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phillyhart4.bsky.social
Philly 🇵🇸 🍎
@phillyhart4.bsky.social
2.3K followers 6.7K following 1.2K posts
Researching Educational Isolation to understand impact on schools. Education, social justice, disability, ME/CFS, neurodiversity, LGBTQ, books, medieval history, all things Nordic. She/her. Views mine.

[banner photo: candle burnt down, looks like a crown]
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phillyhart4.bsky.social
Philly 🇵🇸 🍎 @phillyhart4.bsky.social · Oct 24
A short animated overview of the concept of Educational Isolation and how it affects schools: youtu.be/1N-9DUA2BO4. #EduSky
What is Educational Isolation?
YouTube video by Plymouth Marjon University
youtu.be
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The award winning sci-fi novella 'The Tea Master and the Detective', by Aliette de Bodard, described to me as a Sherlockian, Asian space opera. Got this for my birthday, and I can't wait to finish the current books I'm reading to begin this one!
Cover of the novella 'The Tea Master and the Detective'. The title is in black, bold letters at the top of the cover, slightly off-centre, with the author's name below in much smaller lettering. There's a thin Asian woman with her dark hair up and an elaborate hairdo. She's wearing pale pink, blue and white clothing that looks like a robe or kimono with a white collared shirt with a light grey cross pattern under it. She's leaning against a large, round window through which the viewer can see a small mechanical spider at woman's elbow and a large, distant submarine that looks like it's floating in a sea of peach, pink, pale yellow and black with white stars at the top. There are also a couple of small adult bodies floating as well.
November 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The 2019 graphic memoir 'Gender Queer: A Memoir', exploring gender identity and sexuality, by Maia Kobabe.
The cover of the graphic memoir 'Gender Queer'. The top half shows a drawing of a young white man with short, brown hair and hairy legs standing up to his calves in water and against a mustard yellow background with a few clouds. He's holding his rolled up trousers up above his knees. He's looking down into the water. The bottom half shows an upside down drawing of a shirtless person with long, brown hair and clean-shaven legs - presumably the same person - also standing in water. The pool or lake they're in is in a forested mountain area and they sky is blue. Here, the person is wearing mustard yellow swim trunks or shorts and nothing else. Their arms are stretched out partway to their sides, they're smiling and they look freer.
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Philly 🇵🇸 🍎
broadwaybabyto.bsky.social
I will be the first to admit I couldn’t understand why anyone would oppose Assisted Dying… and then I became disabled and had it “offered” to me.

It’s not compassionate when there’s coercion.

It’s not dignified when it’s offered in lieu of care.

