Some thoughts on National Stress Awareness Day

Stress effects us all , both in the workplace and in our everyday lives.Day in day out, ad-nfinitum.

Today however  is National Stress Awareness Day and this year’s theme is Speak Up and Speak Out. This years theme  about communicating stress,is personally quite important, as someone who has own bouts, troughs of real lows too,  who realises though that communicating effectively can be extremely difficult during stressful times. Whether that communication is to let loved ones or colleagues know that you are stressed, or simply to communicate about everyday things, people often feel worried about speaking out about being under stress. There is a perceived stigma attached to being stressed as people believe it will leave them with less influence at work, or in general social outlets can leave many people feeling isolated and  left with  believe that they cannot cope.

That is why this National Stress Awareness Day, it is important to think about Speaking Up and Speaking Out. Being able to communicate more often and more effectively will allow you to more efficiently manage stressful situations and help others deal with it, too.Lets not forget that stress is a fact of modern life, that for many us have come to fear, a force that calls when often we are not coping very well, when internal and external pressures become to great, often we see it  as a sign of weakness or an indication of mental illness.Can spark thoughts of anxiety, fear, guilt, anger and depression.Times that people often, simply forget to reach out for a  little further help..
Apart from the daily onslaught of capitalism that brings about a great deal of stress, that we daily are forced  to cope with  there are some simple ways to cope sometimes with it all. Even while alone. Personally I have learnt that eating well and regularly is a good idea, but often simply unable to because of lack of money to do so, I try to walk though somewhere, a form of taking oneself out, then resting, sleep has proven to be effective, but not too much of it. Exercing is good, so I  tend to potter about in the garden, it helps release  inner endorphins, socialising is good too, though obviouly be careful who you hang with. Hands of friendship very important, but can not always be in reach, so distract by listening to music, currentlly stereo releasing somehealing waves,  reading a good book helps too, I personally should learn to avoid using social media in periods of anxiety ,since there not always the best of places to frequent when trying to actually avoid the stresses of the world.
The truth is that there is no lasting individual solutions to the problems of stess. Human happiness, wellbeing can only be fully realized in a society free of exploitation, oppression and confusion, so best try and keep going, try not to give up, reach out to those hands that can help make the process a whole lot easier. Remember the global capitalist system is in crisis too, but  continuing to inflict great stress and pain, we are sadly all , currently caught up in this, axious with fears for the future. We are living in age of anxiety. Many of us are tired, and on the edge, but we much keep reaching out I guess, challenging, trying to find a better way, finding new possibilities, keep on keeping on, spurred on by the direction of hope and change. The power of love helps immensley too. But when stress gets to debilitating and there seem to be no other ways a doctor should be out there, but I acknowledge in days like these not that easy to get hold of one, in times of immediacy. But there is help out there. Another world too. You can also go I guess to the National Stress Awareness  Day website to download tips for stress-free living... but only tips, Im still  finding ways to overcome, keep looking for distraction,  trying to speak up , and speak out, while I can manage to do so. And there will all ways be more glad times, just cling on and wait and see, take your own time , follow your own mountains and journeys, try and find any form of love that helps. But really I simply have not got a clue, trust me when I say i'm no expert. But good luck

https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/national-stress-awareness-day-2017/

Here is a link to a list of helplines that could also be of use:

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/mental-health-helplines.aspx 

Out Demons out (A poem for Samhein/Halloween)

As the evening falls
the ghost of Maggie Thatcher
will stalk us everywhere,
while her ghoulish descendents
grimacing, keep destroying lives
leave many of us trembling with fear,
breaking our smiles with conscious cruelty
disturbing sleep,with rotten sulphuric breath,
stealing  from the poor, plundering the nation
making mischief, life so terrifying,
with policies of menace,and dark intention
keeping many petrified, scared as hell,
filling people with wrath and ire,
we must  excorcise and resist
together cast these demons out.

