While the Victorians have a lot to answer for in terms of their endless pushing for progress (among other things), at least they began to smell the extinction coffee long before their present ecological emergency and climate change-denying ‘Luddite’ descendants”
Author Archives: jkcahane
Reflections on my writing journey: from journalist to aspiring novelist
Although I have been writing creatively all of my life, it was thanks to Covid that I finally decided to take one of those novel ideas and sit down daily to bash it out.
Questions for my readers: I need your help!
As this post-new year time of coming out of winter and heading into spring is usually a process of reflection and refining, I’d love some feedback from you on which topic(s) interest you most.
Happy Twixmas! – or ‘Twelfth Night, Or What You Will’
The word ’hovering’ describes exactly what we are doing in this in-between, Twixmas period: waiting for new life to emerge. It offers a valuable time to embrace the silence before words; the darkness before light; the formlessness before shape.
‘Blessed are they that mourn’: A very real calling in a time of climate crisis
Surely, at this time of climate and ecological emergency, the first place we as Christians should be is on our knees.
Porto-ohohoh!: Reflections on my recent salsa travels #2
Something about this arty, intriguing and deeply romantic city, with its air of failed colonial grandeur, has well and truly got into my veins
Barcelona-ahhh: Reflections from my recent salsa travels #1
With so many competing European salsa events on every weekend, it’s impossible to attend all of them, but I chose Barcelona and Porto because for one thing, the warmer locations would make dancing easier on my knee, and because both are vibrant cities with much to offer culture-wise beyond the dancing fun. I’ll start with Barcelona: city of Gaudi, Modernista (Catalan-style Art Nouveau) architecture and Frank Gehry, the famed Gothic Quarter, long sandy beaches at Barceloneta – and exquisite food!
Un-Earthing meaning: Colin Caffell’s ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ at Penwith Gallery, Cornwall
It seems strangely fitting that artist Colin Caffell, who typically works with earthy materials (clay, bronze, wax, resin, wood) as a potter and sculptor (see his beautifully multi-hued seascape-theme ceramics below), should have chosen to highlight the very fragility of Mother Earth in his solo exhibition, ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ atContinue reading “Un-Earthing meaning: Colin Caffell’s ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ at Penwith Gallery, Cornwall”
Taking a Pulse on Climate: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022
In view of imminent annihilation if we continue our current trajectory towards 3°C of warming, what can art say? Considering 18th century romantic artists were already mourning the loss of an innocent, agrarian lifestyle by invoking classical pastoralism in their landscapes, is any time left for discussion as the Earth burns and everything in it dies?
The Long and Short of It
Dear friends and readers, Since I began this blog in January 2020, I’ve tended to publish mostly long-form articles on topics of interest or concern to me, as well as interviews with various salsa personalities, etc. As most of you probably don’t have time to read longer pieces, however ‘worthy’ they may be, I haveContinue reading “The Long and Short of It“
Small Writer at Large 