Listen to disabled people.
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The dystopian novel 'The Marrow Thieves', by Cherie Dimaline. A novel with Indigenous Canadian protagonists, about global warming, dreaming and madness.
Cover of the book 'The Marrow Thieves'. The title is at the bottom of the image, in yellow capital letters, with the author's name above it in white capitals. Against a navy blue background with white flecks in it, there's a picture on the left side of the cover of half the face of a indigenous person - perhaps male because he seems to have slight upper-lip facial hair - with long, straight, black hair, dark eyes, and a white streak of paint down the cheek. Down the right side of the cover are 5 circles in white or gold, all of which indicate nomination for or winner of an award.
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The coming-of-age novel 'Man o'War', about an Arab American trans swimmer growing up in a small town in Ohio, by Cory McCarthy.
Cover of the novel 'Man o'War. The image is of a young man mostly underwater in what looks like a pool, with only his mouth and head above the water and wearing a white t-shirt. The left side is blue and purple, the right peachy-pink and skin coloured and white. There's a label on the cover stating this is a Stonewall Honor Book.
November 24, 2025 at 12:50 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The award-winning novel 'Darius the great Is Not OK', by Adib Khorram, about an Iranian-American teenage boy who travels to Iran when his maternal grandfather gets very ill.
Cover of 'Darius the Great Is Not OK', written in bold, plain capital letters in the middle. The first three words are white, the last three light blue. The words are set against a washed-out red background at the top, while about two-thirds of the way down, this changes to a brown and black view of the town with a few blue roofs where Darius stays in Iran. We can see Darius and another man in grey and black from behind as they look out at the town from a rooftop, one wearing a dark denim jacket, the other in a lighter-coloured hoodie.
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The Memoir 'Being Jazz: My Life As a (Transgender) Teen', by Jazz Jennings. She wrote the book when she was 15, and it's seems to be a good resource for other trans children and teens, reminding them they're not alone.
Cover of the book 'Being Jazz', the title of which is written in large, white bold, simple letters across the middle, and the subtitle in small, white, letters that look handwritten below. These are superimposed on a photo of Jazz wearing a pair of cutoff denim shorts and a pinkish-red, thin top that seems to have two layers: the bottom is a strappy, fitted tank top and the top is long-sleeved, lacy, floral-patterned and see-through. Jazz herself is photographed against a plain grey background. She has light brown skin and waist-length, ever-so-slightly wavy dark brown hair. She's smiling broadly and her hair is partially covering one side of her face. Her name, as the author, is at the very top in simple capital letters the same colour as her top.
November 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The graphic novel 'Flamer', by Mike Curato, which deals with toxic masculinity, homophobia, suicide ideation and struggles of identity.
Cover of the novel 'Flamer'. Against a white background, there's a drawing of a boy with dark, curly hair and wearing white t-shirt is holding up his right hand. He has 3 fingers up with his thumb and little finger down, in a Boy Scout salute. He's wearing fabric bracelet on this wrist. The boy is in amongst large red, orange and yellow flames, and the title is in bold, white capitals that simulate flames. The author's name is in smaller black, bold capitals below the title.
November 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The award-winning sci-fi novel 'The Fifth Season', by N.K. Jemisin. My son has recommended this post-apocalyptic tale, the first novel in the Broken Earth series, about catastrophic climate change and much, much more.
November 20, 2025 at 12:16 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The historical YA novel 'Out of Darkness', by Ashley Hope Perez. Set in 1937 Texas, the novels tells the story of a Mexican girl attracted to a Black boy. It deals with racism, classism, segregation, love, family and those living on the margins of society.
Cover of the YA novel 'Out of Darkness'. The title is in 'informal', capital letters bear the top. We can see the profile of a Mexican American girl's head on the left and a Black boy's head on the right. She has black eyes and long, black hair braided in pigtails starting near her ears. He has short, black hair, dark skin and black eyes. They're looking intensely into each other's eyes. The background is mostly deep red with dark grey at the bottom and what looks like a black pillar of smoke between them. The book won an award from the American Library Association.
November 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'There Are Rivers in the Sky', by Elif Shafak. Got this book for my birthday, and very much looking forward to reading it!
Cover of the book 'There Are Rivers in the Sky', by Elif Shafak. The cover is mainly royal blue and cream. There is a large, blue teardrop shape in the centre of the cover, with the title at the top of this in capital gold letters, and the author's name in larger, white capital letters at the bottom. The teardrop is enclosed in an wide, oval outline in blue with small, white, daisy-like flowers against the blue. There's also what looks like gold rain inside the oval, as well as a quote by Ian McEwan: 'A unique and powerful voice in world literature'. Outside the oval are other designs in blue and white - floral and geometric patterns, tendrils, etc.
November 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Philly 🇵🇸 🍎
julietemckenna.bsky.social
In these busiest shopping weeks of the year, with everyone under horrible pressure over money, job security etc, try to be nice to retail staff (who likely have unreasonable sales targets from HQ to make up for a lousy retail year). Far too many stressed customers will behave appallingly right now.
November 17, 2025 at 7:59 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
I’m reading ‘Maus: A Survivor’s Tale’, by Art Spiegelman. In it, a man interviews his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew during WWII. I’ve just come to the part where the father is taken to Auschwitz & his expensive gold watch is confiscated. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social you should read it.
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 10d
The Sun has been told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will on Monday propose confiscating jewellery, watches, necklaces from asylum seekers to meet asylum costs

