Are social networking sites and apps just a way of communicating or are they an open door to attack?

We’ve all heard of them: Twitter, Facebook, Formspring, Ask FM, Snapchat etc. but what people really lurk behind their computer screen and are they there to communicate or to insult? In this article, I intend to find out if these sites/apps are responsible for making us feel miserable.

Let’s start with Ask FM. I have to admit that when I first heard of this idea, I thought it was terrible. Why would you want teenagers to open an account and then have people ask them questions anonymously? This is a gateway for bullying. Still, it was popular and people went on to find out answers that sometimes should really be kept private. What worries me is that you didn’t even have to have an account to ask a question; it was a simple case of typing it in and pressing enter. Anyone can ask anyone anything. Of course, this was the whole point of the site but with the anonymity comes confidence and insult, with no discipline. Why not insult that person in your class if you weren’t going to get in trouble for it? There were no boundaries and still aren’t as to what you could ask, how you spoke or what you said. I only need to type in ‘girl kills’ into Google before my first suggested search was ‘girl kills herself over Ask FM’. Hannah Smith, a 14-year-old girl from Leicestershire, killed herself after receiving taunts in real life and from the site. While Ask FM bosses Mark and Lija Terebin, blamed the girl herself. However several major companies have announced that they will remove their advertising from the site following the controversy of this case and others. Another example is of Daniel Perry, 17 from Scotland, who killed himself after allegedly being blackmailed during a Skype chat and previously being told to commit suicide from anonymous people on Ask FM. The site has caused controversy by not having workable reporting, tracking or parental control processes, which have become the norm on other social media websites. However, Ask FM spokesmen responded by stating that they do have a reporting feature and employ a number of moderators to fight cyberbullying. Accordingly, the site has a “sexually explicit comment” monitor staffed by moderators; however, the comments are never deleted, even for explicit threats. This is a major cause of criticism.  Erin Gallagher, who hanged herself in October 2012 actually named Ask FM in her suicide note and said that she had been bullied on there.

Other sites known for causing hate from one to another is Twitter. The press constantly reports celebrities tweeting back and forth taking digs at one another. Notable examples are The Wanted vs. One Direction and Amanda Bynes vs. Miley Cyrus. Amanda Bynes tweeted a picture of Miley Cyrus stating towards her ‘ur ugly’. While Zayn from One Direction called Max from The Wanted ‘Chlamydia boy’ and ‘geek’. While Miley Cyrus wasn’t provoked by Bynes’ comment, she has replied ‘I think it’s all so sad that I don’t wanna add any fuel to that fire. It’s really so sad to me. I was rooting for a comeback until you start attacking me. I just thought it was hilarious that she mentioned my name the moment I was the worldwide trending topic on Twitter. It’s just funny. The moment you’re a trending topic it’s funny how many people want your name to come out of their mouth ’cause somehow they can associate, and maybe they can be a trending topic.’ Not all girls are that strong. However it doesn’t mean that you are weak to let these kinds of things offend or insult you.

And finally, Facebook. Does posing for pictures then uploading them onto Facebook make you vain or is it just a way to make yourself feel good? Dawn O’Porter thinks not that vanity might not be such a bad thing. ‘Well I think it’s terrible that such a negative connotation has been attached to people who like to share themselves with the world’ … ‘But snapping a selfie in a smashing bit of clobber and hoping a few people say you look alright, well that’s just a lovely thing to be able to do, isn’t it?’ (Dawn O’Porter, Glamour Magazine).

‘We cannot change the ever-developing social network era, but we can do our best to help the next generation realise that beauty comes from within.’

Regardless of what you think of social networking, they are without a doubt a way to communicate and if wanted, insult and degrade. Bullying can be such a horrible thing and with the added effect of the bullies able to hide behind a computer or phone screen, it is now much easier and more difficult to know when to stop. Many people don’t show when bullying or teasing is getting to them and the risk is increased when you can’t even see the person. ‘Following the suicide of Hannah Smith, British Prime Minister David Cameron called for a boycott of websites shunning the responsibility for dealing with cyberbullying on their sites.’ But can anyone ever control it? With so many small comments ripping into people, can there ever be a way of stopping people insulting others online? You could ask what we actually use social networks for: just a way of communicating or are they an open door to attack others?