When one person suffers from delusions, we call it a mental illness, when society suffers from them we call it being normal

(a morning ramble)

" We are caged by our cultural programming. Culture is a mass hallucination and when you step outside the mass hallucination you see it  for what it's worth "

- Terence McKenna

Furthermore our societies are engineered,  as our views are formed, while consent is manufactured and consumption dictated. Perhaps it is time to de-program ourselves, stop supporting companies that keep us living as economic slaves. Shop and buy local. Find opportunities  to connect with what is really important in life.
When faced with demands for conformity, slowly ask , "What will happen if I refuse." there are no rules to follow, after all you can make it up as you go along.
But please keep questioning what is happening on the planet, even though you will face fierce opposition. As the mainstream media keep publishing headlines that are lies,  subvert their message, turn their papers over in the racks, hide them, do it yourself, these small acts can be greatly satisfying. 
If society was truly rational it would  be standing strongly now against a government that serves only the interests of the rich and powerful but at the moment just wanders in compliance. So be defiant, be a rebel, keep non-conforming, boldly resisting consensus,  the normalisation that causes poverty and war,  keep thinking outside their boxes with oppositional defiance. Lets leave the peddlers of delusion to their own devices, spreaders of fear and intolerance, lets have the courage and grace to go to different places, that really matter, beyond the fixations with growth, that continue to make tragedies of our human lives. With enough fire and imagination, and determination, lets keep sitting outside the confines of their caged enclosures.    

Goodbye Fats Domino Rock and Roll Legend R.I.P

Sad news legendary  the singer- songwriter and piano player Fats Domino  whose style was hugely influential on the development of rock 'n' roll , died peacefully Wednesday morning at the age of 89
Domino was a lifelong resident of New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, where he was born into a musical French Creole family on February 27, 1928. He dropped out of school yo play piano in his teens, and in 1949 met producer Dave Bartholomew, with whom he would produce some of his biggest hits. Domino's nickname, given to him by bass player and bandleader Billy Diamond, inspiring  his first single, "The Fat Man, " by 1953 that record became the first rock 'n'roll record to sell more than a million copies.

Fats crossed over to the mainstream with ' Ain't  that a shame ' cracking the top ten at a time when the radio was still widely segregated , it was in fact a cover by a white artist Pat Boone that reached no 1.

The following year  he had his biggest hit ' Blueberry Hill,' which would reach No 2 in the Billboard Top 40 and No 1 on the R&B charts.

The mainstreaming of rock  n roll was profitable for Fats, who went on to have seven more top ten hits between 1956 and 1959. Yet these were stormy times, in 1956, riots broke out at four different Fats Domino concerts, including one in North Carolina in which Domino and several of his band members were injured. In the end though, Domino managed to chart a staggering 63 times on the pop charts and 50 times on the R&B charts outselling the likes of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly.Fats influence though as a black artist  who dominated the pop charts and audiences off all races ii a segregated America cannot be understated, as he and his band challenged pre - Civil Rights movement conventions in a white- dominated industry.
In 1969 Fats travelled to Las Vegas to attend and Elvis concert. When a journalist referred to Presley as 'The King', Presley simply gestured towards Fats and famously declared. "No. That's the real King of rock and roll. John Lennon also said ' There wouldn't have been a Beatles without Fats Domino," the Beatles adored him and his music.
Fats was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and he recieved a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.
A shy and reclusive man, he remained a live performer through most of his life, he once said "I'd play for nothing, as a matter of fact, right now I'd rather pay for nothing and sound good than play for nothing and sound good than play for something and sound bad, we're all blessed. People tell me my music did something for them, and it works both ways. I just love music, that's all. I really appreciate that the people have been nice to me and bought my records all these years. I want them to know I love them, too." Sweet.
Fats declined an offer from President Bill Clinton to perform at the White House, though he did accept the National Medal of Arts. Fats had to be airlifted out of his home during Hurricane Katrina, which also resulted in all his possessions being destroyed. In 2006, President George W. Bush visited Fats home then still badly damaged by Katrina, to replace the National Medal of the Arts that Fats had lost in the storm. Fats is survived by eight children, and an entire genre of music for which he was one of the key innovators.Rock and Roll will never die, but one of the great individuals directly responsible for shaping it  in the first place has now joined the choir invincible, there must be a whole lot of boogie woogie happening now above us in the stars and universe. R.I.P

Poetry is real

Poetry is real
As injustice is real,
Coarsing through veins
All through our lives,
Between love and wild emotion
Keeps battering down doors

Not confined by borders or walls,
In  times of tumult and danger

Allows hope to  dwell
Will never be chained
Unable to be tamed,

Through every passing season

Allows thoughts to be known,
Has the capacity to heal
Release avenues of possibility,

From the rivers to the sea
Wildly running free,

With defiant devotion
On gauntlets of imagination,
A chorus of different voices
Refusing to remain silent,
We are all prisoners of the world
Never truly free until death,
Poetry can deliver comfort
Carrying freedoms torch,
Standing up for  rights
Of people everywhere,
Words stirring, provoking
Creating new worlds,
Fleshed out of existence
For all to share.

