The Mancunian Yank

 In America, despite it's popularity, skating culture and the drug culture are still sometimes wrongly assumed to go hand in hand, the same way that in some places in the world tattoos are associated with gangs and gang culture. Although there are cases where these two do mix they aren’t the standard. I’ve always thought the concrete spaces of a growing city should belong to the people; which is why I’ve always loved graffiti and skaters. Both aren’t always socially accepted. The difference between public art and graffiti is the people who pay to put it there. Both feature people wanting to say something but only one is socially acceptable to be heard. Although I do not support graffiti that's placed on public art or on the shutters that shop owners have artistically painted. The difference between skaters and cyclists is the public perception that skaters are going nowhere; drifting on the fringes of society out of boredom.   To become a skater you need five things: perseve...

Yesterday was a melancholy fellow. No one wanted to spend any time with him at the moment since he’d spent lockup dwelling on the past. Present was always vibrant and alive living for the moment and going with the flow so she wasn’t doing too badly. No one had seen Future before so what they looked like was a complete mystery to everyone. The lockup had affected everyone differently. The party animals suffered greatly, unable to go to their local gathering spots and consume copious amounts of liquids in the hopes of gaining the courage to either perform ritualistic displays of movement, explain to their pack for the thirtieth time why calling their ex at 3am was the perfect solution to their problems of being single or to find a new, more suitable mate who might possibly want them. Either way packing all the animals into a room with loud, pulsating music with barely any means of ventilation accompanied with no rules meant that at some point someone’s either stepped on someone else’s ...

At 20:15 I found myself inside The Thompson Arms for the first time. I’d been invited to my friend (who’ve I’ve only known for a short time but who has become near and dear to me) Bill’s Coming Out Day celebration, something that I took as a great honour to be a part of.  I got to meet Bill’s friends (although I think of them more as their family) including the very fabulous Ophilia (the last picture in this post). I’ve only gone partially into why the LGBTQIA+ community (or rainbow umbrella as I call it) is vitally important to me but one of the (many) reasons is the unconditional love, support, guidance and acceptance that I look for outside of my actual family is always something I’ve been able to find under the rainbow umbrella.  The community has given me a lot of inspiration and strength over the years, and so to have a night out in Gay Village has been one of my dreams for years and knowing that Bill and their family have given me my family away from my family (if that ...

The first weekend of the release from Lockdown restrictions was finally here and I turned up to the Northern Publishing Fair at the Central Library on the morning of Saturday 24 th July with the intention of sticking to my book budget, but found that pretty much impossible when I laid eyes on all the books. I could use the excuse that I had had a 2am adventure in Rusholme with a friend and didn’t get to bed until 3am only to wake up at 6am so my defences were weak or I can just be honest and admit I’m a book addict. Since moving, poetry has become the love of my life. I attended the fair because a writing friend had suggested I check out David Hartley’s work and since I’m always looking for excuses to visit the Central Library (I will delve into my relationship with the Central Library at a later date) and I wanted to free my local post officers from a delivery I signed up to attend faster than I could blink. Publishers/vendors there included: Bluemoose Books, Route Publishing,...

 I celebrated "Freedom Day" (the UKs release from Lockdown restrictions) by going to the beach. I've always found the sun has healed my aches and pains and it never fails to brighten up my day (pun fully intended), and so to be breathing in the crisp sea air was one of the best ways I could think of spending the day.  I've pushed myself in a lot of different ways in the last month and I've noticed that I'm currently dealing with emotional overload which is why I am currently devoid of emotional attachment to anything. I'm okay, I feel no joy, no sadness, not even numbness or peace. I'm in a strange limbo that enables me to go through the motions of caring when I actually don't. Whenever I had depression and had these feelings I used to called them "meh" feelings. They always arrived after an intense emotion ordeal. I think depression has many negative impacts but the passive states of it are rarely discussed. As someone who always feels t...

  Being a part of MIF21 meant a lot to me. I feel like the festival was the big push that I needed to be able to go out into the city confidently again. Like a lot of people my mental health took a severe dip during Lockdown and saying yes to being a part of Sea Change was the first step to me taking control after a year and a half of utter cluelessness.  Sea Change made me enjoy being in town again, it woke up my inner explorer, who had spent Lockdown in hibernation. The fantastic weather has also helped a great deal. But more than anything it gave me the real life connection I’ve been craving throughout Lockdown. I also feel like it woke up my femininity in a way. I know for a fact that I’ve never been as aware (or grateful) for my body before in my life. Yes, I like my body, at times I really love it (it gets me everywhere I need to go) but I’ve never used my body to tell someone else’s story before and it’s given me a deeper appreciation for dancers, artists and, yes, ...

