Pride

Today it's Glasgow Pride. I have never been to a pride. I don't really know why. Maybe the idea of seeing anyone I've ever dated all in one place is a scary prospect. Joking aside, the reason for this post is to celebrate Pride. In the horrible world that we live in, it's important to always champion a celebration of equality and acceptance, where for one day at least, we can vow to never let prejudice stop us from loving who we want to love and also importantly just have fun. Pride is an event full of heart and the best intentions but despite this, one question always, and I mean always pops up, and it is “why do we need pride?”

Nobody is stranger to the horrible stories we hear so regularly about homophobic abuse. It wasn't that long ago that the devastating Orlando shooting happened. You hear stories far too often from different parts of the world where an individual has been killed for being gay, being suspected of being gay or doing something considered too gay. Gay teenagers all over the world have taken their own life because they couldn't live their lives accepted in their sexuality. This has to stop, but it hasn't. The fact that people are so judged or feel so judged that it results in their life ending is horrifying, and all because they love people of the same sex. There is an attitude from some people who say by celebrating pride, we are acknowledging our difference and making the situation worse, so we should just be silent and get on with our lives. Being silent about prejudice never helped anyone. Being silent lets homophobia rot, fester and infect minds, who could grow up being more accepting individuals and not grow up to be homophobic humans who go out to destroy love in it's different forms. We need to constantly re-iterate the mantra that being gay is okay and being gay shouldn't affect your life negatively. Pride lets us do that, by coming together in an parade of colour, not leaving an colour out of the celebration, because no one should be excluded from loving who they want to love.

Being accepting of the lgbtqia community doesn't mean you have to be gay or gay-er. It doesn't mean you have to wave a rainbow flag. It doesn't even mean you have to go to pride at all or even acknowledge the event is happening where you live, to be perfectly honest. All being accepting is, is respecting people regardless of their sexuality, and treating them just like everybody else, just like you would like to be treated. That's it. That's all it is. Unfortunately though, even that is too difficult or absurd a concept for some people, who continually discriminate or abuse people in the lgbtqia community.

For people who haven't received prejudice for their sexuality, imagine how you would feel if you couldn't even show love for your other half openly without fear of being abused or killed. Imagine how you would feel if you couldn't even dress how you want to dress without fear of being abused or killed. Imagine how you would feel if you couldn't even hold someone's hand or give them a kiss without fear of being abused or killed. Imagine how you would feel if you couldn't even say I'm gay or I'm straight without fear of being abused or killed. This fear is real, and there is no need to imagine it.

The whole point of pride is to be big, loud and colourful in protest against people who believe we shouldn't have the same rights and shouldn't be treated equally. If you see a pride event going on, then know that it means there is still so much prejudice against the community happening. Support pride, even if it's just in the smallest way, then maybe one day we won't need to campaign for equal rights every single year. Wherever you are in Glasgow, the UK, the world, remember to just let people love who they want to love and treat them equally, then there will be no need for pride because we will already be proud

Edinburgh

So yesterday, Saturday 13^th of August 2016 I went to the Edinburgh for the festival. It had been a while since I'd been, maybe like 4/5 years. After a relatively nippy train journey we arrived, and Edinburgh was looking beautiful. The first time I came to Edinburgh, was when I was at high school on a drama trip. I didn't really like the look, but this time around about 7ish years later, I absolutely loved it. The stone work, the history, the people ... i could go on and on. It's so beautiful, I officially want to move there.

So the reason we came up to Edinburgh festival, no surprise, was to actually see a show. You are definitely not short of suggestions. Walking down the royal mile you are bombarded with flyer after flyer after flyer for different shows. It was hard to choose which show to see because there was so much choice. It's easy to mistakenly think that getting into a show will be no sweat because of the amount of shows going on, but then you get into the small intimate venues with no seats left and think “.... oh fuck”. We loved the idea of seeing 2 Become 1, a 90's inspired comedy pop musical or All the King's Men, a talented acapella vocal group (the interest in them had nothing to do with how hot the were … nothing at all … nothing to do with the guy in the burgundy shorts … not.at.all) The problem was everything was either sold out or we couldn't find it. Luckily though in our free show booklet we found Quiz In My Pants, sort of like a comedy panel show. After actually finding it and there actually being space, we settled in and had a good drink and a good laugh. The compere of the show Nicola was actually my favourite, and I loved the Movement venue. The audience were as dirty as you would expect, suggesting both shite and genital warts for buzzer noises … don't ask. I had a great time, but next time I'd like to see a piece of drama or something experimental at the festival.

