de papel

"Then there's no need to think that other people can do things better than you can do 'em"

2012-01-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

Every Wednesday I have an hour and a half block where I sit at the computer and do souless things like data inputting, to break this up I always caught up with Hail, Hail Rock'n'Roll. For years reading this article has been like having the kind of chats you can only have with certain pals, the kind where it's okay to be a thinker and it's okay to be unashamedly geeky about what you love. You come away feeling like you've righted a few wrongs and have been introduced to something amazing, something as amazing as Jonathan Richman's The Morning of Our Lives.

Laura Barton writes beautifully, I worried too much about gaining my indepenence to take the risk of trying to become a writer and so pour myself into zines when I can and can only dream of one day crafting my words like her. So this is a little post filled with love as today I read that it's going to be over and so am devouring them and the songs she references all over again instead of writing reports.

Don't know what I'm to look at next Wednesday!

"a parallel universe"

2012-01-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

I definitely still think of Minehead when encountering troughs. Only 10 months, 9 days!

"words have a crippling way of restricting your thoughts"

2012-01-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

A super little watch!

(via Atta Girl via Girls Get Busy Zine)

“I’ll try to squeeze it into the one day I have free in 2012!”

2012-01-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

"Brownstein’s fandom might come full circle with Sleater-Kinney, which might be ending its hiatus in the future. That is, if Brownstein, Weiss and guitarist/vocalist Corin Tucker, who guest-starred in Portlandia’s first season, can align their disparate schedules to resuscitate one of the most powerful, relevant bands in music history."

Imagine that! I'd mark a whole class set without faffing on the Internet in between papers if it would make this happen!

"What is past is prologue"

2012-01-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

With that I begin 2012 with Zadie Smith and White Teeth.

My only resolution this year is to be happy and always ask myself 'what would Zadie think of this?'. I reckon to try be as super as her can only be a sensible approach.

“The past is always tense, the future perfect.” (hooray for grammar based musings!)

"I like you more than Kathleen Hanna likes banishing the idea that one sex is better than the other"

2011-12-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

Alt love notes via Peggy Wang's buzzfeed!

- the Internet's wonderful.

"Distraction is an obstruction to the construction!"

2011-12-23T02:43:00.000-08:00

I knew Stéphanie would be my female movie hero for a zine piece I'm writing but after watching the Science of Sleep again for the first time in a while I didn't know just how much of a hero she would be.

2011-12-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

After being asked about my end of year playlist I got an amazing sense of importance (delusion of grandeur some may say) and thought 'why not'! So here it is - it's by no means perfect as I kept searching for things that were apparently released in 2010. It could also be seen as being a little bit girly; I assure you this is unintentional.

2011-12-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

Ah Letterman and Paul at the end! :)

"I'd vote for you"

2011-12-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

This time last year I was back from Bowlie and filled with massive plans...Minehead seems so far away now. Nevertheless God Help the Girl has remained a constant throughout this short year.

"Step outside filled with the promise of fulfillment – you’re going to find that small space"

2011-12-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

I have vowed to be more prolific in my zine submissions and like everything else I want to do if I blog it chances are I'll do it so here's a line from the first piece I've written for a while.

It's for Lost in the City Zine by Evi and it's open for more submissions!

"no boys allowed unless they're cute!"

2011-12-04T06:33:00.000-08:00

Wow. Just wow.

via. 90s woman

2011-11-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

'I've learnt how poetry can reflect on feelings'

2011-11-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

In a minefield of beaurocracy and hoop-jumping I've been feeling a little delicate and my idealism is being tested over and over. It's staying strong though, partly because of my year 9s poetry blog - a real life kid said that title quote up there!

I also had this exchange with a year 7:

'Who's your favourite poet Miss?'

'Seamus Heaney'

'What's he like?'

*Seamus Heaney collection gets put into his hands*

'What's your favourite poem?'

'Blackberry picking - my English teacher introduced me to it'

*kid reads, has a flick through others*

'MISS!'

'Yes?'

'That's okay, there's lots of imagery, but this one is much more interesting, but it's a bit sad'

Seamus Heaney is a dude:

I smell of cup-a-soup powder after the clumsiest, most disasterous day. These two things've reminded me why I wade through the guff.

"For the first time in our history we are learning to hate"

2011-11-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Frauen Warte: The Nazi Magazine for Women

I feel queasy when reading pro-conservative guff in Grazia so reading extracts of this has made my stomach do somersaults. The tone is patronising and the regular mentions of the Fuhrer are those of deity worship. This is the first time since I was at school that I've seen Nazi propaganda and I guess with Remembrance day coming up, it's the one situation which allows me to look upon violence with pride.

However I must take note of this one thing the Fuhrer said to get the ladies on side:

“Men may build worlds — but a people stands or falls with its women.”

If even Hitler realised this then maybe our current cost-cutting government could too.

"Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits"

2011-11-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Almost finished this: it had to be a pre-order job!

It's nice to read about what's going on in Jarv's mind and his approach to writing his 'lyrics'. Though he says they're not poetry because the rhyme of a lyric is something different - I teach poetry with lyrics so definitely have to disagree. I even teach the form of 'lyric poetry' so Faber's new editor-at-large should fix up a little!

Some of the lyrics are horrendous, like the poetry I'd come up with when 16 and angry at the world. These are laughably bad and you end up feeling a bit awkward for him. But of course it gets better; this is definitely an advert for not giving up on something, even if it's shockingly bad at first!

"I thought I'd better eat him first"

2011-10-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'd forgotten how wonderful Laura Dockrill is! 2 and a bit years after spending a summer in Cambridge with Mistakes in the Background as my only bud I'm so pleased to know she's still going!

“That's what she said.”

2011-10-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

From 'flick chicks' by Mindy Kaling

I'm super excited for this to arrive:

I've also taken to adventuring again. Getting to bike unfamiliar routes again with an itinerary for myself feels nice, heck I may even do it again and take notebooks to write in them once more! I've been reminded of how I'm definitely not ready to be bored and realistic yet so hopefully a new challenge will be on the way...however perhaps not in the same way as an ethereal weirdo - maybe just a weirdo!

2011-10-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah another year and my friends forever are wonderful!

I now have a whole year to find a song I love called '25'!

"Take it as it comes"

2011-10-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hello, it's been a while and this is bitty. I've been a shoddy blogger but let me share a ramble because I'm irked and concerned.

With the inclusion of 'new' (so they say) feminism in magazines like Grazia and Company and super Caitlin Moran flying the flag for all-inclusive ever-so-slightly-bumbling feminism I should be overjoyed not irked. However I can't help but notice there is little mention of male feminists in this 'new feminism' and how the fundamental idea of feminism being a filter through which you see life and so accept and promote equality in all its guises is now becoming a bit of a fad with some creating new stereotypes. I'm hearing and seeing feminists talk about their fashions as a representation of this new found feminism and considering how I've long hair, an array of dresses, enjoy perving at boys and have spent most of the day folding and washing clothes I'm not feeling too fashionable.

Seriously sisters, let's not alienate others by creating new stereotypes when years of work has been going into ensuring that's exactly what not happens.

