Category: - Things You Might Love

1. Pride London 2023

   Posted on 12:00pm Tuesday 11th Jul 2023

   For the first time I was able to go to Pride in London this year, and it was fabulous! I live near Brighton, so I've been to our Pride Parade many times, but this was a London first.

   It was so lovely to be around such a happy crowd of people, celebrating love and diversity.

   Here are some of my piccies from the day. 

    

   It went on for hours after this, but I was with my daughter and we were desperate for a drink and a sit down.  The start was delayed for an hour due to protestors, so we'd been there a loooong time! We watched again from another place later, but we too far back for pictures. 

   I'd absolutely recommend going to anyone, dressed up or not! 

2. Feminist Icon - Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807)

   Posted on 2:33pm Wednesday 21st Sep 2022

   I have just spent my lunchtime reading about this remarkable woman, so I just wanted to share a little info about her here. I do love to highlight the achievements of feminist icons and trailblazers through the years.

   Angelica Kauffmann

   

   Anglica was a painter, who carved her way in the male dominated world of art and became hugely successful in London and Rome. She was born on 30th October 1741 in Chur, Switzerland. Her father was an impoverished artist who encouraged his daughter's interest in art. By the age of 11, Angelica's prodigious talents were widely recognised: she was a gifted musician, spoke four languages, and was commissioned to paint portraits of aristocrats and members of the clergy.

   Her mother died when Angelica was 13 and she and her father moved from Como to Milan and then to Schwarzenberg in Austria before returning to Italy, where Angelica became a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1762 – an extraordinary achievement for a woman of only 21. As famous for her charm as she was for her artistic gifts, she became a fashionable portraitist for British tourists in Rome – then the centre of the Western art world – and became close friends with Joshua Reynolds (they painted each other's portraits).

   

   The year before the inauguration of the Royal Academy, however, Angelica's life was marred by a terrible scandal: she was duped into marrying a man who presented himself as Frederick de Horn, a wealthy Swedish count. He was in fact a penniless valet. The relationship ended after a few months, but not before he had humiliated Angelica and stolen her savings

   Thankfully, in the wake of these devastating events, Angelica's friends rallied around and she gradually recovered financially – she was, by now, supporting her father and paying for the running of her household. Although Angelica earned her living primarily as a portrait painter – we know of 22 portraits, of which nine are self-portraits – she considered herself primarily a history painter.

   

   In 1766, encouraged by Joshua Reynolds, Angelica moved to London, where she introduced the latest neoclassical ideas and established herself as a professional artist. Although 'self-advertisement was thought to be unfeminine', she was a canny self-promoter. Two months after her arrival, she wrote to her father: 'I have four rooms, one in which I paint, the other where I set up my finished paintings as is here the custom [so that] the people [can] come into the house to sit – to visit me – or to see my work; I could not possibly receive people in a poorly furnished house.'

   

   In 1781, in London, Angelica married the Venetian artist Antonio Zucchi – a man, by all accounts, who was the opposite of her first husband. In July that year, accompanied by her father, they sailed for Ostend and eventually settled in Venice, where Angelica's portraits were in high demand. However, when her father died in the city in January 1782, Angelica couldn't bear to stay. Grief-stricken, they moved to Naples, where Angelica made sketches for a royal portrait, and then to Rome, where she became close friends with the renowned writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe whom she painted in 1787.

   When Angelica died in 1807, she had successfully infiltrated the male-dominated world of classical and portrait art in both London and Rome, and established herself as a leading artist of her time. Although Kauffmann had been embraced by the Royal Academy, the battle for equality was far from over. It took 168 years from the appointments of Kauffmann and Mary Moser for a woman to be elected to full membership of the Royal Academy, with the arrival of Laura Knight in 1936.

   ---

    

   Thank you to artuk.org for the information and Jennifer Higgie who wrote the fabulous article. If you would like to read more about Angelica you can see her Tate page here and her Wikipedia page here. 

3. Guest Post - By Paige - From Self-Destruct to Daylight

   Posted on 12:40pm Friday 26th Feb 2021

   I hear such amazing stories of customer journeys that are inspiring and thought provoking for me.  Recently, I realised that these stories are too important to not be shared, and I have asked a few customers if they'd like to guest post here.  I have been very lucky that they have agreed and many found it to be cathartic and fulfilling,  and often it brings hope that it will help others.

