Solomon Wakeling
@solomonwakeling.bsky.social
Scholar of dream worlds.
Western Sydney University Alumni, Doctor of Creative Arts
Western Sydney University Alumni, Doctor of Creative Arts
Politicians used to talk about the economy but now all I ever hear is a variation of “We’re restricting free speech for everyone except us but the good news is we’re ready to be racist on your behalf if you vote for us.”
February 17, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Politicians used to talk about the economy but now all I ever hear is a variation of “We’re restricting free speech for everyone except us but the good news is we’re ready to be racist on your behalf if you vote for us.”
Started reading the Ivanov Trail by David Marr. It’s something I picked up years ago secondhand. It’s from 1984 and it’s about some Russian spy scandal. I read David Marr’s book about Sir Garfield Barwick. He writes badly but about interesting things. It could be a lot clearer.
February 17, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Started reading the Ivanov Trail by David Marr. It’s something I picked up years ago secondhand. It’s from 1984 and it’s about some Russian spy scandal. I read David Marr’s book about Sir Garfield Barwick. He writes badly but about interesting things. It could be a lot clearer.
I am writing a novel but my main focus is on my recovery. Reading about Zelda Fitzgerald and Sigmund Freud recently was part of that. Understanding the history of mental illness and psychiatry is really helpful to me.
February 17, 2026 at 4:18 AM
I am writing a novel but my main focus is on my recovery. Reading about Zelda Fitzgerald and Sigmund Freud recently was part of that. Understanding the history of mental illness and psychiatry is really helpful to me.
Eugenics was quite common in the late 19th and early 20th century so many influential thinkers were eugenicists and that requires a certain approach to their work. Helen Keller was a eugenicist but wasn’t key to her contribution. With early psychiatry though it’s arguably built in to it.
February 16, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Eugenics was quite common in the late 19th and early 20th century so many influential thinkers were eugenicists and that requires a certain approach to their work. Helen Keller was a eugenicist but wasn’t key to her contribution. With early psychiatry though it’s arguably built in to it.
I think I might watch Wuthering Heights. People who like the book are criticising it but I didn’t like the book that much so maybe it’s for me.
February 16, 2026 at 9:25 AM
I think I might watch Wuthering Heights. People who like the book are criticising it but I didn’t like the book that much so maybe it’s for me.
Poor old Sigmund Freud. Sometimes he’s luminous and sometimes he’s feeling his way in the dark.
February 16, 2026 at 5:42 AM
Poor old Sigmund Freud. Sometimes he’s luminous and sometimes he’s feeling his way in the dark.
Read some Freud (Psychology of Love which collects various pieces and excerpts). He keeps vacillating between being extremely on point and being way out there. I think reading him is productive even if I can’t endorse it.
February 15, 2026 at 6:16 AM
Read some Freud (Psychology of Love which collects various pieces and excerpts). He keeps vacillating between being extremely on point and being way out there. I think reading him is productive even if I can’t endorse it.
Learning more about Kraepelin the psychiatrist who first coined manic depression and dementia praecox (schizophrenia) and distinguished between them. He was a eugenicist who laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, though he died before he had a chance to become a Nazi.
February 15, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Learning more about Kraepelin the psychiatrist who first coined manic depression and dementia praecox (schizophrenia) and distinguished between them. He was a eugenicist who laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, though he died before he had a chance to become a Nazi.
Read some more of The Death of Virgil after a couple of days break. Modernist novels require a lot more participation which makes them dependent on mood—I could see how I could have loved this novel of it caught me at the right time and place.
February 14, 2026 at 10:20 AM
Read some more of The Death of Virgil after a couple of days break. Modernist novels require a lot more participation which makes them dependent on mood—I could see how I could have loved this novel of it caught me at the right time and place.
I love Titanic.
February 14, 2026 at 2:43 AM
I love Titanic.
Gazing into the past is easier to do than gazing into the future.
February 14, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Gazing into the past is easier to do than gazing into the future.
I don’t think re-diagnosing Zelda Fitzgerald with bipolar is justified by the facts. Her condition could be bipolar and seems to have a mood component but she also spent quite a long time institutionalised and had auditory hallucinations. It could have been either.
February 14, 2026 at 12:20 AM
I don’t think re-diagnosing Zelda Fitzgerald with bipolar is justified by the facts. Her condition could be bipolar and seems to have a mood component but she also spent quite a long time institutionalised and had auditory hallucinations. It could have been either.
It’s hard to review biography and memoir because how do you review someone’s life? What am I, Anubis weighing their heart against a feather?
February 13, 2026 at 9:50 PM
It’s hard to review biography and memoir because how do you review someone’s life? What am I, Anubis weighing their heart against a feather?
