friends from the beginning :-)

Jen came back for a visit. Anna made mulled wine, mince pies, cake and biscuits. LOVELY.

SING.

Boy sits strumming guitar
I can predict the next line
It all rhymes
And is rather like the one who went before
Show me some diversity
The dexterity of your fingers on the strings
does not translate to the words that stumble out your mouth

Sing me a new song
Sing the song of the unheard
Voices drowned out by greedy shouts
of those who come to exploit and steal.
Screams shunned by the world

This is not a game
Monopoly of people’s LIVES
Dealt in knives and lies
Where does the £200 come from at ‘GO’?
Did you ever ask yourself that?

The blood was wiped off the gold as if nothing ever happened and it’ll sit there shining under bright lights of fancy jewellers. 24 carat ring.
Ring. Bound. Binding us together in this
Tragedy
Travesty
Taking place beneath the big blue sky stained black and red by smoke and blood

Heart of Africa
The gun shots drown out the beating beating beating
Beating drums spread the message
“it’s time for change”
Time to end the
Beating beating beating her people down to the ground
The ground that everyone is fighting for.

Where we pay to see the gorillas
The monkeys I mean
Not guerrillas. Not the men
Fighters, guns and camouflage
And a family at home to feed
Just like the next man that he shoots down.
But caught up in this web of greed and intrigue
Only it’s not so intriguing
This is not a film
It’s real and raw
Power and fear
Interplaying on street corners
Driving people from their homes
Flowing like a flood
Of tears and blood

Falling onto this beautiful land.

(response to a conference about the situation in the DRC)

not independent

We are dependent beings, and to think otherwise—to make
independence our project, however sincerely—is to live a
lie, to fly in the face of reality.

(Gilbert Meilaender)

current studying music...

frou frou
sigur ros
deadmau5
imogen heap
sinead o'connor
Ibiza Annual 2008
los rebujitos
sixpence non the richer
delerium
mat kearney
fondo flamenco

new job!

after years of waitressing, cleaning, and working with small children, this year i decided it was time for a change with regards to a part time job.

so, yesterday, i began something new. i'm now a 'student ambassador', which sounds very grand, but basically means at the moment showing secondary school students around the university and encouraging them to think about higher education. so... campus tours and workshops with 15/16 year olds. It's been good so far, and nice to be doing a job where the time passes quicker and i feel i am learning as i try to relate to and communicate well to these 'young ones'. and man! they really do seem young! funny how you 'grow up' without really realising it and since you're changing along with all your peers you don't notice the changes. But when leading uniform-clad- boys-who-are-still-shorter-than-me across a campus full of colourful (often taller and beard-y if of male variety!) individuals i really do see the difference. that said, i've already been mistaken twice in two days for one of the pupils! Doh!

and at the same time i know i would not have appreciated someone patronising me when i was in year 10. but that's not so likely because part of me doesn't feel much different to Katrina at 15 years old, or even 9. i guess it will be learning to get the balance of embracing the authority that being older gives me to set the tone or the atmosphere - to make people feel valued and comfortable - while not looking down on anyone.

but seriously its made me realise i'm so glad i'm not at school any more! so relieved i'm somewhere where you can find the space to be yourself, where there's no 'popular crew' and you're not looked down on for doing well/doing badly. woop!

cousins

this is from a few weeks ago, taken by a family friend, Sean.