via tekniklr

via koolaidhair

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Papergirl Leeds

Shiny New Blog

Papergirl Leeds blog

Can't seem to get the background to repeat.......

I've had a look at the CSS and tried to enter background-repeat; but to no avail.

Getting Tomjay the techie to intervene.

Think I'm going to put my own image URL in the background anyways.

Papergirl Leeds Zine

I've decided that the best idea for a final piece for Visual Language will be a zine. I decided this as this is a public event, I need to be thinking about reaching as many people as possible. I can make many copies of the zine, rather than just a few books. Plus I want the piece to be interactive, participatory and analogue (just like Papergirl is).

However, this may impact on whether I can submit work for the International Book Fair (pretty sure I can put in zines). In any case, there's always London Zine Symposium on April 17th 2011.

The Papergirl Leeds zine will be called "Papergirl Leeds - Creating a Creative Community (on 2 wheels??!? maybe)". It will be 20 pages long. I've worked out what I think the zine needs to contain and asked some friends what they think too. Obviously, it needs to be written as if they've never heard of Papergirl Leeds. It is educational. It is informative. It especially needs to be something exciting and a good read.

The layout:

1. front cover illustration, title.
2. contents
3. What is Papergirl Leeds?
4. History of Papergirl (Berlin)
5. continued
6. Our Vision - creating a creative community.
7. continued
8. Papergirl World (other cities) with a map and pointers
9. continued
10. Printables - poster with tabs and "bike tags" to put in people's spokes. To get people involved and spreading the word. 
11. continued
12. Papergirl Manchester Interview with Janice (already asked - said yes!)
13. continued
14. cycling - law and council info, new routes, policies etc
15. continued
16. Other creative community events/ spaces
17. continued
18. Leeds bike repair shops/ workshops etc
19. contact / website / blog
20. back illustration

Basically, all content is on double page spreads except the first and last 3 pages. The printables are in the centre so that they can be pulled out. Although I may rethink this so that there is nothing on the back of the printables (unless they state that they are for copying instead of pulling out). Either way, it's up to the person that gets the zine how they interact with it. I just need to try and make sure it happens.

I would like to screen print the cover if I have time, so I would need to either, leave a blank page or glue the first and last page (1 and 20) to the screen-printed cover.

I have a feeling that I am going to have to be more rational in my zine plans. We will see.

Creative Advertising

The milk trick doesn't work (very well)

Black Dogs case study

Out with the old, in with the new (ideas)

I've been sorting through my stuff. I have a lot of stuff that I don't use/wear yet I can't seem to part with it.

So I've decided to set myself a challenge.

FIND A NEW USE FOR STUFF I OWN THAT CURRENTLY ARE BEING UNUSED.

I have so many t shirts (no way I can through away my band t shirts, but I doubt I'll be wearing them any time soon as they're already been customised and show a lot of flesh). Maybe I'll keep a few as they are for when it's warmer.

But I've had a google for some ideas and found this awesome website that has absolutely loads of ideas for recycling t shirts.

So that's what I'll be doing once I have a spare moment to myself.

Women, know your limits

Made me chuckle.

Riot Grrls

Go Roseanne!!!

Quick, say something nice

Cuts Cafe: One week to Go!

Here’s a general update, please post on your blogs / email to your friends. Ta!

Cuts Cafe, Leeds City Centre
Jan 31st – Febuary 6th

more info: www.cutscafeleeds.wordpress.com and http://on.fb.me/cutscafe

1. What’s that again

A week long occupation to explore the changing values that determine how space, buildings and resources are used – beginning in the city we live in. We’re occupying a city centre space that has major plans for redevelopment, another example of the promotion of profit over people. While national and local governments cut welfare services for those who most need them, we want to create an alternative Leeds where the diverse needs and desires of residents, not corporate interest, determine the way that space and resources are used.

In the space, we will be exploring how we can mobilise and take action in Leeds that takes us closer to a city controlled by the community not undemocratic politicians and profit-hungry big business.

2. Timetable

We’ve now got a draft timetable of scheduled events up online, check it out atwww.cutscafeleeds.wordpress.com/timetable . It includes workshops and talks around benefits, housing, regeneration, learning from past resistance, unionism and disability as well as action planning around the cuts. There’ll be dinner at 7 every day for a small donation and tea and hot drinks on tap.

