Helen Macdonald
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hjm.bsky.social
Helen Macdonald
@hjm.bsky.social
12K followers 760 following 740 posts
Writer. One half of a dynamic duo. H is for Hawk, Vesper Flights. PROPHET with Sin Blache. Rep by the Clegg Agency. Non-binary. They/she
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Reposted by Helen Macdonald
hourlycosmos.bsky.social
Enceladus in the E Ring - From Val Klavans (valklavans.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/fpHjw2
On July 19, 2013, you waved at Saturn. The Cassini spacecraft was there to snap a photo of not only us, but the Saturn system. Here's Cassini's view of Enceladus within Saturn's E ring on that day. (Enceladus is actually forming Saturn's E ring. More details can be found here: Tiny Icy Moon 'Feeds' Giant Saturn Ring) These images were taken on July 19, 2013 and received on Earth July 20, 2013. The camera was pointing toward SATURN-ERING at approximately 742,417 miles (1,194,805 kilometers) away, and the images were taken using the CL1, RED, BL1 and GRN filters. Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / composite by Val Klavans
November 28, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
parsnip.bsky.social
not a halloween costume (i think half the time i actually went home for halloween parties in college lmao) but this is possibly my funniest costume story. the absolute bewildered stares i got all night
parsnip.bsky.social geoffrey (slouching toward thankfulness) @parsnip.bsky.social · Feb 22
recalling the time i went to my first party at a college i’d just transferred to, a 70s party where i went as an early 70s intelligentsia type because where i come from we take costume parties seriously, and a) everyone was in tie-dye and b) i was informed for weeks that i was seen as intimidating
a young man in slim oxblood pants with a light brown skinny belt, a charcoal turtleneck, a tweed blazer, and fake thick black glasses drinking an old fashioned
November 1, 2025 at 1:39 AM
hjm.bsky.social
Just got shouted at by a smallholder at a local Christmas Craft Fair because I had my phone out. “NO PICTURES!!!” happy Christmas to you too mate
November 27, 2025 at 1:38 PM
hjm.bsky.social
Too cold out there. I have an electric blanket and a parrot keeping me company. Truly this is middle age and it’s great
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
evansmithhist.bsky.social
"you'll be visited by three spirits"

The three spirits
December 24, 2024 at 1:36 PM
hjm.bsky.social
No, I don’t want to sign up and get a password in order to see the clothes you have for sale
November 26, 2025 at 9:21 AM
hjm.bsky.social
Book-buying with Elvira Lind earlier today, proper joy on a freezing afternoon. The Ditlevsen trilogy is absolutely incredible. Obsessed!
Helen Macdonald and Elvira Lind at Holland Park tube station posing with books in the white glare of platform lights. White tiles with black grout behind, Helen holding a copy of CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, DEPENDENCY
November 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
lillelaps.bsky.social
I am just so unfathomably angry at the conditions trans people in the UK have to live in. A man screaming in a teenage trans girl's face about how she's a pedophile, sissy porn addict, etc, is cleared of wrongdoing. The BBC coins the incoherent term "teenage trans woman" to deny her vulnerability.
November 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
modinmetro.bsky.social
Tolworth Tower, Kingston upon Thames

