This phone went unnoticed...A real pity..
Last i saw the only place you could get it in Europe is the french Ebay for around 200 - 250 euros,witch given its capabilities is a bargain ( A used Galaxy S costs that much in my country...). The only other place was Great Britain's Ebay but the price is like 4 times bigger... Sure it doesn't have 235235 core processors or a graphics card to rival a PC one..but only idiots buy phones for that..wasn't the idea all in one? Perfect camera with all other options there?
Perfect phone in my opinion.
I wonder why Canon, Nikon, Olympus, or Pentax can't come up with something like this.
Very, very interesting sounding android camera smartphone.
or larger screen to view resulting pictures???
I-Phone, you'd better watch out!
Why is this phone not on GSMArena's database?
Clearly it's a GSM phone.
In fact, why are none of Altek's phones on this site?
Hi, I love Altek Leo since I watched it on last CNET Asia 2010 at Singapore. It's an amazing phone. I want to know much more about its release in Europe or in Asian markets about price and features, especially if it could be update 2.1 Éclair to 2.2 Froyo.
Anyway I created an Altek Leo's group at Facebook if someone wants to join it and watch pictures & information about this device.
NONE , 01 Oct 2010which is better Altek 14MP-optical-zoom- or Samsung W880 AMOLED 12M gallery?Altek has been making cameras and I have seen their camera phones in Hong Kong (one with keypad and the other with touch screen) The price was cheap and picture quality was good. But end up I didn't buy it because it was not a 3G phone, unknown OS and the phone is kinda thick.
Now they have smart up to use Android OS. I am pretty sure the picture quality would be good but the size and don't know what kind of CPU they will be using.
hones from new companies, first of all.. Signal issues, then battery issues, them software bugs, then lack of android support .. They just wana fool everybody with a camera. Good try.
cool...i love cameras and android..
which is better Altek 14MP-optical-zoom- or Samsung W880 AMOLED 12M gallery?
Anonymous, 01 Oct 2010...and nokia has a much bigger image sensor, comparable to pana lx5, nikon p700, samsung ex1 a... moreWell, In a camera I would agree that 12Mps is too much.
But in a phone without optical zoom it makes sense, since cropping is the only way to zoom on that.
Plus you can use the extra pixels for video recording.
The Altek however has opctical zoom, so they should have focused on good quality, less pixel dense sensor.
But maybe, just maybe they will actually pull it of.
I could see my self getting this if the camera is Good. I really like how it looks just like a camera on one side.
And it works with SE liveview display, so most of the time the size and weight wouldnt be a problem.


text:
Hare' Kkaanch Ki Choodiyaan is a Hindi-language television series that aired on the Sahara One channel in 2005. The series premiered on 25 July 2005 and got over on 20 october 2006. The series started airing 3:30pm and was repeated in the 8:30pm slot. The series is produced by Percept Picture Company, and starred Shishir Sharma, Dharmesh Vyas, Rajalaxmi Solanki, Mihir Mishra, Bhumika Seth, Gunjan Vijaya, Krutika Desai Khan, Snigdha Akolkar in her television debut role, and Swapnil Joshi and Rajsingh Verma in the main lead.

Synopsis
It tells a story of middle-class girl Shyamlee, played by Snigdha Akolkar, and her gradual transformation into a woman of great strength. In her journey through life, Shyamlee faces many hurdles that she overcomes with tremendous grit and determination. She is often a victim of circumstances, but each time she faces the challenge and finally emerges a winner.

Cast
Dharmesh Vyas – Raghuveer Sharma (Shyamlee's jiju, her elder brother in law, is against love marriage)
Swapnil Joshi – Sunny Joshi
Rajsingh Verma – Male Lead
Shishir Sharma – Mr. Singhania
Snigdha Akolkar – Shyamlee
Addite Shirwaikar – Komal (Ravi's (Sharda's son) girlfriend, wanted to be an actress, but later ended up being married to him)
Rajlaxmi Solanki – Rashmi (Shyamlee's elder sister)
Mihir Mishra – Vikram
Bhumika Seth
Akshay Singh
Sonia
Gunjan Vijaya – Sania (Ravi's sister, Sharda's daughter)
Raj Logani – Apoorva (Mohini's son)
Krutika Desai Khan – Mohini – tarot reader and voodoo specialist
Krutika Desai Khan – Bahati – Wanted to be subscribed to बांसुरी विकृत, a magazine that fueled her desire for woodwind instruments

References

Sahara One original programming
Indian drama television series
2005 Indian television series debuts

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Childcare centres and car exhaust: A dangerous mix
New research finds that many inner Melbourne childcare centres are built close to busy roads, putting children near dangerous vehicle exhaust and highlighting the need for buffer zones
By Clare Walter, Dr Elena Schneider-Futschik and Associate Professor Louis Irving, University of Melbourne
There is increasing evidence internationally and in Australia linking a higher risk of asthma and allergies with exposure to traffic-related air pollution.
While there are no safe thresholds for exposure to traffic pollution, research has found that the health risk is highly correlated with the extent of exposure. And children are particularly vulnerable to traffic-pollution exposure because their lungs are still developing and they often spend more time outside than adults.
Research has found exposure to vehicle exhaust can increase the risk of childhood asthma. Picture: Shutterstock
Two major statistical analysis of past studies in 2012 and 2015 have found that increased exposure to exhaust pollution increases the incidence of childhood asthma.
The 2015 study found that every two microgram per cubic metre incremental increase in chronic exposure to particulate matter from car exhausts in early childhood, increased the risk of developing asthma in later childhood by 14 per cent.
Are Australia's roads giving you asthma?
So, with that in mind, how close do you want your child's childcare centre to be to a busy road?
Using the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network's spatial database, which collates information on Australia's cities and towns for mapping and analysis, we mapped the locations of inner Melbourne's 278 childcare centres.
We found that 29 centres, or more than 10 per cent, were located within just 60 metres of busy roads with a daily traffic volume of at least 20,000 cars a day. Some of these busy roads near childcare centres have well over double that load of traffic.
Given the emerging evidence, as health researchers, we think this is simply much too close for comfort.
But, there are no standards or guidelines in Victoria on how far from major roads childcare centres should be located.
There are no guidelines in Victoria on how close childcare centres should be located to heavy traffic. Picture: Shutterstock
Compare that with California, where guidelines have successfully reduced the exposure of children to exhaust fumes. The California Air Resources Board recommends that new schools be built no closer than 150 metres (500 feet) of a major road, defined as a road carrying over 50,000 vehicles a day.
Thunderstorm asthma: Counting pollen to save lives
An extreme example of how close some childcare centres are to busy roads in Melbourne is my own child's childcare centre. It's situated just 15 metres from the busy eight-lane Hoddle Street road.
An independent assessment of air quality at this centre in 2014, funded by the local council and accessed under Freedom of Information laws, found that over the three months from April to June, the fine particulate matter in the air (which can penetrate the lungs) averaged 11.4 micrograms per cubic metre.
That compared with the Victorian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual standard of no more than eight micrograms.
In addition, it recorded two instances where the EPA's hourly threshold standard of 25 micrograms was exceeded at 28.4 and 37.8 micrograms.
A new childcare centre is now being planned in Yarraville. Situated in Melbourne's inner west, Yarraville lies between container yards and the Port of Melbourne.
Exhaust from diesel-powered trucks can pose a greater health risk. Picture: Getty Images
Consequently, an estimated 20,000 trucks pass through its streets daily, and previous EPA monitoring has found that roadside pollutants exceed air quality thresholds.
The area also has the highest rates in Victoria of children presenting with respiratory disease at hospital emergency departments.
Cleaner safe air needs you!
This new centre will be situated on an intersection that will leave the children's second floor, open-air play area just four metres from where 4,650 trucks pass daily.
We can and should be doing better than this.
In California, over the last 20 years, polices have reduced the exposure of children to exhaust pollution, and these reductions have been shown to be correlated with significant improvement of lung function.
Importantly, these health benefits can be expected to extend into adulthood, reducing the risk of later cardiovascular disease.
Our policy makers need to be implementing mitigation strategies that match the best practices in California, including ensuring adequate buffer zones for childcare centres.
Reducing exposure to vehicle exhaust at childcare centres include buffer zones, restrictions on idling and walking there. Picture: Getty Images
Other strategies include:
Improving indoor ventilation and filtration
Imposing anti-idling restrictions
Installing road side barriers
Designing play areas away from exhaust pollution movements
Structure outdoor play for out of peak traffic hours
Encourage cycling and walking as opposed to driving to school and childcare.
The long-term benefits of controlling your asthma
The monitoring of air quality near childcare centres and schools also needs to be improved. Current official monitoring network. only measures 'background' levels of air quality when much more specific area monitoring is needed.
This is something that schools and childcare centres can now readily do themselves given the rising number of low-cost monitoring devices now available.
Lung health and development in children has lifelong consequences.
Health professionals must play an active role in raising public awareness and advocating for greater consideration of children's lung health in childcare centres.
Australia's National Environmental Protection Measures legislation is underpinned by the objective that "all Australians enjoy the benefit of equivalent protection from air pollution", but until we follow international examples and actively seek to reduce children's exposure to traffic pollution, we will fail our most vulnerable members of society.
First published on 30 July 2019 in Health & Wellbeing
Clare Walter
Honorary Research Fellow, Lung Health Reseach Centre, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
Dr Elena Schneider-Futschik
NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Louis Irving
Clinical Director Lung Health Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Melbourne; Respiratory Physician, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Director of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine and Director of Clinical Training, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Associate Professor Louis Irving, Clare Walter and Dr Elena Schneider-Futschik
Nursing our global youth back to health
Adolescents and young adults are usually left to last in the health care queue, but research shows we can no longer ignore them
The science behind Novichok
The British Government has accused Russia of stockpiling the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok to use in assassinations. An expert tells us how and why it's so deadly
Asthma sufferers can modify their risk of developing serious lung conditions in later life by controlling their asthma as an adult
How did a cockatoo reach 13th century Sicily?
Images of a cockatoo in Frederick II of Sicily's falconry book reveal how trade routes around Australia's north were flourishing as far back as medieval times

