The case for support

So the case for support. Why you should give us your money. why our little cause and our little organisation are deserving of your time, talent or cash. Such a tricky question. and so hard for people to answer, especially the people who see the benefits each and every day. Sometimes I just want to write DUHH!! and dump my collective experience of my organisation on to the mind of whoever it is I am trying to convince.

I want to tell them about the enthusiasm of the 4 teenagers who nervously edged their way into the building and then virtually exploded with ideas about what they wanted to do at the place. So many ideas, so well presented, argued," there is no other place to practice our music where we live, we've got to go all the way across the other side of town" and later "can we put on a gig here? Here's how we'd market it, and here's what we would server in the way of refreshments, and security would work like this..." they virtually leapt on my idea for learning how to take better pics using phone cameras, they've all got them, we've got the biggest disabled access darkroom in the city, this seems like a logical extension of that ethos.

The only thing stopping all of that happening right now? money.

And not even that much money, mostly just time and a bit of skill. when you see that kind of effort, energy and potential swilling around the place you just want to empty your own pockets and get it done.  That's the impulse we need to spread. That's the enthusiasm that is so easily contagious when you spend more than a few hours at the place.

RAKU

We did some Raku as the final of 4 sessions on the ceramic extension course I've been taking. Good fun it was too. Out in the playground of an old school, right in the city centre, with a big old tank of gas and a modified dustbin lined with spun aluminium. Odd setting, but so very right.

The portable kiln is filled with our pieces, made from special clay, and painted or dipped in special glazes, then we blast it for 30 mins while we snack and gossip.

Once Yvette, our tutor says so, and ONLY when she says so the pieces are man handled out of the kiln...

...and dropped in yet more dustbins filled with sawdust and shredded paper , which of course bursts into flames and is very dramatic.

Once cool, but still hot enough to make steam on being dipped in buckets of water, they are cleaned , scrubbed and polished. something magnificent happens at some point during the process. Probably mostly when they are thrown in the sawdust and shredded paper.

My pieces, two replicas of the larger Kaftans we got in Istanbul, so I can't take any credit for the shape, but the pattern is all me.

*

I'll be back in September.

Thinking about a revolution...

This would be a good place to dump all the stuff I'm learning about fundraising as I go through my internship.

Should a dirth of opinions worry you?

Or is it just a sign of maturity, that you have grown comfortable with the world and
It's faults, more accepting of peoples idiosyncrasies. The angriest I have found myself
In recent years was when a hotel didn't have a lift up to their first floor.
not that anger should be mistaken for an opinion. An opinion, in my opinion, is a choice between things and a conviction that your way is better. My problem is I can nearly always see other peoples points of views and see the merits in them. Perhaps it's a consequence of the very few responsibilities I have these days, I'm rarely forced to choose, so anything is ok for me. Doesen't help with writing fiction characters just go with the flow and that's nearly always dull.
Http://ollfindyourvoice.wikispaces.org for fiction without opinions.

Fiction, writing of.

It's been a long time coming, but I've started to put effort and time into writing fiction. With the help of Ray Ross phd, and the mutual support of about 8 regulars at the University of Edinburgh Life Long Learning course.

I'll discuss the reasons and method later, but for now, I'm going to put the class exercises up here.

The reprise...

So the action has moved over to turning over a new Leith, Buffy's excellent new blog. And now that she is well established I won't feel bad for restarting to post here, not that it's a competition, but if it were, I would not be accused of stealing her traffic.

The action has moved

Were not in France anymore, so this blog is being closed down. The new action is over at Tumblr.com Check out Turning over a new Leith !

The first nostalgic thought

Here's something I miss; I miss the days when music was so important to me I used to hang on the New Musical Express to hear what new 3 minute slice of sound would tell me more about the mystery of life I was charging headlong into. I miss the excitement of a release date for the new album by whoever, the anticipation and excitement.

Someone gave me the entire discography of the Kings of Leon today, it was an afterthought, a bonus, an offhanded gesture, 'oh you might like this'... 3oo Megabytes of ones and zeros later and it's all there, the first tentative album, the second stronger sound, the third storming guitars and anxious, nervous drums of power.

I compare this with the precious individual who introduced me to Sonic Youth, we talked about some other album we had both enjoyed and a couple of days later he said he would make me a tape of some stuff I might enjoy. He did it over a weekend, curated a mix, composed a side, and another, 90 minutes in all, hand wrote the track listings on the card insert, each track name and artist, in small, legible capitals; in blue biro.

He brought it to school, and gave it to me, I turned it over and examined it as a stereotypical Japanese businessman examines a new business card. I asked questions, got answers, and made projections in my mind. I couldn't wait till I got it home to play it, no walkman for me till later, and years later till I felt comfortable in public with earbuds in.

Each song was considered, treasure, pondered. I've just had Kings of Leon playing as wallpaper for two hours now, I did other stuff. I hope it's me, but I don't want to value music less.