I support lowering the voting age to 16. This is something Jessica Watson argued for.
February 13, 2026 at 8:27 PM
I support lowering the voting age to 16. This is something Jessica Watson argued for.
Rose should get on the boat because in an emergency situation you take the first possible escape otherwise you’re in the way. They both would have survived if she had.
February 13, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Rose should get on the boat because in an emergency situation you take the first possible escape otherwise you’re in the way. They both would have survived if she had.
James Cameron is really good at transitions. The way it cuts from Jack and Rose at sunset on the bow to the wreckage of the titanic to signal the change in time, and how it then goes on a close up to old Rose’s face as it transitions back. This could have been jarring but it works somehow.
February 13, 2026 at 9:34 AM
James Cameron is really good at transitions. The way it cuts from Jack and Rose at sunset on the bow to the wreckage of the titanic to signal the change in time, and how it then goes on a close up to old Rose’s face as it transitions back. This could have been jarring but it works somehow.
There’s a letter Scott Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda where he says he was envious of her institutionalisation because it would give him a chance to work without financial pressure. People always think these places are a respite but it’s a fantasy.
February 13, 2026 at 8:42 AM
There’s a letter Scott Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda where he says he was envious of her institutionalisation because it would give him a chance to work without financial pressure. People always think these places are a respite but it’s a fantasy.
I needed something to distract me so I started reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway is a deceptively difficult author because of what he leaves unsaid. It requires a lot of reader participation. The “simplicity” doesn’t equate to readability.
February 13, 2026 at 5:09 AM
I needed something to distract me so I started reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway is a deceptively difficult author because of what he leaves unsaid. It requires a lot of reader participation. The “simplicity” doesn’t equate to readability.
The definition of child abuse material in NSW is designed to block all possible loopholes which means it inevitably catches a whole host of inoffensive material in the basic definition. It’s appropriate then that there be a way to sort through this but the “reasonable person” is too vague.
February 13, 2026 at 12:13 AM
The definition of child abuse material in NSW is designed to block all possible loopholes which means it inevitably catches a whole host of inoffensive material in the basic definition. It’s appropriate then that there be a way to sort through this but the “reasonable person” is too vague.
Watching Titanic and it wasn’t exactly “holding up” and then the Captain appears talking about increasing speed and I was like oh shit this movie drew me into Jack and Rose’s bullshit so deeply I forgot about the iceberg.
February 12, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Watching Titanic and it wasn’t exactly “holding up” and then the Captain appears talking about increasing speed and I was like oh shit this movie drew me into Jack and Rose’s bullshit so deeply I forgot about the iceberg.
Finished reading another chapter of Finnegans Wake out loud. I am getting better at it. It requires a lot of phonics. I am doing the right wing education thing of sounding out words but not having a clue what they mean.
February 12, 2026 at 9:48 AM
Finished reading another chapter of Finnegans Wake out loud. I am getting better at it. It requires a lot of phonics. I am doing the right wing education thing of sounding out words but not having a clue what they mean.
“I pray to Sony my soul to keep” is a bad lyric that I was too young to recognise as bad but which has grown to be poignant because of the loss of Sony as a player in the act of listening to music. The lyric somehow ever evaded being bad like a fugitive.
February 12, 2026 at 5:19 AM
“I pray to Sony my soul to keep” is a bad lyric that I was too young to recognise as bad but which has grown to be poignant because of the loss of Sony as a player in the act of listening to music. The lyric somehow ever evaded being bad like a fugitive.
My postgrad creative writing work involved a lot of re-writing and adapting of existing works of mine. At present my writing method has evolved into producing the bones of new works for the purpose of adapting to the novel, even if I never finish writing them.
February 12, 2026 at 3:02 AM
My postgrad creative writing work involved a lot of re-writing and adapting of existing works of mine. At present my writing method has evolved into producing the bones of new works for the purpose of adapting to the novel, even if I never finish writing them.
The film Titanic (1997) meets the threshold for consideration as child abuse material under current laws. Though Kate Winslet was over 18, the character of Rose was 17 and we see her nude and having sex. Obviously it’s within community standards and wouldn’t be unlawful but it’s hard to pin down why
February 12, 2026 at 12:19 AM
The film Titanic (1997) meets the threshold for consideration as child abuse material under current laws. Though Kate Winslet was over 18, the character of Rose was 17 and we see her nude and having sex. Obviously it’s within community standards and wouldn’t be unlawful but it’s hard to pin down why
Sometimes the world just doesn’t share your vision.
February 11, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Sometimes the world just doesn’t share your vision.