This reflects the most controversial aspect of the Danish scheme - the Jewellery Law. The toughest Labour MPs thought this was OTT
November 17, 2025 at 12:59 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The dystopian novel 'Coldwire' by Chloe Gong.
Cover of Chloe Gong's novel 'Coldwire'. The author's name is in large, capital, neon fuchsia letters and the title in large, capital, neon aquamarine letters across most of the cover. The background is of a high-rise cityscape at night with what looks like neon aquamarine water streaks at the bottom. The tagline 'Everybody wants to rule the world' is visible, as is the information that Gong is a NYTimes bestselling author.
November 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: the graphic novel 'Bingo Love', by Tee Franklin, and Joy San and Jenn St-Onge (illustrators). A story of forbidden love between two girls / young women, spanning generations, with their story as older protagonists told. Good to see these demographics represented.
Cover of the graphic novel 'Bingo Love'. The title is in white capiutal letters at the top, with the 'o' in in bingo as the number 63 bingo ball, and the 'o' in love as a red heart. The cover shows two females in three difference scenes, as children, as young adults and as older women. One woman is Black, short and stocky. The other woman is tall, slim and perhaps Asian or mixed race. In the first, they're roller skating and chatting; in the second, they're sitting on a park bench kissing; in the third, they're sitting next to each other playing bingo.
November 15, 2025 at 7:20 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Ocean's Blood', by the lovely Thelma Mantey. Very excited about this novel!
Cover image is of an otherworldy, androgynous person with long, flowing, black hair and white, tendril-like designs all over them. The title is at the top in large, white, plain capital letters, with the author's name above that in the same font, but smaller. At the bottom, it says 'Book 1 of the Drowning'. The background is navy blue, the colour darkening as it goes lower down the cover. From the top left it looks like there are rays of white sunlight spilling downwards at a slight angle.
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
People need to be aware of Farage's own words about Kent's council and Reforms failure there AND remember when the election comes.
adambienkov.bsky.social Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 15d
Nigel Farage said their flagship council in Kent would be a "shop window" for how they would run the country.

Just months after taking over they're now set to slash multiple council committees as they struggle to fill posts after sacking nine of their own councillors
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/12/r...
Reform Council in Chaos as It Prepares to Slash Scrutiny Committees Following Wave of Councillor Suspensions
EXCLUSIVE: Reform's flagship Kent administration is planning to shut down multiple council committees as it struggles to fill posts after suspending nine of its own councillors
bylinetimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:18 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Parable of the Sower', by Octavia Butler. Still so relevant.
Cover of Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Bulter. The cover is dark teal with bold, writing in gold capital letters. The image in the middle of the cover is of a Black woman wearing a scoop-neck black top. Her arms are bent at the elbow, and she's holding her open hands by the sides of her chest, palms facing forward and two smallest fingers somewhat curled in, almost in a gesture reminiscent of prayer or blessing in medieval iconography. There's a small ball floating in front of her chest just below her collarbone, and the ball looks like a very small Earth. Behind her can be seen a sky with stars and perhaps a moon, with what looks like fire on the horizon.
November 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Philly 🇵🇸 🍎
helenczerski.bsky.social
This a big deal: "China’s carbon dioxide emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months"

