Thank you for the timeliness and clarity of this piece. It is a luminous example of how current affairs can be made timeless through the lens of insight. What you have conveyed here is precisely the message I have needed to receive at this time. 🙏🏻
Thanks for the kind comments and I agree that there are eternal lessons behind much of what happens in the world today. We just have to dig a bit deeper.
Thank you for taking the extra effort to write this unscheduled article on the ruthless bloodshed that is ongoing. It pains me to imagine, and worse still, to learn of, young children, and, humanity in general, being subjected to brutal torture and death, brought about by zero-cause by man himself. What more could the world have done to avert such bloodshed?
Thanks! I wrote this on Monday as the news permeated all my media platforms. I think this may be an opportune time for the world to reflect on the sanctity of sacredness of human connection - that there is a unity that binds all of us despite differences in creed, ideology and material conditions. This realisation should ideally be communicated not as a utopian aspiration but a necessary precondition.
I’m just reading this today. I will be saving it to read again. Your words came at exactly the right moment for me even though you wrote them almost a week ago. Also, I am grateful to learn about the Mass Observation Project. Thank you.
Thanks so much! That means a lot and I’m glad it resonated. Yes, the the Mass Observation Project is really a hidden gem. I could spend hours reading the research they have compiled.
Thanks so much Antonia. Social media has made it possible for those of us outside of the epicentre of war to understand the situation on the ground. I was just reading your brilliant piece on the overlapping cultural dimensions that underline such a conflict from an American perspective. Lots to think about there and so many ideas/thoughts that I haven't considered as someone living in Australia.
Some of the uses of social media now remind me of Britain's Mass Observation Project that resulted in the incredible book "Nella Last's War," which is the diary entries of Nella Last during World War II -- she described herself as Housewife, 49. It's the normal people we need to hear from most.
"Nella Last's War" was an absolutely stunning read right down to the quotidian conversations between her and her husband.
I've been a big fan of the Mass Observation Project; it is one of the few institutions (that I know of) with a sole focus on robust longitudinal qualitative research narratives. Really grateful that such a repository exists.
Ooh, I'm so thrilled to know someone else who's read it! My English in-laws gave me that and "Nella Last's Peace" years ago as a gift and I fell in love with her. The relationship with her husband is so interesting, especially as she's so open about it.
I wish every society had ongoing Mass Observation Projects. So much to be learned from, as you say, robot longitudinal qualitative research narratives.
Thank you for the timeliness and clarity of this piece. It is a luminous example of how current affairs can be made timeless through the lens of insight. What you have conveyed here is precisely the message I have needed to receive at this time. 🙏🏻
Thanks for the kind comments and I agree that there are eternal lessons behind much of what happens in the world today. We just have to dig a bit deeper.
Your second paragraph is absolutely beautiful.
Thanks very much for reading Linda.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for taking the extra effort to write this unscheduled article on the ruthless bloodshed that is ongoing. It pains me to imagine, and worse still, to learn of, young children, and, humanity in general, being subjected to brutal torture and death, brought about by zero-cause by man himself. What more could the world have done to avert such bloodshed?
Thanks! I wrote this on Monday as the news permeated all my media platforms. I think this may be an opportune time for the world to reflect on the sanctity of sacredness of human connection - that there is a unity that binds all of us despite differences in creed, ideology and material conditions. This realisation should ideally be communicated not as a utopian aspiration but a necessary precondition.
beautiful Xx
Thanks very much David.
I got to the end and found myself saying "amen amen amen amen - thank you".
Thanks so much for reading Karen. Glad it resonated!
I’m just reading this today. I will be saving it to read again. Your words came at exactly the right moment for me even though you wrote them almost a week ago. Also, I am grateful to learn about the Mass Observation Project. Thank you.
Thanks so much! That means a lot and I’m glad it resonated. Yes, the the Mass Observation Project is really a hidden gem. I could spend hours reading the research they have compiled.
Thank you for this. Those personal accounts bring us right into the heart of what people are truly experiencing -- brings our own hearts to theirs.
It sounds like that Einstein book is one I need to pick up.
Thanks so much Antonia. Social media has made it possible for those of us outside of the epicentre of war to understand the situation on the ground. I was just reading your brilliant piece on the overlapping cultural dimensions that underline such a conflict from an American perspective. Lots to think about there and so many ideas/thoughts that I haven't considered as someone living in Australia.
Some of the uses of social media now remind me of Britain's Mass Observation Project that resulted in the incredible book "Nella Last's War," which is the diary entries of Nella Last during World War II -- she described herself as Housewife, 49. It's the normal people we need to hear from most.
"Nella Last's War" was an absolutely stunning read right down to the quotidian conversations between her and her husband.
I've been a big fan of the Mass Observation Project; it is one of the few institutions (that I know of) with a sole focus on robust longitudinal qualitative research narratives. Really grateful that such a repository exists.
Ooh, I'm so thrilled to know someone else who's read it! My English in-laws gave me that and "Nella Last's Peace" years ago as a gift and I fell in love with her. The relationship with her husband is so interesting, especially as she's so open about it.
I wish every society had ongoing Mass Observation Projects. So much to be learned from, as you say, robot longitudinal qualitative research narratives.