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!
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….
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.)
2. Beauty from Diane Di Prima. I read her Memoirs of a Beatnik years and years ago, and I’ve just ordered the whole book of Revolutionary Letters. Can’t wait. (h/t Something Changed)
3. I graduated this week! Which was great. Weird fact: Sanjeev Bhaskar is the Chancellor of Sussex University, so I was handed my certificate by Mr Kumar. I know, I was also confused.
4. This week was crazy with work, partly because we’re hiring at Otesha at the moment. As you can see though, I was awarded with joint employee of the week for my efforts (it’s very official). I was good cop
5. More brilliance from the artist Jenny Holzer that’s been going round the internetz this week.
6. One of the highest search terms that lead people to this blog is ‘lipstick’! And since I haven’t mentioned it in a while, here’s a brilliant video about wearing bright colours if you’re not used to it. I’m now obsessed with this girl.
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.”
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.
It’s been a while it’s true, and one of my new year’s resolutions is to figure out what to do with this blog and which features I want to keep / start / ditch / tweak etc. But in the meantime.. well, there is just so much superness to reflect on!
1. I went to Papered Parlour over the weekend for their DIY Couture Make a Cloak workshop and it was great! A race against time admittedly, but I was very happy with the finished product, plus we got tea and cake. And now I can pretend to be from the 50s, or that I’m a BAT. Because capes are versatile like that.
5. Talking of handmade, remember these that I made back in the spring? Well they have been selling like hotcakes! I have had orders and requests without expecting any, and I have done so much panic sewing that my left hand is all claw-like. Worth it though to think of these slogans adorning a few christmas trees this year. Haha.
6. I’ve been back at work full time for 2 weeks now as Green Jobs Director at The Otesha Project UK, and it’s nice to be getting back into the swing of things. The coolest thing is that we are trialling a flat, non-hierarchical structure. You can read about how it’s going here. I’d really recommend it, as it’s going super well so far!
7. By far the superest thing this week was Occupy Cop 17 at the UN climate talks in Durban. The outcome of the negotiations was not perfect, and in no way puts us on track for mitigating climate change, but the fact that they came away with ANYTHING was largely down to this protest. The negotiators overran the talks by 36 hours after this public show of dissent. It proves that protest does and can work. To read more about what happened at the negotiations, read this overview.
1. What a weekend! It was my birthday on Saturday and I welcomed in my 28th year by going on a feminist Fawcett Society march, as is tradition (in my world). It was great! I paraded my cupcakes around, and Lauren and I made Alicia Keys and Beyonce – themed signs which made national news! This last picture was featured on p.14 of the Observer, and is on the Metro, Sky News, and Huffington Post websites so far! Woo! You can do so much with a piece of cardboard.
2. After that we headed to afternoon tea at the Dean Street Townhouse, which was incredibly yummy and way too cool for us. A perfect combination.
3. And THEN we went out, met friends, had a lovely time and somewhere along the way got mauled by glitter cats at Passing Clouds in Dalston. So all in all, an amazing way to celebrate 28 years on this planet!
4. I’m super excited about a couple of ace presents I received – a make a cloak workshop at The Papered Parlour, and a Kindle! I’m going to be browsing the Emily Books website straightway.
5. What else, what else? I went to a brilliant YTFN event last week where I heard about two projects that I’m going to start volunteering for! One is the London Bike Kitchen and one is the People’s Kitchen – check them out, they are making the world better.
6. Been listening to the Tune Yards. Well good, innit. Fun video too.
7. I have new hair! It’s a little more goldeny. Quite super.
hello! bit late and I don’t know what this means for this coming sunday when I’ll have already used up half the week’s superness…hmmm…
1. This is my friend Debs at the student demo today. It looked amazing, I wish I could have gone! Especially as it was my sister’s first demo as well! She loved it! Read more about what went down here.
3. Got my results, I am officially a master (mistress?) of science! Under the belt.
4. I love these style pics from Rookie Mag, which were taken at Salvation Mountain in the California desert, a crazy adobe monument built by ONE GUY called Leonard Knight. If you watch Into the Wild (great film) there’s a whole bit in it where he takes Kristen Stewart and Emile Hirsch on a tour around it. I’d love to see it one day.
5. The love affair with Mac lipsticks continues. This time it’s called New Temptation. Saucy.
6. On the 19th November (my birthday! more to come on that later… mwahaha) I’m going on the Fawcett Society march to protest against the dreadful impact the cuts are having on women. It’s a 50s dress-up theme as well, which is amazing. So come along!!! Or if you can’t, how about hosting your own Fawcett tea party instead? Watch the video above for instructions how!
7. And finally, yes, women’s rights, student fees, participatory democracy, the global financial system, and the keystone xl pipeline are all very important issues that have great campaigns surrounding them at the minute. But by far the best campaign out there is the one to get the Muppets hosting the 2012 Oscars. YES PLEASE OSCAR PEOPLE!
Although today is super sunday, I am feeling thoroughly blue because today is my last day in Brighton. Tomorrow I hand over my keys, and cast myself out (back?) to London again. This is exciting in many ways, but I’ve had such a good year in Brighton in my little flat, and I am very sad to be leaving this chapter of my life behind. Having said that, I should really rally shouldn’t I? Otherwise I’ll just collapse into a pool of melancholy. So… IT’S TIME. TO FACE. THE SUPER STUFF.
