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A podcast with short stories written by ourselves and others, read by ourselves sand others. Also the home for "Hope To BE Hopeful" a non -fiction podcast about hope. Brought to you by Bernadette Russell and Gareth Brierley, plus guests.
Episodes
Wednesday Aug 12, 2020
Wednesday Aug 12, 2020
A Manifesto of Care by Bernadette Russell and friends was
Words Bernadette Russell
Music by Dez Moran
Artwork Dan Thompson
With thanks to Lindsay Seers, Dominic Campbell, Rebecca Swift (Entelchy Arts)
The full manifesto can be found here:
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
In this week’s episode, Chris Williams shares his experience of living in Beirut, witnessing revolution, government change and the recent tragic explosion which caused huge devastation, deaths, and left over 300 000 people homeless.
Chris shares his stories about the vibrancy and warm heartedness of Lebanon
“ this country is…. .a great place to be and the overwhelming thing for me is that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you have come from the people here are so welcoming … their sense of warmth and hospitality and being welcoming is amazing”
Chris talks through his and his partner Gemma’s experience of the aftermath of the explosion and witnessing incredible acts of kindness and generosity as people immediately tried to look after each other…Chris tells the story of of how their foster cat Mouse was rescued by Animas Lebanon, and his and Gemma’s gruelling 45 minute walk through the rubble of a ruined city “ full of lots of injured people, lots of panicked people, lots of scared people” but how the return journey took him by surprise: “What I expected to be an upsetting trip back was actually heart-warming and moving because … the streets were just full of people… who had come straight there to help.. to do what they could… bringing manoushe (a traditional Lebanese breakfast) …. , hundreds of people giving bottles of water out, asking do you need somewhere to stay… everyone pulling together in this really bleak time”
We speak about the hope that rises when we bear witness to this, that even at the absolute worst of times people try to help each other
Chris feels hopeful for the future of Lebanon: “When the people come together to demand something… they are so powerful – when everyone is one speaking with one voice and demanding change … that shows real hope to me because I think there can be change … …. there is so much hope in the country and so much potential “
Here are some examples of places to donate
Lebanese Red Cross are focused on medical and rescue efforts - https://www.supportlrc.app/donate/
Impact Lebanon are providing shelter for displaced people - https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/impact-lebanon?utm_term=dXEJkepP7
Amel are providing food, medical support, rehabilitation and psychological support / therapy - https://www.gofundme.com/f/emergency-fund-for-lebanon?fbclid=IwAR3HSzw-mL-p4_XOU5ftrj7dj_xNZYzgaA5NaqBnUa8ub7aYDXsDMebwMVA
Animals Lebanon are also doing really great stuff rescuing animals from the rubble - https://www.animalslebanon.org/donate
Here is the Guardian article with more recommendations:
Sources of information about the region : https://www.arabnews.com \
More soon!
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. This podcast series is a chance for me to chat again to some of the people who I interviewed for the book, as well as some people who I didn't have the chance to. I hope you enjoy it.
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
facebook https://www.facebook.com/bernadetterussellwrites/
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
This episode I speak with artist Evgenia Emets from her home in Portugal about hope and her project Eternal Forest. We speak about the joy and peace to be found in forests, and of Evgenia’s plans to create 1000 “Eternal Forest Sanctuaries” which will last for 1000 years, and about her hopes for a “quieter world” which we may look forward to
Eternal Forest is an ongoing long term art project which, Evgenia explains “will continue as long as I am alive and beyond” wherein we can “treat these spaces as sacred and connect with nature in a different way… and learn from nature…. creating these spaces with purposes and intention, with communities … and protected by them”
We speak about the need to let go of patterns in our societies that no longer serve us:
“the idea of a piece of forest being property is something that I believe in the future will not exist… “
And we discuss how the lock down gave us a chance to practise and experience different ways of being, and to discover what is important. Evgenia says
“We are conditioned to think that everything has to have a monetary value…
But there are things in life we can’t put the market value tag on- like love, nature, family”
We speak about the challenge of burn out for changemakers and activists:
“Sometimes you need to fail really badly… and come out if it with new knowledge…. it is not always about achieving something right here right now - maybe it’s about building a foundation for things to be done by other people”
We speak about the importance of joy and of dreaming
“ I look for the dreamtime that has been lost… what is asking me to work with it… as soon as we make these decisions something magical happens… nature says ok now I am going to show you things that you really need to see and to learn. This is what comes to you when you are still and quiet for long enough…. So let’s ask ourselves “how do we do things differently with joy?”
