the globe spins on the tip of my index finger
as seas and shores slip seamlessly past my eyelashes.
I blink myself between mountains,
on river beds,
my breath evaporating like clouds,
close enough for me to kiss it
too close for me to miss it
behind fences
in street light
between the sheets
underwater
these whirled whispers,
curled lisps of love yous,
held tight in a fist,
crushed like moth wings,
or sprawled across pillows in a morning breathed sigh,
they cross oceans.
Dearest voters,
Most of you don’t know me, which makes this whole letter scenario rather odd on all accounts, but I will persevere nonetheless.
As the 23rd of June looms on the horizon and everyone who is registered will be asked to vote for the UK to either stay in the European Union or to leave it, I thought I would write to you.
The European Union was forged out of the destruction of the First and Second World Wars in the interest of peace, unity and economic prosperity. It is these underlying principles which you seek to protect by voting remain.
At the Brexit camp, many people will be telling you that to leave the EU is to safeguard the British spirit and identity; I would argue to the contrary. You only have to look at British Propaganda Posters from World War Two, to see what British values emerge as fundamental in times of crisis:
For me, dear voters, these posters don’t speak of running and hiding when the going gets tough, but rather more a spirit of pulling together and staying put even in the face of hardship.
I’ve been trying to think of imaginative ways to greet you, but I’m going back to basics with the classic;
Hello there
I’m so classy. I hope everything is wonderful and you’re all as chirpy as a chirper. If you’re not, there’s no need to worry, I have a blogpost that will turn your frown upside down into a beautiful (albeit slightly crumpled smile). I don’t really know what I’m talking about either, just smile and nod and I’ll go to sleep soon.
So, it’s the first day of the last month of the year. This is incredibly exciting because it’s now socially acceptable to eat chocolate before breakfast. But remember folks, eating chocolate is not just for christmas, it’s a year-round lifestyle choice.
Because it’s Christmas, I am purposefully not going to talk about Christmas. This is because I’m so alternative and I don’t believe in bombarding you with festive boughs of merriment…yet. That’s a December 14th kind of blogpost, for sure.
Note: Is blogpost one word or two? No idea. Apologies if I have been wrong all this time – I am a menace to society.
No, I’m not going to talk about Christmas, because you’re most likely aware that Christmas is occurring and I’ll leave it to, you know, everyone else to coerce you into shaking your bellies like bowls full of jellies (eh, I tried).
Instead I am going to talk about a wonderful wonderful wonderful piece of theatre that I saw this week – ‘Hopelessly Devoted’ by Kate Tempest. If you aren’t aware of Kate Tempest – hang your head in shame. She’s a spoken word artist/rapper/Mercury prize nominee/poet/playwright/general goddess.
Bit o’ background: James Grieve (one of the co-artistic directors of Paines Plough) saw Kate Tempest performing live, and commissioned her to write her first play ‘Wasted’. Paines Plough is a touring theatre company (which I have had the pleasure and good fortune of working with), who work with playwrights all over the country to create amazing amazing work.
I saw this play on Tuesday, without even having to leave my house. That’s right, the entire cast came to my home and performed the show just for me. Well, actually that didn’t happen, as believable as it may have sounded. I really do toy with your emotions on this blog, don’t I? Don’t I understand that I’m a role model for young people everywhere? In the words of Lena Dunham:
I don’t want to freak you out, but I think that I may be the voice of my generation.
I will most definitely reflect on Lena Dunham’s sheer awesomeness in another episode of ‘Writing, Rewriting, Writing etc.’. I’m afraid we can only discuss one inspirational woman at a time. I know it’s sad, but we’ll make it through.
Good morning, various Earth-dwellers. No I’m not running out of ways to greet you, what a ridiculous question. Have you missed me? So have I. It’s not the same when I’m gone.
MY BUSINESS CARDS HAVE ARRIVED. IT’S OFFICIALLY BUSINESS TIME.
The vision in orange you can see pictured above, are my beautiful, beautiful business cards. I feel very sophisticated indeed. Like I’m the kind of person that drinks red wine and is knowledgeable about Polish art films.
I hope you have all had a lovely week. I have. It involved some sparkly earrings that make me feel like a princess, Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince, pyjamas and vanilla slices (a.k.a Mille Feuille/a.k.a food of the gods).
Now, I have a confession to make.
I am a feminist.
*Shock horror*
For some reason, identifying with this word has become something of a statement recently. It seems that the stigma surrounding the word has increased over the years, to such an extent that the actual ideology has been associated with various myths. The thing about a myth is, is that it’s very very loosely based on some vague notion of the what could be the truth which has become exaggerated and modified over time to eventually become a distortion of the facts.
Feminism has a really bad reputation in the modern world. This means that not only are we attempting to dismantle the patriarchy (a pretty hard job in itself), but now, we are also tasked with defending ourselves against all of these myths. That’s what I’m going to attempt to do today. Keep an open mind, and don’t interrupt.
1. “All feminists hate men.” This is not true. In fact, believe it or not, most of us enjoy male company. If anyone who calls themselves a feminist does hate men, this is a personal life choice, and not a requirement that goes along with the ideology. There isn’t a questionnaire or an initiation. Believe it or not, feminists are just people who want to make the world a more accepting place for both genders. Feminists don’t hate men. Feminists are working to dismantle the sexism and the patriarchy and promote gender equality. Now, I know what you’re thinking – Hold the front door, ‘fem’ = female / ‘pat’ = male, this is women against men. Sorry, that’s not true either. To be quite honest with you, it is of little consequence what we call the things. Words are just letters in a particular order that we associate with various objects and concepts. Yes, feminism does just so happen to be called feminism and the patriarchy does just so happen to be called the patriarchy, this is most likely because women (fem) generally are the oppressed group in the scenario that we call life, and men (pat) are those who benefit from the patriarchy. But it’s important to remember that they could just as easily be called flargan-shonan and perdingralar, and that would not change anything. (Well it would make them more fun words to say)
2. “All feminists are lesbians.” Some feminists probably are lesbians, yes, well done. Some feminists are heterosexual women, yes, well done. Some feminists are transgender, bisexual, asexual, pansexual – yes that’s also true. Some feminists are men – aha! Didn’t see that one coming, did ya? So what? The sexuality/gender of a group of people fighting for a cause is irrelevant. The reasons this myth is used as an argument against feminism are: a) Some people are homophobic morons and try to use ‘lesbian’ as an insult. It’s not working. We had a meeting. b) Because when someone doesn’t understand something, they move to the realm of the personal in order to try and undermine the persons they are arguing against, instead of actually finding flaws in the opposing argument i.e. Yeah? Is that so? Well – you’re ugly! (You’re not ugly, I was just using that as an example. You’re all beautiful)
Writing, rewriting, writing etc. 