Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 1d

We love a flirt

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2d

For every €1 provided through a Basic Income For Artists pilot program in Ireland, the government got €1.46 back. So it’s being made permanent.

Over and over we see it. It saves public money to provide public housing. And it makes public money to provide basic income.

We can’t afford to NOT do it.

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 2d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Dominic Pettman @dominicpettman.bsky.social · 1d

Going to tell me students this was Baudrillard.

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 4d

"It took more than an hour after the story broke, and was covered by several mastheads, to receive official notice from MUP; a group email confirming Meanjin’s immediate closure." ~Emma Sutherland, Archives Editor at Meanjin in @artshub.bsky.social this weekend.
www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

I was the Archives Editor at Meanjin – its closure is baffling

As Archives Editor, Emma Sutherland had ‘read everything’ in Meanjin's past, but was unprepared for its troubled present.

www.artshub.com.au

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 3d

You could try drowning overseas?

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Dan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 4d

That she's cool as fuck?

Leviathan @l3vlat4an
X.com
Greta Thunberg donned a keffiyeh with an
"AUTISM" T-shirt that included an image of a skeleton dual wielding automatic rifles before she left on her flotilla.
What do you think she was trying to convey with this t-shirt?
AUTISM

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 3d

Yesssss Brisbane domination continues #NRLW

Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 3d

When the Scrivener app updates and is now purple instead of black and white: crying, screaming, throwing up

I'm a Taurean and allergic to change; please spare a thought for me in this trying time

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 5d

If Stephen is pronounced Steven shouldn’t Stephanie be pronounced Stevenie? Ok have a good day everyone

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · 14d

“This is where Zionists and liberals love to remain: in conversation, doing nothing, going nowhere, talking for the sake of talking and loving how good and necessary the discussion is”

Omar Sakr @omarsakr.bsky.social · 14d

I wrote a 7k essay about the vile Zionist rhetoric vomited out by Christos Tsiolkas. While the pertinent half is pay-walled because this took a long damn time to write, what’s free to read is, in many ways, more important. sakr.substack.com/p/christos-t...

Christos Tsiolkas Is Switched Off In the Genocide

Amid the massacres, he moans

sakr.substack.com

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Palestine Festival of Literature @palfest.bsky.social · 16d

The first in a new series of videos following young writers in Gaza.

Here, Batool Abu Akleen reads her poem, Judgement Day, from her searingly powerful debut collection.

Please watch and share widely.

youtube.com/watch?v=mHunLNYShWI&feature=youtu.be

Batool Abu Akleen reads her poem, 'Judgement Day'

YouTube video by The Palestine Festival of Literature

youtube.com

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Dr Ronni Googe, of the Mid Rim Network 🍉 @clembastow.bsky.social · 28d

A collective statement from my University of Melbourne Creative Writing Program colleagues and I about the closure of Meanjin - and thank you to Julienne and Bec for representing us at the rally!

University of Melbourne Creative Writing Program Statement on Meanjin Closure
11 September 2025

The creative writing program at the University of Melbourne is distressed by the recently announced closure of Meanjin, one of Australia's oldest and most revered literary journals.

Its international reputation carries Australian stories and voices to the world. For 85 years, Meanjin has supported, elevated and launched the careers of a staggering number of writers, including many of our own staff and students; it's also an important resource for all teachers and students of Australian literature.

The Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature, Professor Tony Birch, says, 'Meanjin has been a major supporter of Blak writers and artists in Australia. Without the support of such a significant literary and cultural journal, many of us would not have been able to publish as emerging writers and may not have gone on to have a publishing life at all. We must ensure that such support continues. If Australian society is genuinely committed to truth-telling, these truths will be told by Blak artists.'

As writers and creative writing academics, we know how precious journals like Meanjin are to the continuing development of Australian literature, although of course its scope goes far beyond that. While we hope new literary journals continue to emerge, Meanjin is irreplaceable. It has survived for almost a century, through the Second World War, the Cold War and numerous budget crises, and has retained its undeniable significance as part of the University of Melbourne and Melbourne University Press. It continues to publish vital, timely work that, to paraphrase Sylvia Martin, keeps the intellectual and aesthetic fires of this continent alight.

We continue to hear from our students and will be sharing more of their responses. From two:

"Meanjin has and will always be the one literary magazine I look up to when I think of literary perfection."

