Music Week #2 - "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution"

So, welcome to day two of our Music Week.  Yesterday I talked about how I felt music had its own hidden language that could speak to people in a way that other forms of communication could not, cutting across the barriers of age, language, culture and class.  Today, I want to talk about songs to shake you up...

Open your eyes, time to wake up; enough is enough *

I was eight years old when I learned that songs could be about more than anodyne boy-meets-girl sentiment.  I had wandered into the kitchen, lured by the smells of baking.  On the radio, a gentle song swelled into an urgent wave; the singer sang:

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

Simon and Garfunkel's great song The Sound of Silence was the first song I'd heard that spoke about change, and the change coming from the people rather than governments.

Knowing that a change has to come is not the same as wanting to make it happen.  Music can do that; it can open your eyes, wake you up to a different reality, make you realise that enough is enough.  Bob Dylan's Masters of War is as relevant now in our post 9/11 world as it's ever been.  On a more intimate scale, so is Jim Moray's Poverty Knock - a song about 18th and 19th century English textile workers echoes the plight of third world garment workers today.  Passengers' 1995 song Miss Sarajevo woke people up to a war on Europe's doorstep that the news media did not seem to be interested in.  The Levellers and Billy Bragg both ask about the motives of the wars of the late 20th Century.  Coming right up to date, Jessie J and Lily Allen both sing about the distortion that consumerism and celebrity obsession creates in society.

Talkin' 'bout a Revolution **

Don't you know
They're talkin' about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

It's astonishing to think this song was written in 1988 and not austerity Britain of 2012; and Transition is just this kind of quiet revolution.

Tomorrow on the blog - Imagine there's no heaven - music's ability to envision a different kind of world.

* Enough is Enough - Chumbawamba
** Talkin' 'bout a Revolution - Tracy Chapman

Music Week #1 - "I heard there was a secret chord..."

Welcome to Music Week on the Transition Norwich blog!  On the show this week, our writers will be talking about music in all its myriad forms.  We'll be writing about protest songs, songs of aspiration, songs that recognise the common experience that unites humanity together, music that inspires us.  We'll write about singing music - alone or together - about writing music, and listening to music, and, along the way, we might introduce you to some songs you haven't come across before.  Enjoy!

"I heard there was a secret chord..." *

Music has a strange kind of alchemy, an ability to transcend boundaries and nations; it can heal, comfort, bring people together and rouse the sleeping giant.  It can bypass the head and go straight to the heart.  Children learn to sing before they learn to talk, people of different cultures can sing together even if they do not understand each other's language; it is no accident that the Arab Spring was marked, in part, by thousands of voices raised in song.  Music is the secret chord that vibrates inside all people.  You only have to look at the crowd at a rugby match singing with one voice, or people at a vast stadium gig singing the chorus to the band's signature song to see the power in music.

Even in the days before globalised music networks and the ubiquity of radios, CDs and MP3 players, it was a lingua franca of sorts, a means of passing experience and knowledge across boundaries of geography, history and class.  Is that still relevant today, with 24 hour a day news coverage, and information available at the touch of a button?  What does music have that these things do not?

This afternoon, as part of the fabulous Norfolk & Norwich Festival, we took the kids along to see Dan Zanes and Friends, an American singer and his band, at the Theatre Royal.  The show was great and everyone danced and sang along; but there was something else.  The songs were drawn from many different cultures and heritages, from different parts of the States, Mexico, and even England.  In the intro to one Mexican song, Dan talked about a future where the borders between the USA and Mexico would be open, where people could travel freely between the two countries.  The song that the band sang locked that idea, that vision of the future, in my head in a way that nothing else could have.  I may have been alone in this, but I suspect not.  I checked out his website when I got home; after leaving Norwich, Dan will be heading back to Albany, New York to take part in a New Yorkers Against Fracking event.

Music brings people together in common cause like nothing else can, and singers, songwriters and musicians are modern day prophets, in the sense that they interpret the signs, look for patterns, and, in their music and lyrics, create meaning.  Ben Sollee, another musician-activist uses his talents to raise awareness of environmental issues, not least the impact of coal-mining in his native Kentucky.  I saw him last year at the UEA - check out the song "Something, Somewhere, Somehow" for a great example of his eclectic style.

People may say that a song never changed the world, but I'm not so sure.  Music is like the hacker's lines of computer code, something that burrows into you, changes you from the inside out.  If I was a betting man, I wouldn't bet against the power of music to change the world.