1. These pictures of Heidi Klum dressed up as a monkey for Halloween are really quite good.
2. I just saw The Ides of March. Gosling puts in another excellent performance. Nail-biting, but also a depressing meditation on how the quest for power (rather than the acquisition of it) corrupts.
3. Speaking of power, it made me think of this picture that I found this week. The tshirt was designed by feminist artist Jenny Holzer in the 80s, and the wearer is the graffiti artist Lady Pink. I’d quite like to make my own tshirt.
4. Sweet potatoes roasted in maple syrup. Yep.
5. These pretty pictures at SF Girl By Bay are pretty super. I think my personal home-style gravitates towards this kind of thing. Lots of bright, warm colours and knick knacks.
6. I saw the new dance show Some Like It Hip Hop at Sadler’s Wells. It wasn’t perfect (this review hits the nail on the head) but it was still really enjoyable and Tommy and Lizzie from So You Think You Can Dance were in it, so I was happy!
7. This Observer article about the incredible man and photographer that is Giles Duley had me crying into my cake. Well worth a read.
There are the occasions that men—intellectual men, clever men, engaged men—insist on playing devil’s advocate, desirous of a debate on some aspect of feminist theory or reproductive rights or some other subject generally filed under the heading: Women’s Issues. These intellectual, clever, engaged men want to endlessly probe my argument for weaknesses, want to wrestle over details, want to argue just for fun—and they wonder, these intellectual, clever, engaged men, why my voice keeps raising and why my face is flushed and why, after an hour of fighting my corner, hot tears burn the corners of my eyes. Why do you have to take this stuff so personally? ask the intellectual, clever, and engaged men, who have never considered that the content of the abstract exercise that’s so much fun for them is the stuff of my life.
3. I spent a quality evening with my sister watching a hilariously terrible musical, eating dessert and chatting about life (read: boys). I also made her the most epic (if I say so myself) break-up mix. Here’s the playlist:
Eat Shit and Die - Margaret Cho
Canopies and Drapes - Emmy the Great
Broken Broken Broken Heart – Jeffrey Lewis
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
Take a Bow - Glee Cast
Do It Like A Dude - Jessie J
Dickhead - Kate Nash
You Don’t Own Me - Lesley Gore
I Think I Need a New Heart – Magnetic Fields
In the Morning - Nina Simone
You Think You’re a Man – The Vaselines
When I Was Single - Peggy Seeger
Gonna Get Along Without You Now - She & Him
Better Off Without You - Summer Camp
4. After my adventures at Occupy Wall Street, I went down to Occupy London Stock Exchange on Thursday! It was amazing, lots of stuff going on, incredibly organised and good-natured. I have to say though, and this is just my personal impression, that it didn’t seem as ‘buzzy’ or spontaneous as Occupy Wall Street. It was very reminiscent of Climate Camp, where meetings and working groups materialise with military precision. Occupy Wall Street felt more chaotic, and in a sense, more authentic. It made me think about whether at some point, organising needs to give way to spontaneity, otherwise we might end up missing the moment that enables change. The revolution, I suppose. This article at Colorlines talks along similar lines - Occupying, Organizing and the Movements That Demand Both.
5. This is my favourite picture of Devon Aoki. Very beautiful lady.
6. All my talk of girl gangs seems to be working… I’ve recruited at least 4 of my friends into one so far. Not sure what our remit is yet, but we’re discussing matching jackets…!
7. Taking into account these super things, I must admit that most of this week has been a real chore and so tiring! I’m packing to move house next week so I am currently surrounded in my tiny flat by many, MANY boxes that I have stolen out of various neighbours’ recycling bins (reduce, reuse, recycle people!). All the little things that I love, all my pictures and books, are packed away! SOB. I can’t wait to be all set up in my awesome new house in London! It can’t come quickly enough! Picture from weheartit
It’s Monday but I have a good excuse – I just got back from New York! I know I have to go into a corner and think about my carbon footprint, but before I do that, I’ll tell you that I was there to contribute to the Global Transition Dialogue 2012, which was coordinated by Stakeholder Forum and nef. Very interesting, longer blog post on that to follow. Until then…
1. I went down to the Occupy Wall Street protests while in NY and it was so inspiring, can’t wait to check out what’s going on at the Stock Exchange. It was ordered chaos – makeshift kitchens, information and recycling points; a speakers corner where people took turns with an amplifier; people hashing out opinions and arguments with people they’d never met; drumming and tshirt making. My favourite sign was the girl’s above which says. ‘The point is it isn’t working and we need a space to talk about it.’ I think these protests are doing an amazing of creating that space.
“…I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I love cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved. Those three things haven’t changed from my childhood. I know what I love, still, now. That’s a confidence. If you don’t know what you love, you are lost.”
3. Street artist Pablo Delgado put up a new piece of his miniature work on our office building last week! I love his other stuff too, especially the shadows all his figures cast.
4. It’s pretty super having friends in far flung places! Stayed with a friend in NY and met up with another three while I was there! Brunch in Brooklyn and strolls around Central Park and the Met, all in fine company.
5. I’ve been introduced to the world of American biscuits (kind of like a scone) and I don’t think I can look back. So good. Picture from kate / for me, for you, but a damn good approximation of what I actually ate. Yummers.
6. Only just seen this excellent photo from 2009 of Obama posing with Zapatero, the Spanish president, and his goth daughters. Hilarious.
7. Saw the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, on the plane. Really good, and so many good cameos from amazing actors. Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway and Adrien Brody as Dali are especially brilliant.
