Penny Dedman
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spanishtom.bsky.social
Penny Dedman
@spanishtom.bsky.social
450 followers 66 following 340 posts
Writer, Writer's HQ, feminist, just about hanging in there. Any photos my own unless stated otherwise.
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Reposted by Penny Dedman
theresjustnopo1.bsky.social
Praise Song Praise the light of late November, the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones. Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees; though they are clothed in night, they do not despair. Praise what little there's left: the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls, shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory, the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky that hasn't cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum, Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough. A poem by Barbara Crooker
November 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
spanishtom.bsky.social
Save our Juries sending out a short film in support of PA demo arrests
<info+save-our-juries-info@email.actionnetwork.org>
November 29, 2025 at 3:53 PM
spanishtom.bsky.social
Google & AI
Google rolled out an update on October 10 2025 and many people didn't notice what it actually does. Google's Gemini can automatically scan your inbox: emails, attachments, receipts, financial docs - all of it - to train their AI and build ad profiles. If you don't want that, you can turn it off. 1 - open Gmail in your browser, 2. Go to All Settings, 3. Under General, scroll to Smart features and personalisation. 4. Uncheck the box. 5. Then go to Google Workspace , find Smart Features and Manage Workspace and toggle off both smart-feature settings. That's it. You've opted out!
November 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
ericschmeltzer.com
I mean, look, I'm not a reporter, so who am I to talk?

But on a day where the president both just called a woman reporter "Piggy" and is celebrating someone who had people bone saw apart one of my colleagues, I might just be a little ready to defend my colleagues and profession.

But that's just me
November 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
ledredman.bsky.social
It baffles me who Labour think actually do vote for them.
November 18, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
pauloapdub.bsky.social
It's genuinely nuts to me that Labour are spending so much effort to try and win the vote of people that almost certainly won't vote for them, at the expense of the people who actually did vote for them.
November 18, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
bakaari.bsky.social
teaching a short excerpt from rob nixon’s ‘slow violence’ this morning. this is how nixon starts the book, reminding you that the global south has always known larry summers for the moral degenerate that he is.
November 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
jamesmcconachie1.bsky.social
Have this for a bit. Might tinker later.

‘Brummagem Song’
November 16, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
The case for privatising water (at low prices) was that the companies would run things better & use financial leverage to invest in modern infrastructure.

Infrastructure has deteriorated disastrously, shareholders grow fat, & the water companies’ managers couldn’t run a bath.

Renationalise. Now.
Plastic beads spreading on Sussex coast after ‘catastrophic’ spill, meeting told
Local people describe devastating impact of millions of toxic beads from Southern Water site near Camber Sands
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:21 PM
spanishtom.bsky.social
@bsky.app
November 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
spanishtom.bsky.social
But impossible for all other creatives/writers/artists hmmm?https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/nov/11/matthew-mcconaughey-michael-caine-ai-voice
November 14, 2025 at 4:28 PM
spanishtom.bsky.social
So if Michael Caine can receive royalties/payment for licensing his voice for the creation of an AI voice over will that alsot be the case for artists/writers/musician's creations? If not why not?
November 14, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
bar44.bsky.social
Another beautiful leaf at the tail end of a beautiful Fall in Portland, Oregon - everyone’s favorite he’ll hole. #Photography #Flora #WashingtonPark #Portland 📷🐸💕
November 13, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
This year, we mourned the loss of Devon-based poet Sarah Connor - here is her Christmas special feature on the #SilverBranch in 2021. @sarahsouthwest.bsky.social

www.blackboughpoetry.com/christmas-special-21-sarah-connor
November 8, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
racheldeering.bsky.social
A poem from my collection, In the Shadow of Gods. Consider getting yourself a copy, links in post below or reviewing it. 👇
blackboughpoetry.bsky.social Black Bough Poetry @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social · 23d
‘We have eyed the mystery of one another'

'Wren' by Rachel Deering from 'In the Shadow of Gods', available with Black Bough, a bumper collection. @racheldeering.bsky.social

www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering
November 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
edwardleepoetry.bsky.social
#poetry #poems #poet #poetrycommunity
November 12, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
bookshopghost.bsky.social
Pardon my suddenly watery eyes, but a long-time regular just stopped in with this.

He'd been reading, found this line, and thought of me, so he wrote it out and brought it in.

"I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller."

📚❤️
An index card with handwriting in blue ink that says, "'I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller.'" Below is the source, "The Private Papers of a Bankrupt Bookseller" by Will J. Darling (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1932).
November 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
bloodaxebooks.bsky.social
In tribute to the late Tony Harrison, BBC Radio 4 will be rebroadcasting this 2013 feature on v., his controversial long poem. Tony Harrison read the poem in full, and writer Blake Morrison discussed the poem's impact.

