Personal Perspectives on Tribe and Outliers: Blog 6 - 2014

Hi all,

Its been an interesting although a rather short week and its Friday evening again already - well Saturday afternoon now when I have come back to my post!

Its the weekend, a time when families often get together and do their thing whatever that might be - walking, eating out, taking a drive, visiting National Trust houses, going to B&Q, doing the garden, going to the theatre or a concert, having Sunday tea in a country village somewhere - maybe extreme sports..... the leisure time they spend together. 

Most of us gather together in our 'tribe' one way or another. And there are rules, some unspoken and others expressed in familiar and explicit agreement. And there is a shared language, stories told and retold and passed down the generations. Tribe appears to reinforce our personal and collective sense of identity,our sense of belonging - our inherent herd instinct.

Society organises itself necessarily into communities which function to protect the good of their whole, and we all belong to one tribe or another and usually several, whether its at work or at home. Its a complex web with many intersections. We rely on each other, share secrets, counsel each other - do the practical stuff of living. 

The dictionary definition of tribe is 

'a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader.' 

A tribe is almost always hierarchical in spite of many alternative experiments in living in a collective. In most cases in family, religious, political tribes everyone has a defined place, there is a pecking order and each usually performs a function complementary to the others which enables the whole. Some we are born into and some we choose.

Meredith Belbin came up with a theory of team roles which is used in many businesses and organisations as an explicit way of identifying what is needed in a team and many spend considerable amounts of money on team building exercises. http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8 

Team or tribe is seen as critical to success.The tribe looks out for each other and will fiercely defend its members against attack from other tribes. However tribe also brings with it rituals, values, language and behaviours that maintain control of its members.If one of them breaks the rules then the punishment may be severe as we see in the problems that arise in forced marriage in some communities. If a young woman wants to marry for love she may be shipped off somewhere or worse still she may even be killed as she has brought shame to the tribe. 

So as well as the benefits there are also the disadvantages that are capable of stifling the individual. The balance can be hard to achieve because its not easy to live outside tribe. Whilst the idea of living alone on a desert island might be attractive to some, most guests who toy with this on Desert Island Discs cannot contemplate surviving for very long! 

Actors are serial tribe joiners - its a thing that comes with the job.Actors are generally freelancers and go from job to job as do directors and many others in the industry.Whilst not exclusive a specific set of skills are needed for this - resilience, self reliance and an ability to deal with rejection, not least because their product is themselves. 

As a director I have employed countless actors, and when they come together they form an ensemble with a clear, time limited objective to get the show rehearsed and performed to an audience. The experience of doing this needs an ability to 'join', to immediately embrace the goals and values of the project or company even though we all know it will be short lived. This necessary impetus creates a sense of belonging and often intimacy  because there is sharing and sometimes disclosure of personal experience in the creation of character. There can appear to be an intoxicating sense of falling in love - hence the term 'luvvies' often attributed to actors. 

And its true in the intense and all consuming life of making a piece this can seem to be a reality. And then it ends with everyone promising to keep in touch, meet up, hugging each other and sometimes crying because this heightened experience is over. Its probably true of any group that goes on a mission together. But then everything changes, there is no reason to keep in touch, apart from occasional networking -  of course in some cases real friendships are sustained. But mostly these actors go on to join another tribe if they are lucky enough to keep in work.

Why is this of any interest to me?  Well I'm always interested in how individuals and groups function together and I spent nearly thirty years in tribe in my role as Artistic Director and CEO of Arc, indeed as a founder I played a senior role in shaping our tribe and we grew together as a strong team with shared values and goals. And then I decided it was time to test myself and go it alone as a freelancer through my new company Jasmine Street. And its been a fascinating time to be on the outside of a tribe you were part of for a generation - looking in. The functions and systems seem much clearer from the outside. 

I have pitched myself into the same terrain as the actors I employ. Its a hardcore experience flying solo!  I no longer belong to this tribe. And there is a huge and exciting freedom that comes with it - an adventure. I can explore new projects and relationships in territory that I could not have imagined in tribe. There is of course a downside when you have only yourself to depend on- its harder to delegate and call on the skills of others in areas in which you are less competent. And in spite of the desire to test myself I have also experienced grief at no longer belonging to my tribe. Its life changing - and the embracing of change is both exhilarating and terrifying! 

