That Easter Monday

I don't seem to have many photos from this match. Which match would that be? Easter Monday, 31st March 1986. 35 years ago today. QPR 6, Chelsea 0. That day the fan within could not be controlled, and many more pics than usual were a bit out-of-focus. By the 6th goal, I couldn't even take them I was so excited. A great memory. A great day to be an R. Still get a bit hyperbolic about it:

And gentle folk in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their persons cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon that Easter day.*

* with apologies to W Shakespeare

#DrawingTogetherGM 9: A Brave New World

In the Graphic Medicine Drawing group tonight, our host read us the following paragraph:

"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it." (Ahrundhati Roy)

Our drawing task tonight was (in c. 12 minutes) to draw what we see on either side of such a portal. 

This is what I managed to draw (it sounds long, but 12 minutes passes very quickly):

I am gingerly making my way through the portal, but still very tentative. Not sure if I'm ready or able to face this brave new world. And here's the thing about the mask - it is really driving me nuts at the moment to see so many people outside without a mask and not keeping a healthy distance from others. I want to scream at them, PUT YOUR BLOODY MASK ON! I just don't understand why people see it as an attack on their personal freedom. If I wear a mask, it is to try and protect YOU. And it won't work very well if you don't do it as well, since success depends on a mutual commitment to the method. 

When asked to speak about my drawing to the group I said, I'd like to leave behind the idea that one is protecting oneself, and bring with the idea of supporting each other. The reason I am still neither in nor out of the portal is because I am conflicted. I want to do the right thing, but still hold onto some worry for my personal safety. 

Nu, governments everywhere are opening life up much more this coming week. I hope we can find a balance between relief from the stress of lockdown, and needing to maintain the most scrupulous standards of protection against the virus. The hot weather that is expected for the next few months may keep the germs at bay for a while, but we shouldn't forget all the asymptomatic carriers out there. 

Stay safe and stay well!

King Bee or not King Bee

Adam Gopnik on the BBC website has pointed out that Shakespeare thought the bee in charge of the hive was a gentleman bee. He cites Henry V I:2

"For so work the honey-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold,
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone."


He then very kindly did some Googling for us so we didn't have to:

"the bee sex confusion goes back at least to Aristotle, and was only solved in the late 17th Century, when Swammerdam found that the king was, so to speak, cross-dressing and really had ovaries."


For more details, the rest of the article is here.

thursday thirteen is back! (#xi)

Thirteen Things about MY NAME



many many years ago, when i was born, the name Ariel was quite rare in the english-speaking world and all over it was definitely a name for a male person.

when i was about 7, a new laundry detergent was created called Ariel.

it was not the greatest name for a little girl to have.

today, thanks to cybill shepherd and walt disney, there is a chance that one day soon when i visit a tourist tchatchke store or a highway rest area, i might find barettes or a keyring with my name on it :-)

nu - from nearly 6.5 million hits on google, here are 13 Ariel sites that, while i do NOT necessarily endorse them, caught my eye this morning:

1. Ariel Rescue
2. The Ariel Atom
3. Ariel V
4. Ariel Dynamics
5. Ariel1988
6. Ariel Non-Alcoholic Wines
7. Ariel, a Moon of Uranus
8. Arielholics
9. Ariel Ministries
10. Talk to Ariel
11. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
12. W. Shakespeare's Ariel
13. Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

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