
This works so well because we are innate storytellers. But as stories go, they can alter the facts. It's hard to resist to make your version of them, especially when our brains are hardwired to find meaning — or even create it.
Nevertheless, our subjective experience is the only way to know the world, at least according to #phenomenology.
Philosophically, even #physics seems to agree, through the measurement postulate of the quantum world.
Metaphorically speaking, phenomenology is a coordinate system for experience. It doesn't ignore it, it contextualizes it in a frame that allows for a rigorous analysis, with formal methods or at least attempts at that.
I find myself lately reading more #magazines and #essays than #books, so I've put together three #articles I would like to share.
Read my short musings on them in The Gradient #blog & #newsletter
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"For those seeking an entry into the most brilliant of #Jewish #legal minds, a recently launched series serves as an immensely rewarding resource. The first volume of #Koren -Publisher’s #Steinsaltz Edition of #Maimonides’ code of #Jewishlaw, the #Mishne #Torah, has been published in English. It seeks to make the legendary #medieval thinker’s #teachings accessible to a wide audience, utilizing the commentary of the late #Rabbi #AdinSteinsaltz, who passed away in 2020.
In addition to the clear English #translation of the source material, this unique edition contains sections covering additional legal perspectives that supplement those of the #MishneTorah itself. Also included are some of the late #Lubavitcher #Rebbe’s writings on Maimonides’ legal rulings.
Most helpful are the conceptual #essays in the back of the #book, which touch upon how Maimonides’ thought has been adapted, and argued with, over the ages."
https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/390555/framing-the-faith-of-maimonides/
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"For those seeking an entry into the most brilliant of #Jewish #legal minds, a recently launched series serves as an immensely rewarding resource. The first volume of #Koren -Publisher’s #Steinsaltz Edition of #Maimonides’ code of #Jewishlaw, the #Mishne #Torah, has been published in English. It seeks to make the legendary #medieval thinker’s #teachings accessible to a wide audience, utilizing the commentary of the late #Rabbi #AdinSteinsaltz, who passed away in 2020.
In addition to the clear English #translation of the source material, this unique edition contains sections covering additional legal perspectives that supplement those of the #MishneTorah itself. Also included are some of the late #Lubavitcher #Rebbe’s writings on Maimonides’ legal rulings.
Most helpful are the conceptual #essays in the back of the #book, which touch upon how Maimonides’ thought has been adapted, and argued with, over the ages."
https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/390555/framing-the-faith-of-maimonides/
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The Mark Twain Book of Quotes: A Collection of Speeches, Quotations & Essays From America's Greatest Humorist edited by Travis Hellstrom, 2026
Sharp wit, timeless wisdom, and unforgettable humor from Mark Twain—perfect for readers who love classic literature and clever insight.
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The Mark Twain Book of Quotes: A Collection of Speeches, Quotations & Essays From America's Greatest Humorist edited by Travis Hellstrom, 2026
Sharp wit, timeless wisdom, and unforgettable humor from Mark Twain—perfect for readers who love classic literature and clever insight.
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What Is “Weird Girl Fiction”?
A brief history of the weird girl fiction trend, including must-read titles, where to find more weird girl lit, and what's next for the subgenre.
https://bookriot.com/weird-girl-fiction/ -
What Is “Weird Girl Fiction”?
A brief history of the weird girl fiction trend, including must-read titles, where to find more weird girl lit, and what's next for the subgenre.
https://bookriot.com/weird-girl-fiction/ -
more old #essays to pass the time...
Killing Murgatroyd - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/killing-murgatroyd.html
Help - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/help.html
The post-it modern age - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-post-it-modern-age.html
Sign of the times - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/sign-of-times.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Killing Murgatroyd - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/killing-murgatroyd.html
Help - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/help.html
The post-it modern age - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-post-it-modern-age.html
Sign of the times - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/sign-of-times.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
If 'were' were a has-been - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/if-were-were-has-been.html
At your service - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/at-your-service.html
Pushing the envelope - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/pushing-envelope.html
Popular fiction - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/popular-fiction.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
If 'were' were a has-been - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/if-were-were-has-been.html
At your service - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/at-your-service.html
Pushing the envelope - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/pushing-envelope.html
Popular fiction - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/popular-fiction.html
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M.H.R.
The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […] -
M.H.R.
The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […] -
Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
Other Books Read by This Author:- Wanderlust: A History of Walking
- A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Summary/Review:
The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises. While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic. Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation. The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better. And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing. Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.
Favorite Passages:
Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.
The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born
Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms
The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.
