Life has changed a lot over the past year. This time last year I was struggling in Falmouth, trying to make the most of my last month whilst stuck in a vicious, unhealthy cycle. Whilst I have come so far, I still have a lot to learn, about myself, about my capabilities and about what it is I really yearn for. But this is the journey of life. These answers aren’t going to come instantly. What has come, through the last year, is a lot more respect for myself, my body, my family and my friends. People got my through last year without realising it, and the people I’ve kept in touch with are not exclusively those. I have lost touch with people who changed my life for the better and this is something I’m not sure I want to change, or something I wish to accept and grow from. I think the latter.

May 21st. It’s been a year since I realised what loneliness can do to a person. A year since I realised what I really, really needed in life. Since I realised how much insomnia can amplify feelings of lethargy, self-deprecation and misery. One year ago I wrote this:

When I first arrived, I thought this place was magical. I thought, I’m never going to want to leave here. After a month, I thought returning to a city would be a struggle, re-adjusting to real life in a busy place would be a struggle, but what I wasn’t expecting was for it to make me yearn for the city, for me to end up falling in love with the city and loathing the place I had chosen to call home for three years. I was always waiting for everything to get going, for it all to kick-off and it took a few months before I realised that this was all there was. Any high octane drama wasn’t going to happen here. Party-people do not exist, nor do the ones who just want to stay at home with a movie. Everyone just wants to sit on the beach and get so stoned they are no longer aware that they’re in this one-horse town. That they are stranded in one of the furthest points of South-West England, incapable of escape from the silence and the solitude. It is lonely. Even the high-street chains struggle to reach out to the location. New Look and Caffe Nero are all we’ve got. Caffe Nero admittedly has saved my soul many times now. Wherever you are, if there’s a busy, bustling coffee shop, overflowing with the scent of rich, roasted coffee beans, there’s a chance you can feel at home, feel alive. Feel part of something bigger than a town hosting a couple of Irish Pubs and an abundance of pasty shops. It’s not rural idyllic Cornwall, it’s run down, abandoned Falmouth. This is supposed to be a student town. 6000 students swarm into the town between September and June each year, over the coldest months and the darkest months. The months when a seaside shuts down, where the beach shack doors are closed and locked with a big rusty padlock. Where the cafe’s close at 3pm and the shops don’t even open. It’s such an unusual sight. People wander the streets, ridden with longing, looking into the dark windows as if somehow that will switch the lights on and get the doors open. It’s like walking through a ghost town. Like Zombieland. You really wonder where all the people went. Where all the action occurs. Are we all missing the beat here? But no, this is just how it is. There are no people, there are no sounds. There’s a small beach, which is jam-packed when it’s warm enough to brace without three coats and three pairs of socks, a multitude of hotels overlooking the bay and that’s about as far as it goes. That’s about all there is. And I’m so so so ready to move on.

And one year later, I can say this:

• I’m living in the second biggest city in the UK. It’s grim, it’s grimy, it’s ugly, but it’s packed full of people, an(d) inspiration and change.
• I’m still not enjoying University. I enjoyed the challenge more so last year, but I’m beginning to branch out, booking experience placements and  taking advantages of opportunities that Falmouth couldn’t provide me.
• I’m happy. I have a handful of friends here, but they are great friends, who I share a mutual care and respect with.
• I feel independent. I feel this is my home. This is my life now. I don’t want to go back to York for the Summer, I want to go and visit my family, but the desire to go home is no longer driving me.
• I am in love. I love Stuart and I feel loved. It’s the best feeling, but it’s scary too. Never have I been so vulnerable around someone else. I think I’m on to a winner. He makes me happier than I have ever been, and helps me sort out how I feel, what I want and questions me. He makes my brain tick faster, my heart beat faster, me want to better myself and I owe him so much for this.
• I’m on track with eating and exercising. No longer do these two things define my existence. I am working towards being happy with what I have and accepting who I am. It’s hard but it’s happening: I can acknowledge this.
• I am finding my enjoyments. I am learning what drives me. I love to read, I love to write. I love to research and plan. I think Marketing/Admin could be an area for me to explore and to work towards. Writing and reading for enjoyment alongside this could be good for me.
• I am content. Which last year was the furthest thing in the distance. I didn’t think I would ever make it to a point where I could sit in a room full of people and not dwell on my isolation, but I am learning, I am growing and I feel strong. Which is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

