Changing theme

Before this post, my blog was just the place where I'd (ineptly) keep readers up to date with the latest articles I had written for various publications on a number of different topics.

Looking out for stories...

After graduating from City University with an MA in Newspaper Journalism and starting my first permanent (and paid!) journalism role at the Ham and High, I've had some time to think about what to do with this blog.

One of my specialisms, and my passions, is socially conscious journalism. The industry has had a bad press and the reputations of journalists are lower in the eyes of the public than they have ever been before.

There's been a lot of mistakes, and a lot of corruption. But this doesn't take away what journalism is at its core. 

I've wanted to be a journalist ever since I sat determinedly next to my mum in the car on the way to a football match in Ipswich when I was 13 trying to figure out what to do with my life. After all, time was slipping away from me.

At the time, I knew journalism involved writing, a lot of writing, and that's what I loved to do. But as I grew older, working at unpaid placement after unpaid placement, I realised there was a lot more to the industry than just writing well.

Journalism, at its core, is one of the most important public services of them all. Holding authorities to account, to make sure they serve the public well, and to keep everyone informed with the latest news is such a thrill. Anyone who badmouths the press, sometimes with very good reason, will undoubtedly still be reading the papers or watching the news.

As Stan Lee once said, with great power comes great responsibility. In the last few years, my favourite articles have been the ones that have helped under-represented groups of people to reach a wider audience or that highlighted an under-reported issue. Societal and socially conscious journalism, at its strongest, is incredibly moving and can do a lot of good.

Now my weekends have been freed up from the heavy postgraduate workload, I want to provide a space for my humanitarian articles, thoughts on human-centred issues in the national press and links to any socially conscious articles I have recently read and admired.

My job at the wonderful Ham and High fills up most of my time so many of the articles posted here may be ones I have written for the paper. But whenever I get a moment, I will endeavour to update the blog with original thoughts just for the blog.

So flick through, have a read and I hope some of these articles and thoughts spark your interest. 

Any comments or suggestions for articles are welcomed with open arms. If you want to write a guest post  for the blog, email imogengblake@gmail.com.

Overdue update

Just a small post to say I will be updating the blog soon with articles I've written over the past few months.

It's been a hectic year so far, with work experience placements, finishing off my course at City and starting a new job as Trainee Reporter at the Ham and High.

I'm loving every moment of it so far though so keep watching the blog for a more substantial update soon!

IB

Feature: Islington refugee charity backs One Billion Rising to help women in hour of need

This feature was published over two pages in the Islington and Hackney Gazettes on Thursday 14 February.

Islington refugee charity backs One Billion Rising to help women in hour of need

By Imogen Blake

Some of the woman in the video campaign highlighting the problems refugee women face. Photo: Women for Refugee Women

To many, Valentine’s Day simply means showers of red, sparkly confetti, sickly-sweet cards and messages of devotion dominating the aisles of almost every shop.
But this year one billion women are claiming February 14 from St Valentine – as they dance and sing in protest at violence against women in organised events across the world .

It is all part of the One Billion Rising campaign.

Islington-based charity Women for Refugee Women (WRW) has promoted the movement to highlight the suffering of female asylum-seekers.

In a video on their website, stateless women are joined in song while a shocking statistic – that more than half of the women who use the charity have been raped – flashes on screen.

WRW is the base for a self-help group of female refugees who meet at the charity’s office in Featherstone Street to chat, eat and drink, practise their English and to speak out against injustices suffered by asylum seekers.

The charity is supported by Colin Firth’s wife, film producer Livia Firth, broadcaster Mariella Frostrup and actor Juliet Stevenson, who directed a play put on by WRW based on the experiences of women and children in immigration detention.

In a report released by WRW last year, it found 42 out of 65 female UK asylum seekers questioned had suffered some kind of gender-based persecution, including genital mutilation, rape and forced prostitution – but most have their application turned down.

Applying for leave to remain in the UK is a long and difficult process, with the odds stacked against applicants: WRW found that 67 out of 70 female refugees they interviewed had been refused asylum.

But figures don’t reveal the suffering these women have gone through, nor the fight they face in claiming asylum after – in many cases – fleeing unspeakable atrocities.

A 35-year-old woman, who did not want to be named and now calls the WRW her official residence, was forced to marry a family friend in her home country of Cameroon when she was just 16.

“I wasn’t happy living with him, I was really suffering. He hit me all the time,” she said.

In 2004, she met a woman who was able to fly her out of the country but her struggles didn’t end there.

When she arrived in England, she was forced to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

“I didn’t know where I was going but I had no other option. When I arrived, they took my documents and money. I had never done anything like [prostitution] before.

“I couldn’t call the police because they would make me go back to Africa. I was so scared.”

After eight months, she managed to escape and started working illegally in a care home, but the police caught her and she was imprisoned for working without papers for three months in Derby.

When she was released, she was homeless and destitute with no-one to turn to.

“I met someone who let me stay in her living room and she said, ‘I’m not going to rape you, come and stay with me’ but it was on the floor which was cold and hard. After a while she pushed me out, screaming at me.”

She relies on the support of her church and charities for money and shelter after being refused asylum.

Notre Dame Refugee Centre in the West End gives her a few pounds for travel and some food parcels but it is not enough. The church she attends is her only comfort.

“I came into contact with the charity, Notre Dame, who give me £2.70 a week and I found a church on Old Kent Road to go to. The church members are the few friends I have around me. When you’ve been scared and traumatised all your life, your dreams and hopes go up and down all the time.”

Sophie Radice, the WRW communications executive, said: “Even if a woman is persecuted for reasons that are not based on her sex, because of her religion, for instance, or her ethnic background, that persecution is more likely to take the form of rape or sexual violence.