Tune in at 11pm tonight, 6 Nov, or listen later.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - Artworks, v. by Tony Harrison
The controversial poem by Tony Harrison, to mark his death.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
sarahebond.bsky.social
November 3, 182 CE: An enslaved child named Epaphroditus (8) falls from a window straining to see the castanet-dancers at a festival in the village of Senepta in Roman Egypt (P.Oxy. 3 475). A public physician (accusative: ‘δημόσιον ἰατρὸν’) is called for & a proper burial papyri.info/ddbdp/p.oxy;...
HGV: P.Oxy. 3 475 [source] [xml] Title Report of an Accident Publications P.Oxy. 3 475 More in series P.Oxy.More in series P.Oxy., vol. 3 W.Chr. 494 Sel. Pap. II 337 C.Pap. Hengstl 95 Support/Dimensions Papyrus Post-Concordance BL Entries BL-online; I 323; V 76; VIII 235; IX 180; XI 144; XII 135 Translations Winter, Life and Letters (1933), S. 133; Lewis, Life in Egypt (1983), S. 106.; Burnet, L'Égypte ancienne (2003), Nr. 197; Straus, L'esclave (2004), Nr. 11.; Pap. Lup. 11, 2002, S. 174f. Origin Oxyrhynchos More from Oxyrhynchos Material Papyrus Date 3. Nov. 182 More from the period between 182 CE and 183 CE Commentary Zu Z. 20 vgl. ZPE 133, 2000, S. 190. Neudruck: Pap. Lup. 11, 2002, S. 173-175. Vgl. Marcone , Medicina e società, S. 194-202. Mentioned Dates Z. 13-35:3. Nov. 182 Print Illustrations Ancient Faces (1997), 249, S. 186f. Subjects Anweisung des Strategen an einen Amtsdiener; zusammen mit einem Arzt die Leiche eines Sklaven zu untersuchen; der einen Unfall hatte; Kopie der Anzeige des Unfalls bei einem Fest Images https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24685/lot/207/?category=lis... License Creative Commons License © Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Trismegistos: 20611 [source] Publications P. Oxy. 3 475 (Grenfell, Bernard P. / Hunt, Arthur S.; 1903) = Chrest. Wilck. 494 (Wilcken, Ulrich / ; 1912) = Sel. Pap. 2 337 (Hunt, Arthur S. / Edgar, Campbell Cowan; 1934) = Hengstl, Griechische Papyri 95 (Hengstl, Joachim / ; 1978) = Winter, Life and letters in the papyri p. 133 (Winter, John Garrett / ; 1933) = Lewis, Life in Egypt p. 106 (Lewis, Naphtali / ; 1983) = Burnet, L'Égypte ancienne 197 (Burnet, Régis / ; 2003) = Straus, L'esclave. Recueil de documents papyrologiques 11 (Straus, Jean A. / ; 2004) = Capasso (ed.), Dal restauro dei materiali (Pap. Lup. 11) p. 173-175 no. 23 (Tedeschi, Gennaro / ; 2002 [2003]) = Keenan e.a. (ed.), Law and legal prac…
November 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
sueimnw.bsky.social
For this week's #PromptCombo #Storm with @rfsmith.bsky.social - will catch up with others later.
November 3, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
amyalexca.bsky.social
Please Note: As of now, the majority of SF Bay Area restaurants that plan to offer free or reduced-priced meals to families who will lose #SNAP benefits are owned by ethnic minorities. There are TONS of eateries across the SFBA: are white owners pitching in, too?🧐 www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaur...
These Bay Area restaurants are offering free meals for SNAP recipients during the shutdown
A growing wave of Bay Area restaurants will provide free meals to people on federal food assistance when SNAP benefits run out Nov. 1.
www.sfchronicle.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
benwaltez.bsky.social
How interesting. Ultimo Books specifically open to subs of manuscripts between 30-40k words (both fiction and nonfiction). Don't think I've seen anything like this from a biggish publisher in Australia before.

hardiegrant.submittable.com/submit/33977...
Hardie Grant Publishing - Ultimo Press - Ultimo Shorts 2025
Submissions open at 10am AEST Monday, 20th October 2025. Entries submitted before this date will not be considered. Submissions close at midnight AEST Monday, 31st  January 2026. Entries submitted aft...
hardiegrant.submittable.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
thelifeofesther.bsky.social
37.7%
October 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Penny Dedman
thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
Hi @dragonslayerma.bsky.social Fidel. Thank you for the great ##promptcombo #SimplePleasures. My first is from my collection "These Random Acts of Wildness", (Glass Head Press, 2023)
I Make A Cuppa Some say it is better with a warmed pot, or with tea leaves through a strainer held over a bone China cup. A specialist shop had a bud float in my clear cup unfurled before my eyes. Expensive and rare sight. Indulgent, like days of Imperial splendour when women tea harvester's plight long hours, low pay, working was very real. My dad national service merchantman mariner kept his life in the loft stored in old tea chests, plywood box, steel battaned edges. Brought home carved elephants for the sideboard. We collect the wild as ornamental. Domesticate, put on a pedestal
October 13, 2025 at 10:26 AM
spanishtom.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #BreakTheMould.

I hope I have tagged this right. Here's A Word with the Ancestors.
Screenshot of poem called A word with the Ancestors reads: An arched brow, a set jaw, my father, my mother, past and present, mirrors a transient and chance mating, that same twitch of impulse written in blood combines in stolen faces, rendering me from you. The streets stream with DNA, old fingers have touched stones, the air re-breathed. The search of belonging, peelig back pages and places, faces in pale photos, those ghostly souvenirs of ramshackle ancestors and this weakness - for unfaithful men and dreams a legacy; a muscle memory of high wooded hills and warm oceans. Some of us left behind, some still ahead: a family of orphans seeking a place. Not all glue binds. When I come unstuck with fancy words and feral footprints I can fly from your shoulders and we'll unburden each other: feathered arrows shot from a bow. .
October 17, 2025 at 10:51 AM