"Meanjin was my dream publication. I feel that yet another opportunity has been taken from me before I can even get my foot in the door."

These students are completing their degrees while our industry is in crisis. Now is the moment that we, the University of Melbourne, must step up.

The cost of maintaining Meanjin to the University is minimal, but the value is enormous. As the University of Melbourne Public Humanities initiative puts it 'culture is something that we care for, just as it cares for us.' We call on the University of Melbourne to embrace its responsibilities to students, staff and the public good by acting promptly and housing this important journal within its Community and Cultural Partnerships portfolio and resourcing it appropriately for the long term.
Meanjin is vital to each and every member of the creative writing program and we can't imagine our future without it.

Dr Romy Ash, Dr Clem Bastow, Dr Quinn Eades, Dr Rachel Hennessy, Dr Andy Jackson, Dr Odette Kelada, Bec Kavanagh, Dr Emma Marie Jones, Dr Liz MacFarlane, Dr Helen Milte, Dr Cath Moore, Dr Nadia Niaz, Dr Radha O'Meara, Associate Professor Eddie Paterson, Dr Hayley Singer, Dr Soren Tae Smith, Associate Professor Maria Tumarkin, Associate Professor Julienne van Loon, Dr Jessica Zhan Mei Yu.

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Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Podcast @gonebabygone.bsky.social · 29d

Funniest possible person to say nothing bad happened when he was a kid as a result of everyone having guns

FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 29d

RFK Jr: We had lots of guns when we were kids. Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. There are many things that could explain this. One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs.

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · Sep 8

ew gross

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Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Sep 8

So many unanswered questions posed in this excellent piece on the Meanjin closure. eg.
-Why the sudden irreversible decision?
-Why didn't they try to save it (community, donor drives etc)?
-Why the secrecy?
-Why use the financial viability argument now?
As if the v wealthy UniMelb can't afford it.

Meanjin's 'financial' shutdown doesn't add up

Melbourne University reported a $273 million surplus in 2024 on an operating income of $3.2 billion. It is against these figures that the 'purely financial decision' to close Meanjin has raised eyebro...

www.crikey.com.au

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Nici @nicijl.bsky.social · Sep 8

FYI MEAA Rally: Save Meanjin!
Thursday 11 September, 9am
Outside the Melbourne University Publishing office, 715 Swanston St, Carlton.

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Carolyn Kellogg @paperhaus.bsky.social · Sep 7

The horrors continue.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Israel destroys second Gaza high-rise as military kills another 56 Palestinians, including aid-seekers

Residents say military gave them 20 minutes to evacuate 15-storey building before attacking, with casualties unclear

www.theguardian.com

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Kill Your Darlings @kydmagazine.bsky.social · Sep 4

The closure of Meanjin is real blow to the Australian literary community. We're sad to see the loss of another place where writers, thinkers, and culture-makers have a voice and platform. Our thoughts are with staff and contributors.

Crikey @crikey.com.au · Sep 4

Exclusive: “The death of Meanjin is a loss to the country’s cultural memory and a loss to those writers who might have been part of its literary present and future," said former Meanjin editor Jonathan Green.

Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing

www.crikey.com.au

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Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Sep 4

This seems a simple and sensible approach to saving Meanjin:

An Open Letter to the Vice Chancellor of The University of Melbourne on the Closure of Meanjin

openletter.earth

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Ren, Noted Boat Media Enthusiast @softoctober.bsky.social · Aug 31

Me at 11 watching the X-Men movies: Xavier is doing his best in a difficult world!

Me now: Magneto should be allowed to hunt every senator that supported the mutant registration act for sport

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · Aug 29

I can’t keep paying for Britbox it isn’t right

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · Aug 29

If we get their monarch we get their television

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Bhakthi @bhakthi.bsky.social · Aug 29

I think if Britain colonised your country of origin you should get free BBC iplayer.

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · Aug 27

If only there was something we could do

What would happen if Australia stopped supplying F-35 parts to Israel? | First Dog on the Moon

Another strongly worded statement

www.theguardian.com

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Sian C @s-camp.bsky.social · Aug 24

Danielle! You have to scroll way down past all the REAL news! (The Bulldogs lost in the footy, a lifestyle piece about the Japanese's secrets to anti-aging, and an article about people not knowing how to use e-sims)

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