Is authenticity losing its essence? — How do you begin to even think of behaving or communicating in a superficial manner, when you've spent your life looking for authenticity? Authenticity in itself is a slippery concept to define. It decorates descriptions of Air Bnb rentals. …

Why are we all so bad at endings? — What do I mean when I talk about finishing? In my opinion, the art of finishing is a factor we must consider from the most everyday of circumstances to the grandest of life’s trials. It can be as inconsequential as how you say goodbye to your work colleagues at the end of the day. Do you nod, bow, kiss…

Exploring the Fool archetype from Shakespeare to clown phobias — The Fool has been appearing to me everywhere recently. Or perhaps it’s just that I’ve been noticing him. I have missed him. I’m frightened of him. I wonder why people remove him disapprovingly from the card deck before they start a game. The city I live in is full of…

Noise Vs Silence Part II: looking at the feminised voice in Irish & Ancient Greek mythology, lamenting rituals, hermit nuns & PJ Harvey — My beloved sisters, just as you watch your wits outwardly, also you must look inwardly and be sure that you are soft, mild and meek, sweet and sweet-of-heart, and patient against woeful words Ancrene Wisse (Guide for Anchoresses, 13th century) Lick my legs, I’m on fire, lick my legs of…

A story I wrote about arriving in Jerez de la Frontera, southern Spain, a year before the pandemic, and in its aftermath, as Jerez began to open up again — Part I Some of us, the newcomers, are on the outside of circles looking in, and the great trrrum of what sounds like a thousand guitars, and people who always speak their mind stridently, with an abstract lack of investment that allows you to forgive them.

A video interview with the creators of Cinetones, Elena Jiménez and Manuel Méijome, joined by collaborator, drummer Ismael Colón Garrido. Cars rattle over cobblestones and I hear shouts and echoes from the narrow street as I cross the threshold into Manuel and Elena’s home. The noise of the outside world…

Rebecca W Morris writes about noise pollution and noise-resistance campaigns through history — “Until I die, there will be sounds.” (John Cage) In his lectures on Silence, John Cage speaks about the fact that there is no escaping sound. He theorises: “There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear…

Do you remember learning about the Spanish flu of 1918? It was described by doctors as the “greatest medical holocaust in history”. In reality, the flu didn’t originate in Spain at all. In fact, it was the Spanish government’s honesty in reporting the rising numbers of infected and dead which…

I’ve been a bit feverish recently. I woke up suddenly two mornings ago after a slightly off-colour dream. I was soaked in sweat, and later that day tested positive for Covid. I took an ibuprofen and gradually my fever decreased. When the fever left, I mourned its absence. …