Jim Ferguson - 'being in Easterhouse'

being in Easterhouse

(a response to Jimmy Cauty’s MdZ ESTATE TOUR installation at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow, June 2021)

Just to get one thing straight Easterhouse Is a scheme, a patchwork, not an E-state

Worked here for more than a decade, been great. Frankie Vaughn spoke to my gran She was a lassie then, no a gang.

I was helping folk in a writers group make words into art – art happens everywhere – human spirit canny be suppressed

Walking roon the fort, through the carpark, Bit windy, we’re up high, high above Glasgow city. Looking oot frae here ye might imagine yur the pope, Or Auld Queen Lizzie.

Zip acroass tae Morrison’s, Plenty tae eat in there, If ye can afford to get it oot the door.

Wondering: who on earth could possibly own all of this land? What we spend in the shops. The rents shops pay. VAT and other taxes. Where does aw that money go?

If it aw was spent in Grier’s Barstaff could be millionaires Crisps n booze free for eternity

Everybody happy No just a number, just part a system But part of humanity, living and learning

Grapes and champagne eftir the swimming :the fort isny an actual fort ataw It’s an outdoor mall for shoppers

handy but lacking fulfilment – shoap tae ye drap – addicted –spend tae ye bend – in debt tae ye gamble – sweat as ye bet

Sprawling is what they used say. Glasgow’s sprawling housing schemes. Housing dreams that turned into nightmares. Nae amenities. Unintended consequences. Who would’ve thought?

Who knew? There is a money system here. Its reach is global. With every little it gives the more it takes away, takes decades to build a community. A feeling of family, of warmth and safety. Kind words don’t cut it. The People must have power. Power over money. Power of community. Genuine. Power over the land they live and work on. I see they’re renovating Provanhall – a heritage museum, nice to remember, heritage is ours with every breath. History is ours. Everything human and humane on this blue-green Earth is yours. Nobody really owns it. Yet they do. In legal terms, in financial terms… In terms of power. Who?

Owns what and who owns who? I’ll have to think about that. Decide what to do. It might take a while. But change can come fast. Who watches VHS videos noo? If ye see whut ah mean? … Sprawling in a giant bed!

Dae ye? Aye Whit ye talkin aboot? Whit exactly is it yir tryin tae say?

People make things aw the time.

It’s a natural part of life. Being human. We build stuff. We’re conscious.

Aware and self-aware. Switch it aw on.

Light it up. Go on. Don’t sit aboot. Get in aboot it. Kick the damn baw. Get a grip n kick it.

Thing aboot, eh, self-awareness, geez ye the fear Sprawling: Easterhoose, Castlemilk, Pollok, Aw right oot at the edges, fresh air In the nothing n naewhere

Oota sight oota mind Some folk pay fortunes To build their mansions In places like this

Wee hoose like a palace, nuthin highrise, We’re awready near enough the sky, be fearless, fly…

Jim Ferguson, Glasgow, June 2021