Posts tagged politics

The Best Little Country in the World?

By on August 13, 2009

What happened to churches as places of sanctuary, Denmark? Was it really necessary to get combat-clad police to raid a church at 2am in the morning? Are leading politicians serious when they say “it was a lot more gentle to do the raid at night; imagine what a scene it would’ve caused by day” because being dragged from your bed at night by SWAT teams attacking you with batons does not strike me as being particularly gentle.

I’m disgusted, I’m angry and I’m deeply, deeply ashamed of being Danish. Yet again.

PS. I’m also very interested in learning where these people will end up as it has been made abundantly clear by the Iraqi government that they will not be admitting the refugees. For shame, Denmark, for shame.

This entry is filed under Denmark, News and tagged , , , . | 2 Comments

Treasured

By on July 14, 2009

DSC00594When I talked about independent bookshops and Glasgow, I mentioned that my neighbourhood has several excellent secondhand bookshops. This is my favourite: Voltaire & Rousseau just off Otago Street. Sometimes I even think it is my favourite bookshop in the entire universe, full stop.

As someone whose idea of a good time is digging through piles of old books long out of print, unsurprisingly I once went on a date to Voltaire & Rousseau with David, now my live-in partner. But the bookshop is an acquired taste. On the photo you can just about make out its first room – the £1 room – and it is symptomatic for the entire shop. Books are vaguely sorted into categories and then shoved into ramshackled shelves or stacked on the floor. Last time I was there, I dug through an entire box of literary criticism hidden behind a ladder. The main room is similarly organised/disorganised. This is not a place you go if you want to find one specific book. This is a place you visit to find books you never knew you needed – and you go frequently to keep up with what is in (visible) stock. I think it’s a slice of heaven on earth.

A few links for your perusal:

  • The Human Genre Project: “..a collection of new writing in very short forms — short stories, flash fictions, reflections, poems — inspired by genes and genomics.” They are actively looking for contributors, so if you have a short story or a poem kicking about, do take a look.
  • Adipositivity (NSFW) “..aims to promote size acceptance (..) through a visual display of fat physicality. The sort that’s normally unseen. The hope is to widen definitions of physical beauty. Literally.“
  • From KnitWit: “..I love the reclamation of knitting from a largely private, domestic sphere and drafty community halls where it is too easy to ignore,to be a more visible social activity”
  • And from the Domestic Soundscape, an amazing post on the connections between earth, animals, spinners and knitters. I cannot choose which quote to pull because the entire post had me going “yes, yes!”
  • Finally, the last in a triptych of related knitting posts: the much-linked Golden Fleece? post by Needled/Kate in which she looks at the (rather absurd) notion that Scotland equals cashmere. Warning: this post will teach you things about EU law and textile history. She even suggests you read Walter Benjamin.

Meanwhile, I’m not quite sure if I have a cold, if I have the flu or whether my body is just playing tricks on me as per usual. I’m off to bed and I have a few Georgette Heyers (bought from Voltaire & Rousseau) to keep me company. Have fun, kiddos.

This entry is filed under Bibliophilia, Craft, Literature, Personal, shopping and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Home: Refugee Week 2009

By on June 15, 2009

What does home mean to you?

When I left Denmark in 2006, I spent the last few weeks living out of my suitcase and sleeping on friends’ floors. I liked this sort of transitory existence because I knew I was moving from my old home in Copenhagen to a new home in Glasgow. What I did not know was that this transitory existence would continue for almost a year.

I moved to Glasgow with a suitcase. Twenty-four boxes and a chair followed quickly. I slept in a proper bed and I had a wardrobe for my clothes, but the place never felt like home. My keys did not work, my books were all in boxes and my name was not on the door. This is when I learned how important Home is.

If you do not have a home, you will not feel like you belong. If you do not have a home, you will not feel like you have rights. If you do not have a home, you do not feel safe. If you do not have a home, you will not feel whole.

We moved, of course, and I have a home now. We have bookcases (and need more, quite frankly), unwashed coffee mugs, internet connection, window sills with an ever-growing collection of clay pipes, a cupboard of yarn, and a view of green treetops. I have we because home is not home without David.

Moving to Glasgow exhausted me, mentally and physically, and mine was a voluntary move – I cannot begin to imagine what an involuntary move somewhere (caused by war, famine or persecution) would do to a human being.

(Thank you, Katherine, for alerting me to Refugee Week Scotland)

This entry is filed under Personal and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Not Quoting Sixth Sense, Not Quoting Sixth Sense

By on June 2, 2009

Dead Ronald Reagan appears to wife, Nancy:

She told Vanity Fair magazine: “At night time, if I wake up, I think Ronnie is there, and I start to talk to him… And I see him.”

