Father Christmas, what kind of world do we live in when the only thing that made children remotely equal is in fact a lie? How great is the gulf between those who have and those who have not, that we have to be deluded into believing a fairytale?
Read MoreHowever, I’ve also picked up a few new hobbies along the way. I’ve been an occasional baker for a while now, but now I’ve all but perfected my own bread recipe (hint: herby loaves are better than anything else, and make excellent garlic bread!)
Read MoreHow does one make friends as an adult? Where do I find them? Is there an application form? An “I’m looking for friends” badge I can wear? More importantly, who do I want to make friends with? What type of people do I like? Jeez, what kind of people might like me? It was proving to be a bit of a friend-finding minefield.
Read MoreIn 2011, the world was changed forever when E.L James aka Twilight superfan Snowqueen's Icedragon introduced us to Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. However, what Fifty Shades missed out was healthy consent. In fact, the Venn diagram of healthy BDSM relationships and what 50 Shades of Grey and 365 DNI gave us is two circles on opposite sides of the room.
Read MoreAs a freelancer, every client, or potential client, is precious. Your income often fluctuates considerably and a bumper month of big projects can easily be followed by a month of drought (cue tumbleweed). So why do we, as freelancers, feel so guilty charging the prices we have spent so long getting just right?
Read MoreThe problem… is that the minimal and performative style in which the brands often choose to get involved or show support to a movement is low-effort and, in many cases, low risk. It’s where we get terms like ‘greenwashing’ and ‘rainbow washing’ from.
Read MoreThroughout History Black art, cultural and intellectual property have been coopted, whitewashed and mass produced for white consumption. From Picasso to a racist Elvis Presley for decades our culture has been sold back to us by white artists. It is reproduced in a style and language more consumable for white eyes and ears whilst we are told our women are undesirable, our men aggressive and our vernacular uncivilised.
Read MoreIn a recent discussion about gender identity, gender roles, and the general move towards a more accepting society I mentioned the concept of “Two-spirit” in Native Northern American culture. Once I got thinking I started reading, and in my exploration of texts about gender and culture, I have come across a wonderful world of diversity and history.
Read MoreThis time of year is polarising - if you’re not buzzing about Christmas like everyone else, then it must mean you're a scrooge. You’re not. Many people have their own reasons why the atypical festive routine is not something they take part in. They find ways to do it their own way, during a time when everyone else is singing the same festive tune.
Read MoreI have frequently battled with my relationship with social media and the overuse of my smart device. Not just because of my proneness to dropping it on the floor full speed and full screen, but the countless times I have deactivated, deleted, detoxed, reactivated and replaced my social media accounts.
Read MoreI never really imagined being self-employed, I definitely didn’t imagine owning and running multiple businesses: working primarily as a freelance writer and then having a side hustle.
Read MoreMost animal friendships rely upon survival and I’m sure many humans also regard their friends to be their saving grace. However, does this primal instinct of making friends become something we struggle with the older we get?
Read MoreWhat we don’t see behind the magician’s curtain is the huge, poorly built factories, where garment workers for Primark are forced to work eighty hour weeks for way below minimum wage. This may not be news to you and you may walk out of the high street shop with a big bag of “bargains” and have a slight edge of guilt, but has this changed our perception of the value and cost of a piece of clothing?
Read MoreWilkommen, bienvenue, welcome! It’s almost Christmas time, and despite the sense of overall dread and the stench of mass death hanging in the air, Britain is determined to put on its sparkly shoes and pretend it’s all fine. When is this dance being performed, might you ask? Well, between the 21st and 28th of December, of course!
Read MoreWhen someone passes away you don’t lose them, they are taken from you. They aren’t wandering around Tesco, or milling about a shopping centre, they are gone. Before this year I hadn’t ‘lost’ anyone for around ten years and the more recent years I have had a pit in my stomach knowing that my next loss would be substantial and potentially life altering. Safe to say I was right.
Read MoreWhat struck me more than the dress, the cheap baccy, the husky voices, was the attitude that ‘looking’ and ‘acting’ working class was a novelty, something to be picked up and dropped by comparison to their own backgrounds. Which by implication meant dressing like they had no money, drinking to oblivion, and generally treating the idea of being working class as simply an aesthetic.
Read MoreWe don’t know whether COVID-19 is here to stay, nor do we know whether our current situation is the new norm forever or if it will change, so we have to readjust our ways of caring, communicating and showing our love for those that we would normally be with. There are lots of ways to help people to feel connected – we all just need to give it a little thought and consideration.
Read MoreAgeing is crossing a threshold into another land where life goes on but it is forever altered. It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who said we have “nothing to fear but fear itself”. At 25 I worried over being a quarter of a century old, at 30 I cried over my frown lines and lack of success. I spent my late 30s in paroxysms of anxiety about turning 40. And don’t get me started on turning 50.
Read MoreHow much warning do we need? We ALL have our own shit to deal with and it is just that, our own shit. Life can be entered into with too much caution sometimes, this I’ve learned to my cost over the years. Sometimes you need to boldly and blindly go into something, confront it and hopefully come out of it a little better. But exposure therapy isn’t for everyone and isn’t always helpful. Face your demons they say...but in your own time.
Read MoreClose the curtains, shut the door, make sure your phone isn’t connected to the family TV, and come with me to explore how porn’s treatment and depiction of age warps our cultural conception age in relation to sexualities, consent, and discrimination.
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