Last weekend, I made it down to End of the Road festival, camera in hand. Here are the results. The bands below are Peggy Sue, Alt-J, Jeffrey Lewis, Patti Smith and Snakedragon. Patti Smith was great! She ended her set saying “Have a fucking beautiful weekend, have a fucking beautiful life! Be strong, work hard, be free! Be free!” Ok, Patti, ok.
My friend texted me the other day to say that she missed reading my blog. And I miss blogging! So, I’m back. It’s going to take me a while to figure things out, and work out what I want to blog about on a regular basis, but I’m sure things will percolate to the surface the more that I write. I can’t really explain my absence, except to say that life has been really off-balance this year, in ways both marvellous and not so marvellous. There have been trips, and people, that have made life feel very full, but also other life events and the daily grind that have pulled things in the other direction. Hey, sounds like everyone’s life, right?
Anyway, I am not afraid to put my hands up and admit that there has been an element of burn-out, especially after the Rio conference when it all got very ‘what is the POINT‘?? And I think I’m still working through that and what I think it all means and how I think, or want, change to happen. I read this burn-out article on Rookie while I was out in Rio, and I thought it was right on point. Especially this bit:
Sometimes it seems like girls are never allowed to feel good about themselves physically. So the idea of “taking care of yourself” often turns into this rigid routine of doing yoga for three hours a day, drinking only decaf tea, and eating raw leafy greens harvested by witches that chant passages from The Feminine Mystique at the plants to increase their womyn moon powers, which can become a stressful regimen all its own.
Having said that, I have taken up yoga recently, and dudes, it’s great. I am such an amateur, but I have big aspirations of being some amazingly honed, toned, and centred bendy 40 year old in ten years when I’ve got all the moves down. AND, speaking of Rookie, here is an article with my twin heroes Tavi Gevinson and Ira Glass.
AND, speaking of Rio, it wasn’t all existential crises. I managed to take some good photos inside and outside the conference, before my camera got stolen.
I just love that one of Nick Clegg. I definitely got all up in his grill.
And since then, I’ve been finding joy and motivation in a few choice things. This song.
Making this tshirt.
And yes, doing hippy dippy things like yoga and reading up on what goes into our bodies. I’ve been really inspired by the Tastetastic cycle tour we ran over at The Otesha Project UK and meeting all kinds of people who are clued up on food, where it comes from and how it’s produced. I learnt so much from tour members, as well as the people over at Bread Matters where we stayed for part of it. I’m currently reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. His manifesto is simple – Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
And I will be implementing that manifesto just as soon as I finish that tub of ice cream that’s in my freezer. Ah, people, we are but works in progress.
hanna ♥
Hi! It’s been exactly a month! A full month. Sigh. I have been busy living (offline) life my friends, but I’m back. Most importantly, I need to tell you something work-related, which is that I have a little over 2 weeks to find at least 10 unemployed young people from East London who would like to enter a summer training programme in Construction Skills and Green Careers. If you know any young people, teachers, youth workers, community organisers etc in the East London area, then please read this link and pass on.
Thank you! I really hope that this will be a life-changing opportunity for the right people.
Okay, so that’s done. And now I shall try and sum up my past month in a nutshell of super:
1. This is what a Terry’s chocolate orange looks like in Japan.
2. I went to the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Tate. It was beautiful and scary and you should definitely go see it.
3. I made easter nests with two of my favourite people!
4. This video is awesome. I got teary. I want an arcade.
5. This great TED talk by Jane Fonda just sent me into a Fonda spiral and I ended up reading all about her and the interesting life she’s led. JUST LOOK AT HER.
6. The day I went out in this outfit (lace tshirt, dungarees, milkmaid braids) my friend accused me of crimes against fashion. I thought I looked INCREDIBLE but now looking back on it… yeah. Although I don’t know if crimes against fashion really matter, do they?
7. I got obsessed with this song and can now play it on the ukelele. BAM!
Other offline activities have included: gigs, walks in parks, a LOT of japanese food, dressing up as a can of spam, french toast, conversations on the financial system, and a lot of little revelations. More please.
hanna ♥
1. Love this video by artist Shishi Yamazaki. I’m going to Japan this week for family stuff. It’s not necessarily a happy visit, but I will definitely try and find the time to follow this lady’s example and do some shimmying through the streets of Tokyo.
2. I went out on a brilliant photography expedition yesterday with my friend DC around Abney Park Cemetary. I’ve been meaning to get to grips with my DSLR for ages and get off just shooting on auto, and I think I made some big steps yesterday with DC’s expert help! Looking forward to experimenting more.
