Issue #4 by AMPLITUDE

#o4

#o1 #o2 #o3

Prometheus Rising Comment by Rich Purdon

Thomas Heaphy Interview by Catherine Ford

All You Have To Do Is Listen Words by Paris Jean

#o4 #o5 #o6

Dreams and Determination Profile by Lucy Munday

Bedroom Interview by Emma Dauris

Raw Words by Paris Jean

A Founder & Creative Director Emma Dauris Executive Editor Rich Purdon Writers Catherine Ford Lucy Munday Paris Jean Photography Alex Ciaramitaro Lucy Munday Special Thanks Noah Kittinger Tania Fisher Thomas Heaphy

www.amplitudemag.tumblr.com amplitudemag@gmail.com

Editorial #o4 Welcome to the second print edition of Amplitude! It seems appropriate to open our new issue with a note on how much smaller this edition is compared to our previous issue No3. Yes, it’s smaller but remember we’re a small team and through creating #o4 we’ve learnt that we may not have the energy to publish a magazine every month with such an extensive collection of articles, as we so thought when we first began this project. We love learning by the process, and by learning from our mistakes, we’ve decided that from now on we’ll become a tri-annual magazine. Publishing a Spring, Summer and Winter edition of Amplitude. What we will continue to deliver is a collection of work, that aims to find outstanding talent in art, music, writing and culture. Talent that we feel matches our strong ethos of good vibes and positivity. So look upon issue #4 as an taster of many great things to come. And until then, have a wonderful summer. We have a feeling that this will be the summer of love, the summer we’ve all been dreaming of. See you in September. x

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Prometheus Rising Why the Darkness Sparks Our Imagination Words by Rich Purdon

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Prometheus, as classical scholars and keen YouTube viewers will know, was the ancient Greek who first stole the secret of fire from the gods. For this he was punished, condemned to be tied to a rock and have his liver torn from his body every day, over and over again, by an eagle. Over 30 years ago, a similar visceral story was unfolding on cinema screens across the country as audiences watched in horror while John Hurt’s internal organs were spattered across the ground by a less familiar creature. Something Alien. The film, created by Ridley Scott and based on the book written by Alan Dean Foster a few years previously, rended the silver screen in 1979 and was still terrifying audiences decades later. I know because I was one of them. Although the story was already a pop culture icon for many years before I burst onto the scene, I still remember watching the slow-burning story unfold for the first time in the late 90s. It still fascinates me today. The idea of what is unseen being more effective than what is seen, the idea of your imagination of what lies in the shadows being far more terrifying than what could be illuminated. This is what keeps viewers coming back to it, the reliance on your personal fear of things that go bump in the night is as old as nature yet as fresh enough to make your heart thump in your chest. This month, Ridley takes us back into the unknown with the film widely described as a prequel to Alien, although those directly involved with it say it is more of a standalone film in its own right. In the words of writer Damon Lindelof, “if the ending to [Prometheus] is just going to be the room that John Hurt walks into that’s full of [alien] eggs, there’s nothing interesting in that, because we know how it’s going to end. Good stories, you don’t know where they’re going to end.” Prometheus is billed as a film of ideas and concepts - even one of the teaser trailers was a three-minute clip of a TED conference being given by Peter Weyland, played by Guy Pearce, and set in 2023. His presentation is on the ascent of man, the ideas that changed the world as our evolution accelerated throughout the decades and centuries. But this film is about origins, the