About the writer: Becky has just finished a degree in English and Creative Writing and is very happy with her 2:1. She is friendly, bubbly and just so happens to be the co-creator of Yellow Bunting. She hopes you enjoy it and that you get involved!

Is Hollywood Really Dead?

While tidying up the shelves in work, a song came on by Michael Buble. Not being a massive fan, I’d never really properly listened to the lyrics of any of his songs (except singing along in my very talented, beautiful voice of course) but after hearing a few of them I began to think.

The title is quite deliberating itself; Hollywood is dead. This got me thinking. Hollywood certainly isn’t what it used to be; in fact popular culture is the same but times have changed.  I’m going to take some liberty in this article and talk not just about Hollywood but also music stars and other stars of entertainment.

When The Beatles became famous, they were thought of as rebellious because they had longer hair, whereas rebellion now a days is Miley Cyrus rubbing herself with a foam finger and Lady Gaga dancing around in a thong. One could argue that these things, although they do sell the music, take the attention away from the music itself. Back in the sixties, the Beatles were rebellious initially because they played rock n’ roll music, not because of their shenanigans.

With social media and paparazzi at an all time high, the normal things discussed are who was seen together, how thin/fat someone is; basically gossip. For example, most of the press on Justin Bieber consists of him being late for concerts or of him spitting on his fans. Not that these aren’t issues and events that need to be discussed, but the focus shifts from that of their music. While you can argue that this is happening more and more in recent times, back in the 80’s the only real entertainment news I can find is Ozzy biting the head off a bat. In conclusion, any big gossip in the entertainment world is particularly difficult to find. However most of my research is done online and this got me thinking that as the Internet is a fairly recent phenomenon then this may be the reason that gossip about celebrities has gotten so high and become normal. Indeed some entertainment gossip features are seen on the news.

While watching The Big Reunion, many of the cast spoke about their depression and the pressures of fame, as well as their loss of control due to it. However this may not be a new thing – Marilyn Monroe is famous for her feelings of being trapped as seen in some of these quotes: “It’s often just enough to be with someone. I don’t need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You’re not alone.” and “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” Indeed the magnitude and pressure of fame have sometimes thought to have pushed some celebrities to suicide, such as Marilyn Monroe from an overdose of barbiturates or Heath Ledger from prescription drug intoxication, while both may not be suicide, the result of the medication they were taking may be from the stresses and pressures of celebrity life and from the paparazzi and gossip. Indeed the gossip and paparazzi may have gotten a lot worse in recent years but these two celebrities were many decades apart, meaning that life for celebrities was also hard back then and wasn’t always the glitz and the glamour.

Hollywood; the big sign on the side the hills of Los Angeles, California promotes the height and Godly approach that Hollywood is meant to suggest but has this all been lost now? There are still some ‘stars’ among the celebrities who have been working for many years like Johnny Depp or George Clooney but celebrities who are famous for being famous may change this. The glamour hasn’t gone from Hollywood, we still have the red carpets, awards shows and sparkly dresses but the metaphorical glamour of being a celebrity in Hollywood, or that of popular culture, may truly have disappeared.

About the writer: Becky has just finished a degree in English and Creative Writing and is very happy with her 2:1. She is friendly, bubbly and just so happens to be the co-creator of Yellow Bunting. She hopes you enjoy it and that you get involved!

How much pain does my new T-shirt cost?

One would like to think that slavery is the reality of the past. Well, the term itself may be dated but  slavery definitely still exists. The slaves used to build roads and pyramids, work on cotton fields, while today they build iPhones, make clothes and whatnot. No one would dare to call them slaves though, it is much too harsh a term and in the days of political correctness, definitely forbidden. The modern slaves are simply called workers. Workers who work anything from 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Children workers. Domestic slaves. Victorian era all over again. Paid starvation wages, they are not able to feed their families, let alone buy the products they make. They are beaten, bullied, forbidden to go to the loo when they need. The people behind the labels such as ‘Made in China’.

image by Zdena

Let’s talk about Tian Yu. A seventeen year old girl was producing iPhones and iPads. For a month, she was working 12 hours long shifts, 6 days a week and still, she was not paid because of some administrative mistake. Her monthly salary was £140. She jumped from the fourth floor of the dormitory where she lived but survived, half paralysed.

