Irish speaker/writer; tech, politics + the future. Hope's not a 'nice to have'. It's our moral duty. she/her http://mariafarrell.com
"We need to rewild the internet": https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/
"Your platform is not an ecosystem", https://crookedtimber.org/2022/12/08/your-platform-is-not-an-ecosystem/
Fiction: "Burning Men" https://westerlymag.com.au/burning-men-by-maria-farrell/
Last year in Oslo I was given this card with embedded flower seeds by the legendary @beabusaniche of https://www.vialibre.org.ar/en/home/
Well, I've just planted those seeds in the burgeoning northern hemisphere Spring. Let's see how some Argentinian flowers enjoy a London garden!
The card says "Understanding how this works is an act of REBELLION". And so is growing things with friends and comrades. Thank you, Beatriz.
Saw this Very Good Boy in our London park walk this morning. He was ever so poignantly watching his human children as they played on the swings and slides in the no-dogs area.
Setters really are such especially sweet family dogs. What am I saying? I love them all.
I'm officially writing a book!
"Rewild the Internet: How to Resist Big Tech" will be published by Simon & Schuster in NY and Bloomsbury in London.
It uses ecology to show why we've got such a toxic technology monoculture through almost the whole tech stack, and how to change that. And crucially, the people who already are.
Hell, most of them are here in the Fediverse.
The more power we take from tech oligarchs, the more we take from Trump and other authoritarians. I plan to show how.
Well, for sure the UK's voting system (FPTP, single-seat constituencies) means my Green vote in an 80% Labour seat counts for precisely zero
BUT
It's my vote and I get to use it, so I did!
Molly and Milo wore their Sunday best to VOTE THE TORIES OUT
A fruitful Imbolc to the brilliant and beloved people I know who figure out new ways to woman every day,
(my beautiful trans sisters you know this means you)
Lá Fhéile Bríde dhaoibh go léir!
Here's to that magnificent, unbiddable Irish saint who blesses learning, wisdom and independence.
And to Spring!
My favourite plant this time of year is Japanese anemones. They're white, pale pink and purple - more appealing than the jazzy bright shades of the spring-flowering variety.
They self-seed beautifully but not too rapidly. Below, a garden that's been neglected for some years, letting the anemones spread, gives the whole street a gift of exuberant pink flowers.
There's something so beautifully uncontrived about them - their sweet pink faces opening up in every direction.
Well, yesterday I defended my PhD dissertation.
It was challenging in all the best ways and took about two hours - mostly because well into the second hour we all seemed to be having a delightful and multifaceted conversation. An amazing experience - just incredible to be in a room of people who have really grappled with and thought hard about your work. Still beaming.
Phew! Pass with minor corrections. Soon to be a doctor of English and Creative Writing...
Also I turned 51
Friends! I've joined the stampede and started a writer's newsletter.
It's called after a Kafka aphorism on power: 'A Cage Went in Search of a Bird'
It's mostly links to my writings on tech, and essays, short stories + talks. Also shaggy dog yarns. Probably monthly?
A beloved, bear-ish friend posted this pic when he heard the news. I missed a trick on using it as my icon!
I'm 'eating my own dogfood' and moving away from platform dependency.
Subscribe here: https://buttondown.email/mariafarrell