So much can change in a year. This time next year, I’ll have finished University. I’ll have a month left on the tenancy for my new home. I’ll have my hair colour back (!!). I wonder where else I will be. I wonder what I’ll be doing and what my plans will be. I’m glad I’ll have something to look back on (in the form of this writing blog-come-diary).

To the next year.

*I’m listening to Mowgai, with Stuart, we are both typing away, sat opposite one and other.

Birmingham’s latest export 4 piece  Dumb and their song Dive, quite liking it, less of a poppy edge than that of the rest of the B-town bands, its got balls.

Elliot

A body is also a prison for the soul. In it, the soul pays for a very
serious crime whose nature is hard to discern.
Which is why the body’s so heavy and awkward for the soul. It has to digest, sleep, excrete, sweat, be defiled, be hurt, fall ill.

From Fifty-eight Indices on the Body (Corpus), Jean-Luc Nancy. New York, Fordham University Press, 2008.

AMAE/DE PINTO present at the @stanscafe/AE Harris in Birmingham (UK)

Index N.10_A unity of a touch.

20th June 2013

On the occasion of _ENCOUNTERS EXHIBITION by CFAR Centre for Fine Art Research of Birmingham Institute for Art & Design (BIAD) UK

Thanks to :

CFAR Centre for Fine Art Research of Birmingham Institute for Art & Design (BIAD) UK

MACT/CACT Arte Contemporanea Ticino CH

mbody – künstlerische Forschung in Medien, Somatik, Tanz und Philosophie e.V. D

Mrs Catherine Osler, leader of Birmingham Suffragists

Ayah as Mrs Osler

It has been such an amazing experience to be a part of. We started the project by looking at archives, we also went to London to see the Houses of Parliament - that was such a fun day. We then went on to preparing a script and having acting lessons where we came up with ideas to put in the script. Filming was tiring but such an extraordinary experience - we really felt like actors! The school scene was the first time we saw the lighting and microphones. We were all amazed at how professional it was.

The week after we all got into our costumes and got our hair and makeup done, for the outside scenes. It was very exciting, however, it was a very cold day! We all did the big march scene and Imogen and I also had to do a scene with a journalist. It was quite amusing when a little girl came up with her mum and told her that we must famous because we were shooting a film. Lots of people stared at us and took pictures of our extravagant costumes. We all felt like movie stars. The scenes which were in Birmingham City Council House only took half day to shoot. I had to give a speech in an extravagantly decorated corridor. Tabby, who is playing Asquith’s assistant, also had her scene here. I can’t wait until the film comes out!

Ayah

Do yourself a favor and watch his entire interview. “It’s like they went back to go forward.” -NR

Now, give it a listen, please.

Isn’t collaboration great?

                                                                                                 Hey Birmingham: I wouldn’t miss Nile this summer; if I were you.

Note to self: Also watch this amazing version of Get Lucky. I’m sure there was great collaboration happening to craft this little gem! 

]]> http://cultureconvo.com/2013/05/20/things-that-make-you-go-hmmm/ Tue, 21 May 2013 03:54:31 +0000 JH http://cultureconvo.com/2013/05/20/things-that-make-you-go-hmmm/ http://thehopejourney.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/a-new-test-tornado-sirens-going-off-in-joplin-challange-of-31-days-of-praying/ Tue, 21 May 2013 03:09:24 +0000 crimsontide2011 http://thehopejourney.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/a-new-test-tornado-sirens-going-off-in-joplin-challange-of-31-days-of-praying/ http://wp.me/p2nxbA-3q This link holds the link to the PDF to the 31 days of prayer for Joplin. Please use this one until I get Moore,OK’s 31 days of prayer. We need to lift so much up in prayer — if need be use both sets of prayer sheets so nothing goes uncovered. I would greatly appreciate it.

