Studenthood Archives - Page 2 of 8

I guess I’d better go into this snazzy job then, hadn’t I?

Last week, I announced/found out that little old me had been offered a job in the big city, and I’d be starting as soon as my exams in York were over. Once I’d been reassured that gravy does indeed exist south of Yorkshire, I accepted the position with relief and enthusiasm.

Relief because I now don’t have to worry about life immediately after university; I can focus on my exams and not mix in job applications with essay deadlines. Enthusiasm because the job is way cool.

I’ll be interning with the impressive and inspiring GoodPeople- specifically on their newly set up Pop Up Talent Project. Pop Up Talent’s aim is to reduce youth unemployment (starting with me…) by giving them the opportunity to develop, show off and apply digital skills. I’ll be doing the backstage stuff. And grinning constantly.

It’s cool because I get to try out different aspects of the project, it’s a pretty small team, and it’s a cause I care about. I can’t wait to get my teeth into it, which is a good job because I start in little over five weeks.

Still househunting (if anyone knows a room going in South West London, holla at me), and now armed with an employment contract, a load of TED talks/inspiring books/links about creativity and employment and the general yoof, it’s all starting to feel real. And exciting.

My life is about to take off in a whole new direction. A particularly southern looking direction.

So first things first, congratulations to me for getting myself a snazzy job. I’m allowed to brag about it because it’s well documented how unlikely getting a snazzy job would be for me. And it is unbelievably snazzy. Snazzy.

But before I go on to talk about all the snazz (I’ll stop saying that now), I kinda need to move. About 150 miles. To The South. And soon- my start date is less than seven weeks away- so now is the perfect time to initiate a life crisis.

I’M GOING TO LONDON. I’M GOING TO BE A SOUTHERNER. NO MORE BUS DRIVERS WAVING AT EACH OTHER. NO MORE CALLING STRANGERS “PET”. NO. MORE. GRAVY.

It’s a lot to come to terms with. Especially when you’re the sort of person who deems any place below Sheffield as The South. In fact, looking for a flatshare in the Big City has made me realise how little I actually know about London.

My entire knowledge of the city is based completely on Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, the queen jumping out of a plane into the Olympics, the music video where the girl from Black Eyed Peas sexually assaults the Queen’s Guard, and that time I went on an open top tour-bus for my 18th birthday. So narrowing down a place to live in the giant city is proving pretty difficult, but I think I’ve just about settled on Clapham, Balham, or somewhere else in the Wandsworth area- based entirely on a quiz I did online and what my only Londoner friend, Jaime, told me.

So that’s the big news. But never fear, if anything my accent will be stronger and I’ll be more determined than ever to call people “love”. You can take the girl out of the North, but I’ll be damned if you ever try to take the North out of me.

Hello hello hello, it’s been a good while. I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I thought I’d do a mega quick update so that ESS didn’t start feeling all lonesome and neglected. I’ll be back to proper blogging sooooon, right after I’ve finished codifying morphemes (ugh).

~I’m still in York, but not necessarily by choice. I’ve been hitting the library daily, and was really looking forward to heading back to Huddersfield for a few days of playing with the dog and having unlimited hot showers, but seeing as everyone in Upperthong (yes- genuine name of the village I live in) is well and truly snowed in, I’ve ended up back in the library for a few more days. Good because I’m getting more work done, bad because I have to contend with these guys…

~ I interviewed my spoken-poet hero Mark Grist- I’ve posted it in full here- and to see his show Rogue Teacher thanks to my beloved Yorker! It was pretty cool being able to casually phone up one of my favourite poets for a chat about his opinions on the EBacc and Scroobius Pip and his favourite poets. I got a bit carried away and ended up having a bit of a fangirl moment, but he seemed used to it so it’s all okay.

~ In other Yorker news, I reviewed the pretty bizarre “Self Service”- read it here- as part of the TakeOver Festival. It’s the first time I’ve ever been to the theatre by myself, and I secretly enjoyed it. I assumed I’d feel ridiculous sat on my own, but it was quite nice to be able to fully focus on the show and pretend I was a proper luvvie, rather than a student out for free tickets.

~I’m currently helping out the lovely little social enterprise GoodPeople.co.uk- snazzy website full of jobs, internships and volunteering opps. If anyone wants me to put them up as a volunteer, then just holla!