Amddiffyn Bodlondeb! Stand Up for Bodlondeb!

The Aberystwyth community in West Wales is relatively aware and supportive of this campaign to save this residential care home for the elderly because of where Bodlondeb is. Unions have also said there is no plan in place for care provision if the home shuts, and residents could have to move long distances. However the proposed closure of this home with the result of a loss of 33 jobs is a wider austerity issue in which our public services are being stolen by the privateers at a rate of knots. If we lose Bodlondeb, the other six council run elderly care homes in the county will go down the same way. Most of the cabinet voting on this decision have the wards elsewhere in Ceredigion, not Aberystwyth, so it would be excellent if they had some pressure from their own constituents, The signs say that they are really looking to close it but this could be swung with a successful lobying campaign and an extremely well attended march. Please come along to the march and bring a friend or two.
Join us on 4th November in Aberystwyth Town Centre to save our beautiful council-run elderly care home. Bodlondeb is ours, not the Council’s. They are supposed to look after it for us and for our families, not sell it off! If Bodlondeb closes then other council run care homes for the elderly are surely next: Tregerddan, Bryntirion, Yr Hafod, Hafan Deg, Awel Deg, Min y Mor ……

4 November at 12:00

 

 Owain Glyndwr Square, Aberystwyth

 

 Created for Ceredigion People's Assembly / Cynulliad Gwerin Ceredigion

 

 

These 5 Billionaires own 80 % of the UK media

Corporations run our government.There are 5 billionaires who run our media, and they have huge power in our democracy forcing our political parties to prioritise  their wishes over the wishes of the British public.
These 5 people not only own 80% of the newspapers we read every day, they also own TV stations, press agencies, book companies, cinemas, so everything we think or speak in Britain is nearly controlled entirely by these 5 men.
The following are the 5 men in control :-

Richard Desmond: Owner of the Daily Star, Sunday Star, Daily and Sunday Express. The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List reported his net worth at £2.25 billion, making him the 48th richest person in Britain.

Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere: Owner of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and  the Metro. In April 2015, the Sunday Times estimated his net worth at £1 billion.He currently resides in France.

Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay: Owners of the Telegraph, the Spectator and the Business. The Sunday Times Rich List of 2015 estimated their wealth at £6.5 billion who live on a private island near Saark. .

Rupert Murdoch: Owner of the Sun, Times, Sky, Fox and many others. Estimated wealth of $13 Billion who lives in Australia.

Where the real power lies:

The power to decide who is elected as the government in this country lies in the hands of these 5 Billionaires who between them own 80% of the media. Messrs Desmond, Harmsworth, Murdoch and the Barclay Brothers control what you read, see and hear and the narrow range of topics which make it into the newspapers, and of course, they all back the party of the Billionaires, the Conservatives. In spite of wielding this amount of power in the UK, none of them pay tax and their newspapers are registered to tax havens, and that's the way they want it to stay. They ignore the climate crisis, back fracking, and bully politicians to do their bidding. They maintain an unjust hold on the world , they stir up fear and hate , so that we all blame one another rather  than those truly responsible.
We need a free democratic press one that serves the 99% and not the 1%, recognising that it is essential for the creation  of a Britain with true social, political and ecological justice, a free press that continues to hold those in power to account. Time to take back control.

"How Britain’s Propaganda Machine Controls What You Think"
http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/how-britains-propaganda-machine-controls-what-you-think/

"The Rotten Heart Of The British Press"
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-f80f-The-Rotten-Heart-of-the-British-Press

A Beautiful Resistance

following poem inspired by attending rally in Haverfordwest 14/10/17)

A Beautiful Resistance

Among tides of wild currents
Freedom spreads beautiful resistance
flying strong on winds of existence,
some will try to steal our thunder
tempt us into  places of fear and hate
but like the breezes that blow with persistence
mighty are minds that follow this source,
with compassion will help deliver tyranny's end
for the lives of the many, not the hands of a few
beyond the darkness of our current days
there is strength in a crowd of solidarity,
with people's power the future looks bold
we can create and build a fairer world,.
following  paths of love and equality
our desires can continue to be shared,
carrying rainbow flags of diversity
refusing to be silenced or usurped
each night and day dreams will live
sowing hope in  hearts, seeds of change
onwards we rise,never to  disappear.