 Hunting Party I was dressed in my short red H&M Divided dress, gold Primark trench coat (unbuttoned because I was boiling) and canvas sneakers, one of my favourite outfits because it’s comfortable but also highly feminine and I always feel empowered and confident whenever   I wear red.     Walking past Foot Locker, with my mask down, head held high and a smile on my face I clocked a group of black men near a bench. I walked past, still smiling, but then one of them said something to his friend in a different language. I kept walking, but ended up looking back out of curiosity. He noticed and told me to wait, still stupidly curious, I did. As he came up to me, still holding his can of Stella, he told me that he’d just told his friends that I was so happy, and calm, that I was beautiful and that he loved my style. I burst out laughing. Still thinking about my bus stop experience I was fully aware that I was now experiencing the polar opposite of that situation. ...

 Soul Shakers and Body Movers After going through the bag check at Festival Square I was shown to a beanbag just before Thabo's set (accompanied on piano by his creative partner Aron Kyne) and   I had no idea I was in for such a soulful and powerful performance. Thabo’s voice is ridiculously soulful and the words he sings are incredibly meaningful.   Mother Nature was the subject of the songs of his set; which included the songs Shallow Water (a song that struck a chord deep in my soul), Your Mama, Better, Run & Tell (a song about fame and celebrity culture), Blue Murder and ended with   Ya Ya Ya (with the audience joining in). Each song took on a different aspect of our relationship with nature and watching Aron get so lost in the music while Thabo poured his soul into his words was quite hypnotic. I was torn between wanting to dance and cry and in the end settled with dancing and singing along. I’ve never heard an artist take on the voice of Mother Nature in ...

Voices Of The People Arriving at the gardens, to say goodbye to Marta Minujín's  Big Ben Lying Down  I got in the mile long queue to get my free book (I was allowed to take two) and as I looked at the volunteers inside dismantling the sculpture I remembered being a child and taking a double decker bus tour of London with my mother and seeing the real thing. Britain has certainly endured some upsetting times that have knocked it over since I’ve been in the US. I collected my books (We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi and Black And British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga) and was about to leave when the We Are The Hong Kongers display caught my eye. One of the organisers there was kind enough to take the time to explain who they were, why they were there and some of the atrocities that the people of Hong Kong have to endure even as you read this now. If you have the time to mindlessly scroll through your social media feeds, or listen to toxic people i...

The final section of the event started with a screening of co-designing group member Olivia Lee’s interview with British paralympian Kadeena Cox (MBE). This was followed by a panel discussion hosted by BBC’s Assistant Content Producer, filmmaker and writer Junior Akinola and photographer, filmmaker and performer Ngozi ‘Goz’ Ugochukwu and the panel consisted of Estephanie Dunn who is the regional director for the Royal College of Nursing in the North West of England; award winning author, poet and broadcaster   Lemn Sissay; British activist Lady Phyll, and solicitor advocate Cecilia Goodwin. From describing having to Google if the place they needed to travel to was safe to suggestions on how to make places more inclusive, the discussion was equally lively and thought provoking. At one point Celia mentioned standing in front of the judge and having the judge tell her that she was so eloquent. I think the entire auditorium had heard my gasp because until that moment I’d naïvely ...

We were led into another conference hall (with refreshments) and this time we joined a group of Manchester-based creatives for a round-table discussion on equality in our city. This included dancers, writers, producers, fashion designers and poets and was co-hosted by Kya Buller (the founder and  Editor-in-Chief)  & Amelia Ellis (the assistant editor) of Aurelia Magazine; a publication that focuses on uplifting the first-person stories of marginalised genders. Again we were given paper and pencils and given a few moments to write down our thoughts on three different topics: What does Manchester mean to me? What are your hopes for a future Manchester? And finally, how would experiencing equality change me? Hearing other people’s answers made me realize that the three main issues of equality, race and the environment, that are close to my heart were shared   by so many others in the room that day. One person hoped for a future Manchester that featured a better edu...