Commonwealth Games Audition

Well hello there lovely readers!

On Saturday 26th I attended an audition to be part of the cast for the Opening/Closing ceremonies of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

I applied a few weeks ago on a whim (and because I need no excuse to dance!) and got an email inviting me to audition, so I packed my bags and headed off to Glasgow to see if I've got what it takes! ;) 

Now, for those of you who know me, you'll know that traveling isn't my strong suit. I know it's only a short distance from Aberdeen to Glasgow, but I've been stranded, penniless and phoneless, in Australia, I've watched buses drive off without me en route to Paris, made it no further than Edinburgh for what was meant to be a weeks' holiday in Magaluf, got my best friend really quite lost during Freshers Week by taking her the wrong way into town (5 years later she's still not let me forget that one), and just the other week it took me 1.5 hours to find the bus station from Sauchiehall street, which, for those who are not familiar with Glasgow, is a distance of about a hop, skip and a jump. Oh, and on that same occasion I booked the hostel for the wrong weekend and only noticed at 10.30 at night about 10 minutes before I arrived.

So needless to say I was *a little* nervous to see what level of failure this trip would be!! I had my thousands (ok, not thousands) of Facebook followers tuned in to my newsfeed to observe the likely catastrophe, and I will now share it with you.

Step 1: book, locate, and board correct bus.

8am start = coffee

Nailed it! This is the 3rd time I've gotten a bus out of Abz with no problems and no confusion and no missing the bus and no thinking the bus is on its' way when its actually gone. Think I've finally got this step down.

Step 2: arrive in Glasgow and locate hostel (on correct date)

Check! This is the exact same route which took me 2 hours last time (in the opposite direction), when I got totally, completely and hopelessly lost and walked in circles for about 6 miles until I somehow, and by accident, stumbled upon the bus station. I'm glad that this time I seemed to somehow know the exact route without the blink of an eye and with barely the use of a map, but 1) HOW?? and 2) WHY??? was it so hard last time?!?!

Step 3: identify audition location

It was all going so well at this point that I stopped to brag about it on Facebook, as you do. I then headed off to find Mitchell Library, and at about 90% of the way there, I realised...

Yup. My volunteer agreement, my ID number, my bus times and reservation numbers, the maps I'd printed, all sitting on the steps outside the hostel. Fortunately, I'd left myself quadrillions of time because I JUST KNEW I WOULD DO SOMETHING SILLY, so I was able to run back and get them. Pretty lucky they were still there after about 30 minutes but I don't even want to think about that. 

*shudders*

The audition was at Mitchell Library

 Now, from conversation I'd had and the fact that we all had to sign volunteer agreements as well as have our photos taken for ID badges and our measurements done for a costume, I was under the impression the audition was more or less a formality. 

It was not. 7000 people were auditioned, and 3500 people are needed to perform. That gives me a 50% chance.

To be honest though, that's OK. I had a lot of fun doing the audition (and conquering Glasgow!) so I'm just feeling really happy!! There were no disasters on the day and I did as well as anyone else - with the possible exception of the girl in front of me who was doing some fine looking breakdancing moves!! Go girl!

This seems like a good point to thank Steve and his team for leading the audition - they were so good at getting everyone energised and inspired, the bubbly atmosphere was contagious and I think I'm still feeling it today!!

This is my "OMG you gaiz that audition was for realz!" face

I then decided to keep the lucky-memento going and go to a restaurant ALONE. Because yes, I find that quite weird. It was totally a success though, unless you count one or two little sticking points, but I don't. I got fed, I was alone - I call that success!

Fettucine bolognese, which I ate by chopping it up and I'm not even sorry.

And now I'm home safe and sound in one piece! I'll be hearing about the success of my audition in the next few weeks so I'll keep you updated. I had such a good time though, I'm riding high this week!

[PS a secret other thing happened which I will hopefully be able to write about next week. SO.  EXCITING.]

Much love everyone!

Naomi x


Update 17th May!
I got an email last week telling me I'd been offered a place in the reserve cast for the opening audition :)
 I'm sure had I taken up the offer I may well have been able to land myself a spot, however the post involved a lot of trips to Glasgow for rehearsals, and it's just not something I can afford to do, financially or time-wise, with no guarantee of actually being involved in the performance itself. So, no Commonwealth for me this summer! However I do have tickets for Belladrum in August, and I can tell you now there will be much dancing at that! Swings and roundabouts, eh?