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This video is a collection of the best clips from YouTube about Apple Watch (previously referred to as the iWatch, but don't call it that), which is coming sometime in early 2015. Only a few people other than Apple employees have actually used it, but the video tells us just about all we know about it right now.
You can also get more information from the official Apple Watch announcement.
iPhone 6 Too Big for Women?


RE/MAX Crown Real Estate Ltd.
3 BR • 2 BA • 1800 sq.ft.
RM EDENWOLD $674,900 MLS#SK751863 Multiple opportunities in this lovely 40 acre parcel of gently rolling land, including country residential, hobby farm, equestrian boarding facility, storage facility. With a short commute to Regina, this property features an 1800 sq ft geo-thermally heated & cooled bungalow with renovated maple kitchen, newer stainless appliances, triple pane windows & shingles, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, gas fireplace (propane), sun room, hot tub, composite deck. The basement is open for development. The double garage has a removable heated mudroom. Buildings include 60 x 140 indoor riding arena, tack & box stalls, 70 x 200 outdoor riding ring, 40 x 100 steel quonset, fenced and cross fenced, corrals, mature shelter belt. Seller states good well, plus older bunk house, barns and other buildings. School bus to door. Call Sellers agent for private viewing. E.& O.E.


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The Friends of Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library meet once a month on the second Tuesday at 5:30pm. New members are always welcome! For more information about the friends and membership in the organization visit their homepage here.


text:
Short story writer & novelist. K Blundell Trust award-winning Author, Saboteur Award winning editor (Remembering Oluwale), fiction editor at Strix Magazine. Director of the Northern Short Story Festival.
Well, I think we can all agree that this year hasn't been one of the best. We've lost Prince, David Bowie, Terry Wogan, and Carrie Fisher, among others, and politically, it's been one of my least favourite years yet.
Despite that, I've kept busy with plenty of projects this year. The arts are so important in upholding values of decency and inclusion, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work on projects that uphold those values this year.
Here's my review of the year in pictures.
Riot! My Chariot of Fire publication
This summer, an artwork called The Aftermath Dislocation Principle by Jimmy Cauty, came to Leeds. Housed in a shipping container, it's a scale model artwork of a small British village in the wake of some mysterious civil unrest.
To accompany the visit of this artwork to Leeds, I put together a publication of some local writers and artists responding to the theme 'Riot'. We had some great writing and poetry in there from writers like Ian Harker, Gloria Dawson, Jennifer Isherwood, Boff Whalley and Lisa Bristow, among others. Copies were available free from The Chemic pub in Leeds, where the ADP was situated.
Gloria Dawson reads from the Riot! My Chariot of Fire Publication
Here's my friend Rachael Rix-Moore invigilating the ADP exhibition.
There were plenty of other performances going on during the ADP's visit to Leeds, including a performance by the Commoner's Choir, readings, and noise workshops. It was a joyful and celebratory few weeks, and I was glad to have had the opportunity to be involved.
Teaching for First Story
One of the things I was really excited about doing this year was teaching for First Story. They are a literature charity who place writers in residency in schools in the UK.
First Story anthologies
This year I started a Residency in Leeds White Rose Academies Trust, which will result in an anthology just like one of the ones pictured above.
It has been such a huge privilege and joy to work with the young people at the school. They constantly surprise me with their bravery and inventiveness. One of my students even got shortlisted in the First Story National Six-Word Story Competition!
Remembering Oluwale: an Anthology
Writer Catherine Vallely at the Remembering Oluwale Book Launch. Photo by Raj Passy
Towards the end of 2015, Max Farrar of the Remember Oluwale charity got in touch to ask whether I'd be interested in helping them put an anthology together in memory of David Oluwale.
Oluwale was a man who came to the North of England from Nigeria in the late 50s; he spent a great deal of his time in Leeds sleeping rough, where he was repeatedly victimised by two police officers, who assaulted and taunted him. He was later found floating dead in the River Aire. (You can read more about his story in Foreigners by Caryl Phillips, or The Hounding of David Oluwale by Kester Aspden.)
The Remember Oluwale Charity works to keep his memory alive, and to campaign to make the city of Leeds one which is more inclusive and welcoming. It's a great charity.
A writing competition resulted in an anthology, which was launched as part of the Northern Short Story Festival. The book is out now and available from Valley Press books.
Poet Cherie Taylor-Battiste at the launch of the Remembering Oluwale anthology. Photo by Raj Passy
Writer David Cundall at the Remembering Oluwale book launch
Remembering Oluwale: an Anthology, available now from Valley Press
The Northern Short Story Festival
2016 saw the launch of the first ever Northern Short Story Festival: a day of talking, reading, discussing, and workshopping, short stories.
We were lucky to have some amazing writers taking part in this year's festival. Avril Joy, Clare Fisher, Anna Chilvers, and many more, all took part.
Carys Bray talks to Richard Smyth at the Northern Short Story Festival 2016
The Northern Short Story Festival 2016 was a huge success - we saw all of the workshops sell out, and lots of positive comments on social media afterwards. Plenty took us up on our offer to talk small publishing with editors from Comma Press, Valley Press, and Tartarus Press; this kind of event is quite rare in the North of England, and it was clear that people wanted the opportunity to talk about short stories, and to find out more about the publishing world.
It was an exciting day, and afterwards we were all glad to get to the afterparty to have a drink to wind down. Boo Owl (from the Big Bookend) got a bit excited and rowdy. Here he is, having a go on a ukulele that doesn't belong to him.
Boo Owl plays the ukulele
I'm pleased to say that, after winning a grant from Leeds Inspired for next years' festival, there will be a Northern Short Story Festival in 2017 too - so watch this space for more news!
Fictions of Every Kind, and Writing on Air
Fictions of Every Kind at Writing on Air. L-R: SJ Bradley, Claire Stephenson, Jenna Isherwood
One of the really fun things I got to get involved with this year was the Chapel FM Writing on Air festival. Every year, the folk at Chapel FM invite writers and writing groups into their (frankly amazing) space, to come and broadcast a festival of live spoken word events.
Organising our programme is something I can't take credit for - Jenna Isherwood (pictured above, on the right) did most of the hard work. It was great to be involved and we're planning to take part again in 2017.
Jenna was also responsible for buying gifts for any brave participants who took part in the open mic at Fictions of Every Kind this year. It was she who was responsible for buying these majestic mug cakes, which were one of the highlights of my year:
Fictions of Every Kind Mug Cakes
Now I look back on it all - whew, it seems to have been quite a jam-packed year! I was glad to have the mug cakes on hand to keep me going.
Other things that were good this year were: I found a shop near me that sells old Ladybird books.
I saw this cool little boat and harbour while in Northern Ireland over Christmas:
Two of my own short stories were published this year: The Gordon Trask, on Disclaimer Magazine, and Maps of Imaginary Towns, on Litro.
I'm also looking forward to working on some more exciting projects next year. Here are some (just some!) of the things I'll be up to in 2017:
February to July - teaching a Comma Press Short Story Writing Course at Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds. There's some more information about the course itself here, and you can book your place online here.
February 27th - hosting Fictions of Every Kind: Treats, with short story writer Lara Williams and poet Suzannah Evans. If you're lucky, there will be more mug cakes. More information here.
March 2017 - taking part in the Chapel FM Writing on Air Festival.
3rd June 2017 - the second Northern Short Story Festival; programme and ticket information to be announced.
Late June 2017 - the release of my second novel, Guest, from Dead Ink Books. Details, launch events and readings to be announced. Watch this space for more information!
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Peter Hoeg
Radio Sunrise - Anietie Isong
Posted by S J Bradley at 04:37 No comments:
Labels: ADP riot tour, aftermath dislocation principle, Fictions of every kind, First Story, jimmy cauty, northern short story festival, remember oluwale, SJ Bradley, Writing on Air
Comma Short Story Writing Course
From February to July 2017, I'll be teaching a Comma Short Story Writing Course at Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds. The course is six months long, and consists of six two-hour workshops on the craft of short story writing.
Writing the course has brought me back to thinking about my own development as a short story writer. When I first started writing short stories, way back in about 2006, I had little to guide me. All I knew were the things I'd taught myself, and I didn't know many other writers - I certainly hadn't got many other writer friends at that time - and as I counted up the rejection slips for the stories I sent out, I often asked myself: where am I going wrong?
It was a very hard time, because although I knew I had some good ideas, and a level of good craft, I didn't have anybody to ask.
I've been thinking about this a lot as I wrote the Comma press course. Over the past 10 years of trying, failing, trying, failing, and finally trying, and succeeding, to be a short story writer, I've learned an awful lot. It wasn't until I first started reading Raymond Carver in around 2009, that things finally started to click into place.
The first Carver story I read was Neigbors. (There's a free PDF of it here.) It's short, like so many of Carver's stories - only 8 pages long, and on the surface of it, it doesn't seem to be about very much. A man and his wife agree to water a neighbour's plant, and look after their cat, while the neighbours are away for the weekend. Simple, right?
I read it, and found myself thinking: this story is simple... almost too simple. Nothing really happens! Where's all the drama? The exploding cars? The discovery of an affair? The slapped face, the knife in the back? Needless to say, and probably because I'd been reading so much of Roald Dahl's short fiction prior to this, I really didn't get the Carver love.
But something about the story stayed with me. For days afterwards, I kept on thinking about it. It was in thinking about the story in the following weeks that I came to realise - the drama is there; it's hidden under a veneer of respectability. It's lurking there, quietly, hidden amongst Carver's incredibly well-constructed sentences. It happened to me after the fact of reading Carver's story, as so often does with brilliant literature - I was hooked after the fact.
Can it really contain all the things I remember, I asked myself? So I read it again, and yes, it did. I was amazed that a story could have the power to make me continue thinking about it for days afterwards, and have further realisations.
The next thing I did was to take a book of Carver's entire published works out of the library. This book included the story So Much Water So Close to Home (originally published in Carver's collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love). This story, like so many of his other works, is incredibly short - just 7 pages - and yet it has everything. Drama - deceit - betrayal - an unbelievable sense of having the rug pulled out from under you; fully realised characters, a marriage and relationships that all seem completely real and believable - little wonder that Carver is considered one of the masters of modern realism. If you haven't read the story, I won't spoil it for you - I just recommend that you go and read it for yourself.
Carver was my first introduction to absolute mastery in short story writing. What he could do in just a few short pages has never since been equalled by any other writer, in my opinion.
In my Comma Short Story Writing Class we will discuss and learn from one of Carver's short stories; and in the following months we will discover, discuss and learn other short story writers too -- including several modern day writers. Each month the course will cover topics like structure, creation of tension, creating character, and editing and endings.
Every month there will be writing exercises - I will be asking every participant to write a short piece in every single workshop, so there will be plenty of time for writing itself, too.
Numbers on the course are limited - which will allow every participant the chance to have at least some of their work read and critiqued. At the end of the course, following our final class - which will be a session on Editing & Endings - all participants will have the opportunity to have their stories published in an e-Book by Comma. Two reduced fee places are available for writers who are single parents or in receipt of benefits - email Becky at Comma Press to book one of these places (address at the bottom of this link)
You can book onto the course through the Carriageworks website or by calling their Box Office on (0113) 376 0318.
Look forward to seeing some of you there!
Foreigners Caryl Phillips
Homeland Cory Doctorow
Posted by S J Bradley at 03:23 1 comment:
Labels: Carriageworks Theatre, comma press, getting short stories published, how to write a short story, New Writing North, short story writing workshop leeds, Writer north, writers leeds
Hello, I'm just updating my blog to let you all know that I am still alive, but that I've been so busy with my work lately there's been not much time to write on here.
In lieu of writing a proper blog entry, I'll just share this video, which is my current favourite YouTube video.
For now! Later!
America Franz Kafka
Raising Arizona Script The Coen Brothers
I'll be teaching a Comma Press Short Story Writing course in 2017, from February to July, at Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds.
The course will cover generating ideas, structuring a story, developing characters, use of voice, editing, and how to find opportunities to publish your story.
I'm really excited about teaching this course - it's the first one that Comma Press have offered in Leeds - and to be doing it at such a brilliant venue.
To book your place, please visit the Comma Press website.
Tainted Love Anna Chilvers
The Beauty Aliya Whiteley
Some new fiction online....
I've been away on holiday (see pictured), so that was good, and I'm also really pleased to have had two stories published online recently.
You can read "The Gordon Trask" online at Disclaimer mag, here.
You can read "Maps of Imaginary Towns" online at Litro magazine, here.
In other news, I'll be teaching a short story writing course, through Comma Press, in Leeds in the New Year. More news on that soon.
Uprooted Naomi Novik
Labels: comma press, disclaimer magazine, litro magazine, short stories, short story courses, Short story courses Leeds, short story courses yorkshire, writing courses yorkshire, writing yorkshire
Riot! My Chariot of Fire
"Leeds has been the site of over 20 riots over the years..."
Super chuffed to have edited & organised this Riot! themed publication, Riot: My Chariot of Fire, which features fiction & non-fiction by Max Dunbar, Jenna Isherwood, Gloria Dawson, Boff Whalley, Debbie Coope, Nick Allen, and Ian Harker, among others. The publication was very beautifully laid out by b-e-n-d design, and we are grateful to them.
These publications are FREE! and you can grab one by picking one up at The Chemic Tavern when the ADP Riot Tour exhibition opens from 14th-21st July. But, be quick! There are only 1000 of them and we expect them to go quickly, so don't miss out!
Tim Waters has designed this rather excellent interactive Leeds Riot Map, which you can view here:
Leeds Riot Map
More info on the events at The Chemic from 14th-21st July by looking at the poster below.
The Fishermen Chigozie Obioma
Labels: ADP Leeds, ADP riot tour, Boff Whalley, Chemic Tavern, jimmy cauty, Leeds Riot Map, max Dunbar
Some thoughts on Brexit
Some quick thoughts on Brexit:
Too many people think of Nigel Farage as a sort of comedy politician, a one-issue wazzock whose views can safely be ignored. But here's the truth - Nigel Farage is dangerous.
Here's a man whose party, UKIP, only have one seat in Parliament. Farage isn't even an MP! He lost his seat, South Thanet, in the last election. Yet, despite having no real political remit, and no real power in the UK Parliament, somehow this "comedy politician" has managed to bring about an EU Referendum, and even persuade 52% of the turnout to vote "out".
Yes, we know that he fought his campaign on lies - he was rescinding his promise to spend £350million on the NHS before the Leave vote had actually even been delivered - and we need to stay wary of him, and what he stands for. Many voters realising the gravity of voting 'Leave' on Friday morning - realised, only too late, that they had voted based on lies they had been told.
You think Farage is going to apologise? Not in a million years, and we'll be living with the mess he's created for generations.
Yorkshire voted out
It's a fact that fascism & right-wing views always rise in a recession.
We saw it in the 30s, during the great Depression, (it was a major contributing factor to the election of the Nazi party in Germany) and during the 80s. In tough times, people always look for somebody to blame for their troubles.
My adopted hometown, Leeds, voted in, as did the other two cities around it - Harrogate and York. Other places in Yorkshire - Barnsley, Doncaster, Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield - voted Out, by quite a considerable margin.
Many of the Northern cities that voted Out are some of the most impoverished places in the country. This government has been creating a North-South divide ever since it was first elected; it talks about a Northern Powerhouse, whilst cutting public services. The North has always relied heavily on the public sector, and we've lost up to 1 in 5 jobs here. There are places up here where whole streets are boarded up, with no jobs, nothing to do, and no prospect of things improving.
Even in Leeds, it's sometimes easy to think the government has forgotten about us. I can't imagine how much worse it could be in some of the smaller, surrounding areas.
When a one-man figurehead like Farage is seeking control & power, they're going to seek it through whatever means necessary. He's not going to go into Bradford or Blackpool or Dewsbury and tell the truth, which is: "Actually, all of you lot are suffering because the Tories have spent the past six years systematically cutting public services", or "Actually, the reason why you can't get a GP appointment is because the Tories have continued to underfund the NHS and increase GPs' workloads, so loads of them are leaving." Farage wants power and the quickest way to get it is to say: "You can't see the doctor because there are too many immigrants," or: "You can't get a job because they're giving them all to the immigrants."
He's played a blinder in playing on people's fears, and in sweeping up all of those voters who feel abandoned and powerless and forgotten.
Sadly, I think it's likely we'll see a rise in nationalism and right-wing action following this vote "out". Not everybody who voted "Out" did it for racist reasons, but too many did, and now they're going to feel vindicated, and more open in their views.
It would be wonderful if this weren't the case, but sadly a few immigrant friends have already shared how unwelcome they feel following Friday's "out" vote, so rather than blithely go "It's going to be fine! It'll all be fine! Fine!" I think I'm going to listen to them, and try to be active and do what I can to help and resist, and I encourage you all to join me.
So, I'll end by sharing parts of this rather wonderful Facebook post by Ewa Jasiewicz:
1) Don't hate on leavers, some voted for reactionary and racist reasons some for good reasons. Reclaiming power and taking control are what most people want in and over their lives, but the obstacles to that or the route to that are highly contested and influenced by 30 years of neoliberal hegemony, underwritten by establishment media.
2) Don't let the Right control the narrative and define reclamation - overcoming dispossession means redefining what should be ours on inclusive deep democracy terms - housing, education, public and health services, transport, energy, control over our own labour
3) join a union - we need control over work and workplaces and right now we're weak and the raid on our rights is coming as is division between workers incl migrant, youth and workfare workers. We need to organise and collectivise at work,
4) get involved in local housing struggles - your local anti housing bill campaign, you local tenants and Residents Association, your community garden. We need to find each other where we live, build relationships there, and resist social cleansing and dispossession of our homes.
5) stand in solidarity with all migrants. There will be intense 'othering' and racialising going on now, on the street and at the top of the political system. Have the arguments with people, challenge racism and prioritize and support black and brown and migrant voices in all political organising as it should be anyway to dismantle white supremacy and structural oppressions
6) get Corbyn and Mcdonnell Labour in to government in 2020. Make it happen. Don't give up on anything grassroots but don't give anything away and up in the parliamentary political sphere to the right and far right.
Owls Do Cry Janet Frame
Labels: Brexit, EU, EU and the arts, EU vote, Nigel Farage, Remain, UKIP
Remembering Oluwale: now available!
"Remembering Oluwale is an inspiring reflection on David's story. It includes extracts from recent books about David Oluwale by Caryl Phillips and Kester Aspden, as well as previously published poems by Ian Duhig, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sai Murray, Zodwa Nyoni, and a performance by The Baggage Handlers. This body of new and earlier writing serves as a clarion call for us to re-make our neighbourhoods as places of inclusion and hospitality."
The anthology I edited, Remembering Oluwale, is out now - available from Valley Press. It contains lots of great writing from Robert Miles, Zodwa Nyoni, Rommi Smith & The Baggage Handlers, Char March, and is available now from Valley Press.
Quick ways to infuriate other writers
I've been sitting on this blogpost for a while now, mainly because I didn't want to seem sourfaced. But then, after a good afternoon sucking on a grapefruit, I finally figured, what the hell, Bradders, just go for it.
Seven years of writing and organizing have brought me into contact with a lot of writers. I'm glad to report that most of them were amazing. I love writers, oddball, twitchy, socially awkward little things that they are. I'm one myself.
But, there is some writer-behaviour that I don't love. Ridiculous, demanding, diva-style behaviour. Writers with massive egos and chippy shoulders. Writers who believe the world owes them a favour, but that they don't have to do anything to earn it.
Over the past few years I've come into contact with some pretty extraordinary behaviour, and a lot of it has left me slack-jawed. It's not cool when writers hurt other writers or their community, so, I've done a little blog post on ways to be a good literary citizen.
If you all pay attention to it, and abide by my suggestions, you will be making the world a better place. Thank you.
1. Be nice! (especially to editors and contest organizers.)
Most of them aren't getting paid (or maybe some of the smarter ones are, I don't know.) Most editors / organizers Do Stuff because they're interested in a project, and because they want to bring great writing into the world. Most of us are doing it in whatever tiny bit of spare time we have. Please, for the love of God, be nice. Not snippy or mean or cross or whatever. Just nice. Say thankyou. Offer to buy us biscuits.
Otherwise we're just going to think, "Huh, what a jackass. I won't work with him/ her again in a hurry."
2. Be careful about asking for favours when you haven't got any goodwill in the bank.
Most writers are happy to do things for other writers. I know this because I do it myself all the time. Luckily, I've had lots of help from lots of cool people over the years, too, and I'm glad of it. I wouldn't have got to where I am today without it. (Thank you, writer-friends!)
One thing that won't endear you to others though, is if you're the kind of person who's always taking. By that, I mean, you ask for things from others without offering something of equal value in return. For example, please don't go to somebody you barely know, and say "Hey, I've written this 10,000 word fantasy/ horror story with flashing unicorns and sparkly vampires, it's TOTAL GENIUS. I'm entering it for a contest on Tuesday so will you read it this week and give me a critique before the deadline?"
Be reasonable in what you ask of others. Giving critique thoughtfully and helpfully can take ages. It's a real skill and it's a big ask of somebody you don't know.
It's not easy meeting good critique partners, I know that. A good way is by going to other places writers hang out. Go to literary social events, join a writers' circle. I met my first ever critique partner on MySpace, which gives you a clue as to how old I am. Seek out your peers - if you're a beginner writer, try to meet other beginner writers.
Be aware that if you're a beginner writer asking a more experienced writer for critique, any critique you might offer in return may not be an equal exchange. If that's the case, what can you offer instead? A book token? A good dinner? Money?
And whatever you do, make sure you help others. If you don't, you'll pretty quickly become known as the person who takes all the time, and nobody will want to help you at all. Word about life's takers generally spreads pretty quickly, and it won't be long before you've exhausted whatever goodwill you had to begin with.
3. Do stuff for others
Doing stuff for other writers is great! There's nothing other writers like better than a writer who helps writers. Some of the most well-liked and well-respected writers I know do things like: run little magazines, or run contests that get writers their first publications. One of the coolest and most well-liked writer-citizens I know, runs a writers' circle in a part of West Yorkshire that didn't have any writers' groups before.Yeah, I know, it's not easy running a writers group / a literary social / running a contest. That's why people will respect you so hard if you do it, and do it well.
You'll get extra bonus points and goodwill if you show kindness and helpfulness to other writers, when there's not much in it for you.
4. Try not to be a dick (pt. 1)
If somebody is doing you a favour, especially somebody who's very busy (you can assume this of most editors or literary organisers), let them do it in their own time. Don't repeatedly hassle them by email or over social media. It's rude and not cool. Just be gracious, wait patiently, and say thank you afterwards.
5. Don't be a deadweight.
If you get involved in working on a literary project of some type, a shared endeavour, whether it be a live lit night or a book or a festival or whatever, do your share. Don't be unreliable by saying you're going to do something, then not doing it. Do your share, do it well, be enthusiastic, turn up on time, and for God's sake smile. If nothing else, it will make your organizer-friends want to do more projects with you in the future. (see: 3, "Do stuff for others".)
6. Please don't be weird and super-creepy on social media (or: Try not to be a dick, pt. 2)
It can be tempting to approach writers / organisers on social media to ask questions. Fair enough! But, if somebody doesn't get back to you straight away - or if they've answered your question, and you haven't got the answer you wanted - please, don't get all weird. Don't start bombing them with @-replies or a bunch of super-creepy DMs. They are more likely to block you than to pay you attention.
A good rule of thumb is, treat Twitter as you would real life. Don't say things to people on Twitter that you wouldn't say to a person's face. There's nothing you want less than to be marked out as a Person Not To Deal With before a writer / editor / organiser has even met you in real life. Please! Don't be that guy / girl. Just be nice. Not creepy or aggressive or weird. Make yourself seem like the kind of person other people want to be around.
7. Try to be a great writer!
This is last but definitely not least. Work hard on your writing. Read lots of other writers. Buy books from independent presses, because they're the ones that publish the best writers. Go to bookfairs. Practise reading your work out in front of others (7a. Please be courteous and stay within the time limit. It's not a time limit "for others, but not for you". The time limit applies to everybody. This point could also be, "Try not to be a dick, pt. 3".) Don't assume that you're already a genius, because you probably aren't. Keep working, keep writing new stuff, keep trying to learn new techniques and / or styles. Read things that excite you, read things that are popular, read things that make you go "huh, wtf?!" Never stop learning and working and striving and growing.
A Song for Issy Bradley Carys Bray
The End of All Things Podcast
Or listen on Soundcloud by following the link here:
After Rob (the presenter) left my house, I found his list of questions. He'd left them behind on my desk.
I didn't have time to answer those questions in the podcast, so I'll answer them here on my blog instead.
"Do you make enough money to survive?" No I don't, not from writing. I won't go into exact numbers, but the most I've ever made from writing didn't even pay my share of the council tax bill that year. (FYI, our place isn't on Council Tax band Y, or whatever it goes up to. It's on the lowest possible one.)
"So what do you do to get by?" I have a day job. Not a particularly glamorous or exciting one, but it's one that I love. My day job is in the public sector, and involves helping people. It is nothing to do with literature development or writing or "The Arts" and I think that's good. It means I get to spend a lot of my time interacting with actual people, and that's one of my favourite things about it.
"Do you get Arts Council funding and if so, how does one do that?" No, I don't get Arts Council funding. I have never had Arts Council funding for my writing, or for any of my projects - except for a small pot of Northern Accent funding, which we used for the Northern Short Story Festival. Fiona (of Leeds Big Bookend Festival) and Linzi (at the Carriageworks Theatre) helped me access this. I wouldn't have been able to access it on my own, because it's tied to the venue (The Carriageworks) and also because I don't know how to get Arts Council funding for things.
The thing is, I've been taking writing seriously for about 7 years now, and I still have no idea how the Arts Council works, or how it distributes funding, or how even to apply to it. I think the Arts Council should make it easier for people like me to get money to support their work. Applying for any sort of funding at all seems to require a level of knowledge that most artists / writers don't have. I think the Arts Council could make applying for arts funding much more accessible, especially for writers & artists in the North. Being able to apply for arts funding seems to be a discipline in and of itself, and it's not something many writers are good at (and why should they be? Learning to be a good writer is a full-time occupation in itself.)
(Note: there is a writing development agency in the North which does distribute literature development funding in the North, but most of its efforts seem to be focused on the Sunderland / Newcastle / Durham area. It doesn't seem to run or support projects based in West Yorkshire - I'm not sure why this is, though it's possible that West Yorkshire isn't within its remit. I'm also not sure who to ask about this, or how to apply to said writing development agency to run a project in West Yorkshire myself. You see? Complicated!)
So that just about sums it up! I hope you enjoy the podcast and I look forward to hearing your comments on my thoughts.
Winter Dan Grace
The Wave Lochlan Bloom
Labels: arts funding, arts funding north, end of all things podcast, leeds big bookend, northern accent, northern short story festival, remembering oluwale anthology
Jimmy Cauty's Aftermath Dislocation Principle: Submissions sought
This summer, Jimmy Cauty's artwork the Aftermath Dislocation Principle will be taking a RIOT! tour around the country. It will be arriving in Leeds from the 14th-21st July.
We are gathering riot stories, poetry, and narratives to publish in a newspaper / fanzine to appear as a companion piece during its time here. The newspaper will be given away free, and all authors will retain copyright to their work.
We are gathering stories and poems in response to the theme of 'riot'. Accepted pieces will be published in an accompanying newspaper which will be available, for free, when the Aftermath Dislocation Principle lands in Leeds.
Perhaps you were caught up in a riot? Perhaps you were a bystander, or your business or family were affected? Perhaps you were (or are) part of a radical community group involved in self-organising, in doing things differently, or in doing something riotously amazing. Whatever it is, we want to hear from you. We can also print black & white images, so if you want to send a photograph or image that goes with your story, please send us that, as well.
If your story is a true one, please include a year or date which tells us when your story took place.
We are also accepting creative responses - stories or poems - on related themes, too. Stories or poetry which reflect off themes of riot, disruption, destruction, uprising, community work, and radical approaches, are all welcome. A 'riot' doesn't always have to be destructive: we're also talking about riots of the mind. Radical approaches can be creative and positive - they don't always have to be about smashing things up. We are open to receiving anything that you think matches the theme.
Please send your submissions in .doc format (2000 words or less for prose please, 30 lines or less for poetry)
When submitting your story / piece to our project, please also give us a short description of what your piece is in the 'further information' box as you submit. This will help us to keep track of things!
Submit using our Submittable portal, here
Liam Brown Real Monsters
Labels: A radical history of Leeds, aftermath dislocation principle, DIY Leeds, get published, jimmy cauty, Leeds, leeds writers, poetry, short stories, submissions
Organising the Remember Oluwale Writing Prize
It feels like such a short time ago that Max Farrar of Remember Oluwale first contacted me on LinkedIn, to ask whether I'd be interested in helping organise a writing contest, and anthology, in memory of David Oluwale. That was last November. Now we're in April and about to publish our shortlist, and I can't believe how fast the time has flown.
The Remember Oluwale Anthology was a joint venture between myself, my organisation Fictions of Every Kind, Remember Oluwale, and The Big Bookend Festival. We're very happy that Valley Press agreed to publish the resulting anthology quite early on in the process - before we'd even started taking entries.
I've done a lot of work organising the writing prize, and editing the anthology (with help along the way from lots of people - we'll come to that in a minute), and wanted to do a blog explaining the process we used to run the competition.
Once Fiona Gell (of the Big Bookend), myself, and Max Farrar had all agreed that we wanted to run a writing contest, things got moving pretty quickly. Valley Press got onboard early on, and said they would be happy to publish the book - in which we were planning to publish the longlisted contest entries, as well as previously published works by writers like Linton Kwesi Johnson, Ian Duhig, and Kester Aspden. Max did an excellent job of recruiting an amazing panel of judges, which included Marina Lewycka (of 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' fame), poet Ian Duhig, and Caryl Phillips (who has written extensively about David Oluwale's life and death.)
This was great news and gave us momentum to get the writing prize running.
As the charity's work is to raise awareness of 'David's issues' in cities - marginalisation, immigration, mental health, and homelessness - we were all agreed that we would invite poets and writers to submit stories and poems that reflected on these issues. We did this because we all felt that 'David's issues' were a wide and current issue, and we knew that writers would have a lot of interesting things to say about them. We agreed our themes and contest rules, and Fiona got the contest page up on the Big Bookend website.
I took advice from a colleague more experienced in running writing contests, and set a submission window 3 months long. This way, he told us (thanks Wes!) we'd be sure to get as many entries as we needed.
We took entries from 20th December - March 6th, and recruited an excellent team of filter readers - 5 people in total - all of whom are practising writers themselves, who either read for existing literature magazines, or are literature professors, or who have a Masters in writing or cultural practise, or a combination of all of the above. We were lucky to find such a great reading team, and all of them get a thanks in the book.
We took all of our entries through Submittable. This was for two reasons: one, because it cuts down hugely on admin (very important, when you're running a writing contest in your spare time) and two, because it allows for "blind-reading."
"What is blind reading?" I hear you cry? Well, it's a system whereby the filter readers don't get to see the author's name. It's a much fairer way to read submissions, because it doesn't allow the readers' prejudices - whatever they may be, we all have them - to impact on their reading of the work. So, each reader had a selection of 15-20 pieces each, which they read without knowing anything about the person who wrote it. Not their gender, or their background - nothing. This seemed important, as it means the readers had to choose (or not choose) work, based solely on what they saw in front of them.
Submittable does charge a fee - not huge, but it was one we thought worth paying, given that it allowed us to read the entries 'without prejudice', if you like. It also made running the contest much easier. Our contest entry fee was only £3, which is a total bargain when you compare it with some of the larger writing competitions.
We had 70 entries in all. The readers did a great job of reading these thoughtfully, then choosing a few from their pile to go forward into the anthology. If the readers weren't sure about an entry - and this might have been because they didn't know whether it was relevant enough to 'David's issues', or because they were on the fence about whether or not they quite fit in the anthology - they let me know, and these pieces went for a second reading, by somebody else in the team.
This process produced a longlist of 26 writers, all of which will be published in the anthology.
One thing that we did in this contest, which is quite rare, was that I kept up a high level of communication with the entrants. I sent 'decline' responses to those writers whose pieces we hadn't selected for the longlist, and 'acceptance' responses to those whose we had. Most writing contests don't bother to do this - they just let declined writers find out, by default, when the longlist or shortlist is publicly published. Having been on the other side of the fence so many times, as a writing contest entrant, and knowing how it feels to find out that you haven't been shortlisted by reading a list on the web.... well, I didn't want to treat entrants to our contest that way. Luckily, our submissions portal made it very easy to remain in contact with entrants, otherwise I would not have been able to do this.
At this stage of the process, everything started happening all at once. We were on a fairly tight deadline to get everything in to Valley Press on time, so there were lots of things to do.
Max Farrar and Sai Murray started sourcing previously published works to go into the anthology, and they also worked on whittling the longlist down to a shortlist of 10. This shortlist was to go on to be read by the judges, who will select and award the four top prizes. (More on the shortlisting process, later.)
Whilst all this was going on, I was receiving the previously published works, and collating the longlisted contest entries to go into the anthology. I was doing loads of different things all at once at this point: going through a light editorial process with some of the writers (where I had spotted errors or omissions in their pieces), getting writers' bios (for the contributors' notes section in the end of the book), looking for and correcting typos; getting Max's introduction for the book, writing my own introduction for the book, putting it all together into a single document; making sure the same font was used throughout, checking and double-checking for errors and typos, making sure the formatting made sense.... basically, all the things that you don't notice when you're reading a book when they're right, but the first thing you notice when they're wrong.
I spent about three weeks constantly glued to my computer. I got backache and my eyes started to go funny. I legit thought I was going mad at a couple of points. (It was all ok in the end, though.)
At the end of March, breathing a huge sigh of relief, I sent everything off to Rosa, our lovely editor & publisher at Valley Press. She was very complimentary, and also very pleased that we'd got everything in on time to meet our projected publication date, of 3rd June.
A thing nobody often tells you about publishing: lead times are long. It's not as if you send a manuscript into a publisher, and they print it out, and hey presto! next week, you're holding a book in your hands. Things take much longer than that. Publishers need time to typeset your work, to proofread, and to design the cover. In our case, Sai Murray (or Remember Oluwale) will be designing the cover. If you ever work with a publisher that doesn't spend time doing these things, you're going to end up with a very shonky-looking book indeed. Ours will be at least 2 months from me sending everything to Rosa, to the book actually coming out - and that is an unusually short timeframe, for publishing.
I promised you more about shortlisting. Choosing the best pieces for the shortlist was not an easy task at all, never is. By the time we were down to a longlist of 26, we had a lot of very good pieces to choose from. All of us in the organizing party - me, Max, Sai, and Fiona - all had our favourites. And they did not coincide at all. Literature: it's so subjective. I produced one 'wishlist' for the shortlist, of 9 pieces; Fiona did the same, and so did Max. They were all completely different. (Apart from 1 or 2 pieces that appeared on all three lists.)
So, Max and Sai developed a system, using points awarded for various things like: how relevant the piece was to David's issues; how well-written it was; how creatively it approached its subject. How can you award points for creativity, I hear you cry?! Well, the answer is, none of us is completely sure. Like I said, it was tough.
There were lots of pieces that nearly made it into the shortlist, then at the last minute, didn't. There were pieces we all argued over and pieces we defended to the death. There were lots of things that we all liked a lot (including a couple of my personal favourites - not that I'm bitter) that didn't make it onto the shortlist. That is shortlisting for you, I'm afraid.
In the end though, Max and Sai discussed it and produced a list of 10 pieces that we could all agree on, and which will soon go forward to the judges for their deliberation.
It has been a great privilege to be involved with this project, and I have learned so much during the course of it. Not just about editing and running a contest, but also about David's story, and about how important stories and poems can be in bringing his story back into our consciousness.
My huge thanks go to Fiona Gell for all of her help & support, for my co-organisers at Fictions of Every Kind for the same, and for Max Farrar for having suggested it in the first place.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick
Sweet Home Carys Bray
Labels: david oluwale, max farrar, remember oluwale, remember oluwale writing prize, sai murray, the big bookend festival, valley press
So, as you may gather, I've been pretty busy lately. A bit too busy to update this blog.
One of the things I've been doing, is programming the first ever Northern Short Story Festival. We have so many great writers here in the North, so much talent, that it seemed wrong not to have a festival to celebrate it. Some of the writers appearing include Alison Taft, Avril Joy, Anna Chilvers, Barney Walsh, David Martin, Clare Sita Fisher, Benjamin Judge, and Carys Bray. It's a great programme (even if I do say so myself) and best of all, if you can't decide what to go to, you can buy a day ticket for £20!
View full programme for the Northern Short Story Festival here.
The other thing I've been doing is organizing and running the Remember Oluwale Writing Prize, in collaboration with the Remember Oluwale Memorial Association and The Big Bookend Festival.
Entries closed on Sunday, so we are reading at the moment. I'm glad to say that we have had some absolutely amazing entries to far, and the resulting anthology (to be published by Valley Press in June 2016) will be a great testament to David's memory, and to the work of the Foundation.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet Becky Chambers
EU: my opinion
Really frightened about the prospect of Britain leaving the EU. Mainly concerned that Nigel Farage & Boris Johnson's idea of "victory" is for them to sit around, eating porkpies and braying "ha ha! We won! We won! Our country is GREAT again!" whilst the rest of us live in wattle & daub huts, working 20 hour days and living on foraged nettles. And maybe the occasional turnip, for a treat.
I'll be voting to stay in & for what it's worth, I hope you'll join me.
Home Toni Morrison
Labels: Boris Johnson, Brexit, EU, EU vote, Nigel Farage
The Remember Oluwale Writing Prize
(Image from David Oluwale Memorial Association webpage)
I'm currently helping to organize the Remember Oluwale Writing Prize, a collaboration between Fictions of Every Kind, Remember Oluwale, and the Big Bookend Festival. Shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology published by Valley Press, and four winning entries will win cash prizes. We are really pleased to have an amazing judging panel of Caryl Phillips, Marina Lewycka, and Ian Duhig.
David Oluwale came to the UK from Nigeria in the 60s, in search of work and a better life. During his years living in Leeds he faced a range of issues like mental ill health, victimisation by members of the police, homelessness, and worklessness. His life and shocking death are written about in more detail, in Caryl Phillips' book Foreigners, and in Kester Aspden's book The Hounding of David Oluwale.
We may notice that some of the issues faced by David -- mental ill health, marginalisation, homelessness, displacement, and racism -- are issues faced by many in our city centres today.
The Remember Oluwale charity was formed following a call to memorialize David in Leeds City Centre, by poet Caryl Phillips. "The charity's aim is to reflect both the city's woeful neglect and persecution of David, and on the signs of hope contained within his story.. The charity suggests that Leeds has to do more to address multiple issues of marginalisation and exclusion. Anyone, of any background, colour, or class, can and does experience many of David's tribulations. In a world in which mass migration is promoted by war, environmental degradation and acute economic inequality, and in a city where social problems are increasing as public expenditure falls, 'David's issues' are interlocking and they are multiplying."
For more information on how to enter the contest, please go to the Remember Oluwale Writing Prize page on the Big Bookend website.
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
The Shapes of Dogs' Eyes Harry Gallon
Labels: caryl phillips, david oluwale, david oluwale writing prize, ian duhig, marina lewcyka, remember oluwale, remember oluwale writing prize
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A couple of years ago I presented at a major conference on crisis and risk communications and several of the highly respected speakers talked about the need to "partner with the media" in communicating with the public about major events. My under the breath reaction was: good luck with that.
Since I got engaged in this crisis and emergency communication business fulltime over ten years ago one of my strongest beliefs has been that we need to first of all focus on direct communication to those people who are most impacted by an event and those whose opinions about us matter most for our future. One of the reasons for that firm belief was my experience in trying to "partner with the media" and the disastrous results that sometimes, very often occurred. In fact, I would have guess that about half of all efforts were disappointing if not outright infuriating.
Now the highly respected firm of Burson-Marsteller has documented this experience. This, in my mind, is one of the most important studies to come out about media relations in general but crisis communication in particular. I would advise a careful look at this study. I haven't looked at the mechanics of the study so can't comment on the way it was done and how solid it is, but I can tell you that it conforms to my own experiences.
For those who want the headline version, if you send your important messages to the media, at best you can expect 50% consistency with your message and what the media actually does with it. But that is better than what happens with it in the blog world, where the consistency drops down to less than 40%.
1) Go direct–plan ahead of any event to communicate directly through email, phone, text, website, whatever to the public, impacted citizens, elected officials, investors, customers, fenceline neighbors–anybody who is important to your future.
2) Rumor management — you now know that when you send it to the media and into the social media world is almost certainly will turn into something different than you intended. That means communication is not about sending it out and letting it takes its course, it is a continuing process of distribution, correction, challenging false reports, and providing continuous updates.
Here's the bottom line: So many think that public information management is about sending out a press release and the job is done. That is hopelessly naive and that approach is guaranteed to cause great disappointment and quite likely loss of trust–and maybe loss of job.
My questions and suggestions on the future of crisis communication raised some eyebrows, including at Ragan Communications who is re-publishing an edited (improved) version of my last crisisblogger post. I really appreciate the discussion that ensued on crisisblogger and would like to address a few very interesting points.
Organizational leaders tend to be operations or financial experts with an occasional lawyer thrown in. Not surprisingly, they do not think like communicators and seldom focus on the fact that the organization's reputation is ultimately more important than this or that lawsuit, the urgent restoration of production capacity or next month's stock price.
The crisis communicator's job is to remind them of this and to assure that authoritative, repeat authoritative, information and context are made available to all relevant audiences with the greatest possible speed.
I completely agree. In training we just completed last week at our office with PIOs and communication leaders from several major organizations, I emphasized this point exactly. The goal of a response is to build trust and it depends on two things–taking the right actions and communicating well. The communicator must help response managers to understand what actions are "right" actions from the point of view of the critical audiences because ultimately they will be the judges of the response and will make the decisions about whether the leaders and the organization deserve their trust.
Commenter J.D. hit the nail on the head: If the crisis manager is one who only shares information, crafts messages and writes releases, then the future has already passed him by. Perhaps a decade ago. And perhaps that was Gerald's point?
Exactly my point. But I work with communicators, PIOs and leaders of organizations every day where this needs this message needs to be continually repeated. We are still fighting today's public information battles with old strategies and outdated technologies. Until communicators and their leaders understand how much the world has changed, the same mistakes will be repeated.
The job of the crisis communicator today isn't so much put out a press release and then do some on camera interviews. It is much more about listening, evaluating, advising, and participating in the swirl of information and discussion about the event.
For several in days in February the major news story was the crash of a small plane into a building in Austin, Texas. This is the kind of event that is discussed here on this blog all the time and I was fortunate to have a front row seat of sorts to the public communication and news coverage of this particular event.
The City of Austin, specifically the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, is a new client having recently implemented our crisis communication system. While the agency's website was set up on this platform and ready to roll, the agency's PIO had little experience in working with the system. To make matters worse she, like several others from the office were in San Antonio for the Homeland Security conference.
I was sitting in a meeting in Houston when I was called out and informed that there was a plane crash into a building in Austin. The initial information we received, not from the City, was that the building may have housed FBI offices. The specter of a terrorist attack was immediately raised. We made contact with the PIO who was on her way back to Austin from San Antonio. We quickly informed her of the information that was being broadcast and that was coming via Twitter. She confirmed some of the information from her sources and we placed an initial statement on the City's OEM website—from Houston.
For the next day and half we continued in almost continual contact and pushed out a total of nine information releases. Since the city staff were out of their offices and away from their normal tools and systems, they could not push the information to their normal media lists. But we quickly built an up-to-date media list of all Austin media and distributed the releases to them. These were in addition to the almost 400 contacts of Austin area agency contacts and other officials that had been built into the platform.
There were several times during the incident that we were able to report back through the PIO new information that was emerging on Twitter. This information would quickly find its way into the news coverage which had geared up with remarkable speed.
The various agencies from the City of Austin soon formed a Joint Information Center using the OEM site as the focus of new information. News reports began to reflect a coordinated flow of information from the City. Clearly the most significant communication came from the several press conferences held at the scene of the crash and fire. But the PIO was able to maintain the relevant information on the website by calling us from the press conference and we would quickly add and update the information on the site. Plus the agency was able to very quickly and efficiently distribute updates on the fast breaking situation to the media as well as to numerous agency leaders and others in the Austin community.
I say "we" because those involved in supporting Austin remotely during this event included Kevin Boxx, VP PIER Systems and Timothy O'Leary, my colleague at O'Briens's Response Management. Direct support was also provided by Sandra Salazar, PIER's Project Manager located in Houston who was at a different location than we were. Geoff Baron at PIER's HQ in Bellingham, WA also provided direct assistance.
– Austin Police and Fire have received some strong kudos for their fast and effective crisis communication during this event—both from people within the community and from experts outside observing.
– Virtual communication operation, or the Virtual JIC, does indeed work as has been demonstrated in other events. But this event was particularly telling because of the speed of information flow between the PIO and those on the scene and those operating remotely to keep the updates going.
– Twitter and other social media are no doubt driving the information about an event of this nature. Reports coming from Twitter were almost concurrent with the event as some early "tweets" were from people witnessing the event as it occurred.
– Major media use Twitter and other social media as primary sources of news. When you see "reports" or "eye witness reports" in the media coverage do not think it is that they have talked to someone directly but are likely getting it from the many tweets or posts on the internet.
– The initial reports are virtually certain to be wrong—that is the nature of the internet and witnesses commenting from their perspective and speculating. But it is quite amazing to see how the online community sorts things out and gets to the facts faster than you would imagine.
– Where it used to be that official sources would be the primary focus of the media's interest a quick review of the media coverage will show that a primary interest of the media is to talk to eyewitnesses—often those same people who are reporting what they see or know (or speculations) via the internet.
– PIOs and public officials have to scramble very, very hard to keep up with, let alone try to get ahead of, this kind of instant information coming from so many sources. As the official source of the news about the event, their primary role becomes rumor management—correct false information as it emerges—rather than focusing on being the first with the news.
Congratulations are due to Candice Wade and the team at Austin for a job well done in very difficult circumstances.
A Fire Chief asks: Does ICS stand for "Information Communications Standstill"?
I've know Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Boyd for almost ten years–ever since we worked together on the Olympic Pipeline explosion, the event that got me into this crisis communication business. Since then I've not only come to respect him for his leadership skills and Incident Command capabilities, but for his deep and personal experience with managing information in this instant news/social media world. Bill was a Public Information Officer before he became chief, but more than that as Chief he has set some high standards for effective public information management including during the H1N1 crisis and the massive floods last year in the Pacific Northwest.
Does ICS stand for "Information Communications Standstill"?
As I am typing this my Twitter monitoring site is logging messages by the second about the huge earthquake off the coast of Chile. I am looking at pictures and comments from earthquake survivors, their relatives and others monitoring this disaster within seconds of being posted. The speed and amount of information being disseminated right now is staggering, and I am contributing to this situation by relaying pertinent information to my followers through Facebook, Twitter and PIER Systems (which also posts immediately to my city's internet news web site).
This unfolding and widespread crisis highlights the importance of strategic agility, speed and accuracy in disseminating information during a high visibility emergency event. As a Fire Chief and Incident Commander for a regional incident management team, I recognize the need to immediately implement and use all available information tools and resources to push accurate information out to the public. How many of you with Incident Commander responsibility understand this?
The days of a Public Information Officer (PIO) sitting down at a computer and generating a two paragraph media release a couple of times a day, and an interview here and there are gone. If you still think this is all the PIO really has to do then you might as well give them an old typewriter and carbon paper. As an IC, I "define the box" the PIO will operate within (giving them the flexibility and boundaries to immediately release information without me having to approve it). The IC needs to immediately set policy, validate key real time message concepts and then do the most important thing- let the PIO loose to do their job. As an IC in this day and age, I can ill afford to get further behind the information dissemination curve (assuming we are already behind thanks to social media, camera cell phones, etc…).
This also means PIOs must be skilled in creating short messages, and relaying them in the most succinct way (how would you relay an evacuation order on Twitter?). In the major events I have been involved with over the years, this type of messaging was not available. Now, it is the preferred method of communication by many. Yet, it remains foreign to many in the emergency response community.
IC's need to wake up and realize the impact of the explosive growth of social media and the resulting expectation for immediate and accurate information. If the public does not get it from Incident Command they will get it from somewhere else, relay inaccurate information and/or undermine your authority by venting their frustrations about lack of information.
Hey PIOs! How prepared are you in quickly shaping and distributing messages during a dynamic crisis event? If you are still using the "media release" tool as your primary method of distributing information, I suggest signing up for a free social media site and see how people are really communicating news and information. It is time for those of us with incident command authority to not only recognize the power of these tools and the resulting culture change, but more importantly take the steps to establish policy, secure training, and prepare to quickly deploy these tools during a crisis event.
Fineman PR out of San Francisco has published its top ten list of PR blunders for 2009. I did some analysis of some of the items on the list at emergencymgmt.com, but I just read this interview with Fineman PR head Michael Fineman and his advice is definitely worth passing on.
What's the biggest mistake in social media use in crises?
The only area I disagreed with Fineman was in his reference to having a webmaster as part of your crisis team. The webmasters for the most part come from IT and respond only to IT managers. For the most part in my experience they do not have the sense of urgency, the chain of command, or the mentality to truly be part of a crisis response team that has minutes to respond, not weeks. Communication technologies are very available today to give non-tech savvy communicators the full power of the internet, including managing content instantly, distribution of content in multiple modes, managing interactions and inquiries, and monitoring everything out there in traditional and social media. Communicators should demand nothing less because it is essential to meet the demands that Fineman so eloquently expresses.
The movement toward a true post-mainstream media world took another big leap forward with the announcement last week of YouTube Direct. There's been lots of talk, including on this blog, about how the 300 million plus people walking around with smartphones are the electronic newsgathering network of today. And how the news outlets such as CNN and CBS and trying increasingly hard to tap into this network of citizen journalists. YouTube brilliantly just made it a lot easier. While I confess I haven't looked at it in detail it looks a bit like combining YouTube downloading capability with some HARO (Help a Reporter Out) functionality. So someone with a cell video camera can capture something stunning like Tom Cruise jumping on a couch over his new love or houses floating by on a flooded river and immediately post that to YouTube, where it can the be easily accessed by media, bloggers or anyone else to share. Also, those looking for video on specific topics can request it or search and those with them can submit directly. That seems to be the idea as I understand it.
What this means of course is more access by anyone who is interested to the videos and information they want. The implications for crisis and emergency management professionals is significant. Now more than ever when you respond, the story will be told already. The chances of getting the first word in are remote–unless you completely control the exposure, such as if you are David Letterman and decide you will reveal the sordid facts and not leave it to someone else. If you don't control the first hint of what is going on, then by the time you can respond, the world–at least those most interested–will be already receiving a stream of relevant info. The real question for crisis managers and emergency responders is how do you manage an event when everyone who cares very well knows more than you do? That to me is the big question that we will be struggling with in the coming years.
I've been talking for some time about the rapidly growing role of monitoring as a critical part of crisis communication. Also been saying in presentations that social media and the online conversation is where so many people are going to get their information. That crisis communicators need to understand at best they will participate and the days of control over the information flow are over.
Being involved in a fairly major event in the past week has brought these lessons home. We are using a variety of means to monitor what is going on–everything from PIER MediaTools to view and clip media including broadcast, to Google Alerts, to Twitscoop.
1) Media monitoring shows a tremendous amount of media activity but a lot of it is from the fact that media are now major players in social media with their news websites. All print media as well as broadcast use their news sites heavily which makes for a lot of traffic, frequent updates, and a tremendous amount of linking by interested viewers via their blogs and Twitter accounts.
2) Local is global. This is a fairly localized event with only a smattering of national media attention, but the conversation is global. Those interested (or passionate) about topics involved are going to be jumping into the conversation heavily and will keep it going as long as it of interest.
3) People learn from each other. It's fascinating watching the online conversation and see many of the same news stories or comments showing up over and over on different sites. It's one of the reasons this monitoring is so important because invariably some get the facts wrong and unless the correct information is readily available or the wrong info is quickly challenged, it does not take long for it to become accepted. The only saying about a lie repeated often enough becoming the truth takes on new urgency in the viral world of social media because it can be repeated a hundred or thousand times in mere minutes or hours.
4) The conversation was always there–but now you can hear it. That is something that really strikes me about a big change in communications and crisis management. All major events stirred lots of conversation–dinner table, office chat, in bars and restaurants, wherever people gather. Except now they don't gather to have conversations, they do it by text, tweets, blogs, comments, all kinds of social media. And that means you can listen in on a lot of those conversations. Sometimes it seems its like the roar of too much conversation in an overcrowded bar. But if you focus in a little, you can hear fascinating things. And these can give you great insight into how things are turning, what the concerns are, what questions need to be answered, what information is going sideways, etc. In other words, the conversation will drive the communication response as much or maybe more in some cases than the events of the response itself.
5) Participate–not control. It's is still very difficult for most response leaders and those who have been in public communication for a long time to really grasp this. In this world of heightened conversation, you don't control the information. At best, you participate. But you do this by providing a continuous feed of of relevant, up to date information about what is going on. You can't participate if you insist on sticking to a one press release a day strategy. And you can't participate by putting all your eggs in the press conference basket–as important as it is. You participate by being the best, most reliable source for what is really happening. Then, you will find, as did in this incident, that soon your website will be given shortened url and sent around the twittersphere and blogosphere as the fastest, most relevant source of what is going on.
I blogged on this at emergencymgmt.com which is my blog more focused on government communication and emergency management. But, it may be of more general interest to those involved in crisis communication so, here it is. It's my crisis management take-off on an excellent post by Soren Gordhamer on the five ways social media has changed our lives.
Peter Shankman is a "rockstar" in the social media world. By that I mean he is one of the few celebrity speakers to emerge (and I'm tweaking him because he begged not to be called a rockstar anymore). I'm in Houston speaking at the PRSA Houston conference and this is the second time in a year my presentation has immediately followed Mr. Shankman's. The first was in Las Vegas last March at the Ragan/PRSA Social Media conference.
First, I want to say that he was a keynoter on both of these and I was a lowly breakout speaker–so I don't want anyone to interpret my comments as bitterness, not one little bit, well, maybe. Fact is, Peter is a very entertaining, highly energetic speaker with some serious social media pioneering chops (one of first to work for AOL for example) and he says some important and intriguing things about social media and where things are going.
The fundamental things he talks about (I think, since he talks so fast that a lot of older people like me have a hard time following even though in this case I was only a few feet away from him) I agree with when it comes to analysis of social media and where it is going. But on almost everything else of importance I disagree.
For example, social media is not mostly about getting dates, nor is life mostly about searching for your next girlfriend. It's hard not to come to the conclusion listening to him (and I've heard him twice now give essentially the same presentation) that his life revolves around sitting on airplanes (320,000 air miles this year? Yikes, I agree with your then girlfriend Peter who said get a life!) and finding his next conquest. And its hard not to conclude that for him that's where social media is largely focused–the examples he provided whether defining advertising vs, public relations or how the emerging "one network" idea all lend credence to this focus.
I also fundamentally and strongly disagree with him that if you are not tweeting a thousand times during his presentation you obviously don't give a crap about building your brand, or if you don't have 15,000 fans on your facebook page and you're not spending the early hours of every morning sending happy birthday messages to everyone you know, you have no clue what social media is all about. Peter, not everyone is a worldclass connector like you are, not everyone has time for this kind of activity and some of us treasure quality time with a few longtime friends rather than trying to build connections with strangers all over the planet.
And I most clearly disagree with him about David Letterman and Governor Sanford. His view, and he professes to speak for all of New York on this, is that no one will think ill of Mr. Letterman's or Mr. Sanford's behavior and since Letterman did such an admirable job of honestly and transparently dealing with his creepiness (Letterman's words, not mine) that the world will rush to forgive him. Also that the entire public relations community should look at this as a wonderful example of crisis communication.
I blogged on this on emergencymgmt.com and I couldn't disagree more. There are some like Peter whose moral values include the view that it is not only not wrong to sleep with anyone who consents, that there is something honorable about it. And that includes those who have made promises to their spouses in an ancient and clearly outdated institution called marriage. As I recall, the wedding vows still state that faithfulness and commitment are a pretty normal part of this arrangement. It also appears in New York or in Shankman's view of it, that it perfectly appropriate for a superior in an organization to use that position to influence the "consent." Even if you take a different view of morality than me, it is hard in this age where sexual harassment is illegal and broadly defined, that Mr. Letterman is going to escape some very reasonable accusations here. But to Shankman, all this is normal, reasonable, expected and I sense even honorable.
I asked the group I presented to right after Mr. Shankman finished what they thought of his presentation. They were enthralled–such is his attraction as a presenter (and why he gets the keynote invitations). But when I mentioned that I didn't see eye to eye with him on the issues I just raised and mentioned that I have been gratefully married to the same beautiful woman for 36 years and hope to continue on the rest of my life, I received warm applause.
So I suspect there are more than a few fuddy duddies like me who think that Letterman is a very funny and talented creep. And that social media has more to offer society than the fast hookup.
Note–after posting this I noted the pingback on my earlier blog about Letterman's future. I agree and wish I could have said it so creatively.


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Episode 11: Germaine Roberson
This of the podcast will be a deep dive that you will not want to miss. Host A.Z. Araujo brings on Germaine Roberson, a devout agent of A.Z. and Associates. He allows the podcast to catch a glimpse of the inside and see what gets him up every morning (@1:40am).
Build Your Body for Your Business | 066

In this episode of the Daily Reps, AZ talks about how he was asked a very important question and how he blew everyone away with his answer. If you want to grow your business . . . listen to the podcast and find out!
Episode 06: Josh Levario
By carlaandaz	—	10 months ago
Josh Levario is a badass real estate agent and paid commission artist doing his thing at the wise young age of 24.
In this episode, Josh gets into how he became an artist, the first time he got (as well as drew!) a tattoo, how he's creating a mural in AZ's home, what it was like starting out in real estate at age 19, and how his business is growing leaps and bounds.
"This is not about posturing. This is about real life, real people, and real estate." — AZ
Topic #1: Where A Great Lesson Turns Into A New Procedure
Josh walks us through the early days of becoming a talented tattoo artist, including when he first got started, who his first client was, and the biggest mistake he made on the job.
AZ commends Josh for doing so much even beyond real estate, noting how this has already been his most successful year by far.
AZ mentions how important it is to have and own up to other passions beyond just real estate, and how that can lead you to success.
"Everything's about the reps and everything's about the lessons." — AZ
Topic #2: Being Yourself So You Can Grow Your Business
Josh talks about when his business really started taking off, and how being his true self was really the catalyst behind that success.
Josh and AZ call out how passions are the fuel you need to get up and do your job at a high level over and over again, and how profession + passion = profits.
Josh recounts getting into the real estate game at 19 and how he found himself here by way of his early passion for reading.
"You're beyond just real estate, and that's what makes you a badass agent." — AZ
Topic #3: The Importance of Not Caring What Anyone Else Thinks
AZ asks Josh about a situation working with an investor in year one where he almost quit.
Josh describes how important it is to trust yourself and to not care what anyone else is going to think on the other side of a transaction.
AZ and Josh close out the show by reminding us all how we should always reconsider doing what others think we should do and just be ourselves.
"Just showcase yourself." — Josh
Dominate It! | 064
In this episode of the Daily Reps, AZ talks about dominating what you are working in. Don't just own it, be the best at it. Conquer it and set the standard!


What's The Expression? Never Judge A Person Until You've Walked IN Half Their Mocassins?
I just got half way to the bus stop to run some errands, and realized my boots felt weird. I thought one might be untied, but it turned out that I was wearing one boot and one sneaker.
I am debating just not even attempting to leave the house again until tomorrow.


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Whenever Love finds its way in us.
For without love there is discord.
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The Solo Wings Windlass is a South African ultralight trike designed and produced by Solo Wings of Gillitts, KwaZulu-Natal. The aircraft was also sold in the United States by Bateleur Sky Sports of Palm Coast, Florida in the early 2000s, under their own name.

Design and development
The aircraft was designed to comply with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight category, including the category's maximum gross weight of . The aircraft has a maximum gross weight of . It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in-tandem open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.

The aircraft is made from tubing, with its wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its  span wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. The landing gear includes suspension on all three wheels and a steerable nose wheel. The aircraft has been used for flight training and for this role has dual controls, including dual ground steering. The standard engine supplied is the Rotax 503  twin cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled aircraft engine. Wings used include the Aquilla  and .

In the early 2000s the company had planned to phase the Windlass out, but customer demand has kept the model in production through 2012.

Operational history
The aircraft placed well in a number of European microlight competitions and was used to set an altitude record of  in 1987.

Specifications (2000 model Bateleur Windlass)

References

External links

1980s South African ultralight aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Ultralight trikes
Solo Wings aircraft