Drift
Untrained Effort #29
I’m mourning the summer and I’m not yet ready to celebrate soup season, sorry.
I keep one eye on the Flotilla1 and, distracted, try to make sense of what’s come out of Labour’s annual conference (Farage seems to have inspired them a lot…). Meanwhile, I indulged in a bit of national pride myself, joining Bulgarians everywhere in celebrating our young volleyball team.
The new “making tax digital” changes are now all over my socials, so my tax return is also on my mind…Damn. Digital IDs are also in the news2. A few petitions cross my desk.
I consider what it might mean to “go back to where I came from” permanently and whether that would mean Farage has won (and whether I even care at this point??).
The sun sets earlier and earlier and there is a chill in the air. Time for your vitamin D everyone.
Applications are piling up and so are the “we can’t provide feedback” emails. “Not-Grantium” is still a mess. “At least there is an Arts Council there!” is as a comforting a thought as any.
Whilst the world crumbles, my mother cuts potatoes with her frail, beautiful hands. My father tries to tell me a story from today’s news, shoving his phone in my face. I blurt out: “No, please, no more stories!” My mother, without looking up says: “Ok then. You tell us one. What did you do today?” I mumble something about subtitles, an email, a thing I wrote...
This is not it.
Where is the girl who wanted a life full of stories? How did she end up with so many to-do lists and boxes to tick?
Never mind.
I refresh the link: they are really close to Gaza now.
For your diaries
Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? That you do not have the right skills and that people would find out that you are a total fraud? Well my friend, you might have experienced what is called “imposter syndrom”. This pesky psychological pattern is more common than you think and there are clear, easy strategies to overcome it. I’m joining forces with the brilliant Christina Poulton for a short online workshop on Friday 17th October - join us! It’s free.
You might have heard that Global Voices Theatre closed earlier this year. We have however left a final gift to all of you, lovers of international theatre: Latin American Plays in Translation is soon to be published by Bloombsbury! Bag yourself a handy discount if you pre-order online.
In other news
I had the priviledge to be invited to go to the first Sarajevo Theatre Showcase in September. This new platform aims to bring together creatives and industry people from the Western Balkans and beyond in a bid to promote the performance work coming out of the region. Natasha Tripney just published a great overview of the shows we saw.
In the time it took me to put togehter this newsletter, i received three rejections. Thankfully, there is always some light in the tunnel, flickering from somewhere, pushing you to get going: the brilliant people at Achates gifted me a year long bursary for their new Achates Community venture. I look forward to be part of a group of creatives interested in purposeful leadership and learn more about income generation together. I’ll be sharing my learning journey here at Untrained Effort.
Last but not least
I found this tiktok really useful to help me think about winter and its different stages (it’s US centered fyi but you can do your own date splits). We may feel compeled to “lock-in” and succumb to hussle culture now that we are “back at school” and into the last part of the year but truthfully, it is time to adjust our bodies to the new season and prepare for winter. If you’ve ever through to work with a coach to help you through a rough patch or have something brewing in you that could benefit from some held space - give me a ring. Enquiry calls are free & no strings attached. Can’t wait to hear from you.
I was invited to work with Metal in Peterborough earlier this year. Things are brewing and i can’t wait to share some more with you soon. Here is a snippet of our first meeting. When in doubt, pull the big sheets of paper and… start writing. If you are still here…
Photo by Kevin Butz on Unsplash
This text was written in the evening of 1st of October. Since then, as many as 23 vessels have been intercepted by Israeli forces.
I find it *hilarious* that Keir Starmer thinks he is left-wing when in fact Labour is once again following Hotelling’s Law (also known as the ice cream vendor theory) and continuing to drift to the right.
Lora... I'm with you on a spectrum of heartache and rage. From the ending of summer (I'm never ready) through digital ID cards, to the flotilla (and all it represents)
I disagree though. Keir Starmer doesn't think he's left wing. He *says* that he thinks he's left wing. But his relationship with speaking the truth became untethered a long time ago.