Rant over, I love the new Vivian Girls video AND still want to stamp on the patriarchy! Don't worry about how to be when you're a feminist, just er.. take it as it comes!

P.S. I have recently read this:

It's wonderful, so cleverly put together and I do love meta fiction. Human stories all intertwined and all to a background of music; it made me smile and shed a tear. It's also one of only a few books I've had bought for me since being a grown up and that makes it super special too.

P.P.S. Educating Essex is pretty good at showing this teaching lark in all its glory. There's no bureaucratic guff but the basics of why we do it is all there. Bet Jamie Oliver couldn't do that.

"This pie chart is a square"

2011-09-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

YES!

“WE CHOOSE TO BECOME MORE STUPID AND DULL”.

2011-08-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

Reason number 253 for loving Caitlin Moran:

"A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life-raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold, rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate “need” for “stuff”.

A mall – the shops – are places where your money makes the wealthier wealthy. But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary instead. A satisfying reversal. A balancing of the power."

Library closures - a view from Caitlin Moran

Taken by Chris Floyd:

Now, aside from seeing my favourite people and places in 2D I have to say I don't really understand photography; I've seen too many alt-feet and flowers to curb the cynicism. But I definitely understand and enjoy it much more when I get to know what an artist thinks/is thinking when said pretty pictures are being made and his thinking's pretty lovely.

"If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence."

2011-08-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while and I'm still plundering on with Middlemarch and can officially say that Marian Evans is amazing. I am finding it incredibly difficult to read still and have to read pages two or three times over to understand what she means at times but when I do get it I see how wise and funny she must have been. It's a dry but optimistic take on life and I like it that way!

I have also been slowly working on researching for an academic essay on her, getting used to being a researcher again is strange but the wonder that is Zotero is definitely helping. My Marian Evans research has begun with the character Felix Holt (namesake of a pub in Nuneaton), the radical. I am yet to read the novel he's in so don't know too much but I do know from the fictional essay Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt that he is young, opinionated and earnest. All brilliant things to be and I assume all things his creator must have been to think him up.

The essay addresses the need for the working class to rise and use the massive talent they hold as a collective to ensure that the mistakes of those in power and of those with the most money are challenged. Mention is made to the greatest crime being committed by those who engage in vicious excess, excess that leads to children and grandchildren being affected. I can't help but think how apt it is for how things are today. Especially this particular line:

"Indignation is a fine war-horse, but the war-horse must be ridden by a man: it must be ridden by rationality, skill, courage, armed with the right weapons, and taking definite aim."

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the recent riots. I really don't know if it's worrying or wonderful that I can relate current social problems to a text written in the 1800's and with all that's going on I think I'll be scratching my head about it for the next few years.

Nevertheless, after reading this at least I need never scratch my head and wonder if Marian Evans was revolutionary.

P.S. The summer's raced by and I'm getting the back to school fear again - I have a lot of new syllabus planning and transition work to do. I'm also desperately wanting to use new technologies but it's frustrating the time it takes to successfully implement this when taking it on as a solo project.

I can handle it though because the move has been tackled and look where I now type to you from:

Being back with yarn and glue (the taker of this picture) is not just super, it's aesthetically pleasing!

P.P.S. I saw Electrelane at Field Day and seeing them was as special as I knew it would be:

"No more home"

2011-08-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Soko's back!

"The 1 person in 1000 who really gets excited will really be excited and it will be totally awesome."

2011-07-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Super Kate shared a link to Will Butler's blog on Arcade Fire's recent trip to Haiti the other day and I'm so glad I finally got round to opening it. I have to admit that I haven't paid much attention to Haiti pre and post-earthquake but t-shirts and posters scattered around Birmingham have caught my eye, there seem to be many communities here with a link to the country.

I like how parts of it read like a call to arms, it's too easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond of rubbish right now.

Love.

Also, did I tell you I'm excited to see Electrelane? I can't help it - It's fangirl time once more and I'm unearthing all I've been missing. You too can listen to Electrelane here, isn't that wonderful?!

“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”

2011-07-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

“You are awful. Worse than Rita Hayworth. Too good to fuck us lettuce pickers.”

- Chapter 10, The People of Paper: the namesake of this blog.

I was reminded of this when being extraordinarily geeky on Letterheady and saw this...

Rita Hayworth, 1940s

Gertrude Stein, 1937

There are John Hughes related papers too - the Breakfast club no less!

"Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one's self to do without it."

2011-07-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

What I know so far:

Her name is Marian Evans, not Mary Ann Evans. Hereon in I will refer to her as Marian because it's much prettier and I'm getting the beginnings of a title based on this being the name most reflective of her at her best and at her most revolutionary.
The above quote may be pessimistic but it's becoming very apparent that she must be small-town Nuneaton through and through!
She had a religious upbringing and regularly contemplates on God, but she found her own way and lost that reliance on religion.
She went to London to live a life and fell for a man who wouldn't commit to her because he felt she was too intellectual for him. Pfft.
Virgina Woolf wasn't lying when she said that Middlemarch is "written for grown-up people". Could this mean I've finally grown up now I've begun to enjoy it?

"the greater times"

2011-07-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

The number of times I've heard: "You're not going to get to go away over summer? What are you going to do?!!"

I'm going to bum around, do some work, read lots and enjoy my small extravagance on tickets to see Electrelane. My summer will be awesome and my summer is but two weeks away!

"What am I supposed to do? Eat ramen? Forever?"

2011-07-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a great interview with Marnie Stern (owner of a super kitchen). She never ceases to make me smile - fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed she finally plays Birmingham in a few months!

"To each their own"

2011-07-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

She's been an editor for as many years as I've been alive!

Hers is a blog I've been reading for a while and this is an entry I had to share.

"Ever since I was 18 I’ve wanted to be as cool as Caitlin Moran. Now this book has shown me how."

2011-06-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Lauren Laverne's right about a lot of things and never more so than about this:

+

=
The best book/music combo ever!

"What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?"

2011-06-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to see what will become of The Grand Girls Anthology and as the theme is 'revolution' and the deadline is in September I think it will be the perfect summer project for me.

I'm definitely going to be doing an MA next year (hurrah!) so I've decided this submission will be in the form of an essay and I will research this lady:

George Eliot, matriarch of Nuneaton. She loomed over my visits to town, was the namesake of the hospital I had to visit far too many times when little and was the focus of a designated day I desperately tried to get excited about but just couldn't because I had no idea about her other than she changed her name. She was just no Jane Austen and my cynical mind assumed she had nothing to give me because she was associated with the town I was so glum about.

But then I read this and did a bit more digging and I now see how super she really is and how revolutionary she was. I'm excited to get back into libraries and now have no excuse when I try to give up on reading Middlemarch for the 5th time!

2011-06-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Future Sweden's Vimeo channel is one filled with all that floats around my head. I need never post another music video again, as much as I doubt that'll happen.

'more interesting characters'

2011-06-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Remember this? Marsha the bike and I are going to be on the move again and will be reunited with Rosie who along with Mike and Ben will be a help when having to tackle 7am starts once more. I've also been having a taste of where my professional development will go now my NQT year is almost over (new responsibilities and jobs) ...oh my.