Surely, the company with trillions of dollars revenue would be able to pay what they owned her.

Let’s talk about Julie. She bought a Halloween decoration from Kmart inside of which was a letter from the labour camp pleading for help. A person who wrote it said they worked 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, making $ 1.61 a month. They were tortured, bullied and beaten.

Sears Holdings, the owner of Kmart, told The New York Times that an internal investigation prompted by the letter found “no violations of company rules that bar the use of forced labor.”
Let’s talk about Amazon. It doesn’t pay taxes, why should it, it creates jobs after all. Call me a stupid crazy anti-corporatist hippie who doesn’t understand the way Economics work; but I work, make money, pay taxes. Even The Queen pays taxes. Amazon is a business, makes huge profits, pays meagre taxes after being found out.

I am not happy with this division of responsibilities for the world’s economic progress.

Corporations take their factories to the poorest countries of the world to save on overheads. They took away the jobs that we would really appreciate, especially in today’s economic climate. Instead, they lock the workers in the production lines and after they squeeze more than there is to squeeze out of them, they move their sweatshops somewhere else, somewhere fresh, leaving the people worse off than they were before, treating some other poor nation as if the human rights did not apply to them. And claim ignorance, they are good at it. Meanwhile, we are stupefied with trash. Somebody makes sure that we don’t question where the bling bling comes from, who produces it, in what conditions and for what pay. The sheep needs cheap (or not so cheap) sh*t. How else could you define the advertisements, if not as propaganda.

Let’s see in these the short videos how the workers are treated. In Amazon, the workers are on zero-hours contracts, with every minute of their working time monitored. Disney pays pittance, in Bangladesh, people work in horrific conditions, as young as 12 years of age, dying in flames when producing x, y, z for Walmart who here operates as Asda. Walmart is not the only one.

Does this knowledge make it immoral to buy the newest whatever? Who is guilty? The profit greedy corporations? Us, the commoners entrapped in consumerism? Can we stop slavery? I hope we can. It’s people like us, the women, the girls who work there. Help support the organisations, such as Clean Clothes Campaign and Sumofus who try to improve conditions of the workers. Let’s make sure that we learn about the poverty from Dickens’ novels only and not from news and documents. My small contribution to the collapse of this oppressive regime is educating myself on the problem, boycotting the guilty parties (I have cancelled my Amazon account for example), spreading the word, joining the campaigns. If I have to shop, I spend my money in charity shops.

If you have more ideas on how to try to make this world a fairer place, please, share them with me. I would be grateful.

About the Writer: Zdena comes from Slovakia but has made Wales her second home, that is when she is not travelling, which she can’t live without. Two important things in her life are books and Scrabble and she also loves world cinema.

What’s in a name?

As I sat minding my own business on Facebook, a friend of mine posted this video. What I watched next appalled me.

Disgusting thoughts and opinions from Katie Hopkins flooded out onto my screen. For those who do not know who Katie Hopkins, she is best known for her 2007 appearance on TV reality programme The Apprentice, in which contestants compete for a £100,000-a-year job working for British businessman Alan Sugar.

Many of you may have already seen this viral clip where Katie appeared on a TV show here in the UK called ‘This Morning’. The topic was about children names where Katie said she used children’s names as a shortcut to working out their social class and wouldn’t allow her children to play with Tylers or Chardonnays because she knew that they would be bad influence on her own children. Other names she picked out were Charmaine, Tyronne and anything geographical. She obviously briefly forgot that one when she named her own daughter India. Her other children are called Poppy and Maximilian.

Anna May, who actually has a brain and the knack for sarcastic humour, made my day when she put Katie in her place by stating that maybe someone of her character and class should have used the Latin version of Poppy and not the common one. From that comment more catty remarks were thrown back and forth. I also thought Phillip Schofield was going to explode from the rudeness of Katie Hopkins. Holly Willoughby made sure she didn’t back down with her own thoughts and views which lead Katie to say because Holly is a beautiful women her children must be as well and would be fine to mingle with her own.

