'About me'
As a European citizen of the world with four academic degrees, I have spent more time doing academic and industry research than any other professional (or creative) pursuit. My diverse interests (academic, professional, hobby-related and admirative) range from music and placemaking to citizen engagement and well-made things of all kinds.
As a disclaimer, I mostly don't know what I'm talking about. This is precisely why I find writing so enticing - namely, to understand how little I actually know, all the while being watchful for, and appeasing, the dragons-that-be within. In the process, I yearn to learn more about, and observe, how things are made. I want to contribute to sharing such simple revelations so that we can all craft a kind of continuous improvement ('kaizen') methodology to, somehow, become masters of our own lives with some measure of compassion and gratitude.
My life is low key. I don't do 'politics' or 'hype evangelisation' or 'party till you drop' or 'reach for the stars and fall off the cliff' or '9/9/6 because of workism not necessity'. I can't play slippery games of snakes and ladders that competitive high achievers seem to thrive on to reach the top just for a day. This said, even in the globalised self-preservation society, it's not necessarily all "me, mice elves and AI". So long as we cultivate our own 'Y' incubator-combinators and get to know how that sits within the rest of the multiverse. The villages and skies that have raised the child within also continue to shape us in more ways than meet the eye.
Although I am not well-travelled in comparison to countless modern-day explorers and prolific social media contributors, I have made hundreds of friendly acquaintances from all continents on planet Earth, and feel all the richer for it. I do "own" small pieces of Japan in the form of Ivy-inspired button-down shirts, a denim jacket, udon bowls and stationery, amongst other exemplars of traditional-innovative craftsmanship that almost feel like a (more affordable) travelling experience of their own. I also get my vegetables delivered from a local organic farm in the North of England. Organic greens are more 'radical' than they seem and can make your gut feel uber rich too.
An appreciation of quality and beauty can be a gateway to a deeper sense of satisfaction, gratitude and community. As Gil Scott-Heron sang ahead of his times (perhaps echoing with other introspective humans' altruistic message): "the revolution will not be televised". The true (inner) revolution seems much simpler than trying to fix the world -- although at times it seems no less difficult.
Going further:
Made in Japan: a Yorkshire-based shop that only sells quality items for the home, that come from the land of the rising sun ➡️ mij.co.uk
Haku Clothing: get your made-in-Japan men's clothes directly from Osaka ➡️ Haku-Clothing
Sly and the Family Stone:
about gratitude for the funky mice elves ➡️ thank you for...
about gratitude for all the other ordinary folks like us who are just as earnest and clueless as we are ➡️ everyday people
Gil Scott-Heron: on why we don't necessarily need to watch TV or Netflix ➡️ not televised
Ron Finley: about growing radical greens in your neighbourhood if you can ➡️ guerrilla gardener in South Central LA
Simon Sinek: find and cultivate your why ➡️ It still starts here
The Italian Job starring Michael Caine and Noël Coward amongst others, about why and how the self-preservation society has its limitations:
- the Union-Jack themed Mini combo in Torino city centre ➡️ Part 1 of the iconic car chase
- the theme by the late Quincy Jones ➡️ Getta bloomin' move on!