In today’s The Age… there are 8 signs before intimate partner violence occurs. We need to do better www.theage.com.au/national/kee...

A new speculative poem by Damian Balassone on Right Now website. Always was always will be ♥️ rightnow.org.au/creative-wor...

My heart aches as these figures continue to come out of tens of thousands of deaths in Iran, and across Rojhelat, Rojava & Ilam 🧿 I bought another nazar on Sydney Rd. The seller said it will protect 🩷

More info on the significance of braids in Kurdish culture An Isis mercenary cutting of a Kurdish woman's braid is not a random act of terror They are trying to destroy our culture And for Yazidi people ESPECIALLY the braids have deep spiritual meaning Video courtesy of soz98word @ Insta

“A big source of attachment for many in this era is the self-objectification of our rightness… which can be a source for unhappiness. I might be wrong… but it’s okay. The importance of my rightness is diminished through loving conversations with those I disagree.” open.spotify.com/episode/1DOd...

All of my choreographic creations are inspired by the human condition and my desire to capture these stories through movement. Macbeth is a story fuelled by the human condition; love, grief, guilt, pain and ambition. - Alice Topps Read our interview in Dance Aus ♥️ www.zinio.com/in/article/d...

“Earlier protest movements-such as the green movement, the woman, life, freedom movement, originated in Kurdistan & spread nationwide –were characterised by democratic aspirations. By contrast, this uprising appears to exhibit ultra-right nationalist tendencies.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A divine collaboration 🦋💕 Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore open.spotify.com/album/1Y2iL8...

“The region has never really escaped the legacy of dictatorship, and in Syria, it has worsened. The old Baathist denial of Kurdish rights is back, now reinforced by ethnic chauvinism and religious extremism,” Palani warned. www.newarab.com/analysis/ale...

youtu.be/kK4VeEJducE?... 🌹

Shirin Neshat- Fervor, 2000 #iran #photo

Wonderful interview 🤍

“This is not a front line between two equal armies somewhere in the desert. These are urban Kurdish neighborhoods that survived siege after siege  Now those same communities are being told to choose between displacement and death.” 💔 medium.com/@hvron/the-l...

State-backed violence against Kurds has amplified in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq since the new year, as our people are detained, tortured and murdered for imagining freedom. Alongside them, many many others. Check in on your Kurdish friends, we appreciate it always 💕🧿

“When Kurds talk about theater, the conversation often turns to stories told at home, especially tales from the mouths of mothers and grandmothers, mimicry, and reenactments of daily events. For Kurds, theatre is not limited to the stage but is part of everyday life.” theamargi.com/posts/kurdis...

Waiting for Spring: My Love for Daffodils 🌼 Since childhood, I’ve loved daffodils (“Guli Nergiz” in Kurdish) for their beauty and sweet scent. They bring joy, support bees, and symbolize purity, hope & renewal in Kurdish culture. www.patreon.com/posts/147164...

A renewed troubling time for Kurdish peoples in Iran and Iraq at the moment, not widely reported in Western media… but many Kurdish protestors against the totalitarian Iranian regime are being sentenced to death and mercilessly killed for asking for an end to this tyranny 💔

“Our garments offer glimpses of the unconscious; we may also choose them because they feel nothing like us—because they allow us, briefly, to become someone else.” Brilliant article 👠 www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Dear daughter, when I was young we had what had not been. Dear daughter, I placed some of my heart in you—no one’s ever lost who neighbors the dark. - Fady Joudah, "Lullaby in Echo" www.divasofverse.com/2025/11/lull...

Thinking how painfully accurate the film Leila’s Brothers is to reality in Iran & parts of Iraq right now, how sanctions and economic collapse shape everyday life, breaking families and stealing futures, especially for women. Silenced & killed…a generation forced into survival instead of living 💔

A wonderful film 🤍 www.vulture.com/article/sent...

A new short story in Aetherium Literary Journal 🦋

Stories as “magic treasures”. A wonderful review of Jeanette Winterson’s new book, by @felicity-plunkett.bsky.social 💕 www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/c...

In an age of rage, hope is a radical act theconversation.com/rage-bait-th...