The compressed final sandwich

The compressed final sandwich
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

The sandwich 2 days in the making. The Mufalletta, italian with many delicious ingrediants. An olive salad spread, with garlic, two types of olives, sliced peppers, capers, anchovies, lemon juice, pepper, herbs de provence, all marinated for 24 hours.
Spread half of this over the bottom of a hollowed out bread bun, and then layer slow roasted tomatoes, we used big beef tomatoes roasted in the oven for 2.5 hours. Then layer provalone cheese, the sharpest you can get, goes great with the sweetness of the tomatoes. Next comes meat, the core of most great sandwiches, Mortadella, cut thicker. And soprasada, wafer thin. Lettuce and then the rest fo the olive salad.
Wrap it up in clingflim and compress it in the fridge for a couple of hours, to let the flavours mingle, then cut in half, or even quarters and enjoy with a nice jammy wine, such as a Malbec, form the Cahors region of France. Miam.

We went for a surprise course in cake making at the test kitchen of a local bakers shop, a nice way to turn a cost center into a profit center!

We made some slab biscuit, light and fluffy, and with a almond paste base! these were cut rounds out to form the bottom of a cake, then made a chocolate mousse, and some fancy decorations. Including the chocolate swirls below! MUCH FUN!

How to show my online character offline?

Online identity of Ben Pawson
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

This image I made try's to show the Online identity of Ben Pawson, I;m thinking about including it in my CV, to stand out a bit.

Social networking yes, but what else makes up who I am online. And is that useful or relevant offline? Does it add something to my CV for example? Should I take out Twitter for example, does it show that I'm not serious about it, and what does that say about me?

What would an employer say that I have nearly 3000 photos online, it certainly backs up the 'creative'; aspect of my CV, unless all those pictures are of my cat, in which case that makes me weird (sorry cat lovers). What if I added my online dating stats?

Love to hear what you all think.

Ben

Our first video, more to come if it's this easy!

Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

The Musee d'Orsay is one of my favourite museums ever, the top two floors have some of the paintings that first introduced me to art, and what it can be. I devoured a series of 'artist's by themselves' books from the local library when I was about 16, one after another till I had done all the impressionsists, then moving on to other schoola and periods. almost as much for the backstory, and bigraphical stories as for the art. So an afternoon in the museum after a morning up in Mont Martre was a slap in the face to realize again why I love art.

The cathedral of trees has a leak in it's roof.

Canal du midi - April 09
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

In the rain, which happened often, but about as much as the sunshine so we musn't grumble.

Canal du midi - April 09

Canal du midi - April 09
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

We hired a canal boat, and set sail...? for a week on the canal du Midi, in southern France, it joins the atlantic and mediterranea seas, and was a trade route, before trains. Now it;s one of the longest and largest canal routes in Europe, and blissfully relaxing. Notionally a celbration of our second wedding anniversary. Which was the 28th April. More photos on Flickr, but you must be either a family or friend, or both, to see them.

Yogurt

I had a yogurt today, and a once in a lifetime experiance.

The experiances were related, let me explain how. You know when you tear the top off the yoghurt there is always a little bit of yogurt that sticks to the lid? That didn't happen today, it was a perfect peel, it left a flat film of yoghurt floating on a self contained bubble of air. sweet.

I took a picture so you don't think I'm some liar trying to become a saint. But I lost the picture in some random drag and drop black hole accident. He giveth and he taketh away.

Blaine and Beep send their love!

DSC00120
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

our tow semi-permanent house guests wanted me to tell you they are stoked about being on this blog, its been a dream of Blaines ever since he was born form his blister packaging.
Beep is a littel less enthusiastic, but still happy to share a post with his buddy Blaine.

Pulpe

Pulpe
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

We cooked these two treasures form the deep, they were delicious, but stunk the place out for days afterwards, until we cooked pizza. love the colours and the suckers, the most delicious parts!

Harding Marketing Open House 2008

Harding Open House 2008
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

We had a big cool, open house event this June for all our clients, suppliers, friends and hangers on, we had juts expanded the office, taken on two new members of staff and felt tlike we needed to celebrate.
Ths photo was taken in our parking lot in front of the office, we decorated the officce and put on a tour ofsome ofthe things we do, intoroducing clients to aspects of us they may not have known about.
We had a band, buffet and a full staffed coffee stand, by Nespresso.
All good stuff, lots of mingeling and mixing was done, some netowrking and some new frinds were made. I;ve annotated the photo on flickr with the name of all my colleuges above. About 5 people are missing, due to injury, apendicitis, and being in Spain.

Chateau des Alpilles

Chateau des Alpilles
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

They rose in the morning, and sunk at night. this the view form one of 4 windows in our room. As le Courbusier said, every room should have two or more windows. how right.

I;ve been getting more and more ghosts form the past, or rather memories coming back to life, people who were a big part of my growing up adding themselves back into my life. wether facebook, fiends re-united or stalkers they are all welcome.