“It would be wrong to insist that all of the women experiencing such persecution should find refuge in the UK but the treatment of women by the UK Border Agency is too often disbelief and refusal of their claims.

“Many of these women will be removed back to countries where they are in danger but many live among us in the UK, existing in legal limbo, destitution and fear of forced removal, compounding their trauma.

“Days of action like One Billion Rising are so important because it highlights the way that treatment of women across borders must be spoken about openly.

“We are campaigning to end the destitution of those refused asylum by giving them permission to work if their case has not been resolved within six months and to provide welfare support for all asylum seekers who need it, up until the point of return or integration.”

Profile: Puppet master exploring the dark side of her art

This profile of Sian Kidd was published in the Islington and Hackney Gazettes on Thursday 14 February.

One of Sian's creations. Photo: Sian Kidd

Puppet master exploring the dark side of her art

By Imogen Blake

Before we head upstairs to her workshop, puppeteer Sian Kidd warns me to be careful of the “bicycle forest” in the hallway of the house the 26-year-old shares with friends in Stoke Newington.

It’s a small room with three or four marionettes, including a green zombie called George, hanging from the window. A conjoined twin puppet lies unfinished on the table next to us.

Sian works at Puppet Barge, a family-run floating marionette theatre moored at Little Venice in winter and Richmond in summer. After completing a three-month traineeship with the company in 2009, she now performs part-time for an audience which has included Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their children.

“They’ve really given me an amazing opportunity to develop a dying skill. Every time I think about it I go: ‘God you’re so lucky!’ But in the long run I hope that I’ll be able to work on my own stuff and not have to rely financially on them.”

Sian, who is also a care worker at Centre 404 in Holloway, recently founded her own puppetry business, Mirth and Misery, with marionettist partner Adrian Alexander Allen, who also works at the Puppet Barge.

Their first show of the year will feature the conjoined twin puppet alongside a wooden dwarf, hand-made by Adrian, in an “alternative Valentine’s Day” event at arts venue, Passing Clouds, in Haggerston on Saturday.

“We’re both interested in slightly darker work aimed at more of an adult audience than at the Barge. The show will be a starting block to try to explore the spectacle of deformity in Victorian freak shows. My experience of working with disabled adults feeds into that,” she says.

She said: “I’ve done a hundred million other jobs and I hated them all. They never made any sense. I’d rather work with people and do something good than earn an extra couple of thousand making big companies more money. Care work isn’t about any qualifications you get, it’s about having the ability to be empathetic.

“But my love is absolutely for puppets and marionettes. I love the tiny hand-stitching you have to do for their clothes: you can’t just go to H&M and buy a puppet costume.

“If I could take the time off, which I would love to do, making a marionette would be a two-week process. It is time consuming but they are so enchanting. It’s like you’re a miniature god when you make them come alive.”

Sian became interested in puppetry at school after her teacher asked the class to make 30 puppets for a play when she was 18. She was hooked but didn’t pursue a degree course in the craft. “I chose Middlesex University because they had a module in puppetry,” she said.

“The Central School of Speech and Drama was the only place which offered a course at the time but I got scared off by my sensible family. They said: ‘You’ll fail! It’s useless!’ Now I think...” She slaps her forehead.

Since she has been working in puppetry for four years, with hindsight it seems like a foolish decision. “But I loved Middlesex and my family is incredibly supportive. Now that they see I can financially fund my lifestyle, they have relaxed,” she adds.

Sian needs to finish the conjoined twin puppet soon, but in between her care work, folk music nights and a candlelit life drawing class, she hasn’t found time. She says: “I’m a naturally busy person. If something is fun, interesting and it’s an opportunity to meet new people, I’ll do it. I’m seeing what the world gives me at the moment. I just like enjoying life.”

Check it out online.

IB

Placement at the Islington and Hackney Gazette

Hi folks!

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas for about two weeks ago.

It's been a while. My first term at City University studying an MA in Newspaper Journalism has been so intense I haven't had time to think, let alone blog.

I now have a 60 words-per-minute shorthand speed, looking to get to 100wpm once term starts again, dozens of articles to my name, both published and unpublished, and a large group of wonderful new friends. It's been a fantastic experience and I'm looking forward to more to come.

Before Christmas, I had a two-week placement at the Islington and Hackney Gazettes, which was definitely the busiest internship I've ever had. The team was a couple of staff members down so I tried my best to dive in and be as helpful as I could be.

It was a great placement. I worked with some lovely people and got to write a dozen articles published in both Gazettes.

My highlight of the two weeks I was there? Getting the splash in the Islington Gazette in the second week I was there (w/c 20/12/12).

I'm not going to link and list all the articles of mine that were published in the Gazettes, just my favourite pieces.

Stand up comedians launch UK's first atheist church in Islington - the front-page story for the Islington Gazette (w/c 20/12/12). It was also published online at London 24.

Census results show Islington and Hackney losing religion - the story I pitched to the newsdesk and the reason the News Editor asked me to take on the story about the atheist church opening. This article was published on page four of both Gazettes (w/c 20/12/12).

Hackney composer who hit the top of the charts - an interview with Hackney composer, Raz Olsher, which was published in the Who's Who section of both Gazettes on page 13 (w/c 03/01/13).

Review: Twelfth Night at Hoxton Hall - online only, published on both Gazette's websites, the Newham Recorder's site and London 24.

Superhero Whittington Hospital nurse nominated in military awards - Not under my byline at the moment but hoping to get this changed. An interview with "super-nurse" Lorraine Lawton, published in the Islington Gazette (w/c 27/12/12).

I start a week-long placement at London 24 tomorrow and hopefully it will just as fantastic as my first internship since starting at City.

IB