   First up is Paige, who has come to her trans journey later in life, and who's journey of self-discovery is really blossoming.  Hopefully her story will inspire you, and if you are moved by anything you read, please do get in touch if you need support.  

   From Paige:

   Where to start with this is never easy and including every aspect of the entire journey is virtually impossible,  so I'll miss out the first forty something years and cut straight to the interesting bit,, if you want to hear about the depressing years I'll tell them, but another time,  I'll start this little story from summer 2020, I'm 47 years old and fest becoming a non intoxicated person, as for many years of my past I was on a self destruct mission,  but I guess only half heartedly as I'm still here and in relative good health,  so all my life ever since I was a child I wanted to be female,  this was very unacceptable in the late 70s and 80s and lead to the subsequent self destruct ,, what changed, when it changed,  I have no idea but somehow I found myself in 2020 a year that was hideous for so many and yet it seemed my time to live and love life and myself for the first time I can remember had arrived,  

   I've dressed feminine indoors all the time, never venturing outside except under cover of darkness with my dog for protection, luckily I live on the very outskirts of the city and its always been quiet,   the thing about being closeted and scared of your own life is its very easy to convince yourself that what you are doing is for the best and never consider how it's effecting you mentally, a kind of brainwashing on one's self,  I'd tell myself 'I'll be fine staying indoors '  and 'I'm a realist, I could never pass anyway so no point trying '  bad defeatist thoughts that have festered for a lifetime and now bit by bit becoming eradicated from my mind,, 

   So summer 2020 , I join my first online transgender group, and meet for the first time people like me,  by the way I've still to this day never met a transgender person in real life,, anyway at this point I'm once again determined to discover myself, what I'm supposed to do with these feelings of trapped frustration,  the dilemma of feeling feminine and looking not feminine and not even acting feminine but I slowly discover I'm not the only one,, however the group seems quiet to me and no-one really wants to do video chat and I'm desperate to be seen, for validation, so I join a second group which covers the whole of Scotland, its very much more active and they are doing many things on video so, I decide the Saturday night meeting seems good one week games night one week movie night finally I'm visible but after only a couple of meetings it's not enough or moving forward I need to know if I'm good enough to get outside,, so I'm asking and asking until eventually someone gave me the answer I guess I needed to hear,  and it's very simple,  I am good enough, no matter what I look like as long as I'm me, as long as I'm projecting what I feel, dressing how I want,  there's not a soul on earth who has the right to judge me,, or anyone else who may be in a similar dilemma to mine,  so from summer to November I cultivated my new me as the indoors me was not entirely suitable for day to day living,,, November 25th I step outside in daylight hours and I haven't dressed male since that day now my name is Paige,  I love being me and I feel love for the people around me even when they just look at me and don't know what to say or think it's a big change for everyone close to me and close by but I've had almost no negativity.

    

   I'm sure a lot of you will connect with her experiences and others will be interested to read about another's life experience, and be glad that Paige has moved passed a self-destruct phase to digging in deep and confronting her feelings.  We all know how hard that is for anyone to do.  Thank you very much Paige for sharing your story.

    

   If you'd like to share your story, no matter how long or short, I'd love to hear from you.  You can just send me an email at any time.

4. My Latest Loves

   Posted on 4:20pm Friday 9th Oct 2020

   I'm not a big fan of anything, in particular, bar Harry Potter, but  thought I'd share a few of my latest finds in case you are looking for a new book or TV show to enrich your weekend!

   Books:

   The Greatcoats series, by the Canadian writer Sebastien de Castell.

   

    There are 4 books in total and I really liked them :) 

   Genre: They are Three Musketeers style set in a fantasy world with fantasy elements.

   Pros:  Simple easy reading with a full plot, a sense of adventure, and a moral compass.  Personally, I really enjoyed the strong female characters.

   If you like audiobooks, then Joe Jameson who has narrated them all is amazing. He is a character actor, so brings each to life with their own voice.

   Cons: Some of the dialogue was a little samey. 