About Evgenia:
To keep up with Evgenia and Eternal Forest you can find her on socials here:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Photona/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1
Twitter: @EvgeniaEmets
Instagram: @evgenia_emets
Facebook: @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/eternalforest/
About Bernadette:
My latest book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out 10thSeptember 2020. You can pre-order the book in these places:
WATERSTONES > https://bit.ly/2VTGvgg
AMAZON > https://amzn.to/3iBZSEr
HIVE > https://bit.ly/3e9zPAW
FIND YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP > https://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell
Instagram @bernadetterussell
Facebook @bernadetterussellwrites
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Monday Jul 27, 2020
This episode I speak with Penny Pepper “acclaimed wheelchair-using author, poet, performer & disabled activist” about hope and creativity, mental health, stories, swearing, burlesque and nature amongst other things…
I was lucky enough to grab a chat with Penny on the weekend she was finishing her latest novel. We spoke about the hope that she finds in nature “it’s good for us to not be overburdened by stuff that’s not really important. ... I have swifts that come over my house every day, and I know that they will fly off fairly soon as they are migratory birds … I like the idea that whatever else is going on, next year there’ll be swifts flying over this house “
We discuss Penny further exploring the positive aspects of performing on zoom and how “ it removes a lot of access barriers whilst still capturing a live experience” about her upcoming life modelling and interview on Isolation Station with Lucien Freud’s model and muse Sue Tilley (details below)
We talk about the importance of disabled peoples stories “ any story told starts to break down the clichés and the discrimination…. a greater range of stories expands our experiences of humanity.”
Penny talks about the time she rendered Ruby Wax speechless “for about 8 seconds” at the Edinburgh Festival , about learning to value her mental health issues as making her who she is, and about how despite going through very difficult times there are always signs of hope when we need them , from nature, from people doing kind things, from being encouraged by others to persevere and from getting lost in the creative process “like a kind of mindfulness”
Penny speaks about her idea of Utopia which includes a fairer more equal society (“where we let the Queen retire… she’ll probably be relieved”) and one in which “we all have equality and we work towards that… where everyone’s lives are valued and we respect our differences as enriching the whole, but that means understanding that disabled people aren’t just waiting for a cure that’s never going to come… realising that being disabled is part of the normal experience of humanity “
Penny encourages us all to try out anything and everything our hearts desire, ““spread your wings, spread your wheels, spread your mind and try, because there is always hope, there bloody well is always hope”
More soon!
Love Bernadette xx
About Penny:
Penny’s memoir “First In the World Somewhere” is available in all the usual places. Her new book centres around Nancy Jones- a disabled time travelling rebel,
“strong funny and wilful” - to keep up with this and her other work you can find her on socials here:
:
Twitter: @PenPep
Instagram: @mspennypepper
Facebook: @PennyPepperWriter
Isolation Station with Sue Tilley can be found here https://www.isolationstationhastings.co.uk
About Bernadette:
My latest book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out 10thSeptember 2020. You can pre-order the book in these places:
WATERSTONES > https://bit.ly/2VTGvgg
AMAZON > https://amzn.to/3iBZSEr
HIVE > https://bit.ly/3e9zPAW
FIND YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP > https://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell
Instagram @bernadetterussell
Facebook @bernadetterussellwrites
Monday Jul 20, 2020
Monday Jul 20, 2020
This episode I speak with Natasha Magigi, an incredible actor who has worked with the RSC, the Globe Theatre and is an Artistic Associate of Teatro Vivo. We covered a lot! Positive change in the industry, the importance of storytelling, Black Lives Matters ("a movement, not a moment") , defining success on your own terms, the comfort and importance of finding a community so you know you are not suffering alone and you have support.
Tash talks abut her surprise at being cast as Hero in "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Globe She says didn’t expect to get it because “I hadn’t really seen fat women in love story roles that weren’t comic… " and how broader casting is a source of hope too. Tash has gone on to play many roles in Shakespeare including Juliet and has toured the world doing so.
