Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
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joannacdobson.bsky.social
Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
@joannacdobson.bsky.social
3.3K followers 1K following 270 posts
Writer of creative nonfiction; researcher in the environmental humanities. Based in Sheffield, lover of allotments and trees. joannaclaredobson.com https://wreckageandshimmer.substack.com/
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Hello, new followers! A little bit more about me: I write and do research on trauma and place, and the ways they thread, knot, felt, weave and tangle together. Currently querying my first memoir; writing towards my second. Can’t live without #allotments or #knitting
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
Arresting the poets are we? Not a good look.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
Hello world!

RSPB Conservation Science has officially landed on BlueSky

Follow us to hear about our science discoveries, new publications, citizen science, and all things conservation research
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
Look what arrived while I was away @wcorklitfest.bsky.social! My edited ‘10 poems from the Lake District for @candlestickpress.bsky.social!
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
I'd like to big up what we have offered in the #Curae literary prize for unpaid carers and invite industry press, once more, to look at something extraordinary which people from across industry have helped me to put together a second time. It's still flying under the radar too much. LET'S GO!
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
I was initially gen AI agnostic, before I read up on how it works, how it's been developed, and the ideologies that underpin it. In my view, its costs massively outweight its benefits and if you can avoid using it, you should.
Thanks to an absolute blitzkrieg of marketing and the investment of tens of billions of dollars, the "AI" business has unconditionally captured the allegiance of almost everyone who doesn't know what it really is.
in the last few days i have had 3 separate conversations where my saying ‘i don’t use chat GPT’ is treated like i’ve said ‘i don’t turn on the light in my house because i think it’s powered by a demon’. it’s a dividing line that i wasn’t really aware of
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
1. Yesterday, 86 people were arrested in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000 for holding signs saying "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
They are the opposite of terrorists. They were protesting *against* terrorism. 🧵
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
For me as someone currently not disabled or ill (but close to loved ones who are), I’ve learned SO much nuance from Polly’s writing, centrally #SomeOfUsJustFall. Reading disabled/chronic writers helps transform what is visible/legible to me in others’ bodily & political experiences — & in my own.
More on this in light of Winn's rebuttal. 1. There is a lot of pressure on memoirists to simplify narratives. 2. As I write about in #SomeOfUsJustFall, diagnosis is an ongoing process, especially with complex chronic conditions. Theories are posed; the body concurs, or doesn't. #TheChronicLife
There were lots of other comments but probably the one that tipped me right over the edge was ' find a solution. Don't be a victim'. Friend, the solution is writing about it and continuing to exist. There's much more to this story, but the most pertinent bit just now is what happened next.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
Yeah. The issue with The Salt Path isn't so much it's 'truth value' as the dodgy aesthetics which have always been there.
Look I have no interest in casting stones at someone who made up a story to cover up (a) bad decision(s), though I think that 'true' story would have been more interesting 1/n
I've been writing in @thebookseller.com about how questions on the veracity of elements of The Salt Path highlight some of the serious issues associated with the prevalence of the 'nature cure' narrative.

#booksky #naturewriting #lifewriting #memoir #chronicillness
The Salt Path scandal: questions raised about the veracity of memoir
The Salt Path scandal shows how problematic "the nature cure" narrative can be.
www.thebookseller.com
One of the many problems I have with the ‘nature cure’ label is that it gets slapped on any memoir about nature and illness/disability/mental distress, regardless of content. When most of those books - and Nic’s is a fine example - are doing something MUCH more interesting than the term implies.
I've been writing in @thebookseller.com about how questions on the veracity of elements of The Salt Path highlight some of the serious issues associated with the prevalence of the 'nature cure' narrative.

#booksky #naturewriting #lifewriting #memoir #chronicillness
The Salt Path scandal: questions raised about the veracity of memoir
The Salt Path scandal shows how problematic "the nature cure" narrative can be.
www.thebookseller.com
The Italian for swift is rondone, which is linked to the word for ‘patrol’. Patrolling implies ownership, agency, a sense of responsibility: the naming is a powerful, if subconscious, act of recognising the birds as co-citizens.
#swiftawarenessweek

wreckageandshimmer.substack.com/p/shimmering...
Shimmering with swifts
Finding abundance in Italy
wreckageandshimmer.substack.com
Hurrah!
I don't know if this is a good time, but I'm on Substack. I think I've posted my first post. I mean I have, & hope I've done it right. It'd be lovely to have some subscribers (it's free) nicolawriting.substack.com/p/an-ecology... but if you'd rather, I've also blogged it here nicolachester.com ...
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It's not just about the broken trust between writer and reader, or all the time, energy and unfounded faith invested by booksellers, but it's also about the important stories still unheard of those living with illness and homelessness that could have been elevated by the industry instead.
Truth in memoir is a slippery thing. Nevertheless, if we present our writing as memoir, we enter into a solemn contract with our readers: that we are telling the truth as best as we possibly can. If one writer abrogates that responsibility, the consequences affect all of us.
How about your own Recovering Dorothy? :)
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
I've made a new list on @bookshop.org of books that explore nature / walking / the outdoors by disabled, neurodivergent and chronically ill writers - Nature Beyond Cure - aka our own narratives are messy and complex. Do share! #BookSky #DisabledWriters
uk.bookshop.org/lists/nature...?
Nature Beyond Cure: Disabled Perspectives
Books that explore nature and living with disability and illness from disability perspectives. No magical cures here!
uk.bookshop.org
This thread sent shivers down my spine. What an amazing event
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Ooh how lovely - see you soon!
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
I’ve written to my MP sharing my concerns about the way Labour is planning to harm nature when they promised the nation they’d protect it - please do the same, numbers matter in steering politics
Reposted by Dr Joanna Clare Dobson
On our darkest days it's easy to believe humans have no positive place in the natural world - this welcome post by @joannacdobson.bsky.social reminds us that the shimmer of life includes us open.substack.com/pub/wreckage... #naturewriting #environment
The shimmer of life includes us
On dealing with ecological guilt
open.substack.com