Home (My Favourite Place in the World)

I'm drinking tea today,

Sat by a window that brings life and dreaming into my mind.

This is the city where battles were fought,

Were lines were crossed and swords were drawn,

The English they fought,

But for "Freedom!" Caledonia won.

And I may joke and say "No, it was all a farce!"

But this country has more pride than the world can hold,

Even when the wind blows and the rain pours,

Nothing can silence the people from the place that I can now call home.

Amendment One: North Carolina doesn't love gay people, but God does.

"People killin', people dyin',

Children hurt and you hear them cryin'.

Can you practice what you preach,

And would you turn the other cheek?

Father, Father, Father help us,

Send some guidance from above,

'Cause people got me, got me questionin'

Where is the love?"

- Where is the Love?, The Black Eyed Peas

In 2003 Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas became the longest-serving British number one in five years and the best selling record of the year in the UK. I think more than anything this song and the response it was given shows how much we're all crying out for love, for change, for pain and brokenness to end. 

Today we found out that Amendment One has been passed in North Carolina; it's horrendous news. In this day and age, in our current society, we're made to believe that most of the human race, especially in the western world, is becoming reasonably liberal, opening themselves up to change and growth. Today we can clearly see that that is not the case. Only 39% of voters voted against the amendment and it says a lot about the state of the world.

I am a Christian and I feel like I do a lot of apologising for those who act out of bitterness and hatred, and today isn't the day when I'm about to stop apologising. 

Tami Fitzgerald, head of the pro-amendment group, Vote FOR Marriage NC said: 

"I think we've built a huge coalition across North Carolina of people who believe godly values..."

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that "godly values" involved discrimination and stopping even civil partnerships? And how can you, a human being, a tiny little insignificant human being, say that you know what "godly values" even are? This response is simply small minded people trying to prove a point, and not out of love.

I think these people are forgetting one thing. They're forgetting what this world was founded on, why this world was made: they're forgetting love. And that's really sad because at the same time they're trying to say that they represent Christianity, that they represent what Jesus wants, but would He really want this? Would He really want a group of people to feel entirely discriminated against and hated? Jesus befriended everyone, people from all walks of life; do you really think He would treat gay people like this? 

Maybe my views are simple. They're not full of political jargon and they're pretty much opinion based, but I think this world is crying out for love. I think the people who voted for this amendment to go through want love as much as those who voted against it, and I just think they're not sure how to go about finding it. When we vote we have a great responsibility, and if we call ourselves Christians we need to use that vote in a way that will glorify God, not our own bitterness and personal judgements.

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I Am Afraid of Kony 2012

Kony 2012 scares me.

Not because the violence being spoken of is so brutal, or because it makes clear to us how broken the human race really is. Sadly, I've been aware of these things for a long time; part of me has become desenstized.

Kony 2012 scares me because until the plight of the child soldier was plastered haphazardly all over the social networking sites that our eyes stumble across every single day, we didn't bat an eyelid towards it.

Until the hands of a rich, white American named Jason Russell clicked the "upload video" option on YouTube, until he enabled us to click the "reblog", "retweet" and "share" options on our favourite social networking sites, we refused to step outside of our comfort zones.

We're still in our comfort zones. We still want to spend $30 in return for an "action pack" full of items we can hold in our hands, posters, stickers, bracelets... what would Africa do if we started demanding material items in return for clean water?

We want an excitingly named event, "cover the night", to make us feel empowered and like we can do something to change the world.

Did you know that 80% of the world has 20% of the world's wealth while 20% holds 80%? I am a final year student, thousands of pounds in debt, yet I am one of the richest people in this world. And I don't think putting up a bunch of posters to make a wanted criminal famous in a country in which he does not reside is going to make much of a difference.

Raising awareness is important, but if people never cared in the first place, how long will it be until this all fizzles out? How many well made YouTube videos is Jason Russell going to upload to make sure it doesn't?

Even if they do capture Kony, North Africa has been in debt for years. The political and economic situation there is so broken that this would be a victory for no other than a bunch of rich Americans. It will take more than money and the capturing of Kony to save the people of Uganda, it will take justice within their political system and neither Jason Russell or the American government can create that.

If you want to help Uganda, support charities that will send money and aid to the people there, charities that we don't have to question the authenticity of. And start questioning and researching, stop falling for a well made film that reduces you to nothing more than emotion, because your tears won't save the people of North Africa.