We talk about the life of an actor and the importance of "defining success on your own terms... if you are doing what you love, so this is success" and how although there is much work still to do, positive changes are happening, Tash talks about the many things that are buoying her : the conversations about the stories being told and who is telling the stories: the demands to have more women (with the 50: 50 campaign) the conversations about racial diversity, colour blind /colour conscious casting, ableism, the conversations about age in the industry "We need to see more older women on stage and on screen because women don’t die when they turn 40"
Tash speaks about her mum taking her to see Jesse Jackson speak in Harlsden when she was 6 years old "I remember being in a room with lots of black adults crying and singing "We Shall Overcome" and now I am 30 something, I am still surrounded by black adults wanting to be heard, older than me, younger than me, and children screaming to be heard, and I feel like his time there is a listening happening. How long do we have to keep shouting to be heard ?"
We speak about learning about each other by hearing each others stories, because we have so much in common "We love our families, we love each other, we just need to love all of each other"
To find out more about Natasha's latest show (coming up August 202) go here:
You can connect with her on socials here:
twitter:@TashaGigi
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tashagigi
Natasha Magigi spent the majority of 2019 touring the world with Pericles, The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night as part of the Globe on Tour. She has performed in a number of productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, including Comus – A Masque in Honour of Chastity at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Maria in Twelfth Night and Hero in Much Ado in the main theatre, and Sonnet Walks and Shakespeare Within the Abbey.Other recent theatre includes Don Quixote with the RSC in the West End, The Country Wife at Chichester Festival Theatre and Lady Windermere’s Fan as part of Classic Spring’s year at the Vaudeville theatre, directed by Kathy Burke and starring Jennifer Saunders.
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. You can pre-order the book in these places:
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
Monday Jul 13, 2020
Monday Jul 13, 2020
This episode I speak with Gemma Seltzer, writer and facilitator of “Write And Shine” – writing workshops and retreats which help people to find their writing lives and celebrate “the joyful inspirational power of the morning”
Gemma has created some other amazing projects and speaks about some of them here, including “Speak To Strangers” and “Look Up At The Sky” . She speaks about making the “ ordinary extraordinary’ and about how she is interested in how you can “ create the conditions to really connect with people…”
We speak about the power of active, compassionate listening, as well as how Gemma finds hope right now, particularly in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement “there isn’t just one way to contribute to social change … in this moment there is a range of ways… the hope lies in us working out what we can do to contribute - seeing people work out the step forward gives me hope”
We speak about our shared belief in the power of small everyday actions because “ If we do something every day the world can potentially change”
We also speak about the hope and lifeline that can be provided to people by finding space and time to be creative. Gemma says it can help you to “trust your own voice “ and that it also helps “with empathy towards others … it is quite magical… transformative “
To find out more about Gemma's workshops go here: https://write-and-shine.com
you can connect with her on socials here:
twitter:@writeandshine
instagram: @writeandshine.ldn
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. You can pre-order the book in these places:
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
Monday Jul 06, 2020
Monday Jul 06, 2020
This week I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with the artist, musician, and poet Landry Butler from Nashville, one of the hubs of community and creativity in the beautiful American south.
We spoke about many things including how art and creativity can help hope to grow, the importance of people singing together, and how despite despair growing in America, hope is growing too
“ we have to push back with our own hope, the belief that we like to work together and build each other up, we can do that … still have the hope that we can do something positive”
We spoke a lot about the importance of knowing the stories that have been left out or “edited so that they don’t tell the whole truth” as Landry says, if we knew them we would be “better people because we would have an idea of where we came from and where we’re headed” and Landry speaks about the comfort that knowing our history can provide “some of my ancestors were enslaved and dealt with the horrors of slavery which is something I can’t even imagine, but they survived which is the reason I am here today, and that brings me a lot of hope, to know that things and sometimes do get worse but if you take it one step at a time you can survive and you can build something positive out of it” We also spoke about the hope that has been inspired by the Black Lives Matters movement, and how allies can best help outside of marching and protesting “talk about it with other white people and to study up on racism”. We spoke about activism in which “you need to get people’s attention and you need a plan” and what utopia might look like, when we are all free of fear.
All of this PLUS a track from Landry’s band the Inglewood Social Club for your listening pleasure!
You can find out more about the wonderful Sunday Assembly here:
About Black Lives Matter (U.S) here:
And about Landry here: http://landrybutler.com/
Inglewood Social Club here: https://inglewoodsocialclub.bandcamp.com/
And watch on YouTube here: - https://is.gd/G8mOLb
More soon!
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. This podcast series is a chance for me to chat again to some of the people who I interviewed for the book, as well as some people who I didn't have the chance to. I hope you enjoy it.
