Simone de Beauvoir

"One is not born, but rather becomes,a woman"

  This is one of the famous quotes of Simone de Beauvoir, a french writer and philosopher born in 1908 in a bourgeois family. Her life, philosophy and literary works were discussed in the podcast I listened to by two professors of french from british universities. They were talking about her early life when she attended catholic school because of her mothers's beliefs, but later at the age of 14 decided that she was an atheist. The professors also recalled how she became friends and then lovers with Jean Paul Sartre and eventually how she developed as an existencialist and feminist writer.
  It was interesting to listen about Simone de Beauvoir's life, since I only briefly heard about her before. It was also an educative experience to discover other people's philosophies and ways they understand the world and life in general. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j5ncn

The power of reading

    I listened to the podcats in which a writer - AL Kennedy - explained why reading influences us in such a positive way. She stated that reading can be seen as a solution to the problems we struggle with, such as loneliness, misunderstading of other people and even depression. Reading a book has many advantages, some of which I've never heard about. Kennedy said that reading develops our critical thinking and makes us more aware of other people's feeling and ideas they might have. It also helps us to become the people we want to be, the best versions of ourselves. What's more, reading has a very good influence on the relationships we bulid in the "real world" with our friends or family.
    Since reading is probably one of my favourite activities, apart from singing in the shower and sleeping, I found this podcats very thought provoking and interesting.I strongly agree with the Kennedy's attitude towards reading, because in my opinion it makes us more sensitive and empathetic. Having seen thousands of different lifes, views and types of people through the book's pages I think we are much "richer" from the people who never voluntarily read.
    
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVtHh0sn_1k

Loneliness

   Since Theresa May appointed the Minister for Loneliness and intends to, as she said "reduce the stigma around mental ilness", there has been a lot of discussions and controversies around that topic. I read two different articles, each one presenting a different point of view and I listened to a very short BBC podcast which introduces "Loneliness Experiment". 
   The first article ( https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/09/we-will-reduce-stigma-mental-illness-theresa-may  ) is focused on what Theresa May's intentions and plans are surrounding the issue of loneliness and mental health problems in general. May pointed out that there is still a stigma around mental ilness which people don't really experience with physical ilness. She also made it clear that she didn't want to solve this problem "only" by giving money but more importantly she wants to improve mental health services at schools (starting from secondary) and workplaces. As the result of the measures taken by the government there will definately be more awareness of this problem and more people will be educated in this matter and will be able to give proper and immediate help to the people suffering from mental ilnesses.
   The second article (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/sunday/loneliness-health.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Opinion&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article ) presents a different opinion on this topic. The author thinks that if we call loneliness a Health Epidemic we will cause panick over this issue and we won't be able to deal with it properly. The author doesn't deny that it  is a serious matter but it isn't something new or shocking because, as the statistics show, feeling of loneliness haven't changed that much among the American or British societies through the years. In his opinion what people really suffer from the most is the "social disconnection" caused by the growing influence of social media and high technology changes.
  The short BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3MQ6z2vJGGtPFL71Ns3XPNB/take-part-in-the-bbc-loneliness-experiment ) podcast mainly showed the effects that loneliness might have on our health (which suprisingy are very similar to those caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day). There was also introduced the Loneliness Experiment which is based on the surveys that can be filled out by anyone on the BBC website. 
   This topic seems very interesting and relatable to me, as we all experience some kinds of mental health problems in our lifes. I'm glad there is an open conversation started in the media and I hope it will no longer be stigmatised if someone suffers from mental health issues. 

(I'm sorry it turned out so long)
 
 

Is giving money the best way to help the homeless?

 If we want to help the homeless, should we                 give them money?

The problem of wether it's better to give or not to give money to the beggars is not new and it still raises controversy. In the podcast I listened to, this problem was shortly presented from a few different perpectives which gave me a new insight into this difficult topic.

For example, a woman who used to be street homeless said that when she had begged for money she tended to spend it on mcdonald's coffee, because she had to spend all of the night there, for she was assaulted when she slept on the streets.