Why I'm Jumping Off the Kony 2012 Bandwagon

Aaah, the good ol' Kony 2012 bandwagon that I've managed to hop on and off again within the space of just over twenty-four hours.

Before I continue I'd like to emphasise that, in making this decleration I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, I'm simply stating why I've made this choice. I'm also not about to try and write hateful words about Invisible Children, that isn't what this is about either.

Students love to protest. Since we realised that being in a big group of people who had the same ideas and thoughts on liberation we've been banding together for the greater good, trying to get what we want, standing up to the lions of injustice and fighting for freedom.

But has the internet changed this?

I remember my mum telling me about her days at university, when the Queen came to Stirling and students were out in hoards, protesting against her with their actual voices, not the ones that appeared through their keyboards, and holding up signs that they had made by their own efforts, not paid $30 for or downloaded from a website.

As stated above, twenty-four hours has been more than enough time for me to make up my mind about Invisible Children and then change it again. Maybe it's a sign about the human condition and a general lack of trust, but I think a lot of it lies in two things: firstly, my generation's fear of leaving the mob behind and going it alone. Secondly, the frenzy that the media are able to whip up by creating a thirty minute video.

If you don't know about the London riots over tuition fees, check this out:

 

Y'know what baffles me the most about this? These riots weren't started by students, they were started by a group of people who just wanted, well, a bit of a riot. Before this began there were some really peaceful protests by some really respectful students who just wanted to keep tuition fees the way they were.

The difference with Kony 2012 is that it has now made people aware of what's going on in Uganda but because of all the criticism Invisible Children have been getting, no one's really sure what to do next; it's understandable. The media (whether that be a newspaper you can purchase or the everyday citizen journalist), just like the government, throw as much information at us to try and get us on their side and it just confuses us even more. 

The most scary part about the Kony 2012 video is that it was made incredibly well. It had atmospheric music that made you want to cry at the right times and riled you up to a state of excitment the next. It showed images of mutilated children's faces and soldiers with guns. It was narrated by the calm, kind voice of a white American with scenes of his adorable son. It was a brilliant film. 

I don't know if supporting Kony 2012 is the right thing to do. I don't want to harm the people of Uganda any further but I also don't want to pretend like I'm okay with the child soldier situation, because I think it's horrendous. 

But, for now, I will be jumping off the Kony 2012 bandwagon, keeping my lips sealed and my thoughts to myself . Some of you might say "I told you so", and some might think I'm being apathetic, but I'm just happy I made up my own mind.

"After-birth abortion"

Before I start this I want to ensure you that I'm not a crazy pro-lifer.

I can't stand the people who hang around outside abortion clinics with pictures of aborted fetuses and try and make women feel guilty, and I wouldn't force my opinions on abortion on anyone. My belief is that if the baby being born is going to harm the mother in any way then abortion is okay, but otherwise I don't support it. However, I would never tell someone else they should agree with me on that because having a baby is a big deal.

A lot of you will have heard about the journal article entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” If not, check out the news report here.

My first question is this: if you are willing to go as far as giving birth to your baby then why on earth would you want to kill it? And how could you kill it? How could you carry that little thing around for nine months, let it grow inside you, gaining strength from your own body, and then kill it like squashing a spider with a newspaper?

Maybe the biological mother doesn't want it, but what about all those couples who can't have children, who could be some of the best parents? What about gay couples? Lesbian couples? People who are so willing to love these children with the most unconditional love?

The article argued that "the moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.” But a baby, a newborn baby, does have these properties! The main one being that it no longer needs to be attached to its mother to breathe. From that point it is an individual and its life has just begun.

The article also states "academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born." I'm really struggling for words in response to this. Why don't people put their children up for adoption? Is it easier to know that, ten years on, you won't have to wonder where they are? This world is not about you.

x

The Place I Call Home

I am from Northern Ireland.

It is the 96th smallest country in the world, has a population of approximately 1,799,392 (as recorded in the 2010 census), the biggest city is Belfast and the country itself is 99.15% white in ethnicity, with 91% of that statistic being born and bred in the country. It's made up of the six counties, Fermanagh, Antrim, Tyrone, Londonderry, Armagh and Down and the flag is the Ulster Banner.

We have a thriving arts and culture sector, with musicians, painters, poets, and writers being well supported by the community, as homegrown talent is taken seriously. Surf culture is growing on the north coast, which hosts some of what I think are the most stunning beaches in the world.

