The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 42
The Master's tools will never dismantle the Master's house - Audre Lorde
Hello, you.
How are you? The heatwave’s broken, but I’m nonetheless stricken with hay fever. It’s raining. Oh, and Donald Trump, without the consent of Congress or America’s allies, or even a cogent explanation of his actions to his own people, is bombing the shit out of one of the most dangerous nations on earth.
The combination of the above is why this newsletter’s reaching you later than it should have done. Sorry. I really should stop reading the news.
(Incidentally, if you need a well-informed explanation - to the extent that it can be explained - of what the fuck is going on, this excellent piece from Professor Robert Reich, who served in the Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations, will do fine.)
So, what with one thing and another, it seems like the Hello You Sunday Supplement is what’s needed right now. It’s a digest of links to interesting articles that I hope will amuse, inform and divert you, not just on Sunday but right through the week.
If it does the trick for you, why not share the Sunday Supplement with your friends, family, colleagues, members of your chat groups, that barista that always smiles at you, the person you know who you feel might need a little something extra? There’ll be a button at the bottom of the email for you to share it easily. Or if you’ve just thought of someone you know who’d appreciate this, do it right now?
Here’s a weird thing …
Hundreds of people read this newsletter every week, for which I’m really grateful. Seriously, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you dig what I do.
But of those hundreds of people, only a minority actually click on any of the links.
I am sharing the wrong stuff? Not pitching the content right? Leave a comment:
Meantime, do something for me? Click on and read at least a couple of the links in today’s Hello You Sunday Supplement? I’d appreciate it. Thank you for supporting my lifelong quest for validation …
Enough of this. Let’s get on with it, starting as always with …
Something to listen to while you read
The reverb on this is a thing of beauty
Good news to begin with …
The high seas treaty moved ‘within touching distance’, scientists had a leukaemia breakthrough, and climate solutions were boosted after winning a top award plus more good news from the good people at Positive News
This is just lovely. Why not make yourself a sun-jar?
The unexpected joy of a stolen phone
Discovering the Shropshire filming locations of Gone to Earth
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people
'It’s harder to argue against the Centre for Media Monitoring report, which says the BBC is ‘constructing a moral universe where Israeli suffering is inherently more tragic’'
This is incredible, for so many reasons
'Daddy issues’ need an emergency rebrand
'I moved from the big city to the countryside, and have a newfound fascination with nature, wildlife and the ‘more than human world’'
Seven ways to limit your endless doomscrolling
Jameela Jamil is properly pissed off. And I don't blame her for a minute
Community is a superpower
'You look very summery'
More of the good stuff in just a moment, but first …
On Hello You the Shropshire podcast this past week:
'Be the architect of your own adventure'
Urban exploration with Chris Schurke
If you’ve heard of urbex at all, you might just think of it as people going where perhaps they shouldn’t, just for the thrill of it
But for writer, photographer and urban explorer Chris Schurke, it’s much more than that
It’s transformed his mental health and self-esteem. And he’s passionate about the idea of urban exploration shedding a light on social history, especially the stories of people who might otherwise be overlooked or forgotten
Chris began his explorations fifteen years ago, when he became fascinated by the views from Shrewsbury’s rooftops. Some of his photographs from high above the streets of our county town have now been compiled into a new book called ‘Rooftops of Shrewsbury’
Hear Chris’s story, and the remarkable stories of where his hobby has taken him, in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast
Coming up on Hello You the Shropshire podcast
What does Shrewsbury sound like to Charles Darwin?
Tomorrow morning I’ll publish another of the Hello You soundscapes. It’s an hour of the sounds of Shrewsbury, recorded in front of the statue of Darwin next to the Library
It’s in stereo, so you’ll be able to hear exactly what the town would sound like if you were sitting on that big plinth
Soundscapes are reserved for paying Hello You subscribers, so for the full experience, subscribe now!
You won’t find this anywhere else
Intelligent, informed, progressive and sometimes quirky conversation for and about Shropshire, enjoyed around the world
Compassionate storytelling, trying to make the world a better place
Catch every episode of Hello You by subscribing on Substack, or follow me on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
And tell your friends? If you enjoy Hello You, you probably know a bunch of other people who’d also get something from it. Just click this button:
'Nobody could help me with my psychosis. Then I was sent to jail for holding up a shop with a toy gun'
When Diana dropped the mask
Twelve charities to support this Pride and beyond
Our phones: the tiny gods we are trying not to worship
This is how the far right talks when they think no one is listening
If you've never seen The TAMI Show, check it out? Here’s why it’s worth a look
I’ve long since deleted all news apps. The notifications were spiking my anxiety. Read the news when you want to read the news, not when the outlets want you to. It’ll still be there …
Returning to film isn’t environmentally friendly
Melanie's 'Average Weekends' out in Leeds in 1984
Start treating yourself like your soulmate. It takes work, but I promise it’s worth it
If you read one thing this week, make it this
It's time to stop asking warlords how to prevent war. And start asking women
Final thought
‘To answer your question, how we can prevent war, we must first ask: who holds the power? Who has been excluded? And what kind of institutions shape their minds?’
Virginia Woolf
Be a good friend to someone with just a single click
Remember I said at the top of this email that you could share this Sunday Supplement with your friends, family, colleagues, members of your chat groups, that barista that always smiles at you, the person you know who you feel might need a little something extra, just by clicking one little green button? Well, here it is:
Thank you for reading this
I hope you enjoyed the Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 42. If you have thoughts, questions, suggestions or whatever, for the Sunday Supplement or the podcast, then please leave a comment
I’m always glad to hear from you, about anything at all. Got a suggestion for a future podcast guest, or somewhere I could record a soundscape, or a bench session? Would you like me to come and talk about Hello You, radio or anything else to a group, club or meet-up?
Please hit the hell out of the ‘Like’ buttons at the top or bottom of this newsletter. That helps other people see it, and that helps me a lot.
Even better, why not become a Hello You family member by subscribing? You could even help me get closer to my aim of making Hello You the Shropshire podcast my full-time job, by taking out a paid subscription. That would be amazing …
And finally: please share Hello You widely?
Thank you for being a member of the Hello You family
Take care of yourself, and take care of the people around you. I hope they’re taking care of you, too
Some thoughts. And it could just be me. But I get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have put together on the Sunday Supplement. I mean it's great that you do it and incredible that you have taken the time to do all this but I see all those links and think oh my I don't have time to read all that - so I don't read any. TBF I'm not a fan of reading things on a screen - I never got on with a kindle for example - and prefer something printed in my hand - but I'm old school and it hurts my eyes. I also wonder if more people clicked on links when it came out in the morning - like a Sunday newspaper would - to read while you're chilling with a coffee and breakfast/brunch - is there a way of looking at your stats and seeing when most people engaged with the content? Maybe less is more then it could go back to coming out on Sunday morning?