Blog

Freedom Festival TAH

The carnival plays on! All those mad characters of people's imaginations dancing away under the iron banner. The Union Jack. But I don't want to give it credit where it's not due. Focusing on your family and friends instead of other people's greed and selfishness. The government's constant aim to rule the masses. I loved the international feast, the idea that by sharing plates of food we share each other’s cultures. I even made my own ‘freedom knows no borders’ poster. I love freedom in any form that it comes in. And it's never far away. It's amazing how powerful smiling at strangers is. You might not share the language, but a smile goes along way.

We need this festival more than ever right now. The government gets ever more oppressive. Reform is on their way. Wakefield is a City Of Sanctuary, so with a bit of luck we'll never see those flags up here. Every person at the carnival was from a different country, I love that look to the place. Seeing faces from all corners of the globe.

I love living in Little London as they call Agbrigg! And this idea of shared stories is strong too. How people abroad prepare their own meals, and this being a way of sharing your own history. No matter where you are from.

Dancing is good because it gets your dopamine levels running high. You're smiling and happy, at peace with the world. Fooling around making masks and costumes, which have a serious undertone, as it's so important to make you feel human again. These outfits can be daft and ridiculous, looking and making you laugh outright. Like Neptune or a mermaid. A creature from beneath the sea. A million fathoms under. But when we party together all the attitude falls away, we realise they're no boundaries, and that we love our neighbours.

Putting on outfits that make us forget who we are, and then we can relax and be ourselves more. They tell a story themselves about slavery, oppression, or our own family struggles, but in the end, they are all the same. Every tale of difficultly is identical unless you're a racist mother fucker!

Under lipstick, makeup and wigs we can hide our emotions from everyone. But in a way it's a good thing too, as then it allows you to melt down those boundaries. Day to day, we don't get the opportunity to wear outlandish clothes though, at work it's a different story. You must dress in a uniform. It's like you're in prison.

Stories tumbling from people's lips as they share deep conversation with their friends. Things in common, shared places, locations. These all tie us together. Nothing separates us, that's the bottom line.

Everybody is different, but that's what keeps the world spinning. In motion. Developing in the correct way, that allows us to make the right connections with other people. Be positive in our outlooks. There's no point of getting on a downer because of politics. There’re not enough hours in the day. Society is so fragmented right now. It's not pretty. All groups of people are splintering off from one another. Even in our beloved England. The Cornish want their independence, so do the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish. But unfortunately, we're all being united under the depressing flag of patriotism. Reform.

Even with a record low in voting numbers, he'll probably still win. But it doesn't mean all of that. It's only because nobody votes. The education of the young is the only way, but will it be too late by the time it arrives?!?  How are we going to cope? We'll be left fending for ourselves, using our moral compass to work out if something is right or wrong. Whether people who are in power should be there or not. Because we are right in our heads. That leap of fantasy never happens in your own thought processes. You are always fixed on what you think is right.

I'll always hang out with my bunch of like-minded folks, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's human nature to surround yourself with people who won't argue against you and only want to win the war with no casualties.

Peaceful activism is back with full effect. That strength in numbers, when you're on the front line and fighting for your cause. Raising a banner that shows your own will is a great way to get your ideas across, and its non-violent. Even chaining yourself to a fence is relatively peaceful. It's only you that may end up getting moved along by some dodgy coppers, who have been told that it's the new way to deal with lawbreakers. But is there any freedom in that, definitely not.

BULLET BOY REVIEW

I loved the way Bullet Boy finished with this sad refection of nationalism. An England flag, barely on show, glued to an external wall by pollution and rain. It was a fitting way to pay tribute to patriotism by showing it as a defeated force.

The protagonist was Ricky, and his conflict was with the opposing gang member. It began, as Ricky got out of jail and his long-suffering mum Beverley came to pick him up. She took him home, but Ricky went out to see his old mates the same night. His mum was gutted he never showed up to the meal she’d prepared.

His mum’s partner was a God-fearing Christian who said grace for them every day. This connection with God saved them in the long run as it gave them something to focus on.

The next day, Ricky went to see Shea, his girlfriend who still loved him. That night, Ricky and his mate Wisdom went to scare the other gangster Godfrey and ended up killing his dog. He considered it a feud from that point, and that he had to get his revenge on Ricky. Shea had always told him that she would run away with him, until he killed the dog. After that, Shea told Ricky to get lost.

Ricky’s brother Curtis used the gun that Ricky had asked him to look after, to accidentally shoot his best friend Rio with, nearly killing him. After that, Beverley told him to leave the house for the benefit of the family.

Ricky picked up cash from his dead mate Wisdom, then packed his bags and headed to the station. As he stood waiting for the train to arrive, he was picked off by Godfrey who had killed Wisdom.