    

   TV Show:

   Alone

   I've really taken to this and watch it with my 12-year-old daughter. There have been 7 seasons, and although it is only on top TV packages in the UK, I have seen it popping up on Amazon prime TV, etc. 

   

   Genre: Real-life survival. 

   Synopsis: It's a competition, but not like any I've ever seen.  It has 10 competitors who are dropped in the middle of nowhere, literally on their own, and have to survive as long as possible in order to win. They are not dropped off somewhere idyllic, they are put somewhere super hard to survive.  These are people that teach this stuff for a living or live quite self-sufficiently in real life. The early seasons were on the overgrown Vancouver Island, but they have also had Mongolia and The Antarctic for season 7, but I'm yet to watch that one! 

   Pros: It's facinating to watch people adapt and survive, try and preserve their mental health whilst being alone. We are naturally social beings, so seeing how they manage to overcome the obstacle of being alone as well as feeding themselves and running low on energy is so interesting. It doesn't glorify the hunting that they have to do but shows what is necessary to survive.

   Cons: I love the show but I should imagine it is quite hard for some vegetarians/vegans to watch. There is some killing of animals for food.

   Movie:

   Official Secrets

   

   Genre: Real-life drama/thriller with Keira Knightly.

   Synopsis:  Based on the true story of Katharine Gun, a whistleblower at GCHQ, it focuses on the lead up to the Iraq Invasion.

   Pros: I found it captivating. Great performances from Keira and Matt Smith

   Cons: From what I read it is factually quite accurate, but any movie needs taking with a little pinch of salt. Not that this is a "con" really. I loved it!

    

   Do let me know if you have any recommendations for me!

    

    xxx

    

5. Feminist Icon - Alan Jope and Unilever

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 8th Jun 2020

   I read that 43% of managers within Unilever are women, and I just had to read up more about it as this is not the kind of percentage I normally see.  It seems that their CEO is an active feminist and a member of the He-For-She campain.  Go Alan and go Unilever!  It's not quite 50%, or even 57% to 43% men, but it's a ratio significantly higher than many other multinational profit driven companies. They have looked through the layers of the company, including to the farms and producers working for them.  It says to me that they are moving in the right direction and have tried to actively culture a business of feminist equality and safety.  I dare say they have some way to go, but they seem to be aware of the issues and are not just focusing on women within offices.  

   Their official statement on women within the company goes as follows:

   IMPACT Commitments

   Expand opportunities and provide access to skills and training for women across the Unilever value chain.

   Unilever believes that creating opportunities and providing access to skills and training is critical to expanding female participation in the economy. Unilever provides training to women in their extended supply chain and distribution channels, including agricultural, business and literacy training. Besides working with smallholder farmers (around 30% of Unilever smallholder farmers are women), Unilever also equips female small-scale retailers with business skills and access to tools and technology to develop successful businesses. In order to drive sustainable growth and transform lives, families, communities and economies, Unilever will continue to build upon existing programmes to provide a holistic approach to skills & training. By the end of 2014, around 168,000 female smallholder farmers had completed qualified skills training delivered or made possible by Unilever and another 70,000 micro-entrepreneurs were trained in India.

   Improve the safety of women & girls in communities where Unilever operates.

   1 in 3 women will experience violence in their lifetime. Unilever aims to improve safety for women and girls in the communities where they operate including their extended supply chain. Unilever’s approach focuses on the prevention of incidents through increased education and awareness, as well as improving the grievance and reporting procedures. One example is the programme launched in 2013, on the Kericho tea plantation in Kenya, which covers 12,000 permanent workers, and up to 5,000 seasonal workers. Since the programme launch, there have been substantial improvements in the way sexual harassment issues are addressed, as well as opportunities for girls to engage in social activities and mentoring. This programme has a big impact, reaching those who live in company villages on the estates. Unilever will scale this successful program in the next 5 years, by identifying the highest priority regions & countries.

   Build a gender-balanced organisation with a focus on management.

   Unilever employs more than 172,000 people around the world. As of 2014, 43% of managers at Unilever were female. Unilever believes gender-balanced teams make better business decisions and recognises that management sets the tone for the rest of their business. Some examples of the initiatives to build a gender balanced organisation are: sustained leadership accountability and clear targets continuously reviewed and monitored; inclusion leadership training for employees; programs to recruit, retain and develop women talent e.g. Balanced shortlists, Maternity & Paternity support, women’s development and mentoring programs and employee engagement communications to build organisational engagement around inclusion and diversity.