Naturally I'm in a bubble of denial and looking up nice things on the Internet. If this hadn't sold out I'd be very tempted to buy it specially for our home...though I would probably be a big loser for doing so.

“When love is outlawed, only outlaws will love”

2011-06-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to write a zine submission focused on what it is to be a small town British Asian girl and the personal journey I've undertaken to a womanhood underlined with feminism. I have been itching to get started, however now it's time to type I'm struggling. I've realised I'm a bit bored of reflecting on this schtik.

I can't write explicitly about my journey because when you're a confused teen it's pretty much all you do and when you're an adult that confusion is only translated elsewhere so why on Earth would I want to live through two bouts?! Therefore I can't do the submission because many of those personal fights are well and truly over. I feel comfortable with my approach to feminism; live in a big city and am blessed with a family that could advertise Benetton were it not for our moonheads. I've shaped myself, learnt what needs to be left behind and held on to. Consequently my fights are now against the bigger picture, such as what it is to be a woman amidst the government cuts; our recent obsession with the monarchy's upteenth celebration and the representation of minorities.

Nevertheless, although it is impossible to reflect upon details of my teenage trials it's futile to forget how the process began with Sleater-Kinney. With them I had records I loved and true heroes I could be inspired by. I wanted to know who they toured with, what they did in their spare time, who influenced them and what they were wearing because theirs was (and individually still is) an ideological package that could empower and inform.

It got me wondering who that young girl/boy sitting in their bedroom trying to figure it all out is listening to today. Who impassions them to fight all, think big and forget about their wardrobe and unrequited crush? I could only think of one whose albums I've made a must-own for my little brother.

Titus Andronicus: a band who describe Sleater Kinney as 'punk righteousness' - it all links!

Now any band who are named after one of Shakespeare's best tragedies is a winner already but this band is so much more; like all good bands they write about what they know but they've made it their business to look beyond. The wonderous Amy Klein puts it like so:

"When you become an adult, you have to confront the unpleasant reality of a world in which not everything is fair, and in which injustice often seems to thrive everywhere you look."

Amy Klein, musician, writer, activist and all round good egg. Her personal blog is a collection of interesting articles and short pieces of fiction on what it is to be a woman today and play in a punk band. She has an approach that is all inclusive and there's nothing ironic about what she says, for example: she really was that obsessed with Conor Oberst when she was younger* and is really that concerned about being the only girl playing a punk show. It's refreshing and inspiring to see her use her platform to share what makes her tick, just as Sleater Kinney did. She also makes no secret of her feminism and it worries me that with so many women in music now not many actually stand up to say 'your obsession with how I look is shit'.

Then there's the Titus Andronicus blog, filled with memories of shows and promotions of songs but alongside it there are musings on queer-culture, modern America and how we should be wary of the Internet. Also like Amy Klein's writing it really tells you what it is like to be in a band, you're getting to know all inside and outs of what you spend so much of your time with - vaguely interesting for an English teacher but massively interesting for a small-town fan. Also, with Klein having her own blog the band blog is pretty much one for the boys and to see a post encouraging all to join a feminist group regardless of gender is amazing. I can't tell you how wonderful it was the first time my teenage self heard a boy say he was 'down (in a good way) with feminism'!

Similarly the Ask a Straight Guy series is also great in enabling men in bands to speak out, this time in regards to queer culture and for further evidence of what a necessity Titus Andronicus are see Patrick Stickles interview. It's informed, passionate and outspoken and I worry that in amongst all the lomography there just isn't enough of that. This may be because bands before have done all the talking and writing that needs to be done but if that's the case then why do Titus Andronicus say so much and why does it sound like it's being said for the first time?

Please don't assume I know it all with this ramble, I could be completely wrong about thinking most bands are apathetic to all and just haven't read enough. It also can't be forgotten that some bands don't need a big vocal prescence to inspire - Conor Oberst has so much to give still to the confused teen; it is amazing to see Marnie Stern tear all apart and it'd be a mistake not to look deeper under all the Belle and Sebastian twee. Also the whole reason why I began listening to Titus Andronicus was because Pains of Being Pure at Heart were harping on about them during a show 2 years ago so of course these bands are social thinkers! I just wish to high heaven bands made more use of social media for those teenagers who are still being shaped by music like many of the bands I grew up listening to did. Alongside the funny photos and sharing what you had for dinner let us know what pissed you off today because chances are that's pissing off a confused 15 year old too.

Any submission call outs for a love letter to Titus Andronicus?!

*Amy Klein's 'A Letter to Conor Oberst' - it takes me back and gives me goosebumps.

2011-06-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

I love Pains I do - when things get far too grown up and serious they will always bring you back to the awkward swooning teenager you truly are!

"I love the dogness of it"

2011-06-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't procrastinated with a Rapha short for a while:

Awesome people hanging out together is also brilliant for procrastination purposes:

William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain

Salvador Dali and Francois Hardy

Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu

Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire because Funny Face is the best!

I should go do some marking and planning now - roll on a full weekend off work with no work!

"a book is an extraordinary piece of technology"

2011-06-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Shirley Hughes is most definitely right!

Happy 30th birthday Alfie!

I had it read to me when little.

I read it to myself.

I read it to my little brother.

I analysed how my toddler cousin read it at A-Level.

I wrote an essay on its brilliance at university.

I used it to teach childrens writing to year 7.

I'll read it to my own children.

"one of those nights where some magic is at play and everything is kissed with fun and rightness"

2011-06-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Today I'm shattered after late-night scheme of work planning and antihistamines, worrying about how much more I have to do when feeling pants and to top it all the new Coldplay single is on the radio. Thank heavens this is a blip in what's been a positive few weeks and this book has played a part in it:

In hardback no less!

I know I'm very late to this but I'm cynical of anything that I should obviously like, (see my dislike of Frankie magazine). Yes, I love tea, baking in a Cath Kidston apron and I am currently stepping into every charity shop I come across to find nice crockery, but use the words 'retro', 'kitsch' or 'floral' around me and I may want to poke you in the eye. I don't need my twee commercialised thank you very much.

So I approached Sophie Dahl with caution, I read articles like this and lumped her in with band-wagon-jumping bird lovers. This half term I saw that my cousin had a copy of the book so sat, ready to tear it to shreds but took a big slice of humble pie and stopped judging a book by its cover instead.

This is more than a cookbook, straight away you're greeted with a 3 page introduction lovingly filled with anecdotes, a conscientious piece of writing that's slightly self-deprecating but incredibly passionate. I fell for Sophie Dahl and had to buy it!

All recipes are broken up into seasons and each season has its own 6-7 page introduction which is just as lovely. They're like love letters to good food and good company as she shares everything; all ups and downs and where food fitted into that. How growing up in a family whose traditions are often built around food felt like a blessing and a curse and how she's learnt to celebrate that. Her wonderful play with words share yummy recipes and a big heap o'self confidence.

I can't wait to catch up on her fiction now:

Like her grandfather it seems like she's an effortless storyteller and as Roald Dahl was a comfort when growing up Sophie Dahl could be a comfort when grown up!

