#i also have been living in a western (generalised not geographically

[boysborntodie]

“I don’t talk about Palestine because I don’t like going into politics : /” fuck you. The existence of Muslims and MENA people has always been political to the West. Their lives and their deaths. Their happiness and anger and sorrow. Their love and hatred. Their sweat and blood and tears. Everything has always been reduced to politics when they are more than you could ever begin to comprehend. Palestine will be free. And so will Sudan and Pakistan and Lebanon and Yemen and Syria and every other country, place and people who suffer only for their pain to be called political by those responsible for and complicit in it

[theplatinthehat]

*nails my piece of paper to Philip Pullman’s front door*

So, I made a joke earlier today about writing up my grievances with the world-building of the His Dark Materials trilogy. I genuinely didn’t think anyone would be interested enough to ask me about this. But someone did, so I’ve abandoned the actual jobs I needed to do today and went away to cobble together this post to summarise My Thoughts (and no-one was more surprised than I to find that there were more than two).

Let me say that these are my thoughts and opinions on this particular canon of work. I don’t judge anyone who likes them (hell, I love the idea of daemons and I certainly think there are some interesting concepts explored in the series) and you are more than welcome to disagree with me on any (or all) of the points that I outline below. And you’re certainly allowed to acknowledge that there are issues with a text and still find enjoyment from them. I’m not looking to Cancel anyone – I just have questions and I’m prepared to shout them into the void.

If anyone does reblog this, I ask that you don’t tag it with #hisdarkmaterials or #hdm, because that’s unfair on the people who are using those tags to curate a positive fandom experience.

Caveat to all of this – I haven’t read the books, but I have watched the current BBC/HBO series in great depth. I’m also writing a fanfic called The Shadow Mandate set in the world of His Dark Materials and that has required me to do extensive research and engage with multiple sources about the world. It’s as a direct result of this research that much of these questions and critiques have arisen. I am planning to read the books soon though (mainly so I can roast them more thoroughly)

Don’t send this to Philip Pullman (or Philman, as I will probably refer to him from here on out). 1 – he isn’t going to care what I say (he’ll just say it’s a metaphor and to not read too much into it or something equally as infuriating) and 2 – I don’t care what he says.

Now all that boring stuff is done, let’s get to it. I’m putting this all under the cut so the poor folk who want nothing to do with this can ignore at their leisure.

This will possibly get a bit tongue in cheek in places – just a warning

One Church to Rule Them All, One Faith to Bind Them

So, one of my main questions about the world of His Dark Materials is the Magisterium and the Holy Church. And that question is “How?”

Overlooking the fact that this was probably a conscious decision by Philman to Make A Point, I still have questions behind this behemoth of an institution. Based on my research, I’m of the understanding that Lyra’s world parted from our own when John Calvin became the Pope, and transferred the seat of Papal power to Geneva. After Calvin’s death, the Magisterium was formed and they consolidated power from there.

In my mind, this just doesn’t work. Because it makes it sound like Calvin was the only person standing between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformation. Whilst he had a big role in the Reformation, he just wasn’t the only person working for reforms (I mean – Luther? Hello? He had 95 problems, and Indulgences were all of them). You could probably argue with me on this, as he was a significant figurehead of the Reformation, but there were so many people working for change in Europe at the time that I would have thought that someone else would have taken that place (you can read more here).

The lack of denominations also doesn’t really sit with me because if there’s one thing I know about Christians, it’s that we love to argue over teeny-tiny details and build whole new ways of worshipping around them. The fact that the Magisterium doesn’t just tear itself apart is, to be honest, quite surprising. And, you know, the Eastern Orthodox tradition was already a thing at the time… (here’s a brief overview of the East-West Schism of 1054)

I’d also like to point out that Papal power was dominant in Western civilization. That leaves a lot of the world for the Magisterium to then suddenly gain power of. Or did Philman conveniently forget that Judaism (although the Jewish people had suffered significant persecution in Europe by this time), Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism (and many others) were all already very well-established religions in other parts of the world that I doubt would have taken too kindly to the Magisterium’s political advances. This idea of a religion having such a heavy-handed control over the whole world just seems a bit too far-fetched for me to believe.

However, I have to acknowledge that I say this as a white, Western Christian – perhaps people genuinely feel that is the case.

I do know that the witches are mentioned at having their own religion, but I can’t really find any information about it, so I can’t really compare them. It could well be that other religions and faith practices are mentioned in the books themselves, but I’m struggling to find them (do the shamans count? I’m not sure). Perhaps this is just me, but one religion consuming the whole world (or, at least, the vast majority of it) doesn’t strike me as particularly plausible.

 Beast from the East

This is probably my most serious critique of the series, and one that’s actually been the most nightmarish for me to deal with in my own expanded world-building of Lyra’s world for The Shadow Mandate. This is an issue that has been discussed at length Marek Oziewicz in the paper ‘Representations of Eastern Europe in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Jonathan Stroud’s The Bartimaeus Trilogy, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series’ – which I highly recommend you read!

(And it dunks on Ms R*wling too – what a treat!).

I’ll do a little summary for those of you who haven’t got the time to read a whole paper:

The His Dark Materials trilogy is told from a very British point of view (understandable, the author is a white British man)

Britain is a positive and exciting place, where all the characters are individuals with the capacity for good or evil

The general geographical sense of the world-building is that the further East you go (in Europe) that the less ties the people have to the Holy Church and the more barbaric they are – see the Tartars and their ‘Breathless One’ practices

The Eastern European races are frequently described with qualities such as “cruelty, pitilessness, barbarism, fierceness, physical and emotional instability” (Oziewicz, p. 8)

A lot of nationalist stereotypes surround the peoples of these races/countries

I mean, the treatment of the Tartars (which is a living, breathing ethnolinguistic group) as a whole is pretty disturbing. They’re described to be like a ‘warmongering race of xenophobic genocidal humans who want to conquer the whole of the Earth’ (Quote) - compare that to the complexity of the characters from the West. Oziewicz notes that the Tartars are somewhat akin to the Imperial Guard of Star Wars, as their helmets have ‘no eyes – or at least you couldn’t see any eyes behind the snow slits’ (Northern Lights, p. 289). As far as I can tell, they’re pretty much just tarred with one brush – made particularly plain by the fact that all Tartars seem to have identical wolf/husky daemons – unless that was a requirement when the Magisterium put the job posting on Indeed.

So, a whole nation of people has been reduced to a single archetype – one that plays on existing prejudices in British culture. That just feels like extremely lazy world-building to me – I don’t know a single country or ethnic population that could accurately be described as one archetype.

