QOTD: Optimism Vs. Pessimism

“Two men looked out from Prison bars. One saw mud- the other saw stars.”

Anon

Which direction are you looking?

I came. I saw. I blog.

Ruthie x

All good things come from Essex.

Q: What do you call an Essex girl with half a brain ?

A: Gifted!

Even besides the bad jokes I stand unashamed of my Essex roots. I may not be called Sharon, Tracy or Chardonnay. Neither am I partial to donning a pair of white stiletto heels on a rare night out at the Sugar Hut Village. And contrary to popular belief I have more than two brain cells to rub together (and I have the degree certificate to prove it.) Yet I stand absolutely firm in my stance that all the best things come from Essex. Okay, so maybe I’m fabricating my facts a little, but- I can certainly say that the next biggest thing is from Essex and her name is simply

Jessie J.

I must confess that my discovery of Jessie J happened last year while I was surfing YouTube listening to music, when instead I should have been finishing off my dissertation. I found this girl sitting in her bathroom singing about how ‘Mama knows best’ in a Prince t-shirt and multi-coloured pyjama pants and I was blown away. Literally. The voice that came out of the person trapped in the computer screen was enough to have me hooked. I couldn’t keep my discovery to myself and I found myself sharing Jessie’s wondrous voice with my fellow friends (Any distraction from our dissertation was welcomed with open arms). In awe we decided to look at other videos she had uploaded and the mouse beneath my hand clicked on one video with a title of ‘Big White Room.’

Words Fail me. Often times, its’ hard to come across a song that can mean so much to so many people. But, at that moment when my friends and I shared a dodgy set of headphones in our university computer room trying to listen to Jessie belt out ‘Big White Room’- we all knew that her lyrics had touched us but all on different levels. What ‘Big White Room’ meant to me- was completely different to what it meant to my friends but undeniably we were instantly connected to Jessie's voice and honest lyrics.

So now Jessie J is on the cusp of blowing up after putting in her ten thousand hours of writing over a hundred songs and not only for herself but the likes of Chris Brown, Britney and Miley Cyrus (Remember Party in the USA- that was Jessie J!) With a Brit award soon to be resting on her mantelpiece and the album Who You Are released later on this year- in my opinion the best thing about her besides her voice is that she hails from Essex. No longer will myself and fellow Essex natives be the brunt of dead end jokes or misleading reality TV programmes that give a dishonest image of what it means to come from and live in Essex. Soon and very soon we are going to have more accolades attached to our county and I’m sure Jessie J is going to have a lot to do with it. Lets just hope that what Elvis did for Graceland and MJ did for Little Gary, Indiana- Jessie J can do for Essex. Because let’s face it, after watching The Only Way is Essex, we’re in need of redemption.

I came. I saw. I blog.

Ruthie x

PS: Please share with your friends via email/ twitter/ Facebook and let’s help Jessie J’s album get to number 1 when it’s released. Thanks : )

The Help

I devour books. It’s a habit and not one that I’m looking to break anytime soon. I have to thank my mother for telling about this book- as it had not been for her, I probably would not have heard anything until the movie release this coming August. She, (my mother- not the cat’s mother) picked up this book after the cover caught her eye in a book shop. It was marked half price- so she though. So when the sales assistant told her that it had been put back to its original price and was the offer was no longer available, she decided to leave it- she was in a rush with the demands of being a wife and mother too great for her to stand there debating with a 17 year old assistant. Even though it was well within my mothers statutory rights to have the book at the marked price.

So, like the geek that I am, I found out a little more about the book. I read the blurb and some reviews and then decided to part with 799 pennies and purchase a copy. And I can say, my hands have been glued to it since page 1.