China's economy has grown by ~5% in the last year, so this comprehensively debunks the idea (again) that emissions are tied to growth. So yes, faster progress needed, but this is how you turn the corner.
China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months, analysis finds
World’s biggest polluter on track to hit peak emissions target early but miss goal for cutting carbon intensity
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
As an author who understands who the Luddites were, this book looks promising.
cgsunit.bsky.social Lauren Woolsey @cgsunit.bsky.social · 16d
This is only page 3 and I'm so invested in learning more from this author. Luddite as an insult certainly gets thrown around a lot these days, and I'm happy to have their concise clarification on what side of history that movement was on at the very start of the book.
Text from the book on page 3 reads "[...] other humans. No, this book is not a Luddite treatise--if, by Luddite, you mean a consumate techno-pessimist that believes all technological advancement is an anathema to human flourishing. But if by Luddite you mean a conscientious objection to top-down dictatorial automation of human thought and skill as a capitalist ploy for the devaluation of labor, and therefore the devaluation of laborers and human life in general... Then, yes. This is a Luddite treatise. This book disambiguates the purposes of AI and its conscquences for humanity (and the environment) through descriptions of how AI projects produce, harm, and even kill disabled people. Through these stories, this book also provides a guide to the various and confusing meanings, methods, and impacts of "AI" in terms that are clear and relevant to everyday [...]"
November 11, 2025 at 12:27 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: the horror novel 'Hazelthorn', by CG Drews. This sounds like such a good read!
Cover of 'Hazelthorn', by CG Drews. The image is of a person, maybe a man from the chest up. His head looking up sharply, lips slightly parted, hair falling back away from his face. There are thorny vines covering his eyes, with blood dripping down his face. The vines wind around his face and head, and one is around his neck, a thorn piercing the side of it. He's wearing an olive green woollen jumper that blends in with the vines around him. There are a few small, pale flowers among the thorns, and the background is the colour of papyrus. The title Hazelthorn is written in a Gothic-like, white font at the bottom, with the authors name is smaller lettering below.
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters and Remembrances', by Kwame Alexander. I have high hopes for this look at navigating relationships through the author's personal experiences.
Cover of 'Why Fathers Cry at Night', by Kwame Alexander. The background is black. The title is in bold, purple capital letters at the top and the name in similar white ones at the bottom. The letters in 'CRY' are thicker than all the others. The sub-title, 'A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances', is in much smaller, yellow capital letters below on the left of the title. The books is by a New York Tomes bestselling author.
November 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
For #Caturday (just), Indy's chilling in the hallway, without a care in the world.
A pale ginger tabby kitten lying on his side on the top carpeted step of three in a hallway. The front half of his body is off the top step and above the one below; it's not lying on its side but upright, so that he's twisted 90 degrees in the middle. His front paws are stretched outward and down, resting on the next step. He's looking directly in the camera with a slightly quizzical expression, as if to say, 'What? Isn't this normal?'.
November 8, 2025 at 11:06 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: the middle-grade novel 'Ghost Boys', by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Jerome, a young Black boy from Chicago, is shot & killed by a police officer who thinks Jerome's toy gun is real. It includes the character of Emmett Till as a ghost, & deals with themes of racism & socio-economic injustice.
Cover of 'Ghost Boys'. The background is red and shows a young Black boy's face from the bridge of his nose up. He has short hair and is looking upwards. Above his head are silhouettes of streetlights and traffic lights which seem to branch into the space above the street. The title and author's name (Jewell Parker Rhodes) are written in white, the title across the middle of the book in large, mostly capital letters, the name at the top in smaller letters. At the very top, Angie Thomas, the author of 'The Hate You Give', is quoted, saying 'A must read'.
November 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The sci-fi comic 'Monarch', by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Alex Lins, about orphaned city children who find a foster family and have to fight to save it.
Cover of 'Monarch', which is written in bold, capital deep sky blue letters down the left side of the cover. The colour from top to bottom goes from the same vivid blue, getting paler as it moves toward the middle, to primary red at the bottom, which is lighter red in the middle. There are three names above the title, all in small, thin, white, capital letters: Rodney Barnes, Alex Lins (artist) and Luis NCT. The image shows three Black children, perhaps pre-teen or young teens, in an urban area standing in front of an old, brick building with a large broken window. The ground is littered with paper, broken wooden planks and sticks. There's a chain fence in the foreground. The children are dressed casually - jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, trainers, sandals. One has a backpack on, wears glasses and holds a metal pipe or bar, wielding it in self-defence. Another has a large, full, cross shoulder bag. Her long hair is pushed back off her face and held in place by a hairband. The third is a step behind the other two. They are all looking at someone straight ahead with surprise and perhaps fear.
November 7, 2025 at 1:59 PM