Writing
Writer/Reporter
2020~
Writer/Reporter for Crags Radio, specialising in art, culture and people
Excerpt from "Inside The Circus", April 25th 2015
Driving down the remains of an old runway, the history of Metheringham is clear to see. Once an RAF base, it is now farmland and rural housing; a beautiful and tranquil location for our interview. Our destination is a converted farmhouse, owned by Philip and Catherine Scott, and home to not only them, but their daughter, the talented Julia; the subject of our visit. Upon our arrival we are greeted by a fabulous house, stunning grounds and a warm welcome; exactly what we needed on that chilly November day.
For our photoshoots, we decided to take one “casual” Steampunk outfit, and a second more dressy outfit, and played around with various props from Julia’s collection. A vast array of swords, guns, taxidermied animals and vintage cameras were played with, as was Julia’s “pet”, Otto, the octopus. He even had his own lead, eyepatch and tophat!
Once our photoshoots were completed, Julia, Stuart and myself sat down in front of an open fire, Comic Relief on in the background, and talked about Julia, her life as a Steampunk, her crafts, and most importantly, her music.
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Julia is 27, an only child and originally from Sheffield, though she has lived all across the UK. The titular “Alice” of Alice’s Night Circus, she describes herself as “very simple”, a perfectionist and perhaps “a little bit weird”. Her greatest loves in life, not including any people, are food and music (though she also appears to have a great fondness for shoes), and she is something of an introvert. “I don’t like it when people come into my bubble,” she says. “I really don’t like it when someone invades my space. It sounds antisocial doesn’t it? But people getting too close or touching me without invitation freaks me out.”
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Excerpt from "Accepting Change in a Frozen Timeline", September 9th 2016
There’s a system of belief that change is, overall, a good thing. It can force us out of tired or bad habits, reinvigorate old ideas and bring new ones to the fore. The same is true in Steampunk. Change, as a whole is good; it keeps Steampunk fluid and evolving. This is part of the argument as to why Steampunk can never be truly mainstream; it is simply too mutable as a genre for any company to get a firm grasp on. However, there’s also an element of “sameness”. There are faces and elements that will always be there, regardless of the trappings of time, and there are feelings that go beyond the need to evolve – feelings of safety and comfort in what is already known.
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It’s important that all Steampunks recognise that there are many types of people within Steampunk, all with different beliefs, ideals, and views on adaptation and change. I know that it seems like an obvious statement, yet it’s one that gets lost an awful lot (particularly during online interactions, where it is easy to hide behind the curtain of anonymity).
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I have personally observed a lot of anguish and heartache over this idea that change in Steampunk is the only way forward, and those who did not want to change have been ostracised; made to feel that they are inherently bad or wrong despite them being perfectly accepting and understanding of people’s right to a difference of opinion. The problem stemmed from the other side not wanting to accept that same right and at one point, the depression it caused was so bad, I almost threw in the towel on the whole community. Thankfully, it never came to that, but the fact that those thoughts have crossed not only my mind, but the minds of many others because of this attitude to change, needs to be talked about openly.