July 16, 2021

shouting back and leaning out

The late journalist and commentator Dawn Foster on Sky’s paper review, in an image that was shared widely on Twitter last night as news broke of her sudden death at age 33

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This issue’s subject line is from this passage:

“Fighting for equality is often misunderstood as simply being offered the same terms as men on paper. In many ways we already have that.

What we don’t have is emancipation: the opportunity to be free of social and external shackles that perpetuate inequality and women’s lower position.

Women around the world are now demanding more: paid work, a life for their children, but also the right to be listened to, a political voice, direct democracy, and the right to a full civic life.

That isn’t won by keeping quiet: it’s won by physically and psychologically going on strike, by shouting back, and leaning out.”

― Dawn Foster, Lean Out

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Hi there,

It is a strange thing to hear of the death of a Twitter friend. Dawn Foster was a journalist, a socialist feminist, a person who dealt with long-term, chronic illness that eventually led to her death - and just a really fun person on Twitter to chat to.

I never knew her as anything more than pixels on a screen, but I felt I knew those pixels, they were as much a part of my day as my morning cup of coffee or my afternoon walk. Twitter would regularly serve me up her tweets when I logged on, and we’d chat. She was funny, and she was serious, and I liked her politics.

Those pixels are still there - her account remains up - but the person behind them is gone, and my timeline is full of condolences for a life cut so cruelly short.

Here are some links of hers that might help you get to know her:

• If Tom Watson had guts, he would quit Labour. Instead he is weakening the party - Guardian [More context for the above piece]
• ‘If I ever see you in the street, I hope you get shot’ - London Review of Books
• The Politics of Hate - London Review of Books
• Those living with disabilities face discrimination every day - HUCK Magazine
• #Hospitalglam shows body-positive campaigns work for chronic sickness too - Guardian
• Tinned Pilchards - Food Memory Bank

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Links of the week:

• “Burnout is not a mental health issue, it is an organizational issue that causes mental and physical health issues.”

• “They couldn’t see themselves in me. I knew that; it wasn’t their fault. If they were ever going to, I knew that I would have to try harder to be legible. I’d have to assimilate.”

• “The difference between a victim and a survivor is the meaning made of the trauma.” (via Rosa Wang)

• “When our emotions are at their most intense and the words haven’t been coming, it is through touch that we are able to express ourselves again.”

• “It’s not on you alone. Your husband’s time is not worth more simply because he makes more money. Open up the windows and let some of that capitalism out of the house. You two are not a limited liability corporation, you’re a family.”

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My updates:

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What I’ve been up to:

• I got a whole page in the Camden Fringe brochure to explain why I wrote a show about Amy Winehouse in 2021 AD and the show is a top pick for London Pub Theatres Magazine!

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What I’m getting up to:

• Mon 19th July: Bad Bitches New Tricks at Aces & Eights, Tufnell Park

• Fri 23rd July: Extra performance of I Miss Amy Winehouse to mark the 10th anniversary of her death on this day, at the Golden Goose Theatre, Camberwell

• Sat 24th July: Strangers on a Patio, Stratford

• Tues 27th July: Back to Aces & Eights for Clothes Horse Comedy

• August: I Miss Amy Winehouse at the Camden Fringe

• September: 2Northdown’s New Act Competition - Heats

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That’s all from me! Thank you for reading, I’ve been and continue to be Suchandrika Chakrabarti.

I plan to keep this newsletter free, but it does take time to write and curate. If you fancy buying me a Ko-fi I’d be eternally grateful, and will thank you in the next newsletter <3