The story is told in the voice of three main characters, Aibleen, Minny and Skeeter. Two of which are maids for affluent rich white women in the heart of Mississippi and the latter a white female who falls into the “rich white woman” category purely because of her race. However, It is Skeeters’ determination for change that stirs up the passion with these women merely known as ‘The Help’ to challenge the system that has held the suppressed for so long. And through it all a beautiful friendship is formed with the most unlikely people. The era is the 1960 and the scene is Jackson, The South. A place now racially integrated but has had it’s longstanding troubles with issues of race. ‘The Help’ challenges the stereotypes that were in place at that time and the irony that these hired black women raised the children of the wealthy white community but were not trusted not to steal the silver.

After I finished reading the book I had to find out more about the author Kathryn Stockett. She has been know to say in interviews that the real reason for writing ‘The Help’ was to cure her homesickness as she was a girl from the South now living in the Big Apple. The enormity of what it must of cost her own childhood Help, Demetrie, growing up had now been more apparent to her and the hidden voice of all these women who raised babies completely different races to themselves when many of them had either numerous kids of their own they were struggling to feed or had lost children through misfortunate events and stillbirths. Yet they cared. Yet they nurtured.

Although I don’t think of myself as a softie there was a part of the book that made me weep- The account of Callie talking to Skeeter, relaying past experiences as being household help, (page 260)

“When Miss Margaret die of the lady problems thirty years later, I go to the funeral. Her husband hug me, cry on my shoulder. When it’s over, he give me an envelope. Inside a letter from Miss Margaret reading ‘Thank you. For making my baby stop hurting. I never forgot it.’ Callie takes off her black-rimmed glasses, wipes her eyes. If any white lady reads my story, that’s what I want them to know. Saying thank you, when you really means it, when you remember what someone done for you” She shakes her head, stares down at the scratched table- it’s so good.”

Kathryn captures so beautifully that amidst all the guilt some readers may feel about having domestic help from another race and the segregation between two communities- saying thank you is of human understanding regardless of colour of creed. And it is clear to understand that this is her thank you to ‘the help’ that raised her. It was not every white household who treated ‘the help’ roughly- and this is noted throughout. Kathryn Stockett also highlights that as ‘the help’ became established within the family the more needed they were- life could not function without them, for who would cook? Clean? Play with the children? Feed them, bathe them? Do all the ironing, washing? And still use the coloured bathroom out in the garage, sit alone at lunchtime- just to make the segregation even more distinct and then either walk miles to get home on blistered feet only to wake up the next morning and do it again.

This is not a book of guilt- Stockett, I believe, is not playing a guilt trip to anyone from the south who had a black maid but rather it is a novel circulating the love and belief that justice prevails and for women to realise, “We are just two people. Not that much separtes us. Not nearly as much as I thought” Quote from Skeeter.

I read somewhere recently, that you as a writer you should never write about a topic because its in fashion but rather write about the thing that irritates you or is pressing hard on your heart because then you can help people see your view even more so when your passion is running through it. I may not know Kathryn Stockett personally but 444 pages had lead me to believe that she is a woman so fuelled by the silence of these women and the contrast of her life to theirs as she grew up that she decided to step into their world and help tell their story.

Analytically, from knowing a little more about the author it is clear to see that certain elements of particular characters within the book ,such as Skeeter and Mae Mobley reflect little parts of Kathryn and by reading it you can see that Stocketts’ heart and soul has gone into this novel. That even if she never writes another novel- I hope this book helps to validate her career as an author and do for her what ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ did for Harper Lee.

The movie, with the same title is out August 2011- let’s support it because I have no doubt that it will be end up in the classics category with Gone with the wind and The Shawshank Redemption. But before you settle down with your popcorn- buy the book and read it, because you know that after the release of the movie sales will be rocketing and at least you can be one of the few who would have read the book even before the trailer ends up on our screens.

Rating: 5/5

Some stills from the upcoming movie:

QOTD: Silencing the doubters

“Silence anyone who ever tries to doubt you.”

Mos Def, from the song Brown Sugar.

