Hi there :-)
In lieue of MissionMiraculous's website being up and running (watch this space) I decided to follow the lead of the blog tutorial I went to at CEIMH Birmingham Uni recently and set up a blog - now anyone who wants to 'watch this space' on MissionMiraculous can do so from here - don't expect anything exciting to view on the blog page at least for now - I just haven't got the time at the moment.
I shall, of course, be inviting some of the hats to take over some responsibility for the editorial role of MM-us. Track changes of style and typo..
Yes - MM-us is not an individual but a group. It began as an idea, got bounced off a friend in a crimson hat that sported a particularly large 'rose' and moved on into the inspiration of an entire bag of hats. From there it caught up with an increasing number of hat admirers and persifler* aspirants and appreciators.
Some of us are mad, some of us try to be mad, some of us get mad if we're called mad and some of us are simply cheeky monkeys. One or two of us, well, one of us are highly qualified in madness while none of us yet have any qualifications in forensic madness.
All of us are firmly convinced that the ultimate and highest order question in relation to the cosmos and the meaning of life is 'What is six times seven?' and that we would all get much nearer to connectedness to the essential meaning of life if only more of us were wearing hats.
Consequently we are setting an excellent example and are encouraging hat wearing of the most decorative and amusing varieties to become a long lasting and much foregrounded fashion within our culture. Scarves are not to be discouraged either but we would recommend a consideration for health and safety matters in such choices. Meanwhile spats were once all the rage - what was wrong with them?
More serious matters, much to our exhilaration, are subject to MM-us's attention and purpose. However, it's Friday night, 22.33pm and the most serious matter in my mind just now is "what in hecks name am I doing on a Friday night writing a blog for MM-us when my favourite hat is almost certainly having a riot out on the town showing off it's latest wearer!
A special and very personal message for Jez: Jez - you lost my fantabulous jester's crown, how could you do it!! And forget you had it ! I only forgive you because I forgot to take it off you before we parted last week.
Apologies to the rest of our readers, but these personal jibes will not be a habit, just a pleasure lol.
I have no idea how to set up a situation where if you hit on this blog you can write to me and I can publish highlights of correspondence - give me time, just give me time ...
From your pretty IT incompetent Editor in Charge of Hats
Jamie
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Second posting, just because I can!!
ReplyDeleteA definite step in the right direction, Janie-not-so-incompetent.
Hats & spats? Lots of the former and not so many of the latter, whichever way one reads it. Personally, I think the odd spat or three is somewhat healthy, provided it does not develop into something more serious. OK, I know, I know, you meant the ones for shoes!
Anyway, I would suggest that if you think there may be people out there who wish to correspond more privately, then you should get yourself a dedicated email address and post a link here. Possibly, you could label it something spectacular & innovative like.... "Letters to the Editor", for instance.
From a not so pretty cheeky monkey!!
P.S. I think the date/time stamp is kind of important, or is it just an obsession of mine?
May I take this opportunity to convey the support of myself and the 18th International Committee which has been assisting me in my work for some of the many years since my death.
ReplyDeleteI had heard that a new force was emerging to champion the rights of those who are perceived as having “mental health problem”. Mission Miraculous clearly is that force and members of the 18th Committee in your country have been keeping me informed of your progress.
I, myself, wish I had found time before my death to write on mental health issues. If I had I might have been able keep young Sigmund on track and steer so many experts and therapists away from seeing mental health problems as a failing of the individual rather than the circumstances they found themselves in. But perhaps I’m deluding myself in even suggesting that one person might change history.
As I said, members of the Committee have been observing your work. In fact, so exited have I become about your work, that I have already commenced steps to change my name to …………, in honour of the work you have already done on hats. However the safety and propaganda departments of the 18th International Committee do curb my natural instincts and put my name into code ( I believe you call it encrypting now)where there are concerns about my safety in areas where freedom of speech is curtailed or where there are any concerns about whether an organisation is quite ready for my fullest endorsement.
Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately, given the importance of freedom speech n general and specifically to your cause), it is on the second count that the Propaganda Committee have encrypted my name here.
Of the two areas of concern, the first relates to humour and frivolity. Despite my reputation for being very serious and not a little grumpy, I need no convincing that humour can be an important weapon in the armoury of the dispossessed and oppressed, when harnessed effectively.
