Always embrace things

Season 2 of the brilliant Mad Men set in the Swinging Sixties began last week. It was only when watching it, that I realised how much I had missed it. No other TV show I have seen, seems to encapsulate such daring wit and brooding, mysterious characters. Some dissapprove of its seeming promotion of compulsive chain-smokers immortally glamourised, paired with frequent swigs of whiskey. However, such cynics are missing the point. The haze of cigarette smoke across our screens perfectly resembles the 'fragrant' air of the Nixon era.
What made the premiere episode of the second season so evocative for me, however, was the recital of the great writer Frank O'Hara's poem Mayakovksy, from the collection entitled 'Meditations in an Emergency.' I will let the poem, below, do the talking.

Mayakovsky

Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.

The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.

It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.

Warped sense of reality

So, I thought I’d start my blog with a reflection of the times we live in now…I lived through Friday the 13th yesterday relatively unscathed. But there are still troubled times ahead, of course mainly THE RECESSION. Even dear old Barack, normally fairly optimistic, talked of being ‘humbled by the task before us.’ In such desperate times, there are many out there suffering, seriously in debt, overloaded by mortgages and increasingly more unemployed. I’m lucky that my family are not in such a precarious position. But we all have to do a little bit to cut back on our spending. As I flicked through magazines recently, I was shocked at designers still charging thousands for their creations. They seem blissfully unaware of the economic turmoil the world faces.
So I was happy to see a campaign launched by Oxfam with high-profile figures wearing items only from the charity shop chain, like Londoner Jourdan Dunn, above. It goes to show a little money goes a long way. Not only are you buying a piece of someone’s authentic history, your money is going to people who need the money most. I think we forget about the people out there who suffer permanently, credit crunch or no credit crunch. People in the Third World have very limited supplies to clean water and electricity, often living in areas rife with disease, whilst over here we complain about not being able to afford a third holiday of the year. We need to get our priorities in order.
From now on I’m going to be flicking through racks at charity shops, or high street stores which are associated with Fair Trade. There’s my belated New Years’ Resolution.