I plan to make sea bass from the book with this in the background, Sophie'd blatantly approve:

"A good many people cut the knotty problem with indiscriminate grammar"

2011-05-31T02:23:00.000-07:00

Call for a new pronoun (1882) via. Johanna Fateman

“If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one: that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy.”

2011-05-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

Being a language buff and constantly having to read research literature I'm having to play catch up on all those writers everybody else seems to have read and fallen for years ago. However better late than never and I think I've found a real keeper with Richard Yates.

‘It is occasionally possible, just for brief moments, to find the words that will unlock the doors of all those many mansions in the head and express something...

2011-05-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

... perhaps not much, just something – of the crush of information that presses in on us from the way a crow flies over and the way a man walks and the look of a street and from what we did one day a dozen years ago. Words that will express something of the deep complexity that makes us precisely the way we are "
- Ted Hughes

I'm a creature of habit and one of these habits is to periodically give up on a mound of work and read Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, reminding myself why I have their picture up in my living room. For as long as I don't have my own I'll immerse myself in their tragic romance!

"I'm honest, brutal and afraid of you"

2011-05-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've too much love for this Sunday pick-me-up!

"Love is giving a gift, not receiving gratification. Where the rainbow fish realized that giving of itself is better than being praised for its beauty."

2011-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Seeing this:

Reminded me of this:

Such a special picture book!

"be earnest"

2011-05-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow!

"The scope and capabilities of human love are as wide and encompassing as this vast universe that we all swirl in."

2011-05-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

proportional representation
quotas
democracy
socialism
ideals
media
unemployment
recession
strikes
picketing
cover-up
multi-cultural
murder
injustice

I'm not paraphrasing this weeks newspapers, I'm paraphrasing Born in Flames by Lizzie Borden; an amazing futurist feminist sci-fi film released in 1983 and covering all the words above.
Its relevance 28 years later is astonishing.

It's set in America, ten years after a democratic socialist party took control and like nature seems to intend, a mis-representational government has run the country to the ground and society is beginning to swing to the right again (déjà vu?).

The film follows a fictional multi-racial 'Womens Army' who are powerful vigilantes calling out to the sisterhood by attacking all forms of media; getting them to wake up to their position in society and fight for the right to do whatever they want. The Womens Army are violent and extreme at times and the movie is the same, but a balanced view is always presented through female reporters for the government's Socialist Youth Review. They question the women and their antiestablishment activities at all times - sharing the kind of interesting discussions you really have to think for, those that enrich you personally and intellectually.

In my mind this is a film representing what true feminism fights for: clear equality between men and women regardless of race or religion. It's a story of working men (who are also seen protesting against unemployment) and women whilst all suffocate under an in-proportional government. Cosequently the women are the fall guys, losing their jobs as the state encourages them to taken on more conservative gender specific roles whilst progression in the workplace becomes non-existent (déjà vu?).

Adelaide Norris, leader of the Womens Army is one of the inspirational women whose story is followed. She in particular goes to the Sahara to meet women fighting against the Moroccan occupation and obtain weapons from them. There the women are throwing off their headscarves in protest of an unlawful stoning (déjà vu?).

Born in Flames is a much needed warning (with amazing soundtrack) about what can happen if any ideological approach is undertaken with a male-dominated perspective however it is moreso a celebration of that fire in your belly all can get when information is shared and something is done.

There are also plans to publish an illustrated transcript of the film by Kaisa Lassinaro. Occassional Papers are currently looking for donations to help make it happen.

Watch the whole movie here for free - you must!

"Let's be human beings"

2011-05-08T02:19:00.000-07:00

Mike Mills is keeping a wonderful video blog which in his words is "the world of people, places, and things related to our upcoming film Beginners."

The marketing for this film is really interesting from a teaching media point of view; have a nose at the website, it'll make you smile. Mills also keeps a text blog on there which is filled with goodness.

Furthermore he's in this movie which looks brilliant and is yet another reason for why I need the holidays and lots of free time to come!

"I would probably summarise my whole personality by saying I'm very... cardigan."

2011-05-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

So thinks Reese Witherspoon and I'm very much the same!

Consequently I reckon this is all kinds of awesome:

"The humble ribbon-and-key hero who spoke with definitive clicks and made his way into every office"

2011-05-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

I just heard a news story on Godrej and Boyce, a legendary typewriter company in India that is the last typewriter factory to stop manufacturing.

I love my typewriter: there's no Twitter feed to distract you; no powerpoints to make and no crappy American spellcheck. You'll make mistakes and misjudge the indent but your thoughts'll tumble out to a beat.

Sylvia Plath, at her typewriter in Yorkshire. I can't wait to make use of mine once the summer holidays hit, I may even do the same and take it on a trip to the Peaks.

I grew up messing about on a typewriter, coming from a family of techno-geeks with an interest in any kind of machinery; I used to love taking my dads typewriter apart just as much as I loved typing nonsensical words out to make sounds. When I bought my own typewriter almost a year ago and showed it off on Facebook it was family members who were commenting all over it. Regaling detailed stories models past my dad and uncles grew up using for different purposes. It was a nice moment for a family that doesn't talk much.

The typewriter has also been a tool for female empowerment by creating the 'typewriter-girl'. Rudyard Kipling was driven to distraction by her saying: "What is one to say to a young lady . . . who earns her own bread, and very naturally hates the employ, and slings out-of-the-way quotations at your head. That one falls in love with her goes without saying".

Christopher Keep writes all about the development of the typewriter girl in his essay The Cultural Work of the Type-Writer Girl. For the first time young women could train for a job that would enable them to work alongside men using their invaluable skill. These women became seen as glamourous and adventurous who were seen as a danger to themselves and morality!

I can't help but think of the Mad Men ladies and how they hold their own in a shockingly sexist environment, especially Megan who ends up living the dream! Just like Kipling Don Draper couldn't resist a lady who knows what's what, never lets go of her career aspirations and yet is an image of femininity/motherhood. Proving all nay-sayers wrong, the typewriter's the beginning of women becoming much more self-aware of what they want and striving to get that balance most women struggle with in one way or another.

So hooray to the typewriter! If ever there was a machine with soul the typewriter would be it.

Could Howl really have been written on MS Word? (yes, I did just want a chance to look at James Franco's Ginsberg again)

The Go! Team: The Secretary Song - Chi 'playing' the typewriter whilst singing and dancing to this song is an amazing sight!

"not everything exists to make you feel something"

2011-05-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

When too tired to read and too restless to sleep Wholphin shorts are a go to. I don't know why but it's been over a year since I remembered what a gem this branch of Mcsweenys is and just like the literature quarterly it's never failed me.

"She has a Career with a capitol “C” and she doesn’t seem at all embarrassed by it."

2011-04-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Hanna's got a blog! And her blogroll is a treasure trove of feminist/riot grrl/90's/indie/zine musings. (Here's a link to her Carrie Brownstein Wild Flag post)

I hope I'm at least an 8th of the hero she is when I'm 42.

