nothing to see here

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 01 September 2004 15:28:11

like the mad teacher i am ashamed at the state of my blog, particularly in the light of other blogs. i think that in general it tends to reflect the state of my mind so for people who know me it may be vaguely interesting to keep up, and for those who don't... probably not so much.

Greenbelt - great. Caught up with a good few of the people I wanted to but failed to see any art or buy any books. Highly unusual behaviour for me (apart from the catching up stuff, that's pretty standard), and I heard so much about the Palestine exhibition thing that I do feel slightly irritated with myself for not making the time.

Had wanted to chat to karn ward about the stuff she's got going on in Seattle. I've thought for ages that something like their 'living:room' place would be excellent - in fact the one I have had in mind is called 'room'... so that's great minds or fools, depending. I might well never do anything like it (you do have to have the right mix of people with the right sort of resources at the right kind of time) but how inspiring to see something you've mulled over in your idle moments being done - and well - in reality. Just kind of missed her at the bloggers thing, decided i would see her around and then didn't. I guess there's always email or blog comments though!

finally, having been very impressed with her last year I unfortunately missed Anita Roddick this year (this seems to be a list of 'things I didn't do at Greenbelt') but am entirely inspired to read about her thoughts on the festival. Having heard on some grapevine or other that some acts are reluctant to play greenbelt (and I guess maybe that extends to speakers too) because of the stigma of the faith, I think more than ever that people who say stuff that ends up as a quote like this should get utmost respect and appreciation:

"It's really hard, when you have had your antennae up for most of these movements, to have completely ignored it. I have fallen for the zeitgeist that says anybody who has a religious inclination has no sense of rationale or intellectual understanding and therefore should be dismissed... I am cheering the Greenbelt festival from the top of every bloody mountain... for me, it's like a heartbeat... I'm ashamed of my bloody prejudices, but I'm delighted to be a convert. I find it wonderful." (Anita Roddick in Church Times article cited on greenbelt website - http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/news/page.php?id=283 - really i need a hyperlinks page or I'll just never understand...)