Some days it feel like conservatives simultaneously claim ownership over the idea of “values” and “morals” while criticising “the left” as overly emotional. Equally a lot of alleged progressives have let them do this, seeing values as describing somethings backwards and irrational rather than what it is – prioritised ethics. But there are things I
When you walk into a psychologists office they offer you a seat a glass of water and a stupid question: how are you? Fine. How to begin? At some point I learned how to walk, younger than most, started out running my Nana tells this story about an open front door and
There are contrasts and you’ve got to laugh. I am nearly finished university, brushing out my hair at the top of the stairs, the longest it has been in eight years when the boy I had first cut it all off for walks by. He hadn’t noticed at the time. When the man who tried
Blinkingly, I stick my head outside my cave. The sunlight seems foreign to me now. It stings but in a strangely comforting way, like antiseptic on a grazed knee. Words are not so easy when all the communication I’ve done lately is long distance or through the medium of Gilmore Girls marathon. Isolation can be
This would feel like the middle of a beautiful friendship if I wasn’t explaining where I’ve been – again and this might take a good few lines. See, I know I didn’t say goodbye, I do that, I’m sorry. Ask people who use to know me. I just drop off the face of the earth
We crossed the huge cable bridge that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland as Tom told us about the many naval battles that had been fought in the waters around us throughout history. It was hard to reconcile the sparkling views with where Cervantes, author of Don Quixotes, lost an arm. Athenians and Spartans alike
In August of 2011 took one of those “How Long Will You Live” online tests that ask you about your health and habits – just for fun really. I did quite well actually as my expected death age, of 86 years, is 5 years ahead of the curve for my generation. But that left me with
Topkapi Palace closes early in the mid-afternoon and fills up fast so if you want to see Istanbul’s most iconic Ottoman palace before the crowds at the gates become unbearable than get there before half ten. It’s 25 Turkish Lire (TL) inside and another 10 TL to see the Harem area which was in my
“Never forget who you are and where you’re from.” Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 9/10 There is no way I could speak about censorship or banned books in the modern age without discussion Persepolis, my favourite political graphic novel. It is written by French-Iranian Marjane Satrapi about her life from Pre-Revolution Iran to the modern day.
“A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and run deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sand in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.” Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: 8/10 I was not a
