Sage Brice (she/her)

Lots of beautiful and intriguing mushrooms this weekend. The cep carpaccio is NOT the same species as either of the two mushroom photos, one of which is probably the poisonous caloboletus radicans (lovely blue blush to it) and the other perhaps lurid bolete with an unusual split stem

Looki by upstream along the Tees river, just above High Force. The water glimmers silver among black rocks and the banks are a lush green tumble. Moors and heavy cloud loom in the distance

Waterfalls on the river Tees, pines glowing in the sun and clouds bright white against deep blue sky

More river walking. It’s a blessing to live close to such stunning places

I cried so hard the first time my partner bought me flowers

(That should say mine workings)

‘Moron’ is an ableist term with a horrifying eugenic history. It’s also a very reductive framework for understanding why people make political decisions that harm you (and them)

Bare legs and sodden shoes, ankle deep in buttercup and watercress (don’t eat it, there might be liver fluke)

First steps - a fine cleft but deceptively deep and wet

Natural spring, old sluice

Beneath alder, between high banks

Collaborative walk, starting at sunrise from the source of the Deerness and walking our friends home. Encountered an intermittent flow - perhaps due to line workings and/or drought - and an infinitely changeable river, from plastic bag falls to fish-darting pools to suburban ditch. Very queer :)

Tragic but not unintended

This is the end result of anti-trans bigotry: more harassment of girls and women, more policing of gender roles, more gender McCarthyism.

A close up of bog pimpernel, with delicate pink wildflowers and small round leaves growing low and spreading on damp, peaty soil

It’s that time of the year when editors start to catch up with backlogs, meaning I have quite a silly number of book chapters and articles currently in or near proof stage. It’s hard to stay patient; here’s some Pembrokeshire bog pimpernel for company while I/you wait

The cover of Zengin’s book

Back in January I had the honour of discussing Aslı Zengin’s powerful and generous book ‘Violent Intimacies: The Trans Everyday and the Making of an Urban World’.
@geogdurham.bsky.social @dukepress.bsky.social

I’ve now published a summary of my comments:

doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2025.2531713

Yes ✔️ (couple of other snippets, too)

I enjoyed crafting my submission for this compilation, a delightful project and a welcome gesture towards more agile and responsive forms of academic publishing. My contribution took the form of a doctored comic strip… see if you can work out what text is retained from the original!

A box full of badges in a room in Parliament which say Maybe I'm Trans? in a box which says You can't tell if someone is trans. Wear this badge to highlight the absurdity of the bathroom ban.

Trans+ Solidarity Alliance is in Parliament again today, amplifying trans+ voices in the decisions being made about our lives.

We are keeping the conversations from the mass lobby going, with thanks to Olivia Blake MP for hosting.

Nothing about us without us!

Sage improvising movement in a spreading oak

Scarlet improvising movement with a rowan

Found pink sunglasses on a branch stub

Friday evening improv session with oak and rowan 💚

So this phrase “able-bodied” has clearly been on the most recent list of R talking points. It comes from the first round of English labor laws, which were instituted after the Black Death.

A mini medieval story time!

Me in my natural habitat?

… ideas about what is native, or natural, or appropriate. And we would focus our closest attention on diversity of relationships 3/3
.
How else might #queerecologies #transecologies shape how we think about #conservation, #rewilding, and #habitatrestoration?

The flanks of the hills beginning to be cloaked in trees

Foraging wild bilberries

I think the difference would be subtle - a shift in emphasis. The idea of restoring an ideal past before human disruption might be just one model among many that we would use to help us imagine how an ecosystem could thrive. We might be careful not to hold too tightly to- 2/3 (oops)

One of the old rowans growing in a protected spot among the rocks, a persistent source of food and seed

Birch and alder, likely planted, busy with warblers

Where the paths peters out among the young trees at the head of the valley

The spaciousness makes movement possible

Incredible to see these overgrazed, windswept valleys transitioning to forest again under the loving stewardship of #Carrifran Wildwood / @bordersforesttrust. We were reflecting how a project like this might differ with a #queerecology #transecology approach 1/2

Sunset over a silvery bay between steep headlands. A solitary figure stands silhouetted on the shoreline

Missing the grounded rhythm and spaciousness of my time in Pembrokeshire. I know it’s partly the magic of being in a new place away from my familiar contexts (a ‘holiday’ glow even if I was actually working). But something about living in closer connection to land and community just makes more sense

Photo of Val McDermid and Prof Jo Sharp at Edinburgh Pride march. They are wearing big grins and matching black T shirts that read ‘older dykes for trans rights’ in purple, green and white.

Timeline cleanser

Forgot the tags… #queerecologies #transecologies #queerruralarts #ruralarts #movementimprov #deerness

Four people practicing movement improvisation in a field. There are trees in the background and the sky is turning towards sunset

Two people practicing movement improvisation in a field. Their shoulders are touching and their centre of gravity is low to the ground. The light is golden and there are strands of long grass in the foreground

Two people practicing movement improvisation in a field. Their cheeks are pressing together and their movement revolves around the point of contact. There are hawthorn trees behind them and the grass glows in evening light

Really enjoying experimenting with queer ecologies to frame exploratory, creative workshops. We started with a meditation on the porous edges of the body, sensing movement beyond, across and between that boundary, then ran with it from there

Photograph of a rock face on which somebody has drawn in colour pencils, highlighting natural features of the rock in vivid colour

Photograph of a beach in Pembrokeshire in the foreground is large, square rock on which somebody has drawn in colour pastels. The words ‘power from separation’ are superimposed on an abstract arrangement of line and tone that explores the natural shape and texture of the rock. The sea is abime silver in the far distance with looming headlands to either side

Trialled my first #queerecologies #transecologies #drawing workshop last week, on a stunning beach in Pembrokeshire. Exploring #edgeeffects, #liminality and #negativespaces. A triad of #oystercatchers turned up just as we were wrapping up, to add their queer blessing to the day

Alt text: excerpt from a graphic article on queer ecology. The article takes the form of a black & white comic strip. In this page there are drawings of found imagery including mating cockchafer beetles, a nostalgic family picnic, the Blue Origin rocket, the human gut microbiome, and a slaving ship

Not sure whether my work fits? I’m an artist and human geographer researching intersection of the social and environmental, have written on birds, fungi, viruses, and queer/trans ecologies

Not quite sure on some of these but here’s my score

It has always troubled me as a phrase (such an imperial, heroic model of scholarship). To be clear, I do wish to help shape the discipline, though as part of a shared endeavour. Increasing trans representation, however, should be a side-effect of that process: perhaps a means, certainly not an ends

Re-reading @queergeog.bsky.social’s @dialogueshg.bsky.social article it is suddenly painfully clear to me what senior faculty actually mean when they tell me I’m shaping the future of my discipline. How do they not appreciate that to shape geography’s future I have to remain a part of its present?

A civil rights movement is when you're very civil and so then they let you have rights.