I did however have a lovely weekend conquering Glasgow and taking part in the audition, so no regrets.

Je regret rien ;)

Much love (again)
Naomi 

Scotland Activist Training with UK Feminista

Well hello there lovely readers!

Last week I attended Scotland Activist Training in Glasgow with UK Feminista, an organisation that encourages and supports activism in the field of gender equality.

I had an amazing time and met the best people, and I now feel totally fired up and ready to campaign!! The day was split into two "breakout" sessions (a bit like mini-seminars) and an "open space" session, where participants can set the agenda.

The first breakout session I attended was run by Claire Black, columnist and writer for The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, who talked about how to reach the right people within a newspaper and get coverage for your campaign or issue. We discussed the need to target the right publication as well as journalist - for example, writing to The Sun asking for coverage for your Lose the Lads Mags flashmob is not going to get you very far!! Writing to The Guardian, however...
We also talked about the DIY approach: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc - and how today's newspapers tend to "follow" stories rather than lead them. This means that while, in days gone by, no newspaper coverage for your story meant, well, exactly that - today, if you can create enough buzz about your campaign via social media, then the newspapers are likely to come to you. Claire was a wonderful, open and inspiring speaker, and we all liked that she allowed us to influence the discussion so we could get from it what was important to us. After Claire had led the discussion for a while, we split into groups to plan a "pretend" campaign addressing the issue of the shocking lack of female statues in Edinburgh - there are only 2, meaning that there are the same number of lady statues as there are dog statues in the entire Scottish capital! Truth be told, we planned our pretend campaign so successfully there was even talk of turning the campaign into a reality! So don't be surprised if you start seeing brassieres on statues around Edinburgh ;)
Search #BrasOn on twitter or have a look at some of the existing literature on the topic here and here.

The afternoon breakout session was led by Liz from Zero Tolerance. This was particularly interesting for me because it looked at ways to talk about gender stereotyping with children and young people, which is something I try to do in my job. Liz and her colleagues have been working on a series of activities to broach these subjects with under 18s, and she wanted to try out some of the activities on us and get some feedback. While I thought these activities were good, they were also largely aimed at secondary aged children, and were not really appropriate for the ages of children I work with. That said, Liz's second activity, Numbered Jenga, was really interesting! In Liz's version, you stick numbers on Jenga blocks and then build your tower and play as normal. However, you also have a "Question Master," and whenever a player selects a brick with a number on it, they have to answer a question. I can really see this working in my setting, and I can see how the activity can be adapted for all different kinds of ages and topics. I found that so exiting that I'm currently working on a game of Children's Rights Jenga as part of my Children's Participation project for work, and if it's successful I'd love to look at gender stereotyping and other issues in the same way. It can be difficult to engage children to think about serious issues in an After School setting, especially as they've been working hard all day at school and often just want to chill out. At the same time though (very conversely!), they do enjoy a certain level of stimulation, and I think Numbered Jenga hits the right balance of stimulation and straight-forwardness. 

The final session was an "open space" session, where anyone who wanted to open a discussion about something of interest to them could, and participants were encouraged to move around conversations and contribute what they were able. Topics ranged from how to promote intersectionality in campaigns, to how to create specific goals that can be applied in real life, to how activists and feminist organisations can work more closely together. While I initially thought this would be quite a scary thing, perhaps beyond my level of ability, actually it was not. Once a few people had suggested topics (and thereby volunteered to lead discussions), I began to think of a few possible discussions myself, and after taking part, I think I could have managed to lead a conversation had the need arisen. This was partly due to the lovely, passionate and open people who attended the day - we were a small but not too small group of really cool people, and I've really enjoyed staying in touch!

From all this positive discussion, one thing that was identified as being potentially useful was a way of linking feminists throughout Scotland. At the training day there were a lot of people from Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a few from further afield (Newcastle, Inverness-shire and myself representing Aberdeen). We realised that each city had its' own group or groups who held events or campaigns, but obviously there is strength in numbers, and a platform whereby we could connect, share ideas and information, would be great. So, we have started the Scotland Feminist Network on Facebook. Hopefully this will grow and evolve and provide a way of building momentum in feminism in Scotland. That said, it *is* just Facebook, so who knows! I would encourage anyone in Scotland reading this with an interest in equality to join and share though, it could potentially be really effective if used properly!

And that, ladies and gents, is all I have to say today! Please connect with me through the comments form below if you have anything to add, and other than that - have a lovely day!

Over and out,
Love love love,
Naomi