These are tough times in which we live and I see no sign that things are going to get any easier soon. This reminds me of a letter I received from Ossie Ardiles in 1992 after he was appointed as manager of West Bromwich Albion. He was responding to a letter I had written to congratulate him on his appointment – that’s the sort of wild and crazy teenager I was, and I wonder why I am still single. Anyway, there’s a line in his response that I think is relevant to all of us that are struggling to cope in these repressive, right-wing times.
The wise Argentinean speaks of his new club’s misfortunes over the years and notes that there is a lot of hard work to be done but he concludes with the following words that can give us all hope and determination we need for future fights for justice:
…”from misfortune can come opportunity”
With this in mind, I am looking forward to the next 12 months with an array of opportunities waiting for me. I want to make sure that I keep up the momentum I have built as a creative force and to do this I think it would be a good idea to write down my aims for 2017 so that I can refer back to them throughout the year to check that I am still on track to achieve all that I want to.
Pledges for 2017:
To write a Tanka each day (this might be a bit ambitious but I want to write as many as possible to build a comprehensive picture of life with a disability in 21st century Britain).
Continue writing my Memory Match feature for the Wrexham AFC matchday programme.
Continue fighting for independent living for ALL disabled people
Submit art to Disability Arts Cymru exhibitions
Continue my work with Wrexham AFC DSA
Continue my work with Outside In at Glyndwr University
Continue my work with CSSIW
Continue supporting Change.org and 38 Degrees by signing their petitions, sharing on social media and writing to my MP.
Visit my Gran and Granddad’s grave once a month.
Look into the possibility of arranging my first holiday since 2000.
Random acts of kindness – to everyone bar Tory pigs.
I think this is enough for now, but if I think of more that I would like to achieve in 2017 I will add these aims above. Part of me does not like fragmenting my life into 12 month periods and thereby subscribing to the Western capitalist calendar, but I have social workers to impress by proving that I am in need of a healthy care package to keep me active in the local community.
Happy New Year everyone.