When I stepped out of tribe to my surprise I met quite a few outliers, and that's been a revelation. Some of them have become friends.

For the record the dictionary definition of outlier is 

'a person or thing situated away or detached from the main body or system'.

The writer Malcolm Gladwell wrote a whole book about these, funnily enough called Outliers!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0141036257 

I read it a few years ago and found it a very interesting read. On the outside of tribe live the outliers some might call them mavericks  -  they break the norm, they scout, follow their noses,pick up on random opportunities, follow up on seemingly irrelevant things, go their own way. Of course they need good friends, dependable colleagues, but they are often loners too. They are the ones who travel alone, sail solo round the world - who might well survive on a desert island at least if it was time limited because from time to time they too need to be in community.The difference is that they dip in and out, choosing when to join the rituals and when to leave. Most tribes will welcome the outliers for a time, they are the mavericks who bring new things but to whom being part of one tribe is for the most part unappealing. They treasure their time on their own more than most.

Over the period of leaving tribe and spending time with outliers I have learned so much, about survival, testing and the benefits and costs that come with both. In my very brief experience its definitely tougher on the outside of tribe, equally it offers an opportunity to grow in new ways. I am enjoying spending time in other tribes - and working with some of them too.I am also indebted to the good outlier role models I have met.

I've got my rucksack on my back and I'm heading out alone. I still need and want to be part of a professional tribe but quite like the idea of dipping in and out of new ones. Not sure yet what that will be like - but enjoying the glimpses! 

Long one this time and if you have managed to get to the end - well done and thank you! 

Easter Rising 1916, Tim Lott, Mum and Gold Rings.... Blog 5 - 2014

Hi All

Most of my blogs are prompted by something that's recently happened, a new person I have met, an old friend, a rehearsal, a chance conversation, a celebration, very often a book I'm reading, a new project, a film or a piece of music.... a moment when two or more ideas, conversations or events collide - life I guess. 

The last couple of years have seen root and branch changes in my life and with these a demanding period of review and reflection as well as reinvention, both personally and creatively. I guess the ubiquitous middle-age crisis is essentially imbued with a need to make sense of one's own history and narrative - a place that most of us come to at one time or another, especially in the face of change and when the time that lies ahead is likely less than what has been before. (No moroseness intended).The big questions. These or simple indulgent naval gazing? 

Today's blog is prompted by a few things that initially appeared to have no relationship to each other, but turn out as so often they do to be intrinsically linked. Firstly - my writing work in progress The woman who stepped through the screen- is still in its infancy, but fills my thinking a lot of the time. Enough to get a bit lost on a bus in Shepherd's Bush last week on my way to meet Ria Knowles, actor and good friend. I took some initial scribblings to share over lunch with her. We met at Ria's kind invitation at an excellent Thai restaurant at the Ladbroke Grove end of Portobello where we sat outside in the sunshine enjoying a light lunch and glass of wine.http://www.thairicelondon.com/. 

I was nervous about sharing - I think its because this type of writing feels somehow more exposing, in spite of its fiction and my relationship with it - a kind of love affair.It was good to talk about the story  - the narrative shape and style. Ria brings an uncompromising insight which I welcome - in spite of the darkness of the subject matter, the piece will be funny, ironic and ultimately hopeful. 

In searching for and collecting personal stories about depression I have come rather late to the work of writer and Guardian columnist Tim Lott - in particular The Scent of Dried Roses (1996) http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Scent-Dried-Roses-Suburbia/dp/0141191481 which is a raw and authentic memoir of depression and an unsentimental social history of the changing landscape of postwar suburban England. 'It is a story of grief, loss and dislocation' yet also of the power of memory and the complexity of living on the inside and outside of the 'tribe' into which we are born. I am struck by Lott's ability to conjur up the time, the physical and sensual world of my own childhood and adolescence with such accuracy that I am momentarily transported there. So transported I must say that I forgot to get off the bus at the right stop to meet Ria.