I also feel that a lot of other countries in the world are written off with sweeping generalisations – or just kinda lumped together? So, a lot of my research has involved me looking at the canonical list of Globetrotter Maps, and a whole bunch of countries tend to get lumped together – particularly, I’ve noticed, the South American countries. It does this really intriguing and complex world a major disservice. As I said, this is something that I’ve had to grapple with for my own work – and I hope that I’ve done enough work so as to begin to dissemble what Philman started.

 A new and exciting way to get around the ‘G’ slur

For those of you who are unaware (although, you’re on Tumblr – how could you possibly not be aware?) the G-slur is considered to be a pejorative description of the Romani ethnic group, associated with idleness and itinerancy. It comes from the mistaken European belief that the Romani people came from Egypt (they aren’t). You can read more about that here and here.

Philman decided to name his ethnic group known for travelling and trading as they go ‘Gyptians’. I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining any further.

Should I let this slide with the explanation that the term is so pervasive in Britain that it’s actually a legal term? Perhaps, but I’m not going to.

 Kill Bill God

My only issue with this is that if Philman wants to kill God, he should kill… God. Not some angel with a superiority complex. But seeing how badly some people took it, I can understand why he didn’t. I still think he’s a coward.

 Sex, Dust and Dragons

I have a whole other bone to pick with Philman about his obsession with sex in children’s literature, but that’s not what you’re here to talk about. No, you came to hear about His Dark Materials.

It’s established in the world that Dust doesn’t settle on children because they don’t have experience – they are too innocent. Based on the research I’ve done, and the language used in both the film and the mini-series is this maturation from childhood to adulthood is though protosexual experiences e.g. kissing. And this is what Mary Malone’s role as ‘the serpent’ is – she’s the one that make Lyra think about her sexuality for the first time:

As Mary said that, Lyra felt something strange happen to her body. She found a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster. She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognised the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts of her body found themselves affected too. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn't known was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too, and lights coming on. She sat trembling, hugging her knees, hardly daring to breathe, as Mary went on...

Marzipan, The Amber Spyglass

(That’s such a long quote)

It’s then made explicitly clear that it’s the intimacy of Lyra and Will’s relationship, and the touching of one another’s daemons, that causes Pan and Kirjava to settle in their true forms.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was right – love really does change everything.

Here’s where things get a little bit petty.

So, if Dust begins to settle on children once they’ve had their first ‘sexual awakening’ – what about those people who don’t ever experience that? Because, believe it or not, asexual people have existed for a very long time. If they don’t experience this, then would their daemons settle? What are the implications of this? Are asexual people remaining in the ‘childlike innocence of the Garden of Eden’? (Quote)

Asexual fans of His Dark Materials, I pass this question to you – do you lack a soul because you’ve never experienced sexual desire? Is sex truly instrumental on the road to maturation? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and what you’d do if your daemon never settled. Would you let them shift into a dragon? I know I would if I were in that position.

This issue, to me, is massively indicative of the prevalent attitudes towards the asexual community. There is a tendency for media products to portray a-spec people as immature because they don’t experience sexual attraction – which is just not true. The ace community has said many times that they feel that this attitude infantilizes their orientation, and it’s a view that needs to be challenged. Check out this source for more information on the microagressions faced by this community – section six is particularly relevant. Asexuals are mature – despite this lack of ‘experience’ that Philman seems to think all people need to have in order to become free-thinkers. This just isn’t true. I don’t understand why society seems to believe this theory, but with its prevalence in media it’s not too difficult to see why this view pervades.

Anyway, the only reason I’m so petty about this particular aspect is that I’m so bored of reading stories where sex and romance are the most important thing. I think heresy is a much more interesting sin than sex, so that’s what The Shadow Mandate will be about once I’ve finished it.

I also have some more minor world-building issues both in HDM and the later Book of the Dust trilogy including, but not limited to:

Why is it New Denmark? The Dutch were quite famous for reaching America – New Amsterdam being the original name for New York. Admittedly I’m only cross about this because I got mixed up in my own world-building.

There’s even more ‘othering’ of non-British races – particularly the Skraelings who are analogous to the Inuit people (but possibly a term for all Native-American peoples) who carry out ‘barbaric’ practices such as trepanning

Witches can’t forgive men that turn them down. Well I don’t have much of a problem with this as such, but it just makes me think of that quote about fairies from Peter Pan – “Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.”

The treatment of Pantalaimon by Lyra in subsequent adventures

Malcolm Polstead needs to leave Lyra tf alone

 I appreciate that this is a very long and whingy list about things that I don’t like, so congrats on making it this far! I’d love to give you something – perhaps your time back – but alas, my powers only extend so far. I appreciate that the His Dark Materials books are well-loved and that most people would probably disagree with what I’ve said – I just have lots of questions and Philman doesn’t have as many answers as I would like. But then again, should I really read this much into the work of a writer who seems willing and capable to ignore the personality of their protagonist for a whole book? I don’t know. But I do know, that axolotl daemons would require a lot of work.

(I have beef with Philman – thank you for humouring me)

Leave your hatemail in my inbox <3

[fictionfromafar]

Resilience by Bogdan Hrib

Resilience

By Bogdan Hrib

Translated by Marina Sofia

Corylus Books

Having enjoyed Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu at the end of last year, I was very keen to explore further crime fiction from Romania and thanks to Corylus Books, I have not had too long to wait.

It’s much too early to make generalisations based on two novels, but like Sword, there is also a political element to Resilience, one that is not too flattering to politicians. Perhaps I am sensing that Romanian writers have become somewhat jaded by the opportunists that have appeared in their political system.

This is Hrib’s first translation into English language and I read this book without any prior knowledge of the author’s writing. Midway through the book I came to realise that Resilience is part of a series however the story functions perfectly well as a standalone novel. The principal characters of the story are Stelian Munteanu and Tony Demetriade. It become evident while Corylus Books have chosen to start with Resilience as their first translation of Hrib as many of the issues explored within the book are very topical.

Resilience is set in 2019, the year in which Romania held the EU presidency; and the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution which generated a large degree of international interest in a reflection of that time. Ana Coman is a young project manager at the Romanian Institute in the UK who is in Newcastle Upon Tyne to host an exhibition of images from the revolution.

When she is found dead beside the sea near South Shields, Munteanu - who is a former journalist, writer and amateur investigator - is approached by her father, Pavel Coman to investigate her death. He is a Romanian business baron, who is involved in various businesses in the naval sector. He does not hesitate to believe that the death of his daughter was not an accident. Coman is convinced that she has been murdered. Reluctantly Munteanu agrees - his wife Sofia lives in London and this allows him the opportunity to spend some time with her. Much to his distaste though, in England, he is paired with Coman’s right hand man, Jack King.

