@kate@aus.social

Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 4w ago

It’s been really fucked week so this Sunday night I’m offering some regenerative attention to these #ThreeGoodThings:

I met two young queer creatives who have built something good for local writers
People on here kept making pots, knives, gardens, politics and time for each other and believe me it’s a help
A willie wagtail sang all through the night outside my window

https://wildambience.com/wildlife-sounds/willie-wagtail/

Keep going.

Wild Ambience Nature Sounds

Willie Wagtail Song & Calls | Wild Ambience Nature Sounds

The sweet song & chattering calls of the Willie Wagtail are a familiar sound of the Australian bush. Listen to Willie Wagtail call examples.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Boosted by @hypebot@goingdark.social

While I’m on a tear, a big shout out to older women on here. We’re so often deficit-coded in relation to both tech and political naïveté, and we’re made invisible by the cultures around us. We’re formidably experienced and carry a lifetime of wisdom. We’ve led teams, lifted weight, made things happen, raised families, buried love and loved ones, balanced all kinds of budgets, learned and taught. We’ve carried humans, illness, joy, change and injury in our bodies that are the most speculated about and over managed, and this goes double and triple for women who weren’t always recognised as who they are. We see each other, we learn from each other, we hold each other up when all of it is too much.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

#SilentSunday #bloomscrolling

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

All the gardeners posting pictures of compost bins and seedlings and bees and #bloomscrolling — we’re not ignoring world events. We’re thinking with our hands about local food, food miles, waste and water management, fertilisers and pesticides. We don’t have answers either. But we work with cycles of growth and decay, and we’re thinking every day about more cooperative ways of living.

#gardening

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Boosted by @troberts@theblower.au

Helpful fediverse, the world remains terrible but what is this? Found at the beach (NSW Australia), smooth stone with a neat polished straight groove down the middle. It has a half of something feel. Geologists?

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

The world is terrible and yet 165 people are watching a kākāpō asleep in her nest on “a small, predator free island in southern New Zealand.”

You can too.

https://www.youtube.com/live/BfGL7A2YgUY?si=pKlRecaDDCEx9k47

Kākāpō Cam: Rakiura the kākāpō – 2026 nest

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Walking and talking with the middle one yesterday evening, thinking about how light travels. Ordinary moments of small hope.

#MagicInTheMundane

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

#SilentSunday

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@mayintoronto The model for me is neighbourhood community rather than friendship group. Digital neighbours, in a sense. We share a defined location. We know about each other. We hear from each other and try to live considerately in awareness of each other. We wave and say hi and get on with some neighbours more than others, and we introduce one neighbour to another. We welcome, and we leave alone. We borrow tools, share fruit, take in packages. Sometimes we become friends.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

"We have experienced this type of racism for over 230-odd years.

"It really is a whitefella problem, not a Blackfella problem."

Uncle Ray Minniecon, not the only Aboriginal Elder and veteran to have to stare down Australian racists heckling Elders at ceremonies today. This is who we are, white Australia. We’re the problem, it’s our work to do.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-25/anzac-day-2026-marches-services-live-updates/106597328

abc.net.au

Australians mark Anzac Day in solemn memorials as heckling condemned — as it happened

Australians paid tribute to those who have served at services and marches, but the solemn mood at Melbourne, Sydney and Perth dawn services was interrupted by boos during Welcome to Country addresses.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@preservaAV@mastodon.social @potterybyosa@mastodon.social So many, but here are a select 5: @idzie@kolektiva.social (writer, walker and bird-thinker) @dillyd@turtleisland.social (always seeing the #magicinthemundane) @StillIRise1963@mastodon.world (every damn day) @sundogplanets@mastodon.social (saving us from spacebros, and honestly the goats) @futurebird@sauropods.win (before I just saw ants and now I see different kinds of ants) Plus the expert Ruths I originally thought were one Ruth: @platypus@glammr.us @Ruth_Mottram@fediscience.org @RuthMalan@mastodon.social

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Thinking this morning about Joanna Macy’s model of nested communities: the intimate group we feel at home in, the wider community we are part of, the global community of humans we belong to, the planetary community of living things. It’s not either/or, it’s all.

@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116403744095800752

Please take a moment in your day for this rage-thread, and follow @sundogplanets@mastodon.social who is making the science of space debris so accessible and clear.

mastodon.social

Prof. Sam Lawler: "Trying to edit a stupid FCC comment on Yet Anothe…" - Mastodon

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

This update brought to you by idle curiosity that accidentally ended up in a pit of rage.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@stilgherrian Absolutely negative on the first two, cheese is preferable to either by a long margin.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@inquiline Something I’ve come to appreciate very deeply since working beyond a higher education career: actual learning goals for a workshop or training I give are once more just the simplest signposts for where we’re going and why. I now love them again.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green Following to learn more! I’m interested in the Portuguese Camino.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@JulianOliver@mastodon.social Whatever happens, we cannot go along with normalising this.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird@sauropods.win @waitworry@sakurajima.moe @scattapilla@jorts.horse @Jaicup@mindly.social Oh! That’s extraordinary. Thank you.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

So which is it, as the world burns? Which is it? Just angry goose meme all the way down. #exasperated

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Remittancegirl I’m so sympathetic to this rage. Randomly you might like this cranky writing from one of our finest, Ronni Salt. https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/war-pigs-the-albanese-way/ #auspol

theshot.net.au

War pigs, the Albanese way - The Shot

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@mayintoronto It’s a lovely greeting!

