Glass Ceilings and other scenes from the life of a pioneering urbanist (Note:this text was written for an event organised by the Urban Lab at UCL celebrating the life and work of Ruth Glass) Introduction I should begin by saying that I never was a student or colleague of Ruth Glass, although I did come to meet her under circumstances I will describe later. So all I can … [Read more...] about May Blog: Glass Ceilings
MARCH/APRIL BLOG LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN
Threnodies for S.H. 1. Yesternow Stuart Hall is dead. The world, especially that part of it he directly inhabited with his ideas and his presence, is a much less interesting and hopeful place for his passing. He had become a cultural icon of the Left and a man for all seasons. Something a contemporary wrote about Thomas More, the original bearer of that … [Read more...] about MARCH/APRIL BLOG LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN
February Blog :There goes the neighbourhood
FEBRUARY BLOG :THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD - AN URBAN TRIPTYCH 'The neighbourhood is that part of town you have no need to go to because you are already there' -George Perec 1) Chic by Growl I recently moved into a new neighbourhood in Islington. My flat is in a large Peabody Estate, off the Essex Road, quite close to the area which Ruth Glass made the object of … [Read more...] about February Blog :There goes the neighbourhood
Graphologies – Phil Cohen with Jean McNeil
Our New book from Mica Press A deliberately hybrid text, the fruit of a partnership over many years between a poet/ethnographer and a painter who have mutually enriched each other’s understanding of the meaning of place, Graphologies takes a line of thought for a walk across poetry and the visual arts, autobiography and fiction, cultural and literary studies, exploring the … [Read more...] about Graphologies – Phil Cohen with Jean McNeil
JANUARY BLOG
In praise of clutching at straws or reasons to be cheerful in 2014 New Year is traditionally the time to take stock, and to look forward to the future. It is a time to search for new principles of hope, or renew old ones, and to strengthen our commitment to make the world, or at least that little bit of it we have some influence over, a better place. In a period of … [Read more...] about JANUARY BLOG