Come through!

"I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtue than self-control, another kind of human self than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self." Anne Carson, "The Gender of Sound"

Had the enormous honour of being a part of this series, in some incredible company.

WORLD-FIRST: Ground-breaking research published today in the Ornithologist Journal has, for the first time, translated common UK bird vocalisations into equivalent phrases in the human language. The results tell us a lot! Extracts below... 🧵

Ten degrees in Glasgow and the kids are *sunbathing*

I’ve lived several lifetimes this week and it’s only Tuesday.

Pisces season, dreams: teeth popping out, anthropomorphic holly branches, waters breaking, and, in a meta twist, not being able to sleep.

A "potential" 0.43% increase in GDP *by 2050* - in return for torching the UK's climate leadership and adding vast amounts of carbon to the atmosphere - is simply not worth it. No third runway. Grow the green economy, not airports. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Today I returned my children's woefully overdue library books. Naturally, I thought of Grace Paley and @rodgeglass.bsky.social. (hashtag: sycamores)

This is such an important point. “It might be true that all human cultures tell inventive stories, but that isn’t enough to claim that there is a single definition of ‘fiction’ that can be applied transculturally.”

Meanwhile, this weird miracle of winter light.

For me, it was the drum corps guy (choir director’s son) and the “knee pit erogenous zone.”

Turns out, my kids think the words are “tender and wild” and that just about tracks.

Back on my bullshit, in the bleak midwinter. Merry happy all the things, my dears. open.substack.com/pub/msmeghan...

Do we think Santa can do book deals for Christmas?

Theatre baby, on the roof: Smith College, Albright House. Loved a carabiner back then.

My kid took it upon himself to decorate this tree. Yes, that is a garden glove (found on the pavement somewhere), and all his lil magpie treasures.

“Young person worry: what if nothing I do matters? Old person worry: what if everything I do does?” —Weather, by Jenny Offill

“No, you do not understand,” Andrea said to me last month, describing her response. “This is intimately linked to the work my mother does.” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/m...

The helpful husband has hidden his own stocking stuffers in my closet.

My mother used to call me her 'plain brown wren' (which... see my unpublished works), but I like to think she saw me as a lil walnut, or a Druid bird.

New academic job: come join us in the School of Critical Studies @uofglasgow.bsky.social as Senior Lecturer in Communications, a new, exciting subject area for us. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKY766/s...

Mon, the wild oat wresters! lithub.com/rebecca-soln... @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

The Discoveries writing development programme and prize for unpublished women writers in the UK accepts novels in any genre of adult fiction, with entrants invited to submit the first 10,000 words of their novel and a synopsis

Why do they make the Bake-off bakers wear the same clothes on consecutive days?

I’m 41 years old today and finally remembered not to shampoo my hair the morning of a haircut.

Hi, I'm Meg; I need to learn to not suffer so under the pangs of uncertainty.

Rereading Margo Jefferson never doesn't blow my head off.

Coming soon! Preorder your copy here: www.penguin.co.uk/books/442833...