I have to admit I do judge people on how they behave; and on their mannerisms and looks but doesn’t everyone? I wonder does anyone actually judge people on their name. How can you judge a child on the name they were given without consent as an infant?

I would love to know what anyone else thinks of Katie Hopkins ideals. Would you judge a child or person based on their name?

Friends for Life!

One of the most awkward times in my life was when I was in college. A group of us were planning a charity gig and trying to attract an audience, a friend of mine turned to another member (who didn’t hang around with us much) and said for him to ‘invite your friends’, his response? ‘I don’t have any friends’. Which then lead to a very uncomfortable atmosphere. Friends are a very important part of life. They relax you, offer you advice, act as a social aid, and help you not to go too mad. When I moved back home from university, I was afraid that I wouldn’t have many friends. So much so, (and as difficult as this is to admit), I even wrote a list of friends I had to make myself feel better.

So who are friends? People say that university friends are for life. I don’t speak to quite a lot of my friends from there, not because of anything in particular but we have just lost contact. It probably doesn’t help that 2 of them have been until very recently or are still, in America. My other group of friends I meet up fairly regularly with and would count these more so as friends back home. And there’s Daisy, who although I don’t really see very often, is the co-manager of Yellow Bunting! This helps us keep in touch with one another. You see, I love all of my friends but life gets in the way. Especially when some live in what can be seen as another country. Well, England, which, yes I know it is still Britain but still it’s quite far! And so they are sometimes harder to keep in touch with than those living in the same place and near to me. My point? University friends may be for life but at the end of your studies, more often than not, everyone goes back to their hometowns or pursues a career, which usually isn’t in a place with their university peers.

However, friends aren’t everything. There was a point in my life when I was socialising so much that it became difficult to have time to myself to get anything done. However, I wouldn’t change this for the world, I was just happy to have a life that I was afraid wouldn’t happen. Friends don’t have to be everything though, so if you are going through a bad patch with one (or some) or don’t really have any, you don’t always have to worry about it! Fight for your friends (but don’t make all of the effort, you have to know that they want to be friends with you too) but don’t worry if you don’t have many. You’ll make more in the future; when you a new job, move, even people you meet online. All of these hypothetical reasons could be responsible for new people in your life, people who are more similar to you. But don’t worry if you can’t find anyone, you should never change or change your personality for anyone, and if someone cannot appreciate you then don’t change for them. If having friends makes you fake then would you still want them? It is your choice, but don’t worry yourself with finding people, if they are meant to be then they will happen. Put yourself out there, show off your personality and find the right people for you, people who will make you feel good about yourself, help you and make you happy. Believe me, I have had friends who have made me feel very crummy and you deserve to be happy so stand up for yourself!

About the writer: Becky has just finished a degree in English and Creative Writing and is very happy with her 2:1. She is friendly, bubbly and just so happens to be the co-creator of Yellow Bunting. She hopes you enjoy it and that you get involved!

FIRST BIRTHDAY! :)

Well hello there Yellow Bunting followers! I don’t know if you know but this date marks the first year anniversary for us! And what a year it has been, we have gained writers, lost writers, had a lovely reunion and covered issues both big and small. We have come so far, about to enter a competition to take part in the Blogcademy! And so this article is going to take a look at the past year, our highlights and fun times, we hope you enjoy the read J

“I always start off my articles by thinking to myself about the subject. Originally we were all given different sections of the magazine to focus on and up till now I have stuck to this. My section was ‘health’ but after reading more and more of our writer’s articles, I have decided to branch out and write more about what interests me.

The title may suggest that this article is pointless, but there is no article itself, only an explanation of who I am and what Yellow Bunting is and hopes to be. It started off with me lying in bed in my uni house one night thinking. I’d always found teenage girls’ magazines interesting, the way they speak to the girls and what they include within their magazines. When I was younger my sisters, a friend and I put together are own magazine, using cuttings from others and adding our own bits in. Looking back, I realised then that I love the act of creating and writing. And with my interest in teenage girl magazines, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to start my own.

