Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday 15 June 2013

last week of term, lunches missed, laura marling, oxonian review, a conscious englishman, gabriel roberts


Last week of term.

Lots of things to do, though. Even so, was sad to miss the Oxford Centre for Life Writing lunch on Tuesday and yesterday's lunch for all colleagues who had done Navigator courses (I did one last autumn).

Ah well, a busy but productive week.

Productive in terms of work but not on the allotment--too wet to do anything when I had free time. Hoping that by some miracle the soil will have dried out by tomorrow morning.

At odd moments on the bus have been continuing to listen to Laura Marling's Once I Was An Eagle. A generous album both in terms of length and how many details that re-listening reveals.

Excellent review of A Conscious Englishman in the Oxonian Review by Gabriel Roberts. An insightful balance of well-articulated criticisms and praise from someone who clearly knows the subject. These words sum up how I feel about the book:

'A Conscious Englishman holds its own against other versions of the same story and provides an easier route than academic studies into the contexts of Thomas's writing. Anyone with a burgeoning interest in Thomas should begin by reading the poems, but A Conscious Englishman is a worthy addition to the expanding secondary literature.' Gabriel Roberts, The Oxonian Review

I'm so pleased for the book and for Margaret!

(Photos taken on Oxford canal on my way to work this morning.)
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