reluctant ramblings

A new friend said to me today, “comfortable is when I can buy bread and toilet-paper in the same week.” That’s going to stay with me for a while.

Over at MorePraxis, we’ve started a generous revolution. Based on the giggle we had with Billy Bragg’s song, we are leading a t-shirt based revolution of generosity. Go here to be a part of it.

So, in an act of self-referential subversion, I have put these words from Billy Bragg on a t-shirt, hoping to kick off a revolution. Its the start of something cool - stay tuned for more on that later… Buy the t-shirt here. (Yes, its sweat-shop free.)

I hesitate to claim the moniker “artist” as such, but Red Bubble is a neat way for me to put up a few pics and flog them off as cards or prints. Check it out - redbubble.com/people/rfbfmike for my profile, or redbubble.com for everyone else!!

Well, I’ve managed to cut it back to just 280 of my favourites. See them at this gallery site.

You’ll see quite a few of Billy Bragg, Duke Special, and Soweto Kinch. They were my musical highlights at Greenbelt, that’s for sure. You might also wonder why there are so few photographs taken with the people we met post-greenbelt. My brief to myself was not to take photographs of what was happening, but to photograph the context in which they happened. I wandered away from this at Greenbelt, but that’s ok… it was vast and overwhelming! There’s also a few gratuitous tourist photos. Ah well, so much for the brief…

Feel free to contact me if there’s an image you’d like, or, for fellow travellers, if you’d like a complete CD.

It seems odd writing this from home now, but of all the stunning places we went, I think Belfast had me at hello. I know, I know. Don’t rush headlong into a relationship with a city you’ve just met! Nonetheless, I think I could spend some quality time getting to know Belfast.

It’s not the fields and kangaroos I’m used to, to be sure, but theres an industrial beauty to it.

The Duke of York. Great company made for an excellent night out! Not to mention the pissed Irishman hitting on my Australian travelling friends and buying us all drinks!

My cab drivers on the “political tour” of Belfast. Unashamedly biased, but decently even-handed. A political tour in Canberra earlier this year amounted to a walk through the houses of parliament. Totally different understanding of politics.

Mural detail from the Protestant side of the fence.

Belfast city centre - as vibrant as any, with new developments springing up. Of course, there are difficulties with any re-birth of a city, and some small snippets were revealed to us. Tourism is huge, too.

You can read all that was written for the most excellent large Ikon event at Greenbelt over here. (please have a look - its more complete than my small offering here.)

I took only a few photographs. It was a difficult dark environment for one thing, but mostly, the experience totally unravelled me. For a while afterwards, the only thing I could say was “thankyou” to Cheryl for taking me.

So, anyway, here are my snapshots of Ikon. (I should say, many things are missing - these are only the parts I photographed).

(Entry - you can pass through only one gate! The first confrontation. It was a very public display of honesty, if you chose it to be.)

(The Very Tall Lady. The threads of her garment trimmed throughout, and unravelled, and re-knitted by the knitters onstage.)

“I stood still and listened intently to what I took to be nothing less than the solemn, silent voice of God. As I stood there, rooted to the ground, God spoke to me, repeating four simple words, “I do not exist””

(The management addresses the masses.)
“And so my God, I defy you precisely so as to remain faithful to you’.
With this God withdrew, knowing that the matter had finally been settled.”

Ravelling. Disentangling, not collapsing. My faith didn’t unravel, it ravelled. They mean the same thing. I learned to revel in ravelling. The questions proclaim more than the answers. The searching confirms that there has been revelation. 

and could you find a
code of meaning
not based on rules
but based on a story?
could you unravel
bad religion and knit
a story to hold me?
†
I am Mary, in the Garden
Seeing God in the face of a gardener
I’m leaving conclusion, embracing delusion
it’s better, but jesus it’s harder.

“Pull youself apart”
Members of the gathered were invited to pull themselves a part of yarn taken from the central tower as a gift and as a memorial to unravelling.

The task is ended
go in pieces
to see and feel
your world.