Janie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rowanberry) wrote2019-07-03 07:01 pm
rowanberry) wrote2019-07-03 07:01 pm
Entry tags:
Three Random Topics Meme (x2)
It's a new month, and a new moon, and Holly Season is meant to be bright and colourful. So that's my goal, too. Thank you to everyone who commented on my last - I was in a bit of a blue place, and it was really helpful to hear some soft DW support <3
Kickstarting with getting on the bandwagon (late) for the meme where people give you three random topics to chat about. If you'd like three random topics from me for the meme, comment below!
dauntless_heart gave me:
Age of Sail
Ballet
Celtic Myths
anduniversalme gave me:
Amberlough Dossier
Knitting
Revolution
Age of Sail
I've always been a bit obsessed with tall ships and the Age of Sail. My PhD thesis was on shipwreck images in poetry of the early eighteen-hundreds as a result. In classic academic imposter syndrome, I never feel like I know very much/enough about the subject, but I can't resist an image of or piece of trivia about the period! We've got a wall of nautical paintings in the house, and in our cabinet coffee table are some model ships (HMS Victory and the Santa Maria).
Ballet
Ballet was one of my earliest loves. I didn't start dancing until I was 17 years old thanks to a lack of affordable classes in the area, but once I started it I only fell in love with it even more. I've actually only seen one ballet performance, but it's on my list to see at least one more (the one I saw was an amateur company so I'd love to see a professional one too). I stopped dancing when I was 28 but when I had the chance to take an adult class again earlier this year I still loved it just as much.
Celtic Myths
I'm half Welsh, and Celtic mythology has always felt near and dear to my heart. Ceridwen is one of my favourite Goddesses, and Rhiannon. A couple of years ago I read If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie, which is about reclaiming the lost/buried feminine power in Celtic mythology. I'd heartily recommend it! It can be easy to get misled with Celtic stories - when you first look into, it's very easy to find a lot of Irish / Irish-influenced stuff, and you sometimes have to dig a bit for the other Celtic cultures if you're not living in the areas. And again, a lot of the Welsh Celticism gets lost under Arthuriana. And on top of all that, it can initially seem very patriarchal and disappointing. Sharon Blackie's work is superb, though. Miranda Green has also written quite a bit about Celtic women and goddesses, so her work is a good place to look too. Maybe one day I'll post some of my feelings about the different Welsh myths here! Next summer my partner and I are planning a walking holiday down (or maybe up) the coast of Wales so I can explore more of my dad's homeland :)
Amberlough Dossier
Ahhh the Amberlough Dossier :D This is a trilogy of books by Lara Elena Donnelly, which you can find out where to purchase here on her website! The books are titled Amberlough; Armistice; and Amnesty, and are set in a sort of second-world 1930s/1940s Europe... ish. They're inherently queer, antifascist, and revolutionary - about both fighting back against awful regimes and what happens when you can't fight anymore. One of my favourite things about them is how unapologetically real the characters are - there's not a person in those books that I don't love and hate at different moments. Everyone does awful things and brilliant things and has their own motives, and responds differently to political pressures and situations. Every emotion the main characters go through hits like a punch in the solar plexus. On top of which, the world building is second to none. I cannot recommend these books hard enough, I wish there was more of a fandom for them too! If the synopsis I gave my friend for Amberlough ("a spy, a drag queen, and a stripper walk into a cabaret in not-Weimar-Berlin and shit gets fucked up") appeals to you at all, then do yourself and me and a favour and read this trilogy! Then come and talk to me about it. Please!
Knitting
I love knitting! Currently very behind on several projects that I've been working on for ages, thanks to moving house and knitting always feeling a little bit wrong in the summer, but I'll get back to it. I love it as something to pick up and put down whenever I feel like. It keeps my hands busy and I can do it whilst socialising over a cup of tea! Full disclosure: it was something I took up originally in 2005 (I already knew the basics of how, my Mum showed me as a child, but I got into it properly in 2005) as something to do with my hands when I had the urge to self-harm. It felt good to be creative instead of destructive, and it has led to some beautiful knitted products! Currently I'm piecing together a patchwork blanket, still knitting a cardigan that I started when my Nanny died, a simple hot water bottle cover since I've been using an old t-shirt for ages, and a strawberry baby bag for my newest niece.