When a related death occurs back in Romania, Munteanu’s friend, the experienced policeman Tony Demetriade and his young assistant Anabella Paduraru are brought in to investigate. The British police then get involved when several female acquaintances of the original victim are targeted in London by an unknown gunman. The Romanian and British investigators must collaborate and share their information or risk the crimes and connections being unsolved. The story features a range of dubious characters including a member of the Romanian secret service, a Moldovan social media manipulator and an opportunist politician from a neighbouring country.

The story gradually evolves from a crime fiction novel to a geographical thriller which has so much relevance to the current age. The European Union has been impacted by the ill conceived departure of the United Kingdom and there are now different competing visions for its future. Romania is somewhat in the orbit of the Visegrád 4 which comprises Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These countries do not share the post-World War Two vision of the EU espoused by mainstream decision-makers in western Europe, in countries like Germany, France and Italy. Rather their vision for Europe is one where the nation state is strong and independent with a restrictive immigration policy particularly towards migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Indeed since this novel was written the governments in Viktor Orbán's Hungary and Andrzej Duda's Poland have made front-page news over the last few months for thumbing their nose at EU laws and lectures while Poland and now Romania have recently been chastised by Brussels over attempts to compromise the independence of their judiciary. When even press freedoms are being curtailed by so called mainstream politicians in Poland, it is clear that more extreme views must be held by fringe parties. Hrib explores this within Resilience.

Combined to this wider regional context is the historic anniversary of the Romania revolution, while the book makes regular references to significant dates such as 10th August which marks the date of previous political protests in 2018 as well as nationalist sentiments to a reunification of Romania with the neighbouring former Soviet Republic of Moldova. With part of the story taking place in the Moldovan capital Chișinău as well as the nearby Romania city of Iași - where an imposing statue of Stephen the Great is intended to face off Turkish invaders (surely to the approval of politicians like Viktor Orbán!). Very topically, can the onset of the fake news phenomenon and growing influence of conspiracy theorists be engineered to lead to mass political unrest? How resilience is the system, can the simultaneity factor be breached? Critical stresses of surveillance and corruption feature prominently and clearly relate to some of Romania's recent troubled history.

While most British crime fiction readers are unlikely to be acquainted with the politics of Eastern Europe, Resilience successfully taps into the political uncertainty and dubious narratives of the modern age. To use one example, remarkably a scene in the story sees a group of manipulated protesters appear at a television channel, something that occurred just last week in the UK!

British readers will feel a familiarity with the language used in Resilience. Superbly translated by Marina Sofia who has lived half her life in the UK, the vocabulary used is straightforward and uncluttered. There are numerous references to locations in both London and the North East of England which will resonate with many UK readers as well.

The most challenging aspect of the story is the changing perspectives and locations. The narrator follows many characters, often changing perspectives, so you always have to be careful to figure out who the story is centered on at some point. Several pages will relate to a particular character in one location, before a heading is provided for another location or date. More than once I had to reread a paragraph to figure out which character was being featured at a particular time. The realisation can come quite quickly but at times the vague beginning does demand attention. This is perhaps my weakness as I'm not always very attentative to headers. As the action is fragmented a degree of patience and attention are required when reading Resilience, yet these are rewarded. While the wider issues I've mentioned are explored through the story, there are satisfying conclusions to the investigative elements of the story. My first introduction to the writing of Bogdan Hrib was a revelation. I enjoyed the thriller aspects to the story and also feel there is a lot of modern day context to the stories he writes.

Bogdan Hrib was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1966. A former journalist, civil engineer by training and now professor at a Bucharest university, Hrib is the co-founder of Tritonic Books (1993). He has been instrumental in bringing foreign crime writers to a Romanian audience, but also introducing Romanian crime writers to the English-speaking world. He was the vice-president of the Romanian Crime Writers Club (2010-2012), and the director/organizer of the International Mystery & Thriller Festival in Râșnov (2011-2015), as well as the PR coordinator of the History Film Festival also in Râșnov. He is the author of the crime fiction series featuring Stelian Munteanu, a book-editor with a sideline doing international police work. Two of the previous books in the series have been translated into English language: Kill The General and The Greek Connection.

Marina Sofia was born in Romania but has lived more than half of her life in the UK. She was a reviewer for Crime Fiction Lover for more than seven years and has worked for Asymptote Literary Journal. Her previous translation for Corylus Books was Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu.

Many thanks to Ewa Sherman for inclusion on the book tour for Resilience and to Corylus Books for an advance copy of this book. Please see the other reviews of Resilience on the book tour as shown below.

Great to meet Corylus Books cofounder Jacky Collins today where we discussed this book:

[cliftonsteen]

Breaking down Caribbean coffee production

The Caribbean has a long, rich history of coffee production. From Jamaica and Cuba to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the soil and growing conditions found in the cool, mountainous regions of Caribbean islands are ideal for cultivating coffee.

Despite the Caribbean’s important role in coffee’s global history, modern coffee cultivation across the islands is a different story altogether. To learn more about Caribbean coffee production and about some of the region’s most prominent origins, I spoke to Rene Leon Gomez from PROMECAFE and Adarian Lherisson from Javae Coffee.

Read on to learn more about Caribbean coffee production.

You may also like our article about colonial inequalities in coffee.

A brief overview of Caribbean coffee

Even though major producing countries like Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia have long since surpassed the Caribbean as a coffee producing region in terms of volume, the region has played an incredibly important part in coffee’s global history.

The Caribbean island of Martinique (still a French territory to this day) was the first region in the Western Hemisphere where coffee was cultivated. After a young coffee plant was gifted to King Louis XIV in 1714, one of its seedlings was taken by a young naval officer to the colony.

Over the following 50 years, it is believed that more than 18 million coffee trees were planted on the island. The National Coffee Association describes this seedling as “the parent of all coffee trees throughout the Caribbean, South, and Central America”.

It is thought that this plant was of the Typica variety, which supposedly later spread across the Caribbean and into South and Central America. Today, the Typica variety has “gradually been replaced across much of the Americas”, according to World Coffee Research. This, however, has not been the case in the Caribbean.

Rene Leon Gomez is the Executive Secretary of PROMECAFE. He says that while Typica is still common across the region, it is susceptible to disease and has a comparatively low yield. This has led many producers to grow more resilient and productive varieties in recent years. 

A guide to some major Caribbean origins

Coffee has been cultivated in the Caribbean for almost 300 years. However, despite similarities in production conditions, each individual island is unique.

To break down some of the most prominent origins, we have selected a few by the volume that they export.

The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is the most visited destination in the Caribbean. It shares the Hispaniola island of the Greater Antilles with Haiti, of which it covers roughly five eighths.

Some 11 million people live in the Dominican Republic, and it is the largest coffee producer in the Caribbean by volume (27th in the world).

Coffee was introduced to the Dominican Republic in the early 18th century as a cash crop for smallholder farmers. By the late 19th century, it was being exported at scale.

