Fast forward over all the trials and tribulations, failed efforts and false starts to me in my mid 50’s and I’m actually doing it. I’ve just completed two years at college studying HNC and HND photography and now I’m finally off to Bower Ashton to do a BA!
Read MorePicture this: you’re finally pregnant and expecting your first child after years of people extolling the virtues of having children. Suddenly, the narrative is flipped, it’s no longer the best thing to ever happen to you. Unfortunately, you are now doomed to live a joyless life of servitude to said child. It almost feels as though you have been duped, scammed into some sort of parenthood pyramid scheme from which there is no escape.
Read MoreThe plan to head towards Redcliffe to protect those at the Mercure hotel threw things into further chaos, splitting groups up leading to worse violence. Coined the Battle of Bristol Bridge, police had the far-right groups cornered on one side of the bridge and the counter-protesters on the other; while all police efforts were focused on keeping the two groups apart on Bristol Bridge some key members of the anti-racism protesters found their way ahead to Mercure.
Read MoreMargot Robbie’s Schroedinger-esque sexiness – at once sexy and unsexy, depending on which film you press “play” to – encapsulates something more important. A multi-millionaire, talented actress/producer/director like Margot, or a billionaire singer-songwriter like Taylor Swift, can take a break from work without worrying about making ends meet, and can build a protective network around themselves where they are safe.
Read MoreThe current system for diagnosing breast cancer is the mammography screening program, which invites women for an X-ray scan of their breasts once every 3 years after they turn 50, until the age of 71. At first glance, this seems entirely logical. The system has been in place since 1988, it must be effective. But why are so many women dying of breast cancer? Why are their tumours not being found earlier?
Read MoreHis stubbled cheek brushed lightly against mine as he moved his lips so close to my ear that they sent a shiver down my spine. With his deep, gravely voice, he whispered these endlessly romantic words: you’re pretty fuckable for a fat chick.
Read MoreWe all too often forget that we are all souls having a human experience. Death is a common denominator; we all come to experience it and at many times the world over, we have all been united by it. Opening up conversation about death, loss, and how we experience grief could be an awakening for us; an incredible revolution.
Read MoreToo old to work, too old to attract a mate, too old to bear children. Without realising it, I was getting ready to die. I was finished.
Except I wasn’t.
Read MoreMore than this though, I felt unheard and confused because nobody was really listening to me. I felt like I was pushed from department to department, with no communication between anyone. I was dealing with being a new Mum, the pandemic, and my illness, but it was up to me to be persistent, to listen to my body. I dread to think what would have happened if I had not acted like I did.
Read MoreDoes she want to go travelling and to see the world? Does she want to leave Bristol and move to London with her best friend? Does she want to tend a garden and start making homemade pesto? Or does she want to be licking a shot from a strangers belly button in Ibiza? Does she want to be a high-flying corporate GirlBoss or does she want to live in the forest and wear floaty skirts? Does she want safety? Or excitement? I saw the world in a set of binaries. One or another.
Read MoreCommenting on other people's bodies, or rather, refraining from doing so, is a topic increasingly circulating not only on image-heavy platforms like Instagram, but also in the collective consciousness. The more people I meet, the more I realise that attitudes are changing, or at least, some thought is being invested into what is and is not acceptable or appropriate to say to someone about how they look.
Read MoreWe live in a society where love is overly romanticised. Love is most often seen (incorrectly) as everlasting relationships, ‘till death do us part’. There are thousands of books and movies – like Pride and Prejudice – that sell us the dream of ‘happily ever after’, but does happily ever after even exist? Is it just a marketing gimmick? After all, love sells and sells well.
Read MoreIt is these types of questions that could help feminists grapple with over a decades’ old debate: How do we delineate between what is pornographic content filled with sexual menace and what accounts only as sexual fantasy?
Read MoreThere’s a quote from Jeremy Bentham – “Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet”. I think that this is true of many of us.
Read MoreWe’ve reached the magic seventh instalment of ‘Sacred England’, our series that seeks out mythology in English places – but what even is mythology, anyway?
Read MoreWomen have always faced judgement, and have had disproportionate emphasis put on their relation to men; labelled as virgins or whores, nurturing mothers or wicked stepmothers, dutiful wives or cheating Jezebels. Heaven forbid we should just be allowed to exist in our own right.
Read MoreAh Naked Attraction – we love it, we hate it… my Nan once confessed she watches it when my Grandad goes to bed.
Read MoreIt’s been about 14 years since we’ve been in touch. Why did we lose touch? I honestly don’t know. We were in our early 20s and had both graduated from separate universities, and were taking tentative steps into whatever came next. Neither of us knew what lay ahead but somehow, on the walk to get there, we moved at different speeds and drifted in different directions. I sent you texts every now and again, on birthdays and when you just popped into my head. But you didn’t respond.
Read MoreThere were 5 people involved in the efforts to save my Dad, one of whom grabbed a snorkel and fins from his barge and went under the boats to try to rescue him putting his own life at risk. Incredible. Truly. It must have been so scary for them to have been witness to the shocking and fast moving drama that unfolded that day
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