Reading List | Adventures with Kake

We made it to the end of April! \o/ If you have completed any of your short-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We've also gotten through the second month of spring. If you're doing seasonal goals, you may have finished the first of your spring ones and/or be looking ahead to the summer batch.

I'm continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31

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Current Mood: accomplished

kaberett

Went into town this afternoon to post some things, and observed Several Creatures. The blue butterfly around the lilac near the top of the hill was very welcome; the Egyptian goslings are starting to look almost grown up, with eye markings and a general reduction in fluff and increase in sleek!

(Elsewise today: SLEEP, post-gym Spatzen, more free electrons and therefore more laundry; both social and solitary wiggles; good therapy; and some Tentatively Positive Communication re Admin: the LRP.)

ysabetwordsmith

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Birdfeeding" in

birdfeeding.

* Commented on "Just One Thing" in

awesomeers.

* Commented on "Check-In Post - April 29th 2026" in

get_knitted.

* Posted "April Monthly Post" in

allbingo.

* Posted "April Monthly Post" in

birdfeeding.

* Posted "New Year's Resolutions Check In" in

goals_on_dw.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- My live plants arrived from Select Seeds. :D I've put them outdoors with the others to get some sun.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- I planted yesterday-today-and-tomorrow petunia in the barrel garden. It blooms almost white, turns pink, then nearly purple. I planted prairie coreopsis and pink turtlehead in the wildflower garden.

The first poppy is blooming beside the driveway. :D A pink columbine is blooming in the tulip bed.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- I planted a white echinacea in the white garden.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- I planted two different kinds of wild mint in the wildflower garden.

EDIT 4/30/26 -- I planted a red-leaved penstemon and a coneflower in the wildflower garden.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

oursin

More about the LCC and the Arts: The LCC and the Arts II: the ‘Patronage of the Arts’ Scheme

‘Protecting what matters’: a statement from the Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research, History UK and Historical Association:

If the government is serious in its stated aim of strengthening the social contract, it needs to act now to support and sustain the study and practice of history across all sectors of education, in communities and in public discourse. If we are to collectively ‘protect what matters’, we challenge educational leaders, policy makers and politicians to protect and defend history.

The Government's vision for archives

and

New strategic vision for archives highlights how BBC Written Archives Centre falls short:

{W]e profoundly regret the decision to stop responding to enquiries from members of the public. Also, it is entirely unsatisfactory that physical access for researchers via the Caversham reading room has been reduced from three to just two days each week.
Moreover, we disagree with WAC limiting use of its facilities to just ‘writers who have been commissioned to write a book or article; those undertaking research for a commercial project, [and] academics in higher education undertaking accredited research.’ The restrictions are detailed here, and are more tightly focussed than has been the case in the past.

Yeah, that's not sinister at all.... talk about controlling the narrative.

This is a fascinating piece on how people engage with 'dark tourism experiences': visits shaped less by exhibits, explanation panels and audio guides, and more by interactions with other visitors

This, however, is grim reading: What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center: 'I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows'.

ysabetwordsmith

This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about reading as a way of becoming an expert in a given subject. Read Part 1: Introduction to Becoming an Expert, Part 2: Architecture, Part 3: Dance, Part 4: Music, Part 5: Painting.

Poetry is a literary art that uses different techniques than fiction, relying on patterns and sounds to charm its audience. Languages use different features to indicate poetry -- sometimes rhyme, or alliteration, or other things. This creates a large range of forms as well as free verse. Here on Dreamwidth, check out

25poemsamonth,

books,

greatpoetry,

haiku_gallery,

poetry,

thefreaksclub, or

words_just_words. There are more Poetry and Writing communities too.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth April 25-May 15

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Current Mood: busy

oursin

Happy birthday,

landofnowhere!

wildeabandon

I am resisting the temptation to get into an argument on the book of face, and instead coming here to observe that it irks me when people say things like, "You shouldn't blame violent behaviour on people's mental illness. Mentally ill people are more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrator." As though it's not possible for the same factor to increase both vulnerability to and propensity to commit violence. The overwhelming majority of the violence that I've been on the receiving end of occurred whilst I was in psychiatric hospitals, surrounded by other mentally ill people.

Of course there's nuance to the conversation. Some varieties of mental illness, particularly the most prevalent ones of depression and anxiety, probably have little to no effect on violent tendencies, whereas others like addiction which have a major effect on impulse control almost certainly do, and still others literally have aggression and violence as part of the diagnostic criteria. It's also important to think carefully about how we assign culpability for violence committed by mentally ill people, and about the impact of speech which uncritically conflates all mental illness with violence. But the idea that violence committed against mentally ill people means we shouldn't speak about the link between mental illness and that which they commit, or even that no such links exists has absolutely none of that nuance. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk :)

Kake's Reading List

New Year's Resolutions Check In

creatures!

Community Thursdays

Birdfeeding

Heritage positives and negatives

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Poetry

(no subject)

Mental health and violence

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December 2012

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