I feel sick. I feel angry. I feel so, so sad.
What a legacy, @albomp.bsky.social.
I'll NEVER forgive what you've done to this country and our future.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...
Cover of novel ‘Skin’ by Deborah Kelly
I had a wonderful time at Deborah Kelly’s book launch yesterday for her new teen novella ‘Skin’. A quick read for busy teens exploring themes of being comfortable in your own skin and not making assumptions about people based on outward appearance.
The least safe place for any Australian woman to be is in her own home.
Fact & fucked!
What is every candidate/Party doing to improve safety for women in all places, including their homes, where their choice is often violence or homelessness?
#Auspol #Ausvotes
Early learning is a hot topic ahead of the upcoming election, and a new scorecard has laid out each of the policies from the major parties on the quality, cost and availability of childcare.
I guess it’s just habit to want to address the letter to someone with ‘Dear …’. I often have a heading of ‘to whom it may concern’ but could change this to the greeting.
I guess that feels like it’s referring to someone in a similar role. I do use it when the letter is from my boss (a surgeon) to another health professional where the name isn’t known.
I work in healthcare and at times have to send letters to insurance company case managers or other 'To Whom it May Concern' letters. I struggle to find a workable alternative to Sir/Madam.
What is your suggestion for a letter that would previously have been addressed 'Dear Sir/Madam'. I've struggled to find a gender neutral alternative.
A pile of 3cm square crochet granny squares in shades of blue, brown and red yarn with loose ends.
A pile of crochet granny squares of different sizes in shades of blue, brown and red yarn with loose ends.
Making a crochet jacket out of 108 granny squares of various sizes seemed like a much better idea before I was faced with the reality of 216 ends to darn in. #crochet #yarntherapy
A great post to bookmark for those times when you want to help a friend dealing with health challenges, but aren't sure what to do.
❗️Authors and illustrators: have your books been used to train AI? Today the Atlantic published a search tool allowing authors to search for their books in the LibGen dataset, which has been used to train Meta's AI system.
Search here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Unsolicited writing advice, no. #103876:
Never worry about whether what you write "matters." It matters because you do. And one day, someone else may read it and understand that they matter, too. This is how we build a world, one connection at a time.
Welcome to BlueSky @yarnmecalm.bsky.social. It's nice to see you here. I haven't been very active, but I'm hoping to change that in the near future.
My son completed his Diploma in Graphic Design at TAFE NSW this week, with an excellent presentation evening/student expo last night. I'm so impressed with the quality of the work produced by the students and the level of commitment and support offered by the staff despite such limited resources.
Image description: This poem is presented in the form an excel spreadsheet, with words in each cell. The line ‘Our cells shall merge themselves together’ is in a longer merged cell, and there are filter arrows on the line ‘Remove this filter from my heart’. Love Excels Let's spread ourselves on sheets of love, and turn our data into poetry. Our cells shall merge themselves together as you wrap your text around me. Our sum is greater than our parts, let's crunch our figures without compunction. Remove this filter from my heart, you give me form and function. We shall frolic among the formulae, pivot our tables now and often. I will total all your rows and you can add my column. Brian Bilston
Today’s poem is called ‘Love Excels’.
We’re closing all the fancy schools and all those tiny smug infants have to enrol at Penury High. Finally! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
That's very generous of you. :-) Although, a layer of yarn on the bed would be very soft and squishy and probably comfortable...
And telling your library about it!
An unfinished projects census is on my to do list. Maybe I'll get around to it on my Christmas break (or maybe I'll just use that time to start more projects).
Yes! Although I realised that I wasn’t really offering that either but felt frivolous jumping in with a random crochet project update or ‘what I’m reading’ comment or isn’t my dog cute photo.
Don't forget that lots of authors sell signed books directly through our websites and they make excellent Xmas gifts for your loved ones. And every sale is a gift for the author too. Merry happy and all that.
🎁 📚
I was feeling the same way about my feed this evening. Lots of information/worthy topics/meaningful opinions, but not so much random conversation.
I currently work part-time as a Prof of Communications at UQ, and one of my fave parts of the job is my long involvement with the @austlit.bsky.social BlackWords research community. If you're an educator, researcher or reader, check it out.
www.austlit.edu.au/BlackWords
#Auslit #literature #books
Two simple, identical human figures. The first has feet colored red and the caption "My stress level in an emergency." The second is colored entirely red with the caption "My stress level in a grocery store."
Why am I like this?
I'm trusting that I'll drift towards connecting with people who are either at a similar level of entertaining/engaging as me, or who are at least tolerant of my mediocre level of creativity/wittiness/general awesomeness. Birds of a feather, and all that.
I was starting to feel very stalker-y, just reading posts without actually engaging. It's much better to be part of the conversation, but taking the first step is always a bit intimidating.
I was trying to find just the right combination of 2-3 sentences to properly showcase who I am and what matters to me while also demonstrating that I am creative, insightful, witty, entertaining and engaging. Eventually I gave up and just announced that I'm here. :-/
I can't wait to start the new season. I've loved the collaborative atmosphere in previous seasons. Such a great combination of creativity and camaraderie, like The Great Pottery Throw Down.
Overcoming the First Post inertia by posting something inane so I feel free to starting joining in random conversations. If I have to wait until I come up with something witty and/or meaningful, I'll be on the sidelines forever.