We’ll also have ongoing activities to participate with whenever you drop in. There’ll be a chance to get creative, plot memories on a map of Leeds, share stories about your experience of services and compare your priorities with those of the national government.

3. Fun

As well as workshops there’s a packed programme of fun, including a fully-furnished cinema, a band night, two dance performances and outdoor games throughout the city centre. We’re also hoping for it to be a nice space to spend time in, so if you’re good with decor or have any spare furnityre, pop over on Sunday and Monday to help beautify.

4. Where is it?

We’re keeping schtum about the exact location for now, but we’ll make it public nearer the time. It’s going to be in a city centre location with lots of transport links.

5. Get Involved

Keen to be part of it? Have a workshop to offer? Want to help us put on the week? Email us back on reclaimleeds@gmail.com and we’ll be in touch.

6. More info

We’re updating our website with a lot more information, so check it out and subscribe to updates if you’re interested. You’ll also find a page talking about why we’re fighting the cuts and a page setting out a “safer spaces” agreement to ensure people feel comfortable inside the space.

Pass it on, and see you there,
x

The best quote of all time

"Be excellent to each other"

-Bill S. Preston Esq

Hear that? Cyclists have as much right to use the road network as any other user.

via Leeds City Council

via LCC - Core Cycle Network Project

via LCC Cycling policy

via LCC - Cycling Consultation Forum

I think it would be a good idea to head on down to this.

Green Patriot Posters: Graphics for a Sustainable Community

via guardian

Green Patriot Posters

Hey.........that's me!

Leeds.......That's us!

via craftivist collective

Papergirl Leeds' first article

Leeds ActiveARTS blog

Papergirl Leeds has it's first blog article here :)

Papergirl Leeds: The Art of Giving

What is Papergirl? The Papergirl project is essentially a movement dedicated to getting art into the publics' hands, originally created by Aisha Ronniger in 2006 in Berlin. Papergirl is a show, an urban action, a bicycle workshop and a party! The elements are key: participatory, analog, non-commercial and impulsive. Anybody who wants to, can participate. You can submit work or help to distribute. Papergirl is distributed unedited and consisting of original artwork.

Art is collected and submitted, exhibited and then lovingly bundled up to be handed out by papergirls and boys on bicycles to unsuspecting members of the public. Surprise! Imagine if you got one of these beautiful original artworks placed in your hands in a flash by a bicycling papergirl distributer! The spontaneous action will hopefully put a smile on the recipient's face.

A true movement grows and grows, and that's exactly what Papergirl has done. Started in Berlin, Germany new "branches" of the Papergirl tree have popped up into action all over the world! It made its UK debut in Manchester, with Glasgow and Bristol following suite.

PAPERGIRL LEEDS

ActiveARTS member, Laura Jordan has brought Papergirl to Leeds and has set up Leeds' first ever Papergirl event. Yay, the fun is spreading! Leeds will be the fourth UK city for Papergirl. This is a not-for-profit, radical event that will happen this Spring/Summer 2011 in Leeds City Centre.

pyramid of arts interview

OOO lovely!

The Leeds ActiveARTS banner :)

I think it looks great!

Chose the bread option in the end, I think it was a good choice.

Gave me a great idea for an edible banner for the birds.......

Star Fucking Hipsters - Two Cups of Tea

I really love Star Fucking Hipsters.

Stza's gone soft :)

Reminds me of seeing LoC in Scarborough in 2004, drinking wine and paddling in the sea with some punks from Doncaster (lovely chaps) and then trekking back to our tent in the middle of nowhere.

Kitty was so drunk she fell into the stage and knocked over a mike stand. I'm told I was shouting them to play a Choking Victim song "Infested" when they had already covered it......so was probably just as drunk.....

Good times

Activism after clicktivism

For more than a decade revolutionaries and culture jammers have been paralyzed by the computer screen. Trusting the promises of technocrats and digital visionaries, dazzled by the viral hype surrounding MoveOn and the like, we’ve come to rely far too heavily on a particular form of internet organizing. Believing that clicktivism could spark social change, we deployed market-tested messaging, glitzy Ajax websites and social networking apps. We entrusted our revolution to San Francisco techies and put our faith in the methods of advertising. 

