Archive: Website 2001

Looking at my second website and post from 2001

Walking down the shambles that is Glasgow City Centre' Sauchiehall Street I comment to my son ‘there’s bad juju here, let’s avoid it for a while’.

The pedestrianised street is torn up with collapsing fences doing a bad job from keeping people from falling in. What’s left is narrow walkways on either side, hemmed in by graffiti marked empty shop units and pound shops that are decidedly not fairtrade or sustainable (she says wryly giving Glasgow City Council a side eye since they’d rather give these businesses free rates then support long standing independent businesses….ahem). As we navigate the slim channel that’s been left for us to get from point a to point b, we are forced also to dodge deliveroo bike delivery dudes racing at dangerous speeds, beggars camped out with sleeping bags and puppies, and the occasional chugger raising money for children in some far flung place.

It was not always like this. When I arrived in Glasgow in 1999, Sauchiehall Street had just gotten a facelift. The flagstones were fresh. The cleaned buildings empty and ready for new tenants. It felt as though it was a place on the precipice for wonderful things to happen. The only homeless evident were ‘Big Issue’ Sellers. These were entirely young men with addiction issues. And whilst sad, their ‘employment’ gave the sense they were being given an opportunity to change their course. I never saw females or older folks.

Not anymore.

It is difficult to find yourself in a place unrecognisable. It’s like looking at someone else’s life. I have not moved place but the place has moved from me. Where is the light in that darkness? Where is the island in the storm? Only time will tell. My very wise (Great) Uncle Jim said to me once, ‘Everything makes sense in hindsight, do not forget to enjoy yourself in the meantime’. And a wise man he was. Survived the depression, served in World War II, raised four children, married to my Aunt Ellie for 70 years, they went dancing every Saturday night till their death within months of each other at 95.

It is the wisdom of our elders and the connections we maintain to the trajectory of our past from a familial and historical perspective that lead us through. So we must remind ourselves of that as we construct the future we need.

For paid subscribers only I am including one of my first Deeming Dreaming Artist newsletter posts that I sent out in 2001 which subsequently went onto my website. I was one of the first independent artists in Scotland to have a website, online newsletter and blog. I no longer have an online record of this, but luckily I printed out the content which is in my archive.

It is a hopeful post of glorious Glasgow. No wonder I stayed. It is an interesting reflection given where we are today…..

My SECOND website. Circa 2001-ish. I only have print outs of the pages.