Hello,
Here are 10 things filling up my logbook from the last month:
Where are all the statues of women -- because representation matters, "If humankind vanished tomorrow and aliens arrived from another galaxy, they wouldn't be faulted for believing that the whole of human history was composed of men on horseback." And why is 'the mother of feminism' honoured with an idealised nude?
Stephen Fry on why language matters in this 10 year old article, and the importance of being a verb not a noun.
I never thought I'd be writing about Britney Spears again (a key figure in my 2003 dissertation on good girl/bad girl identity), but years later we're finally reframing the way she was portrayed, and realising that, "We direct this kind of vitriol and misogyny toward one woman, but it actually reverberates to all women. We're all collateral damage, whether we're the object or not." Kasia Urbaniak delves deeper, exploring the Good Girl Double Bind and how men are verbs; women are nouns.
Watching Professor Sarah Hart, the Gresham Professor of Geometry (she is the first woman to hold the position - the oldest mathematical chair in England, established in 1597), delivering her lecture series on Mathematics in Music and Writing.
I love when science, creativity and a good dose of fun combine - just imagining the incredible minds that put Nasa's Perseverance Rover on Mars adding in a secret code makes me smile.
We all have favourite sounds - rain on a tent, blackbird song (obvs), steam train whistle, waves on shingle, a cats purr - but these field recordings have transported me all around the world. Shingle beach, howling wolves and someone practising saxophone are magical.
Obsessing about these images from Every Thing We Touch by Paula Zuccotti.
Finding my journal guardian, making my first time-lapse video, and a new found love of zine making.
Watching: Deutschland 83, The Dig. Reading: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, Sir Michael Marmot in The Lancet, Why Mums Are Amazing, Gingernut. Listening to: Creative Pep Talk. Loving: Jonny Hannah.
I backed a kickstarter campaign that excited me on so many levels, and I can't wait for it. It's a co-operative, customisable, family dungeon-crawl adventure (6+), designed by a dad and his 8 year old daughter whilst home learning during the lockdown, in West Yorkshire, with all the art design submitted by children. It shot way past its £12,000 goal, to £156,000. You can still put in a late pledge.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear what you thought, just hit reply and send me an email. And if you hear/see/read anything you think I'd love, please send it my way. Who knows, it might end up in my next newsletter.
Please share this with like minded souls.
xoxo,
Cat
P.S. Please tell me your favourite sounds, I’d love to hear them.