But we have become so dependent on digital gimmicks that our revolutionary potential is now constrained.

Clicktivism is the pollution of activism with the logic of consumerism. Activism is debased with advertising and computer science. What defines clicktivism is an obsession with metrics. Each link clicked and email opened is meticulously monitored. Subject lines are A/B tested and talking points focus-grouped. Clicktivists dilute their messages for mass appeal and make calls to action that are easy, insignificant and impotent. Their sole campaign objective is to inflate participation percentages, not to overthrow the status quo. In the end, social change is marketed like a brand of toilet paper.

The fundamental problem with this technocratic approach is that metrics value only what is measurable. Clicktivism neglects the vital, immeasurable inner events and personal epiphanies that great social ruptures are actually made of. The history of revolutions attests that upheaval is always improbable, unpredictable and risky. A few banal pronouncements about “democracy in action” coupled with an online petition will not usher in social transformation. As Malcolm Gladwellput it recently, “activism that challenges the status quo – that attacks deeply rooted problems – is not for the faint of heart.” Clicktivism reinforces the fear of standing out from the crowd and taking a strong position. It discourages calling for drastic action. 

And as such, clicktivism will never breed social revolution. 

To think that it will is a fallacy. One that is dawning on us.

The demise of clicktivism is rebooting activism. It is setting off a paradigm shift in social change that opens the door to a new generation of activists. This rejuvenation is emboldened by three tactical insights: revolutions spring from epiphanies; the internet is best suited for memewar; and daring real-world actions are the indispensable foundation of social change.

Gone is trust in watered-down talking points and the “best practices” of keyboard messiahs. Metrics are being forgotten, website logs deleted, analytics ignored. Instead, passionate poetry is regaining precedence. The challenge of sparking epiphanies is the new revolutionary priority. But this does not mean we shut our eyes entirely to the potential of technology.

On the contrary, the next generation of activists will readily acknowledge that the internet plays a crucial tactical role. In the battle for the mind, the speedy dissemination of mindbombs, image-ambushes and thought-viruses is strategically essential. This is memewar, after all, and the web levels the battlefield against the propagandists of consumerism.

Still, real-world action is the only way to achieve social revolution. 

Clicking a link can never replace taking to the streets. 

Nor can we rely on digital technologies to get people off the screens.

Activism is scary. Social change is initially unpopular and insurrection always starts with disobedience. Trepidation is, therefore, the healthy response to the realities of culture jamming. Moments before victory, every revolutionary has felt the gut-pang of anxiety. But clicktivism encourages us to shirk these emotions, to hide behind the mouse, to embrace the inaction of passive clicking. 

Against this tendency, let us welcome butterflies back into our bellies.

Activism will be reborn when culture jammers find strength in the exhilaration of resistance, the intensity of protest and the emotions unleashed by taking part in upheaval.

via adbusters

Yes and Yes

A lovely little article :)

I’m a naturally (and irritatingly) organized person but even I need a swift kick up the backside every now and then to stay motivated. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of things…

1. Plan. Plan. Plan.
If you don’t own a diary then buy one. Write down all of your appointments in it. Schedule your gym sessions, coffee dates, what night it’s your turn to cook dinner, when your next project is due – everything. I cannot fathom how anyone survives without a diary. Buy it, use it. Your diary should be like a puffer for an asthmatic. Do not leave the house without it. Go into semi-permanent state of panic if you lose it. Diary = Livelihood. Get it?