This is a good read for anyone interested in the fault lines between society and identity - indeed Lott who talks frankly about his own depression in this book calls it 'The illness of identity'. He suggests it intersects with changes in society and personal meaning which can lead to a feeling of disconnection and loss of belonging, which he believes ultimately gave rise to his own mother's depression and eventual suicide. In spite of its subject matter the book is surprisingly uplifting, honest and hopeful.

And so to the third connected thing - and too long to write about in one post. But I'll start a little bit with more to follow. I drove down to visit my mum and dad in Kent on Good Friday. Met with warm hugs and a cold meat salad lunch with buttered triangles of bread, I found the resonance and coincidences of Lott's recently read book echoing through my head. Indeed I could see evidence of that black and white memory right in front of me - of my own history, the photos, the ornaments - each with their own remembered moment in time. But Friday was different to other visits. After the plates and Branston pickle had been tidied away (Branston Pickle was first made in 1922 - some things have inborn longevity!) my mum - nicknamed Nan, wants to share some of her own writing, a series of captured moments from her own childhood in county Mayo in Ireland. She reads for about 40 minutes from her own memoir - although she doesn't call it that.

Its compelling, emotional, dark, authentic - a story of a small bemused girl of 6 hurled around in the maelstrom of complex family life in the unsettled Ireland of the thirties. A young child subjected without understanding to the traumas from which her parents tried to shield her, but which resulted in her mother leaving home when Nan was 6. Nan was sent away to a catholic boarding school in Dublin with little explanation. Against this very personal experience the shifting political and social backdrop following the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and the ensuing Civil War between those in favour of and those against the Treaty of Independence signed with England in 1921. I haven't heard Nan's story for a long time - its painful, yet evocative and compelling. My dad supports her reading, especially in the moments of reliving. He does his bit by showing me a picture of her at 22, in Jersey on their honeymoon. I remark how beautiful and happy she looks.

Nan - Jersey 1954

A cup of tea later Nan goes upstairs and comes down with a box, she nods at my Dad, Edgar with a recognisable indication of an earlier decision. She takes out some gold jewellery, commenting that you can get a good price for melted gold. She passes me a gold wedding ring, 'It was your granddad's - I'd rather you had it now'. She carries on sorting out other pieces with Edgar - and I slip my granddad's ring onto my right hand ring finger. Its a bit big but it doesn't fall off. And I find myself unexpectedly in tears. And I can't stop. The idea of melting the ring for a good price seems the most absurd of ideas. My imagination is captured. I take the ring off and look at the hallmarks with a magnifying glass. Its dated with a 't' - Birmingham 1919 - my granddad was 29 and his bride Mary 18. I feel the ring and I think about the man I never met who died of a heart attack in 1950. A doctor, Andy was a fierce republican, involved actively in Eamon De Valeria's opposition to the Treaty with England and subsequently in his new party Fianna Fail which formed its first government in 1932, the year of Nan's birth.

I turn Andy's ring on my finger again, and I suddenly realise once again that its Easter and I think about the Easter Rising of 1916 - which my granddad supported, and then the start of the war of independence in 1919 - the year of his marriage to Mary. And then his ring which travelled with him until his death in 1950 just two years after Ireland seceded from the United KIngdom and declared itself a republic.

Jung would have called all of this synchronicity - an experience of two or more events as meaningfully related, where they are unlikely to be causally related. Its clearly a matter of where my attention has been drawn - and this is my attempt at making sense of that which has no intrinsic sense! Ah the power of making stories or in my case a life of making drama - on and off stage!

Have a good week.

The Rooky's Privilege of Editing: Blog 4 - 2014

Hi all


So its almost the weekend and I am just putting down my red pen and picking up my glass of red wine. Sigh.

I have been taken up for a number of days this week in my ongoing first attempt at editing anything other than my own writing (you be the judges of that), play scripts and funding proposals. So this 'other' is the draft of my friend's second book,the title of which remains to be revealed  - mark my words its good - but you'll have to make up your own minds when its published.


Now in spite of my friend's positive response to some of my feedback, I am a total novice at this type of editing. I wasn't sure to begin with whether my help was enlisted to proof read or to comment - both or neither? So I googled some advice on how to approach the task, and the usually helpful Mrs.Google took me nowhere with useful tips for rooky editors.So I had to make up my own rules.I have gathered since that there is a methodology and set of symbols employed by the well-seasoned editor, but some of you probably already knew that.I am rather pleased to be under-seasoned, it reminds me of not knowing what I don't know,which almost certainly remains most things. 