There was also an opinion that seemed very thought-provocing for me. It said that all of the people (including beggars) should have the right to choose how to use their money. And just because you have more money, it doesn't give you the right to be judgemental. The difference between beggars and other people is that we have been more lucky than they.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05wl0pt

The global warming is real after all

 Even though some people still don't want to admit it, the global warming is a real issue that is becoming more and more dangerous all around the world. The paradox of the global warming is that it affects the people who did not contribute to contaminating the planet the most. In the places such as  Kutubdia in Bangladesh, hundreds of people were left without anything because the island they had lived on was swallowed by the water of the sea that is still increasing. The effects of the global warming are far more serious that we could suppose, because a lot of fathers are marrying off their teenage daughters because they can't financially support them anymore. If it wasn't for the water consuming their homes they wouldn't have to consider such a terrible option for their daughters. 

 An artictle like the one I've read makes me think that it truly matters what we do to the planet and it really has an impact on the lives of other people.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/opinion/sunday/climate-change-bangladesh.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists

 

PROM 2018

 As promised, here's a photo of us from our             "Casino Royal" prom :)

How to create a vivid character?

 Creating a vivid and realistic character is probably the most difficult and challenging task when someone intends to become a good writer. It was the topic of the fourth episode of "The Invisible College" that I listened to. The host claims that in order to create a perfect character, the writer  needs to be extremely nosy about their protagonists. They need to know much more about their characters than they write about them on paper. Only then the protagonists will resemble as real human beings and not just some imaginary people that have nothing in common with the reader's world.
 Even without having much writing experience I can say that this is definately the hardest task I struggle with while writing. It seems easy when you think about it, but when you have to create a human out of written words it suddenly becomes much more difficult. I also think that the ability to do this well is one of the characteristics that a good writer has to have. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053dyqj

Women's Hour

The episode of "Women's Hour" that I listened to, raised a few important issues. Some of them were connected to the roles that women play in our societes, or the serious problems they struggle with on a daily basis. There was also a bit about a new book in which the author is dealing with the tragic history of the women accused of witchcraft in 17th century.
The part of the podcast that interested me the most was also the heaviest and saddest one. The host discussed the the terrible story of three women being murdered by their parnter - T. Johnson. A criminologist who joined the discussion said that unfortunately the society isn't reacting to this as it should. Most people consider this as an event of domestic violence when it really should be treated as a "regular" murder. She thinks that one of the things that should be done about this, is to teach women how to recognize the features of an abusive partner, as they all have a lot of things in common.





http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09k0nmt

Only a wee of snow...

In her article Heather Mallick represents an ironic yet friendly attitude to British people. On the one hand, she teases with them and makes fun of their fear of snow. She deconstructed, for example, a famous Churchill's speech and replaced the words "fight" with "shovel". On the other hand, she praised them for their abilities of joking about their own flaws and weaknesses. She even called them unique because of that and to prove it she for example mentioned the joke made by Boris Johnson who said: "Don't all drive in at once!"

How do we archive things..?

                "Libraries"

 I listened to a podcast about the "libraries" that people create for themselves. "Libraries" meaning our private archives, collections we create throughout our whole lives. 
 I especially liked the piece about love letters. The host talked about how they are much more than "just" messages sent to the loved ones, because they also convey a lot of important information about the person that had written them. She also explained why she thought that love letters would never be outdated. She said that phone calls and text messages will never convey as many emotions as love letters because you need to put a lot of thought, time and effort to write them. In comparison to phone calls for example, you can take your time to rethink things you want to say so a love letter is much more meaningfull and thought through.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hrkwl 

Anorexia should be treated properly

Anorexia - just like any other mental illness        should be treated seriously

In 2012 we could all realise how true was that, when a 19-year-old girl died from this disease. She was failed by the hospitals, doctors and all the specialist units. Only now, 5 years later, her parents have received proper apologies and aswers. 

The continous problem with eating disorders is that they keep being misunderstood and underestimated by the society. It seems as if these illnesses are only about being as skinny as "that girl", or being skinny enough to fit in a pretty evening dress, when it's at the same time as serious disease as schrizophrenia for example. As a result those people not only suffer from a serious mental illness but also from a disorder that's highly disrespected and stigmatised.