2011-04-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

On Kill Rock Stars and Air Traffic Control...here are my new favourites. They're calming the back to work and feeling sick blues too.

"Not many girls would have used their wits the way you did"

2011-04-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Vivian Girls (mark 2) do Nancy Drew!

Hero.

"see over"

2011-04-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

The top rated comment says 'this should be a bigger deal' and I couldn't agree more.

"walk gladly tranquil ways"

2011-04-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

This quote was written on a bench found just into the Peak District off lovely Fulwood in Sheffield.

I'm no photographer, can't do it won't do it. But this is what an amazing walk up Peak District woodland gets you to.

I've realised I always blog after a trip to Sheffield, there's just so much time in between my visits I forget how brilliant it is. I'm yet to know a city that has so much in such a small amount of space, it's wonderful and always surprises me.

This holiday's been nice, I didn't know just how much I've needed this break before having to take on school work all of next week ready for my return back. This time of year is always the best, my friend Isabel and I concocted this theory when walking: summer is just hot and sweaty; autumn is the beginning of the darkness; christmas is too cold and new year's just filled with too much expectation. But spring is understated, it's the feeling of a new start that comes to you just because it's a bit sunnier and nature lets you know it's not all doom and gloom. If you have woodland near you, you must go walking in it right now! As Laura Barton lovingly writes 'there is no sweeter time to see Englands woodland', I guarantee you'll get all wistful and contemplative too.

I've also been lucky enough to get to the sea and visit Southport too, there is also a 1950's arcade there and Madam Zasha's reading helped the perking up process:

Isn't she brilliant?! She really writes, a female version of the legendary Zoltar!

And this was her fortune for me - I'm going to pretend she meant 'bold' not 'bald'.

With this sense of gratefulness and love for Sheffield I think of Simon Armitage's poem:

It ain't what you do, It's what it does to you.

I have not bummed across America
with only a dollar to spare, one pair
of busted Levi's and a bowie knife.
I have lived with thieves in Manchester.

I have not padded through theTaj Mahal,
barefoot, listening to the space between
each footfall picking up and putting down
its print against the marble floor. But I

skimmed flat stones across Black Moss on a day
so still I could hear each set of ripples
as they crossed. I felt each stones' inertia
spend itself against the water; then sink.

I have not toyed with a parachute cord
while perched on the lip of a light aircraft;
but I have held the wobbly head of a boy
at the day centre, and stroked his fat hands.

And I guess that the tightness in the throat
and the tiny cascading sensation
somewhere inside us are both part of that
sense of something else. That feeling, I mean.

"generations will learn equality from poverty"

2011-04-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

So said Khalil Gibran and it's going to happen with the way things are, let's not make it so easy:

In their wisdom the government has launched something called The Red Tape Challenge where all employment regulations are under review in order to help the growth we all so desperately require in the face of everything in sight being cut.

One of the employment regulations under review is the 2010 Equality Act. This law ensures that all public bodies uphold a duty to consider how to eliminate unlawful discrimination and legally protects all from unequal treatment in the workplace.

This law prevents any negative discrimination on grounds of:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnership
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation

The abolition of this would be a backwards step for not only women but men and schoolchildren as this law covers school entries. Our school system is slowly becoming more segregated than ever and this would be another uneccesary kick in the teeth.

We deserve to work under conditions that are equal as it is a basic human right. Please go here and share your thoughts on this absurd consultation, even to just quickly write something juvenile like 'Cameron's a douche' (though you must say no to scrapping this too!).

"Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday"

2011-04-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

In my few days up North this holiday, a strange thing has happened to me - I've found myself becoming quite insular.

I've always been a bit like it but now I'm back in Birmingham I've caught myself doing it. Perhaps it's because I have a little bit of spare time or I could be unconsciously balancing out my recent over-zealous tweeting. Either way I've been an extreme voyeur, nosy, slightly judgmental and convinced that those I'm looking at have no idea I'm there. It's a strange feeling but I quite like it (aside from being slightly judgmental). Insular works for me up North; I'm exploring, enjoying hills and all I do is read. It doesn't work so well when you're back home, I know I'm far more self-aware, sometimes too self aware when I have the time to be.

Case in point, I'm on the bus back home in a lovely isolated daze:

A man sits opposite me and slyly drops his chewing gum on the floor and I end up feeling disgusted as he had personally offended me! My mind starts going: ' I currently work for the government as part of its (doomed) public sector, should I undertake my civic duty and tell him off?' I keep wondering.. 'I know I would've got brutal if he had flicked it on a a friends shoe'. But as it was I realise I'm alone and a big wimp when alone.

The offender then moves next to me..how dare he! I genuinely feel a bit sick then intensely worried when a man with amazing cheekbones almost (then later) steps into it. I end up staring at him now, wondering how vexed he would be if the chewing gum got stuck to his neon orange trainers. Again with the civil duty- 'I should warn him shouldn't I?'vHowever he then gets out a joint ready to smoke for when he gets off...I'm duped. Those amazing cheekbones are just because he doesn't intake any solids.

And so.. does this twist of fate mean that taking up my civil duty would have been pointless? Is the gum some higher power ensuring a natural good/bad balance? Do we need people like Mr Chewing Gum Dropper to help deliver the civic justice self-sanctimonious wimps like me won't?

Well, what fretting. At least getting taken out of my insular state by being back home will help me write a piece I'm currently having to do called 'what keeps me awake at night'. I've real writers block with that because as shown there's just so much when I do worry! I also have heaps to do and many efforts to make for the rest of the holiday, being insular doesn't really allow this.

Oy. Good news is Charlotte Gainsbourg my hair-heroine is going to be releasing a double album soon. I wonder how she deals with the endless knots and molting? (One of the many things I fret about!)

Here's an 8track to go with the fussing and fretting.

"why like? like what?"

2011-04-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

"say you're acting your age"

2011-04-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

How did I not know this video was made till now?!

The Thermals and all Kathy Foster touches = sunshine. Hello holiday and extensive train trips! (I'm in denial about the 30cm deep pile of marking)

"I like people filled with life."

2011-04-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

"They’re fucking gross, man. Look, I love beautiful girls too. I think everyone should be free to have their knee socks and their sweaty shorts, but I’m over it. I’m over this weird, exhausted girl. I’m over the girl that’s tired and freezing and hungry. I like bossy girls, I always have. I like people filled with life. I’m over this weird media thing with all this, like, hollow-eyed, empty, party crap."

— Amy Poehler on American Apparel (via AmyAndronicus )

ah! easily a top 5 husband and wife picture!

I'm all over researching and writing at the moment whilst trying to take a mental break from school before picking it all up over the Easter holidays, it's brilliant - if this is what it's like to work a 9 to 5 and leave your job at work then I could get used to it! It's also an explanation for my constant feminist blogging, I've neglected that side of me recently so just realigning the balance.

"Book 'em Brontes!"

2011-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

2011-04-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm becoming slightly obsessed with 8 tracks and I may have even figured out a way to get it into lessons too... I'm thinking an 8 track playlist for Miss Havisham on her wedding day.

p.s. I know there do seem to be lots of bespectacled zine loving girls on it; I'm no maverick.

