Homage to great communiators

 I want to write a short hommage to great communicators, not just the great and the good: Austen, Atwood, Dickens … Woolf

But also to the slightly less famous (Alison) Gopnik, Marcus du Sautoy, and Bruce Momjian who have all made a great impression.

Last week I had the pleasure of an evening with the London Jane Austen society which was running a small online event with John Mullan, another truly great communicator.

Last and definitely not least, I'm very grateful for the all great teachers (singing and painting) I've been working with in Barcellona and online, again truly great communicators.

pgconf.eu 2018 Lisbon - Bruce Momjian

Pure chocolate, red wine and cold showers

The sketch is from a very short "one-minute pose", which got splashed with red wine during the break and I wasn't even drinking that evening, but later I worked up the sketch and was pleased with the results... and it seem to fit my musing on pure chocolate, red wine and cold showers.

I switched from the deliciously rich and silky milk chocolate to the strong and sharper pure chocolate as an act of self-defence about 10 years.

Putting aside the superior health benefits of pure chocolate over milk chocolate, my initial "act of self-defence" was to protect my chocolate stash. I've always kept a cupboard full of chocolate and while I don't eat chocolate every day, I do most days. 

About twenty years I read a wonderful book called "Eat Chocolate, Drink Alcohol and Be Lean and Healthy" (by Andrew Jobling). This is a great book; I suspect it was targeted at an American audience who tends to see chocolate as fundamentally unhealthy? While I can't say this book completely changed my life, I was already a long way down the road to finding out what the good things in life are about. However, it was definitely a big help. Upto reading this book, I thought of Chocolate and Alcohol as indulgences which are OK only if consumed in moderation? 

Let's be honest, while almost undoubtedly Chocolate and Alcohol are best "consumed in moderation", I'm not always that good at moderation. And just maybe that is okay? There are days when I consume an extreme amount of chocolate and coffee, which is a very good combination. Typically, I like to finish off those sorts of days like these with chocolate and a glass of strong red wine, especially red port.. a perfect combination.

There are also days when I don't drink. Typically I don't like to drink more than 3 or 4 days a week? I recently moved from Amsterdam to Barcelona, both very beautiful and cool cities in their own right. After 12+ years in Amsterdam, it was heartbreaking to leave and in many ways, 2022 was a difficult if wonderful year for me.

I've been in Barcelona 5 months, and while I'm keen to learn both Castilian and Catalan, so far, I'm limited to simple expressions like

• Tiene dos gatos y una guiterra

• Me gusta cantar y dibujo

• Vivo con mi marido venti tres años

This is a decent start but I'm still feeling a bit alienated in this very big new city. I'm not typically a big-city sort of person… I was born and bred in Norwich a historically significant city upto the 19th century; now it is a beautiful historic university city, popular with students and tourists, as well as the locals.

Barcelona is a fun city, with always a lot going on and plenty of friendly people to drink with. I love singing & drawing and there is plenty of socials in Barcelona. So over the last few months, I've been drinking a bit harder than I would normally like? 

So for the last 10 days, I've had a drinking break, which is a long time for me, but it feels good. Not just as I feel like I have had a well-earnt rest from drinking, I'm also looking forward to having a drink with friends again - absence makes the heart grow stronger.

So what about the cold showers? A couple of years ago, I started hearing about the WimHof method, which is now extremely popular in Amsterdam… over the last couple of years, I got used to seeing people bathing in near-zero temperatures? My sister-in-law appears to have full WimHof as well. Apparently, she has regular baths in the open air and unheated public baths in London. I'm not yet 100% convinced, yes, most of the people practising cold water bathing/showers look very healthy but firstly, correlation is not causation? Personally, I have started taking partially "cold showers", as recommended by WimHof I start off warm and then reduce the temperature until it is no longer pleasurable. Also, as recommended by WimHof, by breathing deeply, I can take quite a lot of cold water; the sensation is most exhilarating and feels good.

Home Secretary's hate speech against vegetarians

Note since writing this about 10 days ago, the home secretary was sacked (for a data security breach / leak), the prime minister resigned (failed to deliver on the proposed economic policy?), a new prime minister was appointed (the same person the Tory membership just rejected?) and then the home secretary was re-imstated in the role she was just sacked from for a security breach) ...

This morning, when this House of Commons speech popup on my instagram feed I was shocked

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2022/oct/18/suella-braverman-blames-guardian-reading-tofu-eating-wokerati-for-disruptive-protests-video

I'm not even sure what wokerati means, is it even a word? 

But what was clear to me as Suella Braverman smacked the table to drill home her attack on vegetarians, was that this vitriol wasn't remotely funny nor good humoured, what I heard in her voice was fear.