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idea of using our advances to discover more about our beginnings, stealing from the gods something very ancient to put the incendiary concepts into our own hands. This search through the unknown to discover where things came from was perhaps at a peak nearly 100 years before the original Alien was released, when the Victorian explorers journeyed through the lightless African jungles to find the source of the Nile. Names such as Livingstone, Stanley and Speke were the mortals searching for the source in the central Africa, which had previously been undiscoverable to the Greeks and Romans and so was symbolized by the image of a God wearing a mask to depict its mystery. With colonial rule established in Africa by the early 20th century, expeditions looked further afield, to South America, for the new unknown. The Amazon basin is still largely uncharted territory, the vast jungles obscuring ancient tribes and civilisations with layers of vegetation and religion. American explorer Hiram Bingham announced the discovery of Machu Picchu to Western scholars in 1911, inspiring waves of searchers to enter the Amazon region in search of lost cities of gold.T he Spanish Conquistadors had missed Machu Picchu when they colonized the region 500 years before, so what else was there undiscovered? What answers lay beneath the creeping vines? Besides the hunt for El Dorado, one of the things these explorers were looking for was an answer. They wanted to understand the mystery and know the truth of a vanished people. On the other side of the globe, nearly 50 years after the Bingham announced his discovery, another situation was developing in the remote mountains of Russia, in an area now known as Dyatlov Pass. In 1959, Igor Dyatlov was leading a team of nine ski-hikers through the Ural mountains when an incident occurred on the eastern shoulder of the mountain named by local Mansi tribes as ‘Kholat Syakhl’, literally ‘Mountain of the Dead’. It was on and around this prophetically-named mountain that all of the group would perish, leading to an alleged cover up by the Russian investigators that conspiracy theorists have claimed

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includes everything from extraterrestrial activity to nuclear testing and tribal voodoo. The official report from the time could only conclude that a ‘compelling unknown force’ had led the group to tear open their tents from within and head out into the 3 - 0° night, barefoot. A tenth man who was just lucky enough to fall ill at the final stop-off point, Yury Yudin would be haunted by one question for the rest of his life – ‘what really happened to my friends that night?’ It is the sense of not knowing, of being unable to make out the shape or sequence of events that took place in the darkness that has kept many imaginations and intellects returning to the story again and again. The facts that can be discerned from the discoveries of the search party do more to fire the imagination than calm it. Two sets of footprints led down the slope to a wooded area 1500 feet from the tent, where under a pine tree next to a long-dead fire were the bodies of two undressed skiers. Forensic investigations noted the branches were snapped off the main trunk up to a height of 15 feet, and traces of skin were found embedded in the bark suggesting the two had attempted to climb the tree, shredding the flesh of their palms in the process. 900 feet away from the bodies they discovered the remains of Igor Dyatlov, dressed only in underwear and clutching a small birch branch. Closer to the tent they found a fourth body face down in the snow with a seven-inch skull fracture, although pathologists concluded he died of hypothermia. The fifth body, found furthest away of all, was found with traces of blood in snow around her although there were no signs of a struggle. The rest of the missing party would be found two months later, during the spring thaw, buried under 12 feet of ice and snow. All showed severe injuries, including a fractured skull and crush injuries that shattered ribs and caused internal trauma, but had no signs of bruising or soft tissue damage. One doctor described the force exerted on the bodies ‘…was equal to the effect of a car crash’. The most chilling discovery was one skier found with her head tilted back and her mouth stretched open

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to reveal a missing tongue. These four were found fully clothed, although not wearing their own items of clothing, which may have been due to a panicked exit or later scavenging. At the funerals, relatives would describe a peculiar orange tint to the skin of the deceased, and that their hair had lost its colour and turned grey. Forensic analysis of their clothing revealed noticeable levels of radiation. During the investigation, another group of hikers camping 32 miles south of Kohlat Sykhal reported seeing a series of ‘strange orange spheres’ in the sky to the north. Further reports would document similar sightings over the following weeks. Military testing? UFO activity? Overactive imaginations? Certainly something occurred on that mountain in 1959 that led nine young but experienced ski-hikers to their deaths. It is these sparks of light in the darkness that tantalise us with their proximity to the facts and help our imaginations project more wondrous and terrifying visions than the sterile strip lighting ever could. According to the trailers for Prometheus, the plot involves a star map found in several archeological sites around the world, including Aztec, Mesopotamian and Magdalenian civilisations, which is then used as directions to venture into the place where no one can hear you scream. This search to the ends of the earth and beyond, this journey into a heart of darkness in a quest for enlightenment is what drives humanity in all of its scientific endeavors. As a species we will risk everything and make enormous sacrifices to steal this spark of wisdom from the gods themselves, the light bulb that can appear above our own heads. Part of the reason for this is our fear of the unknown, the ‘terror incognita’ of terra incognita, which constantly pressures us to move towards greater understanding and provides legendary tales that have enthralled us, such as Prometheus, from the dawn of civilisation to the present day. The stories of what we found, and what we almost saw, are what makes the legends that survive the passing of time undimmed, an eternal flame that burns in us all.