Today, there are roughly 50,000 coffee farms across the country, and it produces more than 400,000 60kg bags of coffee every year.

More than 98% of the country’s plants are arabica. Coffee is predominantly cultivated in five mountainous regions across the country. Farmers grow a small volume of robusta for local consumption.

The country’s tropical highland terrain provides ideal conditions for coffee cultivation. It mainly produces washed coffees, with popular regions including Cibao, Azua, Ocoa, Juncalito, Barahona, and Baní.

Dominican coffee is often sold as “Santo Domingo coffee”, named for the country’s capital. It typically has a heavy body with a rich aroma and earthy flavours. As its growing regions range tremendously in elevation, acidity varies.

Haiti

The second country on the island of Hispaniola, coffee production has been a key component of the Haitian economy for more than 250 years. It is second to the Dominican Republic in total coffee exports by volume (28th in the world as of 2019).

Today, other agricultural products have overtaken coffee in terms of expert value. Coffee production in Haiti has suffered from poor infrastructure, difficult climate conditions, a number of natural disasters, and low farm productivity.

However, as the most mountainous nation in the Caribbean, Haiti offers excellent conditions for coffee cultivation. It is also an historically significant coffee producer, as one of the world’s largest in terms of volume through the 18th century.

Unlike Dominican coffee, Haitian coffee is predominantly natural processed, offering rich but mellow and sweet flavours with low acidity.

Adarian Lherisson is a coffee producer from Javae Coffee. He tells me that Haiti’s unique climate creates “a lush environment which allows for amazing development for coffees”. 

Cuba

Although coffee has been cultivated in Cuba since the 18th century, it became a major coffee producer in the 19th and early 20th century.

However, the nationalisation of the coffee sector and the Cuban Revolution saw production volumes decline during the late 20th century. This was only exacerbated by the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Soviet Union was a major trading partner of Cuba’s due to ideological similarities and political ties.

Through the 21st century, Cuban coffee production has recovered to some extent. It is now the 36th largest producer of coffee in the world by volume. However, despite this recovery, current production figures are around 40% of what they were in the mid-1950s. 

Today, almost all of the country’s coffee is grown in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Coffee from this region generally boasts sweet, sugary flavours with little acidity and a bold body.

Jamaica

More than 70% of all coffee grown in Jamaica is Typica. Most plants are grown at an elevation of 1,500 m.a.s.l. or higher. 

In the coffee sector, Jamaica is best known for its Blue Mountains. These comprise a famous coffee growing region that has long since been recognised for yielding highly desirable flavours.

Today, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is geographically recognised and possesses a global certification. This means that only coffee that is certified by a Jamaican governmental exports body can be labelled and sold as Blue Mountain coffee. 

Typically a washed coffee, Blue Mountain beans boast a mild flavour and almost no bitterness. This is because the Blue Mountain region offers high altitudes (the Blue Mountains rise as high as 2,200 m.a.s.l.).

It has a healthy amount of rainfall, cool temperatures, and rich soil, providing the perfect climate for coffee cultivation.

Climate & popular production methods

While there should be no generalisation across these origins (or others in the Caribbean), the region broadly offers excellent conditions for growing coffee. This is because Caribbean islands commonly have mountainous terrain (and high altitudes as a result), rich soil, and good rainfall.

Rene and Adarian both tell me that the Caribbean’s climate conditions are ideal for coffee production. They also note that while each country has its own unique features, there’s a consensus that the temperatures, humidity, and altitudes common to each island are all largely favourable for coffee production.

Rene also emphasises how the climate and land are favourable for other crops. This, he says, makes it easier for some producers to diversify their crop portfolio and improve sustainability and production.

However, there is one important point to note: when compared to countries like Brazil and Colombia, the Caribbean islands are much, much smaller. This means that Caribbean coffee producers categorically operate on much smaller parcels of land, making it harder to drive any kind of innovation at scale.

As such, Caribbean coffee production has remained fairly traditional; processing methods and production techniques have not evolved in the same ways that they have elsewhere in the world. Washed processing is most common across the region thanks to its high rainfall (and consequential good water availability).

However, Adarian notes that this focus on traditionalism and a lack of farmland doesn’t mean that there’s no innovation. Instead, he says, Caribbean producers innovate in other ways.

“[At Javae], we take our AA-rated beans from the washed coffees, and find those that are of the highest quality,” Adarian tells me. “We then replant those seeds to maintain and monitor higher-quality coffees.” 

What might the future hold?

It’s clear that the Caribbean offers ideal conditions for coffee production. In theory, there is the potential for the Caribbean to raise its profile in the specialty coffee sector through continued investment at scale.

However, like others around the world, Caribbean coffee producers face a whole host of challenges. While these include low market prices and logistical issues, the Caribbean’s ideal production climate also brings with it a host of natural disasters, including tropical storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

A more stable future could come from a diverse range of buyers. “The bulk of our coffees are exported to North America and parts of Asia, but Europe has been a market of interest [lately],” Adarian says. “The UK has shown to be increasing in interest, too… that is specifically a market of the future for Caribbean coffees.”

Rene, however, says that innovation and widespread initiatives to improve quality and volume are also helping to scale Caribbean coffee production. “Jamaica, for example, is very focused on quality at smaller volumes, while the Dominican Republic produces larger volumes but not of as high quality as Jamaica, for instance. 

“Countries like the Dominican Republic are also now very focused on improving quality with governmental support such as through INDOCAFE.” 

Rene also adds that increasing awareness and internal consumption will be key to grow and develop these coffee growing regions. “Along with producer experience, internal consumption is important to the growth and development of Caribbean regions such as the Dominican Republic.”

Despite the various challenges that Caribbean coffee producers face, the region has significant potential for coffee production, thanks to its excellent growing conditions.

Whether or not this potential will be realised in the years to come remains to be seen. However, these origins will continue to export coffee at scale through the future, meaning production seems set to remain an integral part of the region’s economy.

Enjoyed this? Then read our roaster guide to finding a specialty coffee producer in the Caribbean.

Photo credits: Adarian Lherisson 

Perfect Daily Grind

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[gaiatheorist]

‘Potential Terrorist Attack.’

I’ve left the quotation marks around it because that’s what the BBC have done. The initial news-notification on my phone, around 2am, so a couple of hours after the attack quoted ‘major incident’. It has taken the ‘balanced and impartial’ BBC roughly five hours to use the word ‘terrorist.’

The internet is, as the internet does, having multiple arguments about whether this is a terrorist incident or not. Yes it is. (There, fixed it for you, as the cool kids say.) The ludicrous phrasing of ‘clean shaven white man’ in the initial reports has set the ‘lone wolf’ cat amongst the pigeons. I can see today being a bit fractious.