Since we're such a small country we're incredibly proud of anything that we can call our own, from C.S. Lewis to Liam Neeson, from the Giants Causeway to the Mourne Mountains, we're a patriotic bunch, even if we don't admit it.

This is the place I will always call home, the place that I'd like to stop pushing away.

Before I moved to Scotland for university I adored Northern Ireland, but after having lived in a country with more than 3 trainlines for almost 4 years, it's become a place that I struggle to return to. It feels like a bubble, restrictive and bland, sometimes a little bit backwards. When I go home I can't get a bus after 6pm and I have to rely on friends and family for lifts everywhere because I can't afford to drive. When I do want to escape my hometown I have to get the train which travels only 12 miles in the space of 40 minutes. In Scotland I spend the same amount of time, and less money, going 30 or 40 miles down the road to Glasgow, with the ability to further to the capital city of Edinburgh or, if I fancy it, as far as London. 

I don't know where I'll be later this year, but I know that if it's Northern Ireland, my main aim is to learn to drive. I want to explore the place I call home in my own time, on my own terms. I want to fall in love with it for my own reasons, not just stick it out because I have to.

I have reasons to be bitter about where I'm from. It holds a lot of negative memories, there were a lot of people who really tore me down, made me feel like I wasn't good enough. But university has taught me that everyone is worth my time, no matter who they are, so it doesn't matter if people still think I'm a nerd because, well, I am haha. But I embrace it these days.

But I don't know if I'll ever have to really call it home again. It will always be the place I return to, but it might never again be the place I reside. Who knows, really?

x

My Month As A Pescetarian

2:24am is a good time to start writing isn't it? Hah...

I have been mildly shocked and surprised this month, but not really by the food, mostly by the reactions of meat eaters. People have told me I won't get any iron without meat (though bran flakes are full of this, along with numerous other vitamins, such as vitamin D, B6, B12...), that I'd have to take numerous supplements (see previous brackets, as well as considering how much fruit and veg intake has gone up), that without meat there's nothing to eat (if this is true, then why am I not losing weight?!), that my diet must be bland... the list goes on. And, after a while, I learnt to ignore most of it because the past month has actually opened my eyes to so many different foods that I wouldn't of tried had I continued to eat meat. Some of my favourite vegetarian/pescetarian meals include spinach, sweet poato and lentil dahl, vegetable stir fry (which can be made with numerous sauces), mexican vegetable soup, Morroccan chickpea soup, goats cheese risotto, baked sweet potato (with so many different fillings), pasta bake, roasted vegetable tart, fish tacos, sushi, as well as so many different types of salad.

Someone asked me at one point "do you just eat fish and vegetables?" I mean, how does a pescetarian answer that? Fish and vegetables may be the main part of my diet but it's not like I just boil some veg, stick a slice of fish in the oven and eat it like that. Take the fish tacos, for instance. I bought smoked mackerel marinated in ginger, lemon and chilli, fried it up, and bulked out the taco with lettuce, tomatoes, jalepenos, salsa... And something like Morroccan chickpea soup is full of vegetables and beans, as well as different spices which give it the most amazing flavour. I have eaten well, cheaply, and have discovered so many diverse foods this month, that I wouldn't of even considered had I stuck with meat.

Someone also once said to me that all vegetarians eat is pasta. This month I have eaten less pasta than ever before. I usually go through a really big packet of pasta in a month, but this month I've only half finished a small packet. One thing that's really frustrated me is the pizza issue. Every time I say it's hard to get good, vegetarian pizzas someone comes out with "just get a margharita." I mean... what?! Margharitas are the most bland things I've ever tasted, if I want a vegetarian pizza I want it covered in as many different types of vegetable as you can fit on there, along with a few different types of cheese. This frustrated me massively when I didn't feel like cooking today and went to Tesco, to discover about 5 shelves full of margharitas and only one mushroom pizza in amongst the countless different types of meat pizza. I don't even like mushrooms on pizza. I had the same sort of issue in Filling Station last week, only finding about 6 or 7 vegetarian options (no fish, of course...) on the menu.

