The Mancunian Yank

 Adrift by John Cassidy When asked why I take photographs my reply is always the same. "To remind myself how fantastic the world is when I pluck up the courage to step outside my door." I'm always amazed at what I discover. I took this photo on a spur of the moment trip into town with a friend, on the rare warm, sunny day that gifts Manchester the same way a blue moon does. I always have my eyes open for sculptures and art, (since landmarks are still the way I navigate when Google maps and I don't see eye to eye) fully aware that most Mancs pass them every day without a second glance but for me, I'm seeing it all for the very first time behind two sets of screens (my glasses and my phone).  Strolling past St. Peter's Square and I had no idea the sculpture was here (and has been since 2009 after being moved to different locations, then put into storage), and a part of me loves how it's hidden away but the sunlight has captured some of the emotion that the s...

 With brand new, harsher restrictions in place and Greater Manchester trying to avoid another local lockdown it seems like Covid-19 has suddenly become very real to a lot of people (as if the death toll and people affected before was just a myth).   Like mental health, we now all know someone whose been affected by this pandemic, with the lasting effects of it probably still being felt by the generations ahead of us thirty years down the line. After eight weeks of staying at home and going nuttier than a jar of peanut butter it finally sank into my thickly fluffy afroed head that stuff is always going to be hitting the fan no matter how hard I try and keep myself out of it all and instead of getting stressed I've taken a lot of deep breaths and counted to ten...about a hundred thousand times a day, because it's not my job to get worried about all the things that I can't fix, it's my job to stay cool, calm and collected. If you had told me two years ago that I'd be l...

Race isn’t a hot topic, click bait for a trend, Driving up the number of hits as the heart rates drop and expire, You try and keep it out of the conversation because you don’t want being human to get political but it’s too late, Hate spread a virus of intolerance, fear spread a pandemic of ignorance. I never thought I’d be hearing Eric from an ocean away, there were dozens before him and they’ll be dozens after him. I don’t cry on the bus when she complains she can’t breathe, I gave her my spare mask but vanity prevails over safety.   Vision blurred as I breathe quietly, grateful for the breathe I have. She doesn’t know how much it hurts for me to hear those words echoed. I thought I’d left that behind but violence is a worldwide pandemic, inescapable. I laugh as we head into town on the bus. “Well at least you don’t have glasses.” I try and put a sunny spin on it, glad she can’t see me wince as she takes off her mask to put in her hair, TLC’s Unpretty playing in my m...

I made the important decision to go back to my natural afro roots two years ago. I enjoyed having it straight , mixing with different styles but at some point I got too lazy and too tired of the rats nest of straight hair on my head that seemed to have an intense attitude problem with humidity or water as soon as I had straightened it.  For me, my afro reminds me of the secret super power within a black person. My hair looks like a microphone and it seems to bewitch people into wanting to touch it, which, unless you are family, is a serious no no. I've had to explain to people that it's rude to touch without asking the same way you wouldn't just grab some other part of someone's body. So far in Manchester I've had five people pat/touch my hair. All times I've been so shocked that I've been speechless for about 10 seconds. The fifth time I had warned the person before hand not to touch it (and they'd been drunk and done it anyway) I walked off before I co...

Adidas, Nike, Puma, Gucci, Moshino, Fendi, Prada, Versace, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Armani Anxiety, Depression, Bi-Polar, Bulimia, Alcohol, Drugs, Nicotine, Painkillers, Caffeine, Sleep....labels and addiction.   Fashion is another form of addiction. Genuine or fake, it's always a question about integrity but unless you're a label snob you're not going to admit where you got it unless it was on sale and you'd never admit you'd be starving in order to fit into it and pay for it because you've got to live up to the glamorously high Instagram standards. Charity finds and ebay bargains mixed in with granny's necklace and granddad's motorcycle jacket. Fashion is a form of unity and rebellion. When I see women and girls with long straight hair in pullover jumpers skinny jeans and white trainers and no socks, too much highlighter and false eyelashes I feel like I'm gazing at a barbie doll, if Barbie could frown while talking to her fr...

Forever Love sculpture by Lorenzo Quinn (Castle Fine Art Gallery) I took a shortcut on my way to a bus stop, turned the corner and found this sculpture. I'd researched Lorenzo's work earlier last year (while going down a Googlehole of Manchester art) and seeing it for myself doesn't quite compare. You can research all you can but sometimes seeing things with your own eyes makes you glad you pushed your mental health issues to the side and just got on with it.  Manchester is filled with indestructible hearts. Although slightly morbid, I do love the fact that long after I'm gone from this world (off on some other unknown adventure) this sculpture will still be around.  I find my own personal observation of art to be very private, this is a human (in cases of public art displays, sometimes a group of them) who strives for perfection in a material form, who's said what they wanted and left it on the table for the rest of the world to dissect and devour.  For...

This weekend the US is celebrating it's independence and the UK is celebrating the reopening of certain pubs, cinemas, theme parks and restaurants (with social distancing rules in place).   Domestic violence cases have gone up in the UK during lockdown and now with the pubs reopening it seems like there's only a matter of time before everywhere else is open. The Brits need their freedom from boredom. I never realised before how many people drink nor how much social drinking/ peer pressure drinking  is a part of the culture in both the US and the UK.  While in the US, July the 4th always meant to me, pool parties, barbecues, July the 4th sales in every store imaginable and fireworks. It also meant a land of a lot of broken dreams and I wondered if the forefathers of democracy would all be turning in their graves if they were to see the state of America now. The whole point of the birth of the US political system was for people (at that time, free Christian white men) to ha...

It's such a loaded question, and on the days when I'm exhausted my answer is sarcastic.  "Mars." I say, under my breath. It's a rather fitting answer considering how much the question can make me feel like an alien in my own skin.  The people who understand my humour laugh whereas others do a double take. "No, I mean where are you from originally?"  I'm so used to it now that I have the script down pat and can spit it out in less than three minutes. "I was born in the UK, when I was ten my family and I moved to the US, we lived on the west coast and on the east coast and I've been back in the UK, in Manchester, for six months so far. I come from a mixed race family, my genetic background is half Indian, half African and British.  No, I've never been to Africa but, yes, I do really want to go. I'm almost twenty-nine and and no I don't have any children nor do I want them."  "I believe in all religions and respect them al...