SOCIAL PRESCRIBING – CURING LONELINESS IN OUR DISTANCING SOCIETY

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged alcohol, bowthorpe, Brexit, Britain, capitalism, Community, domestic violence, drug use, economics, elderly people, environment, featured, food, Frome, globalisation, GPs, health, healthcare, horticultural therapy, illness, independence, internet, loneliness, mental health, nature, NHS, norfolk, nutrition, peer mentoring, personal debt, PTSD, recreation, relationships, social prescribing, society, Somerset, teamwork, The Grow Organisation, uk, voluntary sector.

By Nicholl Hardwick, for The Grow Organisation

In contemporary Britain, our lives are pervaded with unique health and economic pressures. Capitalism, globalisation, Brexit and the internet have all contributed to a new era of loneliness, community isolation and disconnectedness. We may go days at a time without speaking or having sentimental engagement with another person. In particular, elderly members of the community frequently fall to the wayside as our distancing society ceases to encourage them to function as active participants.

BOOZING BY THE BOOK

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives, Student and tagged abstinence, academia, alcohol, alcohol consumption, book launch, conferences, drinks, education, exclusion, featured, free drink, inclusivity, Medieval Donut, networking, public events, publishing, publishing event, self image, seminars, SHARP, Society for the History of Authorship Reading and Publishing, university.

by Kelvin Smith

In more than fifty years I have rarely been to a publishing event (a book launch, company celebration, party of any kind) that did not focus on the availability and consumption of alcoholic drinks. Likewise, the academic world nearly always includes ‘drinks’ or ‘wine’ on the announcement of seminars, conferences and academic celebrations.

As someone who has a long history of enjoying alcohol and a more recent period of several years’ total abstention, I wonder if alcohol doesn’t have a significant bearing on the current debates on inclusivity in both publishing and in universities. Both publishers and academics are now exploring what it would mean to be more inclusive – of different classes, ethnicities, cultures, nationalities, languages, genders and political views. But I have yet to hear or read much about the role alcohol plays in limiting inclusion and acceptance. Perhaps it’s time to look at this.Continue Reading

“HI, HOW ARE YOU?”

Posted on September 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged alcohol, anxiety, clubbing, companion, compassion, conflict, creative writing, death, depression, dog, family, guardian, guilt, homeless, homelessness, Kev Walker, kitbag, maybe, mental health, night out, pain, poem, poetry, pride, PTSD, rough sleepers, saturday night out, solider, special brew, substance misuse, support, tramp, veteran, war, words, writing.

by Kev Walker

Content warning: mentions substance misuse, mental health, homelessness, conflict

It’s all bling and totter, down the lights of the highstreet, drunk by the train journey there
Cackles and shouts, tales of shagging and swearing, cosmetics squeeze out the air
Bravado and vanity, beer and wine, heading for the first open club
Boys strut with their chests out, showing a leg, only thoughts are of getting a rub.

He’s crouched in the corner, a-top a damp box, wrapped in a half soaking doss-bag
A dog by his side, as companion and protector, a mucker to share a sparse nose-bag
He shakes with the cold, but also the comedown the cider has long since left him
A blot-out, a release, from the pain in his mind and the mess he now finds himself in.Continue Reading

DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME – THE APOLOGY

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged alcohol, apology, art, band, behaviour, consent, creative criticism, design, DIY, faintest idea, follow, gig, groping, hug, hugs, lgbtQ+, microaggression, misogyny, music, performance, personal account, personal space, physical contact, punk, queer, response, safe space, Sara Harrington, series, sexual assault, Ska, touring, women in music.

by Sara Harrington

A series exploring women and genderqueer identities within the DIY Punk and Arts scenes. In this installment Sara Harrington depicts scenes from her own experience playing in a touring ska punk band.

DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged alcohol, arts, band, consent, creative criticism, DIY, faintest idea, gig, groping, microaggression, misogyny, music, performance, personal account, punk, Sara Harrington, series, sexual assault, Ska, touring, women in music.

by Sara Harrington

CW: verbal and sexual assault

Part of a series exploring women and genderqueer identities within the DIY Punk and Arts scenes. In this installment, Sara Harrington depicts scenes from her own experience playing in a touring ska punk band.

