Hi Fisher. It sounds as though you have a very fulfilling life, and your achievments and position is certainly very enviable. It's strange, but prior to entering into this project I had never really questioned the view of life in Africa as seen via the media, I had focused more upon the politics than on the reality, but recently I have had a chance to research a little deeper and have found many pleasant surprises. The overall perception given by the media is one of two simple contrasts, on the one hand we are shown famine, violence and unrest, while on the other we are shown wildlife, heritage and history; but very little is shown of the everyday lives of the people who live there. I would be very interested to hear about the community that you live in.

Blackburn is a working class town, built upon the cotton and textile industry, now sustained by it's football team and it's pub-culture. In the past, the communities here have always been close, and when strength was needed it was never more than a friend away, but more recently the communities have begun to fall apart; crime is on the rise, juvenile intimidation makes it unsafe for many to leave their houses at night and mistrust and segregation are beginning to turn neighbours into enemies. That's not to say that there are not good people here, there are many, before I became so reclusive I would spend a great deal of time with my father and our friends, a community of daytime drinkers who would gather in the pubs and philosophise on life, love and all things unimportant. I have travelled and worked the length and breadth of the UK, but of all the memories I have, the days spent in the company of these good people will always bring me the warmest smile.

Up until he reached his forties, my father was a career criminal. A good man on a bad path, who taught me the value of morals and everything else I know today. He was, and to an extent, still is what you might call a loveable rogue, a man well respected and liked throughout the town, and a man who's company was always greeted with a smile. Through him I got to meet some amazing people with amazing stories to tell, and I felt a real part of a real community.

I miss my days out, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them again soon enough. It was people like those that made me feel that Blackburn was my home, and no matter what happened in our day to day lives we knew we were all in it together, if only for the sake of a story to tell.

In looking around the internet, trying to learn more about Africa and Sierra Leone, I stumbled across a number of pictures that reminded me of the closeness of community, and I just wondered if Life in Sierra Leone is similar to life here... is a sense of community still important where you are?


With warmest regards,


Yielding.

Hello there, and welcome to my first 121 blog entry. My given name is Scott Mitchell, but you can call me Yielding. I am a writer,artist and musician from the town of Blackburn in England.

Over the next few days and weeks, I hope to be sharing my views and experiences on a variety of different subjects, but for now I guess it would be a good idea to give you a glimpse of my everyday ordinary life, in the hope that you will understand the perspective from which I view the world.

I am a thirty-five year old man with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition that is simultaniously a blessing and a curse, although recently the latter has been more prominent. In my youth I had numerous psychological mechanisms in place by which I could cope with societal living, but as time has passed and experiences have bitten, such mechanisms have fallen away, leading me to withdraw from society and live a reclusive lifestyle.

I have always watched the world, but now I watch it from a distance, and it seems to me a good vantage point for seeing the bigger picture. My views on politics are non-partisan - I believe in common sense no matter which direction it comes from, although it seems that recently common sense has had little to do with politics and warfare.

I was educated in a Roman Catholic School, and although I excelled in the subject of religion, I have retained none of my original beliefs. I fully understand the reason and need for religeon, and I completely support anybodys right to believe anything they wish, and only hope that such a courtesy will be returned should my own beliefs be called into question.

I speak from the heart, and rarely shy away from controversy. I beleive in instinctive morals and justice, and I look forward to the lessons I will learn from this experience.

All the best,

Yielding.