"I can make a fire in your iron stove"

2011-04-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

I can't embed this video but if ever there was a super woman to watch Elizabeth Cotten is her.

'get innocuous!'

2011-04-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

Today I realised just how much I'm going to miss LCD Soundsystem as they have been part of a soundtrack to what I'd call my formative years.

Right now I'm applying for my MA in Education and have even begun looking into research scholarships for a PHD afterwards. The sun is also shining, I can see a much needed rest coming on the horizon and my friend Rosie and I are finally starting a project we've only talked about for far too long.

Consequently I'd say my formative years have definitely not been in line with the biological definition but rather to how I've formed from leaving 6th form to today. It's quite nice to think that my experience of a band has been exactly in line with that.

'among the fakes you knew the pains'

2011-03-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

YES!

“My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years.”

2011-03-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

So said Kurt Cobain, but what about if something sells itself as the counterculture whilst really being a beacon for the -isms?

This is my breakfast reading right now, I was so excited to get Frankie magazine again as the last time I read it I was much younger. However now I am older and wiser I'm reading it with a new head and looking past the pretty pictures; as a result I'm going to school pretty irate. However I am overjoyed that I live in a country where the majority of those who hold a counterculture approach really do so with a greater sense of purpose.

I'm writing exactly why I'm so irate at the moment so I'll share soon but I just had to rant! If your WH Smith has started stocking Frankie, don't be suckered in!

Stick to British publications that are truly representative of the mixed bag of men and women we are with intelligent writing that can truly inspire.

"Not all who wander are aimless"

2011-03-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's my first Saturday for a while where I'm just looking after myself, I'm in denial about how much work I have home with me for the weekend; but I'm looking after myself.

Started the day with:

So brilliant I think I'm glad I haven't seen the new version.

I then went on to Mona Lisa Smile, the story of Katherine Ann Watson, played by Julia Roberts. She is a feminist history of art lecturer at a college in Massachusetts and my new fictional teaching hero:

She changes the syllabus, getting her students to question what art is along with their role as women. Naturally it doesn't go down well in 1950's suburban America but what I love about Miss Watson is that she doesn't say marriage and men are pointless, only gives her girls the chance to realise they have a point too. Enabling them to "seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond image".

When I was at this years NATE conference I was the youngest teacher in a workshop called 'ethical English', focusing on just how important it is to take note of teaching being much more than getting the grades.

It also has a super cast including Ginnifer Goodwin. She's a favourite because of He's Just Not That Into You (whenever there's talk of boys-this is always my reference point!) and now I think she's ten times more wonderful; her character Connie's the star of this film for me:

And now my viewing has moved on to the England rugby team. I'm not amused, but at least there always seems to be heart.

2011-03-16T23:38:00.001-07:00

Norwegian Wood: Young Love on Nowness.com.

"I'll slave until tomorrow comes"

2011-03-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

My task over the next two weeks is to teach 8 poems and get the little ones to write a comparative essay about 4 on the theme of relationships. This is a group of students ranging from B-E grade and mild love-intense hate of English, but they make me laugh so we'll power through.

To get them thinking about the representation of relationships I shared Willy Mason's Where the Humans Eat:

why wont you listen when I speak,
why wont you listen when i stamp my feet,
I have been workin, all fucking day,
you lie there sleeping, your life away,
you don't belong where the humans eat,
you don't belong, don't belong to me.

Asking the students what they thought about it was great - twisted stories only ever found on Jeremy Kyle were spun and faces were left slack jawed when I told them it's all about a cat!

Poetry is lyrics and vice versa, sharing that idea with the kids I think has helped make them see the music they listen to a little differently. Touch wood this is going to get that coursework done and dusted - especially when kicking off with Havisham!

This subjective interpretation of lyrics/poetry is perfectly demonstrated in this lovely video for Boat to Row by Pete Banks:

I also realised the other day I've not shared many stories of friends since Nottingham and the recent burst of sunshine has got me very excited about how this can be rectified come summer. So forget every other video I've posted and watch this one because Boat to Row and all associated with them make some super friends and you'll not be disappointed!

'I dont know if there are any women that write in Rolling Stone'

2011-03-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

So says Kim Gordon in this Women in Media & Music Panel, it's very interesting no matter what your viewpoint/interest is and it's not just all indie rock and Bethany from Best Coast's diet. So join me this International Womens Day (in the purple tights I purposefully wore to school) and watch this from my new favourite thing Dirty Laundry TV:

I know I'm posting lots about music but at around 35 minutes there are also a lot of interesting things said about female book reviews and attitudes towards female reviewers/writers.

And - Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore's daughter's in a band that supported Corin Tucker? Amazing!

I've also realised that I may have come across this because right now I'm far too tired to concentrate on text. For example, the other evening my young multi-modal brain ended up googling and reading about a movie whilst watching - is this why I'm spending my time watching/reading articles about/listening to music so much because it appeals to my scatty young brain raised on myspace and mobile phones? Who knows, I'm off to force feed myself a book.

p.s. it's a good day to remember Ari Up:

"leaned on the wall, the wall leaned away"

2011-02-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

Have you had the wedding dance conversation? This was my answer:

Maybe bleak, definitely beautiful.

"B.A.P. but B.A.U.P."

2011-02-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

The NATE conference has taken all I have out of me and amazingly it's Monday tomorrow! However, as well as meeting David Crystal I feel so privileged to have seen the inspirational Joelle Taylor and the SLAMbassadors.

So articulate and a real force of hope in what's very tough times - especially if you're young. I can't wait to get some potential SLAMbassadors together for next year.

"we are bagonising"

2011-02-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to see this man over the weekend:

And you may think it's a bit stupid, but one mans stupid is another mans genius:

I've been youtubing to put off packing and marking, though I reckon these make up for how painful it's going to be tomorrow morning.

"The first thing you find out when your dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say."

2011-02-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

My flat's a state, I've a stack of marking, have eaten far too much garlic bread and sacked off going for a run. When there's nothing left in you to be productive write a blog I say!

I've just finished this:

That quote up there is the first line of this book and isn't it a great first line?!

Todd is the last boy in Prentistown, one of many new settlements on a new planet where people have decamped from Earth for a better life. Todd discovers a secret and has to run and keep on running, his journey is brutal and there's a moment with said dog where I cried.

This is not just a science fiction thriller, it's a book about human nature and how we perceive ourselves and others. The thoughts of men and animals can also be heard at all times due to a virus and it's interesting how the many different characters Todd meets on his journey deal with that and how women have a 'deadly silence'.

Even though this is teen-fiction it is brutal! Pictures have been painted in my mind that I don't think I'll ever get rid of. In short, it's brilliant and probably the best task I've ever been sent after going to a teacher training course! Patrick Ness also shares his love for Radiohead so two thumbs up to that.

I also got round to seeing Never Let Me Go, I've been told I'd love Kazuo Ishiguro so really wanted to read it before going to see the movie but going to see it at the Electric was too tempting.

