Kate Littlejohn
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kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Kate Littlejohn
@kelittlejohn.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1.9K following 2K posts
History, curriculum, curriculum history, books, writing. PhD student researching gender, historical consciousness, and the history curriculum in Australia. Passionate about rural equity. She/her. 🏳️‍🌈 My words and thoughts are my own.
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kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I got a new fountain pen today that I have been yearning for - I saw one on eBay a few weeks ago and put in an impulsive bid and then was terrified when I won that it might be dodgy or unusable but it arrived today and it is *perfect*... might as well be new. My very own Pilot Custom 74 😍
Close up of Pilot Custom 74 fountain pen nib with text 'Pilot 14K-585 5 <M>' on it
November 17, 2025 at 5:52 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Her favourite so far 😂
Cross stitch of a very round cat with the text "oh lawd he comin'"
November 14, 2025 at 10:25 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Love this! I just finished my most recent so looking for a new pattern to take my fancy
Cross stitch of Samantha from the TV show bewitched
November 14, 2025 at 7:32 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I don't even really have words for this. Continually watching the devaluing of human knowledge and the unquestioning acceptance of genAI into worlds where deep expertise is absolutely essential feels like we're on the steepest existential slippery slope to have existed.
But the fear of disclosure could make government staff less likely to use AI, according to the Department. The letter accompanying the request argued that “any reduction of the Department’s capacity to use AI functions could be reasonably expected to have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of this department”.
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I don't know how I get anything done with this guy judging my every move
A photo of a dark grey cat with green eyes
November 7, 2025 at 5:30 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I am finding an unreasonable amount of joy in my new fountain pen and new tiny pen holder and how earnestly she is doing her work.
A blue, green, purple sparkly resin fountain pen (made by Just Turnings) being held up on a desk by a tiny blue and white crab pen holder
October 26, 2025 at 9:07 PM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I went to the Melbourne Pen Show today and had the absolute best time - everyone was so friendly and the vibe was immaculate and there were so many fountain pens! I wish I could have spent longer but I think I'd need another mortgage if I had, so probably for the best.

Can't wait for next year!
Melbourne Pen Show haul - Robert Oster inks, a tiny crab holding a blue and green Just Turnings fountain pen, a Journally notebook folio in forest green with monogramming, a handmade pen slice and a pocket notes notebook with the great wave on the front, all sitting on a Melbourne Pen and Stationery Show tote bag
October 26, 2025 at 7:14 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I just finished The Society of Unknowable Objects by @garethjohnbrown.bsky.social and it was an absolutely cracking read. I loved The Book of Doors and enjoyed this one just as much. I hope there will be another one coming! #BookSky 💙📚
Book cover of The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown
October 6, 2025 at 5:16 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Just scraped in with my votes for the ABC Top 100 Books of the Last 25 years and good god it was hard to narrow it to 10! Even with the sea of books not on their long list that I also would have liked to add in to a shortlist. There are too many incredible book! 📚💙 #booksky
My Votes Brooklyn (2009) - Colm Toibin, Autumn (2017) - Ali Smith, Babel (2022) - RF Kuang, Lanny (2019) - Max Porter, Say Nothing (2019) Patrick Radden Keefe, Soldier Sailor (2023) - Claire Kilroy, The Friend (2018) - Claire Kilroy, The Rain Heron (2020) - Robbie Arnott, Stone Yard Devotional (2023) - Charlotte Wood, Hamnet (2020) - Maggie O'Farrell.
October 2, 2025 at 3:24 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
#PhD research callout!

I am seeking History teachers in NSW for a short interview about NSW History 7-10 syllabuses. If you have taught History in NSW and are interested, please enter your details into this form.

forms.office.com/r/cvf5QfLrLb

Ethics approval: H16788

Please share!
Seeking: NSW History Teachers. Have you taught History 7-10 in NSW? Are you interested in taking part in an online interview for a PhD study at WSU about the representation of women in the NSW history syllabuses? Please enter your details into the form below for further details. https://forms.office.com/r/cvf5QfLrLb Contacts: Kate Littlejohn, Kay Carroll
September 29, 2025 at 2:20 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Going to be hard to head home, being near the water this week has been genuinely soul soothing
Sunset photo of the Maroochydore River
September 14, 2025 at 8:23 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I'm away this week with my girls having a family holiday. We don't get away often, and the beach is so different to the rural town where we live. It's filled me with so much happiness to see how much my youngest thrives being connected to the water. We are so lucky to live in this beautiful country
Photo of a girl splashing in the shallow water with the sun over the waves
September 9, 2025 at 9:08 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
This is devastating for arts and literature in our country.
Author and chair of the Australian Society of Authors Sophie Cunningham, also a former Meanjin editor, said, “I’m extremely sad to hear that the University of Melbourne is closing Australia’s second-oldest literary journal. “This reinforces my sense that universities are no longer spaces that support or nurture literature or the arts in this country. Certainly universities have, in the last several years, shown themselves unable to manage robust debates or the complexities of freedom of speech.”
September 4, 2025 at 2:52 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
This is the worst bit and shows just the lack of understanding and stereotypical beliefs that permeate so many of these discussions, the idea that autism is 'not that bad' and not a 'permanent disability'. It is a permanent disability, kids don't grow out of it, it disables them as adults as well.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Mr Butler said the NDIS was always intended to support people with a “significant and permanent disability”. “I think most Australians would be alarmed to know that now, one out of every 10 six-year-olds are on the NDIS, including 16 per cent of six-year-old boys,” he said. “That’s one in every six boys in the average grade two classroom. In some regions it’s even higher. In the mid-north of NSW, it’s one in four six-year-old boys. In the Hunter region, it’s one in five.” Mr Butler said tens of thousands of young children with mild to moderate developmental delay or autism were “on a scheme set up for permanent disability”. “I doubt very much that that is what most of their parents really wanted or expected, but it’s all they’ve had available,” he said. “The only port in the storm, if you like.”
August 20, 2025 at 4:06 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I finished this silly little project tonight and I love it. Exactly what I needed. #craftsky 🧶
Cross stitch hoop with the words 'this is fine' next to a cartoon flaming green rubbish bin
August 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
What is the charge? Fleeing a state, a succulent red state?