Revolution
WE'RE HERE
WE'RE QUEER
WE'LL NEVER DISAPPEAR
Revolutions fascinate and sometimes inspire me. I think, like a lot of people, I love the concept and idealism of revolution more than I would enjoy living the actuality of it. But that said, let's all party like it's 1789.
Kickstarting with getting on the bandwagon (late) for the meme where people give you three random topics to chat about. If you'd like three random topics from me for the meme, comment below!
dauntless_heart gave me: Age of Sail
Ballet
Celtic Myths
and
universalme gave me:Amberlough Dossier
Knitting
Revolution
Age of Sail
I've always been a bit obsessed with tall ships and the Age of Sail. My PhD thesis was on shipwreck images in poetry of the early eighteen-hundreds as a result. In classic academic imposter syndrome, I never feel like I know very much/enough about the subject, but I can't resist an image of or piece of trivia about the period! We've got a wall of nautical paintings in the house, and in our cabinet coffee table are some model ships (HMS Victory and the Santa Maria).
Ballet
Ballet was one of my earliest loves. I didn't start dancing until I was 17 years old thanks to a lack of affordable classes in the area, but once I started it I only fell in love with it even more. I've actually only seen one ballet performance, but it's on my list to see at least one more (the one I saw was an amateur company so I'd love to see a professional one too). I stopped dancing when I was 28 but when I had the chance to take an adult class again earlier this year I still loved it just as much.
Celtic Myths
I'm half Welsh, and Celtic mythology has always felt near and dear to my heart. Ceridwen is one of my favourite Goddesses, and Rhiannon. A couple of years ago I read If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie, which is about reclaiming the lost/buried feminine power in Celtic mythology. I'd heartily recommend it! It can be easy to get misled with Celtic stories - when you first look into, it's very easy to find a lot of Irish / Irish-influenced stuff, and you sometimes have to dig a bit for the other Celtic cultures if you're not living in the areas. And again, a lot of the Welsh Celticism gets lost under Arthuriana. And on top of all that, it can initially seem very patriarchal and disappointing. Sharon Blackie's work is superb, though. Miranda Green has also written quite a bit about Celtic women and goddesses, so her work is a good place to look too. Maybe one day I'll post some of my feelings about the different Welsh myths here! Next summer my partner and I are planning a walking holiday down (or maybe up) the coast of Wales so I can explore more of my dad's homeland :)
Amberlough Dossier
Ahhh the Amberlough Dossier :D This is a trilogy of books by Lara Elena Donnelly, which you can find out where to purchase here on her website! The books are titled Amberlough; Armistice; and Amnesty, and are set in a sort of second-world 1930s/1940s Europe... ish. They're inherently queer, antifascist, and revolutionary - about both fighting back against awful regimes and what happens when you can't fight anymore. One of my favourite things about them is how unapologetically real the characters are - there's not a person in those books that I don't love and hate at different moments. Everyone does awful things and brilliant things and has their own motives, and responds differently to political pressures and situations. Every emotion the main characters go through hits like a punch in the solar plexus. On top of which, the world building is second to none. I cannot recommend these books hard enough, I wish there was more of a fandom for them too! If the synopsis I gave my friend for Amberlough ("a spy, a drag queen, and a stripper walk into a cabaret in not-Weimar-Berlin and shit gets fucked up") appeals to you at all, then do yourself and me and a favour and read this trilogy! Then come and talk to me about it. Please!
Knitting
I love knitting! Currently very behind on several projects that I've been working on for ages, thanks to moving house and knitting always feeling a little bit wrong in the summer, but I'll get back to it. I love it as something to pick up and put down whenever I feel like. It keeps my hands busy and I can do it whilst socialising over a cup of tea! Full disclosure: it was something I took up originally in 2005 (I already knew the basics of how, my Mum showed me as a child, but I got into it properly in 2005) as something to do with my hands when I had the urge to self-harm. It felt good to be creative instead of destructive, and it has led to some beautiful knitted products! Currently I'm piecing together a patchwork blanket, still knitting a cardigan that I started when my Nanny died, a simple hot water bottle cover since I've been using an old t-shirt for ages, and a strawberry baby bag for my newest niece.
Revolution
WE'RE HERE
WE'RE QUEER
WE'LL NEVER DISAPPEAR
Revolutions fascinate and sometimes inspire me. I think, like a lot of people, I love the concept and idealism of revolution more than I would enjoy living the actuality of it. But that said, let's all party like it's 1789.