Reviewing Suella Braverman's wikipage (details below), she was educated as Cambridge and Sorbonne (Paris), is a Barrister and has held an impressive number of highest offices in the land. 

Putting aside the merits of vegetarian diets and/or eating less meat, personally I believe that given the standard western diet, eating significantly less meat is good for the health and the environment ie win-win. Furthermore, as one gets used to eating less meat, our taste buds adjust and personally I find fresh fruit and veggies delicious, better even than the traditional meat-rich diet I was brought up on.

However irrespective of my personal beliefs, Suella Braverman's attack on vegetarians would be totally unacceptable at any work place I've been in for the last couple of decades and seems almost form of hate speech to me. Her excessively angry and aggressive tone really shocked me.

It appears Suella Braverman is no longer Home Secretary, not sure if this was her final house House of Commons speech?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suella_Braverman

Home Secretary
In office 6 September 2022 – 19 October 2022
Prime Minister	Liz Truss
Preceded by	Priti Patel
Succeeded by	Grant Shapps
Attorney General for England and Wales Advocate General for Northern Ireland
In office 13 February 2020 – 6 September 2022[a]
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Geoffrey Cox
Succeeded by	Michael Ellis
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
In office 9 January 2018 – 15 November 2018
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Kwasi Kwarteng
Chair of the European Research Group
In office 19 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
Deputy	Michael Tomlinson
Party Leader	Theresa May
Preceded by	Steve Baker
Succeeded by	Jacob Rees-Mogg
Deputy Chair of the European Research Group
In office 20 November 2016 – 19 June 2017 Serving with Michael Tomlinson
Chair	Steve Baker
Party Leader	Theresa May
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Michael Tomlinson
Member of Parliament for Fareham
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015
Preceded by	Mark Hoban
Majority	26,086 (45.6%)
Personal details
Born	Sue-Ellen Cassiana Fernandes 3 April 1980 (age 42) Harrow, London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Rael Braverman ​(m. 2018)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge Panthéon-Sorbonne University

Scratching the underbelly of Jane Austen subculture

I originally wanted to call this blog post:

Fanny Price vs Mary Crawford and scratching the underbelly of Jane Austen subcultures

but that is too long and so went for the short

Scratching the underbelly of Jane Austen subculture

The strange thing is, that people I usually like and agree with i.e. are on the "same wavelength" I find myself passionately disagreeing with regarding Fanny Price and Mary Crawford: the heroine and anti-heroine of Jane Austen's possibly most controversial novel Mansfield Park.  My personal favourite with Emma i.e. I enjoy both more than Austen's most acclaimed novel Pride & Prejudice? 

Fanny Price is a character whom I greatly admire: with her inner strength, self-discipline and ultimately her incredible self-belief, she ultimately triumphs, although it is a long slog for both Fanny and the reader.

However Fanny is quite probably Jane Austen's "least favourite heroine" with Janeites (*) i.e. the sort of people who repeatedly read Austen, watch all the adaptions (good and bad) and/or join online Austen discussion groups… you get the picture.

Personally, I slightly struggle with Lizzy Bennett and the fairy-tale ending of Pride & Prejudice, yes it is a wonderful novel and an absolute romantic classic, but I'm not quite as satisfied with the fairy tale ending. 

Intriguingly Mary Crawford might satisfy/fill some of this gap; in many ways her quick wit and charm, make her seem a bit like Lizzy Bennett (Austen's most popular heroine from Pride & Prejudice). Still, ultimately she is overly ambitious, somewhat manipulative and overly self-confident. Not 100% surprisingly given Jane Austen's personal beliefs and faith; things never quite work out for Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park. Possibly Mary Crawford is an antidote to the overly saccharine fairy tale ending for Lizzy Bennett.

I'm also intrigued by parallels between Fanny and Anne Elliot, the very popular heroine (especially with seasoned Janeites). Both heroines are reserved, and stoical, whom eventually, after displaying a great deal of inner strength, self-discipline, and good judgement; both find their "true love". These two later novels, seem richer and even more revealing portraits of society to me. But why is Anne much more popular than Fanny? Fanny starts Manfield Park as the poor relative and is patronized plus heavily condescended to, but eventually makes good. Anne Elliot is an admirable character, but it is not as clear why she lets her family treat her in a condescending manner?

NB (*) Here is how the BBC describes modern Janeites

Some Janeites, as they call themselves, write their own fiction imagining the marital exploits of Mr and Mrs Darcy. Others don elaborate period dress and throw Jane Austen-themed tea parties and balls.