I couldn't agree more with the author of this article because I very often observe how people suffering from eating disorders are misunderstood by others. Sometimes even their closest family members don't realise that this is not just a silly teenage struggle but a deadly illness that needs to be treated as quickly and professionally as possible.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/averil-hart-death-anorexia-mental-illness-treat-it-like-one

Boys will be boys...

    Is male sexuality brutal by default?

The topic of sexual harassment which is widely brought up in the media these days, has shown that there are still a lot of people who consider men to be brutal by their nature. The author of the article suggests that this kind of mindset is very harmful to men and implies that humans aren't be able to change. "The abstinence-only education", as they called it there, teaches girls to prevent men from being physically attracted to them because "boys just can't help themselves". It basically means that women are blamed for what rapists do to them. What's more it also creates a wrong image of men as if all of them were responsible for harassing women. 

This article interested me because of a few things. Firstly I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about sexual assaults and how important is the role of male nature in these cases. Secondly I agreed with the author that they are not feminists who believe in this image of a man but they are very often conservative people who (maybe without realising that) are creating a picture of a man-monster. I believe that we shouldn't belittle the issue of the mispotrayal of a man and the role of a woman in a sexual harassment.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/28/male-sexual-assault-nature

"Books and authors"

 "Books and authors" is a podcast where the host invites authors or specialists to discuss their recent reads, favourite books or simply talk about what's happening in the world of literature. In this episode they talked about a new book by Ruth Ware - "The lying game", but also (what interested me the most)they talked about Virginia Woolf's work as a publisher and independent writer which interested me because I'm eager to read her novels. Later on they discussed why "Master and Margarita" by Bulchakov is considered to be such a genius novel. I read it two years ago and it still remains one of the best books I have ever read. At the end of the podcast they also mentioned a book called "Madame Bovary of the suburbs" which is a direct reference to a classic - "Madame Bovary". The people invited to the studio shared their thoughts and opinions on these books and authors.
 I enjoyed listening to them talking about literature because it seemed so vivid and passionate and encouraged me to look for some new, interesting books to read. I especially liked what Mark Haddon said about Virginia Woolf's books. He said that her books are like his closest friends. Every time he enters Woolf's book again they both still have some new stories to tell and there's always something fresh about them.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p056r8jq

The women who covered Vietnam

                 Forgotten female war correspondets

I've read an article about female war journalists and photographers from the Vietnam War that have been forgotten for many years. Now their stories are  brought back to life. In the article they mention for example how hard it was for them be heard and apprieciated. During that time it wasn't uncommon that the observations those women made were stolen later on by some other journalists and their work seemed to be completely underestimated and pointless. Now it's time their stories will be heard all around the world. In 2018 the production of the upcoming film "On the other side" will begin. The movie will tell the story of a war correspondent, Kate Webb.

I'm very curious about the stories of these women because I think they will be very interesting and moving and I hope they will influence the way we think about the different roles that women get to play in our society. I'm looking forward to find out more about this topic.



 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/opinion/women-journalists-vietnam.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

"Comedy of the Week"

        Mae Martin about addiction

I've listened to an episode of "Comedy of the week" about addiction. The topic was presented by a stand-up comedian - Mae Martin. She explained trough her own experience when habits become obsessions and later on addictions and why people tend to be addicted to so many things. She said that addiction means nothing else but compulsive pleasure seeking that has a negative impact on us. Which means that it doesn't always have to be extreme like being addicted to drugs or alcohol, but for example it might mean being addicted to a certain person, film, book, topic etc. Addiction is a very natural human's impulse. We seek something that could reduce our stress and that's one reason why we get addicted to so many things.

I've really  enjoyed listening to this podcast not only because it was very interesting and informative but mostly because it was very funny. I loved the way she was talking about her experiences and it was very hard not to laugh at loud when listening to her speaking. (which might be problematic when you're in a crowded bus). I'm looking forward to next episodes of her series.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05ly7gy

Getting Better Acquainted with Words

In the next episode of " The Invisible College" that I've listened to they talked about how the art of stringing words together is important if you want your piece of writing to be vivid and vibrant. There was feautered a lecture given by Ted Hughes (a british poet)in early 60s in which he explained to students that a good piece of writing is "an assembly of living parts". By living parts he meant the words, the images and the rhytms. He was convinced that if any of these parts are dead a poem or any other piece of writing won't be vivid.  There were also featured speeches given by, for example Charles Bukowski and  Virginia Woolf.