So instead of calling on some revered editorial wisdom I am just doing it in my own idiosyncratic way. Striking out into new territories -  at the very least I hope it helps flag up any questions of meaning or emphasis and doesn't send me off to Siberia!

Notes to self and anyone who might be vaguely interested:

What follows are my home grown guidelines for rooky editors. (If you are already a seasoned editor you may wish to skip the rest of this blog - or at least send me any additional tips)

1. Remember that it's not your book - Your job as an editor is not to tell someone how you would have written their book. Your job is to help them write the book they want to write. This can't be emphasised enough: It's not your book. It's not. Defer to the writer. Try to help them do what they're trying to do. Work within the world they've constructed.

2. Find out what the writer is looking for before you start editing - are they wondering about a particular section? Are they hoping for a major edit? Are they not really looking for editing at all but for moral support? Make sure you have a sense of what they want and where they are coming from before you start editing and adjust your approach to match this.

3. You're not doing them any favours by being too nice. Here's what a writer wants to hear when someone is editing their work: "OMG it's perfect I love it!" Resist the temptation to tell them this. Your job is to help them make the work better, not to rubber stamp it. There is an exception to this: When the writer is looking for reassurance that they should keep going and is not really looking for editing. In which case the appropriate reaction is "OMG you're brilliant I love it  - you should keep going!" (of course this is absolutely not the case in working with my friend- she would kill me first)

4. You're not doing anyone favours by being cruel either!When you are editing someone's work you have their fragile, mercurial, reptilian writer brain in your hands. Do not crush it. Be gentle. Be polite. Suggest, don't order. Ask questions, don't assume. (I have been known to fail abysmally at this on occasion in the past - mostly on play scripts!)

5. Pointing out problem areas is far more helpful than offering solutions.While editing, it is inevitable that you will be struck by ideas about how someone else's book could be better. It's okay to offer up some illustrative directions the writer could change if something isn't working in your view, but ultimately the writer is best equipped to come up with ideas for new directions. Your job is to spot what's not working, not to rewrite.

6. Try to work out why something isn't working for you.There will be times where something about a chapter or section just doesn't seem right. But rather than thinking about how you would make it work better, try to articulate why it isn't working for you. Identifying the underlying issue can be invaluable for the writer.

7. Just make it work  -  You're looking for whether the writer has achieved what they set out to do. 

8. But - don't overdo it - Tailor your edit notes to the amount of work that needs to be done. There are two reasons for this approach: 1) You don't want to overwhelm the writer and 2) There's no reason for spending a lot of time on line edits or grammar checks if they are being revised anyway.

9. Remember that personal taste is personal - we can often be too sure of our own opinions. We may hate things other people love and love things other people hate. Never be too sure of your opinions when editing; you may be the only person who feels that way. Be cautious when making suggestions and frame your thoughts as your own personal reaction rather than as a pronouncement from the editing gods.

10. Be Positive - Your job as an editor is not to crush someone's spirit, even if you think their manuscript is missing a lot. Your job is not to "tell them like it is" (telling them like it is is telling them how YOU see it). Your job is to be helpful. Your job is to be supportive. Your job is to leave the manuscript and the writer in better shape than you found them. That is the essence of editing. You are a critical friend. If not - your life as an editor will be short lived! (and that's coming from someone who is on a steep learning curve and certainly has not earned the right to be called an editor).

So that's my basic and rather simple advice to myself and others  - just need to remember it now as I approach Chapter three...........

Have a great weekend!

The Pleasures of Food and the Unexpected: Blog 3 - 2014

Hi all,

Firstly thanks very much to those of you who commented on or responded to my last blog  - its great to get feedback and thanks for reading! 

Dawn at Borough Market

Don't you just love it when the accident of unexpected meetings turns into new relationships and friendships, either in a personal or business capacity? I especially like it when such a meeting with someone leads to the sparking of new ideas and exciting possibilities. Indeed if I trace back in my life, probably like most of us, I see that the unpredictable and perhaps most unlikely crossings of paths have led me in new directions that no plan could forsee. As John Lennon famously said "Life happens when you are busy making other plans" - that pretty much describes my  life experience and that of most people I suspect.You have to be open though to exploration,it might lead you down a blind alley, or to a new project or business idea.In any event it gets you thinking differently.