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Thomas Heaphy Bristol based artist Thomas Heaphy has been warned by his mother not to show his work to a psychiatrist. Working in a range of mediums, he concocts eye-wateringly colourful, intriguingly esoteric designs out of half a dozen favourite reference points. From several E.P and album covers to a deck of tarot cards, Tomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work exhibits his interest in letterforms, rootless symbolism and twisted shapes. In spite of what his mum makes of it all, we love it, so we went to meet him. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what he had to say for himself...

Words by Catherine Ford

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AM: Hi Tom. On your website it says you come from Brighton – how long have you been living in Bristol and do you like it here? Thomas: I moved to Bristol a few years back and one of the first things that struck me was the anarchic vibe and chilled-out atmosphere that seems to pervade and prevail. There’s all manner of art shows, squat parties, D.I.Y stalls, free events, cheap restaurants, good independent venues and ever evolving walls. It goes without saying that the graffiti scene here is massive thanks in part to that oh-so-leftist-andliberal stencil guy whose name escapes me right now – Banksquoi, Bankney, Banker? A lot of my work draws from typography and letterforms so I feel

somewhat inspired just stepping out of my house. I’m currently living in a flat overlooking a halfway house so the screams from the gutter wake me up constantly but at least my dreams stay interesting. AM: I bet! A lot of your designs feature anti-slogans and intricate lettering. Is it just graffiti which influences you? Thomas: Ha. No, I’m into all sorts: calligraphy; western tattoo art; surrealism; I guess what you could call ‘punk rock aesthetics and ideals’ if you weren’t bothered about people thinking you were a twat. I mainly use Indian ink, spray paint, acrylic and water colour – and very often a scanner and a computer right at the end.

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AM: And what are you working on at the moment? Thomas: Over the last week I’ve been busy making a Dreamachine after reading a bunch of interviews with William S. Burroughs and Genesis P-Orridge from Throbbing Gristle. It’s basically this devise which emits a rapid flicker. You stare at it with your eyes shut (if that makes sense) and you start seeing all this tripped-out hypnogogic imagery. Some people see the faces of strangers and mystical symbols – I mainly see geometric patterns and bulbous, highly coloured forms. I downloaded the plans off the internet, sprayed some card black, chopped out the holes and glued it together. I had to make a light out of a load of crap from Wilkinson’s and it sort of dangles in the middle. Then you stick the card on a 45rpm record player and, hey presto, you never have to leave your house again. I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have fits whilst watching Pokemon. Apart from that I’ve got some t.shirts in the pipeline and I’m in the process of making a zine which is going to be quite a mixed bag-a-zine (no?) of pen drawing, collage, computer manipulation and writing. Expect

visual weirdness and experimental lunacy. Maybe a slight departure from my current style... AM: There seem to be more artists living in Bristol than you could beat off with a stick. What advice would you give to someone trying to break into the scene? Thomas: I wouldn’t want to beat off any artist unless I was getting paid! Jokes aside, if you like doing whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it. Chances are you’ll find some other people who like it too. Oh, and you might have to work for free to begin with.

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ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN

THE MAN WHISPERED “GOD SPEAK TO ME” AND A BIRD SANG BUT THE MAN DID NOT HEAR SO THE MAN YELLED “GOD SPEAK TO ME” AND THE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING ROLLED ACROSS THE SKY BUT THE MAN DID NOT LISTEN IGNORING THE THUNDER THE MAN STOOD IN THE RAIN AND CONTINUED TO YELL “GOD WHY DON’T YOU ANSWER ME?” AND THE RAIN STOPPED AND UPON HIM SHONE THE SUN BUT THE MAN LOOKED DOWN IN DESPAIR THE MAN KNELT DOWN FULL OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELING ALONE SOBBED “GOD WHERE ARE YOU?” AND A PASSING CHILD THREW ARMS AROUND HIM AND KISSED HIM BUT THE MAN SHOUTED “NOT NOW “ AS HE PUSHED THE CHILD AWAY THE MAN STOOD UP TO DO HIS DAILY

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CHORES AND FULL OF SELF PITY HE SHOUTED LOUDLY “GOD WHERE ARE YOU?” JUST THEN HIS HORSES NEIGHED TO HIM AND HIS DOG WAGGED ITS TAIL WITH LOVE BUT THE MAN LOOKED THROUGH THEM CONFUSED AND FEELING ALONE THE MAN CONTINUED HIS SORROW UNTO THE NIGHT “WHY DON’T YOU CARE GOD?” HE WHISPERED AND HIS DOG PLACED ITS HEAD UPON HIS KNEE FEELING TOTALLY FRUSTRATED THE MAN STOOD UP AND PUSHING HIS DOG AWAY LOOKED TO THE SKY AND SHOUTED “GOD WHY DON’T YOU EVER LISTEN?” AND CHURCH BELLS RANG THEN THE MAN LOOKED AROUND AND SAID “GOD LET ME SEE YOU” AND A STAR SHONE BRIGHTLY

BUT AGAIN THE MAN DID NOT SEE THE MAN SHOUTED “GOD SHOW ME A MIRACLE” AND A LIFE WAS BORN BUT THE MAN DID NOT NOTICE SO THE MAN CRIED OUT IN DESPAIR “TOUCH ME GOD, AND LET ME KNOW YOU ARE HERE” WHERE UPON, GOD REACHED DOWN AND TOUCHED THE MAN BUT THE MAN BRUSHED THE BUTTERFLY AWAY AND WALKED ON THE MAN CRIED “PLEASE GOD! I NEED YOUR HELP” AND AN EMAIL ARRIVED FROM THE WOMAN OF HIS DREAMS AND AN EMAIL ARRIVED TO TELL HIM HE HAD GOT HIS DREAM JOB BUT THE MAN DID’NT BOTHER TO LOOK HE JUST DELETED THEM AND CONTINUED TO CRY. copyright@2012byParisjean

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Dreams & Determination: Interview with actress Tania Fisher Words & Photography by Lucy Munday

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From an early age Tania Fisher wanted to be an actress, she didn’t always receive the support she needed for this dream, but she’s getting there and writing about her poignant, hopeful journey in the process… (text by Lucy Munday) ‘As a child I started watching weekend matinee films and I instinctively performed all the time. I used to pretend the curtains in the living room were theatre curtains; I’d open them and make up plays and perform to no one.” “I would be performing in the classroom, making up dances and plays, which mum hated… [When] I discovered Shakespeare,

“In conversation Dad would say, ‘Oh well. You like it, it’s a hobby’, and I would [think], ‘oh, that is so hurtful’… Over the years I’ve trained, I’ve fought, I’ve put my heart out there. It wasn’t until he saw me in Neighbours that he said to my sister in law ‘I guess she’s an actress”. “At school I always got the leads in every production and…when I was fifteen, during work experience at a PR office, I naturally gravitated to the guy editing a promotional film; the whole process fascinated me. One day [he] said I had a great voice and would I be interested in doing the voice over for a TV commercial. I

“I use to pretend the curtains in the living room were theatre curtains; I’d open them and make plays and perform to no one” at the age of eight, I would read it in secret by hiding my copy of Romeo & Juliet behind a Math’s book My Italian immigrant parents didn’t have educational opportunities afforded to most and theatre and the arts industry was something so foreign to my parents, so it was hard to explain to them that you’re entering a career in it, which provides absolutely no stability both emotionally and financially! “They both worked hard and provided the best education money could buy… but I was turning into someone that [mum] couldn’t relate to; she still had hopes I might be a doctor or a lawyer.

said yes and have been doing professional voice-overs ever since.” I starred in an independent feature film, went to the Cannes Film Festival twice, once as an actor and once as a producer, did a lot of amazing travelling, lived overseas for two years, performed with the Garrick Theatre in England, and have guest starred in TV shows.” This has all been encouraged by her love of film noir, nostalgia films and Jerry Lewis, who has been a huge influence from an early age, and supported her dreams without even knowing it. “Jerry Lewis [is not] a silly man who pulls faces…He invented

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Video Assist, was nominated for a Nobel peace prize, and raised billions of dollars for ‘Jerry’s Kids’ (who have Muscular Dystrophy) via charity telethons for over sixty years… He’s an incredible professional, he’s a genius and beautiful and generous… When I’ve had a tough day, a rejection, I say, what would Jerry do? Because I know that he would work harder at this turning point… I had the opportunity to meet him and tell him how much I loved him. It was the most beautiful thing, I told him how much he means to me, as an actor, a film maker, a director, and as a beautiful person.” But before these wonderful things happened… “There was a chance for me to get a scholarship in Canada as an actress when I was around fourteen…and to go to NIDA after finishing high school, but this wasn’t allowed by my parents… I wasn’t to leave home until married... And in my ignorant naïve way I thought, ‘there’s a guy showing me attention, I’ll marry him, and then I’ll be able to do anything I want. Finally!” “Because I didn’t have… choice and [wasn’t] able to develop myself and evolve my own person, I therefore married wrong…and got married to someone who also didn’t support [my] acting. There’s a two year gap on my resume for those years I was married…I don’t think he ever actually intended to stop me, [but]… I was in a circular pattern – I marred what I was trying to get away from.”

“It’s really really rare; only six of seven people in the world have it, they don’t know what caused it, there is no cure, and I do have an estimated time of death”

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After a certain point her husband became abusive and Tania began to feel trapped and unsupported. “At that point I went, ‘Oh dear Lord! This man just wants me to provide an income, keep the house clean and give him babies.’ [My parents] loved that I had married an Italian boy, little did they know that when doors were closed he was hitting and abusing me… I felt I wouldn’t get support if I asked for help from them and when I admitted that he had been hitting me, mum’s response was… ‘Well, you must have done something to make him hit you.’ So she left her husband in secret. ‘I’d snuck

stance, making breathing very difficult, and scarring and damaging the lungs. “It’s really, really rare; only six or seven people in the world have it, they don’t know what caused it, there is no cure, and I do have an estimated time of death. “When the doctor told me ‘[there is] nothing more we can do’, I asked him to ring my parents and tell them direct because they wouldn’t believe it if it came from me. Dad understood and called me saying he wanted to ‘take care of me’… when they visited Melbourne mum caught me alone and asked me ‘did you ask that doctor to

“If people don’t agree with my actions or have a problem with me, it’s really not that important. If people are going to get upset because you want to follow a different path, just let them go and walk in peace” things out of the house and rented an apartment in secret.” “I found a strength I didn’t know I had after I left my husband, I felt so good about myself and I realised I could do anything.“ I think it was a gradual event, realising that… I was happy and got lots of acting work and things progressed. I [had] started getting very sick just before I left him and after I’d left I was diagnosed with a rare illness, called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis. I was twenty six and half.” PAP is a condition in which the air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs fill up with a milky white insoluble proteinatious sub-

ring us to tell us that you were dying’; I explained that, it was standard procedure to notify next of kin, [and] she said to my face ‘you’re not really sick, they’ve probably offered you anti-biotics and you just refuse to take them’”. It’s always possible that Tania’s mother couldn’t face the truth of what was happening to her daughter. Considering Tania’s upbringing, which she was able to talk about so candidly’ it’s understandable how isolating and insensitive a comment this was for her to have to hear. Tania, on the other hand, doesn’t allow

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this to bother her these days, nonchalantly stating “I’m terribly interesting!’ ‘Having a life threatening illness has lead me to lots of thinking, philosophical conclusions and awareness, and it’s kind of what the book [that I’m writing] is about. “[Writing] was kind of a natural expression that I was able to do, that was cathartic, I used to write poems when I was a kid, just observations of things that I felt. The film is my life; I had a tumultuous childhood, and I do feel for those characters who come across as seemingly evil and crushing of a child’s spirit, but I do take the opportunity to say, hang on, look where they came from. I don’t think you can ever have a purely evil character in a film because no one is born bad, how is the actor playing that character going to understand them and motivate themselves in the role… It helps you, not empathise, but sympathise a little bit. “I think people want to give life a go [after things like this]. If people don’t agree with my actions or have a problem with me, it’s really not that important. Do what you can now, but if people are going to get upset because you want to follow a different path, just let them go and walk in peace rather than spend your life worrying about it… it’s really no big deal. I’d like to get lots done and achieve some goals, but I can be relaxed about it because I believe in the after life so much.” I believe in remembering what’s important

and keeping some perspective, if someone is talking negatively about me, being rude or mean to me, I think to myself, ‘When the big rock comes and crushes us all, did this even matter?’ I’ve found what is important and meaningful to me - my inner happiness… When something makes you feel that good you just want to do it over and over again.”

“When something makes you feel that good you just want to do it over and over again”

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Bedroom Nashville based musician Noah Kittinger was Amplitude’s first love back in spring 2012 when we wrote our very first post, reviewing his debut EP ‘Toys’. Since then, Noah has encapsulated the hearts of many with his ability to reach into the depths of our souls; soothing our thoughts with whimsical haunting soundscapes, such as ‘Trees’ and ‘Falling’. We had the pleasure of catching up with Noah and finding out more on his chillwave pop project.

Words by Emma Dauris Portrait by Alex Ciaramitaro Images by Chance Currie

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AM: So since the successful release of your debut EP ‘Toys’ how’s everything been going? Did you expect ‘Toys’ to hit the internet by storm with so many positive reviews? Noah: Everything has been going pretty well yeah. I honestly didn’t expect Toys to get much attention; I just recorded it and released it. I mean I took it seriously and

intended on people hearing it for sure, but I didn’t expect it to hit the blogosphere so quickly. It seems to still be getting attention almost 4 months later, which is cool. The blogosphere works pretty crazy. It’s like once you get on a few blogs it gets passed around pretty quickly. AM: And your idea to release your debut on tape was brilliant. How was the re-

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sponse to that? Are you thinking about releasing future releases on tape, in keeping with that nostalgic romance? Noah: The tapes were really cool. I feel like a lot of artists in the indie scene have been releasing stuff on tape, I love it. It’s something new, but old and vintage at the same time. The response was really, really good. It was a super limited releas-

ing, only 24 were available and they all sold out within the first week pretty much. It’s crazy how people over in Japan and Portugal and other really distant countries bought a tape. It’s cool people actually care that much. AM: For a while you collaborated with Vinyl Weekend, posting music to his website, we loved that! Loved the friendship that

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is developing on the blogosphere between you and what’s his name? The two of you have started collaborating on a new project right, called Analogue Spheres? Well three people in total, who is the Brooklyn based person and where do you plan on taking Analogue Spheres? Noah: Johan, yeah he’s cool. I was running his blog for a few days, it was fun. Even

though I honestly had no idea what I was doing haha. Analogue Spheres was a blog that me, Johan, and Rafeal, he’s the one in Brooklyn, started a few weeks ago. But unfortunately, I didn’t see me as a blogger working out. I was busy with the album I’m working on and all, and I felt it was best to leave before they launched. So now it’s Rafeal, Johan, and some people from a blog called Hearing Gold, which is

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a really awesome blog. AM: What does the future hold for your style of music production, will you continue to make music in your bedroom or would you like to perform live, like an acoustic album that you could perform on the road? Noah: Yeah I will continue to make my

music in my bedroom for sure. I feel like it’s a really creative and personal environment, where I kind of pull myself away from reality and everything that’s bad. I couldn’t see myself going into a “proper” studio and working with “proper” producers because; to me at least, all creativity and originality would be lost. I’d have to allow other people’s opinions in on my music, which I don’t really ever do.

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So yeah, I’ll always be making music in an isolated state. As for live shows, I’m working on getting an Akai MPD32, which is basically just a device where I can take the stems of each song and layer them live and sing over it. AM: A lot of reviews mentioned how you created music to cope with emotions, mainly negative emotion; that ‘Tapes’ was a positive way to process such feelings. Can the same be said for now, are you looking back to the past to create music, or could we expect a more up-beat release in the future? Noah: Yeah my music has been said to be “depressing and sad”, but that’s good because that’s how I felt when making my EP. I felt sad. There aren’t many reasons for that though. Like, nothing really tragic has happened to me, so I guess a lot of it was/is internal emotion. But all of that makes for good subject matter when I make music haha. AM: You released a couple of tracks called ‘Falling’ and ‘Nostalgic Feel’ on Soundcloud a while back, which we absolutely love when can we expect to hear more releases? Noah: Both of those songs will be on my album “Vivid”. The official release date for the album will be announced very soon!

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Raw Words by Paris Jean Paris Jean is one of those rare artists who can write with quirk and eclectic charm. Author of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dollars & Diamondsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; a book we featured back in issue No3. We welcome Paris again and feature her words, in this issue Paris shares her story on Raw food.

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I would like to share my story with you of a very treasured learning process of how I turned to Raw foods. The Journey to get to where I now am has indeed been a long one. I like most people grew up a meat eater, but I always felt that something was not right with my way of eating, so I cut down on fats and like every other lost dieter, I calorie counted, but still something was not right, so I turned into a vegetarian, but I still didn't feel right, though I didn't know the reason for this and I certainly did not know why I could never feel satisfied with whatever I ate. So I sought Holland and Barrett and every other health shop as the answer to what I was looking for. But even this so called healthy way of eating was just not the answer that I seeked. My body and mind eventually had enough of living a false healthy life. It was at this point that my own inner voice and common sense suddenly opened my eyes and gave me a helping hand (or I would prefer to say it was God that took my hand) and showed me that I was on a continuous battle of self-destruct, I didn't need diets or health shops, they were and had not been the answer. I was in fact the one that was and would keep on being my own worst enemy, for I was the one that was poisoning my own self. I didn't need to find comfort in food or think that I was now some health Guru because I skipped many a meal and only ate from health shops. I realised now that I could either be a teacher or the culprit to my own destiny, because all I had needed to do was just listen to my body for it had all along been trying to tell me via weight gains, constipa-

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tion, bloating, skin problems, tiredness, etc... (That I had been the answer to my own question) Since going Raw I have felt an inner peace with myself and know now that the key of success all along lies within yourself, all you have to do is listen to your own body and it in turn will reward you with an amazing priceless quality of life which is free for everyone all you have to do is to step into Gods kitchen and stay. Choosing to live a Raw food life is not just about nourishing your body; it goes so much deeper than that, it goes to another level because you are in fact also feeding your soul and the body. Mind and soul all crave for natural foods, so by feeding your body and not your mouth you will soon benefit and reap the rewards that this clean healthy living brings. We are all on a journey and it is a well proven fact that if you walk the path of a Raw life style then an amazing transformation new guided way of life will be awaiting you. Soon you will have an increase of unexplained energy, your taste buds and sense of smell will become more sensitive, your body will slow down on the ageing process, all because of what you put in the inside will of course show on the outside. Your skin will start to look more radiant and have a sudden glow; your body will start to clean itself of all previous poisons as it goes through a cleansing process of flushing out the bad foods that have been stored in it, (which I call dead foods) Over time the dead foods that have been trapped in the body will cling on and cause a build-up of mucus, organ blockages and bad fat suffocation on your internal

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organs. But if given a chance the human body is good at repairing itself, (if you allow it to) there is no secret, this is no miracle, all you have to do is, no longer give it man made flavoured dead foods but instead give it only living foods, this also does include what you drink, your body will not be able to properly heal itself and so you will not see and feel the rewards if you eat healthy but still carry on to drink coffee for example (it is only water that your body wants). Raw fruit and Raw vegetables are full of enzymes, energy and live vitamins that your body needs and water is the natural drink that your body craves. There are many alternatives to the bad habits of manmade foods, such as for sugar use honey, coconut is also a great natural sweetener. You could even blend some dates with water and store in the fridge for a delicious natural sweetener. Another tip is instead of tea just sip hot water. Do not go near any packaged fruit juices (more poison) why go for second best, just make your own, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t beat fresh. If you are a grazer (as in tend to snack in between meals) then snack on grapes or fresh berries, there are so many alternatives to the manmade ways, and your body will thank you. All you have to do is open your eyes like I did and you will see that all around us is an amazing world of nature that is permanently full of the real foods and the most beautiful thing about it is, it was created just for me and you.

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