On the blog tomorrow - "Open your eyes, time to wake up, enough is enough" - the music of struggle, protest, and what's it got to do with Transition.  Stay tuned!

* "I heard there was a secret chord", from Hallelujah, sung by Jeff Buckley

I Love Reskilling

This post was originally published on the Transition Netwok Social Reporting Blog. You can read the original here.

I love reskilling. Throughout my time in Transition it has always been the thing that I have gravitated towards. Part of the joy of it is that it can be part of pretty much any other aspect of Transition - food, energy, building etc they all have their relevant skills. Having said this we did have a specific Reskilling group in Transition Norwich, you can read about some of our exploits on the This Low Carbon Life blog here and here. One of the things that we did was to try and come up with a comprehensive (might as well be ambitious!) list of all of the possible skills that a Transition future might require, it was a very interesting exercise and you can check out what we came up with on the Transition Norwich website, under the resources section.

So why do I love reskilling so much?

Resilience
Firstly because it makes our communities more resilient. Bringing the skills needed for our society back into our local area means that we are not relying on far flung people to keep things going for us. For example in Transition UWS our Greener Homes Project relies on Energy Saving Scotland to process the questionairres we fill out for people and to send them a report with suggestions. However, they are very unreliable. They still haven't got a report out to some of the very first people we visited over 3 months ago. This is obviously rather a big issue in our project. Thankfully we anticipated it early on and came up with our own complimentary behavioural questionnaire and advice that we use at the time of the visit to give as much advice and support to people as we can at the time, so they are not just waiting for a generic report. Bringing these skills into our community and then passing them on to those we visit makes us much more resilient. It also leads nicely to my next point...

Empowerment
Having the skills to do things yourself puts you back in control. Once we have explained to people how their heating works and what their energy bills mean they are then back in control of their own energy usage, rather than at the mercy of energy companies. And this holds true for so much in our society. I have started to get into herbal medicine in the last few years and part of what draws me to it is that I can control exactly what I put in my medicine. The eucalyptus balm I made this week only had 5 ingredients - none of them a synthetic chemical.

Once you have these skills you are so much more powerful, nobody can tell you what to do because you can do it yourself. This also works on a community scale, if it has the skills within it then it can decide its own future.

Socials
Sharing skills is also an awesome way to make friends. Either through teaching each other or just sharing your learning experiences. I went to an All About Herbs workshop run by Urban Roots earlier in the year and I have stayed in touch with a few of the other people who were there and we have met a few times to go foraging and herbal remedy making, sharing more skills and keeping each other enthusiastic.

The Southside Stitch Up that I have written about before is a great example of a skill sharing social, where people can chat and socialise while upcycling all kinds of things.

It's cheaper
If you can do it yourself then you don't need to pay someone else to do it. This is also a great way of reducing your dependence on money, especially if the whole community gets in on it then you can exchange your skills and what you produce.

Its Fun!
Making things, learning skills and sharing them is a fantastic antidote to our societies ills. Simmering herb infused oils and beeswax, watching your parsnip wine bubbling away, weaving a rag rug... it makes me happy!

Skill share
When I wrote this blog at the weekend I didnt realise that we were actually supposed to be sharing a skill in the blog. So just as a wee add on I'll direct you to my instructions for making a wallet out of a juice carton, found here.

Photos: My boiler controls, our haul from a days foraging and some of my preserves and wine.

Car Club Evangelist

So just one month ago, I was stuck, needing a car for a couple of journeys every week, but absolutely no intention (or money) to get one.  What to do?  I found Norwich Car Club and became an evangelist for car clubs!

Last time I wrote about the Car Club, I was waiting for my electronic key to arrive, and promised to write an update.

Well, one month in, and I'm really delighted - it's so easy to book and so easy to use.  The girls now recognise the car as "our car" and want to know when we can get a car club space on our streeet.  I've even started pinning up leaflets at work.

It makes you think, if more and more people signed up across the whole country (Norwich Car Club is part of Common Wheels, a nationwide community enterprise) and effectively shared a car with lots of other people, how many less cars we'd have on our roads?

It could be a big step forwards.

Pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicpic/203209400/ (creative commons)

Money money money - the film

As we are two bloggers down this week (due to unforseen circumstances), here is a surprise interim! A trailer for 97% Owned, an excellent short film about money, which alongside earlier blockbuster US versions such as Inside Job, is proving to be the key documentary subject this year.