   Unilever are not the kind of company I would expect to be paying an interest in feminist issues, so it's lovely to see.  I'd expect to see companies that produce sanitiary towels etc, like Kimberly Clark, to be aware of making their voice heard on the issue, so it is wonderful to see a company that makes such a wide range of products (Ben and Jerry's, Radox, Marmite and Lipton to name just a few!) being aware of the importance of balance and female importance in business, in all layers.

   I hope due to their work with the He-For-She campaign, and with Alan's leadership, they have kept their momentum with their equality work.  I salute you Unilever.  

   

6. Feminist Icon - Dame Jean Macnamara

   Posted on 10:10am Wednesday 20th May 2020

   

    

   I'm heading overseas today with a little bio about Dr Macnamara. An Australian doctor and medical scientist, Dame Jean Macnamara applied her tireless work ethic to better understand and treat various forms of paralysis including polio. Her work contributed to the development of a successful polio vaccine in 1955.

   Annie Jean Macnamara was born in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia1899, and as a teenager during World World I felt a strengthened resolve “to be of some use in the world.” Standing just 152cm tall, the forthright Dr. Macnamara proved to be a force to be reckoned with. 

   Dr. Macnamara graduated from medical school in 1925, the same year a polio epidemic struck the capital city of Melbourne. As a consultant and medical officer to the Poliomyelitis Committee of Victoria, she turned her focus to treating and researching the potentially fatal virus, a particular risk for children.

   In collaboration with the future Nobel Prize winner Sir Macfarlane Burnet, she discovered in 1931 that there was more than one strain of the poliovirus, a pivotal step towards the development of an effective vaccine nearly 25 years later.

   Dr. Macnamara continued to work with sufferers of the disease—especially children—for the rest of her life, developing new methods of treatment and rehabilitation.

   For her invaluable commitment to children’s lives, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1935. During her lifetime, Dr. Macnamara's research also played a major role in the introduction of myxomatosis to control rabbit plagues, minimising environmental damage across Australia. 

   The polio vaccine has changed millions of lives, so thank you Dr Macnamara.
   

7. Small Business Saturday

   Posted on 11:35am Thursday 5th Dec 2019

   We hear soooo much from the big names about "Black Friday", "Cyber Monday", "Black Friday Week" and now "Extended Black Friday Week"...when will it end? I don't know about you, but I deleted all of the emails that chogged up my inbox.  I don't participate in it for that very reason, and I'd rather offer great prices all of the time, not hike them so I can supposedly bring them down for a Black Friday Sale (aparrently a lot of companies use that method according to online reports). I'd rather offer sales when they are unexpected to you.

   This Saturday however, it's about something I feel much happier about talking about, Small Business Saturday. In this country we have a wealth of small businesses offering amazing products, unusual products, exceptional customer service, advice and help in a way you will never receive from the big names, and they work at that all through the year. How about this Saturday, Sunday and any other time you are shopping, you take a look at these guides. Amex do a deal if you save the offer to your card and shop at a participating small business, and the others offer guides and product/shop lists.  Happy shopping.

   Love HO HO HO JO xxx

8. Dame Barbara Cartland - In The Psychiatrist's Chair

   Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 26th Jun 2019

   A friend of mine told me to listen to this, and I'm glad I did.  It's such an eye opener about the attitudes that some women used to have, and how attitudes about women have changed.  

   

   I thought she was wonderful as she had such conviction in her thoughts.  She was born in 1901, in a time very different to now, had a privileged upbringing and that clearly shaped her views. She went on to have the most amazing novel-writing career, writing one a week, and wrote a total of 723 in her lifetime, which is just phenomenal.  My favourite part though was when she said that she had a very poor upbringing, with only 2 servants! 

   

    

   She left the most amazing legacy and she was fascinating to listen to. I didn't agree with most of her views, but it was so interesting to hear her perspective on why she felt women's lib is terrible and how a woman should please her husband.  If you want to hear her interview on "In The Psychiatrists Chair" you can here, for as long as the BBC allow.  It's worth it!

