I find social gatherings perplexing affairs, unless I know everybody there very closely. So to me, the concept of dinner party soirees are about as appealing as a week under the care of a US Rendition operation. Yet I still find myself being absconded to them against my will.
I think it is my aversion of small talk that has me sweating with anhedonia at the mere thought of "let's get together for dinner". It is the banal witterings of the chattering classes that makes me want to swallow my own tongue and die face first into the gazpacho soup.
"Did you read Lucy Mangan's article, this week?"
"No" I replied.
"Oh you should, she writes these great insightful......"
Don't patronise me with your Sixth Form bleatings about how you've just discovered the Guardian! I know what it is, I sometimes read it, often alongside books, you know those things that the Guardian reviews?
Jesus wept, I'd had about all I could take of The Guardian says this and The Guardian says that and ooohh isn't The Guardian just about the best social commentator since ...... It made me want to start reading The Daily Mail, just to counteract this turgid assault on my sensibilities. To bring some insurgency to the proceedings and neuter the vacuous automaton just RSS feeding me the entire contents of today's Guardian.
Am I over-reacting? Am I being over sensitive to the art of conversation?
Maybe.
I like to form my own conversation though and not just cut and paste a load of op-ed pieces from a newspaper and re-iterate them parrot fashion to appear interesting, because ultimately it's not.
I don't like people telling me what is fascinating and interesting as an absolute, because contrary to popular belief, it is a subjective viewpoint and I don't necessarily care about the things you care about. We're different. I don't bother you with fascinating aspects of serial killer profiling or Andrew Keen's notions on Web 2.0 or Cziksentmihalyi's theory of flow. They are likely to be only fascinating to me and not that interesting to you. See how that works?
Then comes that moment where some bright amoeba wants to play the most imaginative conversation piece game known to single cell organisms. Yep, the old "If you could have dinner with any 5 famous people, who would it be?" They then point out the exact ludicrous nature of this parlour game by quantifying that the selected "guests" can be alive or dead. I instantly imagine this in my mind's eye as a Jeffrey Dahmer dinner party. I often want to ask, "can it be the very same people I'm with, but they're dead instead of alive?"
I assume that this game is supposed to be insightful? To somehow psychoanalyse you and your character, a little slice of self analysis that is on a par with the kind of rubbish that Daisy Goodwin spouts.
The problem is ,and this is the fundamental issue I have. Even if it were possible, it would be a torturous evening because you are still you, you would be the most boring, inane and pointless person at the table. You would stand out a mile. Your slack jawed wonderment would put off the famous guests and you'd sit there drooling over just how special it is to be there. Dribbling like someone post electro-shock therapy and pre-enema mental patient. It's barely worth considering how depressing this situation would be, the table may as well be set with razor blades instead of dessert spoons because you are not going to make it to the final course. So who would I share this moment with, this ritualistic humiliation?
Hmmm, it would have to be this fella and I just pray he's brought the Kool-aid.
So I am destined to spend my time at these events looking on like a Guppy frozen in formaldehyde, only able to affect a slight nod of recognition to what is being said, whilst inside another piece of my soul dies and I wonder where my guardians are to protect me...
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
To My Child
I had a few people question why I wrote my piece titled "Love and Marriage" given that I am not gay or particularly an "LGBT activist" - this I find bizarre, as if to say I have to be part of the group in order to stand up for what I consider a matter of civil liberties rather than an issue of sexuality. I've never been a prisoner or known a prisoner either but continue to support humane treatment of them and investigating miscarriages of justice.
But I thought about the question further and it did evoke a personal connection that I had forgotten about. My son has always loved to dance, he could dance well before he could speak, it was his first real form of expression. So naturally I wanted to encourage it and the only form of dance classes for his age at the time was tap and ballet. He went, loved it and excelled, I noted he was the only boy but didn't think too much about it until a mother started talking to me one day as we watched our children practise.
"My son would probably like this too, but my husband won't let him come"
I naively responded, "Oh why's that then?"
"You know, it might make him gay" I had to let those words bounce around a bit to see if they ever made sense IT - MIGHT - MAKE - HIM - GAY. Nope still no logical basis for the statement.
Sadly I didn't tackle this full on because I was in a bit of shock and took a while before I put the statement together with the assertion that this dancing lark would alter my child's sexuality in some way. Which was already a wrong thought process, ie it assumes my child is not gay in order for it's sexuality to be altered. See how subtle those seeds are planted. Anyway I digress. I firmly believe in the nature rather than nurture argument when it comes to LGBT issues, I don't believe activities make people gay, hence my reaction to this oxygen thief's assertion that dance classes would make my son gay.
Then I thought about how any of my children could be gay they just haven't reached an age of awareness yet. So in that role of protector parent, I want them to grow up in a world where being who they are or may be isn't a problem, that people wouldn't be there with their hateful undercurrents or passive aggressive attitudes. It is there all too prevalently you see, within two weeks some of the children had teased my son into not wanting to go to dance classes any more - the fuel had come from their parents. He still dances, but won't go to a class because of it. My kids have come home from school telling me how men can't love other men and ladies can't love other ladies, I correct this, but where is it coming from?
So this is a personal reason why I want to fight for better LGBT acceptance and rights, along with believing that all humans regardless of sexuality, gender, race, age, socio-economic background, religion etc deserve an equality of acceptance in society. Sadly we're along way from this utopia at the moment, whilst things have indeed got better in the mainstream and majority. We still have an underbelly of spite as was clearly surfaced last month when people decided to hijack the #tomyunbornchild hashtag meme that was trending on Twitter, a sweet meme where people sent tweets to their future children.