I had one such encounter last week when I met Dawn Williams from Pimento Hill 
http://www.pimentohill.co.uk/shop/. 
Pimento Hill is based at the Malthouse, right next to the Granary in Barking.They can be visited regularly at their stall on Borough market or their products purchased online.

Although we have been based in the same vicinity in the Icehouse Quarter for some time this was the first time I had met Dawn. I knew that her business makes original Jamaican chutneys and Carribbean sauces and seasonings in her small first floor kitchen but that was pretty much what I knew about what she does!  But I was about to find out more.

We met because Dawn was interested in buying some of my fifties tables and chairs for her exciting pop-up due to open shortly in Westfield Shopping Centre. I had expected to spend 10 minutes with her negotiating the price of my tables - but in fact we ended up spending over an hour and a half sitting at one of the tables engrossed in sharing ideas. The conversation centred around how we might bring food, design and performance together with a flavour of the Caribbean. 

As we sat at the table Dawn recounted to me how her passion for cooking had come from her grandmother in her early days in St Mary, Jamaica. She smoothed her hands over my table and conjured up her Grandmother's kitchen which she said had a table just like that one.


I have been to Jamaica just once but knew what she meant when she talked about a typical back yard, full of mismatched furniture and interesting objects  - a place of sharing and eating for friends and family and sometimes for playing games like dominoes. As we talked we shared ideas about settings for Westfield and I agreed that she could borrow my tables for the three months she would have her pop-up. By the end of our conversation it was no longer about negotiating prices! We had agreed to work together on a secret project for later in the year which would use both of our passions and skills and would bring together food. music and performance. I'm looking forward to working with Dawn on it. 

Opportunity for connections and idea sharing are everywhere if we open our eyes to them and take the risk of pursuing them.

I suggested to Dawn that she might give me a regular original recipe for my blog - and so here is the first - she says its the best and you will end up eating at least four! 

Saltfish Fritters (aka Stamp and Go)

Ingredients

1/2lb of saltfish
1 onion
1 scotch bonnet pepper
1 clove of garlic
3 cups of flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 cups of water
Oil for frying


Preparation

Soak the saltfish in water for half an hour
Chop the garlic, pepper and onion in to small pieces
Flake the fish in to small pieces after it has finished soaking
Sieve the flour into a bowl
Stir in the saltfish, onion, garlic, pepper, salt and pepper
Slowly stir in the water, stop adding the water when the mixture has a slightly sloppy consistency.

Cooking

Fill a frying pan about 1/2cm deep with oil and heat. 

Spoon fritters (about 1 heaped tablespoon of the mixture) in to the pan, fry for 10 minutes, turn over then fry the other side for a further 5 minutes. 

Repeat until all of the fritters are cooked.
Place the fritters on to a piece of kitchen roll to absorb some of the excess oil

Serving

Serve on their own or with bread or bully beef.

Enjoy!










* About Pimento Hill

Dawn grew up learning how to cook typical Jamaican dishes from her grandmother who used to prepare meals for the laborers near Pimento Hill in St Mary.

St Mary is famous for its particularly aromatic Pimento, aka ‘Allspice’, made from the dried, unripe fruits of an evergreen tree of the West Indies. The allspice fruit looks like a peppercorn though in flavor recalls and combines the sweet and heady mix of clove, nutmeg and cinnamon and is a key ingredient to the authentic jerk marinade.

The original St Mary Pimento has a distinct and incredibly deep flavour and forms the backbone to much of Pimento Hill’s amazing range of jerk marinades, pepper sauces, seasonings, chutneys, pickles and chilli jams.

Drawing on her grandmother’s recipes and her experience of cooking for the local workers, for Dawn cooking Jamaican is all about old memories and creating new ones. She puts all this magic into her stunning creations, which are all hand-made with the best ingredients and guaranteed to feed your body and soul!

Volunteering at MIND and Making Theatre: Blog 2 - 2014

Hello again!