I can safely say I know I'll love Ishiguro, the film is beautiful to look at but it's the writing that makes it, it even makes up for Keira Knightley's Hollyoaks acting. I've also had Never Let Me Go by Judy Bridgewater as my earworm all day-it's a good earworm to have so have a listen and sigh.

'I was an ass-hole when I was 22!'

2011-02-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

May must come now!

"Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark..

2011-02-05T05:03:00.000-08:00

.... In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed. "

- Germaine Greer

"Because you gotta laugh once a day ain't ya?"

2011-02-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

Bowlie footage!

It's sickly sweet but cures all ailments -- so let us all be thankful for the giggle-makers around on horrendous days.

"In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance."

2011-01-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up to see a shameful woman justify the whole Andy Gray / Richard Keys saga as uavoidable because men are just 'hardwired' to behave like sexist baboons. She also went on to say how she loves to have strangers shout inappropriate misogynistic 'banter' at her because it's nice for women to be objectified. With women like that in the sisterhood it definitely takes more courage to retreat than advance.

Well, seeing as it's 'only natural' to objectify women thank heavens there are blogs out there to try and balance it out. Though maybe the pie chart shouldn't be there; personal merits are irrelevant.

Rant aside - this is genius!

'my favourite view'

2011-01-22T01:54:00.000-08:00

Postcards are practically perfect in every way.
When plodding through the door after a pestering period of productivity there's that prodigious prize waiting patiently for the perusal of what pleasantries pals have had.

Painting and prettifying the day!

2011-01-16T11:06:00.001-08:00

'writing started spreading because it was better than forgetting'

2011-01-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Fingers crossed the kids are so cool they'll appreciate something so very uncool! Jeffrey Lewis is a hero.

"You don't have to signal a social conscience by looking like a frump."

2011-01-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

So said Elizabeth Bibesco and if I had the money I'd try to not look like a frump with these tights from Les Queues de Sardines. They're like wearing an overactive imagination on your limbs!

These are called 'Angel's fart'!

'Cyclopes'

'Pieces de boucherie'

'Gargantua' - my favourite; a reminder of when legs get all hairy and scary!

I think this may be the most tenuous 'de papel' link yet, but they're wonderfull enough to justify it!

"Zach Morris stops time and talks directly into the audience. That was the first time I understood metafiction."

2011-01-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

Almost every quarter, without fail I will trawl the Internet to see what information I can find on Salvador Plascencia, author of this blog's namesake The People of Paper. For over 4 years there hasn't been much, just to look at his website shows what an interesting character he is (kind of!)

Nevertheless, this is the author of the finest novel I've ever read and one which has never left my mind even though I haven't been able to re-read it for years. So imagine my joy when I came across this brilliant interview, taking apart Plascencia's ideology behind the novel and its format, his views on being labelled a Latino writer and what it was like to be so young when publishing a book so different. It is packed with interesting recommendations and is a real insight into what helped make the novel. You also get to understand more about his process of writing, with evidence of his notes like these below:

His academic background is also very evident, he wrote The People of Paper whilst completing his masters and in this interview he shares exactly how studying at university helped to shape the writer he is now. It's refreshing to hear that his is a writing that takes a lot of work to consciously craft and that it is not only influenced by his personal life but by his academic studies and the Smiths!

I had known of the existence of metafiction before reading The People of Paper but never knew how effective it can really be until reading this novel and like it says in the title quote, it's brill to know that Plascencia first thought about metafiction from Saved by the Bell! He also refers to other metafiction superstars like Haddon, Foer and Danielewski (I didn't even know he existed till I was given House of Leaves for Christmas and now this interview has popped up-what luck!)

For me, finding out more about Plascencia is like finding out about a favourite band or actor. Consequently, I must admit part of me wishes it was a bit more like a Smash Hits interview so I could find out what his favourite biscuit is and where he likes to go on dates!

In other news: After becoming obsessed with wasting my days on Facebook, checking up on people I hardly knew and really not liking/understanding why I did this; I bit the bullet and got rid. Now I'm still procrastinating but instead I'm exploring this world wide web and writing submissions for zines, submissions that I've actually researched for. It's exciting!

'you should ask why the students are angry'

2011-01-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

There is a lot said about tuition fees but the government has been able to stop the EMA with relative ease. The Education Maintenance Allowance is a means-tested allowance paid to 16- to 19-year-olds who stay on in education. For most students from low-income backgrounds it is their only source of income at what is a very important time of their lives, helping them and their family.

It was my only source of income for two years, going towards my clothes and books and allowing me to go to college without worrying my family.

Don't let the cheeky monkeys in this video fool you, they have something important to say and remind me of some of the kids at school:

saveema.co.uk

'the thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world'

2011-01-03T02:09:00.000-08:00

Rest in peace Pete Postlethwaite. From one of the first times I encountered the impact of media and film in Brassed Off to then learning how Shakespeare should be done well; amazing.

"obsessed with the phoneys"

2011-01-01T12:07:00.000-08:00

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

'talking my big fat head off'

2010-12-31T02:47:00.000-08:00

Excuse all the Belle and Sebastian related posts but I saw this and had to conjour up a post to fit it in:

So, here's the link... This is my new kitchen book, released through the brilliant Pomona Books:

It's nice reading Stuart's diary entries again now I'm older and (I like to think) wiser. He's not half contemplative which helps me when journal writing, I'm doing all the little tasks he used to send all over again such as degrees of separation between you and another person which makes you unique I'm loving journal writing and because it's new years eve I thought I'd seek out this post from last year, I'm almost relieved to say I've achieved all of them (apart form seeing Pavement - sorry to bring it up Ben!) and more. I like that I made an 'aspiration' out of letting the world know I'm a feminist-do you think I've achieved that one?!

Anyway, I end 2010 aware of just how privileged I've become, but even more aware of how unfair society can be to everyone, especially my own. Cameron says it's going to be a tough 2011 and thanks to him it will be tougher than it was going to be. I'm saving all that personal reflecting you do at this tine of year for my journal from here on in but I do hope that I keep trying to do my little bit to fight for this generation and the next. We're going to be paying for a lot of mistakes. Keep reading, it'll keep you thinking about the bigger picture on days when you're wondering whether you're going to make up enough to pay the extortionate council tax...grumble grumble!

Back to the book - it's brilliant! You don't have to love music (though it's filled with great anecdotes and recommendations) or Belle and Sebastian (obvs!), just be interested in human stories. And I'm yet to meet someone who isn't so I can't see why you wouldn't want to look at extracts at least!

On with the schoolwork, here's to an adventurous and productive 2011 with my papermonsters!

2010-12-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

Look at The Women's Library fairy!

Note to self: go visit again before the holidays are up.

'entertainment that all but explodes with dramatic tension!'

2010-12-23T03:51:00.000-08:00

I have so much marking to do I'm doing the one thing I do best and procrastinating.

However, I figure watching films is valuable for my subject knowledge and so I've been spending time watching BFI shorts like Amelia and the Angel, one of Ken Russel's first ever movies. Here's an extract:

I also watched Gurinda Chadha's (Bend it like Beckham director) 1989 film I'm British But.. It was a real insight into the world my family experienced before I was born and what really struck me is just how the interviewees were pondering the same things I do as a British Asian. It's great to see the Britain I was born into as I'd only tried to guess what it was like from pictures and stories.