It was walking down the street, seeing the fun everyone was having in their respective theatre groups, that made me want to pick it up again. As I've said before I've studied drama at high school and been in the lead NTS Productions, and recently I've been thinking about taking up acting again. It was seeing everyone perform on the Royal Mile that made the wanky drama student in me want to go join them. So maybe this is a idea I might pursue, what do you think?

It wasn't just shows we were up to see. We wanted to do touristy stuff as well. So we went to Arthur's Seat. I underestimated, just how high Arthur's Seat is. I was definitely fit enough to tackle it but still, climbling some of those rocky paths getting steeper and narrower was tricky, I even rolled my ankle at point on the way down. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to finish, as we wanted to get back down to have food and see a show but watch this space because I 100% want to travel up to get to the top, and take some pics at the peak.

Now finally, I couldn't finish my Blog about Edinburgh without mentioning the talent. Now when I say talent I don't mean the acting, the stand up, the singing, the political commentary, the art, the food, the sheer performance skills … when I say talent I mean the guys. Holy shit there were so many good looking guys in Edinburgh! Sure there are really hot guys in Glasgow and I even bumped into one while I was there randomly but Edinburgh was on top form, and it was certainly a treat for my big brown eyes.

Edinburgh is such a phenomenally beautiful city, one which I don't want to just visit annually. I loved my Saturday in Edinburgh, and I would love to visit again, not just for the festival but to see more of the city I fell in love with yesterday. <3

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Thank You For Reading xx

Getting Back Up Again

So this week hasn't been a good one at all for various reasons. Firstly before I go any further I thought I would quickly say what a great time I had hosting Youth Beatz for the past 6 years since 2010. I couldn't have asked for a better co-host in Jasmine. We had so much fun together and presenting with her was a joy. From the first year we hosted where we were nervously backstage waiting to host to the big crowd, to last year where we were so good at it that presenting in front of thousands of people didn't seem difficult at all. If I had another opportunity to host an event with Jasmine, I would jump at it, just for her company more than anything.

My favourite act that has ever performed has got to be The Mermaids. I could rave on about what brilliant musicians they are, but what I enjoyed most about them was their company. Such lovely girls who were very approachable, funny and friendly, and my fave act last year. I don't even need to tell you but if you are looking for good music then look them up cause they are great.

I can only speak on behalf of myself but being completely honest, I have to say that I do feel we were under-appreciated at Youth Beatz. We never got much credit for doing it, and I felt we deserved a lot more respect for giving up our time to host the event, write the script and travel at very last minute times. We never even got recognition in the local newspaper, not even a line saying thanks or well done to Chris and Jasmine for hosting, very little photos either. I would encourage whoever takes over to get more recognition because it's a brilliant opportunity with brilliant people working there like Lou who I could always come to and totally adore. Just make sure you ain't doing it for free for so long like me and Jasmine did. We got paid a little last year but weirdly enough we were cut this year. Not got anything to do with ££ … not at all …

I've had a great six years with Jasmine at Youth Beatz and good luck to whoever takes over. Have confidence in yourself because the crowd is always absolutely lovely and will cheer you on, so enjoy it more than anything. It might seem like a silly youth event to others but it's set me on a career path I hope to fully pursue and for that I'm happy it happened. :) 

Anyway moving swiftly on to a topic which is honestly completely un-related to Youth Beatz.

Recently I feel like I've been the subject of bullying. I'm not going to name any individual and cause a shitstorm but it's reminded me that there really are nasty people in the world, that will belittle you and make you feel small and less important. It's been getting me down but not anymore. I refuse to let anyone put me down when I know I'm a good person, who treats people like he'd like to be treated. People feel to get ahead you have to a fucking arsehole, but I'm not prepared to be that person. I want to move up through life without taking people down. It reminds me that unfortunately there always seems to be one person in a group who enjoys picking on others. I'm going to bide my time, and be the bigger man, but when I get the first opportunity I will be deleting that person out of my life and hoping someone that negative won't trespass into my life again.

To end on a positive note, I'm looking forward to a long weekend with my friends. Going to polo, eating and shopping sounds like so much fun.

P.S I'm thinking that an Iphone on a tripod would be a good set up for a camera for a Youtube Channel. So maaayyybe I will pursue it … ;)

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                                                          Thank You, Talk Soon ;)