Over the past six months during my blog break I have been incubating a new piece of work - its in its infancy with fragments of script and early development of a storyline. Its a play about mental health - a one woman piece.Its a demanding form, relying on the actor's ability to sustain and engage with an audience to tell a compelling story.It brings with it writing and performance challenges - how to shift flexibly to create and change location and how to inhabit the central character whilst at the same time conjuring the supporting characters in three dimensional truthfulness.Its physically demanding but a great opportunity for an actor to sharpen their skills further. I have performed a couple of one woman pieces myself and in my experience they offer a steep learning curve for actors. I have a talented actor in mind for this piece!

For a long time I have had a personal interest in mental health issues and I wanted to understand in greater depth how they present in a range of people's lives, their context and how they are uniquely experienced. I am interested in how conditions are diagnosed, medicated and managed by health professionals and what other avenues such as talking therapies are open to people. Then there is the pervasive issue of the attitudes of the public at large and the long term effect on individuals living both with a challenging mental condition and in many cases with prejudice and stigma.In spite of much work to address discrimination sadly mental health remains a serious taboo in our society.

Happiness features in this government's ambitions in David Cameron's so called Happiness Agenda. In 2011 he instructed local authorities to compare and contrast the happiness of their residents which in turn would influence government policy. Mmm....  but in a world too often defined by wealth and possessions he is surely set up for a fall?   'You have got to be happy. If you are not happy you are failing' he said. Well he would say that wouldn't he? So has this discussion about happiness become the sanitised modern way of talking about mental health?  

Recently I've been reading a bit about Utilitarianism and deep pragmatism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism ,a philosophy that proposes the doctrine that an 'action is right in so far as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.' Its difficult to argue with this on face value - however I suspect this has little meaning to the individual who is struggling with depression or other conditions. It begs the question of how to reconcile the bigger picture and concept of 'doing what's best for all' with the immediate and very real experience for the individual.

So with this all going around in my head I have just begun my volunteering at MIND - the mental health charity. I haven't volunteered for anything for a while, but each time I have in the past, whether as a school governor or as chair of a charity I have found the experiences hugely rewarding. The interview for MIND was a formal and searching process which surprised me at first, after all I was only signing up for one morning shift as an Initial Enquiry volunteer. But after two days of training over the past two weeks and my first day of shadowing yesterday I appreciate why. 

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I turned up at the MIND centre. I had been told that as an Initial Enquiry volunteer I would be a first contact for a caller or someone walking in from the street. The two volunteers I was to shadow were great - they explained the process to me and showed me around. They said that they sometimes sit for an entire shift without a call or someone coming into the 'duty' room. They explained that there is a huge range of people who come to MIND, many of whom might be in severe crisis. The role of the volunteer is to interview and assess the client and support them in finding the right service to support their needs. Of course this requires a sensitive and calm manner and a good ability to listen carefully. Volunteers are not trained counsellors, although many are studying to be so. 

I found the experience of shadowing very interesting. It was great to be in a learning and observing role and not to be a leader for a change. I learned the most from a 22-year old

psychology student whose skills were impressive. She took time to talk to me about the role and I watched her in action. We had two walk-in clients, both presenting with a high level of distress and with an immediate need for referral for counselling. Sophie (not her real name) listened attentively in both cases, and sat with the client whilst they talked before suggesting a number of projects funded by MIND and also statutory services. Sophie made phone calls on their behalf and set up appointments. It was a real privilege to be an observer. Each individual's story was complex and urgent and they were in despair. I observed how well Sophie managed the interviews and in both cases was able to offer practical help. After each session the Operations Manager debriefs the volunteer and strongly reinforces the importance of maintaining the volunteer's own well-being.

For me it was an absorbing experience and I feel that I will need to shadow for a number of sessions before I will be able to conduct such interviews. The opportunity to work inside an organisation like MIND, albeit for only half a day a week offers a chance to get a closer understanding of the wide and complex challenges involved in mental health issues and their consequences.I know this will be a journey that will enhance my understanding and deepen my creative work and I'm looking forward to contributing to and learning from this new experience.

I am reminded once again of that well known call to action:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”  Its an excellent goal to keep in mind!

― Mahatma Gandhi

See you anon.