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

This thread brought to you by another round of people generalising about “the fediverse” and “mastodon” both on here and on BS. Generalising is often less helpful than listening to people talking about what is actually happening for them* from good things to less good things, and then working out if you can act on what you learned. *including what you can’t see for yourself for reasons, from tech reasons to culture reasons

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa@mastodon.social The birds as waves are astonishing.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird@sauropods.win @waitworry@sakurajima.moe @scattapilla@jorts.horse @Jaicup@mindly.social I hope it’s ok to ask a question —do differently sized ants recognise each other as ants?

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa Oh my that’s beautiful already.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@sundogplanets @robinince Best yeller, it’s official. Cheering!

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa@mastodon.social I found the post! This took me back to Teshome Gabriel’s story of the clay cup his mother gave him when he returned to her home for a visit from the US. I think I may have shared this with you before, but here’s the specific bit. “Before my departure for Los Angeles, my mother gave me two gifts that serve to suggest a different and perhaps alternative idea of gift. One of the gifts that my mother gave me is a little clay cup that I used to drink milk from when I was a baby. The little cup is a relic of my childhood. It is dependent not only on milk, but nourishment, sustenance, nostalgia and memory. Symbolically, the clay cup is in some sense the womb and the umbilical cord that ties me to my mother. The cup is made from the same earth in which my placenta might have been buried. There is this link to the earth, and that link is through my mother. The gift that my mother gave me does not presuppose anything in return. It is an incredible gift, where one does not expect reciprocity. It is an infinite gift.” https://www.teshomegabriel.net/the-intolerable-gift/

teshomegabriel.net

Teshome Gabriel | The Intolerable Gift

Teshome Gabriel: The Intolerable Gift

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa@mastodon.social @handmade_ghost@sunny.garden What a beautiful way of thinking of clay.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

RE: https://wandering.shop/@adapalmer/116369921575635116

South Orkney Islands: not where you thought they would be.

But still, #goodnews

The Wandering Shop

Ada Palmer (@adapalmer@wandering.shop)

Antarctic humpback whales have recovered to nearly pre-whaling levels. Humpbacks have been the fastest to rebound since commercial whaling was banned in 1986, with multiple groups of more than 100 whales recorded near the South Orkney Islands. “It’s breathtaking to see blows stretch from horizon to horizon, just as the first explorers to the region described over a century ago”. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/26/antarctic-whales-comeback-threatened-industrial-krill

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@caten@mathstodon.xyz @Broadfork@mastodon.green So looking forward to learning more about how the farming goes. Good luck.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Taco_lad @captainvellalives @MostlyTato I had a sense of one near me while gardening today. I know this one, it’s been around since it was the size of your little one. Took a while for me to realise where it was, just quietly watching me work.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@ErickaSimone@mastodon.social Feeling that specific cat energy at this world, truly.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa@mastodon.social I do, deeply.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@alexpsmith @MarkAsser Amazing photos!

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pascaline @desater This is such a cute puzzle! I live with a history buff, so it’s as much a conversation as a game.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@potterybyosa@mastodon.social I thought so! Sometimes I feel like I just recommend the same three things to everyone: this essay, Arthur Frank on generosity and Alessandro Portillo on everything. I had @dillyd@turtleisland.social in mind when I sent it to you again … https://turtleisland.social/@dillyd/116445019359415822

turtleisland.social

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jalcine Truly so sorry to read this. Ugh.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@econproph Thanks Jim. @katestarbird’s 2023 work on collective sensemaking has useful things to say about rumouring, which is different from disinformation and misinformation. Rumour may align with evidence or may not, but the process of hashing things out is key. Online the priority given to speaking over listening is inherent in the process. The land value of listening is underestimated, and so the vast data centre of assumptions gets built right there. https://mstdn.social/@katestarbird/111535466734149766

mstdn.social

Kate Starbird: "Discourse around misinformation doesn't always li…" - Mastodon 🐘

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@amenonsen It looks exactly like that but I don’t feel that’s what this is.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@captainvellalives @MostlyTato Baby bluetongue! The sweetest little ones.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@camwilson Disturbing, but on trend. (Have you seen those poop POV commercials for Lyka dog food?)

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@kfitz@hcommons.social @skinnylatte@hachyderm.io Women everywhere reading this with recognition and rage. Straight to the med school textbooks, surely. Surely?

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@catuscay It’s heavier than pumice, although quite small. I think it’s a sinker more than a floater.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@kentlew @letterror @db It takes a while but they do end up looking after themselves well, and you learn more about what they like and don’t. No onion, garlic or citrus. #compostodon

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@neckspike That’s very useful.

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Kate Bowles @kate@aus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@cogdog “small glancing interactions” describes it all beautifully.

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