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bernadetterussellwrites/
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
WONDER Episode four
Here is the last episode in our series of short story podcasts on the theme of WONDER in collaboration with Revelation Ashford.Recorded during lock down 2020 in Deptford. Hope you enjoy the stories
Track one: Sea of Wonder by Ranna Sillard
Story one: "The Women On The Bus" by Jo Tandy
Read by Bernadette Russell and Emma Waterford
Track two: Serenity of Midsummer by Clarke Russo
Story two: ""Heaven Sent" by Susan Handley
Read by Bernadette Russell
Track three "When Morning Came” Clarke Russo
Story three: OK, Daddy-long-legs and the Infinite Web" by Niamh Bagnell
Read by Gareth Brierley
Track four: “Waltz With Me” by Martin Carlberg
Please follow us to hear more podcasts in the future!
This new work has been made possible thanks to the funding partners of Revelation which are: Ashford Borough Council, Arts Council England, Kent County Council and The Godinton Trust.
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Monday Jun 29, 2020
How To Be Hopeful Episode 12 “Home Made Mutant Hope Machines”
Welcome to my podcast about hope. This week, in celebration of Pride Month, I speak the amazing Ben Walters AKA Dr. Duckie. Inspired by the wonderful performance art collective Duckie, whose regular home is the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Ben has recently completed a PHD focusing on their work and projects. During his research he developed the incredible concept of “Home Made Mutant Hope Machines” : “a form or a process which routinely generates the idea that a better world is possible”
We had a great chat about many things including about how change and uncertainty as well as bringing chaos and discomfort can also “bring the possibly of hope for positive change”
Please listen to find out exactly how Ben defines his hope machines, about the fabulous and important work of Duckie, about the radical nature of fun, and the importance of valuing pleasure, and the link between carnivalesque and political change
In this episode Ben asks us to consider our own Home Made Mutant Hope Machines, by thinking about what regularly gives you hope, “it could be an object, an event, a relationship, a habit, an organisation …. if it doesn’t exist yet … what might it be?”
You can submit your ideas, plus find out more about Ben’s work and Duckie here: http://www.duckie.co.uk/dr-duckie
You can watch the live talk Ben gave at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT0gKR--d4I
More soon!
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. This podcast series is a chance for me to chat again to some of the people who I interviewed for the book, as well as some people who I didn't have the chance to. I hope you enjoy it.
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bernadetterussellwrites/
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Monday Jun 15, 2020
How To Be Hopeful Season 1 Episode 11 “Finding the Golden Moments”
Welcome to my podcast about hope. This week I speak with Denis Kane, who is project manager at Penfold Community Hub in West London. Penfold is a residential unit primarily for older people with long term health conditions such as dementia and Parkinson’s. The wider community is invited in to the hub to take part in the wide range of activities that take place there, including gardening, Zumba, sewing, art, cooking, choir and theatre to name a few!
Denis talks beautifully about the tremendous value of community and how it gives him hope “I see hope all over the place, particularly in my work… working with amazing people and amazing projects. I have found tremendous hope in how resilient people have been. I slightly lose hope when I think about politics, but I don’t when I remember projects like ours…. the simple things that can have an impact on people who are on the edge, engaging them, that gives me hope… reaching the quiet person at the back of the room who lacks confidence… this gives me hope too”
He also speaks about how all of us in the simplest of ways can engage positively with our communities and the hope to be found in small everyday actions: “It doesn’t need an emergency for us to come together as a community and take care of those who need it… contributing to your community is stopping in the street to have a chat "
Penfold Community hub is a charity and part of Notting Hill Genesis, a housing association which works to provide decent and affordable homes for lower-income households.
You can find them here: https://www.nhg.org.uk/communities/penfold-community-hub/
You can see some beautiful images of projects Penfold created in collaboration with the Royal Albert Hall here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76734716@N08/albums/72157709571759316
And here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76734716@N08/albums/72157709532024177
And a trailer of one of the projects here: https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2018/july/open-stages-programme-brings-together-two-communities-for-a-unique-performance-in-the-elgar-room/
More soon!
Love Bernadette
My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. This podcast series is a chance for me to chat again to some of the people who I interviewed for the book, as well as some people who I didn't have the chance to. I hope you enjoy it.
You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com
twitter @betterussell insta @bernadetterussell
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bernadetterussellwrites/