1964

Richard Seifert & Partners

bit.ly/48dMn9I
A black and white photograph looking up at Tolworth Tower, a concrete and glass office block
November 25, 2025 at 10:55 AM
hjm.bsky.social
Heading up to London on a line I never use and ITS ALL A BIT SAPPHIRE AND STEEL M8
View from a train window of the platform of a red-brick Victorian branch station with green-painted wooden doors and cream-painted window frames. Old style signs.
November 25, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
pastpostcard.bsky.social
THE CROWD THIS WEEK ARE VERY TOP DRAW BUT NEVER MIND.
November 25, 2025 at 8:52 AM
hjm.bsky.social
Bertie is the very spirit of Christmas chaos
November 24, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
christinamartin.bsky.social
You haven't experienced it unless you've seen it at night.
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
christinamartin.bsky.social
The second hand appliance store pickled onion Christmas window is back.
Window with damaged glass displaying jars of homemade pickled onions with fairy lights trailed around them.
October 20, 2025 at 11:57 AM
hjm.bsky.social
On tour, my event rider is literally one thing: no Ryanair, ever.
November 24, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
regretteruane.bsky.social
Slept dreaming of, woke up thinking about the extraordinary What Resembles the Grave but Isn’t by Anne Boyer
what resembles the grave but isn't Always falling into a hole, then saying "ok, this is not your grave, get out of this hole," getting out of the hole which is not the grave, falling into a hole again, saying "ok, this is also not your grave, get out of this hole," getting out of that hole, falling into another one; sometimes falling into a hole within a hole, or many holes within holes, getting out of them one after the other, then falling again, saying "this is not your grave, get out of the hole"; sometimes being pushed, saying "you can not push me into this hole, it is not my grave," and getting out defiantly, then falling into a hole again without any pushing; sometimes falling into a set of holes whose structures are predictable, ideological, and long dug, often falling into this set of structural and impersonal holes; sometimes falling into holes with other people, with other people, saying "this is not our mass grave, get out of this hole," all together getting out of the hole together, hands and legs and arms and human ladders of each other to get out of the hole that is not the mass grave but that will only be gotten out of together; sometimes the willful-falling into a hole which is not the grave because it is easier than not falling into a hole really, but then once in it, realizing it is not the grave, getting out of the hole eventually; sometimes falling into a hole and languishing there for days, weeks, months, years, because while not the grave very difficult, still, to climb out of and you know after this hole there's just another and another; sometimes surveying the landscape of holes and wishing for a high quality final hole; sometimes thinking of who has fallen into holes which are not graves but might be better if they were; sometimes too ardently contemplating the final hole while trying to avoid the provisional ones; sometimes dutifully falling and getting out, with perfect fortitude, saying "look at the skill and spirit with which I rise from…
November 24, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
ketanjoshi.co
This, by @giacgrassi.bsky.social, remains one of the simplest and best climate visuals
a drawing of a boat heating torwads an iceberg - lower temps still collide with ice but not as badly.
November 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
i-rohl.bsky.social
I still think about this tweet.
[screenshot of a tweet by twitter user @C_Zinkiev. text of tweet follows] "Went on a date with a guy I really like. I dressed nice, did myhair, ggave him an extensvie 30 minute lecture on coelacanths, yet I haven't heard from him 🤔 the only thing I can think of is perhaps I did not provide enough information about coelacanths?? Fish people pls advise"
November 14, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
brandonbird.bsky.social
Look at this shot of Jack Nicholson and Sears #cinema
November 23, 2025 at 8:50 AM
hjm.bsky.social
he's definitely typing these himself I've never been more sure of anything
nkalamb.bsky.social Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 7d
I literally could not stop myself from inappropriately laughing out loud for real
November 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
The base of a 2,000 year old, Late Iron Age Durotrigian style Black Burnished Ware bowl from Winterborne Kingston #Dorset

A series of squiggles were scored into the fabric prior to firing - decoration, doodle or pot-makers mark?

📷 during cleaning in June 2013

#FindsFriday
The base of a black prehistoric pottery vessel, held in the red nail varnished hands of an archaeologist, showing an area of decoration, comprising a series of squiggles, scored into the fabric prior to firing
November 21, 2025 at 7:40 AM
hjm.bsky.social
I met these good people in Telluride in the autumn and can confirm that they are UTTERLY, UTTERLY DELIGHTFUL. Can't wait to see Pillion. Friends who've seen it have all told me it's a full-on masterpiece 🔥
‘I think my mum’s going to like it’: Alexander Skarsgård on his gay biker ‘dom-com’ Pillion
In May, Cannes went weak at the knees for Harry Lighton’s tale of BDSM and bootlicking in suburbia. Ahead of its release, the director and his stars reveal the explicit shots snipped from the final cu...
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
tobytram.bsky.social
Ok, this is cool.

In America, in Nebraska, we lived next to an airbase. British Vulcans were based there; Vulcans are the coolest of planes - an art nouveau Star Wars of a shape and Neil Young feedback of a roar. I recall them flying over, and here one is, all faded like a photocopy of a photocopy
A small house in B&W. Suburbs of Bellevue, Nebraska. Everything is faded, like a memory dug up by special effects in a movie. In the sky is a shape… Same image, but more contrast. The shape is taking…shape. It’s now a thicker line with a hint of wings. A grainy B&W photo of the distinctive Vulcan bomber, not far overhead. You can hear the roar in the photo.
November 20, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
caseyexplosion.bsky.social
Hey folks, I often do posts calling for indie developers to link me their games so I can signal boost them. Today I want to do something similar for all trans creatives.

If you are a trans game dev, artist, writer, streamer or YouTuber, reply here with a link to your work. Only one rule: no GenAI.💜
November 20, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Helen Macdonald
transactualuk.bsky.social
The draft EHRC Code of Practice, as reported in the Times, now admits that there is no way to enforce the anti-trans bathroom ban other than based on policing the appearance and gender presentation of all service users.

#EHRC #TransRights #ScrapTheBathroomBan #Trans #Nonbinary #EqualityAct
Statement on leaked EHRC draft Statutory Code, The draft EHRC Code of Practice, as reported in the Times, now admits that there is no way to enforce the anti-trans bathroom ban other than based on policing the appearance and gender presentation of all service users. Full Statement on our website
November 20, 2025 at 12:30 PM