Featuring: Anne-Marie and me!

Our group

I had so much fun with my friends that when I left, I wasn’t even sure what the score was. And I might have had to ask which team was which. Whoops!

My Birmingham Bucket List:

1. 16th Street Baptist Church
2. Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
3. Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
4. Alabama Symphony Orchestra
5. Alabama Theatre
6. Aldridge Gardens
7. American Village
8. Avondale Brewery
9. Birmingham Museum of Art
10. Birmingham History Center
11. Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
12. Birmingham Railroad Park
13. Birmingham Rights Heritage Trail
14. Irondale Cafe
15. Kelly Ingram Park
16. Moonlight on the Mountain
17. Moss Rock Preserve
18. Lover’s Leap
19. Oak Mountain State Park
20. The Peanut Depot
21. Pepper Place Saturday Market
22. Red Mountain Park
23. Regions Field
24. Rickwood Field
25. Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park
26. Sloss Furnaces
27. The Vulcan

As a friend of mine would say, Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale is real spicy-like. It’ll also produce a flaming hot soda burp. I mean, probably. Because I wouldn’t really know.

I have a not-very-secret obsession with ginger.  Ginger ale. Ginger beer. Ginger-based cocktails. Ginger cookies. Candied ginger (I like the uncrystallized version from Trader Joe’s because I can eat it at my desk without dropping sugar everywhere).

I like spicy things. I like sweet things. All of my favorite ginger concoctions satisfy both of those likes.

The addition of Earth Fare to Huntsville’s shopping choices made it pretty easy to fill my ginger beer craving. A four-pack of Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew seemed to be the spiciest ginger soda I was going to find around here, and I thought it was the perfect brand for the occasional ginger-based cocktail.

I was wrong, however. It seems I didn’t need to look to all the way to a California company to satisfy this fix. Some of the hottest, spiciest ginger ale I can get my hands on is bottled a mere 100 miles away in Birmingham, Alabama.

Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale – Southern Spice is honestly one of the zestiest blends I’ve ever tasted, challenging the array of international ginger ales that decimate the taste buds of mere mortals at the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. (If you ever go there, you should totally mix the spiciest ginger ale you can find with ALL the other soda flavors, no matter how many funny looks you get from your date.)

I discovered this peppery ambrosia at the I Dream of Weenie hot dog van in Nashville, which is another post for another day, I promise.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale at my neighborhood Publix, meaning beverages are about to get a lot spicier at Chez Haggerty. Maybe a couple of pimento cheese hot dogs (totally a thing at I Dream of Weenie) are in order, too.

Back to business… 

Still on track to start getting promo packs together but also still awaiting the funding to come through, but not long now and then the hard work really begins.

Also I’m hoping to host a marketing event in the summer to showcase some of the activities on offer as well as the craft projects and flower arrangement so that potential customers can know what to expect from Growing Young!!

So another exciting start to the week that and the twitter following is still growing, please feel free to be a part of it @GrowingYoungWM also if you happen to be from the Midlands, particularly North Birmingham please keep an eye out to see when the free events will be, it would be ace to see you and find out what you think!

Much love everyone, more updates later in the week!

I am currently in love with Ms Mr (listen to their soundcloud here)

They have amazing Florence & the Machine atmosphere, but with a bit more of an 80s nod. They are playing smaller venues (see a list of their upcoming dates here) than her too, and coming to the UK this summer! Their gig in Birmingham is only a tenner! Bargain.

