Website rec - Open Culture

Springtime is a great time of year to clear away the cobwebs and to try new things - hey any time of year is a good time for that. But I digress.

So if you want to try something new, or if you're looking for inspiration try the Open Culture website. It bills itself as "the best free cultural and educational media on the web", and I'd agree.

There are thousands of free courses including languages, free films, documentaries and interviews, ebooks. There is free music and lots of random cultural things too.

As a writer I'm loving reading all the writing tips from authors as diverse as Ray Bradbury and Toni Morrison, and the recordings made by authors like Sylvia Plath and  Dylan Thomas. The free audio books include some poems.

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Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday / Dé Domhnaigh Ciúin

Na Blascaodaí

Silent Sunday

Roundabout Nights - where do they get it from?

Roundabout Nights are back!
And they want you to talk about your mother.....

OK, maybe not.
A selection of The Medway Delta's finest writers dig out the bones and shapings of their ancestors, and share the tales of the ones who made them

If you have some writing or music to share, please bring it along and join Philip Kane, Sarah Hehir, Dean Volante, and Barry Fentiman-Hall on the stage

Thursday, 17 March 2016 7.30 - 10.30
At the one and only Poco Loco Cantina, 58 High Street, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4DS

Silent Sunday

Hotel dreams Del Estrocho

Hotel Dreams Del Estrocho 

Facing the police flag kicking the sky, 
car exhausts trails dividing the square, banditos on the sly
on the 8th floor, facing away from the view, 
basking in bright weather, coaches with penguins all taunting you,

with cloud soft forms of what could have been,
all the leopard seals and wildlife and icebergs unseen.
Words formed, above the mute phone,
with intimate touch blazing across the screen,
 bald truth reminding you of the obscene
illusion that you are ever alone

Image credit: hot black (morguefile)

image sourced from Morguefile

Medway Monday

Image: SM Jenkin

Silent Sunday

Chatham high Street 

Londonium 2016 - Mindful Writing

boxes blinking bright in
hoarded sunlight, corralled by
black cabs,
diverted the famous grey
flows of metamorphic concrete

layered down.
the Romans river anchored
offshore, the sign of the skyscraper
follows the length of the
high Thames

London

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Mindful writing is the practice of capturing a moment in writing, described by Satya Robyn as a small stone. Satya describes a small stone as a "short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment".

I think the practice is a terrific way of learning to pay attention. A great description of how to do this very simple exercise can be found here.

Picture sourced from Morguefile

Yes, the planets really are lining up....

If you like in the northern hemisphere, you're in for a treat (if you get up early enough)

Five of our local planets will be visible to the naked sky and will align (zig zaggy) across the dawn sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will be simultaneously visible to the naked eye for the first time since 2004. Details here

The planets will be visible between 20 January 2016 - 20 February 2016, though word is the best view is likely to be in the early morning of February 5

View of Venus from the orbit of Saturn, picture credit: NASA

The picture, courtesy of NASA, was taken as part of the Cassini mission to investigate Saturn in-depth. The gallery of Venus pictures is available here.

And because writers love a good planetary alignment why not check out the Sci-Fi tropes page here for a good list of all the awful things that happen in stories when the planets align. If you dare...!

Bon Voyage Tim Peake

The charming Tim Peake, ex army and general good guy is joining the small community of Brits who have made it to outer space. I'm excited in a way that I haven't been since Helen Sharman became the first British person in space. I'm excited because we're going out to space, and that we are going to do some science. Or something - the details don't matter much do they? Tim's going to run the London marathon from space. Yay. That's enough for us, isn't it? Well, isn't it?

I identified with Helen back in 1991 as she was an ordinary person working as a chemist and she was from Sheffield. As someone who had dreams of space travel (don't laugh) it made the whole possibility a lot more immediate. She's working for Imperial College now, and while she's been working to engage the public with science she's also had the chance to return to some Chemistry too. A nice article from the Imperial College here. She was the first, yes, and its important to mark that but other visits need to have more substance.

Helen was in space for 7 days, working scientific experiments for Russia as the private funding from the UK didn't work out. This time Tim goes to do science on the International space station with the financial backing of the UK, all £80 million of it. According to the UK Gov website,  Minister for Universities and Science Jo Johnson said:

"Our £80 million investment in the International Space Station programme supports pioneering research and will inspire Britain’s next generation of scientists and engineers to push the boundaries of science here on Earth."

