I don’t write about being chronically ill very often, mostly because I’m still thinking it through in real time.

This short piece is about effort, belief, and what it’s like to live in a culture that insists improvement is always possible…even when your body says otherwise.

kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/…

#Health #Scotland #UK #Writing #WritingCommunity #Books #Reading #Women

Effort Without Improvement

Chronic illness, meritocracy, and the pressure to do more

^{Kristie De Garis}

Today in Labor History January 26, 1808: Soldiers took over New South Wales, Australia, during the Rum Rebellion. It was Australia’s only military coup. At the time, NSW was a British penal colony. William Bligh was governor of the territory. This was the same William Bligh who was an officer under Captain Cook when he attempted to kidnap the King of Hawai’i. He was also the same William Bligh who was overthrown in the Mutiny on the Bounty, in 1789. It is questionable why the British thought he’d do better in charge of a bunch of prisoners and unruly soldiers, than he did with a bunch of sailors. Perhaps they were just desperate. One of Bligh’s commissions was to reign in the Rum Corps, which held a monopoly on the illegal rum trade in Australia. They also controlled the sale of other commodities. Bligh started to enforce penalties for the illegal sale and importation of liquor. He also tried to provide relief to farmers, suffering from recent flooding and price-gouging by the Rum Corps, by providing provisions from the colony’s stores. The monopolists didn’t like his looting of the stores, from which they were profiting handsomely, nor his enforcement of the liquor laws. So, they arrested him and deported him to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land. The military remained in control of NSW until 1810.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #hawaii #captaincook #williambligh #mutiny #bounty #australia #prison #colonialism #rum #rebellion #novel #film #tasmania #books #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

Look what was in the mail at work today! It came from far far away and now it's mine. A few days ago, I was wondering what to read next. Well, now we know.

(tagging @emilymbender and @alex for no specific reason)

#Books #Reading #AI #NoAI

📚 Renaissance Studies Reading List 2026

🔗 manchesteruniversitypress.co.u….

#Reading #ReadingList #Nonfiction #History #Histodons #Renaissance #Books #Bookstodon

Renaissance Studies reading list - Manchester University Press

Welcome to our Renaissance Studies Reading List 2026. Over the past year, we published an exceptional range of new titles across Renaissance and early modern literature, history, and theatre.

^{Bethan Hirst (Manchester University Press)}