Awash with speculation, and eyewitness accounts, 3am Twitter is rarely the most coherent or rational of places, everyone on my timeline will, no doubt, be making use of the ‘report’ function today. I looked at the hashtag, it’s what I do when ‘something happens’, and, in amongst the lucid condolences, and calls for unity, some people were saying it might just have been a drunk driver, or an accident. Nobody has raised the point that the man was detained for questioning, and not shot on sight. 

What a mess. The UK is already a tinder-dry powder-keg, and that’s not even taking into account the unseasonably warm weather, that will make some of us sleep-deprived and irritable.

It was a terrorist attack. It was a deliberate attempt to induce fear and panic. One death has been reported, and eight injured. The timing and location were deliberate, indicating that the attack was Islamophobic in nature. That’s the ‘twist’ that some hashtag users are struggling with. The version of ‘terrorism’ that they’re used to seeing is framed in the opposite direction, so they’re unable to reconcile this attack with the terminology.

Here’s the glitch in the system, white men can be terrorists, I suppose white women can, too, although we’re generally ‘trained’ to be less outwardly violent from birth. The Basque separatist movement had female operatives, as I recall, and, while I don’t remember any female IRA ‘names’, there was always talk of ‘terrorist sympathisers.’ 

This is the ‘contagion’ that the police spokesperson warned of, and this is another instance where it is absolutely clear that the Prevent strategy is under-resourced, and poorly directed. To flip-out to another angle, the mental health/suicide angle, very few people take their own lives without somebody noticing something was wrong, subtle behavioural changes, a trail of breadcrumbs for someone to pick up. That is not to infer that the man was mentally ill, it’s the point that someone, somewhere will have had concerns about this individual, and may or may not have attempted to report them. None of the Prevent referrals I made were linked to concerns of radicalisation, but that’s just my geographically narrow demographic. 

As more of the UK wakes up, and absorbs the news, more people will have opinions, and speculate. My prediction is that the tone will become unpleasant, that there will be racial slurs, and threats. That instability is what terrorists want, whatever their affiliation. All of the authority figures will call for calm, some ordinary people won’t be calm at all, there was already enough nervous tension in the air before this, we’re at another potential tipping-point. 

Whatever his skewed reasoning, whatever his affiliation or lack thereof, his intent was to cause harm. The rest of us need to do the opposite. 

(I’ve come back in to edit the typo, sometimes I’m that pedantic, but today I’m also waiting for the rental inspection, so can’t do anything that might generate mess.)

I’m struck by the difference in the response to this one, on the scene. There are reports that he shouted ‘Kill me’ and ‘I want to kill Muslims.’  I’ve just read another post, reported to be from one of the people attacked, cementing the difference between the reaction to this attack and the last one. The people leaving the mosque detained the attacker, alive, until the police arrived. There are other reports that the Iman from the mosque sheltered the attacker. Those are the details that the ‘send them back’ contingent won’t want to see, those actions are not consistent with their demonisation of ‘others’.

I can’t make any sweeping generalisations about any organised religion being one ‘of peace’, it doesn’t sit right with me; the actions of those Muslims, this morning, were profoundly peaceful. The London Bridge and Borough Market attacks had a different target, we awful Western-wasters, with our alcohol, and our unbecoming behaviours. Those people fought back, very ‘English’, get a few pints down us, and we’ll pick a fight with a hat-stand. As much as the last attacks were directed at ‘our’ way of life, in a way, so was this one. Whatever his reasoning, he was attacking the fact that we are an integrated society. 

Someone has just re-tweeted a ‘Helter Skelter’ comment, accusing the UK government of managing what Charles Manson tried to do, to set black against white in that example, to bring chaos and instability. That’s precisely what we don’t need, tensions are already close to breaking point after the Grenfell Tower fire, and some of us are incredibly uneasy about both Brexit, and the precarious nature of the current government. 

We’re only days beyond the ‘More in common’ events, held to commemorate the life and works of Jo Cox, who sought to bring communities together, to end this divisive rhetoric. We’ve had the calls for calm, and the calls for unity, I don’t want to dig into the responses, and I’m fairly sure the Tango-tan calling for a Muslim ban will have something to say about it. (Maybe along the lines of “If they weren’t allowed to come in the first place, they wouldn’t have been killed.”, like the kids I used to support in bottom-set Geography classes, who’d say “Why don’t they just move?” when we covered Less Developed Countries.) 

Right, on with it, I’m not going to look for hate-spouts to report, and I’m not going to get into arguments with them, that would be as effective as picking a fight with the hat-stand. If they float into my field of vision I’ll report them, whichever ‘side’ they’re coming from. It’s too hot, we’re all irritable, we’ve seen too much death, destruction and despair already, I don’t want any more.

[wecappcie-blog]

RACE AND RACISM – Some Concepts Defined

Despite adamant claims to the contrary, racism continues to plague many peoples around the world. The first step toward resolving issues of racial intolerance and prejudice is to develop an understanding of the underlying concepts and their labels.

This (rather long) article touches on the following topics:

• Stereotypes, Race, and Racism 

• Culture and Cultural Imperialism 

• Nationalism and National Imaginary 

I hope you find this article helpful.

Stereotypes

According to Stroebe and Insko (1989), the term 'stereoptype' originated in 1798 to describe a printing process that involved casts of pages of type. The term was first used in relation to the social and political arena in 1922 by Walter Lippman, referring to our perception of different groups. 

Irish-stereotypes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since then, the meaning of the term has been vigorously debated. Stereotyping was considered by some as the oversimplified, biased cognitive representations of "undesirable rigidity, permanence, and lack of variability from application to application" (ibid, 1989, p.4). Others, such as Brown (1965), considered it a natural fact of life like any other generalisation; "many generalisations acquired by heresay are true and useful" (cited in Stroebe & Insko, 1989, p.5). 

Stroebe and Insko (1989) settle on a simple definition which sits somewhere in between these two schools of thought. They define a stereotype as the “set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people" (p.5). They obviously accept that stereotypes are not necessarily rigid, permanent, or invariable, but they do still distinguish between stereotypes and other categories, claiming that stereotypes are characterised by a bias towards the ingroup and away from the outgroup (p.5). 

Yzerbyt, et al (1997) attempt to explain the existence of stereotypes, suggesting that stereotypes provide not only a set of (often unjustified) attributes to describe a group, but also a rationale for maintaining that set of attributes. This allows people to “integrate incoming information according to their specific views” (p.21). 

