Serve Up The Good Stuff

Dear Friend

Serve Up The Good Stuff
Like so many of us, I feel appalled by the current toxic, divisive and violent media and political leadership of the UK and US.  Inhumane atrocities are being perpetrated and legislated everyday - from funding arms and bombing Middle Eastern countries to slashing essential health services.  It can feel immensely overwhelming, frightening and disempowering to watch this play out.  However I still believe and daily experience that our shared humanity has the power to connect us, even in the face of horror.  In times of peril, we are called to be the biggest we can be in the most ordinary, human, grounded, on-the-level way.  Whether it's offering our time, services or cash to important causes or simply making a hot dinner for a hungry friend - we can continue to serve up the good stuff on our streets and communities.

Hot Food and Love
I was immensely moved by a blog by creative life support coach and experienced Theatre Producer, Chris Grady who recently volunteered at Refugee Community Kitchen in Calais.  Chris outlines how we can use our Time, Talent and Treasure to make a difference.  His call to action inspired me to write a four part song, Serve Up The Good Stuff which I will be singing with my choirs during the Summer term which includes Refugee Week in June.  If you or your choir would like to use this song please do get in touch - all I ask is that you make a donation to Refugee Community Kitchen.
Click here to listen to Serve Up The Good Stuff

Cooking Up Creativity
Closer to home, another project serving up the good stuff is The Dragon Cafe.  This inspirational arts project was initiated by Mental Fight Club Founder, Sarah Wheeler, who felt that to effectively support mental wellbeing, arts activities needed to be set within a relaxed, inclusive user-led space.  The Dragon Cafe has just celebrated 200 Mondays of serving up an all day menu of delicious food and creative arts in the crypt of St George The Martyr, opposite Borough Tube station.  It's a warm, welcoming, chilled out space - a refuge of another kind where people can have a chat, massage, hot meal and explore their creativity.  I was honoured to cover a Singing for Wellbeing class for Vivien Ellis. We sang amidst a hive of humanity humming with the good stuff of shared food and creativity - I left feeling uplifted, soothed and inspired.

On The Run From The Gun
There is no doubt that the issues surrounding the refugee crisis are vast and complex - issues which are further complicated by disorientating media spin.  According to UN figures in 2015, 34,000 people are forcibly displaced every day as a result of conflict or persecution.  In contradiction to tabloid claims that these refugees are swamping the UK in search of a free lunch, the majority flee to neighbouring countries in fear of their lives. Lebanon has taken in 50 times as many refugees as the EU, whilst being 100 times smaller, and now faces a refugee crisis of which increasingly Little Britain has no concept. (The Guardian) The migrants who do reach Europe have survived horrors and endured terrible journeys. They have a legal and human right to refuge.

Coming Home to Our Humanity
There are simple principles of humanity which can connect us across seeming divides of culture, race or creed. The principle of hospitality is one example - when receiving a guest, treat them as you would like to be treated - aside from being ethically sound, it makes for better relations, better trade and a better time of it all round.  As Weyman Bennett said at the Stand Up To Racism march in Croydon this weekend, it could be any of us who suddenly has to leave their own home due to traumatic circumstances.  Those who arrive here in desperation and vulnerability deserve to be treated with respect and kindness. Detention, abuse, violence, suspicion, interrogation, prejudice and ignorance is not hospitality.  Nor does it help alleviate or address the situations that lead to immigration. When we come home to our shared humanity, we serve up the good stuff to our friends, neighbours, colleagues and guests.

Wishing you all the good stuff this April

www.therosewindow.org
Twitter: @katierosewindow
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She Rises - Celebrating #InternationalWomen'sDay

Dear Friend


She Rises - Celebrating #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2017

She rises and she changes and she makes her world afresh
Celebrating in song the power of women to rise, change and make the world afresh for this years International Women's Day
All voices welcome to come sing and #BeBoldForChange on 8th March at Crystal Palace Transition Town Choir 7-8.30pm at the Paxton Centre.
I'm also looking forward to attending the #March4Women on 5th March at 12pm at The Scoop. 

Support Young Girls
If you have been touched by this video please consider making a donation to Plan International who campaign to alleviate child poverty, end child marriage and keep young girls in education.  www.plan-uk.org

She Rises 
We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat so that we can know who we are. So that we can see, "Oh, that happened, and I rose. I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose. I didn't run away; I rose right where I'd been knocked down." That's how you get to know yourself. - Maya Angelou
Celebrating the innate wisdom and power of women to rise and rise again in the face of adversity.  Last month on Inside Story, we spoke to Jenny Lockyer about her forthcoming play as part of Croyondites Festival of New Theatre, about inspirational aviator Amy Johnson - who literally rose up above the gender stereotypes of her day to become the first female pilot to fly from Britain to Australia. As women we can also raise up others around us - those we love, care and work with and those who do not yet have a voice.  Together we can rise higher.

She Changes
I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you're supposed to be to live a more authentic life. - Laverne Cox
The fluidity and diversity of what it means to be a woman is an essential part of feminism.  Across the world, inspirational women have, are and will be breaking out of rigid definitions and constricting stereotypes - from generations of grandmothers to young women of today such as Malala Yousafzai calling for the education of young women worldwide. The LGBT community are pioneering leaders and teachers, enabling us to question, transcend, interrogate and creatively play with gender identity. Their bravery opens up new spaces of possibility for everyone. 

She Makes Her World Afresh
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. - Sojourner Truth - from the Speech Aint I A Woman 1851
The recent Women's Marches demonstrate what is possible when women come together to walk, sing, protest, boycott, celebrate and create.  The inspirational rising tide of women follows the path of women throughout history such as Rose Schniederman leader of the Massachusetts Textile Strike 1912 who campaigned forBread for All, and Roses too  and sisters including the women of the US Civil Rights Movement, the Suffragettes, the women who started The French Revolution, theFemale Freedom Fighters for Indian Independence The Women's March of Pretoria and so many more brave, strong, women making a daily difference in their streets and communities worldwide.  In their footsteps we march.

Wishing you strength, boldness and liberation this International Women's Day.
Warmest singing wishes

www.therosewindow.org
Twitter: @katierosewindow
Facebook: www.facebook.com/therosewindow