Power

I am LOVIN' this song and I have had this song on repeat all week (no exaggeration). It may be Kanye West's beat but the lyrics are POWERFUL- aptly so, because this song is called POWER. I had heard of Etizz and seen him minister a couple of times so when I heard about his FREE (YES FREE!!!) mix tape I had to download it asap. This is just one of the tracks from the mix tape but every song is of full quality with uplifting lyrics. Be encouraged and recognise that the God of heaven above has supreme power.

Power: E Tizz feat True to da name

As always,

I came. I saw. I blog.

Ruthie x

PS: Make sure you download it, here( below) is the link: http://etizz.bandcamp.com/album/we-in-the-building-vol-1

It's free!

It's free!

It's free!

Expiry Date

“Why do all good things come to an end?”

The smell of anything that has reached its’ expiry date is never pleasant. Whether it be milk, bread, eggs or left over tuna, we never hesitate to throw that item straight in the bin. Why? Because we know that if we eat it, it will surely be of no nutritional benefit to us.

Over time, there is a lot more than just the contents of our fridge that can turn sour. The reason that manufacturers put a sell by date, use by date and expiry date on items we purchase it to protect us as consumers and them and providers-so we don’t end up taking them to court and suing them due to their lack of care. If we choose to drink milk that should have been thrown out 2 months ago, then we are risking our health at a very high stake, because according to the manufacturers guidelines, we’ve already been warned- via the expiration date. Yet- at times, and I think we are all guilty to this, we fall short of not reading the small print, because we believe that we’re invincible to certain areas in our life turning bad.

Think back to when you were in school. Are the people who were you closest friends still your closest friends today? Are the clothes that you paraded around in and saved up months to purchased the same clothes that you wear with pride now? I’m pretty sure that the answer would predominately be no. Not because, those options aren’t any good, it’s just that you’ve changed. Your needs have changed and as a result certain things that we thought would last forever haven’t because they can’t.

We never look at a situation and gage when this will have to be tossed out, because the expiry date is due, but naturally we move on. Acknowledging that there are better choices, opportunities people etc. for us but if our hands are still clinging on to the last of the expired milk and eggs we cannot embrace the fresh produce available to us.

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Change is good, its progressive and natural- we just have to embrace it. I used to wonder why companies would bring out newer models of things that we already have. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? But, then I realised that certain things in life are made obsolete. Because the major companies need to keep one step ahead of the game and keep us as the consumer needing, and in some cases, wanting more. So, they give their products a shelf life. That’s why you iPod, laptop. TV (insert any device/ item you're attached to here) always breaks down right at the moment that the newer version is being launched.

Conspiracy? Nah. Co-incidence? Nope. Bad luck? Pshh! Doing us a favour? I think so. Some would just put this down to good ol’ marketing strategies, however, as much as marketing can and does mess with us psychologically, they are also helping us progress. Or else, we’d all still be sitting in awe gazing at an 8 inch black and white TV- thinking that we’ve reached the pinnacle of technology. Thanks to expiry dates on certain advancements in life we no longer find ourselves tediously rewinding back cassette tapes and videos. But now we have DVD’s, blue ray, HDTV and even 3D television. And in years to come, the latter will have reached their expiry dates and we will have moved on to something greater. Usually it’s only the ‘weirdo in the corner’ who choose to stay stuck in the past. The person who refuses to acknowledge that you don’t need to send messages via donkey or carrier pigeon, when you can send a text/ email or use Skype.

Although preservation helps us remember where we came from, there is no point in holding onto the eggs you bought a month a go, because sooner or later, they are going to go off and leave a terrible stench. And, we all know, that it’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket anyway. So, lets be aware that there is an expiry date, whatever it may be, jobs, commitments, habits, even if it’s a bad relationship or friendship that has turned sour over time. Maybe it’s time to open the lid and pour the contents of that carton down the sink and reach out for that fresh carton/ packet of whatever until the time comes to move on again.

I came. I saw. I blog.

Ruthie x

QOTD: Resentment

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies"

Nelson Mandela