When money drives almost all activity on the planet, it's essential that we understand it. Yet simple questions often get overlooked - questions like:

• where does money come from?
• Who creates it?
• Who decides how it gets used?
• And what does that mean for the millions of ordinary people who suffer when money and finance breaks down?

97% Owned is a new documentary that reveals how money is at the root of our current social and economic crisis. Featuring frank interviews and commentary from economists, campaigners and former bankers, it exposes the privatised, debt-based monetary system that gives banks the power to create money, shape the economy, cause crises and push house prices out of reach.

Fact-based and clearly explained, in just 60 minutes it shows how the power to create money is the piece of the puzzle that economists were missing when they failed to predict the crisis.

Produced by Queuepolitely and featuring Ben Dyson of Positive Money, Josh Ryan-Collins of The New Economics Foundation, Ann Pettifor, the "HBOS Whistleblower" Paul Moore, Simon Dixon of Bank to the Future and Sargon Nissan and Nick Dearden from the Jubliee Debt Campaign, this is the first documentary to tackle this issue from a UK-perspective, and can be watched online now.

Walking with Weeds

Walking with Weeds was the fourth in the series of Sustainable Bungay's monthly Plants for Life talks, walks and workshops I've set up on the theme of Plants as Medicine this year.

Each event is led by a different 'plant person' and so far writers, growers and medical herbalists have spoken about medicine roots, organic and biodynamic herb growing and how to adopt a particular herb.

On 22 April I took over twenty people on a walk through Bungay town looking at 'weeds' and what else they might be doing. It's a good job we went at the time we did because on the way to our May Give and Grow yesterday in the Library Community Garden, I noticed that the strimmers had been out and hardly any of the flowers we looked at here had escaped their blades.

That's one of the problems that comes from calling plants names that diminish their true character . . . and one of the challenges to our remembering and reconnecting with them.

Walking with Weeds

It was the perfect sunny day for it. Until five minutes before we set out when it started raining. Thank goodness for bumping into Paul whilst I was doing a last minute reccy of the places and the plants we would be stopping at. Clouds were appearing. He would bring me an umbrella.

The weather didn’t seem to bother anyone though and at 2.30 over twenty of us put up brollies and pulled over hoods and set off around Bungay to see the wild plants pushing through everywhere from cracks in the pavement to churchyards to hidden alleyways behind the town centre.

And it wasn’t just the adults who wanted to come along. The children were fascinated by the plants and often knew them by name.


The intent behind the walk was to consider these uncultivated plants beyond their usual description as ‘weeds’ and look at their medicinal qualities and uses. And in line with the Spring season, we focused on the energy-moving, tonic, galvanising properties of the plants as well as how they clear and cleanse the system after the sluggishness of winter.

And there they all were in abundant supply: nourishing energisers and diuretics, dandelions and nettles. Lymphatic booster, cleanser and energiser, cleavers. Even mega Chinese herbal tonic and superfood Gojiberry, also known as Wolfberry and Duke of Argyll’s tea tree), was growing in abundance on Castle Meadow.


After the walk we returned to the library where Charlotte prepared everyone a Wild Green and great tasting spring tonic tea made from the leaves we’d collected. It included dandelion, nettles and cleavers with a sprig of peppermint and thyme from the library garden. Bungay Community Bees’ honey was an optional extra.


Next month we welcome Norfolk-based medical herbalist Julie Bruton-Seal and her husband Matthew Seal, co-authors of the best DIY handbook on making home remedies from wild plants I know, Hedgerow Medecine.

Come along to Bungay Library at 3pm on Sunday 13th May, where Julie and Matthew will talk both about the book and the practice of Hedgerow Medicine. Don’t forget to visit the Garden Street Market beforehand and make it a day with plants.


Photos: pre-walk reccy checking out the dandelions and daisies (Charlotte Du Cann); Sustainable Bungay’s great new A board made by Roger proudly presents Walking with Weeds (Mark Watson); Walking up the road (me) and along the wall (Tristram); Grasping the nettle in Trinity churchyard; Wolfberry aka Goji (l) and Jack-by-the-Hedge aka Garlic Mustard (MW & Elinor McDowell); Preparing a Very Green and Delicious Tea (MW); Pouring and Drinking and Getting Galvanised for the spring season (EM)

Transition-Anywhere-You-Find-People. Even here!