So I have a few days left of being pescetarian and, in all honesty, I'm not sure I'm going to go back to being an omnivore. I like how much cheaper my groceries are and I'm so much healthier, because eating less meat and more veggies and fruit has encouraged me, over all, to eat better and to cut out the junk. One of my main reasons for giving up meat was because of the fact that we take advantage of our meat supplies in the west, and I've been thinking more about this over the past few weeks. Today I cracked open an egg to discover the yolk was a very pale colour; this is a sign of a stressed out chicken that hasn't had enough living space. Those eggs were labelled as free range. So how much are farmers getting away with these days? Are these supposedly free range chickens really free range, or do they just have a little bit more space than the average battery hen? As a media student I'm very aware of how much the media (and the government) hide from us, so it makes me a little nervous to think that the people who sell me my food could be lying to me as well.

Anyway, I shall head off to bed now.
x

I Am A Sparrow

Sometimes life knocks us off our feet.

It makes us realise that we weren't as sure of ourselves as we thought we were.
Wounds are once again opened, the salt is poured back in, and things start to sting.

We think we're a great lion until that day when we realise we're actually a little Sparrow,
Drifting in the wind, eating earthworms.

But something we often forget is that,
While the lion may roar oh, so loud,
The little Sparrow fights against the cold, winter chill,
Clinging on to branches when storms come,
Building its nest on tree tops,
And soaring above the clouds.

I'm happy to be a Sparrow.

War Horse: An Alternative Review

So I realise that War Horse was released a really long time and the reviews on it have been and gone, but I didn't manage to see it until last night, so I want to give you my thoughts.

War Horse may not have been made brilliantly. There may have been some obvious green screen useage and overly orange lighting, but I'm coming to realise that maybe Spielberg's heart doesn't come out in his great filmmaking abilities. I think Spielberg wants to tell epic stories. People don't care for stories much anymore. They want explosions and dead bodies and war and pain that looks real. War Horse was not a war film, and I think that upset some people. This was a film, a beautiful film, about the way we connect with animals. Which isn't something many people appreciate, because it's viewed as "cheesy" or "silly".

Throughout history animals were sent to war, just like people. They took part in the fight but had no option to turn back. When a soldier was wounded and could no longer fight he was sent home; a wounded horse was shot. I believe that, without animals, the war would have been even tougher.

The film ends with Albert, the main character, sillhoueted on horseback, riding home across the Devonshire countryside at sunset to one of the most beautiful film scores I have ever heard; John Williams certainly did this story justice. War Horse was not a great film, it wasn't a work of art, it wasn't a war film, but it was a great story, and, call me old fashioned but, for that, I think Spielberg deserves some credit.

x

My Lush Experience

At the minute I'm trying to sort my skin out and I've heard so many good things about Lush, so today I went to the store in Stirling to get some samples of their skin care products, and it was probably one of the best shopping experiences I’ve ever had.

I went in, got a nice hello from one of the sales assistants and when I asked for some samples I was expecting for her to just ask my skin type, put some stuff in some tubs and send me on my way. I was very, very wrong. The lovely lady sat me down and went through a bunch of products with me, testing them all out on my hands and fully explaining what they all contained and advising me when and how often to use them.

It’s crazy the amount of products I’ve come home with: two cleansers, two toners, two moisturisers, two face masks, and a wee sampler of their ‘Grease Lightnin’ spot treatment. Unlike brands you’ll find in a drug store/chemist all Lush products are made with natural, organic ingredients and nothing is tested on animals.
These are the products I got:

• Brazened Honey face mask
• Cupcake face mask
• Eau Roma water
• Tea Tree water
• Angels On Bare Skin cleanser
• Ultra Bland cleanser
• Enzymion moisturiser
• Imperialis moisturiser
• Grease Lightnin’ moisturiser

I plan to do a review of all the products once I’ve tried them out and will hopefully be heading back into the store in a week or so to pick up my favourites! I would recommend to anyone who thinks that Lush sells nothing but bath bombs and soap to go in and ask for a few samples because it really is one of the best shopping experiences I’ve ever had.

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Twisted Words

A lot of you will know about the state of Tennessee's "license to bully" bill. If passed, the bill will allow students to bully their gay peers as long as they can back it up with political or religious reasoning.

Today I want to write to you as a Christian because I feel like an explanation is in order. Someone needs to tell you that God never intended for people to act in this way, this is not what Christianity is about.

For a really long time I tried to figure out what I thought about homosexuality, whether it was right or wrong. Though one thing I never questioned was God's love for people in the LGBT community. God created each one of us and loves us all so much; this I never doubted. So, recently, I've come to the conclusion that, quite frankly, it doesn't really matter whether being gay is right or wrong. That isn't what God wants us to be worrying about. 

