Been buying a lot of things from Housmans recently. It was nice to pop by the 'zine box and see #5 of Athemaura on front display!
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Girls Get Busy arts/feminist collective have a 'zine distro! I never knew of it till this month, and promptly ordered a couple of 'zines. It's wonderful seeing arty feminist 'zine work like the one that they produce themselves (for they stock others' zines too - you should get in touch, if you make something) - celebrating women and exploding myths and being positively creative. Amidst unique drawings and photography and collages, there are also some thought provoking articles written by young feminists. I loved reading about Kim Gordon doing a talk about her start in musical life at an event called Women in Media Women in Music in the USA, as well reading about as women calling into question if you 'qualify' as a feminist or as anything you make a stand for if you dress or are a certain way - and the response from the event organiser being: 'I am perfectly qualified for the things I want.'
Girls Get Busy Zine Distro Girls Get Busy Tumblr site Girls Get Busy Art Exhbition Launch - online, this Saturday 15th Feburary! You would not imagine that a short stroll away from the chaos of Kings X station there could be such a cosy, colourful, ethical little food joint as Vx (Vegan Cross). It has become my new haven on the way home from work. Delectable cakes and a whole host of gourmet snacks and foods are packed in to this tiny but wonderful space. There are also shoes, bags, t-shirts, books, zines, and really useful food staples like burger mix, falafel mix, and 'cheese' options. Everything vegan.
I am vegetarian, but I am quickly incorporating more and more vegan variety into my diet. The pesto is so much nicer than the dairy option in the big supermarkets,for just one example. There's a brilliant vinegarry piquancy to it, and since there're no additives, it's all natural, and it is so gorgeously addictive. I don't just want it on pasta, but on sandwiches or mixed into yoghurt for a dip. I've been sampling the vegan cheeses, because I need an alternative topping for pizzas, and there are some good things here for me. I also bought my first pot of Engevita flakes, full of B-vitamins, which were nice on spinach salad, and on top of beans on toast. I think you can make a sauce with it too. I'm feeling so healthy and glowing these days, and vegetarianism still feels like an adventure to me; it's so much fun to buy from places like this. I bought a vegan calzone to snack on one day on the way home as well, and it tasted out of this world. I think meat-eaters aren't fully aware of what's on offer when they say vegetarian/vegan diet is limited - it's actually the complete opposite! I bought a cookbook from here called Please Don't Feed the Bears! I just can't wait for my payday again, so I can buy lots of amazingly tasty things from here again! Being so close to Housmans bookshop as well, it makes the Caledonian Road well worth stopping by regularly. I think there is a craft/cake shop along here that I need to try soon too. VeganCross It's National Libraries Day in the UK tomorrow! I hope to do some library love posts on here over the next few days, plus some library positive actions around where I live.
My current library books: The Waves by Virginia Wolf. Urien's Voyage by Gide. Most loved library loan recently: It Chooses You, by Miranda July. Some favourite libraries and why: Bangor University library (architecture, layout, grandeur, stock, smell of old books!), Milton Keynes Central (profound in shaping and supporting me as a teenager, excellent wide range of stock, and archive, architecture and layout), Performing Arts Library of Surrey (setting, as it's on a vineyard in rolling hills of Surrey! Also stock and staff and layout and huge, unique, precious archive and the smell of old materials), Stuart Hall library @ Iniva (fanzine collection, knowledgeable staff, valuable community facility), Westminster Reference (historical, architecture, traditional shelving and layout, and balcony with ladders to access stock!), Battersea (architecture, and also for the old reference library with its balcony), Guildford Library (interior layout), Hammersmith (architecture and stained glass windows, also the high shelves), Darlington Library (architecture, and staff that are kindly to the elderly), Stony Stratford Library (important small community library), Karl Marx Memorial Library (historical, layout, architecture, stock, so inspiring a place!), Poetry Library (knowledgeable staff, events, stock, archive, wonderful place). and so many more. Missed libraries: Kensal Rise library (closed by the council), York Gardens (services reduced). Favourite library memories: sitting cross-legged on the floor in a corner of MK Central Reference reading Shelley and Ginsberg poetry as a teenager, also reading music magazines there, borrowing the many CDs and books that changed my life, photocopying my fanzines, as a teen, and the excellent outdoor table-top book sales as a kid, doing work experience at various libraries as a youth, Stony Stratford library campaign, seeing British Sea Power play an amplified rock concert at Westminster library! I'm certain to have missed many libraries and memories here. I will come back and write more soon... Feel free to re-post a similar style blog, or to comment. Spread library love! More zine making activity recently!
Creativity and culture and politics are central to my life and inform my ways of living, and that shouldn't be attacked as wrong or odd, and it certainly oughtn't to be viewed as selfish or lazy, either, that makes no sense! So this was my way of vocalising about me not being conventional and not appreciating assumptions/conventions being imposed on me. I also broach labels/labelling and to have/have not and what feels to me like 'comparison culture'. I went along to a feminist group meet recently, and I just want to note how empowered I left the meeting feeling, both as an individual and about the potential for positive actions and changes. I am not alone, and there are things we can do, either to project messages and affect change, or to offer solidarity. The word 'sisters' was used, and I loved it!
I'm going to write about this experience in much depth for a future 'zine, but so saying, it was actually refreshing to consider feminist issues outside of a 'zine / 'zine community context. As an aside to this, I was startled that nobody in the room knew of 'zines, and I started to cite distros and collectives, and could have gone on and on. I do hope to integrate 'zines into the group, and to merge my two passions, for the greater good. |
AthemauraEnthusiastic about 'zines, libraries, gardening in the city, independent book shops/record shops/cafes, vegetarian and vegan, London in all its variety, local living/community. Archives
November 2014
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