Exploring literary visions of greener, fairer ways of being
St David’s in Wales, the smallest city in Britain, has a population of less than 2,000 but a massive cathedral. This disparity is due to it having been an important site of pilgrimage for over 1,000 years. In 1123, the Pope even declared that two trips to St David’s were as good as one to Rome. This October, I was one of a number who descended on St David’s, not for a religious pilgrimage but for a gathering of poets.
Continue reading “Pilgrims: A gathering of poets in West Wales”
Carolyn Dougherty reflects on this event, which promised:
Continue reading “How to fight the barriers of capitalism with poetry”expressive spoken word on fighting the barriers of capitalism, interactive visuals co-created by our robot friends, ambient electronic beats with soft rainforest settings, and the voices of those ready to design a world that can be peacefully navigated by all.”
Jack Halberstam’s keynote ‘Unworlding: An Aesthetics of Collapse’ really was the absolute highlight of the Utopian Studies Society of Europe conference. But wait! You didn’t have to be there! A version of the lecture is available on YouTube so I wanted to share the details. It contains some real IDEAS about UTOPIA and I highly recommend checking it out.
Continue reading “Jack Halberstam’s Unworlding: An Aesthetics of Collapse”
The thing that took me farthest out of my comfort zone in 2022 was attending the Utopian Studies Society conference. I thought it would be nice to have a few days away to discuss all things utopian but I was wrong. I stretched my elastic too far just to get there. It was my first time travelling on my own and travelling much at all since the pandemic and having a child (both things that have tied me to home over the past few years). Having to then leave my room and attend events was so hard. This is despite my room (in student halls) being unbearably hot and depressing.
Yes, this was another USS conference in a heatwave, like the previous one in Prato, Italy in 2019 where we discussed utopia, dystopia and climate change in 40 degree heat (Celcius, folks). Just the thing to make discussions feel urgent and hopeless at the same time.
Continue reading “Review of Twoty-Twoty-Two (2022): Utopian Studies Conference”
Sometimes you don’t know how you feel about something until the morning after. Yesterday I visited a prototype Martian house, learnt about growing plants hydroponically and participated in a ‘plant-bathing’ meditation and tea ceremony. We picked lemon balm leaves from the indoor garden to make our tea.
Over tea, we talked about how extraordinary growing plants would be for the wellbeing of anyone living on Mars.
Continue reading “From lemon balm tea in a Martian house to lemon verbena in the woods”
As I mentioned in my last post (the one before Rob Bryher’s article on car free cities and environmental justice), I haven’t been reading novels lately. Since admitting this, I’ve felt more able to focus on what I am currently enjoying in the world of utopia, and consciously taking pleasure from those things. This includes essays, online talks and events, and adding to my reading list for that future day when the book lust kicks in again. It’s a lesson in being led by what I enjoy. So here’s my round up of the utopian things bringing me joy this month.
Continue reading “Three utopian things bringing me joy this month”
Pandemic. Wild fires. Climate crisis. Biodiversity crisis. Rise of the far right. Sometimes, it seems like things aren’t going so well.
I heard an Indigenous viewpoint on the multiple crises facing North America (and the world) from scholar Dr Kim TallBear at the ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) Nearly Carbon Neutral virtual conference in July 2020. It was enlightening, perspective-shifting stuff. I want to share with you some of the thoughts that have stayed with me ever since.
Continue reading “North America: a failing colonialist utopia?”