- meet Angela at Revoluton
- have lunch with ‘local artist’ Keith Piper
- Go to a speech bubbles information event
- Go to a ‘networking event’ called I like Mondays at the White House Pub
Today
- I’m going to try to write less…
- I’m going to include more photos
- I may include my internet search history
This is what I wore today for the schedule.
To start the day I have a meeting with Angela at Revoluton. It was a great day to meet the Revoluton team as everyone was there for a lunch and meeting with ‘local artist’ Keith Piper. (Actually it turns out that it was a meeting with the legendary artist Keith Piper!!!)
Before lunch me and Angela talk through the schedule for the week and we go on a tour of the building. It has a really interesting history and is run by Marsh Farm Outreach. Angela told me a bit about their history and how they used to run raves, and have carried the community ethos forward until today when they now run a really strong community outreach programme. And they have a bar onsite! Im really looking forward to meeting them.
I had a brilliant welcome by the Revoluton team and felt really touched. It was really wonderful to experience such a positive greeting and welcoming. Really special - thank you all!
Then we had a lunch and meeting with Keith! Full of positive energy and it all felt very generous and exciting - below are the before and after shots of the lunch table.
Then onto Speech Bubbles at the Hat Factory.
What an interesting programme. I love it. Its a drama intervention programme for children (Key Stage 1) who struggle with communication. They work with a Teaching Assistant and drama practitioner in group session of 10 children. Each child tells a story that is transcribed by an adult, then the rest of the children act the story out.
I think the process of transcribing is magic. The act of really concentrating on what someone is saying. To really value their words and then for their words to come to life in another way and be performed. This is wonderful. I don’t even like doing drama but I think everyone should do this.
I love how Adam who started the project talks about it. He is political. He talks about the wider social and political climate at the moment - and how narrowing the curriculum is anti-joy. I really love it! Its really clear what the project is, and what effect the project has (the effect of the project is supported by numerous studies). I really hope this happens in Luton.
https://www.londonbubble.org.uk/parent_project/speech-bubbles/
I’m 10 minutes early
There are lots of young people here. Maybe students.
There are quite a lot of middle aged men in groups or on their own. I don’t really want to be here. I hope it’s not some weird dating thing that I’m going to. I have my red top in my bag. Im not going to wear it. I’m told to meet at the right side of the bar. No ones here. I don’t want to meet middle aged men at wetherspoons on my own. I’m glad I’m wearing my worn jacket. I’m not feeling the joy.
Wetherspoons is a good place in many ways. Its £3.50 for a pint, not £5 and it means that more people can afford to drink here. But I remember watching an interview with Owen Jones and the owner of Wetherspoons - Tim Martin who when asked about why he doesn’t pay his staff a living wage he evades the question multiple times and says that Owen Jones is asking childish questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=285&v=mJ2BMEMiO9s&feature=emb_title
I have a mixture of feelings towards Wetherspoons.
I remember coming to Wetherspoons when I was 16-17-18. Underage alco pops. Winking at boys. A night out leading up to a drama at the end. Everyone drunk on the train home. Smoking out of the train windows. My friend once got punched outside a Wetherspoons - we were speaking about peace and then felt so impassioned we tried to break up a fight. My friend got punched.
Back to now. Maybe others are sitting here with their red top beneath their jacket. Ready to bust it out when it turns 7 o’clock. I’ve drunk a third of a pint. More students (i think?) come in - who did you kiss? that’s the first question someone asks someone else who just arrives - ‘some guy called owen’ they reply…. do you have a picture of him ? Instagram or anything? I stop listening. It doesn’t feel right to overhear and transcribe what they are saying. I remember the buzz of the snogs with random men, fading images as we cling on to a sentence they said. It’s 7 o’clock. No one’s here. I see someone in a maroon top walk to the bar. I think he’s just getting a drink. Half pint left. 7.02pm. No ones here. Yes! Maybe it’s not happening!? Someone wears a red top on the tv screen. A man in a fluffy black jacket stands up and looks anxious. Maybe he’s got a red top in his bag. He’s looking at his phone. Looking around. ‘Networking event’. How long do I wait? Some guy next to me has ordered table service using the app. Maybe this makes it better for people working here? No throng at the bar on Friday night? The argument says that it means people talk less but this guy said thank you to the bar staff, so that’s not much less that what people would normally say. Table 10? A round comes to my next door neighbours. ¾ pint gone. Do I wait till 7.15? What’s the professional thing to do? It’s a really delicious pint. The guy in the fluffy jackets date / friend arrives. He looks happy. I’m between two tables of a group of students and a middle aged man. I remember how much I love going out for a drink with my friends. Conversation and alcohol and group chat. Lovely. The middle aged man starts singing on the other side of the table. I smile at the man in the fluffy jacket and the girl leaving. They look happy. I look at the man on the table next door to me - he has his headphones on. Is he happy? I like his singing.
The middle aged man is very friendly. He knows the staff here and chats to them.
Ok pint finished I walk around to check if anyone is here.
It’s not a thing tonight. I’m going home. (Its 7.27pm)
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Below is what I've been doing when I've not been present. This is my internet history.
