Little Bits of Life

Bonjour,

I am possessed with the desire to write a blog entry, but what to focus on...? I therefore present to you a disconnected mess.

1) Political angst.

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it's a good thing that I'll probably be two or three weeks too young to vote in the next general election. As my close friends place their ballot papers in boxes across the county, I will be watching BBC News in anticipation as political commentators express their predictions and thoughts on the election. I have absolutely no idea who I'd vote for if my mum had given birth to me a month earlier. Of course, there is a minuscule possibility that the election could be on or in the two days after my birthday, but it's not very likely.
I think, if I did have the privilege to be able to vote (and to be honest I'm slightly annoyed that, as an actively interested A-Level Politics student, I am not) I might end up spoiling my ballot paper or voting for a small party like the Greens out of protest. I feel that no party is representing the ethical Left.
We shall see, I suppose.

2) More identity musings

Identity is of enormous interest to me, partly because my own identity has been developing so much over the last few years and I've enjoyed self-analysing myself, and partly because the areas I'm most interested in (politics, feminism, music, sociology, religion, literature) have an over-arching theme of identity.
I spent many years agonising over my identities, because I was so confused and dismayed by how I seemed to be so many people at once. Today I am confused, but not so much dismayed. I quite happily place all my quirks under the label "eccentric" and forget about them. But my own identity, and the identity of others, continue to fascinate me.
I've been thinking recently about the difference between self-perception and the perception of others. John Lennon, perhaps one of our most misunderstood rock heroes, clearly felt that how other people, specifically fans, saw him was a load of rubbish! I love the wonderfully ironic Glass Onion, one of John's Beatles tracks off The White Album. John is clearly ridiculing the fans who try and read heavily into his lyrics and find non-existent meanings in them. In the song, he feeds the fans red-herrings, complete bollocks basically, as if to emphasise how no one can ever truly know him, or his songs.

"I told you about the walrus and me, man

You know that we're as close as can be, man.

Well here's another clue for you all,

The walrus was Paul."

In searching for identity and authenticity, none of us can afford to forget the danger of reading into things too heavily. I am a huge culprit and I spend far too long analysing everything anyone says to me. I'm very self-critical, and probably, if I'm being honest, critical of others.
The fact remains, however, that none of us can know what's going on in anyone else's head, and probably a lot of what is going on within our own.

3) Please buy Fairtrade.

Thank you!

This was truly awful, I know! Apologies!

J xxx