(..)

And she mentioned that the present First Lady, Michelle Obama, called for advice on running the White House.

Mrs Reagan’s suggestion was to hold more state dinners – the Reagans held more than 50, compared to just six while George W Bush was in office.

“Just have a good time and do a little business. And that is the way Washington works,” she told the new first lady.

This entry is filed under News, Popular Culture and tagged , , , . | 1 Comment

A Matter of Life and Death

By on May 31, 2009

Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas doctor, was shot today in his local church. Apart from being a family doctor, Dr. Tiller also ran an abortion clinic. He had previously been shot and wounded by a pro-life* activist. His clinic had also been the target of a bomb.

(*pro-life? I’m pro-choice which doesn’t make me anti-life. I love life and detest imprecise language. Besides, if you shoot someone, can you still be pro-life?)

This little comment comes courtesy of Metafilter user XQUZYPHYR. I may not agree with all of his points, but his comment makes for thought-provoking reading.

Tiller was one of maybe three clinics that performed late-term abortions. There will likely now be only two, and several years’ worth of medical students are now pressured into considering not even entering the field.

The government, no matter which party is in control, does virtually nothing- nothing- to monitor and prevent terrorist attacks on women’s clinics. For godssakes, nine times out of ten they won’t even refer to it as terrorism. Animal rights groups get labeled as terrorists more frequently than anti-abortion militants. Federal funding for clinics is minuscule and every act of damage and violence committed against one is a drain on their already limited resources. And if you think President Hopey McChangethroughhugs, who can’t even lift a pen to stop gay people from being blocked from volunteering to defend our country, is going to do anything about this beyond signing a strongly-worded letter, I’d also like a pony.

Operation Rescue- monsters, all of them- delivered their pithy, enraging statement saying they of course were outraged at the murder but added a nice little line about how they wanted Tiller “brought to justice through the proper channels.” Let’s emphasize that- the leading anti-abortion group in America responded to the cold-blooded murder of a doctor who performed legal medical procedures by saying they merely wish he was punished differently. Tomorrow morning, they will be be considered a legitimate and respectable organization.

This entry is filed under News and tagged , , , . | 4 Comments

Yes, Words Matter

By on May 27, 2009

BBC has a Poetry Season which means I am watching far more TV than I usually do. So far Gryff Rhys Jones has explored why poetry matters, the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown has had his own programme, and last night I got a full hour of Simon Schama and Fiona Shaw reading John Donne to each other (phoawr!). Armando Iannucci is looking at John Milton later on and, get this, there is an entire programme devoted to my favourite poet, TS Eliot. Thank you, Auntie Beeb. It is such a pleasure to listen to and experience precise language when the world is so full of imprecise language.

Poetry matters because language matters.

Which is excatly why I find it so troubling that the Danish government calls their crackdown on Christiania (as well as the earlier eviction of Ungdomshuset) “a process of normalization“.

This entry is filed under Denmark, Language, Literature, Philosophy and tagged , , , , , , . | 2 Comments

A Lovely Land Is Ours

By on May 19, 2009

denmark09

From left to right, going clockwise: Copenhagen pedestrian street (Fiolstræde) with secondhand booksellers, quirky fashion and a Japanese supermarket; typical Danish pedestrian street in Holbæk with parked bikes (and bike helmets); Copenhagen City Hall tower; Mjølnir (Thor’s Hammer) seen at an exhibition on amulets at the National Museum; cloudy skies over a field in north-west Zealand (note the characteristic gentle slopes); early Viking Age/Late Iron Age drinking vessel seen at the National Museum; some of the yarn I bought; and some sheep at the sheep farm just south of where I grew up.

Not pictured: the nineteen people I saw during my visit, the copious amount of delicious (and mostly organic) food I had, and the six yarn shops I visited.

As I wrote in my previous entry, visiting Denmark feels bitter-sweet. I feel so connected to Danish history – how could I not when I grew up in an area which has been populated since Pre-Historic times and where you interact with History everytime you go for a walk – and I love speaking Danish with its quirky pronounciation and lightly-nuanced intonation. I love Denmark and the Danish landscape. You are never far from the sea, the rolling hills have such gentle slopes and the woods are friendly and inviting. Denmark in spring is a beauty to behold.

