Everything Changes [474]
Greetings from the shed...
I’m Christian Payne. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, how we share, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going. Thanks for joining in.
#TheAction
The highlight of the week was the 18th 1984 Symposium. I rode my motorbike to get there in good time and before attendees arrived I got to chat with John the Tower Keeper and grounds person and a local Duchess who was visiting a family grave.
Before long there were familiar faces and a few new ones. The conversation meandered around current affairs and some of those issues that you really wish we didn’t have to think about anymore.
As ever there were differing opinions and some (what I would call) wild conspiracies. But everybody was able to converse politely and when needed, they agreed to disagree. Sometimes even able to find common ground. Face to face meetings and a willingness to engage can do that.
If only it were that easy online. Firmly-held prejudices and wacky or harmful ideologies are often deeply rooted and resistant to change. Especially through direct confrontation.
Trying to ‘educate’ someone entrenched in wild conspiracy theories or something particularly hateful towards a specific people can backfire. Which might then cause them to double down on their views.
Perhaps the key is to be non-confrontational. To plant seeds of doubt and expose people to different perspectives.
I can see this possibly working with those still exploring these thoughts. Or on the fringes of these movements. Those who haven't fully committed to a particular ideology.
I think creating spaces like the 1984 Symposium can nurture open and empathetic dialogue. A place where we can indirectly challenge harmful narratives, and offer fact based counter narratives to the mis and disinformation. Stories that humanise the targets of prejudice.
I think I have the patience, even if I don't necessarily have the emotional intelligence to engage in a non-confrontational way. That’s something I need to work on while trying not to involuntarily spit a drink mid sip, or spontaneously LOL during a conversation.
I think the secret is to condemn the ideology while maintaining compassionate thoughts for the individual. It’s certainly not easy, but what’s the alternative?
Not satisfied with one grave that day, after being reminded by Amanda that the grave of Tolkien was not far away, I popped in on the way home.
He is buried with his wife and their other names Beren and Lúthien.
The grave was covered with offerings and certainly the most worn of the grave sites in the cemetery. If you’d like to see it yourself, it’s at 447 Banbury Rd, Oxford, England. There are little signs on the paths showing you the way.
#ThePictures
I watched The Bikeriders this week. There’s a kind of review in the audio section.
Sad to see that the photographers network Redeye is shutting down. I talked and delivered workshops for them many times. In fact early in 2007 I got an email from Julian Tait saying
“We are organising a symposium in Manchester on the 21st and 22nd April and having seen your piece on the Kurds in Iraq, I was wondering if you would be interested in talking or giving a presentation about your work.”
The symposium was called THE DEMOCRATIC IMAGE - It focused on Photography and Globalisation with an aim to investigate how digital technology was changing the way we use and distribute photography.
I showed my film and delivered a talk on the process. This introduced me so many fascinating people Pedro Meyer, David Levi Strauss, Bill Thompson, Dr John Perivolaris and a bunch of others. It also sent me off on a tangent where talking and teaching added some stability to my livelihood of only documenting.
I wonder how many other people the network inspired and assisted in the world of photography?
#TheWords
I was reading Sizemore’s Midnight Quatermass and stumbled upon a wonderful interview with Donald Sutherland.
Stories from an epic cycling trip.
#TheSound
Thanks to this cassette I rediscovered an album I used to listen to in the 90’s.
It’s the album Tragic Magic from Madder Rose. I used to drop the track My Star on a few mixtapes.
Microsoft’s emissions have jumped a whopping 30% in the last few years as they try to keep up with the demand for AI tools. The podcast ‘How green is my AI?’ from The Artificial Human had me a little shocked at how much energy is used just by rendering one machine generated image.
AudioMos from this week. I’ll endeavour to summarise the entire month in the next email.
Day 21 - Escaping the familiar
Day 22 - Volunteering their labour
Day 23 - The drink of the dammed
Day 24 - The Bikeriders
Day 25 - The 18th 1984 Symposium
Day 26 - Guilty of Journalism - Thoughts on Assange
Day 27 - From Bikes to Bytes
#TheConsumed
The hot weather had me unusually bored with tea and coffee in favour of something cooler and as much as I love water with little done to it, if I’m feeling really fancy I go for this.
It’s an orange, mango and passionfruit cordial. Around £1.25 a bottle in some stores. I only have a tiny splash in soda water with ice and a slice or orange, lemon or lime. We keep the slices frozen in the freezer. I’d consider hoarding this and adding it to emergency rations.
#TheBody
I had no idea there was also a badge for logging 300 activities in Strava, but unsurprisingly I’m a sucker for this stuff and now in danger of logging any old crap just to get to 500. Now I understand why some people log a 1KM run.
Keep your eye open for an increased level of random crap popping up in my Strava feed. ;-). I’m on 313 days straight on the Balance app but they need badges. The reduces lifetime subscription offer has me on a meditative mission to get my money’s worth.
#TheThings
I know what the more curious of you are thinking… “What the holy hell is that monstrosity?”
We have a lot of birds in the garden. Humping, nesting and fighting. Occasionally I spot a feather being blown around and pick it up. That should explain the feathers.
The wooden bit is the knot from an ancient tree that was sawn off as it was protruding over a pathway. Someone then left it on the floor. I passed it on my dog walk a few times before picking it up. The pretty side is where it was cut. But the bark side is great for sticking found feathers in to stop them escaping.
I think it looks a little like the dung from a bear that likes eating birds. I hope that quills your curiosity.
If you came to the 1984Symposium this year, keep an eye out for one or more of these.
If they didn’t arrive I’ve not got your address. ;-)
#TheThanks
Thank you to all the paying subscribers that support my time here and keep these brain farts free for everyone. Please consider upgrading to become a paid supporter so I can stop collecting feathers. Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing and liking.
#TheWeb
The Global Disinformation Index is a great resource.
Is there more to the attempted coup in Bolivia? Clicking on the included links offers a compelling counter narrative to other channels.
I don’t have a single reader in Bolivia on the Documentally community map.
I have a feeling I’d be less distracted with this phone and my old iPad.
Anyone using The Invisible Internet Project I2P?
Some of my other places include Letterboxd, Discogs, GoodReads, FarceBook, Flickr, Strava, Untappd, my audio RSS feed, Vivino, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, a ham radio newsletter or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Birdsite, Bluesky or Daft Social.
This popped up in my feeds this week. Love it.
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. Hope you managed a few links. Especially the ones with no context. I had loads of stuff I wanted to add but have ran out of space and time.
Things might look a little different in the UK next week. Maybe even better. I do hope so.
What ever happens, believe in democracy for as long as you can...then revolt.
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Vote.
See you out there.
Over…
Great post this week. Obviously you have my address but you delivered my sticker personally. 😜
The light phone is great but expensive. Search for minimis I have the beta on my phone. And will share a screen shot privately to you. It’s quite good.