Sadly the same mentality that likes to hijack Facebook tribute pages came out in force in a hateful way as illustrated in this video where the tweets are realised by actors to show how disgusting these tweets were.
and captured here in a Storify timeline
Hopefully we can reverse this underbelly by confronting the hate and speaking back
But I thought about the question further and it did evoke a personal connection that I had forgotten about. My son has always loved to dance, he could dance well before he could speak, it was his first real form of expression. So naturally I wanted to encourage it and the only form of dance classes for his age at the time was tap and ballet. He went, loved it and excelled, I noted he was the only boy but didn't think too much about it until a mother started talking to me one day as we watched our children practise.
"My son would probably like this too, but my husband won't let him come"
I naively responded, "Oh why's that then?"
"You know, it might make him gay" I had to let those words bounce around a bit to see if they ever made sense IT - MIGHT - MAKE - HIM - GAY. Nope still no logical basis for the statement.
Sadly I didn't tackle this full on because I was in a bit of shock and took a while before I put the statement together with the assertion that this dancing lark would alter my child's sexuality in some way. Which was already a wrong thought process, ie it assumes my child is not gay in order for it's sexuality to be altered. See how subtle those seeds are planted. Anyway I digress. I firmly believe in the nature rather than nurture argument when it comes to LGBT issues, I don't believe activities make people gay, hence my reaction to this oxygen thief's assertion that dance classes would make my son gay.
Then I thought about how any of my children could be gay they just haven't reached an age of awareness yet. So in that role of protector parent, I want them to grow up in a world where being who they are or may be isn't a problem, that people wouldn't be there with their hateful undercurrents or passive aggressive attitudes. It is there all too prevalently you see, within two weeks some of the children had teased my son into not wanting to go to dance classes any more - the fuel had come from their parents. He still dances, but won't go to a class because of it. My kids have come home from school telling me how men can't love other men and ladies can't love other ladies, I correct this, but where is it coming from?
So this is a personal reason why I want to fight for better LGBT acceptance and rights, along with believing that all humans regardless of sexuality, gender, race, age, socio-economic background, religion etc deserve an equality of acceptance in society. Sadly we're along way from this utopia at the moment, whilst things have indeed got better in the mainstream and majority. We still have an underbelly of spite as was clearly surfaced last month when people decided to hijack the #tomyunbornchild hashtag meme that was trending on Twitter, a sweet meme where people sent tweets to their future children.
Sadly the same mentality that likes to hijack Facebook tribute pages came out in force in a hateful way as illustrated in this video where the tweets are realised by actors to show how disgusting these tweets were.
and captured here in a Storify timeline
Hopefully we can reverse this underbelly by confronting the hate and speaking back
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Love and Marriage
I'm sitting here listening to a debate on gay marriage and I'm confused. Not confused in that way that right wing conservatives or religious zealots think gay people are, but confused by the rationales that they put forward as the reason to prevent gay marriage.
Before I go on, it's important to point out I am a lapsed Catholic, why am I lapsed? Because I believe in a more spiritual and humanist approach to society than I believe the Catholic church does. I'm not a big fan of hypocrisy you see.
So the argument seemed to go that marriage is a religious sacrament based on male and female pro-creation and that to undo this was likely to be "damaging to the stability of society" according to Pope Benedict.
I have some problems with this argument, firstly I have been to a multitude of religious weddings, my own one included, and don't recall any of the vows or ceremony relating to the notion of pro-creation, no mention of providing or nurturing children at all. I've just sat here and watched my wedding video, nope, nada. There was a lot about commitment and love though, which I'm pretty sure is capable vows for gay people to take and be true to, just as much as heterosexual people.
Secondly, I have a problem with the far right religious groups who are so adamant to fight for the rights of a foetus, but seemingly won't once that foetus is discovered to be gay - that's right isn't it folks? I'm sensing some cognitive dissonance on this issue, or is it hypocrisy?
Lastly and most importantly I am aghast that Pope Benedict has the gall to be out campaigning about "damaging the stability of society" when he has been the chief of an organisational cover-up by the Catholic Church for decades that has destroyed lives and communities like a plague. Shame on you sir.
It cannot be spiritual or Christian to deny people who love each other the same rights we all take for granted and it is morally wrong for hypocritical zealots to campaign so vehemently against that right.
Here is a great breakdown of the rhetological fallacies of the argument.
Let your voice be heard in the consultation here - It only takes a few minutes.
Before I go on, it's important to point out I am a lapsed Catholic, why am I lapsed? Because I believe in a more spiritual and humanist approach to society than I believe the Catholic church does. I'm not a big fan of hypocrisy you see.
So the argument seemed to go that marriage is a religious sacrament based on male and female pro-creation and that to undo this was likely to be "damaging to the stability of society" according to Pope Benedict.
I have some problems with this argument, firstly I have been to a multitude of religious weddings, my own one included, and don't recall any of the vows or ceremony relating to the notion of pro-creation, no mention of providing or nurturing children at all. I've just sat here and watched my wedding video, nope, nada. There was a lot about commitment and love though, which I'm pretty sure is capable vows for gay people to take and be true to, just as much as heterosexual people.