These creative writing lessons are truly interesting to me and I feel that I'm learning a lot from them. I especially liked what Ted Hughes said about the words being alive. He explained that the words that are alive are the words that can be heard, felt, smelled etc. when you read them. And I think that one of the most difficult things to achieve when you're writing something is making the words mean something more than just letters written on paper.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053dyjg

"Sell your heart"

"Selling" your heart is another step in the               writer's journey.

Today I've listened to the next creative writing "lesson". In this episode the host talked about a very important problem common for many writers. The issue is about difficulty of finding your own voice as a writer, to create something that would truly express how y o u feel and what y o u think, not the artists that you are reading.For example there was mentioned an interview with Ray Bradbury, an author of f.ex.: "Martian Chronicles" or "October Country". The interviewer asked him about his past situation when he had been trying to write something good for 10 years and then suddenly wrote a short story in 1 hour that he was happy about for the first time in his writing career. Bradbury explained that after a long time of trying to be like the authors he admired, he finally found his own style, his own true voice.

I enjoyed listening to this podcast because the problem is very relatable for me. I think that finding that unique and irreplaceable "voice" is probably one of the most difficult struggles you have to overcome if you want to be a good writer. Because it's always easy to try recreate what has been written once, but it's much harder to create something completely diferrent and new. Something that would be truly  y o u r s. In order to do so, you will need to do one thing - sell your soul.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053dy4h 

"Jane"

    
    A documentary about Jane Goodall's                     life in Africa

  

On October 18th this year a new National Geographic's documentary was released. It's considered to be very special because the film consists of the footage (never shown before)from 1960s when Jane Goodall started observing chimpanzees in Africa. It tells a story about how Jane,as a young woman, overcame other people's discouragement and travelled all the way to Africa to observe chimpanzees. It's also the story about Jane and the cameraman - Hugo falling in love with eachother.
  I was truly happy to see that a documentary  about Jane Goodall has been released because I think she is an inspiration to many, many people. What's also very attractive about this movie is the fact that it's so beautifully filmed, with such a sensitivity and carefulness. I hope the film will be shown in polish cinemas as well because I can't wait to see it!
  



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/movies/jane-goodall-documentary-marriage.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront

Stranger Things phenomenon

         Stranger Things phenomenon

  Matt and Ross Duffer are probably the most famous brothers in tv industry right now. Last summer they released their fisrt tv show "Stranger Things" which to their suprise has become a worldwide phenomenon. Duffer Brothers who are big 80s movies fans themselves wanted to create a tv show/film that would somehow bring back that 80s nostalgia but they never imagined that their show would attract so many young people as well. As they were writing the script they took inspiration from Stephen King's novels and classic 80s movies such as "The Goonies", "Stand by me", "E.T." etc.
  Since I've watched Stranger Things for the first time last year it's become my all time favourite tv show and I've watched plenty of times ever since, but what really makes it so good that you feel that you could spend the rest of your life watching it? Firstly I think it's the incredible recreation of that times. It doesn't seem exaggerated in any way. The characters are realistically created and the story is a perfect mix of drama/Sci-Fi/romance/comedy/coming of age story which I think is the reason why people from many generations are obsessed with it.

Season Two premiers 27 October people!




https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/ng-interactive/2017/oct/14/duffer-brothers-spielberg-80s-stranger-things

Kazuo Ishiguro

 The 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature has recently been awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro, an english-japanese novelist who has published seven books so far and is still working on some new ones. There are a few movies that are based on his novels, as well as some japanese tv series. His prize is considered to be special because in recent years the Swedish Academy seemed to be using the award for making political statements and this year they tried to focus only on the artist's literary value.
  I came across Kazui Ishiguro two years ago when I was reading his novel "Never Let Me go" which has remained in my memory ever since. I remeber this book as a very interesting and well written. I was touched by the meaning presented in it and by how vivid and developed the characters were. Even though I wasn't expecting to hear that Ishiguro was awarded the Nobel Prize ,it didn't suprise suprise that much, because after reading his novel I had no doubts the author was an intelligent, creative and sensitive writer.