London Undressed

Over the next few weeks we have some cracking stories coming in; from Nepal to Wyoming, Ireland to India. For now click on the Stories from the Street page to view our latest video post, seeking to get underneath the skin of London. Big thanks to Dan Brown for these.

London Undressed

Hi and thanks for visiting my blog.

Last week we posted a short set of stories from the West Bank, Palestine. Next week we are featuring a series of people postcards from Uganda. For now take a look at our second short video as we continue to explore the other side of the city of London. Go to the Stories from the Street page.

As ever if you have a short story you want to post that is about people and the places they live in, then email me on stephenlowton@googlemail.com

Heroes and Villains-Nelson Mandela

Today’s hero has to be Nelson Mandela. Celebrating his 90th birthday I am sure anyone reading this will want to join with me in saying a massive thank you for the inspiration that this remarkable man has been to us all. Stephen Fry put it well when he said at the recent Mandela concert in London, in every generation someone rises to the fore to inspire and show us all a different way to live. The last generation had Gandhi and we have Nelson Mandela.

I am grateful to be alive at the same time as this wonderful man; someone who has allowed a story of reconciliation to be written on the manuscript of his own life. Once something is written down on the parchment paper of something as valuable as the life of a person, then it stands well beyond the few years allotted to each and every one of us. It becomes a resevoir that others drink of in time to come; a marker in the land that we are able to return to when we lose our way in our own story. Thank you Mr Mandela for being such a marker. Huge respect to you today.

Heroes and Villains-Gill Hicks

Three years ago bombers set out from Leeds in the north of England to cause terror, havoc and death on the underground of London. On Saturday a remarkable women sets out from Leeds on a different journey. A victim of the bombings in which she lost both of her legs Gill Hicks will be walking from Leeds to london over the next few weeks. Covering ten miles a day she and others will walk and talk. The idea is that anyone can join for a mile or two and chat together as to why she is walking and the amazing story of forgiveness that she carries. You can link into this at www.walktalk.org.uk

Having walked this way myself soon after those shocking days I know somethng of the physical journey she is about to attempt. I say something for I walked as an able bodied person. However, I know nothing of the inner journey that Gill has been on to get to this point. So today big respect to you Gill. We are totally grateful that there are people like you in this world to inspire and provoke us. The wonder of life is that there are in fact many people like you who, through incredible adversity, rise above to discover ways of journeying that seem so beyond the rest of us.

So if you live on route get on the website and connect with this incredible journey. For the rest of us, massive respect to you Gill, a real modern day hero to us all.

Up from the Streets

Anyone who hasn’t read the “Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela must surely do so in this week of celebrating the 90th birthday of this great man. His story is truly up from the streets and we in our own small way will mark the day of his birth this Friday.

His voice is truly an authentic voice, and this week we have been seeking to highlight other voices that echo something of the word that is on the streets in our short series of Heroes and Villains. We began in the seedbed of revolution that the French Revolution was in the late eighteenth century. I don’t know whether Robespierre began to formulate his plans in one of the Parisian coffee shops, but certainly over the generations coffee shops and revolution have gone together; mass movements arising out of the places where ordinary people naturally gather-to moan, dream and wonder as to what might be.

Our second story this week featured the reflections on the place of Fathers to empower and endorse the value of the story within us all. Then today we had a voice speaking for those in her generation looking for value and cudos only to fall into the misplaced rage of random violence.

What would therefore a modern day revolution look like where ordinary people rediscovered the power of their own journey and the uniqueness of each and every person’s story? Who might have to listen if stories began to emerge of those no longer relying on the celebrities of our day for the spice of life, but were actually telling of the adventures of their own? That’s why we have a dedicated page on this blog to “Stories from the Street,” a grassroots movement of story tellers that we are looking to see rise-their currency the power and uniqueness of their own story. Why dont you go to the “Stories from the Street” page and view the video we have just posted. Its part of a series of videos we will be featuring during the summer entitled “London Undressed.” For very good reasons our first features “Speakers Corner.” Take a look. Its fun!