Amanda Block’s debut novel is about a young woman trying to find out what happened to her father who vanished from her life as a child. — Why I read this book My co-worker told me last year one of her friends had a novel just published, which I thought was very cool. When she described the plot of The Lost Storyteller, it sounded intriguing. …

I experienced the UK border for the first time with a British passport and wasn’t asked any questions. I reflect on the silence of my border experience as a citizen versus silence as an immigrant. — No questions at the UK border I recently returned to the UK after visiting my family in the US. This was my first international trip since getting British citizenship back in February. Read my post: I applied for British citizenship out of fear

This past year, I gave a talk at 3 conferences and one meetup group recounting my experiences and observations during my first year as a manger. This post contains the video of that talk and the transcript. — Video The talk is 29:16. This is the recorded version I gave at the Utterly Content conference. Transcript Hi, I’m Lauren Tormey. My pronouns are she/her. I’m a Senior Content Designer at the University of Edinburgh.

Hinrich von Haaren’s practical guide takes you through all the steps in a content transformation process. — Why I read this book When I first heard this book was coming out, I was eager to read it as the synopsis said it was a ‘practical guide’ to the content transformation process. So much of my content knowledge has come from learning from coworkers or learning while doing. I was interested in reading…

Maya Goodfellow’s book ended with a thought on how health safeguarding would become an excuse to tighten borders. I reflect on recent events that show how sometimes the Home Office doesn’t need an excuse. They make their disdain blatant. — Why I read this book It’s been on my to-read list since 2020, and I figured it was time an immigration book made its way onto my 10 books for 2023 list. Hostile Environment on Verso Books

I made a mistake answering a yes/no question in the UK passport application form due to a switch in the order of answers. It sent me down a rabbit hole of answering a bunch of irrelevant questions before I realized something wasn’t right. — A minor point but one worth sharing I’ve been sharing a few posts this year about my citizenship experience. This is my only post having to do with the post-obtaining citizenship experience of getting a UK passport.

My poem ‘Permanently unsettled’ was published in the anthology ‘Welcome to Britain’. It tells the story of an unnerving UK border experience I had last year. — Published again by Civic Leicester Last year, I had a poem I wrote called ‘Temporary’ published in Civic Leicester’s anthology ‘Poetry and Settled Status for All’. Read ‘Temporary’ and how the poem came about Still being on Civic Leicester’s mailing list following this, I saw an email last September that they were looking for submissions…

Rachel McConnell’s book is a practical guide to all things content ops. — Why I read this book I’ve been a manager for a little over a year and a half now, so reading a book about leading content design seemed super relevant to me. I also joined the Lead With Tempo slack group earlier this year, which is a space for content leaders and is run by…

You need 2 people — who’ve known you for a while, who work in a certain job, and who are okay giving you their personal information — to verify your identity if you want to apply for British citizenship. It’s an absurd and exclusionary requirement that needs to be scrapped. — What the referee requirement is As with my previous posts, when I speak about the citizenship process, I’ll be referring to how I applied, which is as someone who had indefinite leave to remain for at least a year.