Back
Sue's news and views
by
3d ago
 I'm back to my blog after my visitor has gone, and I notice the bots have been at work. It's hard to judge what real people are reading here when there are thousands of hits a month from some weird entity. Oh well, the wonder of modern communications and all that. My recent visitor was very pleasant company and came primarily to help me sort and file hundreds of documents. You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork that moving from one country to another generates! At lest some nice spring weather enabled us to spread everything on my outdoor table. It's so much pleasanter to work in t ..read more
Visit website
A bit of a break
Sue's news and views
by
2w ago
 Sometimes you need a break from the routine so I took the last week or so out from the blogosphere and social media. It's not like there's as much cheerful reading out there these days as there used to be!  There are various things that have gone wrong in my home largely because of the wet and windy weather we've had of late. A small leak from the roof, a faulty air con unit and other electric problems. I continue to suffer from some sort of allergic reaction that makes me sneeze a lot and can't put my finger on it, although that's diminishing now. But, on the positive side, I have ..read more
Visit website
Transgender arts and culture, February 2024
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 Some of the spectacles with a trans theme I have spotted from around the world this month.   Music 1) I wrote a lot about the huge Sanremo Music Festival earlier this month (Body, mind and Soul; and A carnival of camp; and For all the transphobia, there's understanding out there) and I'm pleased to see that the openly bi and trans-ally contestant, BigMama, who made the most impression on me, was invited to the United Nations in New York to speak at the Arts for Global Citizenship event for young people. She spoke about bullying, body shaming and discrimination of all kinds, which sh ..read more
Visit website
Weird health histories
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 Despite being reassured by the London allergy clinics, with whom I spent a lot of time in the early 1990s and in 2014-16, that I have no known allergies, I have had some sort of streaming nose and sore eyes for nearly a fortnight. I am not sure why. Antihistamines are helping and the last couple of days have been better. But I suspect that, as with my killer eczema, it's probably due to my immune system being underemployed and attacking innocuous things or overreacting to something. This is one reason why there seems to be so much more hay fever, allergies, asthma and rashes these days t ..read more
Visit website
Cinderella time
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 As a teenager, I was spellbound by a certain stage production of Cinderella: the ballgown to die for, the gorgeous wedding dress, the  wonderful set, the costumes, the delightful music ... No, not a pantomime or a film, but the opera by Rossini performed at La Scala opera house no less, which some kind and generous soul had given us tickets for. I wrote more about this here: Frocks to make your heart sing. At the weekend, they showed the video of that very production on TV and I sat as delighted as I had been all those years ago. I laughed at the gags, cried at the mistreatment of t ..read more
Visit website
For all the transphobia, there's understanding out there too
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 Do you remember this cover of Time magazine, from ten years ago? (c) Time, 29 May 2014 The article is here if you're interested: The Transgender Tipping Point We really thought we were moving towards a rosier future for trans people. Clearly, in the USA, things went backwards under Trump and are difficult in certain states now. In the UK, even the deranged British Prime Minister Theresa May, for all her hatred of human rights, planned to extend trans rights, but her replacements, the crooked Boris Johnson, the mad Liz Truss and the cruel Richy Sunak have used trans people as a ..read more
Visit website
A carnival of camp!
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 I’ve had a surprising amount of interest in comments on my last post, on Facebook and elsewhere, on the camp funfest that is the annual Sanremo Music Festival, so I thought I’d expand on that.  Here Storm Pulcinella is bucketing down as I write but that doesn't stop the loony tunes festival. I'm not prepared to watch all 5-6 hours of TV every night just to report back, but it's proving quite fun, even if Sanremo town centre is virtually off limits to ordinary mortals.  The main venue is the Ariston theatre, that for much of the year operates as a four-screen cinema: (c ..read more
Visit website
Body, mind and soul
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 I've lost 20 pounds (or 9 kg) since November 1st, so I have 30 to go to target. I'm almost back where I was two years ago before the distress of the Ukraine war and its refugees took my mind off slimming.  I hope to be at 28 pounds (2 stone, or 12.7 kg) loss by the end of this month, although I appreciate that that's quite a challenge. But I think I should set the bar quite high, otherwise it's easy to lose focus. I'm fed up with being overweight, literally! Doing "Dry January" really helped. I think I might try to give up alcoholic drinks altogether except for big social occasions ..read more
Visit website
Transgender arts and culture, January 2024
Sue's news and views
by
1M ago
 Last year I wrote a number of items about art and photography shows, plays, films, etc. with a trans theme or slant. To judge by the number of views, they were popular so I plan to do more of these every month or so.  Here I aim to show that in the world of creativity, being trans can be a status worth celebrating. This month I have spotted various items in France and Italy, with contributions from further afield.   Art Paraventi: folding screens from the 17th to the 21st centuries at the Prada Foundation in Milan (to 26 Feb) may seem an odd exhibition to include here, but it i ..read more
Visit website
My photo with no clothes, or how to deal with pests
Sue's news and views
by
2M ago
Let's talk about sex pests and some ways to stop their attention from escalating.  From time to time we all get some inadequate man contacting us wanting to start a conversation that we know has only one direction, don't we? This week I've had one who's kept pestering me with "Hi" and "You look beautiful" and "Good morning".  In an idle moment earlier today I wondered if perhaps he wasn't the usual kind of pest as, to be fair, there are some genuine people out there. Indeed, I've made a good friend and ally from one such unpromising opening. So I replied with "Good morning. You keep ..read more
Visit website

Follow Sue's news and views on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR