Issue 11: Education by Continue The Voice

11 Issue

continue the voice Education 11/09/21

EDUCATION

A letter to our Readers As August rolled around, schools throughout Scotland started back up after summer, and now September has hit, the rest of the UK is following suit. So naturally the theme of this issue is ‘Education’; not just from the perspective of adults teaching children in a school setting but instead in many settings, as well as children teaching adults and adults teaching adults. Personally, I am excited to wear jumpers again now and enjoy September with cardigans, fires and a cup of white hot chocolate. I personally adored reading: ‘Letter to the Stranger Who Gifted a Book’ and I love Sellic Studio Illustrations so much that I am probably going to get some to decorate my new flat. That’s all from me for now, so get comfy and enjoy the issue! Kirsty Taylor She / Her

Front cover by The Far Woods Magazine Design by Daisy Melnyczuk

CONTENTS

P age 06–07 Page 08–11 Page 12–13 Page 14–19 Page 20–23 Page 24–25 Page 26–27 Page 28–29 Page 30–31 Page 32–35 Page 36–39 Page 40–41 Page 42–43 Page 44–45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48

Power of a Dance Teacher Poetry Corner 1 Sellic Studio Illustrations Poetry Corner 2 Interview with an Author: Scout Sobel Letter to the Stranger Who Gifted a Book The Gallery: The Far Woods Art Things We’re Loving Playlist Sustainable Art: Kindheart Designs Small Business Spotlight: Super Scrimping Sophie Restaurant Highlight: Lucky Beach Coorie Moments Why does education matter? Call for Submissions: Halloween Coming Soon… Contact us!

The Power of a dance teacher I’ve been dancing for twenty one years. And In dance, I learned acceptance – of other I’ve known my dance teacher for longer than

people and their abilities and strengths, but

that. She’s seen me go from bumbling toddler

also of myself, of my body and what it could

to shy kid to awkward adolescent and into the do. Some parents worry that dance can affect woman I am today.

your mental health and make you more likely to have disordered eating habits, but for

Dancing is a unique thing – a lot of people go

me, learning in a church hall with no mirrors

to dance classes when they’re young, but few

and chairs for barres made me totally accept

continue past their teenage years, which is a

everything I could do as long as I was doing

real shame. And it really is a dance teacher

MY best. Then that’s enough.

that will make it or break it. The good ones will both challenge and encourage you – the Without turning this into a sob story all about best will push you further than you thought how great my childhood dance teacher was – you could go. But a bad dance teacher will she really is. So accepting and encouraging. leave a bad taste in your mouth – even if

The mantra at our school was ‘how do you spell

they’re a good teacher, but you just don’t click ‘can’t’? T R Y.’ Some may see it as trite, but I with them. They put you off the whole idea of think it works in any situation – and remember, dancing.

this is instilled in kids from age three and up – it’s got to be simple and effective.

Dancing is something that gives you so much (as well as keeping you fit). You learn self- As a part-time dance teacher myself now, confidence to perform, timing, an insane work- seeing the development of your pupils is such ethic, and also a drive to always do better and a thrill. And not even in the long-term. One

learn. And a dance teacher is the epitome of

of my favourite classes ever was teaching kids

that – by modelling it, they teach you.

about penchés and pirouettes as they were in

their dance, and I went around every one of

I would not have kept dancing for as long

them individually and gave them individual

as I have if it wasn’t for my dance teacher.

corrections to help. Seeing them try really

And honestly, when people comment on my

hard to apply those corrections, and the

dancing, I can say I got it all from her. I wouldn’t

concentration on their faces because of it,

have achieved a lot of the things I have done in

was just such an amazing feeling. You could my life if I hadn’t known what I could do when see them growing and learning by the minute. dancing. Steps are easy – there are plenty of And even if they had forgotten it all by the YouTube videos for that – but it taught me the next week, it didn’t matter, they were learning power of acceptance, encouragement and and changing right in front of me.

Photo by Jurien Huggins on Unsplash

Words by Grace Balfour-Harle. With an undergraduate in English and Legal Studies and then a Master’s in Publishing, Grace works in children’s magazines. She loves to dance, and teaches dance regularly. Working in the magazine industry has given her a passion for writing and publishing. She volunteers for the SYP Scotland committee to help other young publishers begin their career, as well as writing about dance in her spare time. She’s also a keen baker and loves to read.

confidence.

Poetry Corner I Wished to Teach

In the beginning I wished to teach. To reach those minds that wanted to be nurtured, expanded, The thoughts sparked within them transferred to paper By eager fingers, right- or left-handed. Then I landed opportunities to work with young minds Excited to pursue a life which taught them all kinds Of facts and skills. Little did I know just how little I knew. How little I grasped the effects of experiences I’d never been through. ‘Young minds’ to me had been only a few Small groups like us, like me and peers Who had no disruptions or threats or fears to hold us back. And no lack of anything. We were keen to learn, With space in our empty minds, free of worry and concern. I found that my desire to teach My desire to reach young minds grew stronger But no longer just those who wanted to be nurtured, I wished to educate myself, and in turn, To educate all those with no desire to learn Who, if given the choice, would never return To school. Or those who never made it in the first place,

. . . Who don’t see worth in approaching life at such a gentle pace And need to feed a family. To accumulate a form of wealth, To keep their siblings in good health. Let’s educate Those who think their life’s path simply falls to fate. Give them tools That extend beyond schools. Into life. Into being more than just somebody’s wife. Or the man of the house, responsible at fourteen For keeping the family safe and clean. In the beginning I wished to teach. But now I know to teach is to reach Those minds that need to be nurtured, expanded, The thoughts sparked within them transferred to paper by hesitant fingers, right- or left-handed. To give opportunities to all young minds And give them a life which will teach them all kinds Of facts and skills. And a chance to live a life which means much more than simply paying bills.

By Ellen Wagstaff. Ellen is a freelance writer, poet, theatre maker and educator with a passion for the power of art to raise awareness of social issues. She considers herself to be a politically motivated practitioner addressing a range of socio-political issues, particularly aiming to use artistic practices to raise awareness of social inequalities. Ellen’s experience of teaching in secondary schools and alternative provision has encouraged her to place value on education as a force for change. She now uses her writing, poetry and theatre work to spread the word about the power of education within her wider socio-politically motivated practice.

. . .

Photo by Tianyi Ma on Unsplash

A Computer, Dad Like going to the library

See, wasn’t that quick

only quicker

oh really

we can stay right here

a hen

Not a TV, a video monitor

Let’s try something else

to watch what is typed

no need to whisper, Dad

view search results

tomorrow’s lottery numbers

It can’t see you, Dad

No, it won’t tell you that

or hear you

okay I guess you’re right

no need to whisper

I’ll turn it off

Okay, I’ll ask it Rhode Island red rooster enter and presto

By Carl ‘Papa’ Palmer of Old Mill Road in Ridgeway, Virginia, lives in University Place, Washington. He is retired from the military and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enjoying life as ‘Papa’ to his grand descendants and being a Franciscan Hospice volunteer. Papa’s motto: ‘Long Weekends Forever!’

. . .

The Music Department Spittle and sheet music splatter the checkerboard floor. Miniature tone-deaf musicians grab instruments like candy falling out of a pinata. A shout from the chaos: ‘Strike up the band!’ As the trumpet players blow their horns their cheeks grow redder than ripe tomatoes. The tiny tuba player hunchbacks under the burden of her instrument. The strings tangle and twist like webs spun by drunken spiders. The percussionists duel with drumsticks, while the baritone’s fist punctures a cavernous hole in the bass drum. The flutist rushes to the nurse, her hair snarled in the long arm of a trombone. A gaggle of belly dancing girls smack the tambourines. But the proud saxophonist plays into the noise, No-one cares that the ‘music’ sounds like a cow dying in its pasture.

By John Johnson. John is a poet from McLean, Virginia, USA. His recent work has been published in Boston Literary Magazine, The Parliament Literary Journal, Sundial Magazine, and Unique Poetry. His website is: poemsovercoffee.com.

SELLIC STUDIO ILLUSTRATIONS

By Sellic Studio Illustrations. Sellic is a creative design studio based in Adelaide, Australia that integrates illustrations, homewares and art that reflect the beauty of nature and social awareness.You can find more of their work on Instagram.

. . .

Poetry Corner Right of Way Behind me in line at the DMV slouched my student from the previous year,

and after small-talking mom, I told him ‘good luck’ and knew

luck had more sway than the nine months of whatever it was I tried to shovel in –

a bit of Orwell’s bio, or what a dangling participle was –

and that once we were both on the road to meet at some broken light,

we’d both have to learn to trust ourselves, the weak wisdom of strangers,

and the lesson that learning only gets you so far when you ease off the brake,

step onto the gas, and put yourself out in the world.

By Aaron Sandberg. Aaron Sandberg will let you merge into his lane. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in ‘West Trade Review’, ‘Asimov’s’, ‘The Offing’, ‘Sporklet’, ‘perhappened mag’, ‘Lowestoft Chronicle’, ‘Abridged’, ‘Giallo’, ‘Right Hand Pointing’, ‘Monday Night’, ‘Unstamatic’, and elsewhere. A Pushcart-nominated teacher from the United States, you can see him – if he doesn’t see you first – on Instagram @aarondsandberg.

. . .

Real Talk Last week a patient thought he could woo me with a young man’s banter, jump over the fence of professional distance and yomp through the no-man’s land of over two lived decades. Why didn’t I want a strapping young man to take me back to my twenties? Indeed, why not? My answer was this: I’d love to go back to the British Library Reading Room where I spent solitary days at a scuffed leather carrel, poring over heavy texts about culture in Renaissance France or rifling through card indexes, whilst librarians dived into a warren of tunnels like the White Rabbit and brought me what I sought: books. I wasn’t looking for Netflix and chill: I was immured study’s ivory tower. My stern glasses were my strong defence against marauding scholarly perverts or self-absorbed striplings. Bad boys weren’t in my vocabulary. But somewhere (in a part of me that only

surfaced in the sex and death tattoos that made my mother wince), a badass bitch was waiting for her time to shine in wet-look PVC and strut her leather stuff. We caught up eventually, in our forties. We co-exist quite well, now time has taught us not to judge what we didn’t know then. Books and lived life can inhabit the same shelf. That was the lesson we both gained from our mutual research. We know our education wasn’t wasted. We are no longer tonguetied. We’re skilled code-switchers, who talk street to the manor born. We’re lion-queens of the urban jungle, swiping cheeky cubs, iron fists in our velvet paws. We lick them into shape with our rasping tongues. And when they say ‘Grandma, what big teeth you have’, we’ll smile before we go for the jugular.

By Kate Meyer-Currey. Kate was born in 1969 and moved to Devon in 1973. A varied career in frontline settings has fuelled her interest in gritty urbanism, contrasted with a rural upbringing. Her ADHD also instills a sense of ‘other’ in her life and writing. She currently has over forty poems published in print and e-journals including ‘Not Very Quiet’, ‘Mono’, ‘Granfalloon’ and ‘Poetica Review’. ‘Gloves’ recently made the top 100 in the UK’s ‘PoetryforGood’ competition for healthcare workers. Her first chapbook ‘County Lines’ (Dancing Girl Press) comes out later this year.

English Teacher’s Sunday Song LT-Bone brews Stormy Monday out of stale Sunday air; Fats croons Blue Monday, but not enough blue to soothe all the aching in your head – and here you are, lost among the ruins of what might have been a perfectly good Sunday – the wine downed a little quick; the cat too long ignored and what’s worse, here comes Bad Old Monday, scrawny and malign, having a smoke beneath the lamppost, and biding his time – he knows he’s bound to come around.

So, toss the unread papers high as the indoors will allow, and watch them head all ways and no ways at all till the meaning lands gentle in your lap: Nothing’s to get done on a Sunday – though false friends have whispered so many possibilities for the week to come: Jean Brodie trills to her girls of a prime that maybe never was; Robin Williams’ Mr. Keating exhorts his boys to seize the day and charge headlong into the valley.

No wonder your eyes are propped open, no sleep in sight; and soon your alarm will sound just the way it has so many Mondays before: Reminds you what one kid announced when class dragged on too long: ‘Ain’t the bell getting ready to ring?’ he complained – might be true, except the magic of that’s lost on the likes of you. You, who planned all night, but never manage to deliver the lessons of the moon and stars, the homework of the cool night air.

Originally appeared in iTeach Magazine.

By Alan Walowitz. After 50 years of teaching, Alan Walowitz is a Contributing Editor at ‘Verse-Virtual’. His chapbook, ‘Exactly Like Love’, comes from Osedax Press. The full-length ‘The Story of the Milkman and Other Poems’ is available from Truth Serum Press. Most recently, from Arroyo Seco Press, is the chapbook, ‘In the Muddle of the Night’, written transcontinentally with poet Betsy Mars.

INTERview with aN AUthor T

his month we spoke to podcaster, entrepreneur and author, Scout Sobel, about her new non-fiction, guide-to-life book: ‘The Emotional Entrepreneur’. It is a business book with a key from the soul and a ‘prioritising yourself’ twist.

What was the inspiration behind your book and how did it come to be?

entrepreneurial side (running Scout’s Agency, ‘SCOUT’ podcast, and ‘Okay Sis’ podcast). While one could argue emotions and business

The

inspiration

behind

book,

‘The

aren’t compatible, I found that the strength

Emotional Entrepreneur’, was really the two

of my mental health was the reason I was

most prominent sides of me: the emotional

successful in business. As I healed and learned

side (living with bipolar disorder) and the 20

to manage my bipolar disorder, I garnered up emotional strength to deal with discomfort and adversity within my life. That strength was what allowed me to get through the fires of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship also was the only thing I was good at. Before finding my own projects to turn into my career, I was deemed ‘unfunctioning’ by doctors because of the severity of my disorder. Starting my own business was the medicine to that scary diagnosis. And as I saw more and more women close to me wanting to run their own business but had difficulty even starting because of fear, risk, and self-doubt, I knew that I had to write the emotional guidebook for entrepreneurs inspired by my experience of living in the emotional depths of life while also showing up in business.

Why do you believe it’s so incredibly

important that we use our emotions

to assist and help us instead of the classic rhetoric of always working

against them? Such as the well-known somewhat problematic phrase: ‘catch flights, not feelings’?

As hard as we might try, we cannot ignore our feelings and continue to live in alignment with our soul. Emotions are great teachers. They are the guides for our lives. And they wildly exaggerate at times. Using your emotions to assist in your day to day means being able to identify when an emotion is telling you something (for example: if anxiety is telling you that project you agreed to do isn’t lighting you up) or when an emotion is trying to keep you safe unnecessarily (for example: when fear comes up before launching a podcast).

What do you hope readers will take

Either way, they are telling us important codes

away from this book?

of wisdom all day long. If you can identify,

I hope that you will take away and integrate this

feel stronger as you move through your day

true belief: that you are safe in your emotions.

to day. You will feel confident and competent

Whatever you want out of life – whatever goal

to execute on your dreams. And you will be

you are looking to hit – can be beautifully hit

highly attuned to YOUR alignment. There is

by managing, navigating, and feeling safe

no doubt that feelings can destroy you, as

in your emotions. That with mental strength,

they once did for me. But if you move through

you can claim your dreams as your reality –

the discomfort to heal and understand your

whatever that dream may look like. I am a big

emotions, they become your greatest internal

believer in magic!

compass.

nurture, and support your emotions you will

. . . What has been your favourite moment

in your entrepreneurship journey so far?

delivered to me when I was willing to walk through the discomfort and embody radical responsibility for my life. I did have an amazing time writing it though. I perched up at The

Three come to mind! First, when my sister

Parker in Palm Springs (where I got married)

and I threw a live podcasting event in Los

alone with no phone or computer and finished

Angeles, packed the house, and got to meet

writing it on my iPad with no connection to the

our ‘Okay Sis’ podcast community. It was a

outside world. It was bliss. I think what I love

major indicator of the community we had

most about making this book is coming. Once

built week after week, episode after episode.

it is in the hands of women around the world

Second, when Catt Sadler signed with Scout’s

and creating change – that will be the thing I

Agency. It was our first major celebrity client.

love the most.

We popped champagne! Third, launching this book and becoming an author.

Is there anything you’d like to continue What did you love the most about making this book?

the voice on?

I want to continue having conversations around the intersection between mental health and

Writing it was quite easy – it poured out of

entrepreneurship, which is what I do with solo

me so much so that I find it hard to take full

episodes over at SCOUT Podcast. I think there

credit for it. The lessons in this book are a

is great healing, beauty, and potential in that

culmination of God’s divine plan, the personal

intersection.

development lessons of those that came before me, and the wisdom that my emotions

. . . This issue is on the theme of Education, why do you believe education matters?

Where can our readers find you? You can find me on Instagram @scoutsobel!

I believe education is a part of what allows

My bio has all the links – Scout’s Agency, ‘Okay

us to grow. I do not believe that education

Sis’ podcast, ‘SCOUT’ podcast, my community

comes strictly from the classroom. Education is all around us – in the podcast episode that

on Geneva, etc! You can find my book, ‘The Emotional Entrepreneur’, on Amazon.

changed your perspective, in your journaling sessions, in meditation, in moving your body, in

By Kirsty Taylor

therapy rooms, in the books that you read, in the people you surround yourself with. Education is the thing that keeps us evolving but I believe it comes in many different modalities other than the traditional textbook college container. Education plus experience is an unstoppable force – that’s what I strive for everyday.

LETTER TO THE STRANGER WHO GIFTED A BOOK

You walked toward me on Paseo near a weedy

puffy ankles wearing a faded muumuu handed

lot hemmed by chain-link. The state-owned

me two squares of rough-hewn toilet paper. I

plots were subdivided into huertos populares

fished bottles of hotel shampoo from my dance

and offered at no cost to Cubans if used to

bag and set a U.S. dollar in her chipped saucer.

cultivate food.

After class, I hitched a ride to Habana Central

You wore an ill-fitting suit, dark and rumpled.

in the rear of a sixty-year-old Willys wagon,

Your faux-leather loafers had carried you from

inarguably the planet’s first SUV. I hoped to find

the Feria Internacional del Libro de La Habana,

a store that sold sixties-style Cohen bongos:

an annual festival of book vendors, poetry

mahogany, chrome-plated rims, rawhide heads,

readings, art exhibitions, and evening concerts.

preferably used.

The fair takes over Castillo de Los Tres Reyes

A sultry wind carried rhythms of salsa and

del Morro, a 16th century fortress built by slaves

rhumba, even Elvis Presley. Children danced

who toiled under sun and the lash of whip.

in doorways, poetry in their blood. They called

I’d taken a flight from California to Havana as

out, ‘Chiclets! Chiclets!’ I gave them boxes of

part of a cultural program, my third visit to the

crayons and coloring books carried in my dance

island nation in five years. The purpose always

bag.

the same: two weeks at Escuela Nacional de

The sea shimmered just beyond the Malecón. I

Artes studying the fire and grace of Afro-Cuban

stared into the distance as if I might make out

rhythms.

Key West. But you were what caught my eye,

A cheap fan rattled in the studio, bullying the

strolling toward me on the crumbling sidewalk.

scent of cheap cologne out the window. The

Your brown skin was wrinkled, like a poorly

linoleum floors were cracked and peeling.

folded map. Your hair, shiny black tangles. Mine,

Wood rot took over a baby grand piano. Walls

unruly curls held down by a cloth bandana.

were naked except for water-stained photos of

‘Pardon?’ I used French in my habit of confusing

Fidel Castro and Ché.

simple words, as if absently creating a new

No running water in the coed restroom. No

language. ‘Por favor? Dónde está… music

locks on the doors, no toilet seats. A viejita with

store?’

You tipped an imaginary hat, just so. ‘No Inglés.’

I took your hand, as warm as the air. ‘Gracias,’ I

I drummed my thigh in pantomime and repeated

said, feeling your kind heart. ‘Mucho gusto.’

myself, ‘Música? Bongos?’

I watched you amble down the sidewalk and

You squinted at me, one eye paler than the

continued my quest for a music store. Past

other, and shook your head. Then you knelt

twilight into darkness, the aroma of garlic and

on the sidewalk, shrugged out of a frayed

onions mingled with exhaust fumes.

backpack, and began unloading books.

Traces of life inside lit rooms guided me. An

Earlier, in the business center of Hotel Palco, I’d

American soap opera flickered on a black-and-

noticed a headline in a French version of Cuba’s

white TV screen. Candles illuminated a Santaría

newspaper Granma International, the official

altar with baskets of fruit, cockle-studded

voice of the communist party. That’s how I knew

gourds, and jars of seagull feathers. A table

you’d been to Feria Internacional del Libro.

held bottles of Coke and glasses set out for ice.

I knelt beside you; the sidewalk beating us with

I think of our encounter often and wish I’d asked

heat.

your name. I hope you don’t mind that I gave

You opened the thickest book first and turned

the book to the woman in the faded muumuu.

pages as if unfurling petals. Your smile was

She turned the pages with care before lifting a

shy, genuinely sweet. I wanted to tell you

black-and-white photo from her pocket. ‘Nieta.’

about tapping cha-cha-cha with claves – that

I rested my hand on her shoulder and thought

our teacher wouldn’t let us dance until we’d

nothing was as strong as ripples of a caring

mastered the basic tempo with wooden dowels.

heart.

You pointed at black-and-white photos. ‘Fidel! El Ché!’ ‘Bueno,’ I said, even though the photos were grainy and reproduced on cheap paper. Glue dotted the oddly stitched bindings. You thrust the book at me with a vigorous nod. I smiled into your eyes and wanted to ask about your life in Havana, and imagined you strolling streets with your wife, greeting friends and feral dogs, as Ibrahim Ferrer had done in Buena Vista Social Club.

By Sherry Shahan. Sherry lives in a small town in California where she studies numerous dance forms. Her writing has appeared in ‘Critical Read’, ‘Oxford University Press’, ‘F(r)iction’, ‘Exposition Review’, ‘Confrontation’, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and taught a creative writing course for UCLA for ten years.

THE GALLERY : THE FAR WOODS Sisters Nina and Sonya Montenegro are

illustrators,

book-makers, and

printmakers,

menders,

gardeners.

quilters

2013,

they

founded The Far Woods, a creative collaboration, making artwork that crosses disciplines to work toward an ecologically-viable and socially-just future. Their studios are located in Bloomington, IN and Louisville, KY. You can find the Far Woods on Etsy and Instagram.

Things We’re Loving! This month our graphic designer, Daisy Melnyczuk, is sharing some of the things she’s been loving. Having recently graduated from my design degree earlier this summer, I’ve had more time to sit back, relax and enjoy the many wonderful aspects of life around me. As things fully opened up just a couple of weeks ago, I have been making the most of living life in Edinburgh. This includes divine sun-lit walks around this beautiful city, finding new quaint spots every time, or simply just the late night gallivants with friends to the places we haven’t visited since BC (before COVID). Aside from my onset gregarious nature, I have still managed to get lost in the void of TV. Maybe it’s due to the freedom of no more studying, or perhaps the hangovers that resulted from those previously mentioned late nights, but either way – here are some of the things I’ve been loving lately... 32

By Daisy Melnyczuk

This year has given me perhaps some of the best TV in my 23 years of life. As an avid traveller of foreign films, I’ve been delving into some fantastic Italian, Scandinavian and Spanish series lately. Everything I’ve watched appears to be of murder mystery genre, from the Danish ‘The Killing’s first season, which explore the disappearance of young Nanna, not to mention Detective Lund’s notorious Faroe Island jumpers, to the Spanish Elite, which explores the different murders of students from exclusive private school, Las Encinas, over its four series. I recently binged the first series of Swedish ‘The Bridge’, which is about the Danish and Swedish police having to team up to investigate a violent crime committed on the Øresund Bridge. There have also been MANY brilliant series provided by the West, such as We Are Who We Are, which follows the lives of two American kids that live on a US military base in Chioggia, which I guess makes this recommendation half Italian. I’ve also rinsed every season of ‘This Country’, a hilarious mockumentary by the BBC, which follows cousins, Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe as they go about their lives in a small village in the Cotswolds.

Watc h

This is probably the hardest category for me to explore, so I’ll cut to the point. I listen to so much music that it’s verging on addiction, listening 24:7. Starting with the magnificent Kevin Krauter, who has not one, but two brilliant alternative/indie albums – ‘Toss Up’ (2018) and ‘Full Hand’ (2020). Each album contains guitar and synth trills that’ll leave you with goosebumps on each beat. If I had to choose between his albums, I’d have to pick ‘Toss Up’ because it features one of my favourite ever songs, Suddenly. As well as exploring the world through film & TV, I have the tendency to do the same with music exploration - my latest obsession has been ‘Pino D’Angiò’, an utterly iconic Italo disco artist that thrived in the 80s, especially with his tracks, ‘Ma Quale Idea’ and ‘Okay Okay’. If we hop on over from Italy to Spain, we’ll find another alternative/indie band called The Marías – who released an epic album earlier this year called ‘CINEMA’, which will serenade any listener to sleep with its melodic & tranquil rhythms. Another band I have a lot of time for is The Booyah! Kids, a bedroom-pop group from New York. I actually had the pleasure of interviewing their main man, Julian Kaufman, for my dissertation this year. Their album Booyah, is full of fruitful lo-fi guitar goods that would be a great soundtrack to anyone’s day. Kaufman is also the founder of even more famous band, MICHELLE, whose album ‘HEATWAVE’ Compared is actually available on vinyl in to previous years, my Edinburgh stores. 2021 featured a lot of reading around the start of the year. After submitting my dissertation in January, I was so excited to read things that didn’t revolve around my studies! My thoughtful brother had gifted me a brilliant book by designer, Chip Kidd, called ‘The Cheese Monkeys’, which is basically a mémoire of Chip’s experiences at art school. I think it resonated with me so much because it summed up a lot of the feelings I was facing in my final year of my design degree. For my birthday I’ve asked for his second book,’The Learners’ as I’m sure it’ll help me through my journey to hopefully, a design career! Another book that spoke to my soul in the midst of the pandemic was Albert Camus’ ‘The Outsider’, a philosophical story of Meursault, an individual who refuses to accept and respect social norms, resulting in experiences of alienation as a result of his choices – a good read for anyone that’s felt affected by the virus. Camus also has another novel named ‘The Plague’, which is about an epidemic that plagues Oran, Algeria during the 1940s – another book I’ve been meaning to read as it strongly mirrors events of the past 18 months.

Listen

RE AD 33

PLAYLIST

Listen on Spotify

Seabirds Pizzagirl

Arc. Scorpio Oracle Sisters It Is What It Is Blood Orange International Baby Niko B

Lonely Type Wasuremono

Holding On Tirzah 101 FM Little Simz Leaving Home Yo La Tengo Kill For Love Chromatics So Sad, So Sad Varsity

SUSTAINABLE ART : KINDHEART DESIGNS

his month, we spoke to Corin Wilkie of Kindheart Designs about her upcycled goods with a mental

health focus.

What inspired you to start Kindheart Designs? I’ve started making personalised t-shirts as gifts a few years ago, and have loved art and crafting for as long as I can remember. When a move across Texas during a pandemic made it hard 36

for me to find a job, I decided to see where my passions and skills could take me. It was a dream to start a creative small business for years before I actually just did it, and I would absolutely recommend anyone dreaming about it to just go for it!

Your pieces are very creative and unique.

Do you have any future plans for Kindheart

Do you have a favourite piece that you

Designs that you’d be able to tell us about?

have made or a favourite design? Right now, I’m really focusing on selling more in I only have a handful of things I created that I’ve

person at craft fairs and small business markets

kept for myself, and that’s a pretty good sign it’s

in Dallas-Fort Worth! I always have more ideas

a favourite of mine! I’ve held onto an over-sized

spinning around in my head though, including

t-shirt I wear pretty much weekly with my ‘you

some greeting cards, digital downloads, and

are right where you belong’ butterfly design,

new t-shirt, print, and sticker designs of course!

an upcycled ceramic vase with a rainbow and smiley face that’s on my fireplace mantle, and the first leather bag I ever upcycled with a groovy rainbow wave across the front!

What inspired your colouring page bundles? I love this idea and I’m sure it would keep me entertained for hours!

We love that your pieces are upcycled and

I am a big proponent of self-care, and definitely

sustainable! Can you explain the process

consider making art, whether drawing, colouring

of how you find old items and manage to

or painting, to be a part of that. When I write

turn them into sellable art?

an affirmation or mantra, it almost feels like a meditation on that phrase, really drawing you

People discard or donate so many high-quality

(no pun intended) to pay attention to those

pieces, so pretty much everything I make is

words. I wanted to give people the chance to

purchased at a local thrift store and upcycled.

do that, even if they don’t consider themselves

I started with blank t-shirts, but over time, I

good at drawing. Anyone can colour, and it is

imagined what I could do with ceramics, fabric

such a great way to unwind!

(including canvas bags and bedsheets), wooden signs, and bags and pouches. It really is about

Is there anything you want to continue the

taking the time to dig through a lot of junk for

voice on right now?

what catches your eye, and imagining what you could turn it into with simple materials like paint

Something I talk about often on my Instagram

and a brush!

and within my pieces is mental health. I even have ‘Mental Health Mondays’ on my IG stories to do a small part to open the conversation. Both my husband and I, as well as many of our family and friends, live with mental illness – it is so 37

incredibly common and yet still so stigmatised!

With the internet and social media especially,

Two of my goals in talking about mental health

I love how the accessibility of education has

are to help people know they aren’t alone in

grown, although that still has a way to go. The

their experience, and to encourage people to

fact that we as humans can learn from others

be kind to themselves when they are struggling.

and build on that is how we have progressed as

These things have made a huge difference in

a species so quickly. This ability has moved us

my own mental health journey, and so I hope

forward, and education in its many forms allows

they can do the same for others.

us to actually make positive change over time.

The theme for this issue is Education. What

Lastly, where can our readers find you or

does education mean to you?

purchase your work?

I think education has a unique meaning for me,

Instagram: @kindheart.designs

especially because my bachelor’s degree was in

Facebook: @shopkindheartdesigns

community health, essentially preparing me for

Website: www.shopkindheartdesigns.com

a career in health education! I previously worked for both a Head Start program and a domestic violence non-profit educating the community about these issues, and that showed me that education is so much more than the traditional experience of learning in a classroom. We can keep educating ourselves and others throughout our lives, and that doesn’t necessarily take place in a presentation, class, or workshop. Conversations can be education, as can social media or simply listening to someone’s story.

Interview by Hannah Matheson

SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Super scrimping Sophie

This month we spoke to Super Scrimping Sophie – a professional organiser, cleaner and influencer. Can you explain what it is you do for anyone who may not be familiar

love changing the way people live their lives and helping them to love their homes.

with the term ‘professional organiser’? Alongside A

professional

who

creates

homes own.

for I

organiser

systems

and

gives

absolutely everything people

have

own

organisation business and I 40

someone

cleaning

and

business,

have

YouTube channel and Instagram account where

everything

from

organising, cleaning, budgeting and general lifestyle stuff. I think bringing an element of lifestyle onto my

channel makes it more personal and relatable.

You

and

did

the

pandemic

team

organised Louise girls’

How

your

and

process

rooms for

recently

Pentland’s –

what’s

organising

little your

something

lockdown affect your business –

as big and disorganised as a kid’s

and what did you do to help solve

room?

it? The first thing to do on any job, big or small, is If I’m honest, the pandemic hasn’t affected my business on a big scale. At the beginning I had a good few months off as I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to do, I was also quite scared about it all. But I went back as soon as I could, after all I have a cleaning business which was probably a good job to be in. I was happy to make people’s houses clean and sanitised when they were feeling most vulnerable. I always and still do wear PPE to protect myself and others in their homes.

to empty everything and I mean EVERYTHING. Working with a blank canvas really helps the process. Once you have emptied everything the next task is to GET RID. Make three piles: one to keep, one to charity/sell and one to chuck away. This is where my expertise comes in handy. I will then sit with the client and go through everything. I will never force people to get rid of things but I will help them decide if they ‘really need it’. After sorting through the stuff it’s time to

What’s the benefit to getting your home (or

even

just

room)

professionally organised? Like

said

earlier,

think

having

homes and they can really enjoy everything they own. It helps people to be able to find things easily without having to empty a or

box.

Labelling

Like I said, before I like to label everything. It really does help a client get to know where things are. I like the clients to be as involved

organised house makes people love their

drawer

make systems and give everything a home.

as they can with the process and always ask them if there are things they are changing, etc. At the end of the day it is their house. I treat each job exactly the same, whether it’s big or small, and use the same process.

everything

makes such a massive difference too. I think

having

everything

organised really

does save a lot of time in people’s day to day lives.

. . . What are your top tips for staying on budget? I’ll break this one into five tips: 1) Write down your income and outgoings and see what you have after this and this will give you a figure of how much you have to spend each month or week (depends on when you get paid). 2) Cut down on takeaways and on-the-go coffees. 3) Meal plan! This is a big one for me and you can save hundreds of pounds each year by doing this. It also saves you chucking a lot of food away too! 4) Try free days out rather than spending money on doing stuff. 5) Plan plan plan and don’t feel bad to say no! Oh and a bonus one – try a no-spend weekend!I have videos on my YouTube channel for all different ways on how to do this – Super

The most satisfying thing to clean for me

must be an oven. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite but once it’s done you honestly feel great. The difference from start to finish is always the best. I would say to always take a before and after photo because it’s the most satisfying transformation!

I’m someone who can never stay on top of cleaning and organising – do you have any top tips? 1) Have a morning routine. Like me I always give my kitchen a quick clean every morning. 2) Write lists. Do daily, weekly and monthly lists. 3) Try and challenge yourself to a 10 minute speed clean. Guarantee you’ll always want to carry on after the timer is up. Sometimes I like to race against the kettle and see how much I can get done! 4) Get up 30 minutes earlier! 5) Try and get rid of 2/3 things a day, this way you’ll be decluttering your house without even realising!

Scrimping Soph.

What’s your favourite thing to clean – or most satisfying, if they’re different? My favourite thing to clean has got to be a kitchen. I do my ‘kitchen clean’ every morning. I have a morning routine of putting the pots aways, wiping the sides and doing the floors. This always makes me want to clean more around my house but it also sets me up for the day.

Interview by Grace Balfour-Harle.

Resturaunt Highlight: Lucky Beach, Brighton and read in the Royal Pavilion; I found myself dreaming of a brunch by the beach. After a quick Google search I discovered Lucky Beach Cafe. Lucky Beach Cafe is not only on the beachfront but also a local beachfront cafe and a sustainable one at that, rated in the top 20 sustainable businesses in the UK. They buy local and organic food and also support communities in Rwanda by building infrastructure for their farmers and families who supply their coffee. They also support Team Domenica in Brighton which is a charity that helps people with learning disabilities discover their career potential. My brunch order of choice was a delicious, posh bacon and egg butty paired with one

One of my favourite things about being

of the best coffees I’ve ever had. The coffee

on holiday is getting to eat out as often as

I chose was an iced latte with Biscoff and as

possible, and my trip to Brighton this summer

a big Biscoff lover I often find myself trying

was no different. As I wandered past colourful

Biscoff coffees and being left disappointed,

beach huts, swam in the warm sea (it is warm

but this was far from one of those times! If

compared to my usual spot: the North Sea)

brunch is not your thing, Lucky Beach also

does lunch and dinner as well as becoming a bar at night where they serve gorgeous cocktails such as their passion fruit mimosa or for the mocktail lovers a passion fruit fizz. If you are looking for somewhere to sit and enjoy an iced coffee in the morning, indulge in a brunch, watch the sunset over the beach with a cocktail in hand, or somewhere stunning to have a drink with friends then Lucky Beach is the place for you! You can find Lucky Beach at 183 Kings Road Arches, Brighton. By Kirsty Taylor

Coorie Moments As the world opens a little more, we want to remind you to appreciate the little things in life so we are including a monthly feature of Coorie moments written by our editorial team and illustrated by our team’s illustrator. For anyone who may not know here, is the definition of Coorie: a Scots word meaning ‘to snuggle, nestle’. It has been appropriated and positioned as a ‘lifestyle trend’, similar to the Scandinavian concept of hygge, which involves ideas such as cosiness.

Getting the feedback from a course and it not being as bad as you thought

When you finally understand a difficult concept

Getting recognition of your Your pupils working hard and applying your feedback 46

development from others

Seeing how far your pupils have

The sudden realisation that education

come since you met them

is not just restricted to school, but is a lifelong journey

Passing something after working really hard on it

Reflecting on how far you’ve come and how much you’ve learned

Constantly learning and seeing the

When you finish a project and feel like

world is full of possibilities

you’ve really accomplished something

Words by Grace Balfour-Harle & Illustrations by Sophie Freestone

Why Doe s education mat ter? ‘What really matters is not what we teach students, but how much kindness and generosity we display while teaching.’ Alan Walowitz

‘Education is important as learning keeps us open-minded throughout our lives. We can choose whether to engage, but it is not a passive process: we need to participate to benefit. I use everything I learn one way or another and it’s never wasted.’ Kate Meyer-Currey 48

‘Education matters because people matter. Educating people not only gives them a chance to understand themselves, the world and the value of learning, it also allows them to understand other people, their worlds and their ways of being. Education is about more than just facts and figures, it’s about acceptance, expression and communication. To educate somebody is to open their eyes in one way or another, to show them what’s out there, what’s in there and what’s possible.’ Ellen Wagstaff

‘In recent years I’ve mentored a number of yetto-be-published writers. For me, mentorship is a personal experience, a gratifying way to share knowledge. I’m also committed to ‘education’ on more subtle levels. For instance, I take my grandchildren when I volunteer at our local food bank. Not only do the young boys learn about various aspects of nutrition and food preparation, but they gain empathy for people in situations different from their own.’ Sherry Shahan ‘As a teacher, the answer is obvious. I live in the United States and I’ve seen the real-world horrors of a misinformed public. From our social media echo chambers, propaganda machines, conspiracy theorists, anti-science stances, religious extremism, bad-faith politics, and general lack of critical-thinking skills (to say nothing of basic life skills), we’re in major trouble. Education aims to make a better person and a better future from a place of progress when its detractors want to return to some mirage of a better past. It’s terrifying that I’m not sure which side will win out at this point. Sometimes it feels like Yeats was right when he wrote, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Real education fights fear and ignorance—two elements when added together cause hate and harm. Why does education matter? It’s hard to think of anything that matters more.’ Aaron Sandberg

‘The foundation of both my professional and personal success is my education. My ability to be open minded, to tackle new problems, and to relate to others I wouldn’t naturally understand all were fostered by my years in school.’ John Johnson

Conta The Team at Con The driving forces

Head Editor: K Editors: Grace Balfour-H Graphic Designer: Secretary and Writ Social Media Coordinat

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