Midsummer night’s dream: FOUND in the Palm House while the storm raged outside.
I have written so many words elsewhere about Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo in the past six months I have never had time to express what I really feel about this extraordinary, all-consuming project. I would love to have found a few minutes every day to record what was really happening behind the scenes: health and safety madness; email gems (Kimho’s throw away comment, “I never knew Louise can play cello on stilts”). All the nitty gritty stuff, that’s what blogs are meant to be about isn’t it? (more…)
June 28th, 2008
This is Susie Brown’s beautiful bamboo sculpture – let’s hope we get the blue sky
Not much more than 24 hours to go now and I am determined to write a little bit about this extraordinary event for my own blog. After months of hard work behind the scenes and miles of emails flashing back and forward between New York, Hong Kong, Thailand, Edinburgh and even London, Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo is about to go public . (more…)
June 20th, 2008
I just do not think that a case has been made out for extending the 28 day limit any further, particularly as the other proposals in the Bill allow for questioning to continue after charge.
There it is. A brief sample from an honest and convincing email sent to me by a politician I respect who nevertheless voted for 42 pre-charge detention yesterday in the meat market of the House of Commons. Why do politicians in power find it so difficult to carry out their private beliefs in public actions? (more…)
June 12th, 2008
There’s irony for you. A text from Ray this morning, he’s due to chair a seminar in Brussels on sustainable industry but the whole area is sealed by riot police with water canon against French, Italian and Spanish fishermen demanding cheap fuel. “Our audience may not get through the barriers.” While Ray retreats to the green peace of Brussels Botanic Gardens I text him a request for pictures of the riots and they arrive on my screen within minutes. (more…)
June 4th, 2008
It has happened. Thanks to a great group of people led by Ewan, a fantasy lurking at the back of my mind has made it into real life. Yesterday in the Scottish Poetry Library, a treasure of a place tucked out of sight down a close in the Royal Mile, a cluster of literary souls signed up to a brave new creative adventure bang smack in the middle of commercial Edinburgh. Some odd political sensitivity requires us to call it Poetry in St Andrew Square but the people who made it happen know it simply as The Poetry Garden. (more…)
May 28th, 2008
I could hardly watch tonight’s Channel 4 News report from China; it is impossible to imagine the grief of mothers finding the bodies of their children in the rubble of the earthquake. And now I find it difficult to write about the story of an earlier earthquake in China. Of course it is not my story but it stayed in my memory long after I finished reading The Good Women of China by Xinran. (more…)
May 14th, 2008
mocking the myth that the motorcar offers freedom…
A good start to the day. Tommy emails to say his print is on sale in an internet gallery specialising in bringing together artists who want to sell and customers who want to buy but don’t know how to find each other. (And this just a week after Tommy and the rest of FOUND featured in the News of the World!) Anyway, back to art.
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April 29th, 2008
I took a second look, “That is plastic isn’t it?” The answer was swift and smart, “Yes, no man was hurt in the making of this display.”
Setting up my stall at the Student Festival of Learning in Edinburgh’s Telford College yesterday I soon realised that I was a bit short of merchandise. Thanks to Tommy I had the biggest and boldest banner in the hall and I had put together a nice display of bright leaflets about intercultural arts events, voluntary work and community gardens. Then I discovered Leith Open Space was sandwiched between Young Scot and Safe Sex and, damn it, they both had a much more interesting selection of freebies. (more…)
April 25th, 2008
“Ordinary women cannot afford sanitary wear. We are using old pieces of cloth or newspapers. Consequently we’re suffering the loss of our dignity and serious infections, in some cases leading to infertility. Many women are facing violence from their husbands who believe these infections to be sexually transmitted.” Thabitha Khumalo, 2006.
Today, when I signed three petitions in support of democracy and human rights for the people of Zimbabwe, I was thinking of the truly remarkable woman I met two years ago. Thabitha Khumalo was in the UK to raise money and support for a campaign to secure safe supplies of sanitary towels for women in Zimbabwe. The economy was so bad – inflation was then a mere 1000% – manufacturers of sanitary products had left the country. An appeal for help produced a generous lorry load of sanitary towels from South Africa but Robert Mugabe refused to let them into the country.
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April 16th, 2008
Too early, even the blackbirds building a nest outside the window are not up yet. I wake at 4 am with my head full of stuff, odd random surreal sounding stuff but it wasn’t a dream, someone actually said, “It’s time we gave this prehistoric plant a voice,” at one of the meetings I was at yesterday. At 4 am talking plants get mixed up with more prosaic stuff like restoring Great Aunty Ada’s old sofa. Is that estimate from the upholsterer the cost with or without material? Will I get that article written by Tuesday? And, oh god, did I ever answer that email about the meeting in the community garden? This is a sure sign that I have filled my days too full, the only way I get back to sleep is to promise myself I will dump some of this stuff out of my head and on to my keyboard when it’s proper morning. What else are blogs for?
April 11th, 2008
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