~ To celebrate my boyfriend getting a fancy new job, and me getting a fancy new coat, we went to Meltons Too for a cosy little meal. Such a nice wee restaurant, great atmosphere and good food. I keep meaning to do a “Top Five Restaurants in York”- and I’ve got a feeling Meltons Too will feature. We also went to Lucias for some cheap cocktails- I’ll definitely be taking Emma and Joanne there, what’s not to love about half priced cocktails and Usher on repeat?

~ When I’m not interviewing poetry heroes or swanning off to the theatre, I’m doing the usual. Reading fashion blogs, watching Coronation Street, and researching the structure of Polish sound systems (hello, lingusitics degree…). So all fun and games as usual! I’ll do a real blog soon!

(And just for luck/because it will piss him off, here’s a picture of Jonathan being his usual sexy self)

Mark Grist is one of my favourite poets, so when the chance to interview him came up, once I’d stopped leaping around with excitement, I picked up the phone and gave him a ring. He’s performing at the TakeOver Festival in York on Friday 22nd, get yourself tickets because it’s going to be a great show. Thanks to The Yorker + Katharine Wootton for arranging the interview
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Mark Grist is the teacher-poet-rap battler who shot to Reddit-induced fame last year when he out-lyriced cocky youngster Bradley “Blizzard” Green. In his spare time, as well as leading projects in schools, teaching, being half of the double act Dead Poets, spitting lyrics, making TV and radio appearances, Mark manges to find time for a spot of touring. He’ll be at the TakeOver Festival in York next week, so Farrah Kelly rang him up for a chat.

His show, “Rogue Teacher” will be part of the annual theatre festival spread over three weeks in March, June and October in York. Performing on Friday 22nd March, “it’s the story- the tragic tale- of a secondary school teacher who quits to become a rap-battler. Then he shoots to fame after going viral on the internet, and we find out about all the chaos and fun that comes with that”

Sound familiar? Grist’s rap battle with rising rap star Blizzard has rocketed to well over 3 million views- not bad for one of the scenes most unlikely stars. “It’s quite a distinct art form, separate from page poetry. With page poets, they seem distant, like they’re hiding away. Rap battling is high-stress, you get a great nervous energy.

“I enjoy the restricting elements rap battling enforces on you, creativity comes from being restricted.”

Amongst these restrictions, Grist is a big fan of making things that little bit harder for himself. He’s written poems and spat bars only using one vowel, and has also vowed not to use sexist or homophobic language in his battles.

“It’s surprisingly difficult, it’s so widespread in battling that you have to analyse everything. Everyone else asks me ‘”why are you worried?”, but on my journey as a teacher, I punished people for using the same language. I can’t then use it myself, because I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

Since the video, things have cooled down considerably for Grist; “it’s all less intense now. I’ve got a more regular working week.” Is he still recognised? “Yeah, I find it funny, I’ll be chatting to someone and tell them I do rap battles. They’ll then tell me about this YouTube video they saw with a teacher and a student…Then they go ‘that was you, wasn’t it?’”.

Teaching clearly still has it’s hold. He runs workshops in schools with the other half of the Dead Poets duo, Mixy, showing pupils how to tap into their poetic creativity through rap.

“I’m worried about the direction education is going in. It’s looking bleak, they’re stifling these kid’s creativity”. Grist is unimpressed with Gove’s changes, commenting that the EBacc makes it easier for middle class suburban youngsters, but much harder for others.

“I do miss teaching, I might go back in a few years. It’s really amazing that I’ve got to do these things, it’s nice to mix it up a bit.”

Grist’s softer side resides in his more “standard” poetry. Away from the buzz and aggression of battles, some of his best work is starting to gain appreciation. His “feminist anthem”, Girls Who Read also shared a little of the internet fame, making the front page of Reddit.

“There’s lots of reasons a rap battle will become big, but that was just a poem being recorded on a mobile phone.” Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. Grist’s poetry deserves real recognition- this isn’t just your average “down-with-the-kids” teacher.

Grist seems to agree: “I’ll do rap battling for another year, but I’d like to produce another piece of work to be remembered by. I won’t always be ‘that guy from the YouTube video’”. Though to be fair, the battle isn’t a bad piece of work to be remembered by.

Originally published: TheYorker March 17th 2013. Read my orignial blog post on the viral video here: Rapping Lyrical

Studenthood

London countdown: 5 weeks to go

Northern girl seeks London town

Squeezing ESS in!

Interview: Mark Grist