‘Ticket please.’
Trumpet case in hand, I try to enter the venue as my bandmates breeze on by.
‘I’m playing actually.’
This is uttered with an embarrassed air, the knock to my ego glances across my face. Fair enough, I’ve not been in the band long.
‘Oh, who are you with? There’s no guest list.’
‘Sorry, I play trumpet in the band.’
Lifting my trumpet case, I point at it awkwardly. A nod as it’s decided that I pass all requirements necessary to gain free entry to a show I’m playing. I go to join my bandmates as we pile our gear into the backroom and start setting up for sound check.Continue Reading

REVIEW: A BOOK OF FRAGMENTS AND DREAMS, REBECCA McMANUS

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged #readwomen, A Book of Fragments and Dreams, alcohol, answers, beginnings, collection, craft, creative writing, dreams, endings, flight, honesty, human nature, in memory, Lewis Buxton, love, midsummer, new release, norfolk, norwich, poems, poetry, poetry collection, questions, read women, Rebecca McManus, review, seasons, swans, time, UEA, UEA Live, unflinching, university, University of East Anglia, Unthank Cameo.

by Lewis Buxton

Despite being called A Book of Fragments and Dreams, the poems in Rebecca McManus’ collection are far from fragmentary. They speak loudly to one another and are rooted decisively in the people, places, and objects of her life. Unthank Cameo has released this collection posthumously after Rebecca McManus was killed by a speeding driver whilst waiting at a bus stop. She was 21 and just weeks away from graduating from the University of East Anglia.Continue Reading

FRESHERS GUIDE #3: ADOLESCENTS AND ALCOHOL

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #soberforoctober, alcohol, drinking, drinking culture, drugs, freshers, freshers guide, freshers week, student, university.

by Robyn Banks

This weekend, thousands of freshers will descend on University towns across the UK, and pubs, clubs and takeaways prepare themselves for busy nights and big takings. Four years ago I was a fresher in Norwich, and this week my younger sister is hitting the town in Brighton for the first time. Before either of us even arrived in our respective new towns, we knew the score: pre-drinks, pub, club, after-drinks. Our party dresses were the first to be packed and the first to be unpacked.

We grow up in a culture where we know that the first year of university is about drinking, surrounded by tales of students who spend more money on beer than on food and the collective assumption that this is what our maintenance loans are for, and gently edged towards arranging our own priorities similarly. If the entire first year is not about drinking, then fresher’s week definitely is. That’s the first weekend and the first week. And the second weekend. And some of the second week. Fact.

OUR HOUSE, IN THE MIDDLE OF NORWICH

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged alcohol, arts, austerity, Bristol, budget cuts, Community, festival, Gonzos, Green Party, Hideout, house music, house music scene, housing, music, music scene, norwich, politics, society.

by Rowan Van Tromp

House music, unlike other forms of music, is arguably apolitical — given the absence of lyrics. That doesn’t mean that the scene is apolitical however, as Lithuanian DJ Ten Walls found after committing commercial suicide following his public condemnation of homosexuals over Facebook. Subsequently one of the biggest house festivals in Europe, Hideout Festival in Croatia, cancelled his set, stating: “Hideout Festival is an inclusive event, which is open and accessible to all. Our fans and customers are important to us and we do not tolerate or condone any form of hate. For this reason, Ten Walls will not be playing at Hideout Festival this year.”

From its outset in the mid 80’s, house music has been about inclusivity, openness of expression, and removing society’s invisible boundaries. It is an environment intolerant of abuse and discrimination, with violence actively discouraged. The beauty of house music is in its diversity, fluidity, and ambiguity. What house represents for one person may be different to the next, yet they are still drawn together by the same four bar loop. The music in itself is like a socially binding drug.Continue Reading

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD NIGHT IN NORWICH

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged alcohol, bouncers, club, clubbing, drink, drinking, drinking culture, good night, norwich, spiking.

by Jo Swo

It’s not exactly radical to say we live in a victim blaming society. I’m not just referring to sexual assault either, which that phrase is now so well associated with. We are blamed, and blame others, for drinking too much, staying out too late, not planning journeys home, going out in the first place, and leaving drinks unattended to go for a quick smoke outside. As a consumer, you are held accountable for everything that could possibly happen, whether or not it’s in you control, because you chose to put yourself in that position (i.e in a club/bar).

Going out is a fantastic paradox, because it’s when people want to relax, drink, and let down their guard, but the environment you’re in is universally accepted as unpredictable and often dangerous. You pay for the privilege to step onto private property, it could be in the form of a stamp at the front door or a drink at the bar, and you are left to your own devices (or the devices of others).Continue Reading

alcohol

BOOZING BY THE BOOK

“HI, HOW ARE YOU?”

REVIEW: A BOOK OF FRAGMENTS AND DREAMS, REBECCA McMANUS

FRESHERS GUIDE #3: ADOLESCENTS AND ALCOHOL

OUR HOUSE, IN THE MIDDLE OF NORWICH

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD NIGHT IN NORWICH

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