Indominus Rex and The Special Occasion of Hotdogs

Once upon a time, not too long ago, in fact, just last week, there was a marvellous creature called INDOMINUS REX. Indominus Rex, loved to go to parties. He was a great dancer who could get a whole crowd jumping and jamming to the beat. He would play his favourite song again and again and

#BringHStoLight

I woke up one morning last week super early, with a different kind of energy. It’s the kind of energy I feel when I am part of a universe bigger than me. And, that I am getting behind a mission with a whole bunch of people, some of whom I have never met, who really

Coming out of the blue… remix…

This is a short excerpt from a talk I wrote for Anita Shervington’s fabulous BlackSteam event in Birmingham and subsequently remixed a snippet at the STEM National Forum (I am an 80s kid after all – and with 5 minutes and the floor on a diversity and inclusion session, Beresford’s story rang true and found

A seat at the table…

As I re-entered academia, I’ve been grappling with how best to recognise the many intellectual activists, non-academic activists, artists and cultural producers who have influenced and shaped my journey. Academia finds it hard to come to terms with and recognise outside and activist academic influences, so, here is my growing list… Sara Ahmad, Nadia Albina,

Our house…

The first single i ever bought was ‘baggy trousers‘ by Madness. This song made total sense to me ‘our house, in the middle of our street, our house…‘ living as we did in a terraced house in the middle of our street in the east end of london. I remember walking to the record store on

If you get left behind…

Occasionally, when the business of the day has settled, I close my eyes and two faces from my past pop into my my mind. Patrick and Aisha (not their real names) – in real life, they have never met yet in my mind they occupy the same space. Both, waiting, looking at me with regret, disdain,

MIF MaGic – Night walks, #mcr #MIF15

It might be raining, but Manchester is absolutely on fire this week. Manchester International Festival is in fine swagger. Last night we went to Old Granada Studios to check out FKA Twigs, in residence making new work Soundtrack 7. ‘Each day of the residency will see FKA twigs and collaborators create and film a new dance-based performance

Nature’s Switch

We’ve been up at the crack of dawn, searching for the sun in fields, allotments, plant science labs and farms. Well not just looking for the sun, but different wavelengths of red light. We’ve speeded up time and watched flowers open. We’ve watched the sun set over old trafford and enjoyed cherry tree blossom at

Keeping time

I’ve been quietly excited about going to watch three days of orchestral rehearsals at the Royal Northern College of Music. Every year RCNM invites trainee conductors from all over the world to join a three day masterclass. And, non-musicians can apply to observe… so I did. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and no

Theatre, virtual reality and the art of immersion

  I had a hatrick of serendipitous future media opportunities recently. First off I was invited to visit the Autumnwatch set housed up at the RSPB Leighton Moss centre in Silverdale, Lancashire. As an RSPB member, Leighton Moss is my nearest centre and I visit every year in November to watch the Starling murmurations. Seeing