For the first time in our lives, we are experiencing the same devastating, bizarre sequence of events simultaneously. Yes, coronavirus is affecting us all in different strengths and volumes, but we can each immediately understand one another’s thought process. It has released a heightened sense of empathy.
Read MoreIf I am completely honest, I was petrified by the thought of this. I was a 20-year-old girl at University, studying a subject utterly unrelated to the music industry, and with no business qualifications. I was definitely ‘unqualified’. But there I was, and there was no turning back.
Read MoreThere are various creative ways of using home space to satisfy an urge to garden, also known to be greatly beneficial to our mental health. Using wall space to grow climbing plants, sewing seeds in trays on a windowsill, growing indoor plants and creating terrariums: mini ecosystems in a fish bowl, are all simple ways to green up an environment and activate our intrinsic instinct to nurture, without any outdoor space.
Read MoreHas lockdown got you dreaming of an epic continent spanning adventure? Maybe you’re longing for sandy beaches, sky scraping mountains or cities steeped in rich cultural history. Though these places may seem impossibly out of reach right now they’re actually right at your fingertips, and you can go there with your friends right now.
Read MoreNow, about me… My name is Rita. I am white and Polish. I come from a country that is racist, sexist, homo- bi- and transphobic and ableist and I, despite efforts, am all of these things, too.
Read MoreAnd so just as a calf demands milk, a statue of a slaver demands to be toppled or graffitied or scrawled on by the hands of those it (and more importantly the legacy it represents) makes an absence of
Read MoreAt last, after years of asking nicely, the people of Bristol took the situation into their own hands, rectifying some of our wrongs; they said enough is enough, we will create our own history. They turned the statue’s very existence into an act of rebellion that should be remembered for years to come.
Read MoreEvery country and their cities have their own cultural and political leanings on a whole bunch of things; religion, food, work, you name it…Though one thing you might not think about every day yet still causes a lot of controversy is --- drugs.
Read MoreThe resurgence of spiritual and holistic practice has driven a collective desire to understand ourselves better in order to transcend physical blockages and reach higher levels of consciousness. This is a tale as old as time, with people using psychedelic drugs to tune in closer to God/Spirit/the Universe for hundreds of years, from the American Indian Shaman burning Ayahuasca on the Plains to the LSD loving Hippies of the 70’s.
Read MoreWe, as a society, are seeing the worst in people, but we are also seeing the very best. Where there has been a fracture within ‘normal’ society, the kindness of others has rushed to fill it. This kindness, it often seems, can come from complete strangers.
Read MoreWe have a work culture that has been flipped on its head, pre coronavirus, many of us would wake in the morning, put our working clothes on and, grabbing a coffee for the journey, head out to start our day. Traditionally many office workers slogged away from 9-5 before packing up and heading home, repeating the same routine from Monday to Friday.
Read MoreIt was Jose; my partner; who assured me that my mum and brother, the people who I wanted to please so much, would be happier with a large smile on my face rather than with a large house in the beach
Read MoreEvery time I pick up my phone or open my computer I am inundated with invitations to watch theatre online. From archives of shows I’ve been dying to see to play readings on Zoom, there seems to be something for everyone. As an avid theatre goer I should be reveling in the onslaught of content, right? So what’s the problem? It’s just not the same.
Read MoreCovid 19: or how I stopped worrying and learned to love Zoom. As Zoom has been the flavour of the month for almost every month since time began (do you, reader, also yearn for the golden era before quizzes), we are spending an inordinately large amount of time staring vacantly into the little fishbowls of each other’s homes.
Read MoreI’m not much of a traveller, in fact I’m quite an avid NON traveller. I don’t like to go in cars, I’ve never been on a plane, I’ve been abroad twice and both times were awful and very short. I’m just not cut out for it.
Read MoreAt the time of writing this, the world is mid-global pandemic. And yet, more than ever before, I am being bombarded with online content promoting weight loss, fitness challenges and body transformations. Without sounding boorish, do we not have slightly more pressing issues to be worrying about amidst this crisis than who can emerge from lockdown with peachier glutes, a smaller waist or a new personal best on their press ups?
Read MoreWe are experiencing unprecedented circumstances and the main priority of governments should be to prevent the virus from spreading. But what rights are we ready to give up in order to do that? What kind of planned actions would make us feel safe enough? What degree of trust and compliance can governments expect, and which decisions should be enforceable?
Read More‘I think my phone is trying to take me down’, I thought to myself, paranoid, as I laid sprawled out on the floor staring at its screen from across my room. We were just together a few minutes ago, why is it already luring me in for round two? It seductively waves me over, winking and stroking my ego with all the ways it can fill my boredom.
Read MoreThere is plenty of anger here; plenty of intelligence; and enough understanding of our need for systemic change. Yet it seems to me that we’re whimpering, rather than shouting. We’re spitting on the glass and wiping it clean, rather than smashing it straight in. So I ask you: is revolution still possible here, and how would it look in 2020?
Read MoreIn the past three months, volunteering has been seen as something that each one of us can do, rather than an activity reserved only to ‘charitable’ souls. The pandemic has forced people to think about what community - big or small - they are a part of, and what they could do to help keep others safe.
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