   

    

9. Feminist Icon - Theresa Kachindamoto

   Posted on 12:00pm Tuesday 28th May 2019

   I read about Theresa Kachindamoto this week and I just had to share some of her story here in case you haven't heard of her.

   

   Theresa is a Malawi Chief nicknamed "The Terminator" for her annulment of around 1000 child marriages since she became Chief of her tribe.  Not only has she done that, but she has also sent as many of those girls, and sometimes boys, as possible back to school. 

   In a country with high rates of child marriage, Theresa has done an amazing job of protecting girls from early marriages and the huge risks that come with child pregnancy.  

   When asked about the annulments,Theresa has famously said:

   “When girls are educated, everything is possible.”

   It's not been an easy road for her of course, with opposition from male chiefs and parents who benefit from arranged, child and forced marriages, but she has fought them with courage and kindness. Recently, in February 2017, the country took a major step to end child marriage by adopting a constitutional amendment that raises the minimum age of marriage from 15 to 18 years, for both girls and boys. 

   I'm happy to see that has received global recognition for her work and has been visited by Emma Watson, the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, generating more support for her work and more financial aid to ensure girls can remain in school rather than be forced into marriage.  

   

   I'm sure you will agree, what a woman!

   You can read more about her here and here.

10. Mental Health and The Blurt Foundation's Buddy Box

    Posted on 12:00pm Tuesday 16th Apr 2019

    

    It's been a tough 10 months for me.  I've been physically unwell with nausea, vomiting and tummy pain mixed with headaches, on-and-off since June, and it's really taken its toll.  Getting so run down, for this unknown reason, kicks off my lupus and my mental health took a nose dive.  I was spending chunks of the day in bed and this was happening many days in the week at the rough points.  

    Then we finally found out I have stripped the lining in my stomach and developed ulcers in my digestive system, probably caused by my steroids and things I take for lupus. Not good, but great to know what had kept flaring up and making me feel so rubbish.

    So, now I am getting physically much better (with yet another medication) and trying to lower my lupus medication so that it helps me but doesn't cause all this to happen again.  I am still finding it hard, but I am certainly feeling a lot more positive. I was wondering a little while ago what I can do to help myself more, as self-compassion is something I am very bad at.  I'm a real do-er, so I get frustrated when I get knocked for six on a poor health day and I'm not very good at stopping.  The fact I had so many bouts, meant my mental health and ability to keep positive and keep going, went out the window.  With more energy now, I can work on that even more, so I decided to subscribe to two delivery boxes with my mental health in mind.  Like everyone, I am not keen on just getting bills, so I thought I'd try something nicer arriving on my doormat.

    The first to arrive was my Buddy Box, from the Blurt Foundation.  

    At £21.50 it is pricey, but that's because there is so much in it.  You can always go for the Buddy Box lite at £12 if it's too much for you to afford.  What I did like, is that a one-off box is the same price as the monthly subscription, so you can feel happy about trying it out or treat yourself every 2 months etc. if that's better for you.

    I tell you what though, it's an absolutely lovely box.  As the foundation say themselves, 

    The contents of the BuddyBox vary from month to month and remain a closely guarded secret. (The surprise is very much part of the experience.) All the items included in the box are intended to make you feel good: helping you de-stress, find calm, feel pampered, relax, get creative, or simply have fun.

    It was exactly what I wanted and it is beautifully done. It's a social enterprise, so profits are channelled back into helping those with depression, and the foundation is also there for you should you need them.  So, with at least 5 top-quality items in the box, and knowing that you are doing good with the profit money, it's a real boost.  

    I got the box that we are all "Winging It", so it has a fab bird theme.  I received some  a lovely Gull Notebook, a winging it card, a sew your own bird pencil topper, a wooden badge saying "Kindness Matters", some lovely tea bags and some very expensive rose facial oil for my skin.

    It's all just so lovely and my cat thought so too.  If you fancy receiving a box of surprise gifts, to remind yourself to sit down and take some time out/that you are not alone/to get you trying something new, give them a go.  You can also visit their website for some fantastic resources if you are suffering with depression.

    https://www.blurtitout.org/resources/