Secondly, I have a problem with the far right religious groups who are so adamant to fight for the rights of a foetus, but seemingly won't once that foetus is discovered to be gay - that's right isn't it folks? I'm sensing some cognitive dissonance on this issue, or is it hypocrisy?
Lastly and most importantly I am aghast that Pope Benedict has the gall to be out campaigning about "damaging the stability of society" when he has been the chief of an organisational cover-up by the Catholic Church for decades that has destroyed lives and communities like a plague. Shame on you sir.
It cannot be spiritual or Christian to deny people who love each other the same rights we all take for granted and it is morally wrong for hypocritical zealots to campaign so vehemently against that right.
Here is a great breakdown of the rhetological fallacies of the argument.
Let your voice be heard in the consultation here - It only takes a few minutes.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Death of a Community
1992. The digits often spin in my mind because it was an important year in my life, a coming of age year so to speak. I had failed my GCSE’s in the summer, well I had excelled in the one’s I was interested in and failed the one’s I wasn’t – unfortunately I needed more passes though, so it was retakes in the autumn of 1992 and lots of spare time until A-levels in late 1993. As I’ve stated before I had all the makings of a wayward lost teenager in the remnants of Thatcher’s Britain, the wastelands of recession and depression were all around me. There was no evidence that doing the right thing, studying hard and conforming paid off for all the parents of friends who were being made redundant and losing their homes and sometimes families. Hope was a small flickering flame in a cold winter of adolescence.
Like a well worn cliché, I found myself immersing myself in music as an escape. Norwich was the focus for John Peel’s Sound City 92 project which brought an eclectic mix of bands to my hometown and brought prominence to the alternative club The Waterfront, opening up a pipeline of new music just right for teenagers like me; full of apathy, depression, existentialism and navel gazing. Forget Generation X, this was the birth of Generation Prozac. I used to joke about patenting a razor blade dispensing machine in Norwich and how it would make me a million. I was going to call it Vane.
Amidst this feeling of burnout in the culture at large and kids being depressed about the future, Grunge music was suddenly commercially successful and became the soundtrack of my surroundings, it had all of its’ obvious roots and connections to the punk movement of the late 70’s amidst a similar landscape, all youth culture thinks it’s original, but is merely a sequel. Inevitably I and some other friends with too much time on our hands and a need e for expression started a band, groomed on influences of Sonic Youth and other Sub Pop fodder.
I couldn’t play an instrument so was installed as the singer (I couldn’t sing either, but you didn’t need to – it was all about venting a noise and raw energy, which at the time I had in abundance).
This isn’t an autobiographical post about being a teenager in a band though. It’s merely background and/ or context for the story I want to tell. You see; in that autumn of getting together as a band in the drummer’s garage and trying to make music, events happened around us that had an effect on me that I have never forgotten. During the week we would write songs and at weekends we would get drunk at The Waterfront and stumble home because we couldn’t afford taxis. The venue was in the heart of an old warehouse district in Norwich that had become the red light district for prostitution.
On Wednesday 19th November 1992 sometime after 1:15am, Natalie Pearman, a 16 year old prostitute was picked up in this area by someone (1:15 was the last confirmed sighting of her). A lorry driver discovered her murdered body in a lay-by on the outskirts of Norwich just under 3hrs later, she had been suffocated. Initially the shock was that this had happened in our playground, our community where we stumbled around drunk. The other was that she was the same age as us. It was made worse that we loosely knew her, she had gone to school with our bass player and I had vague memories of seeing her hanging out as a 14 year old in the park, the social scene of early adolescence that anyone who has grown up in a small place knows only too well.
Natalie Pearman:
As scant facts emerged, it haunted me. Between 14 and 16 so much had gone wrong for Natalie and now this senseless end. It all swirled around in my head, gradually forming into words that became lyrics that became an angry song about this senseless killing and this loss of innocence. Nearly 20 years later the case is still unsolved, potential leads to serial killers Peter Tobin and Steve Wright have been explored and no conclusions yet. It remains a cold case.
1992 didn’t end there though. 2 months later another girl was murdered in the small market town of Watton just outside Norwich, this time it was 14 year old Johanna Young. It was the 23rd December, her skull had been fractured and her body dumped in a water filled pit in Wayland Woods (the origin of the famed Babes in the Woods fable). Another shockwave was sent through another community.
I was initially fascinated by the difference in the way Natalie and Johanna’s cases were covered by the press, Johanna’s murder was splashed across national newspapers and Natalie’s was a footnote, editorially Johanna was the death of innocence, Natalie the inevitable death from prostitution. Some thought the two murders may be connected, a serial killer in our midst. There was little in terms of modus operandi to connect the two though. Natalie’s seemed opportunistic, whereas Johanna’s seemed more accidental or local. Something had gone wrong and the killer was probably known to Johanna.
Johanna Young:
A few months later in early 1993 I had just passed my driving test and my father bought me a car with some conditions, I had to do door to door canvassing for leads for his double glazing company. The main place I had to canvass was Watton which was within his catchment area. I spent all spring in the area knocking on doors and frequenting the local shops. The tension in the community was palpable, a dark secret that everybody knew or thought they knew, the killer in their midst.
I heard many murmurings over that period which all lead to the same place over and over again, Johanna was likely murdered by one of her teenage friends. Just like Natalie at 14, Johanna’s community was in the car park of the local supermarket and the dark playgrounds of Watton where kids would hang out. Smoke, drink, do drugs and have casual sex, what else was there for teens who couldn’t drive to Norwich. Johanna’s murder, like Natalie’s remains unsolved to this day, nearly 20 years later. Watton has never recovered, a dark cloud hangs over it and there are still the rumours and the echo of what happened there.
As I had walked around knocking on doors, it had always reminded me of Twin Peaks, the famous surreal murder mystery from the same period. Everyone had a secret. That feeling has never left me and as I walk through my own small village in Norfolk and see teens in the car park or playground late at night, it all feels very cyclical and we turn an eye from youth culture in the sticks and the market towns.
My friend J A Mortram has been documenting aspects of this for a number of years in his Market Town photography series, the death of community, the loss of innocence and the despair that exists behind the chocolate box fiction of a rural setting. I am fascinated by his exposure of the hidden decay and the boredom that nobody admits in such a poetic and beautiful way.
Market Town Set:
J A and I worked together 20 years ago during the period I have just described, telephone canvassing in the evening for extra money whilst he was at Art School and I was re-taking my GCSE’s. We’ve recently made contact with each other; he grew up in and around Watton during this period too. As all of these things came together recently and at the realisation those 20 years has elapsed, we’re going to work together this year to re-visit and document Johanna’s case and the effect on the community, the death in and of a community. As yet we have not laid out the full lines of enquiry or format for constructing the narrative, but we are both fairly experimental and therefore expect a fairly mixed media approach.
Apologies for the rambling post, it is background and context for how I became aware and affected by this case, it’s important to recognise the loose connections to other factors and explore the underlying themes. It’s a wider story than a murder story and it still has as much resonance today as it did 20 years ago because essentially we are back in that dark place, the themes are around us again being regurgitated as much as a re-imagined film from Hollywood.
I’ll keep you posted on developments......
Like a well worn cliché, I found myself immersing myself in music as an escape. Norwich was the focus for John Peel’s Sound City 92 project which brought an eclectic mix of bands to my hometown and brought prominence to the alternative club The Waterfront, opening up a pipeline of new music just right for teenagers like me; full of apathy, depression, existentialism and navel gazing. Forget Generation X, this was the birth of Generation Prozac. I used to joke about patenting a razor blade dispensing machine in Norwich and how it would make me a million. I was going to call it Vane.
Amidst this feeling of burnout in the culture at large and kids being depressed about the future, Grunge music was suddenly commercially successful and became the soundtrack of my surroundings, it had all of its’ obvious roots and connections to the punk movement of the late 70’s amidst a similar landscape, all youth culture thinks it’s original, but is merely a sequel. Inevitably I and some other friends with too much time on our hands and a need e for expression started a band, groomed on influences of Sonic Youth and other Sub Pop fodder.
I couldn’t play an instrument so was installed as the singer (I couldn’t sing either, but you didn’t need to – it was all about venting a noise and raw energy, which at the time I had in abundance).
This isn’t an autobiographical post about being a teenager in a band though. It’s merely background and/ or context for the story I want to tell. You see; in that autumn of getting together as a band in the drummer’s garage and trying to make music, events happened around us that had an effect on me that I have never forgotten. During the week we would write songs and at weekends we would get drunk at The Waterfront and stumble home because we couldn’t afford taxis. The venue was in the heart of an old warehouse district in Norwich that had become the red light district for prostitution.
On Wednesday 19th November 1992 sometime after 1:15am, Natalie Pearman, a 16 year old prostitute was picked up in this area by someone (1:15 was the last confirmed sighting of her). A lorry driver discovered her murdered body in a lay-by on the outskirts of Norwich just under 3hrs later, she had been suffocated. Initially the shock was that this had happened in our playground, our community where we stumbled around drunk. The other was that she was the same age as us. It was made worse that we loosely knew her, she had gone to school with our bass player and I had vague memories of seeing her hanging out as a 14 year old in the park, the social scene of early adolescence that anyone who has grown up in a small place knows only too well.
Natalie Pearman:
As scant facts emerged, it haunted me. Between 14 and 16 so much had gone wrong for Natalie and now this senseless end. It all swirled around in my head, gradually forming into words that became lyrics that became an angry song about this senseless killing and this loss of innocence. Nearly 20 years later the case is still unsolved, potential leads to serial killers Peter Tobin and Steve Wright have been explored and no conclusions yet. It remains a cold case.
1992 didn’t end there though. 2 months later another girl was murdered in the small market town of Watton just outside Norwich, this time it was 14 year old Johanna Young. It was the 23rd December, her skull had been fractured and her body dumped in a water filled pit in Wayland Woods (the origin of the famed Babes in the Woods fable). Another shockwave was sent through another community.
I was initially fascinated by the difference in the way Natalie and Johanna’s cases were covered by the press, Johanna’s murder was splashed across national newspapers and Natalie’s was a footnote, editorially Johanna was the death of innocence, Natalie the inevitable death from prostitution. Some thought the two murders may be connected, a serial killer in our midst. There was little in terms of modus operandi to connect the two though. Natalie’s seemed opportunistic, whereas Johanna’s seemed more accidental or local. Something had gone wrong and the killer was probably known to Johanna.
Johanna Young:
A few months later in early 1993 I had just passed my driving test and my father bought me a car with some conditions, I had to do door to door canvassing for leads for his double glazing company. The main place I had to canvass was Watton which was within his catchment area. I spent all spring in the area knocking on doors and frequenting the local shops. The tension in the community was palpable, a dark secret that everybody knew or thought they knew, the killer in their midst.
I heard many murmurings over that period which all lead to the same place over and over again, Johanna was likely murdered by one of her teenage friends. Just like Natalie at 14, Johanna’s community was in the car park of the local supermarket and the dark playgrounds of Watton where kids would hang out. Smoke, drink, do drugs and have casual sex, what else was there for teens who couldn’t drive to Norwich. Johanna’s murder, like Natalie’s remains unsolved to this day, nearly 20 years later. Watton has never recovered, a dark cloud hangs over it and there are still the rumours and the echo of what happened there.
As I had walked around knocking on doors, it had always reminded me of Twin Peaks, the famous surreal murder mystery from the same period. Everyone had a secret. That feeling has never left me and as I walk through my own small village in Norfolk and see teens in the car park or playground late at night, it all feels very cyclical and we turn an eye from youth culture in the sticks and the market towns.
My friend J A Mortram has been documenting aspects of this for a number of years in his Market Town photography series, the death of community, the loss of innocence and the despair that exists behind the chocolate box fiction of a rural setting. I am fascinated by his exposure of the hidden decay and the boredom that nobody admits in such a poetic and beautiful way.
Market Town Set:
J A and I worked together 20 years ago during the period I have just described, telephone canvassing in the evening for extra money whilst he was at Art School and I was re-taking my GCSE’s. We’ve recently made contact with each other; he grew up in and around Watton during this period too. As all of these things came together recently and at the realisation those 20 years has elapsed, we’re going to work together this year to re-visit and document Johanna’s case and the effect on the community, the death in and of a community. As yet we have not laid out the full lines of enquiry or format for constructing the narrative, but we are both fairly experimental and therefore expect a fairly mixed media approach.
Apologies for the rambling post, it is background and context for how I became aware and affected by this case, it’s important to recognise the loose connections to other factors and explore the underlying themes. It’s a wider story than a murder story and it still has as much resonance today as it did 20 years ago because essentially we are back in that dark place, the themes are around us again being regurgitated as much as a re-imagined film from Hollywood.
I’ll keep you posted on developments......
Friday, December 9, 2011
Musings on Creativity
I thought that I would write a blog post this week for #FF rather than the usual obligatory visual media.
The main theme of the creative #FF idea was to try out different creative ways to send out a #FF message. Therefore each week I find myself trying to think of different ways to do a #FF message, I seldom have a problem inventing wild and outlandish ways to do this, but am soon brought down to earth with a resounding thump as I acknowledge the limited time I actually have to do anything.
This is one of the problems with creativity, it has to be imagination put into action and we seldom allow ourselves the time to a) have the space for imagination or b) have the time to actually do anything about it. So we fall into a formulaic "what already works" mindset, I fell into this trap with the success of the Star Wars video, it's a simple tool called Jib Jab to make them and thus very easy for me to do it - people liked it, therefore more of the same. Television falls into this trap all the time hence the constant TV format derivatives you see on the screen all the time. Hollywood is in this trap at the moment with re-makes, simply re-package what has gone before.
We make the same mistake in education too, we keep re-packaging and re-formatting a model from an era that has transpired and we need an overhaul. The danger is due to a severe lack of nurturing creativity in education for some time now we've disconnected with how to do it and confused the concept with artistry too much ie To be creative, one must be an artist.
I think I was probably born with an overactive imagination, because as long as I can remember I have been a consistent daydreamer looking for outlets to turn these thoughts and ideas into something, one of my earliest memories of school is taking an old wind-up 8mm film camera to school and in playtime getting my peers (I was about 6) to act an entire film under my direction with the camera (which had no film in it I hasten to add) over an entire week (an eternity as a child), it was an epic and I'm not sure how I managed expectations as these child actors then awaited the world premiere which could only ever be screened in my head. Throughout school I never harnessed a way to turn this imagination into creativity, ie applied to output. As I recall it was often frowned upon. My staging of a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as a gothic fairytale that Tim Burton would have been proud of (yes with a full fairy battle led by Puck, played by large female goth) did not meet with favour from my purist English teacher (I was 15 then) or my Hamlet as Wall Street boardroom (when I was 16).
In fact as I went through education, I tried all manner of ways to output this imagination - photography, science, drama, drawing, writing and the further I went through education, the following equation came true:
It wasn't until I went to University I finally learnt (and it was encouraged) the frameworks of how to turn imagination into creativity and had to undo all the trappings of prior education to absorb this.
With this in mind, I reflect on the idea that I often hear from lawyers about "how they are not creative" and think back to the UCL debate recently on the future of legal education. I found the debate interesting in the fact their was much debate over "what" should be taught or educated, rather than "how". The moment I found most interesting was when Prof. Philippe Sands stated he "regretted studying law" because it narrowed the mind and in itself legal education could not encourage divergent thought. This I believe probably says more about his education rather (and indeed maybe the problem with current legal education) than the possibilities for creativity in legal education.
As W.B Yeats said "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the igniting of a fire", we should be looking at creative ways to ignite that fire, rather than filling the pail with information and knowledge for our future lawyers and society at large for public legal education.
Whilst not a lawyer myself, I believe law is a creative arena, in fact it is one of the key frameworks in society that can enable it, turning imagination into something that can grow, evolve, expand etc. Lawyers have to be creative in how they run their industry, how they engage with clients and how they resolve disputes amongst many other areas.
The image of law and all of it's permutations often has a perception problem for the uninitiated as rather old fashioned and reserved, it's a perception that many in the industry perpetuate by self harming statements about their lack of creativity or conservatism. It also translates in the way we educate and teach the law often, as if it is a dry subject or historical rather than a living breathing amazing power. I think we need to start thinking more creatively about how we educate and need to start thinking about enabling more creativity and divergent thought in our students about how to evolve the legal industry in an ever complex world.
Sometimes I meet people who say "Jon, you come from the entertainment business, education should not be entertaining - it should be hard"
I simply point them to Marshall McLuhan's words painted across my office wall:
"Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either"
So please take some time out to listen to Sir Ken Robinson's passionate speech about the importance of creativity in education and think about how we as an industry and as educators can embed creativity into our futures.
As for future #FF creative posts, I'm going to take away the pressure of trying to find a method each week, but do it when the right mood and idea takes me so as to avoid a formulaic approach.
Until then the show goes on.....
The main theme of the creative #FF idea was to try out different creative ways to send out a #FF message. Therefore each week I find myself trying to think of different ways to do a #FF message, I seldom have a problem inventing wild and outlandish ways to do this, but am soon brought down to earth with a resounding thump as I acknowledge the limited time I actually have to do anything.
This is one of the problems with creativity, it has to be imagination put into action and we seldom allow ourselves the time to a) have the space for imagination or b) have the time to actually do anything about it. So we fall into a formulaic "what already works" mindset, I fell into this trap with the success of the Star Wars video, it's a simple tool called Jib Jab to make them and thus very easy for me to do it - people liked it, therefore more of the same. Television falls into this trap all the time hence the constant TV format derivatives you see on the screen all the time. Hollywood is in this trap at the moment with re-makes, simply re-package what has gone before.
We make the same mistake in education too, we keep re-packaging and re-formatting a model from an era that has transpired and we need an overhaul. The danger is due to a severe lack of nurturing creativity in education for some time now we've disconnected with how to do it and confused the concept with artistry too much ie To be creative, one must be an artist.
I think I was probably born with an overactive imagination, because as long as I can remember I have been a consistent daydreamer looking for outlets to turn these thoughts and ideas into something, one of my earliest memories of school is taking an old wind-up 8mm film camera to school and in playtime getting my peers (I was about 6) to act an entire film under my direction with the camera (which had no film in it I hasten to add) over an entire week (an eternity as a child), it was an epic and I'm not sure how I managed expectations as these child actors then awaited the world premiere which could only ever be screened in my head. Throughout school I never harnessed a way to turn this imagination into creativity, ie applied to output. As I recall it was often frowned upon. My staging of a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as a gothic fairytale that Tim Burton would have been proud of (yes with a full fairy battle led by Puck, played by large female goth) did not meet with favour from my purist English teacher (I was 15 then) or my Hamlet as Wall Street boardroom (when I was 16).
In fact as I went through education, I tried all manner of ways to output this imagination - photography, science, drama, drawing, writing and the further I went through education, the following equation came true:
It wasn't until I went to University I finally learnt (and it was encouraged) the frameworks of how to turn imagination into creativity and had to undo all the trappings of prior education to absorb this.
With this in mind, I reflect on the idea that I often hear from lawyers about "how they are not creative" and think back to the UCL debate recently on the future of legal education. I found the debate interesting in the fact their was much debate over "what" should be taught or educated, rather than "how". The moment I found most interesting was when Prof. Philippe Sands stated he "regretted studying law" because it narrowed the mind and in itself legal education could not encourage divergent thought. This I believe probably says more about his education rather (and indeed maybe the problem with current legal education) than the possibilities for creativity in legal education.
As W.B Yeats said "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the igniting of a fire", we should be looking at creative ways to ignite that fire, rather than filling the pail with information and knowledge for our future lawyers and society at large for public legal education.
Whilst not a lawyer myself, I believe law is a creative arena, in fact it is one of the key frameworks in society that can enable it, turning imagination into something that can grow, evolve, expand etc. Lawyers have to be creative in how they run their industry, how they engage with clients and how they resolve disputes amongst many other areas.
The image of law and all of it's permutations often has a perception problem for the uninitiated as rather old fashioned and reserved, it's a perception that many in the industry perpetuate by self harming statements about their lack of creativity or conservatism. It also translates in the way we educate and teach the law often, as if it is a dry subject or historical rather than a living breathing amazing power. I think we need to start thinking more creatively about how we educate and need to start thinking about enabling more creativity and divergent thought in our students about how to evolve the legal industry in an ever complex world.
Sometimes I meet people who say "Jon, you come from the entertainment business, education should not be entertaining - it should be hard"
I simply point them to Marshall McLuhan's words painted across my office wall:
"Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either"
So please take some time out to listen to Sir Ken Robinson's passionate speech about the importance of creativity in education and think about how we as an industry and as educators can embed creativity into our futures.
As for future #FF creative posts, I'm going to take away the pressure of trying to find a method each week, but do it when the right mood and idea takes me so as to avoid a formulaic approach.
Until then the show goes on.....
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The Twitter #FF Experiment
I was starting to find Twitter a bit stale and a certain level of back biting and status anxiety about followers/ Klout etc was creeping into my stream at a steady pace. I wanted to bring some fun back to Twitter and #FF seemed a great place to start. I've always liked the idea of #FF in theory, in practice it's a bit of a burden and too backslapping. It felt insincere and I was always likely to miss someone. So I thought I would throw caution to wind and set out to try and do something a bit different each week and create a little uplift and smile at the end of the week. It's also a test in engagement, the stats were quite interesting in terms of retweets and views of videos.
It all started on a beach in Norway, with a few simple sketches in the sand:
#FF 1 "Life's A Beach"
it raised a smile and some nice comments, so it seemed logical to continue. This time it was a little more animated:
#FF 2 "Post It"
With each week a sense of community and positive feedback ensued so it felt ripe to go epic, and therefore go with an epic trilogy:
#FF 3 "May the #FF Be With You"
This really took off and spread quickly with some lovely comments in response, the experiment was working - turning #FF into more than just an online backslapping competition. Though the pressure was then on for the following week, so I kept with the film theme:
#FF 4 "Mash Up Galore"
Some well known films re-imagined with legal tweeters
The Latex
Jowls
Night of the Dead
Unnecessary Force
So after this mammoth week, I wanted to go to something a bit more basic, so went back to photos:
#FF 5 "Cereal Thought"
I then tried an approach with a Livescribe pen that had lots of problems with and probably the weakest, but I like the lo-fi element of it...
FF 6 "Pencast"
This was an experiment with a magic Livescribe pen.
With the purchase of a new vid camera, I thought I would return to video again for the next episode, would also allow me room for getting in a few more names...
#FF 7 "Drive FF"
The latest episode was easily inspired by Halloween...
#FF 8 "Halloween Mixes"
Halloween Rap:
and two other Halloween themes:
Math Camp Massacre
Monster Mash
#FF 9 "Where is My Mind"
Some snapshots of things I had been doing:
Where is My Mind? from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF10 "Ramblings of an Insomniac"
Clips from a low budget series I had made
Ramblings of an Insomniac #FF from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF11 "Xmas in Hollis"
A little xmas cheer
#FollowXmas from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF12 "Xmas Tidings"
Some JibJab Creations for the festive period.
A Christmas Carol
It's a Jib Jab Life
Hard Rockin' Holidays
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
Comin' To Town
Winter Wonderland
Tree Slaughter
#FF13 "Cheers"
Wanted to highlight that Twitter is a place of friendship as much as trolls.
Cheers #FF from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF14 "Cuba"
Because I went to Cuba.
FF Cuba from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF15 "Legal Walk"
Highlights of the London Legal Walk 2012.
#FF Legal Walk from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF16 "Twitter Karaoke"
Wanted to see if I could get a bunch of tweeters to tweet song lyrics they didn't know and trust me.
Twitter Karaoke from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF17 "Olympics"
My own little way to celebrate the London Olympics 2012.
#FF Olympics from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF18 "Closing Ceremony"
I didn't want the upsurge of the Olympics spirit to ignore that we are actually failing future generations.
FF Closing Ceremony from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF19 "Clegg and Cameron"
This was to really highlight that Nick Clegg is a convenient fall guy for Cameron. Someone he uses.
Clegg and Cameron from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF20 "Norway"
One year of #FF videos etc, culminated in returning back to where it all began - a beach in Norway.
FF Norway from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF21 "Subliminal Film"
Some film clips with subliminal messages
FF CharonQC from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF BHamiltonBruce from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF _Millymoo from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF LegalTwo from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF PaulBernalUK from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF Sobukira from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF RichardMoorhead from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF AnyaPalmer from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF SteveKuncewicz from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF @lifeincustody from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF PrincessofVP from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF MissMollyPops from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF @JoannaMG22 from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF22 "Halloween 2"
The Time Warp
Skeleton Dance
#FF23 "Tweet Ups"
FF New Year - An Ode to Tweetups from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
and that's it so far, I enjoy finding new ways to do it and will be scratching head for future one's. There is no set time frame for the duration of the experiment, I shall keep doing it whilst it feels like it is achieving what it sets out, to bring a smile and to liven up a Twitter tradition.
It all started on a beach in Norway, with a few simple sketches in the sand:
#FF 1 "Life's A Beach"
it raised a smile and some nice comments, so it seemed logical to continue. This time it was a little more animated:
#FF 2 "Post It"
With each week a sense of community and positive feedback ensued so it felt ripe to go epic, and therefore go with an epic trilogy:
#FF 3 "May the #FF Be With You"
This really took off and spread quickly with some lovely comments in response, the experiment was working - turning #FF into more than just an online backslapping competition. Though the pressure was then on for the following week, so I kept with the film theme:
#FF 4 "Mash Up Galore"
Some well known films re-imagined with legal tweeters
The Latex
Jowls
Night of the Dead
Unnecessary Force
So after this mammoth week, I wanted to go to something a bit more basic, so went back to photos:
#FF 5 "Cereal Thought"
I then tried an approach with a Livescribe pen that had lots of problems with and probably the weakest, but I like the lo-fi element of it...
FF 6 "Pencast"
This was an experiment with a magic Livescribe pen.
With the purchase of a new vid camera, I thought I would return to video again for the next episode, would also allow me room for getting in a few more names...
#FF 7 "Drive FF"
The latest episode was easily inspired by Halloween...
#FF 8 "Halloween Mixes"
Halloween Rap:
and two other Halloween themes:
Math Camp Massacre
Monster Mash
#FF 9 "Where is My Mind"
Some snapshots of things I had been doing:
Where is My Mind? from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF10 "Ramblings of an Insomniac"
Clips from a low budget series I had made
Ramblings of an Insomniac #FF from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF11 "Xmas in Hollis"
A little xmas cheer
#FollowXmas from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF12 "Xmas Tidings"
Some JibJab Creations for the festive period.
A Christmas Carol
It's a Jib Jab Life
Hard Rockin' Holidays
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
Comin' To Town
Winter Wonderland
Tree Slaughter
#FF13 "Cheers"
Wanted to highlight that Twitter is a place of friendship as much as trolls.
Cheers #FF from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF14 "Cuba"
Because I went to Cuba.
FF Cuba from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF15 "Legal Walk"
Highlights of the London Legal Walk 2012.
#FF Legal Walk from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF16 "Twitter Karaoke"
Wanted to see if I could get a bunch of tweeters to tweet song lyrics they didn't know and trust me.
Twitter Karaoke from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF17 "Olympics"
My own little way to celebrate the London Olympics 2012.
#FF Olympics from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF18 "Closing Ceremony"
I didn't want the upsurge of the Olympics spirit to ignore that we are actually failing future generations.
FF Closing Ceremony from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF19 "Clegg and Cameron"
This was to really highlight that Nick Clegg is a convenient fall guy for Cameron. Someone he uses.
Clegg and Cameron from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF20 "Norway"
One year of #FF videos etc, culminated in returning back to where it all began - a beach in Norway.
FF Norway from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF21 "Subliminal Film"
Some film clips with subliminal messages
FF CharonQC from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF BHamiltonBruce from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF _Millymoo from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF LegalTwo from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF PaulBernalUK from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF Sobukira from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF RichardMoorhead from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF AnyaPalmer from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF SteveKuncewicz from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF @lifeincustody from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF PrincessofVP from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF MissMollyPops from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
FF @JoannaMG22 from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
#FF22 "Halloween 2"
The Time Warp
Skeleton Dance
#FF23 "Tweet Ups"
FF New Year - An Ode to Tweetups from Jon Harman on Vimeo.
and that's it so far, I enjoy finding new ways to do it and will be scratching head for future one's. There is no set time frame for the duration of the experiment, I shall keep doing it whilst it feels like it is achieving what it sets out, to bring a smile and to liven up a Twitter tradition.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Them
I'm going to regret writing this. A quick scan of both Twitter and Facebook tells me that my finger is so not on the pulse of public opinion, but I'm a sucker like that. So here goes.
My heart is genuinely bleeding at the vitriol being spread across the networks I view, "they" "them" "scum" "rats" "chavs". How quickly we disassociate through language; our collective responsibility for our society, these misguided youths and people are our people, our youth, they are our creation and our problem. Name calling and Daily Mail headline statements does not help or assist the situation, neither does calling for the return of corporal punishment, national service or hanging. These are knee jerk platitudes, pointless pontificating and as mindless as the rioting.
I don't condone violence of any ilk, the scenes rolling out across London are horrific and senseless, but let's as a generally educated society try to reflect and understand the causes rather than pick over the symptoms. I've walked in the shoes of the disaffected and dispossessed, I see how easy it is to throw everything to the wind because there is no hope, no future, no community. I've also walked in the shoes of the priviledged and had my property vandalised, my person intimidated, my loved ones terrorised. How easy it would have been to dismiss with inflected language, to take a moral high ground. My heart won't let me though.
I know I will be dismissed as a "hug a hoodie" bleeding heart liberal, as stated before, labels mean little to me. I have to believe that we will rise above the brinkmanship of disdain and hatred for one another, that we can find common ground, that we can reclaim community.
Read the insightful words of Camila Batmanghelidjh
Listen to people like Darcus Howe and a brilliantly outspoken local Dalston resident Pauline Pearce
Look at the pattern of riots across London alongside levels of deprivation
I prepare to be shot down, I'll even get my coat and stand out in the cold of public opinion, it's a price worth paying for continued hope in a future for compassion and humanity.
My heart is genuinely bleeding at the vitriol being spread across the networks I view, "they" "them" "scum" "rats" "chavs". How quickly we disassociate through language; our collective responsibility for our society, these misguided youths and people are our people, our youth, they are our creation and our problem. Name calling and Daily Mail headline statements does not help or assist the situation, neither does calling for the return of corporal punishment, national service or hanging. These are knee jerk platitudes, pointless pontificating and as mindless as the rioting.
I don't condone violence of any ilk, the scenes rolling out across London are horrific and senseless, but let's as a generally educated society try to reflect and understand the causes rather than pick over the symptoms. I've walked in the shoes of the disaffected and dispossessed, I see how easy it is to throw everything to the wind because there is no hope, no future, no community. I've also walked in the shoes of the priviledged and had my property vandalised, my person intimidated, my loved ones terrorised. How easy it would have been to dismiss with inflected language, to take a moral high ground. My heart won't let me though.
I know I will be dismissed as a "hug a hoodie" bleeding heart liberal, as stated before, labels mean little to me. I have to believe that we will rise above the brinkmanship of disdain and hatred for one another, that we can find common ground, that we can reclaim community.
Read the insightful words of Camila Batmanghelidjh
Listen to people like Darcus Howe and a brilliantly outspoken local Dalston resident Pauline Pearce
Look at the pattern of riots across London alongside levels of deprivation
I prepare to be shot down, I'll even get my coat and stand out in the cold of public opinion, it's a price worth paying for continued hope in a future for compassion and humanity.
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