I especially love ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Hurricane’

Enjoy!

xxx

One of the volunteers hard at work. Credit goes out to Leon Rice

Friday (17.05.2013) Team V, with the help of a bunch of volunteers, have fully revamped the children’s crèche at St. Luke’s Church Centre. It has been six years since the local community has been using the centre and it was high time for a change. The Team V members have done a marvellous job by turning the dull-looking nursery into a fresh and welcoming place. The two colours, chosen by Team V for the crèche, respectively blue and yellow, are quite suitable and the kids will probably appreciate the change. In addition to the refreshed crèche, the team has bought a lot of new toys for the kids, as there were not nearly enough before. The initiative was documented and covered by the Youth Media Television. Its members took interviews from the volunteers, Team V Network Coordinator Amy, the Campaign’s Leader Antitsa and the people that work at the community centre.

This is just another way to make a difference. After all, Team V’s motto is “Changing The World One Campaign At A Time” and so they are doing. The benefits of the campaign at St. Luke’s Church Centre are endless. Firstly, the youths from the local education provider (Archway Academy Independent School) have become involved in giving back to the local community and bettering it significantly. These youths are gaining invaluable experience and skills from taking part in Team V – they are learning how to cooperate, give back to the community, become the future leaders and most importantly, they want to make a change and are more than ready to do so. Additionally to gaining these transferable skills, the youngsters get the opportunity to enrich their CV and become more attractive from an employer’s point of view. Why is that so? – Because the volunteers get to develop their skills further and they get a certificate, which outlines their contribution to the certain campaign.

Team V is designed for young people, who are socially aware and want to change things for the better. It is a nine-month programme, which is a blend of personal development, skills building and community action. The programme empowers young people to lead, deliver and campaign on current social issues. It gives them the amazing opportunity to gain practical experience in event management, budgeting, PR and leadership. Previous campaigns, just to mention a few, include Food Poverty, Youth Homelesness, Transforming Unsolved Community Spaces and Child Literacy. At the end of the day, Team V is a big family, which is spread around the whole of the UK. The family sticks together, the members help each other plan and bring to life the different campaigns and most of all, within Team V, you are making friends for life.

Our four volunteers, after the creche has been completely revamped. Credit goes out to Leon Rice.

My personal outlook from the Friday initiative is very positive. I have met many people, coming from different backgrounds, joining forces to do good. Seeing young people volunteer brings back hope for a better future. It is so nice to see that people would like to work together, put in the effort and do something for their community. I applaud these campaigns and wholeheartedly support them. I would love nothing more than to see Team V grow even more and to be able to lead many more positive campaigns such as the one at St. Luke’s.

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What would you do if you could turn back the clock? Would you still choose the life you have? I somehow came to thinking about this today, and while there are many things i’d change about the past, I wouldn’t want to change them if they affected how things are now. I am very happy with where my life is and where it is going. All i’d ask for is a little more time, as free time seems not only to be rare, but somewhat of a luxury at the moment! One week today is the next bank holiday and the start of a week off work… but I very much doubt I’ll be sat around in the garden working on my tan!

I had loads of fun editing all my final photographs as it was great seeing all my photographs coming together; but i did find it challenging at times because it was difficult placing the correct close-up/abstract image of the clothing and accessories within the polaroid frame that worked the best with the full length photograph.

Below shows two final photographs i have edited of model, Ashleigh.

Photo courtesy Jason Wallis

Birmingham, Alabama’s music scene is blowing up: Homegrown bands are playing major music fests such as Banditos at this weekend’s Hangout Music Festival, while a new music venue, Iron City, is bringing bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel to the city.

To get the low-down on the top emerging talent from Birmingham, we asked one of the city’s biggest music advocates Duquette Johnston (whose new album Rabbit Runs A Destiny drops tomorrow) to rattle off some off his favorite comrades. Per Duquette’s recommendations, add these bands to your summer playlist: Sanders Bohlke, The Green Seed, Shaheed and DJ Supreme, Preston Lovinggood, Dead Fingers, and BEiTTHEMEANS.

For more of Duquette’s picks for making the most out of summer in Birmingham—including where to find the best jukebox, the secret watering hole to cool off at, and the best new restaurant in town—get our Summer In The South Birmingham guide.

And check out this video, in which Duquette talks about his new album and the importance of the Birmingham community.