There's a problem with the establishment that we call the Church, you see. Not the Body of Christ, but the Church. That building we go to every Sunday morning. The Church spends so much time debating and worrying and stressing out that it forgets to tell us to love. It forgets to tell us to forgive and have faith, because all it wants to do is figure out whether it's okay to allow a gay priest to preach in its buildings. This has become so important to those of us in the Church (myself included) that we get so bogged down in debating issues rather than simply loving people. When God became Jesus He didn't spend all His time arguing with people, He spent it healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead, giving water to the thirsty... I just don't think He's very happy with what we've turned Him into.

So if Tennessee pass this bill they're allowing their people to believe that God doesn't really love us, that forgiveness isn't available to everyone, and they're being allowed to completely disregard Jesus. If these people knew their Bibles they wouldn't even consider this bill because in 1 John 4:16 it clearly states:

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him."

Please sign the petition linked below to stop this bill being passed.

Stop Tennessee's "License to Bully" Bill

Fight for our Freedom

So this entry is a little different from my original plans for this blog but, as it's place where I post my art, I think it's a relevant topic.

Most of you should know by now about SOPA and PIPA. If not, watch this video:

Today I had a conversation with someone who told me that "if we lost YouTube and all that malarky" it wouldn't really be that much of a big deal. The absolute shock and disgust I felt towards this comment is crazy, so I'd like to make a few points.

1) If we lost the social media sites that would be effected by this legislation, millions of people would lose their jobs.

Take Google, for example. Consider the fact that Google has around 20,222 full-time employees. Now, you need to remember that Google owns thirty-nine other companies. One of those companies is YouTube. YouTube itself employs people in many different areas of their company, probably ranging in to the hundreds (if not thousands, I struggled to find an exact number), but that isn't including YouTube partners. The YouTube partner scheme allows content creators to "partner" with YouTube and make money out of making videos. These are people who make serious content, not just funny videos of animals doing stupid things. There are over 10,000 YouTube partners. A lot of these people solely make their living off YouTube. So, if the legislation was passed unemployment would rise. Do the senate want that? I hope not.

2) If we lost the use of social media sites people would become more politically and socially unaware.

As a media and journalism student one thing that I've always found shocking and scary is that, in countries like China, unless you're willing to go to underground publications, all the mainstream media is censored by the government. In the UK we get around this because we have social media sites like Twitter and Facebook that allow us to discuss current affairs and make people aware of what's going on when the government don't want us to know. Citizen journalism is incredibly important in informing us of the truth and if we lost that we would no longer be a democratic society. Doesn't that scare anyone? The sad thing is that people will remain blissfully unaware of this fact until social media is no longer an option and we have to trust what the newspapers tell us. Will this work out so well when war breaks out and we had no clue what was actually going on? I doubt it. I mean, to make people aware of what SOPA and PIPA is I've used a YouTube video to explain a topic that still kind of baffles me, but that has educated me on the problems that this legislation could cause. I don't ever want to lose my freedom to get information like that.

3) Art will suffer.

So many people will refuse to see this as a valid point because, as the centuries have gone on, art has become less important to so many people. And it baffles me because everyone loves music, or books, or film, or some form of art, and nowadays those of us who create art are able to share it with the world because of the internet. Think of how many bands, film makers, painters, photographers, and writers first started out on the internet. Right now I'm listening to a rapper who I discovered solely through my use of YouTube. And that is why I'm so frustrated that people in Hollywood are backing this legislation because this is how the industry works now. I don't care if you started out in the film industry before the internet played a part in what you do, that isn't how things work now and you can't expect us to regress. I love the internet because it is the main way in which I discover art, and I'm sure that's the same for many people. 

4) The internet makes us more socially and culturally aware.

Travel is expensive and with the rise in unemployment less people are able to go very far on their summer holidays. The internet breaks down that barrier and allows us to learn about the cultures that we can't visit. If we want to put a stop to problems like racism (and you'd think the USA would care about this in a big way, for obvious reasons) people need to be allowed to use tools that let them learn about other cultures, whether that be understanding their day to day activities, how they cook, the music they listen to, how they celebrate holidays, the list is endless, and social media sites provide us with this information.

5) The internet gives us a quick and easy access to our governments and modes of protest.

