Highlights of Dylan's Year

I made good on my promise to keep the Dylan Thomas malarkey in perspective. Living in Wales has meant an overload of 'stuff'. Frothy stuff. Most of it aimed at tourists. But among the year's celebrations and exploitations there were some gems that I was glad to have experienced. A lot of the enjoyable events have involved friends and colleagues who are talented performers, writers and academics. However, for me, three stood out for the highest quality in production, performance and originality.

Under Milkwood: The Opera - Not an opera fan me I have to say. So the first fifteen minutes were hellish as my brain adjusted. Then Lily Smalls took to the stage. Brilliantly characterized by Helen-Jane Howells who proved herself the consummate actress in all the parts she played that night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu6gWwZk3-M  Similarly impressive was Liz Donovan as Polly Garter who was just as Polly should be, warm and buxom, vulnerable and weary. Her vocals were mesmerizing. http://www.tycerdd.org/recording-studio/label/under-milk-wood-an-opera/listen-purchase

DylanLive: Dylan Thomas, Beat Poetry, Jazz and the Welsh Bards as the first hiphop artists. If only all lectures were like this. Thoroughly entertaining, inspiring and informative. Get a taster and a look behind the scenes here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjsIHpKX6Q8

Caitlin: Everything I could say is said in my New Welsh Review article. http://www.newwelshreview.com/article.php?id=867

Everyone will have had a different expectation of the centenary year. Everyone's tastes and experiences will have differed. These are my moments... what were yours?

Too much thinking

How to be right and wrong at the same time.

So youngest son has been taking some tests in school. The paper seems to have been testing reasoning skills and problem solving... you know the sort of skills that require thinking to be applied. The scenario was a shop and the shop owner had installed security cameras. From the position of the camera the pupils had to say which people in the shop were in blind spots. For the first question he answered as he was expected to, but with the added comment in brackets explaining that you couldn't actually tell whether the camera could see people due to not being given the height and position of the shop shelving. Then having decided that the questions were flawed he simply wrote "See brackets as above". He was of course right. In a real situation you would have to take into account all the variables. If he was undertaking a scientific experiment, a military operation, designing a building - or installing actual cameras in an actual shop - this would be the right way to approach the problem. But in the hypothetical world of testing a child's ability to think like a robot, to give the answer that the educator has programmed you to give, to jump through the hoop, well then he would be marked as wrong. One day this ability to think outside the box will hopefully find a place in the world. But for now I have to find a way to help him navigate the system. Anybody got a map?

How to get ahead in business

Or "Things my children teach me  #1"

So my eldest son was telling me how he once got a job based solely on his answer to one question...

“Which person would you most see as a role model that you would want to be like?”

“Fictional or non-fictional?” he asked.

“Either” was the reply.

After a little thought he confidently gave his winning answer “Jean-Luc Picard and the actor Patrick Stewart”. And what a worthy answer too. Picard is a man who commands respect and wields authority, acts with intellect and compassion, strives for excellence and humanity. Stewart has reached the top of his profession through hard graft and talent, while also then using his hard won celebrity to support philanthropic work, campaigning for women’s rights and highlighting the problem of domestic violence. Fictional and non-fictional displays of strength and humility.

I thought for a little while about how I would have answered the same question. The only name that sprang to mind was Jo Brand. She made a very successful career in a virtually all male environment. She has responded to change by diversifying from stand-up into acting, writing and light entertainment on radio and television. All done with an uncompromising style and maintaining a healthy, happy family life. But is that what an interview panel would see? Or would they turn me down for the job afraid that I’d voice everyone’s opinion of the CEO by telling him to his face “Well you’re a bit of a wanker aren’t you!”

Writer's Block

Or "Why I haven't been Blogging as I promised"

It isn’t just a myth made by precious artists to increase their enigmatic allure as they wait for the muse to take them. Nor is it somehow a symptom of poor discipline or laziness (that is quite a different reason why I may neglect to write). There are times when the brain just refuses to compose. I have had times when my brain literally could not function properly – reading with any sense of understanding, writing academically or creatively with any sense of purpose, even making decisions about what to buy for tea feels like struggling against quicksand. In the end you just stop trying so you don’t sink any deeper into stress or despair. Instead you just wait for rescue. Tricks of the trade just don’t work. Breaking the blank page, writing something everyday however small, writing whatever comes into your head even if it is rubbish – all these fail to take into account your brain’s inability to make that step and write. So yes I can write a letter in work because to an extent it is routine. Yes I can join in facebook discussions cause they don’t really matter. And yes I will not starve because I will buy something for tea but it usually ends up being cheese and bread because it requires no effort or real thought. There are other times when it feels as if my brain is in rebellion. I am simply asking it to do too much. It seems this can actually be a problem for creative minds in particular. When the world throws too much information at you, too many emotions, too many signals to process and respond to then you just can’t process it all. Most people filter what they need to process and respond to. The creative mind, it is believed, tries to interact with it all. You unknowingly overload the circuits and a fuse blows. It has taken me a long time to recognise these patterns and to take charge of fixing the problem not just hitting my writing function with a spanner in the hope it will kick start it into productivity. If the tricks don’t work for you then maybe there is something deeper at the heart of it. Remember that the allusive muse finds expression through a physical body. Sleep well, make eating healthy a habit requiring no thought, have downtime, switch off, do stuff that doesn’t matter, meditate, walk, read only for the pleasure of it, sit in the sun, hang out with lovely people, laugh, listen to birdsong or music you adore, have picnics, breathe, and do not attempt to write until the thought of it ceases to paralyze your brain. Basically… try some new tricks.

(p.s. If you can’t sleep, are too exhausted to walk, can’t find anything to make you laugh then visit a doctor and get well xxx)