What's pretty worrying though is how Britain became the brilliant multi-cultural country it is today back in the 80's and there doesn't seem to be any difference to how it is today. For example, peaceful race marches were mentioned that reminded me of a picture of my dad and uncles walking on one alongside all races through Nuneaton town center. Now, the same thing still seems to have to happen and 20 years on his daughter is still hearing racist comments in his home town. Quite unnerving.

Nervertheless, life for young British Asians in the 80's seemed to be pretty good and they loved just how great it is to be British first and being Asian is something that complements that, just like being a Welsh man in Birmingham! So, 20 years on this could be progress enough and I'm very thankful to live the life I do, with the people I do. The music and hair is also something else, maybe I'll show the kids this!

If you'd like to watch it here's part 1 and part 2.

The BFI YouTube channel is great too and this is what I've planned for today:

And seeing as it's Christmas I may need to watch this too! The movie I know every single word to. I didn't consciously memorise them but I quite like this skill so don't want to lose it.

'the neurotic womens club'

2010-12-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

I have (too much) Christmas chocolate, the new Oh Comely magazine and this wonderful, wonderful movie:

After beginning my experience on the 10th anniversary of Bowlie, the first ever ATP; I can't wait to ATP(arty) from here on in.

I also got a great secret santa present - a beautiful leather notebook I am now journal-ing in. It feels good to journal again, once you decide it's only ever going to be read by others posthumously it's brilliant, the Internet makes us share too much with too many sometimes. Apparently it's also a present to help me take writing seriously, I imagine it'll be my muse when I turn 50 and begin my lifetime novel. What pressure on a notebook!

2010-12-18T04:02:00.001-08:00

"like the middle class aspirations of the 70's we've moved up in the world to Butlins"

2010-12-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

Now to finish my first full term as a teacher with responsibilities - gee whizz!

"we'll put the world to rights this weekend"

2010-12-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

'I am very bothered when I think'

2010-12-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

As much as I love TV I know I could live without it, I definitely wouldn't be able to live without the radio though. Especially 6music and its Paperback Writers series.

It was national treasure, Simon Armitage CBE today, I never studied him at GCSE and always wondered why this floppy haired geek was in my anthology. I'm almost glad I didn't have to study him because I ended up really enjoying his poetry for myself, especially Book of Matches after reading 'my father thought it bloody queer'.

I love the immediacy of these poems, all designed to be read in the same aount of time it take a match to burn and each telling tales about growing up. I like Armintage for the same reason I love Heaney, they're pretty-average men telling pretty-average stories in a beautiful way. It's accessible and shows exactly how you can make the link between poetry and personal experiences, making them super to teach too!

My party piece:

I strike, then from the moment when the matchstick
conjures up its light, to when the brightness moves
beyond its means, and dies, I say the story
of my life -
dates and places, torches I carried,
a cast of names and faces, those
who showed me love, or came close,
the changes I made, the lessons I learnt -
then somehow still find time to stall and blush
before I'm bitten by the flame, and burnt.
A warning, though, to anyone nursing
an ounce of sadness, anyone alone:
don't try this on your own; it's dangerous,
madness.

Armitage's paperback writers was a lovely hour, it was great to hear more about his music taste (which is great) and just how big a part it played in shaping who he is. He also shared quotes from songs that just seemed to grab him; it's a wonderful thing when you not only enjoy the music but also appreciate the word play that went into it. He also introduced me to Young Marble Giants:

If I was to marry I'm pretty certain I'd end up marrying someone similar to Armitage!

"it looks like Narnia outside your window miss!"

2010-11-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

So it does!

'I know it will be fine'

2010-11-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

(in December)

Ah grumpy Stevie Jackson in the background!

I guesstimate it is...

3 weeks till Bowlie
2 weeks till the Symphony Hall show
and 1 week till my 2011 Write about Love calendar is posted!

When I think of all the things I've grown out of and may grow out of Belle and Sebastian is never one of them.

"Is this what one calls a progressive society?"

2010-11-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

So it's the 40th anniversary of page 3; what a milestone for this archaic representation of British culture. Just when you think times are a-changing you're reminded of the existence of this, now with '360 vision'.

Turn your back on page 3 and help stop the normalisation of this sexist objectification.

And here's an article by the campaign creator Francine Hoenderkamp explaining more.

'If he does not go to the store immediately, cry a little.'

2010-11-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

I came across the Top 48 Ads That Would Never Be Allowed Today, I've taught with some of these before and they're ace.

It's been a tough week, I officially gave up smiling all the time today and got out my union's NQT guidelines. I highlighted, stamped my foot and all is well, but I definitely learnt how very important having brilliant students is. They're a tonic.

Seeing these adverts reminds me of my kitchen reading book, Graham Rawle's graphic novel Woman's World.

It's amazing! Telling the story of Norma Fontaine, obsessed with acquiring the perfect feminine allure and trying to find her place in the world. However, Norma is really a schizophrenic male and apparently there's going to be an interesting dilemma. I'm desperate to find out what that is but at the same time I really don't want to because dipping into this with my breakfast makes my mornings. The novel itself is also great to read because all the sentences are created from cut up womens magazines from the 60's:

Inspired by all of this and needing a pick-me-up after the foot stomping I thought I'd finally dip into this modern girls annual I bought in Oxford (a second-hand treasure trove!).

I'll heed the adivce given in the article on 'Manners':

"Another important thing is not to talk about your illnesses or your miseries at any length."

'of yarn and glue'

2010-11-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

I love a good font/type and because of work I even see the beauty in Comic Sans. Do you think this is a good font? If you do please vote for it, there's not long to vote.

It's the work of my old housemate and best bud Rosie; Marsha the bike and I miss her so and would love to give her the gift of some de papel votes.

p.s. Storybird is a knock-out in school!

"It's not fixed, it's fluid, it's reactive"

2010-11-14T03:17:00.000-08:00

I came across this snippet from The Culture Show and had to share because it's reminded me of just how much I love the English Language and how it seemed to stumble upon me.

AS levels were a struggle, I was far too angsty and life just didn't seem to fit in with the new way of working sixth form brings (I see 6th formers like this now, poor tykes). Consequently I did pants in my first year and didn't know what to do. I've always needed a plan and just had to move away from home and be independent. The idea was that I was going to go to uni, get an amazing job as a child psychologist, move abroad and take on the world. But the AS grades said different.

However the one subject I didn't do too bad in was English Language. Which upon reflection made sense as language always seemed to be something I enjoyed without realising. During my GCSEs, I thought I was doing better in literature but when those results came back it transpired I was much more interested in why and how people say things instead of exactly what they say.

So studying AS Language, especially spoken language gave me my next plan and the boost I needed to get A-Levels done. I didn't worry about the plan I just had an idea that arose out of what I loved and when I see things like this I feel so priviledged to 'get' the language side of English and teach it. Hurrah for language love!

I know some of my sixth-form teachers have seen my little corner of the blogosphere so it they see this - the biggest thankyou to you!