She’s fab - so funny & real. Jeanette Winterson on the AI issue open.spotify.com/episode/5OYD...

Anyone who has ever had a teddy bear or a goldfish knows… the moment you start having a conversation with a thing, you get attached. This is the definition difference with AI. It’s not just a tool ~ Jeanette Winterson open.spotify.com/episode/1TY0...

hand me another of those ah you let the tray go by sorry is that a moth so many questions I want to ask you from ‘Lieu Vague’, a poem by Anne Carson in the latest issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

A wee clip from Sunday's, Peruvian iteration of 'if trees were lone women what would they sound like' in the Jardín Botánico in Trujillo for the brilliant, new Festival de Mujeres Artistas. Great new contributions adding to the global community beyond language and borders for next time. More on IG.

Some collaborations are short, some are long— this is a beautiful one from the past few years, reading my poem “Kurdish Walden” @ 23.05. Honoured to be among many beautiful women poets, reading in the wild @archieislander.bsky.social curation continues to develop 🌿🤍 www.mixcloud.com/camp_fr/expe...

Brigitte Bardot

“Everything I have,” he declared, “the legs have danced for.” www.anothermag.com/another-man/...

Bachelard’s work was a dreamwork, both in the sense that it performs work on dreams and in the sense it gives of a self-amusing dream of what intellectual work could be” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Bourdain is my Christmas comfort food while I do my morning holiday Pilates, love this episode 💕 open.spotify.com/episode/66TK...

Sound advice from Lacan

“Dream. A long argument with J. D. Vance about clearance to fly on an airplane. Smoking grass with him and typing information on a medical certificate. — I hate dreaming of people named J. D.” open.substack.com/pub/theparis...

wind now, rippling the roses at their brother’s rest. ~ Fatimah Asghar orionmagazine.org/article/my-f...

Yalda pîroz bê 🌹🕯️wishing all a bright, hopeful dawn

It was as if Emily Dickinson was speaking directly to me—across centuries, cultures, continents. Back then, I was deeply interested in that word and the whole mystical philosophy surrounding it—"nobody”. In Turkish it is quite short and powerful. Hiç.~Elif Shafak open.substack.com/pub/elifshaf...

Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang ‘Cherry Ripe’ and another uncle sang 'Drake's Drum’. It was very warm in the little house… A Child’s Christmas in Wales Dylan Thomas 1950 #BookWormSat #MerryCristmas 🎄

“A Christmas Carol had nothing to do with Christmas; it arose from an idea Dickens had earlier in 1843 to issue a political pamphlet, “An Appeal to the People of England on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child”, to protest against the exploitation of children sent to work in mines and factories”

A master of disguise, the Mari Lwyd subtly blends in with her surroundings to stalk the festive streets of Wales. Hiding in plain sight, she waits until the ideal moment presents itself to pounce and steal your cake and ale...

RIP to a wonderful choreographer — Hans van Manen 🤍 youtu.be/IH5X-WvSSOA

Joanna Macy on Rilke, & wild love for the world 🤍 open.spotify.com/episode/67rM...

The title is from my poem, in this lovely collection 💝🌹 the gift of poetry in these tragic times Use Code: MASONBADRA When ordering through The University of Arkansas Press Website, for 30% off before 31 Dec 💕 www.washington-unbound.com/interviews/m....

Awesome. Stop colonising and oppressing Kurdish women 🌞 this is anti-ISIS and celebrates women life and freedom through dance www.rudaw.net/english/kurd...

More sweetness, more understanding 🍰🩰 An essay & poem for the end of 2025, on my substack: open.substack.com/pub/leilaloi...

We were body surfing a wave of public rage attempting to swim it was terrific thrilling hate sprayed us on the left and on the right we wondered would it smash us into a reef ~ Alicia Ostriker

A wonderful poem, reimagining the famous and ill-fated visit made by Isaiah Berlin to the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in 1945, suffused with a very festive ballet: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v0...

“Babies and toddlers are un-self-conscious when they dance. They’re spontaneous, present, unconcerned with who’s watching them. This approach “brings us back to our own intelligent bodies, our own basic understanding of what it is to be alive” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/b...