Five Fine Things on a Friday...
*me inflicting my taste on you, dear reader
Photo: 2014, an airport lounge, enjoying an imbibe, see point 5 for relevance.
Listening to Prayer Before Birth by Louis MacNeice. MacNeice wrote this poem in 1944 at the height of the Blitz in London. MacNeice writes from the POV of an unborn child who fears being born into a world of such violence, suffering, and control. It feels timely. Two lines that I can’t get out of my head: ‘I am not yet born; forgive me/For the sins in me the world shall commit. // I am not yet born; O fill me with strength against those who would freeze my humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton.’ You can hear MacNeice himself reading it here (he’s incredibly posh!). My preferred version is actor Mark Rylance reading the poem in 2011 at a Stop the War rally in Trafalgar Square.
Learning! about the Japanese Yokai via speculative memoir The Night Parade by Jami Nakamura Lin. The Yokai contain multitudes but put simply are supernatural beings derived from Japanese folklore. The Yokai can be demons, tricksters, or kindly spirits. They can come in the form of animal, plant, object, transformed human, ghost and more. There are hundreds of Yokai and they have mutated through time and space. More on them here. So far I like the Kitsune best.
Answering! some wonderful questions on animal advocate Kim Stallwood’s Substack here. With Kim, I discuss my biography ‘Roaming Wild’, the writing process and Maltesers. (Kim was the second-ever employee, back in 1976, at CIWF the charity my Grandparents founded, and was a friend of theirs, so this interview has a lovely full circle feel to it.)
Curling! That’s right one of the most amusing of all Winter Olympic sports. I recently enjoyed (a much dumbed-down*) session of curling at the Southbank Centre (London). I’m not really into games or sports but curling is absolute seasonal novelty, and I adore both seasonal stuff and the embracing of novelty! I’d wholeheartedly recommend giving curling a go. *Note: nothing like the actual thing, there wasn’t even ice. Oh and yes the red team (mine) did win!
Absorbing! the shocking message that alcohol, the drug most favoured by us all, is actually absolutely toxic via the Rich Roll podcast. Ruari Fairbairns of the One Year No Beer campaign chats to Rich (what a lovely vegan!) about the cult of normalized regular boozing. This is not an AA style total abstinence thing but a reevaluate one. Some of this is pretty obvious, some less so, some of it is a little too focused on productivity for my taste, but all the same the message is powerful, insightful and refreshing. (And the bits about the brain, stress, neuroplasticity and ADHD were especially interesting to me.) Maybe it’s just age I used to bloody well love releasing the Maenad spirit with the aid of actual spirits (see above) but more recently I do find booze a tad boring.
Thank you for reading, and if you like this newsletter then please do forward, like, share, comment or, if you can afford it consider becoming a Paid Subscriber. Other ‘Fine Things’ recommendations here and more on the Maenad here.
Finally, I would LOVE to hear your own recommendations too, so as it says ‘Leave a comment’….
Love,
Emma x o x o
I really enjoyed reading that Em.
Lots of love
x h x
Curling is so underrated!