benedson

40x40x40: Day 31

i start to think about the end
it is within sight
tangible

yet i know that before the end
there will be great anguish

death wrestled with
and hopes dashed

i look forward to the end
but fear the journey

40x40x40: Day 26

the dynamism of manchester
surrounds me
a city that exudes confidence
proud of it's heritage

an arrogant swagger
of a city that looks beyond the capital
a swagger that
ignores the most broken

manchester, manchester
so much to answer for...

40 images:40 videos:40x40 words:40 days:day1

Solitude was Christ’s experience in the desert. I celebrate the city, yet daily I meet people where the city is a place of isolation and loneliness. In our celebration let us not forget the solitude and isolation of the city. 

The City as a Brand: Madchester

If you're in Manchester you may have noticed the launch of FAC251,  a new club that Peter Hook has started up in the Paradise Factory. There have been a few comments saying that this is a nostalgic, backwards move which is preventing the city from moving on from the halcyon days of Madchester.  

On one level I agree, but on another level I'm not a Mancinuan, I wasn't in Manchester in the early 90's but the legacy of Madchester drew me to the city. The music and culture of Madchester heavy influenced me as an 18 year old, and when a job opportunity came up in the city I was drawn to it.  The legacy of Madchester is that is still serves to draw people to the city and this I think is why the city doesn't ever shut up about it!

It'd be like Nottingham shutting up about Robin Hood, or Liverpool shutting up about the Beatles.  Madchester has helped to shape the contemporary cultural identity of the city.  Does it hold us back though?  No, I think that it pushes us forward - it reminds us of what we once were, it shows us what we can still be, it means that people like me are drawn to the city, and start to talk about the city as my home.  Maybe when Hooky starts his latest venture it's painful for us, it's a reminder that only 20 years ago Manchester was the centre of a musical and cultural revolution - which we're not in the same way now.

Don't get me wrong I love Manchester, but it's not the centre of a movement in the way it was 20 years ago.  It still pioneers, it still leads in innovation but it does not have razzamatazz of Madchester...

Thinking about the Congestion Charge...

On 11th December Manchester votes on the proposed peak time congestion charge.  The basic being that there is an inner and outer boundary and each time you cross the boundaries going towards the city centre in the morning rush hour and away from the city centre in the evening rush hour period you'll be charged.  £3 billion will be invested in public transport before the charge comes in.  So we the people of Manchester have the opportunity to vote on this...so what will you do?

There are pressure groups out there for both sides: Vote Yes or  Stop the Charge

What am I going to do?  For me there is no choice, I will vote yes and it will either cost me money or it will make my life less convenient.  It will force me to consider my options when thinking about driving to the city centre and will therefore encourage me to use public transport more.  This can only be a good thing globally.  I'm a left of centre, socially liberal, theologically eclectic person and so i recognise that I was always going to say yes to this.  In my mind the equation goes:

Cars create pollution-pollution cause global warming-global warming is causing the death of the planet.

But maybe I'm being naive, maybe I'm not seeing the complexity of the congestion charge, maybe I'm missing something? I've heard concerns about the poor being discriminated against most, about the arbitrary position of the boundary, of it not being enough to bring about a change it attitudes to our cars, all valid points but the argument I've heard the most is it will make my life less convenient...

Mr Manchester dies

Tony Wilson died yesterday after a battle with cancer. Factory records were personally hugely influential for me, the Madchester scene of the early 90's was one of the things that attracted me to Manchester. He signed bands such as New Order, The Happy Monday's, Northside, commisioned Peter Saville to do some stunning design work and then launched the Hacienda.

He was such a purist that gave artists such as Joy Division total creative freedom. This meant he made no money and on record's such as New Order's best selling 12 inch 'Blue Monday' he lost money on every record sold.

I saw him a few time in town, buying coffee in 'Love Saves the Day' - he'll be missed.

Technorati Tags: Manchester, puppy, tony wilson

Sanctus1 and The Message

I was speaking at the Manchester Centre for Public theology last thursday, we were exploring how the church engages with young people. I spoke about Sanctus1 (although the average age is prob 30 and the oldest person is probably in their late 40's, but that's young in the eyes of the church) and Anna spoke about the Message and their work with the eden teams in manchester.

I've never been in a place where we're being compared with The Message before, mainly because we're a very different animal. However, Anna spoke well and, although i'm not a big fan of The Message's large scale events, i think that the work that they do with The Eden projects is fantastic.

Chris Baker from WTF, was summing up and had some really interesting thoughts, highlighting the difference but complimentary nature of Sanctus1 and The Message. The first one, and the one that I've been pondering on is that one is far more focused on 'the word' the other is focused on the image. The image can be interpreted in a number of ways, the word, in this example, is fairly straight forward. We are very image focused in Sanctus1, whether film or Art, and i think that that beauty of that is that we have a variety of interpretations. However, i think that we were all once individually in a place where we needed it straight down the line...

Technorati Tags: Manchester, The Message, Sanctus1