While I'm excited because of the personal connection, and with the pleasure that comes from knowing that Tim works with children to encourage love of science, I have to ask this. What science exactly is he doing? Are we going to see any glimpses of this, conveyed in a meaningful way for adults and children to engage with? Or are we going to be deluged with more rah rah  he's running a marathon in space? Also, he's doing science? Please stop insulting my intelligence by diluting the science.

There may be good reasons why the full extent of the experiments can't be revealed - I don't know copyright? The need to shield it from competitors? Or are the science agencies working on the assumption that the general public are ignorant of or uninterested in the finer details of science? Must we be spoon fed details of an immediate benefit to everyday life like the use of satnavs? I think not. For there to be a meaningful engagement, long-term with this project, there must be a little more detail apart from "he's measuring stuff". This is part of the problem - going to schools individually isn't going to be enough. To engage with the public it has to be done whole-scale for all ages.

So come on ESA - a bit more detail about the science please. You won't frighten the horses.

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Picture courtesy of the NASA Royalty-free picture archive here

Tinsel haiku

Moulting tinsel trails
 uproot solstice echoes at
 the empty table

Silent Sunday

Image credit: SM Jenkin

The transformative power of Fanfiction

Why write fanfiction? What is the purpose, and what does it do? In my opinion, fanfiction has the power to transform society.

One thing that it's understood you don't write fanfiction for, is money. The sole purpose of fanfiction is to tell a story to the best of your ability. There is no need to write for a specific market, to worry about revenue streams (there are none, no I'm not counting Amazon or Wattpad. No, really.)

Fanfiction writers are usually respectful of the source material, which is not the same thing as accepting it without challenge. Henry Jenkins' work on Textual Poachers is something to give a try, if this is something you'd like to explore more of.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SwRI/R.Gladstone et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage (AURA/STScI)

As I've found out in discussions with other fans, and by lurking online, the writing and sharing of fanfiction also serves an important transformative purpose. This comes from the chance to indulge in self exploration in a safe and supportive environment. Browsing through online forums such as AO3, I've come across ideas and concepts that are new to me, and must be just as new to some of the writers. It's difficult sometimes to come to terms with parts of your identity, either through not being able to "come out" to your friends or community, or sometimes not even understanding what it is you feel. By writing and exploring these ideas, its possible to explore parts of your identity, desire, feeling. This transforms lives, promotes understanding and acceptance. If you let it - it's a challenging experience at times.

I was concerned that parents wouldn’t want me working with their children if they knew that I’m the kind of person who engages in complicated debates about Omega reproductive organs and reblogs drawings of Sherlock Holmes tied up and getting rimmed by Dr. Watson.
The use of pen names to protect the identities of writers may seem pretentious, until you remember the impact the introduction of legislation such as Clause 28 in the UK, banning the "promotion" of homosexuality as a "normal family relationship", has on free speech elsewhere. This specific legislation may have been repealed, but there are plenty others that are similarly harmful still in place. Here's a piece from the perspective of someone who felt the need to remove evidence of their fanfiction online once they started working with special needs children.

Another aspect of the transformational nature of fanfiction is related to visibility. Though you might enjoy a work, it can't help but reflect the worldview of the creators. This won't always be as inclusive as it could be. Fanfiction offers the place and opportunity for the exploration of stories and characters marginalised for whatever reason in the source material.

There are some issues though. The platform for fanfiction appears to have moved from paper printed zines to online, though most are OK, this has led to some heated exchanges. The Mary Sue has an interesting article in Defence of So-Called Bad Fanfiction. How did people abuse each other before the Internet?

You think you haven't read fanfiction? Some of the finest writing has come in response to other works, reworking the material. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys throws a different interpretation of Jane Eyre through the simple device of telling the story through Rochester's first wife Antoinette Cosway. Or how about the Good Man Jesus and The Scoundral Christ? Other examples are listed here.

Fancy giving fanfiction a go, but don't know how? TV Tropes has a terrific page showing you where to start. There's another good article on the Mary Sue called How to Offend Everyone and Make Yourself Cry: Writing Diversity in Fanfiction

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Picture courtesy of NASA, their royalty free resources are available online here