This post first appeared on 19th April as part of the Transition Social Reporting project's Transition without Initiatives week.

Okay I admit it upfront. I do have a Transition initiative. In fact, I'm involved with two. Sustainable Bungay and Transition Norwich. So why don't I just get out of here and let the Transition individuals without an initiative get on with the week?

The thing is, I live in neither of the places where the initiatives are. I live down a lane in Suffolk a mile and a half from Southwold, a wealthy seaside town where 70% of the houses are holiday or second homes and most people are retired. It's a nice place but unless I'm missing something no transition initiative will be happening there any time soon.

So in my transition beginnings in 2008 I was very glad of the introduction to the 12 original key steps, with its idea of Transition Anywhere-You-Find-People. The people I had found were in Bungay (and later also Norwich) both some way from Southwold.

What bothered me most was having to drive to meetings and events. Car use is carbon use - especially when your car is fifteen years old and has had six owners already – and I was trying to reduce both. From early on I would use buses and trains as much as possible and sometimes stay with people overnight.

Over the past few years the bus services have dwindled to a fraction of their former selves. No more night buses connecting the train from Norwich back to Southwold. No more buses to Bungay in the early morning or at night.

Our old car went the way of all old cars and we didn’t replace it. Then our neighbours (not in Transition) offered to share their second car with us (splitting the service costs) specifically so we could do our shopping and get to Transition events and meetings. A mini local car-share scheme – that wouldn’t have happened without transition.

And this is the thing. Being in a transition initiative (or two) over time, even though they are not right on the doorstep, has not only helped build relationships and community with all the diverse people in those initiatives, it has impacted on all areas of my life, and led to better links with the people where I do live.

Sustainable Bungay is where the hands-on, experiential, action-based moves happen – collectively creating the Library Community Garden, organising Give and Take Days, plant swaps, themed Green Drinks, Bungay Community Bees, film nights, the new Garden Share scheme and Grey Water systems group, the Plants for Life events, Happy Mondays at the Community Kitchen. And where we publish a quarterly newsletter in print that showcases all these activities.

And Transition Norwich is where I join in with The Low Carbon Cookbook, write on this community blog and help out with the monthly news bulletin, all of which are light on trips to the city these days.

The links and exchanges between city, market town and isolated rural area are important. Norwich offers a place for intellectual stimulation and discussion and I can relate some of what’s going on outside its boundaries in the hinterland; This Low Carbon Life is read by people from all over the world. Bungay, in discovering community resources for developing resilience, shows how in a town of 5000 people a Transition initiative can thrive. It's become a hub of transition activity attracting people from both the town and nearby villages and has inspired people countrywide.

I don't get out of East Anglia much any more, despite having been an inveterate traveller in my 20s and 30s. And I don't really miss it. There's plenty of interest in this region to explore and as I've become cash-poorer I've also become less spoilt. I've started to enjoy the people, plants and places nearby.

And people are coming to visit; friends from both local and wider initiatives, like Transition Network webmaster Ed, who set up the Transition Social Reporting project with Charlotte. And like Alexis and Sarah from TTBelsize in London: we talked all weekend about transition communications (Charlotte and Alexis are shaping a national Transition newspaper), about medicinal plant beds (Sarah and I set out plans for a medicine plant workshop at the Royal Free Hospital permaculture garden in May), and we went foraging for wild salads.

Fellow social reporter Kerry Lane, one of the original movers and shakers of post-unleashing Transition Norwich, was here this week on a break from her Glasgow job, cycling from Norwich to Bungay for Happy Mondays and a night in Transition Reydon. All of us were able to discuss the challenging aspects of being active and committed members of our initiatives, for whom this cultural shift is not just a hobby that happens once a month on Tuesdays.

And that's what this Transition Individual can offer any fellow who might happen to come by Anywhere-Reydon to pay a visit sometime. A cup of tea, something local to eat, a light (or dark) low carbon conversation or a foraging walk down the lane.

Pics: Standing on the Edge, Dunwich, Suffolk February 2012 (MW); On the platform at Lowestoft station behind the St. John's Wort 2010; Charlotte and fellow Social Reporter and TN-Blogger Kerry Lane at the bus stop, April 2012 (MW); Ed Mitchell Transition Network webmaster, visits Suffolk, Happy Mondays, August 2011 (CDC); Sarah, Charlotte and Alexis - foraging down the lane in Reydon, April 2012 (MW)