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What is empowerment?
Until we treat all people — regardless of appearance — equally, none of us is truly free, and our “choices” are not true choices.
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Why were New Zealand women first in the world to achieve suffrage?
If you know anything about New Zealand history at all, you probably learned that New Zealand women were the first in the world to achieve the right to vote in 1893.
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Transgender Jokes Which Are Actually Funny
So we’ve had decades and decades of jokes where trans people are the butt of the “joke”. This has extended to children’s media, where stories about gender transgression of any kind, but especially boys dressed forcibly as girls, have propped up the gender hierarchy by making it seem legitimately punishable to transgress. We’re in a…
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Tricks for Writing A Lengthy Work
How do you write a lengthy piece of writing — a book, a thesis — without giving up? Various writers share tips and tricks. Here are a collected few.
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1960s-1970s Lettering in Graphic Design
A designer called Paul Bacon was influential in creating a mid-century look which is back in fashion.
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Dear Marjorie: A Short Crime Story
Dear Marjorie, I wonder if you’ve had much to do with law-enforcement. Twice now, I’ve had the experience of an official rat-a-tat-tat at my own abode…
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What architectural style is the house of Psycho?
The Psycho house is similar to what is now called ‘Second Empire Style’. What makes this style of architecture feel so creepy?
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Writing Activity: Describe the Inside of a House
Describe a house, describe the inhabitants (or inhabitants since departed). Below are examples of house interiors from novels and short fiction. A RURAL COTTAGE IN 1950s ENGLAND The room downstairs at the front of this cottage would appear to serve Mr and Mrs Taylor as both dining room and general living quarters. It is a…
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Review: Kutsuwa T’GAAL Pencil Sharpener
The Kutsuwa T’GAAL pencil sharpener sold to Japanese school children comes highly recommended by pencil enthusiasts. Let’s find out why.
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Wake For Susan by Cormac McCarthy Short Story Analysis
If you weren’t told who wrote “Wake for Susan” (1959), I doubt you’d guess it were by American author Cormac McCarthy.
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Describing Australian Landscapes in Literature
How do Australian authors describe Australian landscapes, making it fresh every time? Here are some examples.
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From Rain Man to The Maid: Autistic Archetypes in Contemporary Fiction
Autism Awareness (TM) is starting to impact reader interpretations of texts which seem to star Autistic main characters.
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Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
“Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat” is a misogynist short story by British author Roald Dahl, and an excellent example of Hate Your Wife humour. You’ll find it in Dahl’s 1959 collection Kiss, Kiss. I call this story “Mean-spirited Gift of the Magi”. WHERE TO LISTEN You may be able to unearth the BBC dramatization…
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Drafts and Rewriting: How many “drafts” do authors really write?
How many drafts do fiction authors really write. Also: what counts as a draft?
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White Literary Taste
Did the 2020 efforts towards diversity and inclusion in the wake of George Floyd impact the systemic racial bias in publishing and reviewing?