In fact, at this very moment, the British section of the International Committee is preparing to lobby your MPs to support a Private Members Bill that would require all bankers who are called before Select Committees to explain their failure to administer the banking system properly to make their confessions wearing frilly party frocks. (The Committee inform me that women’s rights in your country have not yet advanced to a point where any separate provision for lady bankers is required. Oh, I must apologise for allowing the pernicious 19C “lady” to slip out there. Even I sometimes struggle to escape the clutches of prevailing ideology. Perhaps you will accept my own 19C origins by way of excuse.)
Your commitment to wearing hats of the most decorative and amusing kind is, of course, an excellent example of how humour can be harnessed for a progressive cause. Not only are such hats amusing in themselves, but the wearing of them challenges bourgeois notions of what counts as “normal”, a crucial issue re mental health and madness. Furthermore hats of other kinds have, in various contexts, have been symbols of the authority of the ruling classes who have encouraged stigmatisation of those perceived as having mental health problems. It is for this reason that I feel your focus on hats is central to your cause. In contrast, focussing on scarves could be a diversion.
I wonder whether you might consider extending your hat wearing to the wearing of sensible hats, particularly hats that have been symbols of bourgeois authority, at inappropriate times. Perhaps you are already doing this. Such an approach might help old fogeys such as me make the journey – a journey I very much want to make – to wearing the more outrageous hats in you collection. (In my case it would be necessary to avoid red ones to avoid being confused with Father Christmas).
Before finally turning to our concerns, for many years, I have read your Guardian Newspaper, which is available in my home town of ………..(Sorry – Propaganda Committee again) to which my spirit has returned, and I do feel that it is a sad reflection on the staid nature of progressive and socialist movements in your country that it has fallen to a Tory Prime Minister, John Major, to stretch boundaries in the wearing of Y-fronts in the way that you are experimenting with in relation to hats.
The sense of humour displayed by your editor will, I am sure be a tremendous asset to your cause, but I do feel that your blog, as the your only public face is unbalanced at the moment. You need to explain the principles underpinning your work, and demonstrate your passionate seriousness, and show your commitment to professionalism, so that humour takes its rightful place alongside these. Members of the Committee assure me that you have all theses qualities in abundance, but they need to be blazoned via your blog, so that you are taken with the seriousness you deserve.
I am also concerned about the purely frivolous references to poos, torpedos and excessive consumption of alcohol, which I feel provide a very unhelpful distraction. I, myself, am quite partial to touring my hometown and consuming large quantities of fine lager. I cannot deny this as two members of the 18th Committee have to accompany me to carry my beard, which, despite my death so many years ago, just keeps growing and growing. They would I am sure be able to confirm that I am also capable of equal frivolity in my less than sober moments. There have even been times, during periods of disillusionment (which not even I am immune from) when I have succumbed to temptation to include some in my writings, but fortunately the proof checking department of the 18th International Committee have always been at hand and ensured that such moments of weekness were not allowed to slip through and jeopardise my work.
I know I have written thousands of pages without a single joke, but I do consider this a failing. Your commitment to humour adds a vital dimension to your work, the work could not properly exist without it, but it does need to be focused so as to enhance and not detract from the message.
You may remember my reference to a second concern. The committee members with experience of your work have informed me that you were very clear about seeing mental health and as rooted in the material circumstances people’s lives and the heading of your blog hints at this. So I must ask what is all this about, not just an odd one but all, your members being convinced that the meaning of life is six times seven. Even my old 19C sparring partners never cam up with such metaphysical nonsense! I hope that this was a frivolous comment rather than an indication that you are losing your way already. If it was frivolous could I respectively suggest that, like me in my aforementioned drunken and disillusioned moments, you need a proof checker you respect with courage who can tell you when your undoubtedly wonderful and valuable sense of fun gets out of hand!
Despite my current reservations about the blog which I’m sure can be addressed, I do wish to conclude by repeating that I am very exited by your mission and look forward to the day when I, my beard carriers, and – not least – a new and very silly hat, can be marching with you to wherever you have decided to go.
………….. formerly known as …………… (Propaganda committee again)