My first name is very much in the clouds. My surname is grounded to the earth. That sums me up pretty well, I think.

This is a theme I explored in a piece of music called ‘Birds and Humans‘ which I co-wrote with my dear friend Saska (aka Tiasu).

soundcloud.com/lacrecerelle...

My surname, Gaian, means ‘of Gaia‘ or ‘of the Earth‘ which I chose as a promise to always live in a way that is mindful of the planet that we all share, and a reminder to myself that we’re all just people on one giant spinning ball of magic.

Unfortunately I couldn’t spell particuarly well in my youth, so kestrel became Kestral – a misspelling I chose to honour when I legally changed my name.

As a kid growing up on a council estate, one of my favourite books was ‘A Kestrel for a Knave‘ by Barry Hines. I got to meet a couple of kestrels through the scouts, too, and kind of fell in love with how confident yet calm they seemed.

The sole witness to this change seems to be Auntie Annie, whose pretzels appear to have salted chins since the days of the Wright brothers.

Nice looking city though!

Truly this is the music we'll all be listening to in the year 2000.

Anyway I post lots more over on masto.hackers.town/@kestral and whatever happens with Bluesky that will still be the case.

This includes sharing more cat photos.

If you're on any kind of federated network like Mastodon, you're welcome to follow me there.

I have no answers. And I hate that.

And, crucially, is anywhere ever going to be any better? Should we just stay quiet and stop demanding or expecting equitable spaces online?

Or perhaps it's time to turn off my smartphone entirely, get people's phone numbers, and do a weekly phone-around on a landline.

If I'm prepared to stay here, why am I not prepared to be on Twitter? Just because Bluesky is the diet coke of problematic platforms, doesn't mean it doesn't have that same awful taste.

Is it reach? People? Marketing potential? Fear of missing out?

Am I the only person grappling with this?