Morgan Bell

Sydney, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA

Joined March 4th 2008

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Bio: Morgan Bell is a young Australian woman who is currently working as a professional freelance journalist.

Morgan was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1981.

She attended primary school in the regional areas of New South Wales including the Northern Rivers and South Coast, and she lived in Newcastle during her high school years.

Morgan is university educated in engineering, town planning and literature and has lived in various sharehouses and apartments with a colourful array of friends, strangers and landlords since moving to Sydney in 2000.

Morgan is passionate about gay rights and has her finger on the pulse of issues affecting the queer community in Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne.

Morgan enjoys socialising on the Oxford St scene and spent many years living in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills and maintaining a diverse network of gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual and transgendered friends.

Morgan enjoys the visual and performing arts and can often be found at a stage show, cinema, gallery, or drag routine, she enjoys independant music and film, contemporary dance, musical theatre and dining out at cafes and restaurants in the city.

Morgan is a self-professed feminist and nerd and enjoys writing about developments in science, IT and communications, and the role of women in engineering and other non-traditional vocations and fields.
Favourite quote: "It often happens that the real tragedies in life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd meaning, their entire lack of style. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us. They give us an impression of sheer brute force, and we revolt against that. Sometimes, however, a tragedy that posesses artistic elements of beauty crosses our lives. If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are no longer the actors, but the spectators of the play. Or rather we are both. We watch ourselves and the meer wonder of the spectacle enthralls us."

from "Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

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Get Involved in the Tweet Bomb!

November 5th 2009 17:02

Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York, 12 noon Thursday 5th Nov 09, local time, CNN studios, there is going to be a protest for the Public Option in healthcare.

CNN Atlanta
190 Marietta St, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303

CNN Los Angeles
6430 W Sunset Blvd Ste 300
Los Angeles, CA 90028

CNN New York
10 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019

If you are not local to one of those areas, but want to help spread the word, get involved with the Tweet Bomb.

4am Friday 6th Nov, Syd/Melb time (second Tweet 7am)
9am Thursday 5th Nov, USA Pacific time (second Tweet 12 noon)
12 noon Thursday 5th Nov, USA Eastern time (second Tweet 3pm)

Send a Tweet to @cnnbrk at 12 Noon Eastern/9am PST on Thursday 5th Nov 09 saying:

@cnnbrk We want the public option! Look at the polls! Tell your audience what the American people want. #cnnprotest

You can also send a Tweet to Rick Sanchez at 12 Noon Pacific/3pm EST on Thursday 5th Nov 09 saying:

@ricksanchezcnn We want the public option! Look at the polls! Tell your audience what the American people want. #cnnprotest

These are all the percentage of Americans who said they wanted the Public Option:

61% (CNN/ORC 10/18/09)

77% (SurveyUSA 8/20/09)

65% (NY Times/CBS News 9/25/09)

55% (Washington Post/ABC News 9/12/09)

61% (Quinnipiac 10/08/09)

55% (Time 7/29/09)

72% (NY Times/CBS News 6/20/09)

56% (Washington Post/ABC News 10/20/09)

59% (Kaiser Family Foundation 8/20/2009)

If you dont have Twitter you can email feedback@cnn.com or call CNN to express your support.

CNN NY- (212) 275-7800 (@12pm EST/9am PST)
CNN ATL- (404) 827-2600 (@12pm EST/9am PST)
CNN LA- (323) 993-5000 (@12pm PST/3pm EST)

Lets help our American brothers and sisters get health care that doesnt discriminate, health care that is affordable and accessable . . . the health care every human being deserves.

Hit the Tweet Bomb at recommended times, or Tweet about it all day!

Smash the myth that the public option is "unpopular" with the American people.

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Lavender

November 1st 2009 12:18

A few years ago on MySpace I read an inspirational short tory called "Lavender".

The full article is now available at Brizzle's Basket by William A Browning (aka Bill Brizzle).

This guy is an amazing story writer. He writes based on real life people and events, so his stories contain strong visualisations and find uncommon wisdom in everyday events.

"Lavender" starts with a brilliant quote from Ann Landers.

The world would be in a total state of shock if everyone who is gay, bi or who has had homosexual experiences, thoughts and desires were to turn the color lavender for just one day.

Brizzle then goes on to discuss the benefits of visability and being "out" when it comes to combatting homophobia.

"Everyone Ive ever known who didnt/doesnt like gays and lesbians didnt/dont know any.

Every time in my life that Ive changed a persons viewpoint, and there have been more than a few times, I did it simply by letting someone know me."