It’s just a shame that Denmark is populated by the Danes. This is when my problems with my nationality set in. Denmark is a tiny, tiny country with a huge ego. The average Dane truly believes he lives in the best country in the entire world and that right way to do things is the Danish way. He travels abroad and marvels at the idiotic way that other nationalities do things. He returns to Denmark, smug in the knowledge that all other nationalities envy him his Danishness. Paranoia sets in: because Denmark is the envy of all other nations on earth, Denmark must be protected from intruders. This has led to xenophobia, protectionism and a deep distrust of anything which is not readily identifiable as being Proper Danish Behaviour (such as preferring non-Danish cultural products, dressing unlike the masses, questioning rampant xenophobia or even criticising Denmark just like I’m doing here). I’ve always struggled to be a proper Dane and that was part of why I moved to Britain, I suppose.

So this visit was bitter-sweet. I looked with horror at how a key Danish MEP called for the exclusion of  Romania and Bulgaria from the EU on the basis of them being unhealthy and “less than clever”. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the new Pre-Historic exhibition at the National Museum and I have found the bestest and nicest LYS in all of Denmark. And it was so damn good to see my family and all of my fantastic friends.

This entry is filed under Denmark, History, Personal and tagged , , , , , , , , . | 9 Comments

A Beautiful Day

By on April 16, 2009

It’s going to be a beautiful day so the bluebirds sing.

I have booked myself a short, but much-needed flight home to Denmark in May. I need to spend time with the Danish part of myself, I have decided. Going back is always odd because it invariably ends up being a long series of meet-ups with everybody I have ever known in Denmark. I cannot remember the last time I spent a few hours in Copenhagen just, you know, hanging out with myself. I am not complaining. It just feels strange after having spent fifteen years in Copenhagen and suddenly the way I engage with my city is transformed. I think this is something most expats experience.

Linkage, then:

+ When I read “Glasgow Artist Restores Lost Mural” on the BBC website, I knew exactly who and what they were talking about. Wooh!
+ Cover Versions: “Classic records lost in time and format, remerged as Pelican books.”
+ Speaking of which .. Pelican paperbacks. I used to own a lot of them.
+ Art-House Book Trailers. Just as vile as the name suggests.
+ CraftGawker. Look, be inspired, create.
+ This Is Not A Riot: An effective, non-violent response to riot police. (I miss going to demonstrations)
+ The Fall of the Spanish Hapsburgs, or why marrying your first cousin is a bad, bad idea. See also this pictorial guide to the Spanish Hapsburgs. Ouch.
+ As seen everywhere on the web: Uncomfortable plot summaries. To wit: “Groundhog Day: Misanthropic creep exploits space/time anomaly to stalk coworker.”
+ And as seen on John’s blog: “Over the weekend, sharp-eyed Cassini-watchers on unmannedspaceflight.com noticed a series of way-cool photos on the mission’s raw images website.” Mindblowingly cool photos.

I finished reading The Time-Traveller’s Wife. It was rather “girly”. I have also begun yet another knitting project: Geno in duck’s-egg-blue milk-cotton. It’s rather lovely and very summery.

This entry is filed under Alasdair Gray, Art, Books 2009, Denmark, Film, History, Knitting, linkage, Literature, Music, Personal, Popular Culture, Science, typography and tagged , , , , , , , , , . | 1 Comment

You And Whose Army?

By on February 25, 2009

Yesterday I kicked someone off my Facebook friends list.

I came home, checked FB quickly and noticed someone from my primary school days had joined a Danish-language group called “I’m not racist but be nice OR get out of my country”. My stomach tensed as I checked the group description with its ten so-called commandments (including “Accept people can eat pork and not be disgusting” and “Pay your taxes – even if you own a cornershop or a takeaway”). The Danish flag featured heavily, of course.

So I sat there just before bedtime and I was .. not shocked nor surprised..  but, I guess, saddened that someone I once knew would think it a great idea to join such a group. And then I realised that I have no time whatsoever for this sort of sh*t, kicked my erstwhile classmate off my friends list and headed off to bed feeling slightly shell-shocked.

I feel I should be doing something more than just block someone on a silly social networking site (and reporting the group to the FB admins as violating their TOS. I do not think they’ll care much), but what?

This entry is filed under Denmark, Popular Culture and tagged , , , , , . | 1 Comment

“We encounter each other in words..”

By on January 20, 2009

Unsurprisingly the poetry reading was one of my favourite parts of the Obama inauguration ceremony (another being Aretha Franklin’s awesome hat). You can read the entire poem by Elizabeth Alexander on the New York Times website right here.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

This entry is filed under Literature, News and tagged , , . | 5 Comments

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