learning | Frances Bell

Loosely connected thoughts on the anniversary of the death of my son Dan Bell – Part 1

1. Friday 1 July is the first anniversary of Dan’s death. I find writing very difficult and have done over some time. Still, I know that writing (privately and publicly) is a good way for me to address that difficulty. Writing, thinking, reading, talking with good friends, loving my family and friends, sewing, knitting, quilting:…

Gradually, then Suddenly – caring and careful responses to COVID-19

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” “What brought it on?” “Friends,” said Mike. “I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.” https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/08/06/bankrupt/ The idea of gradually then suddenly was playing around in my…

Singing, Acting and Listening across Generations

MUSE – Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir sing They’ll all Sing Bread & Roses Please listen to this lovely song from a beautifully diverse choir as you read what follows. Having been involved in leafletting and campaigning for Labour in Macclesfield over the last few weeks, I sensed that a Labour victory was becoming ever more elusive…

This is an image of a sunset with the words of a poem superimposed on it. The poem follows in the text of the post

Four Days

Four days Four days to say hello to the twin who was born, and breathed, but was never going to leave the hospital Four days for twins who for thirty eight weeks had shared a womb, to share a room Strong kicks and weak pushes Four days while one twin thrived and the other failed…

Becoming part of a family of artists: a journey

This particular journey started in November 2016. I stood at the Colourlicious stall at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show and picked up a sheesham block of a tree (made by an artist in India). I had previously bought another tree block, of a stylised Christmas tree, from which I had made padded tree decorations….

Crafting as a networking and wellbeing activity for #Femedtech

Femedtechdata I am pretty passionate about the network that currently appears as a Twitter hashtag #femedtech, and as a Twitter account @femedtech that has existed as shared curation space since April 2018. We have a different curator every 2 weeks, each of whom brings their own perspective and practices, growing our network (as you can…

Connectivism and Twitter snowball threads

This will be a quick post but I wanted to capture a few ideas sparked by a Twitter thread that probably started here. Hello #HEdigID @SuzanKoseoglu I'm Sue Watling, am interested in the design of educational opportunities, with or without technology but its 2018, the technology is going to be in there somewhere, and may…

Reflecting on death as a friend of life

Jenny Mackness wrote a beautiful blog post Death is a friend of life on her return from a 4 day course with Ian McGilchrist that explores the divided brain. But Iain McGilchrist’s view is that life is literally on its way out in relation to the way in which we live our lives and…

Digital Trespass and Critical Literacy #OER17

Peter Riley explains the Kinder Scout Trespass that took place in 1932 as a protest against the permanent closure of all the wild uplands of Derbyshire for about 12 days of grouse shooting in the year. It has been described as “the most successful direct action in British history” Lord Roy Hattersley, 2007. The other…