Blogs and forums dedicated to Austen and Austen-style fan fiction abound across the internet. The Jane Austen Society of North America (Jasna) boasts 4,500 members and no fewer than 65 branches. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21036818

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21036818

Homage to Catalonia

After 12+ years in Amsterdam, my husband Thomas and I moved to Barcelona (well Badalona actually) this month. 

Living by a beautiful beach and swimming with fish in brilliant blue waters is a bit of a dream, but leaving Amsterdam was slightly heartbreaking.

For English classics, still my favourite genre of books, we read George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" coupled with another non-fiction, political, memoir: "Down and Out in Paris and London".

I like Orwell's progressive views and vision for social democracy:

 "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it."   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia#cite_note-1

Orwell's thinking was clearly ahead of many on the left, especially Sartre, who was intoxicated by Soviet propoganda until much later (1956 Hungarian invasion).

It was a good conversation last night, parallels to Jack London, the superb quality of writing: characterization, details of city life in Barcelona, Paris and London, details of squalor, mental and physical challenges of an infantryman.

We also discussed parallels to Roald Dahl's "War: Tales of Conflict and Strife" which we also read a few years ago. The first part of this new collection of Roald Dahl's works is his autobiographical Going Solo: a fantastic if slightly fanciful tale, at times Dahl seems to have a slightly romantic view of empire whereas Orwell is under no illusions about the economic realities of empire: 

Orwell's father was Richard Walmesley Blair, who worked as a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Early_years

It was nice that we had a local Barcelona join the Amsterdam book club (hybrid online and in-person) and add a bit of local history. 

I'm keen to explore Barcelona, a beautiful city with a very rich history and also some amazing beaches.

Persuasion or The Bride of Frankenstein - distinctly discombobulating

 The new Netflix 2022 Persuasion has been out for a week and has been ravaged by the critics.

In my opinion, it is mildly entertaining, a bit annoying in parts, and occasionally toe-curling embarrassing: still mostly an easy and intriguing watch. 

So mixed feelings on my side, I want to start by unpacking my problems with the film:

Stylistically it seems a bit of an odd mashup, I’ve only ever watched about 10 minutes of the hugely popular Bridgerton, but this Persuasion adaptation immediately made me think of Bridgerton. I don’t have a problem with Bridgerton, it is just I’m not into films and drama on the small screen. But I do want to give Bridgerton another go at some stage. 

I quite like the use of multiracial cast in Persuasion, it doesn’t seem historically accurate, but I particularly enjoyed the Nigerian-British actress Nikki Amuka-Bird, who played Lady Russel beautifully, one of several minor characters I thought this version of Persuasion portrayed nicely. The stylistic problems were the modernisation of the dialogue, lots of modern parlances, talking directly to the camera and a big dumbing down on Austen’s delightful dialogue, detailed descriptions, dry humour and inventive use of English. This was annoying.

There are a couple of toe-curling moments in the film. I struggle to imagine Jane Austen writing a scene with Anne Eliot struggling with peeing in public, behind a tree while she eavesdrops on Captain Wentworth & Louisa’s flirtatious small talk. Anne struggles with her ridiculous Georgian costume, which is absolutely unsuitable for peeing in public. Jane Austen’s humor could be quite near the knuckle, with the infamous reference to gay sex in the navy: her “rears and vices” joke in Mansfield Park. There is also a private letter where she makes a very embarrassingly bad dead baby joke. But these are highly atypical, and this public peeing scene feels so wrong for Anne Eliot: one of Austen’s more earnest and most loved heroines? 

And this brings me to the main problem with this adaptation which has been rubbished by the critiques and Janeites (Austen’s disciples and devotees): Anne Eliot is one of Austen’s most loved heroines and the film really needs to get this right . This is especially true for many Janeites who like the more mature romance narrative of mistakes, total estrangement for 7 years, torturous reconciliation and ultimately, second chances. Anne Eliot is probably a more interesting heroine to the youthful rollercoaster ride with Elizabeth Bennett. Unfortunately, this latest Frankenstein Anne Eliot is more like a SciFi time travelling Bridget Jones, teleported back into 19th Georgian society with an infinite supply of cheap red wine from the local supermarket. I like to think I'm pretty open-minded and enjoy radical perspectives and playful adaptions, but this Persuasion left me feeling distinctly discombobulated.

I don’t think this is all Dakota Johnson’s fault; she has great screen presence and style: a modern, sassy and sexy actress and fun to watch. Possibly a bit too much femme fatale. The script writing seems, and broader production seems largely responsible to me.

So what do I like about this adaptation? Well Austen’s novels also include a rich cast of minor characters: many of which provide comic relief and many of these are very well and pretty faithfully portrayed. 

