Much of the so-called "News" items being published at the moment is being sourced from The Dailly Mail. You should know that this paper is no friend to the LGBT+ community and is politically extremely right-wing, including backing the UKIP party at recent elections. That is Nigel Farage's organization.
They are posting a lot of "news" about the USA elections. Treat with a very large grain of salt.
I hope this doesn't contravene the site's restrictions.
There have been a few comments about various stories and authors in the last couple of weeks.
If you want a real treat read Bronwen Welsh's 'A Foreign Country'.
There seems to be a disconnect between various parts of the site. There have been no new comments registered for nearly 3 hours and 'Home' shows an entirely different hit and kudos count to 'My Stories'. Even logging in seems to make no difference.
As we enter the homestretch the field is narrowing a little, but here are my picks. You're making it difficult because the quality is improving all the time. So, keep it up, folks!
Why are readers so mean in giving kudos? I'm not talking about comments, which actually require engagement and effort, but those little things which need just a push of a button. Even excellent stories like Jenny Walker's.
What's so hard about letting an author know you appreciated the effort they put into entertaining you?
Comments are oxygen to authors, lifeblood. They show that somebody has read their story and cared enough to respond with some encouragement, or not, as the case may be, but at least appreciated the effort that went into posting.
My name is Joanne Askew
I am an Aussie girl
A glass of wine with you sir
And the ladies I will swirl
All New South Wales and Queensland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth
I thought some more thoughts about comments on the New Year's Competition might be relevant. This also is relevant to comments on any story, regardless of whether the story is an entry in the contest or not.
Now that I have been Press-Ganged by Emma and Jill into making the ultimate comment on Comments, it's probably reasonable to give you all some very rough hints as to how I will go about it. The two kind ladies have given me total discretion and I will try to use it benevolently.
The first criterion is that a comment MUST relate to a competition entry. That should be obvious.
It doesn't matter if the story to which it relates is not one of the winners. I am judging the comment, not the story.
I watched Love Actually on Netflix. Yes I'd seen it before but it's back at No.8 in the top10 Australian shows, and my memories of it were a bit fuzzy. It is, after all, 20 years old.
What a lovely movie it is, fantastic cast, heartwarming stuff for the season, and some good songs in the soundtrack. Also some poignancy for me, like Alan Rickman, who died fairly recently, playing one of his rare nice roles.
It's already December 23 over here, so I wish all you adherents to Big Closet a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and, of course special thanks to Erin and our Admin staff.
I'm sure you will all join me in a huge round of appreciation for all their hard work in making sure that this site is the best place on the internet for folks like us. It's what they do behind the scenes that counts. Thankyou. May you enjoy next year as much as I think we, the audience,will.
I'm only the messenger here but anybody who has not read Dimelza Cassidy's stories does not know what writing is all about. They were originally posted here but have ended up on FM. Don't ask me why,Just read them and be thankful that they are still here.
Many of Maddy's blogs IMHO don't get the attention they deserve, maybe because they are about bits of Britain that the majority of readers and adherents to this site are American or Canadian and their interests are understandably closer to home.
But Maddy's latest blog (as of 22 November) draws attention to the plight of those who might fall through the cracks in our society and are ignored, even when it comes to charitable causes. I could have appended this to her blog but thought it could get a bit more attention if posted as a stand-alone, particularly at this time of year.
An article in today's Australian newspaper (Newscorp's description, not mine) claims that "new evidence" supports limiting childrens' access to blockers. The article claims that 34% of children in a survey reported deterioration in their mental health one year after using blockers, while 29% said they felt better and 37% felt no difference.
The article then quoted "a leading child psychiatrist" as urging restraint in prescribing blockers for trans children on the grounds that they could be deleterious to their mental health.
I occasionally check "My Stories" to see if anyone has been masochistic enough to read one or at least registered a hit or very rarely a new comment. I don't claim they have any literary value but obviously they have a sentimental value for me. I sometimes think of something that might improve what I wrote and today was one of those days.
However I was surprised to find that the text of each story that I checked had vanished. All the comments seem to have survived but the story itself has disappeared. Please, Admin people, can you restore them?
I have spent five holidays in Hawaii and every time I have spent most of the time on Maui, and each time I have been in close proximity to Lahaina. I never stayed in the town itself but always in Ka'anapali, a couple of miles north and Lahaina was where we would go to dine and just walk around for enjoyment. The banyan tree was a favourite sitting spot and Front Street was where all the good cafes and restaurants were located, so it is with a heavy heart that I see the devastation which has befallen the town.
The "Right" is always accusing those of us who are not of their persuasion of using "cancel culture" to silence criticism.
Isn't it strange that the Republican "law makers" in Montana have banned Zooey Zephyr from participating in legislative debates because she criticised moves to introduce restrictive laws to prevent TG treatments for juveniles. She is an elected representative to the legislature. It just happens that she is transgender.
It seems that Republicans cannot abide anybody objecting to their Nazi objectives.
It's only a matter of time before we join the list of books banned in many states of the USA. When the Right-Wingers have finished going after the children and their parents and the doctors who treat them, then they are going to come after what they see as those who encourage and/or educate them.
That's US, folks. They can't burn our books but they can ban us from the internet and restrict us in many ways. Do you think we'll get any help from the tech giants?
I am not American, but does not the preamble to your Constitution guarantee, among other things, the right to the pursuit of happiness to all citizens?
This being the case, how can a section of your political classes deny that right to another section of your citizenry?
Why hasn't someone lodged a case to protest this abrogation of rights to the Supreme Court?
I post this as a warning to other users. A couple of weeks ago I decided not to renew my subscriptions to McAfee and Norton for protecting my computer from malware and viruses. I did this because another provider was offering the same services for less than half the price that the two former outfits were offering.
Here in Australia we are in the middle of a general election campaign (federal) which corresponds to the presidential campaigns in the USA and the general elections in the UK.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
