I think I’ve fallen in love with graphic novels. Really.
It started with Batman. Frank Miller novels such as The Dark Knight Returns.
Then there was Blankets, a beautiful Craig Thompson novel.
Chris plied me with the Ex-Machina series (which I have yet to finish) that has been keeping me hooked.
Most recently, I picked up the Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle. Easily my favourite so far.
Any of you guys got graphic novel recommendations?
I’ve had Philip Gourevitch’s book, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while now, but it is only recently that I started to read it. I have spent most of today finishing it off, and I think it has fast become one of the top two books I’d recommend to anyone wanting to read about Rwanda.
Gourevitch’s book is essentially a collection of stories from Rwanda, focused around the genocide in 1994. It’s heartbreaking reading, but insightful, and well written. This time last year I was still in Rwanda. No doubt you would have found me meandering down the beach at Gisenyi or holed up in a cafe in Kigali. Though my time there was short, I think about it often. I think about what it must have been like to live through a genocide, and maybe worse, to live through a genocide that everyone knew about but noone cared about. I wondered what it must be like to live in the aftermath of such an event, and it was often something that came up in my conversations with Rwandan friends.
Gourevitch writes of the many NGOs and governments who sought for neutrality in the situation. It provoked such a strong reaction in me… I wonder, can we really claim neutrality if our inaction is what is aiding the violence? Just thinking aloud, but it’s a thought that has been plaguing me in recent days.
Reminds me of that old quote, usually attributed to Edmund Burke, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
One of the latest little projects I’ve been working on is the Poverty Monologues…
Poverty Monologues is a piece devised, written and performed by eight 18-25 year olds who have lived and worked in remote communities in Ghana, South Africa, India and Peru as part of the Platform2 programme. Starting off as a workshop at the post-trip residential (Express) “Poverty Monologues” became synonymous with the profound impact of their experiences. Over the last 6 months this has produced a deluge of emotive monologues and songs- inspired by the stories they heard and the people they met and grew to love on their Platform2 journey. The result is real life stories boldly brought to life, viscerally conveying the joys and woes of those living in another world. Join us at Edinburgh Festival for Poverty Monologues’ worldwide premiere!
Stop by the site I’ve been working on, www.povertymonologues.com, leave a comment on the blog, and most importantly – buy a ticket & come see the show!
This week starts the moving process for me: I’ll be jumping between a few flats over the next couple of months – and am mighty grateful to the folks who are being kind enough to put me up/ let me use their flats!
Packing everything away to move has reminded me how much stuff I own. I’m still amazed at how much stuff I can accumulate in the space of a few years. I did a good clear out of old clothes and other bits and bobs, took a pile of stuff to the charity shop. It feels good, clearing out. A physical reminder of the mental and emotional clearing.
Up until Monday, when I moved out of my old flat, every time I left my room I left under the covering of two words:
Love Wins
Those two words define everything for me. When everything’s gone wrong, love wins. When all my plans have fallen through, love wins. When I don’t know what continent I’ll be on in a few months, love wins. When my deepest fears come true, love wins.
I needed that reminder every day. Every. Single. Time.
Love wins.
I’m packing to move at the minute. I have SOOO much stuff it’s unreal. Trying to be ruthless with it: give it away, chuck it out (if it’s done), or sell it. Except the books… they stay…!
Opened a new bag of coffee today. One of my flatmates, Rosie, bought me a bag of Union Hand Roast Revelation for my birthday, my favourite coffee (that I can get in the UK). The smell of fresh coffee is one of life’s greatest pleasures.
I baked bread yesterday. Not as fluffy as I’d like, but love the smells (again).
Went to the late showing last night to see The Proposal… such a funny movie. Loved hanging out with my flatmate Kirsty too… grateful for good friendships.
Sleeping at Last kept me company this week again…
say what you really want to say
and the truest of forms will show
finallly youll find your soulthey impose the endless fight
to always be perfect
it seems they have been chosen
to be above the rest
but the contradiction stands
between these perfect lives
and the words that they’ve misread
there was no readingsay all the things that you really want to say
the truest of forms will show
finally youll find your soul
say all the things that you really want to say
the truest of forms will show
and finally youll find your soulthe landscape of being
are endlessly competing, back and forth
for an answer to existance
that we can never find
in all of the places that weve searched out
in all of the pulses that weve taken
there was no readingsay all the things that you really want to say
the truest of forms will show
finally youll find your soul
say all the things that you really want to say
then youll find the truest of forms will show
and finally well find our soulsgive us the answers
and give the ability to hearthe landscape of being
are endlessly competing, back and forth
for an answer to existance
that we can understandperhaps were looking far too closely
we cant see
all the evidence in its entirety
the air in our lungs
the complexity of our lovesay all the things that you really want to say
then youll find the truest of forms will show
and finally youll find your soul
say all the things that you really want to saysay what you really want to say
and the truest of forms will show
finally youll find your soul[Say – Sleeping At Last]
I got my first roll of B&W 120 film back from the printers today… learning that I need to use a much longer shutter time for them! I love this shot of my flatmates & I, and a few of the others kinda came out as ‘cool abstract stuff’.
A few weekends back, I spent a couple of days in Bristol for my friend Hannah’s wedding. It chucked it down all day Friday & Sunday, but mercifully stayed dry for the wedding on Saturday. Needless to say, I saw a lot of the inside of Starbucks on the other days, and reread Eat Pray Love, a book that continues to impact me greatly.
It was lovely to be reunited with a few of the gappers from last year, and to have time to hang out together leading up to Hannah & Joe’s wedding. It was fun to get ready together – five girls and one guy – making sure the hair was straightened, touching up nail polish & make up, zipping up dresses.
The service was beautiful – Hannah looked stunning, and Joe looked so unbelievably happy. They both did! Beautiful day all round.
There’s a few more photos in a flickr set here.
We’re all searching for meaning.
We want someone to tell us our life matters. Myself included. I’ve been the girl on the floor in the middle of the night in tears. The silent sobs that feel like every breath is going to be the last.
There are these words that seem to define periods. Hope kept coming up in 2008. I think story is 2009’s word. Not that hopes gone anywhere, mind you.
Stephen wanted someone to tell him his life mattered, to know that someone cares.
Dish has been reflecting on how our dreams change over time, all the while shaping us into who we are becoming.
Ben’s created a whole conference around the idea of Story.
Our stories are as instinctive and as necessary as our breathe. It shapes us. It’s who we are. Story is the stuff that we are made of.
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