3. I dip dyed my hair! How very Caroline Flack of me. I know it’s like, soooo 2011, but hell I wanted to try it and I like it!
4. Discovered these gals recently and love them. They’re playing May 1st in London. I wanna go!
5. General Friday Kahlo inspiration this week. What a cool mama. I want her on my jacket too.
“And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”
6. John Steinbeck wrote a letter to his son in 1958 with advice on falling in love. It’s very good.
7. My friend Anna went to Brazil at the beginning of the year and came back with these wish bracelets for her girlfriends. We had to tie them in three knots around our wrists, making three wishes at the same time. By the time the bracelet falls off our wishes are supposed to have come true. Mine is perilously close to falling off now, and with any luck….
hanna ♥
Well. This is exciting. You can stream the new Magnetic Fields album a week before its release here. Enjoy!
hanna ♥
1. WINTER IS OVER! Right? ….right?? I, for one, refuse to go backwards, for I have seen the light. My weekend has been absolutely glorious, eating breakfast in the garden with the sun shining on my face and the radio playing. The future’s bright. (image from pinterest)
2. I’ve had my eye on this banner from Etsy for about a year, so I finally ordered it and it arrived yesterday! You can’t really see from the photo, but it’s a really pretty pink colour with glittery gold lettering. I am really pleased with it, and it reminds me of this Stevie Nicks song I posted a while ago.
3. I don’t think I’ve posted about the Slow Club gig I went to a couple of weeks ago. It was brilliant brilliant brilliant. They are one of those bands that are even better live than they are recorded. The front girl, Rebecca, is an incredible performer (and plays the DRUMS), and the boys are all very dreamy which does. not. hurt. Sign me up.
3. Good ukelele jam session with my friend Anna today. My ukelele playing seems to be seeping out into my social circle like osmosis which I am very pleased about. (images from weheartit)
4. We also talked to the chickens this afternoon in Clissold Park in the sunshine. Lovely lovely lovely. I tried talking to the deer but they were having none of it.
5. My friend Guppi has gone to India today, for we don’t know how long! Massive sad faces. But her goodbye celebrations were super indeed.
6. Check out the amazing Protect Our Winters campaign (POW for short… bada boom), which is ‘mobilizing and engaging the winter sports community in the fight against climate change’. I’m not sure you can get much more right on than that. They have come up with a 7-step game plan for individuals to fight climate change, and it sounds like a pretty good plan to me. They are:
Although, as Grist said, you can substitute the last point to read as ‘Join A Group – Any Group – That Will Amplify Your Voice’.
7. Lastly, isn’t this amazing? By artist Leandro Erlich, this is on show in Paris (at Le 104). A giant mirror reflects a full scale house model, which gallery visitors can climb on. I want a go!
hanna ♥
The blog is sparse, it is it is. And I think it’s because I’ve been lacking inspiration the last few weeks, getting bogged down in the details of trying to organise a community-based project, losing sight of the bigger picture and why I’m choosing to live the life I do. So, you know, I need to rev myself up! Buck up Hanna etc etc! Incidentally, my friend sent me this really good article today about how, especially when we’re freelance or self-directed, or have a weird patchwork of a career, we need to take some time to be our own mentors.
So, I’m going to share with you some things that ARE inspiring me at the moment and reminding me why I do what I do and why I am what I am.
1. First up, this lady, Azealia Banks. I am super late to this party, but woooow. She is fierce. She reminds me why I like being a girl. Lyrics are, like, totally rude though so probs not suitable for work (or my parents…).
2. Finally I’m getting round to reading that organising bible, Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. I don’t know what took me so long. It’s already making me feel ridiculously productive, just nodding my head and turning down the corners of the pages I like. These bits from the prologue are my turned-down-corners:
Remember: once you organize people around something as commonly agreed upon as pollution, then an organized people is on the move. From there it’s a short and natural step to political pollution, to Pentagon pollution.
Here we are desperately concerned with the vast mass of our people who, thwarted through lack of interest or opportunity, or both, do not participate in the endless responsibilities of citizenship and are resigned to lives determined by others. To lose your ‘identity’ as a citizen of democracy is but a step from losing your identity as a person. People react to this frustration by not acting at all. The separation of the people from the routine daily functions of citizenship is heartbreak in a democracy.
3. I bought a rahlly nice ukelele. And I’m enjoying it SO much it’s ridiculous. Obviously, I’m no maestro, but it is fun seeing myself improve little by little, day by day.