This is an idea reiterated by queer theorists and gay activists throughout recent history.

It is one of the most resounding messages in Gus Van Sant's film "Milk".

Harvey Milk: "People vote two to one for us if they know just one of us."

Harvey Milk: "If we're gonna convince the 90% to give a shit about us 10%... We have to let 'em know who we are. Everybody's coming out. The entire state. No matter where they live."

Harvey Milk: "I'm serious. We're going to tell everyone in the state to come out. Every gay doctor, lawyer, teacher, dog catcher... We have to leave the ghetto, let all those people out there know that they do know one of us. And if people won't step out of the closet, we open the door for them."

Quotes from MILK (2008) Written by Dustin Lance Black.

Brizzle says it even more plainly:

"We werent meant to live in goddamn closets. We were meant to live in homes and neighborhoods and countries. NONE of us should have to live in such confined, claustrophobic spaces and no one benefits from us doing so. Nope. Closets are only good for storing our shit"

Read the full article: "Lavender" on the Brizzle website, and check out the rest of his story catalogue. Plenty of queer content, and valuable life lessons.

Imagine if everyone who "had homosexual experiences, thoughts and desires" turned lavender. What a powerful thought.

Imagine a world without prejudice, without the need for closets . . . is it a world where everyone on the planet realises they are acquainted with at least one queer person?

The Purple Door by Anne Staub (taken at Corfe Castle, Dorset)

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350: a global movement

October 27th 2009 00:08

350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

We are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm.

For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide.

Every year since 1992, the United Nations hosts a two-week long conference for world leaders to meet and discuss what to do to about the global threat of climate change.

In December of 2009, this meeting will be in Copenhagen, Denmark. There, delegates, non-governmental organizations, and businesses from every nation will meet to finalize a new global climate change agreement.

Just over a year old, 350 is a relatively new target being discussed in the scientific community, compared to 450ppm or 2 degrees Celsius that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change supports.

At the last UN climate negotiations in Poland at the end of 2008, the 350 target began to attract more endorsers as new scientific reports and evidence of early impacts made it clear that we are already above the safe level for CO2.

For more information see 350.org

The global day of action was 24th October, 2009. Photos were taken all over the world to raise awareness.

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Shifting Responsibility Back To The Perpetrator

October 12th 2009 13:25

Do you want a breath of fresh air from all the "blame the victim" rhetoric surrounding sexual assault of late (or of always)?

Have a read of this list. It has been doing the rounds of the Feminist blog sites. Original author unknown. If you are the mastermind who put this list together please let me know in comments, I would love to give credit where credit's due

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TOP FIVE Foreign Language Films For People Who Dont Like Subtitles

September 29th 2009 00:11

Sometimes watching foreign films can be draining, there is so much reading to be done.

Many of us like watching movies to zone out and the added task of reading can be a deterrent when selecting a title for the nights viewing

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How does Jude Law's cross-dressing compare?

September 27th 2009 21:55

Jude Law is looking stunning as Minx in the 2009 Sally Potter film Rage.

Law has always been know as a pretty-boy, but thanks to a role requiring him to crossdress we can now confirm he also makes a pretty girl

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Word of the Day: Fisking

September 21st 2009 14:48

Fisking
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This Is Not Art

September 21st 2009 10:24

This Is Not Art festival Newcastle, NSW.

October 1st - 5th, 2009

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Photos: Foreshore & Nobbys Beach, Newcastle

September 13th 2009 14:16

It was a beautiful sunny day in Newcastle today, so I hit the beach.

Im not much of a swimmer but I did go for a nice long walk, camera in hand. Newcastle is my home city. It's a city of petrol-heads, singlets and thongs, manufacturing and mining, and drinking in the day. When I was taking these photos a nicely dressed man with no teeth approached me and asked for $1.50 because he was short for the cost of a cask of wine

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Magenta

September 12th 2009 10:56

Its show and tell time here at Deep Pencil.

I would like to share with my readers some photos I find quite amusing. Last night I attended a costume party, it was a Rocky Horror themed 21st celebration. I went all out for the role of Magenta and i think i nailed it

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Comment by Morgan Bell
on Model Kate Moss criticized for bullying girl to death

November 20th 2009 02:47

Science News
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funny how Kate Moss used to seem really thin, but now they are employ actual skeletons to strut the catwalk all my perceptions have shifted

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on Asylum seekers named People's 'sexiest man alive'

November 19th 2009 14:13

Science News
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he is the most reliable blogger on the network, even if you do need narcotics to understand it

i was going to do some blogging thisarvo, but it was such hot weather, i just had to drink beer instead