Race

When used in everyday speech in relation to multiculturalism, the term ‘race’ has come to mean any of the following:

• nationality (geographically determined) - e.g. the Italian race 

• ethnicity (culturally determined, sometimes in combination with geography) - e.g. the Italian race 

• skin colour - e.g. the white race 

The common usage of ‘race’ is problematic because it is esoteric, and because it implies what Bell (1986) calls “biological certainty” (p.29). When we talk about race, there is always a common understanding that we are also talking about common genetic characteristics that are passed from generation to generation. The concept of nationality is generally not so heavily tarred with the genetics brush. Likewise, ethnicity allows for, and gives equal weight to, causes other than genetics; race does not. Skin colour is just a description of physical appearance; race is not. The concept of race may masquerade as a mere substitution for these terms, but in actual fact, it is a reconstruction. 

Further, there is the question of degree. Are you black if you had a black grandmother? Are you black if you grew up in a black neighbourhood? Are you black sometimes, but not others? Who makes these decisions?

Racism

Having established the problems associated with the term ‘race’, we can now discuss how these problems contribute to issues of racism.

Jakubowicz et al (1994) define racism as “the set of values and behaviours associated with groups of people in conflict over physical appearances, genealogy, or cultural differences. It contains an intellectual/ideological framework of explanation, a negative orientation towards ‘the Other’, and a commitment to a set of actions that put these values into practice.” (p.27)

What this definition fails to address is the framework of explanation. Perhaps it should say “…framework of explanation based on various notions of race and racial stereotypes…”. This would bring us back to our discussion of the concept of race. 

Because race is almost impossible to define, racial stereotypes are even more inappropriate than other kinds of stereotypes. Racism is an infuriating phenomenon because, irrespective of this, behaviour is still explained, and actions are still performed, based on these racial categorisations. 

Culture

“Culture” is a term we’re all familiar with, but what does it mean? Does it reflect your nationality? Does it reflect your race? Does it reflect your colour, your accent, your social group? 

Kress (1988) defines culture as “the domain of meaningful human activity and of its effects and resultant objects” (p.2). This definition is very broad, and not particularly meaningful unless analysed in context. Lull (1995) talks of culture as “a complex and dynamic ecology of people, things, world views, activities, and settings that fundamentally endures but is also changed in routine communication and social interaction. Culture is context.” (p.66) 

As with other categorisation techniques, however, cultural labels are inherently innaccurate when applied at the individual level. No society is comprised of a single culture only. There are multitudes of sub-cultures which form due to different living conditions, places of birth, upbringing, etc. The concept of culture is useful because it differentiates between different groups of people on the basis of learned characteristics rather than genetic characteristics. It “implies that no culture is inherently superior to any other and that cultural richness by no means derives from economic standing” (Lull, 1995, p.66).

This last may be one reason behind the so-called “intellectual aversion to the idea of culture” (Carey, 1989, p.19) that has been encounted in America (probably the West in general, and, I would say, definitely in Australia). Other reasons suggested are individualism, Puratinism, and the isolation of science from culture.

Cultural Imperialism

In 1971, Johan Galtung published a landmark paper called “A Structural Theory of Imperialism”. Galtung conceptualises the world as a system of centres and peripheries in which the centres exploit the peripheries by extracting raw materials, processing these materials, and selling the processed products back to the peripheries. Because the processed goods are bought at a far greater cost than the raw materials, the periphery finds it extremely difficult to find enough capital to develop the infrastructure necessary to process its own raw materials. Therefore, it is always running at a loss. 

Galtung’s model is not limited to the trade of raw materials such as coal, metals, oil, etc. To the contrary, it is designed to incorporate the transformation of any raw value (such as natural disasters, violence, death, cultural difference) into a valuable processed product (such as a news story, or a tourism industry).

Galtung’s approach is inherently problematic, however, because it superimposes a centre-periphery relationship onto a world where no such relationship actually physically exists. In other words, it is a model which attempts to make sense of the intricate relationships between cultures, but by the very fact that it is a model, it is limiting. Admittedly, all theories are necessarily models, or constructions, of reality, but Galtung’s is potentially harmful because:

a) it positions underdeveloped countries and their cultures in the periphery. In order for such countries/cultures to try to change their position, they must first acknowledge their position as peripheral; and

b) it implies that the world will always contain imperialistic centre-periphery relationships; “A Centre country may slip into the Periphery, and vice versa” (Galtung &Vincent, 1992, p.49), but no allowance is made for the possibility of a world without imperialism. Therefore, if a country/culture wishes to change its position it must become an imperialistic centre.

In recent times, the term ‘Cultural Imperialism’ has come to mean the cultural effects of Galtung’s imperialism, rather than the process of imperialism as he sees it. For example, Mowlana (1997) argues that cultural imperialism occurs when “the dominant center overwhelms the underdeveloped peripheries, stimulating rapid and unorganized cultural and social change (Westernization), which is arguably detrimental” (p.142). 

The issue of language decline due to imbalances in media structures and flow is often claimed to be the result of cultural imperialism. Browne (1996) theorises that 

“the rapid rise of the electronic media during the twentieth century, along with their dominance by the majority culture, have posed a tremendous challenge to the continuing integrity, and even the very existence, of indigenous minority languages… (p.60)” 

He suggests that indiginous languages decline because:

• new indigenous terminology takes longer to be devised, and may be more difficult to use, thus ‘majority’ terminology tends to be used; 

• media monopolies have historically determined acceptable language usage; 

• schools have historically promoted the use of the ‘majority’ language; 

• indigenous populations around the world tend to rely quite heavily on electronic media because they have greater literacy problems. As a result, they are more heavily influenced by the ‘majority’ language than they realise; 

• the electronic media are inappropriate for communication in many indigenous languages because many such languages employ pauses as signs, and the electronic media remove pauses because they are regarded as “time wasted and as an indication of lack of professionalism” (Browne, p.61); and 

• television reinforces majority culture visual conventions, such as direct eye contact.

Similarly, Wardhaugh (1987) discusses how the majority of medical and scientific articles are published in English. “While English does not completely monopolize the scientific literature, it is difficult to understand how a scientist who cannot read English can hope to keep up with current scientific activity.” (p.136) More books are published in English than any other language, and 

“much of higher education in the world is carried out in English or requires some knowledge of English, and the educational systems of many countries acknowledge that students should be given some instruction in English if they are to be adequately prepared to meet the needs of the late twentieth century.”

(Wardhaugh, 1987, p.137)

There are definitely uncounted instances of one culture suffering at the hands of another, but there are still problems with explaining this in terms of Cultural Imperialism. In addition to those outlined above with relation to Galtung, there are a number of other problems. The Cultural Imperialism approach:

• does not allow for the appropriation or select cultural values by the ‘minority’ culture in order to empower, or in some other way, benefit, that culture; 

• presupposes some degree of natural change, it does not discuss where the line between natural change and imperialism can be drawn. (When is the change a necessary part of the compromise of living in a multicultural society?); and 

• overlooks the changes to ‘dominant’ cultures which necessarily occur as it learns about the ‘subordinate’ culture. 

