Alan Turing Year is now over, but his name still crops up time and time again – and it might be set to become even more common. Inspired by an anecdote told by Christos Papadimitriou, Alan Knuth recently suggested that the verb “to ture” should mean “to use the internet”, as “the English language currently has no verb with this meaning, and such a verb becomes m... »
Call me weird, but I find starting a brand new year more exciting than Christmas – I love how it’s a time that seems tailor-made to helping you not let things that have happened in the past year completely overshadow the next one. The problem with this is my tendency to make so many ridiculous resolutions that I end up failing before February even starts. »
Okay, so the end of the year is still two and a half weeks away, but a recent post by Leah Jane at The Quixotic Autistic has got me thinking back over 2012 and identifying the high and low points. I think it’s really important to acknowledge both sides of that – not drowning in all the bad things that might have happened, but also not being positive or optimistic to the point of denyin... »
Fellow Queereka contributor Yessenia recently shared this article about Jada Pinkett Smith’s response to the criticism she’s faced for “allowing” her daughter Willow to shave her head. It’s well worth a read, the stand-out quote being “Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be”. The... »
This is going to be a slightly different than normal AI, in addition to being slightly earlier than normal (it’s afternoon here, at least?). I wanted to start by sharing this pretty time-sensitive petition to stop the revitalised “Kill The Gays” bill going through in Uganda. Sign, share, stop really bad things happening again! »
If you’re reading this, you’re probably online (our carrier pigeon subscription service not being quite ready yet). If you’re like me, you spend a great deal of time online, including a substantial proportion of your social life. Being online is great for someone like me that finds face-to-face interaction quite difficult, and also has strong interests that aren’t so well r... »
Last Sunday I went to see a reading of a play at the Old Vic Theatre called “Just Me, You and the Silence” courtesy of All Out. It’s set in Uganda in 2009 and follows a politician as he tries to put an anti-gay bill into law, examining the thought processes of the people supporting it and the effects on the LGBTQ* community. While the subject matter is grim, the play itself is wi... »
I read this really interesting post about Spirit Day recently, which got me thinking about (amongst other things) what part wearing LGBTQ* symbols can have in visibility and advocacy. I think one concern is that these sorts of actions are “slacktivist” and fail to get to the heart of huge problems. However, they can still be valuable ways to mark yourself out as supportive (and, most v... »