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/a-beautiful-resistance-by-dave-rendle/

Fela Kuti ( 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997) Afrobeat pioneer who used his music as a weapon

Fela Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti), also known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, visionary composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist, marijuana smoking icon and incendiary political maverick.
Fela was born into  an upper middle class family in Abeokuta, Oguri State Nigeria..His father was the strict Rev Canon Israel Oludoton Ransome Kuti an ordained minister grammar  school principal and first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. Fela's  mother Funmilayo was a leader of the country's nascent socialist, nationalist and sufragette campaigns. As a teen , Fela was already playing the role of a rebel against authority.At school he formed a club called the Planless society, he said "the rule of the club  was simple : we had no plans. You could be called upon to disobey orders at any time. Disobedience was our law."
Like many children of the Nigerian  middle class, Fela was sent to London to study at university. But Fela now a trumpet player wasn't interested in the professional careers in medicine and law and instead  enrolled at the London Trinity College of Music.
Fela  would marry his first wife Remi in 1961, and with some West Indian and Nigerian friends , started a jazz band called Koola Lobitos. He had his first two children, daughter Yeni in '61 and son Femi in '62, and graduated from Trinity with certificates in practice and theory.Fela and his family returned to Nigeria in 1963, where got a job with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
When he first started in the 1960's, his brand of music was the Highlifw which he performed with other artists in the many night clubs of Lagos. In the late  1960;s to early 1970's he went to the United States and became influenced by the Black Panthers, and the ideas of Malcolm X and co.In line with his Pan- Africanist identity  he would change his surname, Ransome- Kuti  a hybid of a slave name to Anikualpo - Kuti, which is completely African. Anikulapa literally means, ' he that has pocketed death.' Fela developed a reputation for openly amoking cannabis, and sleeping with a large amount of women,but  his influence on contemporary music  is incredible. A true original and innovator, one of musics most skilled agitators. His songs could stretch to over an hour, filled with passionaae lyrics, about military corruption and social inequality. he conveyed both a radical indignation and a radical message.
In Nigeria he founded a communal  compound and rehearsal space he called the Kalakuta Republic, and a night club the Shrine. The musical style he created was called  Afrobeat  a wonderful fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanian/Nigerian High life, psychedelic rock  and traditional West African rhythms  characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes.
Fela's band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups were using only one of this instrument. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in Funk and Hip hop. Fela's bands at times even performed with two bassists at the same time both playing interlocking melodies and rhythms. There were always two or more guitarists. The electric West African style guitar in Afrobeat bands are paramount, but are used to give basic structure, playing a repeating chordal/melodic statement, riff, or groove.
His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin English, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, electric guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa.
Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the "Underground" Spiritual Game. Fela attempted making a movie but lost all the materials to the fire that was set to his house by the military government in power.
It is of note that as Fela's musical career developed, so too did his political influence, not only in his home country of Nigeria, not just throughout Africa, but throughout the world. As his political influence grew, the religious aspect of his musical approach grew. Fela was a part of an Afro-Centric consciousness movement that was founded on and delivered through his music.
In the 1970' and 80's his rebellious  song lyrics established him as a political dissident. He became associated with making political , social and cutural statements about greed and corruption.
In an  interview  he once said  "Music is supposed to have an effect. If you're playing music and people don't feel something, you're not doing shit. That's what African music is about. When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life, against a bad life. When you're listening to something that depicts having a better life, and you're not having a better life, it must have an effect on you."
Playing constantly and recording  at a ferocious pace, Fela and his band. who were now called Africa 70 became huge stars in West Africa. His biggest fan base were Nigeria's poor. Because his music tackled issues close to the Nigerian underclass, he was more than just a simple pop star, like Bob Marley in Jamaica he was the voice of Nigeria's voiceless, he was there cultural rebel. This is something Nigerias military junta tried to stop, and from the moment he arrived back in Nigeria he was hounded and harrassed. Rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music came at a heavy cost to Kuti who was arrested by the Nigerian government 200 times, and was subject to numerous beatings that left him with lifelong scars and nearly killed by a government intent  on silencing him..In one of the most awful acts of violence committed against him, 1000 Nigerian soldiers attacked his compound in 1977. Fela  suffered a fractured skull as well as other broken bones, his 82 year old mother was thrown from an upstairs window, inflicting injuries that would  be fatal  she died from her injuries a year later.
The soldiers set fire to the compound and prevented firefighters from reaching the area. Fela's recording studio, all his aster tapes and musical instruments were destroyed.Rather than abandon his cause, he used these experiences as inspiration to write more lyrics recording more uncompromising songs about the incident in the aftermath.  He produced roughly 50 albums over the course of his musical career.