Recommended books:
- No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein
- We Gon’ Be Alright by Jeff Chang
Rating: ****
#Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange -
Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
Other Books Read by This Author:- Wanderlust: A History of Walking
- A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Summary/Review:
The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises. While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic. Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation. The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better. And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing. Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.
Favorite Passages:
Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.
The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born
Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms
The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.
Recommended books:
- No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein
- We Gon’ Be Alright by Jeff Chang
Rating: ****
#Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange -
more old #essays to pass the time...
It's a small world - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/its-small-world.html
The universal village - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-universal-village.html
Where there's a will, there's a won't - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/where-theres-will-theres-wont.html
Casting about - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/casting-about.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
It's a small world - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/its-small-world.html
The universal village - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-universal-village.html
Where there's a will, there's a won't - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/where-theres-will-theres-wont.html
Casting about - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/casting-about.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Miles better - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/miles-better.html
Revelations (18.6.88) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/revelations-18688.html
Back to the Future (27.4.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/back-to-future-27486.html
The baby boomers - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-baby-boomers.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Miles better - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/miles-better.html
Revelations (18.6.88) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/revelations-18688.html
Back to the Future (27.4.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/back-to-future-27486.html
The baby boomers - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-baby-boomers.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
The aristos - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-aristos.html
Vinyl virtues - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/vinyl-virtues.html
Economising - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/economising.html
Hip hop - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/hip-hop.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
The aristos - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-aristos.html
Vinyl virtues - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/vinyl-virtues.html
Economising - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/economising.html
Hip hop - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/hip-hop.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Like a virgin queen - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/like-virgin-queen.html
In security - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/in-security.html
Consumption - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/consumption.html
Police Aware aware - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/police-aware-aware.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Like a virgin queen - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/like-virgin-queen.html
In security - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/in-security.html
Consumption - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/consumption.html
Police Aware aware - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/police-aware-aware.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Contingency - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/contingency.html
The discreet charm of Perrier - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-discreet-charm-of-perrier.html
Difficult loves - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/difficult-loves.html
Friends like these (20.9.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/friends-like-these-20986.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Contingency - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/contingency.html
The discreet charm of Perrier - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-discreet-charm-of-perrier.html
Difficult loves - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/difficult-loves.html
Friends like these (20.9.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/friends-like-these-20986.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Taxi - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/taxi.html
The Saxon Shore (15.3.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-saxon-shore-15386.html
Albert Herring - Aldeburgh Festival (17.6.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/albert-herring-aldeburgh-festival-17686.html
Bucks and berks - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/bucks-and-berks.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Taxi - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/taxi.html
The Saxon Shore (15.3.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-saxon-shore-15386.html
Albert Herring - Aldeburgh Festival (17.6.86) - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/albert-herring-aldeburgh-festival-17686.html
Bucks and berks - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/bucks-and-berks.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Polish notation - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/polish-notation.html
The first novel - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-first-novel.html
Compact discs and Jimmy Young - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/compact-discs-and-jimmy-young.html
The world is full of marred men - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-world-is-full-of-marred-men.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Polish notation - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/polish-notation.html
The first novel - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-first-novel.html
Compact discs and Jimmy Young - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/compact-discs-and-jimmy-young.html
The world is full of marred men - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-world-is-full-of-marred-men.html
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Hagitude author Sharon Blackie: ‘At 60 I wasn’t ready to give up, I was just starting’
By Lisa AllardiceThe writer of cult hit If Women Rose Rooted is on a mission to bring folklore to modern readers. She talks about confronting her fears, communing with nature – and the power that comes with age
#Fairytales #Books #Culture #Essays #Feminism #Psychology #TheGuardian #LisaAllardice
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Hagitude author Sharon Blackie: ‘At 60 I wasn’t ready to give up, I was just starting’
By Lisa AllardiceThe writer of cult hit If Women Rose Rooted is on a mission to bring folklore to modern readers. She talks about confronting her fears, communing with nature – and the power that comes with age
#Fairytales #Books #Culture #Essays #Feminism #Psychology #TheGuardian #LisaAllardice
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The Sky Is Yellow
We fixed this before, or at least were on our way to fixing things. So what do we do now? There are choices we need to make.
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The Sky Is Yellow
We fixed this before, or at least were on our way to fixing things. So what do we do now? There are choices we need to make.
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Young hubris - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/young-hubris.html
Deep listening - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/deep-listening.html
The policeman's bifurcation - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-policemans-bifurcation.html
Ecstasy - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/ecstasy.html
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more old #essays to pass the time...
Harlem whispers - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/harlem-whispers.html
The great joke - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-great-joke.html
One world - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/one-world.html
Capital ideas - https://moodyessays.blogspot.com/2026/07/capital-ideas.html
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The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
By Guardian StaffLooking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn
#Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff