August 21, 2012 – 4:17 pm
Ha. Well. Not quite sure what to say really. On the one hand, I’ve been so busy actually living up to my resolutions that I’ve failed in others. Such as ‘write blog post weekly’. Ho hum. So now with a spare 40 minutes while I hold for the child tax credits helpline, I thought it about time I explain myself.
It’s been a busy year. Quarter one:
January – I got a studio. Yay!
February – The entire household – except for me – was ill for over a month and I couldn’t use the studio as I had to look after them all. Then I found out I was pregnant. Then everyone got ill again. This included a minor illness of Kit’s which Dicky became convinced was really serious due to the large purple mark on his torso. Endured an overly paranoid, first time parent visit to Homerton children’s A&E on a Friday night, the eve of my 34th birthday. Bumped into an old art school friend, Nick, who’d sensibly become a paramedic. Kit projectile vomited all over him and me. Had to sit there stinking for another three hours. Nobody could figure out the cause of the mark, until a wise doctor went away and returned with a baby wipe. The mark immediately went and we realised it was a blueberry stain from teatime. How embarrassing, and what a waste of NHS time.
I soon realised it was going to be impossible to keep on a studio and gave it up to work again amongst the domestic detritus in snatched half-hour segments.
March – Got made redundant after four years. Turned out to be a blessing, as is often the case in the London creative industries bubble.
Met Jude Kelly who asked me to do a WOW Bite at the upcoming Women of the World Festival at Royal Festival Hall, about women’s work songs which I’d just started researching. Had to become an expert and get over my extreme fear of public speaking in three weeks. It turned out really well and I met lots of fascinating women from Ethiopia, Tibet and India, who all had interesting facts about work songs from their countries. Here’s a link to the presentation. The film quality is not great, but the singing by Alison Frosdick, who accompanied me is beautiful.
WOW Bite – Women’s Work Songs
January 10, 2012 – 10:39 pm
New Year, the most wretched time of year, only made bearable by two things: New Year’s Eve is over; it’s nearly my birthday. I decided I actually needed to make some resolutions this year. I used to make a resolution every year when I was an idiot (teenager). It was always the same: get a tan and grow hair really long. I’ve moved on slightly, and this year have three main categories of resolution to break.
1) Get paid. The economy is flatlining, everyone is applying for jobs, and I need one of them. Time to force myself into action, and actually do something with all these ideas… i.e go freelance.
2) Have fun. Breastfeeding is long gone, but it still feels exhilirating to get drunk. And it’s reported that Lucky Voice has cheap deals in January, so I’m planning on making the most of it. Elaine and Barbara’s I Know Him So Well, Heart’s Alone, Faith No More’s Midlife Crisis and John Farnham’s You’re the Voice are current favourites. I’m also partial to Joe Le Taxi. And The Gambler.
3) Become a better feminist. I was eight when the girls in my class were given a shit silver purse for Christmas, when the boys all got an amazing model car kit. This outraged me so much, I was unable to deign to be grateful for the state-funded generosity, and it fuelled a lifelong love of model kits (see this and this for more recent evidence) and interest in gender politics (despite the stupid teenage hair and tan resolutions). Motherhood has further stoked my gender equality fire. So my aim is to read and re-read the key feminist texts that have inspired me, or that I have thus far failed to finish reading. It’s only the beginning of the year, and so far, I’ve read two very different texts, both recent. Nina Power’s One Dimensional Woman and Caitlin Moran’s How To Be a Woman. An additional aim, is to actually remember something from each book. A memory for facts and useful data is not a strong point. I’m hoping developing an attention span/proper use of brain might help ward off the onset of dementia for another few years too.