4. This might be the only time I quote a banker, so hold on to your hats. This is a response to the question ‘What is your favourite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?’, posed to a number of important-sounding people over at Edge. I liked this one because it reminded me to sleep, and that life is a loan.
God, it’s all getting a bit deep round here isn’t it? Where are all the posts about lipstick I came here for?
5. Lastly, when I’m feeling in need of a inspirational boost, all I have to do is take a look around. My sister is writing a feminist play (am I allowed to have a girl crush on my own sister, or is that weird? Yeah okay), my friend Emma is taking a Harvard course in community organising in the little spare time she has, Char has a new food blog, Jo’s taking a leap of faith in a new job, as is Dan. Guppi is off to a foreign land for 3 months, and I am surrounded by so many people who are doing their own thing, committed to what they do, and it is crazy inspiring. It’s also comforting, that if you need a time out or a break, that there are all these other people out there, carrying on regardless, doing cool stuff, who will welcome you back when you’re ready.
hanna ♥
1. First things. I must tell you about the Otesha cycle tours coming up this summer, partly because I am under orders, but mostly because they are one of the funnest adventures you will ever have.
If you like cycling, being green (figuratively, not literally), and the chance to be free and silly then hop on your bike and join us! I cycled 700 miles around the hilly South West for 6 weeks in 2008 and have been on bits of many of our tours since. They are crazy crazy, but you make friends for life and you’ll never forget it.
2. Second things. SNOW. Obviously. Tottenham never looked so pretty.
3. I saw this poster on the wall behind the bar of The Lexington at a friend’s birthday last night, and I managed to persuade the barman to sell it to me for two pounds!! Is it not the best thing YOU HAVE EVER SEEN? Winona forever *crosses heart*.
4. Saw the film Bombay Beach at the ICA on Friday night, which was fantastic. It’s a documentary about one of the poorest communities in Southern California, with a soundtrack by Beirut and Bob Dylan. The result makes you feel like you woke up in some suburban American teenager’s dystopian dream.
5. Spent Wednesday evening driving round East London in a van with my old friend Jonny, moving sofas and eating vietnamese food while listening to 90s r&b. Was so fun, just like old times.
6. This is lahvely. Learning it on the ukelele. (I might have also taught myself how to drum with a margarine tub. OH YES.)
7. Badass! Can I be this when I grow up?
hanna ♥
p.s.
That is all.
1. We’ve had a crazy couple of weeks at Otesha moving office to Toynbee Hall and getting settled in. Say hello to our new meeting room table and chairs. This is what happens when you put me in charge of furniture. Mwahaha.
2. Sending solidarity over to my friend Vi in San Francisco, who was out and about standing up against anti-abortionists this weekend. Standard.
3. Made an awesome discovery this week with my friend Cress – the Aubin Cinema in Shoreditch. We watched Shame, which was great, but bleak. However, our moods could not be tempered, because we were in the massive-ist, comfiest seats imaginable.
“We all know the classic scene from cartoons: The cat reaches a precipice, but it goes on walking, ignoring the fact that there is no ground under its feet; it starts to fall only when it looks down and notices the abyss. What the protesters are doing is reminding those in power to look down.”
4. Read this article – The Violent Silence of a New Beginning – by Zizek on the Occupy movement. It’s brilliant.
5. Spent a substantial part of today making these cakes. The recipe is called Cake for Breakfast? YUP. (Also made this for dinner – proper yum).
6. I had a really nice time volunteering at The Ministry of Stories yesterday, mentoring a group of East London kids in creative writing. One of the kids on my table (age 8) wrote a story about a dog-monster called HOUNDOOM who was the devil’s pet. Houndoom ate fried dinosaur’s eggs for breakfast and travelled through a cloud of lightning bolts, which allowed him to pass through time (he also sucked out people’s souls by digging through their brains – eek). It was quietly hilarious. Also – want to know my 8 year old’s top tip for creative writing? “Let your mind go wild.”
7. Look at my smug new jumper face. £15 from UO Renewal. It’s GOLD. Yay.
hanna ♥
Beautiful clip of Stevie Nicks singing Wild Heart while she gets her make-up done for a Rolling Stone shoot. It’s been going round my head all day… Where is the reason, don’t blame it on me, blame it on my wild heart…
hanna ♥
p.s. a note about the highly unpredictable nature of posts at the moment. Another online project I used to work on, called The Multicultural Politic, is undergoing a really exciting redesign and launch, and I’m re-joining the team as Co-Editor. Once I’ve sorted out in my head which posts should go where, and who I want to read what, then things will sort themselves out! thanks for being patient x