Democracy manifest alright!
Image of the 'succulent Chinese meal' meme - a white man in the centre of 4 police officers being arrested and looking unhappy about it
August 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I started listening to @naomiaklein.bsky.social's Doppelganger yesterday and at about a quarter of the way through I am completely gripped by both the story of her issues with the 'double' Naomi Wolff situation but also the wider commentary about our digital worlds. Amazing writing. #booksky 📚💙
Book cover of Dpppelganger: A trip into the mirror world by Naomi Klein
July 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I finished First Name Second Name yesterday afternoon and I absolutely loved it. I don't even know how to describe it but it is a story with true heart that will leave you thinking about it long after you read the last page. #BookSky 📚💙 @minon.bsky.social I love your work
Book cover of First Name Second Name by Steve MiNon
July 14, 2025 at 8:19 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Just read a sentence that made me shrivel into dust with internal rage.
Gender and the mirror of history Throughout their lives together, Sartre insisted to de Beauvoir and others that hers was a dar lesser but hard working mind, all the whole enjoying her to spend most of the day writing his projects
July 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I worked on this embroidery on and off for a couple of months because I found the lack of stitch variety a bit mind numbing after my more recent challenging projects. Happy with the final outcome but I think I'll steer clear of full satin stitch for a while #CraftSky 🧶
Embroidery hoop with colored flowers that have "Per my last email" stitched in a void
July 9, 2025 at 7:32 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
This man sure knows how to spin a tale and bring complex stories together in a way that makes sense. I devoured this take on the US Covid response with morbid fascination; it is completely unsurprising but also somehow shocking. Anyone who works in govt will recognise the frustration. #LJReads 📚💙
Book cover of The Premonition: A pandemic story, by Michael Lewis
July 8, 2025 at 9:01 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
What world are we living in where genuine human connection is treated as the equivalent of travelling from A to B? The transactional nature of human relationships so many AI advocates have is so disturbing.

Conversation is not a means to an end.

www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-...
I asked Ho what she would say to a person upset by an AI-assisted note. “I’d ask them: ‘Why are you so easily offended?’” Ho says. Plus, she says using AI is convenient and fast. “Why would you make yourself walk someplace if you have a car?” she asks.
July 1, 2025 at 5:22 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
I mean COME ON!
The people who actually read “originals” will be rare, and they’ll have insights others lack, and enjoy experiences others forgo—but the era in which being “well-read” is a proxy for being educated or intelligent will largely be over. It will be difficult to separate the deep readers from the superficial ones; perhaps, if A.I.-assisted reading proves useful enough, those terms won’t necessarily apply. Text may get treated like a transitional medium, a temporary resting place for ideas.
June 23, 2025 at 3:56 AM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
“The world has long agreed that Iran is not in compliance with its international obligations when it comes to nuclear material. And the world has long agreed that it is not in the interest of collective peace and security for Iran to gain access to any nuclear weapon,” she said. Wong rebuffed suggestions the government had been slow to respond. She again called for “de-escalation and diplomacy” rather than further ratcheting up. “And that’s not just words, it’s a view about the risk to the people of the region and to the world, to global instability. If we see escalation and a full-scale war. We do not want to see that,” she told Nine. Coalition acting shadow foreign minister Andrew Hastie said the opposition backed the US strikes and also called for dialogue. “We want to see a peaceful settlement from here. And I’m just not going to speculate on what steps might be taken next,” he told Radio National. On Channel Nine, Wong was asked if the joint Australian-US communications facility at Pine Gap, in the Northern Territory, had been used in planning or carrying out the strikes. She replied: “You wouldn’t expect me to comment on intelligence matters ever”. “But what I would say is, the US has made it clear this was a unilateral strike.” Wong also said the US had not requested Australian assistance in future military operations, and that she “wouldn’t speculate.” “I again would say we are concerned, as are so many people around the world about continued escalation. No one wants to see full-scale war in the Middle East.”
June 22, 2025 at 11:42 PM
kelittlejohn.bsky.social
Say what you will about this country, it is flawed in many ways, but I will always feel proud on election day with just how easy it is to place your vote and how embedded it is in our culture that it is just something we all do... compulsory voting makes for a strong democracy.
A school hall with people lined up to vote
May 2, 2025 at 11:04 PM