via gradiate

Jonathan Armstrong aka its_all_in_fun

Iron Range, Northern Minnesota - Sean Tubridy, aka tubes.

Wow. Long time no post here. I’m working on yet another update for this site, now that I’ve got a clearer idea of what this one needs to do, and how it will work in relation to the others. For the 19th and 21st of March, I’m sending a shout out to any of the young poets I’ve worked with to join me and other young poets at two very different events. Friday the 19th is a closed event – I’m bringing a group of teenage poets I work with in Dorset to London for the day, and I’d like to round things off with a sharing and exchange of poems between my guests from Dorset and some of the London poets I’ve worked with, including the Barbican Poets, starting around 17.30 and finishing around 19.30. Get in contact if you’re available and interested – I’ll need to keep control of numbers, so I’ll only be able to give further details to people who get in contact while there’s space available. Sunday the 21st is very much an open event. I’ll be at the Tate Britain as part of Charlie Dark’s “Bring the Noise” festival, sometime between 13.00 and 17.00. Can’t be more specific than that just yet (we’re still pounding out some of the details). There’s talk of a workshop and a performance. Watch this space for further updates, and holler back to let me know if you’re interested. Note: the Vineyard (the international community of poets I’m responsible for) will also be represented through a performance of commissioned work sometime that weekend. Eyes open for more details, to follow shortly.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-3-7):

Benjamin Dauer (21)

The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble (15)

Dorian Concept (13)

Ben Watt, Stimming, Julia Biel (8)

Andreya Triana (7)

Imported from

“Had I not been carrying an expensive camera I would have thrown my shirt off and ran in as far as I could to meet the ocean with a scream, the kind that sums up weeks of words unspoken, and then I would have had a strong laugh with the water and the birds I couldn’t see because they were hiding. Real life could have happened, but I had my camera with me.” - Peter McCollough, Seven Ways to Sunday

I’ve mentioned John Maloof in relation to bringing Vivian Maier’s work to light, but let’s not forget about his own photography…

Garmonique

Paul Octavious - Good Friends

Poster design by Mash Creative (via Some Random Dude)

Fell asleep round at Mum’s last night. The fatigue from this past week caught up with me and knocked me flat. Woke up at 3am for a couple of hours. Mum pretty much slept through - good to see her rest. This morning, on the way home: clear skies, clean light.

The manor’s on edge this morning. I’m en route to Bethnal Green - a teaching day at Morpeth. Heavy police presence outside Catford Library; an old crazy guy screams indecipherables as he walks over Catford Bridge, his whole face contorted around whatever he thinks he’s saying; in the station, at the end of the platform, a thick, male Jamaican accent explodes and expletes uncomfortably loud, turning heads. Spring’s in the air, but there’s an undeniable, underlying pall, a weight straining the seams. The gods must be crazy.

“Everybody’s going through something.” - Phenomenon- via julie911; quote-book

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-2-28):

The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble (23)

Radiohead (19)

Dimlite (10)

Ben Watt, Stimming, Julia Biel (8)

Fanu (6)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by

Haven’t really had any time for reflection recently. I got the news about Pops on Friday morning, just as I was about to leave to teach on one of my long term residencies. This week, I’ve had a residency at a Reading school, meaning 5am starts, but short choppy train rides that don’t allow for much rest or deep thought. Paddington to Reading is only 25 minutes. I’ve had a few free periods during the days, but half of them have been taken up with last minute requests from students who wouldn’t have had the opportunity to spend a session with me, or by sessions that teachers have allowed to overrun because the students seemed to be getting so much out of them. As soon as I get back home, I’ve dropped my bags and made my way to mum’s place, either to help with visitors or to just be there for her. Yesterday I was pretty much out on my feet. Today’s my final day.

The school is set within beautiful grounds. It’s a private school, originally a boarding school, with a grand old centerpiece building. And the students: keen and willing to engage, even if they’re not all 100% confident with their own creative ability - they’re turning out some fantastic work, and I’d have loved to have spent more time with them. If I was going to do any work this week, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be.

More and more, I’ve come to appreciate how much I’ve inherited from my mother. The teaching, the work ethic, how we thrive under pressure. She’s coping best when she has things to do. We like to keep busy. It’s the quiet moments that are most difficult.