2. Learn how to write lists.
Most people think this is a no-brainer but there is a serious art to list writing. A little known tip to write an average to-do list is to categorise it. For instance my to do list today consisted of the following

Computer
*Blog post on productivity
*Print earrings photo for auction portfolio
*Emails
*Transfer rent money
*Book flights for July trip to Brisbane

House
* Clean kitchen/washing up
* Put clean clothes away
* Clean sheets on bed

Errands (Don’t forget travel mugs and green bags!)
* Gym
* Post Office
* Shopping
* 2 x takeaway coffees

This way you can knock over a whole category at once and save yourself time by not jumping from a ‘House’ task to an ‘Errand’ task. I also use categories like ‘School’, ‘Body’, ‘Blog’, ‘Work’ and ‘Personal’. You can then have sub-lists within these categories for tasks like shopping or emails. You should also have daily lists (washing up, email editor, shop for dinner), weekly lists (start research on assignment, buy wedding present, take car to be washed) and monthly lists (book dentist appointment, roll super-annuation funds, join new gym) so you don’t go crashing towards the end of the year realizing, in December, that you haven’t paid your electricity bill since August.

3. Fake it until you make it.
It takes thirty days for a behavior to become a habit. Start every day with the proverbial ‘can do’ attitude and commit to thirty days of organization. I guarantee at the end of this time you’ll have three matching notebooks with categorized lists and a full supply of Sharpies in your handbag at all times. And if you really love me you’ll also alphabetize your book shelf and label all the jars in your kitchen pantry… I’m just saying.

4. Plan a treat at the end of a busy day.
I study full time and work part time. Both my study and work require a lot of extra hours of research and planning so my weekends and evenings are often spent working. When I wake up on a Sunday I’ll make plans with a friend to have a coffee or a glass of wine at five o’clock that evening so I have the incentive to get everything done. If you leave your time open ended it leads to procrastination and time wastage. Always give yourself deadlines.

5. Remember that there are 24 usable hours in everyday.
And if you don’t spend at least 6 to 8 of those hours sleeping, the rest of them are pretty bloody useless.

6. Ban distractions.
I love nothing more than to write while Sex in the City is on in the background but unfortunately it makes me start every blog post with a Carrie-ism – ‘And that got me thinking… (insert rhetorical question here)?’ so that habit had to go. Be honest with yourself. If Facebook/Twitter/YouTube are taking up most of your day, work away from the internet. Turn off the music. Switch your phone to silent. Halve the amount of time you spend working and double the amount of time you spend playing.

7. Prioritize.
Really think about what is urgent and get those tasks done ASAP… because every time you miss a deadline, a fairy dies.

via yes and yes

The Craftivist Collective Valentines Project

Josie Long gets everywhere!

As part of Leeds ActiveARTS we will be doing our own version of this project. Fortunately we have support (and funding!) from Christian Aid for supplies.

We will be spreading the love in Leeds on Valentines Day 2011.

In the mean time, I need to work on some literature to go in the cards. I'm thinking perhaps a written dialogue of a battered woman and her partner.

Something hard hitting.

We have a workshop at Remade Leeds on Monday at 6.30pm. I've asked Tahra if she would like to film us and get involved. She's becoming quite the film maker, can't wait to see what she does with the Papergirl Leeds documentary :)

PaperGirl NY

ActiveARTS letter 'v'

Some ideas for my letter for the ActiveARTS banner.

I wanted to make a 'v' by laying on the floor somewhere really random and sticking my legs in the air but I've left it to the last minute and I have no timer on my camera and nobody to take the photo for me.....

I like the 'v' peace sign, would have been funny with some finger puppets but I don't have any.

The bread 'v' just occurred to me while I was making some toast. Spontaneous but good.

Bread is a medium I would like to work with :)

Knitting!!!!

Took a trip to my Mother Dearest's and we did some knitting.

So now I can :

• cast on
• cast off
• knit
• purl
• flat stitch (knit a row, purl a row)
• rib stitch (knit 2, purl 2) - this stops the edges rolling up and is used for the ends of sleeves etc.

I could remember to knit which was surprising.....

Now I want to learn :

• changing colours of wool
• cable stitch (need to buy a cable needle) 

So next time I go down to my Mam's I can learn that. She's a good teacher :)

~ingcommercial 2.mov

Papergirl Leeds Website

I have just bought the domain name www.papergirlleeds.com :)

I asked my brother (lovely Tom Jordan) if he would like to put his amazing web skills to good use and without force, he said yes. Great stuff.

He has a full time job so he will have to fit in the web building around that, so I reckon in a fortnight the website should be up and running.

The submission deadline has been set as the 31st March 2011.