Fela Kuti - Coffin for  head of state

After experiencing this tragedy he briefly lived in exile in Ghana, before returning to Nigeria in 1978. In 1979 he formed his own political party, MOP , Movement of the People and at start of decade renamed his band Egypt 80. From 1980 to 1983 , Nigeria was under civilian rule and it marked a peaceful time for Fela. He would record and tour non stop, However military rule returned in 1982, ad in 1984 Fela was sentenced yo ten years in prison on trumped up charges accused of currency smuggling. With help from Amnesty International he was freed in 1985.
At the end.of the 90's he recorded  blistering attacks against Nigeria's corrupt military government, as well as broadsides aimed at Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. most abrasively on the album Beast of No Nation.Never what you would call a progressive when it came to relationships with women, or patriarchy in general , in fact he was a bit of a sexist , strange considering his mother was one of Nigerias earliest feminists. Fela was also a polygamist, in 1978 he married 27 women in a single wedding ceremony. He would eventually divorce them all.
Fela died of Aids related complications on August 2, 1997, at the age of 58  in Lagos, Nigeria. Roughly 1 million attended his funeral procession. A press release from the United Front of Nigeria at the time of Fela's death said " Those who knew you well were insistent that you could never compromise with the evil you had fought  all your life. Even though made weak by time and fate, you remained strong in will and never abandoned your goal of a free, democratic socialist Africa. " this was the esteem in which he was held.

 His musical legacy is a strong one which continues to have influence on the musical scene of Nigeria and across the world. For many one of Fela's major sources of attraction was and is the rhytymic,, melodious and danceable form of his renditions. And no one can deny his constant and consistent quest for a better life for the masses. Fela constantly challenged the military rulers of Nigeria and portrayed the plight of his people who laid his life on the line in his struggle against injustice, corruption and the abuse of power, whose spirit was never broken.
 I was most fortunate to see him play at my first Glastonbury festival in 1985, under the influence like him of cannabis, his performance was powerful, a memory I will never fail to treasure. And has left me many brilliant albums that continue to stand the test of time,who remains for me as one of my biggest musical influences. Fela Kuti maybe no more but his legendary music still moves with much resonance. Lets continue to hail this Black President , his courageousness and musical genius. Today his sons Femi  and Seun  are still carrying his musical torch.

Fela Kuti - Suffering and schmiling

Fela Kuti - International Thief ITT

Fela Kuti - Water got no enemy

Fela Kuti  - Sorrow tears and blood

Fela Kuti - Colonial mentality

Fela Kuti - Army arrangement

Fela Kuti - Teacher  - Teacher Don't teach me nonsense, (Live at Glastonbury 1984)

77 years ago: World Premiere of Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator in New York

 The physical resemblance between the Tramp and another famous man with a little black mustache was not lost on Chaplin. In his first all-talking picture, he plays both a Jewish barber and his double, Adenoid Hynkel, the absolute ruler of Tomainia. As Hynkel and his henchmen Herring and Garbitsch engineer the persecution of Jews and the invasion of neighboring Osterlich, the amnesiac barber may be the only person innocent enough to stop them. Throughout the film Chaplin powerfully exploits the deflating power of parody, while in the finale he abandons both character and comedy to deliver one of the most inspirational speeches in recorded history with an impassioned plea for human tolerance.This was not just a film,  this was  a message from Charlie Chaplin's deep humanity. The world still needs to stand still and listen and stand against the forces of fascism.

An earlier tribute  of mine to this great man can be found here :-

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/charlie-chaplin-b1641889-251277-citizen.html