If you want to call this a democracy you damn well better allow us to hold you accountable. If it wasn't for social media I would never have discovered Avaaz, "a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere." Avaaz is one of many websites that are against the SOPA and PIPA legislation and they are well on their way to 2,000,000 signatures on their petition. If we aren't aware of websites like this then we have minimal political freedom. Social media also allows us to discuss and debate with people on political issues such as elections and bills like the SOPA and PIPA legislation. I, personally, don't base my political decisions on what the party manifesto says, and social media has been incredibly helpful in helping me understand more about politics. If the government start to take away a freedom like the internet, it's scary to think what they'll take away next.

6) The people who want to pass this legislation have no idea how to use the internet!!!

The senate is full of old men in suits who probably haven't set foot in YouTube, never mind created an account, made videos, or subscribed to other people's channels (and they would probably have no idea what I meant by "subscribed"), they probably have no idea how Facebook works and most likely think that "tweeting" is just what a bird does! They have no idea how people use the internet and this legislation is basically the easy way out. Yes, there are people who misuse the internet, but some (as discussed in the video above) are actually unaware that what they're doing is illegal. The only way to sort out piracy is not by stopping everyone from using the internet and it is unfair and unjust to take away the freedoms of those of us who abide by the rules. If they found people who actually knew how the internet worked then maybe they could figure out a way around this that wouldn't effect all of us, but they probably don't want to lose the power that they hold. And that in itself is scary.

Since it's now two in the morning I'm reasonably tired and hope all of the above makes sense. If you want to sign a petition against the proposed legislation (and I urge you to sign multiple petitions) check out the ones linked below.

Avaaz: Blackout - Save the Internet

Google - End Piracy, Not Liberty/

Daily KOS - Stop Internet Censorship

Fight for the Future

Mozilla - Fight SOPA

Rivers

I'm considering uploading a video of me reading this aloud because I've recently become interested in spoken word poetry thanks to the likes of George Watsky and Sarah Kay, so watch this space (I'm also not sure if it has the emphasis I want it to when it's just written down).

I don't want you to think I'm one of those Hollywood-esque, star struck, over the top, over-dramatic twenty-some things who thinks that life is easy.

I don't want to fill your minds with clichés like "the more you learn, the less you know" and "what goes around comes around",

I just want you to realise that we all have dreams, goals, ambitions.

We all have places we want to reach one day and you need to realise that that's okay.

And this is my dream.

Every time I put pen to paper it's like a river flowing down a mountainside.

There's something in the way my mind intertwines with the words I have been speaking since the day I started to talk.

My connection with syllables and similes, adjectives and adverbs, alliteration and hyperbole, is something that I can't quite describe.

For a while I was afraid of this gift. 

Surrounded by musicians, painters, dancers I was afraid to let my talent shine because "nerd is the word" always came to mind.

I can't lie, I love to sing, so I took up guitar and made a half-assed effort at writing songs.

But my lack of persistence took over, ever so slowly, and, eventually, I once again picked up my pen and paper and did the one thing that comes oh, so naturally.

People ask me why I write, why I'm so ready to place my heart in the wide open space we affectionately call "the interweb" for everyone to see.

Well, friends, I'll tell you this now: I'm not the only one and I have been inspired by many other great writers to do what I do; I am definitely not alone. 

Whether they focus on poetry and prose, sing their hearts out, rap faster than George Watsky, write fan fiction, or take part in the blogosphere, there are plenty of other people doing just what I do.

But, sometimes, I wonder the same thing (for different reasons, of course).

You see, the path that I have chosen may never pay the bills.

The government don't want to support those of us who dream higher than numbers and equations so I guess I'm stuck... 

Writing out words that protest how frustrated I am, even though David Cameron will never listen.

If this is democracy then why are the arts and humanities never given a chance?

So maybe it's all in vain, right? 

Maybe this foray into spoken word poetry will never go any further than the pages of social networking sites, Forever ignored by the artists who inspire me and never found by the people who need to be inspired.

But, until words go out of fashion and those of us who create art are placed in prison,

I will keep writing.

Until the day I die I will fight for the use of language.

And I'm sure some of you will laugh at me when you hear this,

Some of you will cringe and some of you might even feel the need to ask "why?"

And after hearing my previous words I will assign you to the "lost cause" group,

The people who just don't want to understand because you don't like what I do and I'm fine with that.

You may make more money than me but, as film maker Mickey Smith once stated,

"If I can only scrape a living, at least it will be a living worth scraping."