At the London Jane Austen bookclub discussion (online this month) there was a lot of praise for Marry Musgrove and Sir Walter Eliot. I particularly like Lady Russel and Lady Darlrympe.

I also quite liked Captain Wentworth, he is a bit too present in this adaptation but well played by xxx and the tearful open scene of this film was beautifully played by DK and xx, my very first reaction to the film was : “well I would marry him!”, not a bad start for a Jane Austen film.

So like the Bride of Frankenstein, this Persuasion is entertaining but not in the same league as the original.

discombobulated [ dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt ]

Informal. to confuse or disconcert; confound; bewilder:

The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.

RIP Edana & Glen, long live the Rainbow Chorus!

 

It's 5am on Saturday morning, I just woke up, and I'm probably still slightly drunk, and the cats are delighted to see me. My cats love it when I wake up early and allow them into the bedroom for cuddles (I have a strict no-cats policy during deep sleep).

Unfortunately, while the cats are licking my face and demanding cuddles, the Facebook updates on my phone was heartbreaking news, 

Edana’s partner, Heather, and all the family are so sorry to have to tell you of Edana’s untimely death, late on Wednesday night, here in her beloved Liguria. Edana asked us to respect her privacy in dealing with her devastating cancer diagnosis, so we know that this will be a shock to many of you. Edana would have wanted you to remember her as we all do: the passionate, vivacious woman of style, love, joy, song, curiosity and furious politics. For those in Italy, the funeral will be held in Pugliola tomorrow, Saturday 16th July at 11am, at La Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Lucia in Pugliola, and afterwards at the Narbostro cemetery. 

Two weeks have now passed, and I still feel a sense of mourning for Edana and another lost connection to Brighton's Rainbow Chorus, an LGBTQIA+  choir still going strongly.

Although I didn't know that Edana well, I felt a strong affinity to her. We had been Facebook friends for over 15 years, and we occasionally chatted, but in 2010 I moved from Brighton to Amsterdam, and I hadn't seen Edana in person for a very long time.

I knew Edana through choir, Brighton Rainbow Chorus, both Edana and I joined when the choir was relatively small (rehearsals with 5-10 people) and overtime it grew until the typical rehearsal was 20-30. 

I was fortunate I first got know Edana as a fun-loving, friendly, vivacious lesbian with a great jazz voice. She had such a beautiful singing voice. It was only quite a lot later that I learnt she was from a "famous family" (two of her brothers are famous movie directors/producers?).

Her sister is also a famous Anglican and OBE, she also gave this great interview to Church Times:

Loretta Minghella became the First Church Estates Commissioner in November 2017, succeeding Sir Andreas Whittam Smith.
Before arriving at Church House, she was chief executive of Christian Aid for seven and a half years, and before that, she headed up the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, a job she says got “very rocky indeed” when the 2008 financial crisis hit.
Our Editor Paul Handley spoke to Loretta Minghella about how her experience prepared her for this latest role, and how the Commissioners are pressuring companies to improve their record on climate change and executive pay, among other things.
https://soundcloud.com/user-632063010/loretta-minghella-first-church-estates-commissioner-ep-51  

I vividly remember listening to this about 5 years ago and being soo impressed with Loretta, plus a brilliant interview with Paul Handley.

I was looking forward to meeting Edana again and telling her about my progress with singing (I've been having lessons for about 5 years now, which has been worth every penny i.e. I love singing. I also wanted to tell Edana about my admiration for her sister.

The last time I saw Edana perform was a memorable occasion in the upper room The Grand Central, Brighton (the closest pub in Brighton Station); not a very grand venue but it was a lot of fun.

It was an off-beat cabaret, foreshadowing the upcoming era of Tory austerity portraited in a perverse SM style. I believe Edwina both wrote and performed all the music, so was not prancing around in SM gear. My only disappointment is that I did get to hear Edwina sing on that occasion.

Over the last two weeks, I've also been thinking about Glenn: a very accomplished musician and quite often the accompanists (piano) for the Rainbow Chorus. Glenn passed away a few of years ago - equally heartbreaking.

I watched Glen perform on many occasions in the UK and in Greece. He was a sensitive accompanist and wonderful pianist with a particular passion for Rachmaninov.

A little over nine years ago, Glen and I met through our mutual friend the composer Matthew Pollard. Matt and I were collaborating on a project that was to become This Concert Will Fall In Love With You — later recorded with additional material as the CD Clameur and Glen was Matt’s first choice to play piano. Matt and Glen had were old friends, performing together in the Tacet Ensemble and The Rainbow Chorus for example.

https://peterkenny.co.uk/tag/glen-capra/

 
RIP Edana and Glenn and long live the Rainbow Chorus!