Atal (1997) asserts that “[f]orces of change, impinging from the outside, have not succeeded in transforming the [non-West] cultures into look-alike societies. Cultures have shown their resilience and have survived the onslaught of technological changes.” (p.24) Robertson (1994) talks of Glocalisation, with the local being seen as an aspect of the global, not as its opposite. For example, we can see “the construction of increasingly differentiated consumers… To put it very simply, diversity sells” (p.37). It is his contention that “we should not equate the communicative and interactive connecting of… cultures with the notion of homogenisation of all cultures” (p.39).

This article does not suggest that we should be complacent about the effects cultures may have on each other. Rather, it suggests Cultural Imperialism is somewhat flawed as a tool for cultural and social criticism and change. Instead, each problem should be identified as an individual problem, not as a part of an overall phenomenon called cultural imperialism.

Nationalism

In his discussion of culture and identity, Singer (1987) argues that nationalism is a relatively modern phenomenon which started with the French and American revolutions. Singer asserts that “[a]s the number and importance of identity groups that individuals share rise, the more likely they are to have a higher degree of group identity” (p.43). Using this premise, he suggests that nationalism is a very powerful identity because it combines a host of other identities, such as “language, ethnicity, religion, and long-shared historic memory as one people attached to a particular piece of land” (p.51). 

It’s not surprising then, that Microsoft’s Encarta Online (1998) defines nationalism as a “movement in which the nation-state is regarded as the most important force for the realization of social, economic, and cultural aspirations of a people.”

National “imaginary”

Anne Hamilton (1990) defines national imaginary as 

“the means by which contemporary social orders are able to produce not merely images of themselves but images of themselves against others. An image of the self implies at once an image of another, against which it can be distinguished (p.16)”

She argues that it can be conceptualised as looking in a mirror and thinking we see someone else. By this, she means that a social order transplants its own (particularly bad) traits onto another social group. In this way, the social order can view itself in a positive way, serving to “unite the collectivity and maintain its sense of cohesion against outsiders” (Hamilton, 1990, p.16).

It seems, however, that the process can also work in the reverse direction. Hamilton suggests that in the case of Australia, there is a lack of images of the self. She asserts that the social order has appropriated aspects of Aboriginal culture as a result. In terms of the mirror analogy, this would be the self looking at another and thinking it sees itself.

References

Atal, Y., (1997) “One World, Multiple Centres” in Media & politics in transition: cultural identity in the age of globalization, ED. Servaes, J., & Lie, R., (pp.19-28), Belgium: Uitgeverij Acco.

Bell, P., (1986) “Race, Ethnicity: Meanings and Media”, in Multicultural Societies, ED. Bell, R., (pp.26-36).

Browne, D.R., (1996) Electronic Media and Indigenous Peoples, Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Galtung, J., (1971) “A Structural Theory of Imperialism” in Journal of Peace Research (8:2, pp.81-117).

Galtung, J., & Vincent, R.C. (1992) Global Glasnost, Hamptom Press, USA.

Hamilton, A., (1990) “Fear and Desire: Aborigines, Asians and the National Imaginary” in Australian Perceptions of Asia (No.9, pp.14-35).

Jakubowicz, A., Goodall, H., Martin, J., Mitchell, T., Randall, L., & Seneviratne, K. (1994) Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

Kress, G., (1989) Communication and Culture: An Introduction, New South Wales University Press, Australia.

Lull, J., (1995) Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. Polity Press.

Mowlana, H., (1997) Global Information and World Communication: New Frontiers in International Relations, Sage Publications Ltd.

Robertson, R., (1994) “Glocalisation” in The Journal of International Communication, 1,1, (pp.32-52).

Singer, M.R., (1987) Intercultural Communication: A Perceptual Approach, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 

Stroebe, W., & Insko, C..A., (1989) “Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination: Changing Conceptions in Theory and Research” in Stereotyping and Prejudice: Changing Conceptions, ED. Bar-Tal, D., Graumann, C.F., Kruglanski, A.W., Stroebe, W., (pp.3-34), Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Wardhaugh, R., (1987), Languages in Competition: Dominance, Diversity, and Decline, Basil Blackwell Ltd., Oxford, UK.

Yzerbyt, V., Rocher, S., & Schadron, G., (1997) “Stereotypes as Explanations: A Subjective Essentialistic View of Group Perception” in The Social Psychology of Stereotyping and Group Life, ED. Spears, R., Oakes, P.J., Ellemers, N., & Haslam, S.A., (pp.20-50), Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

[theuniversebeyondyourlens-blog]

Life as I know it, for now.

Hi All,

I’m back, and I wanted to explain my absence in writing recently, why I’m back and what I’ve been doing.

After searching for months after I graduated Uni, I got myself a full-time job (Waheyyy!) A job that is full on, but each day is different and has allowed me to develop. So in some aspects of life, I am keeping my mind and wallet full.

This is also the reason for me writing less and less- well it’s not the job’s fault, it’s mine really. I had well and truly joined the cycle of millions of people around the world. Getting home of an evening, sitting down and watching some mind-numbing reality T.V, rather than get off the couch and do something to broaden my mind. And believe me, I am still actively trying to change this.

Like a lot of us, I have also promised myself I would get fit, and go to the gym, forcing myself to do some (if any) exercise. Like many people, my form of exercise was walking to and from the fridge (until I fell ill- but that’s a different story) or from the loo to the tele. Whilst I was in Vegas I decided I will push myself to go.

I also haven’t blogged in a long time due to fear. What would I write? Who would be interested? Would I get laughed at or offend someone? But at the end of the day, I am doing this for me more than anyone. This is MY online diary, dang it. I’m the one inviting you in and I am happy to discuss my writing with those who are open and willing to listen as well as speak. All those keyboard warriors beware- I have a degree in International Relations and I’m not afraid to use it. J

If I’m also honest, during this time I have suffered a lot of anxiety. Which is difficult to explain and talk about. I know I have had it for a long time and I think for the most part I am good at hiding it, however I am not sure I am there enough to discuss it yet. I will do my best to explain in another blog at some point soon.

For now, I can only assume most my triggers for anxiety have been my own fault, from bury my head in the sand.  It is difficult to overcome ; the triggers change each day. But since last year I have taken the time to face these issues heard on.

I have, for the first time in a long time grown a back bone and let go of things that made me unhappy. I sorted out things that, despite imagining them going away, weren’t. I started with sacrificing things- a big apology to my family for this, as I decided it was time to sort out my looming university overdraft over Christmas, not a good move, but well worth it for the long term. I promise you all that ‘this time next year we’ll be billionaires’ and I will buy you the presents you all deserve.

I lost people along the way, I stopped becoming a door mat for ‘friends’ who had no regard for my feelings or others, unless it was to use me as a scapegoat or for when they wanted help. Friendship goes both ways. And believe me this was hard, especially living in a small town with only a few limited people I could socialise with. But I realised that only being friends with people in the same geographical location as you, or you’ve grown up with doesn’t always work out. The small town dynamics seem to breed an atmosphere that unless you’re engaged, have kids or have moved in with your other half by the age of 24 you are less of a person, immature and need to sort your life out.

I do absolutely believe it takes courage to have kids and become someone’s wife. I’m not for a second suggesting it is ever the easy option. But it is very hard to explain to others why these are just not for me, not yet anyway. I suppose my frustration comes out when others don’t understand why I would rather develop myself, work hard and travel rather than settle for the ‘picket fence.’

Not there is anything wrong with it, but for me it’s not on the top of my list. I want to travel, meet new and interesting people and ‘find myself’ (it’s a cliché I know.)

I now have very few, but precious friends to me (they know who they are and I love them for it) who despite our family and life differences support me and are always a phone call away. So, a massive thank you to them, I love you guys. And when/if I ever get married or have kids, or whether I’m half the globe away, I know you will be right by my side, as always. <3

What have I been doing other than work and writing?

I have been blessed with being able to travel.

In the last 4 years I have been to Portugal, Holland, Egypt, Turkey and the U.S. Each was an amazing and lifechanging experience. I’ll explain more below.

I made my first trip outside of Europe and travelled with James to Egypt and it was unforgettable. We went in 2014 and 2015, which probably weren’t the best times to go, due to the political and social unrest in the country. And it would be true to admit that travelling to Sharm El Sheikh wasn’t exactly getting into the deepest, darkest parts of the country that would spark a lifechanging story, but truthfully it was.

Whilst we were there I went Scuba diving and learnt about the importance of conserving marine wildlife (mainly from James, who is actually a genius and knows something about everything!) I loved every second, and I came back from the excursion convinced my life dream was now to be a marine wildlife photographer. Yes, I know. I am a flighty and indecisive individual, but I will, will, will get my PADI Licence and go diving in as many places as I can.

I tend to remember the stories of those I meet whilst I travel, and it was no different than when we had a conversation with one of the bar staff. It turns out he was 19, the same age as James, to which he got very angry when he found out. If I remember correctly he was told by his manager to go and take a break during one of our conversations.

We asked him what the matter was, worrying that we had offended him in some way, but he apologised and said that it was not the case at all. The fact we were around the same age as him and able to afford to go away to a 5* resort upset him. The Arab spring and aftermath of political and social unrest back in Cairo where his family lived, had left him in a very difficult position. He was working miles away from home, at the hotel we were staying at so he could provide and support his family. He also had a wife he was supporting, who was by coincidence studying at university back in the U.K, who he only saw 2-3 weeks a year.

Remembering this conversation, reminds me of how lucky I am and hating myself for taking the opportunity to go away for granted. It is easy for us in the western world to distract ourselves from other cultures, and states’ realities, so long as we have our smart phone and the latest IPad, what more could we want in life, right? Whilst other countries are in the middle of civil unrest, their objective and subjective security are at risk and we sit back and worry that having 1 more mouth to feed would mean we’d have one less cheeseburger we’re able to eat from Maccy D’s.

Millions of people back in 2014 and even more to this day are risking their lives in order to gain what we take for granted. And the problem has only become worse not better. So, share the luck and wealth people, and good karma will come your way!  Those who need help are not only thousands of miles away, but on your doorstep, so if you convince yourself that the middle East, Africa or other war torn starts are ‘too far away’ - go to the streets, and if you see someone who needs help, give them a handshake and a listening ear.

In 2016 I also went to Turkey- Yeah, yeah I know. It does seem like I often go looking for trouble.

But anyway, it was another country where I felt more welcome than places in Europe. Me and James, as always did a lot of excursions and had the most amazing time. I think this was the point where I decided that if I ever had a hen party, I would much rather go diving, do water sports or dirt biking than making cocktails. Take note girls!

As usual we didn’t tend to lay about on the beach for long and wanted to look around Icmeler, to which point we met Assad, a shop owner down one of the town’s side streets. He was a lovely chap, and was pushing for us to stay and speak to him and have tea, despite it being light out and them fasting for Ramadan. He was keen to play the host and find out more about us. We kindly declined the offer for tea, until we could come back and enjoy some with him in the evening. However we did stay for a short time and spoke to him about the persecution of Muslims and the ever present issue of extremism and the creeping social unrest Turkey.

He wanted peace as much as those from the western world did. He doesn’t support the cause of extremists, nor did he support the generalisation of his religion, where he had grown up with teachings of peace, respect, and love. It was an honour to speak to him and find out about his life, his family and share stories with him.

Last but not least of the amazing holidays I have been on is our recent trip to Las Vegas, where the family and myself went away so that my Mum and Neil could get married and we could have a family break. I learnt some amazing things from unexpected people, our helicopter pilot who took us around the Grand Canyon knew so much about the history, geology, and geography about the area, and allowed me to take some breath-taking pictures of the scenery.

I got the chance to see my cousin and his lovely wife and get to know them a little better. Growing up I was always seen as one of the younger ones, so it was great to chat to them and listen to how their lives had changed since Ryan moved to the States. I appreciated seeing Ryan, who understood how awkward and English I am compared to the American way of in depth conversations rather than a smile and nod, especially in elevators. Thank you for sharing Mum and Neil’s wedding with us, and sticking around, just so we could hang out. I will definitely be coming to Missouri once you’ve settled in and I’ll bring James with me. J

Whilst on a quick break so I could vape (I know it rhymes but I don’t have a better way of saying it) I met some unique characters. I wanted to say a big Thank you to Earnest, who is the person I least expected to be a 54-year-old Psychology Professor at Alabama University. Speaking to you and finding out your background of teaching, the military and travelling, as well as the reassurance that you don’t always have to belong in one ‘place,’ was unexpected, but needed.

As well as this it was great to meet Ellie from London, and have a conversation with her and David from Mississippi about the difference in Western cultures, Real Estate and Guns. It was actually refreshing to know that although the rest of the world might group us into one category there are major social, political and economic differences between the U.K and the U.S. Whether I agree with these is a different story all together.

 So, what’s new with me? Not a lot that I can show (other than the above) but mentally I feel in a great place and I feel motivated to allow myself the space to become a better and less closed off individual. My outlook on life has changed over the last year, and I hope with optimism and support from those who are close to me I can continue to tell my stories and look forward with anticipation to whatever comes next.

My Bucket list for the next year:

·         Get PADI Licence,

·         Join and adult language class

·         Go to the Gym

·         Write first Screenplay.

·         Capture more moments on my Camera

 Speak soon!

Meggsy

xxxxx