If truth be told, I was also worried about having something to do when I finished university. There aren’t a lot of jobs but while I was going to keep applying, I needed something to do to keep my brain going in the meantime. I thought about this magazine and decided that as hard copies are limited and difficult to purchase, in the beginning I would remain online.

I was in uni doing English and I was interested in editing as a career so this would be perfect to not only do what I love (which is also editing and writing) but to also make something of it.

My ex wasn’t really all that supportive, he told me that he didn’t think it would work but my housemate and friend, Daisy, believed in it and offered to help. Through Daisy, Yellow Bunting has been named and launched; she has brought countless writers to the table and edits the articles every week. I am truly blessed to have her. There are often times where real life gets in the way and I don’t have time to give everything I have but Daisy is always there to put me back on track and to make sure I don’t give up on it.

This article, I guess is my way of explaining what Yellow Bunting is and how Daisy and I are involved. I am also extremely thankful for our team of writers, past and present, who have made my dream of owning my own magazine come true. To mention them (please let me know if you are missed out of the list, there’s just quite a few names!), Zdena, Daisy, Melody, Meg, Catherine, Sarah, Kera-anne, Si, Rubyyy, Nesrine, Stef, Alex, Bryony, Ellie, Beth and Tahnee. Without this great bunch, Yellow Bunting wouldn’t exist or work the way it does so well.

Finally, a new section of the magazine has also helped other areas of my life. I had always thought about running an agony aunt section but I didn’t want it to be boring, stereotypical teenage questions. I wanted it to be real, like the magazine is. Teenagers are old enough not to be looked down at; if they have a question then I will answer it with the most realistic answer possible. This helped the ‘wanting to help’ nature of my personality come through. Rubyyy is also the main force behind this section and has some very strong beliefs, (catch her interview earlier in issue 8).

Whether fat or thin, curvy or spotty, I hope that Yellow Bunting helps you to be less afraid about it. It is real life and these airbrushed to within an inch of their life other magazines don’t promote the right image in my opinion. This is why I created and work on Yellow Bunting, to show young women that it is alright to be yourself and that you don’t have to look or act a certain way just because the media and some people make it out to be better.

I hope you enjoy future articles and issues of Yellow Bunting, I certainly can’t wait to see where we go.

All my love,

Becky          ”

What Yellow Bunting means to me (from our writers):

‘what does Yellow Bunting mean to me? well, it means a lot actually. it gives me the opportunity to be creative and to write about and share with people, the things that i love. it’s introduced me to some wonderful and interesting people whose articles inspire me and push me to do the best with my own.

this first year has gone so fast! it only seems like last week that i heard Becky talking about her idea for a magazine and now here we are celebrating our 1st birthday! it’s been hard work, but then nothing in life worth having ever came easy and we all enjoy a good challenge now and then!

so, here’s to another fantastic year at Yellow Bunting! who knows what i will be writing this time next year?’ -Daisy

‘Yellow bunting has become a small fun community away from the normal caged society that we all dwell within. For me writing for YB has given me the opportunity  (when I actually manage to write pieces) a chance to spread my own ideas and opinions, even if sometimes they are slightly wacky. Everyone who makes up YB are all friendly and creative and even though I have only met a few of our lovely writers we all get along and contribute to something that will hopefully help and inspire people.’ –Kera

‘Looking for an idea, voicing what I’m thinking, research, polishing, editing. Why is it so exciting? I have to write. I need to write. My life would be so much emptier without it, and definitely harder for those around me. I need to vent my fury which appears when I let my mind stagnate in sameness of everydayness. Maybe a punching bag would do even better trick. But turning my aggression into creation seems more meaningful. This is what I need to do and there is no other option, says the pacifist in me.

Yellow Bunting and me, we have the same aspirations. We want to show the alternatives and inspire the readers in their search for … whatever. I share my interests; a little bit of feminism, a tiny bit of intelectualism, some of the environmental issues, travels.

We hope to make this world a better place, grrr, what a cliché. Shall I rather say: ‘Girls, the future is ours, let’s work on it.’ We count on a convincing argument more than on physical strength.

Yellow Bunting helps to keep my sanity and those close to me. I contribute with my weltanschauung which, hopefully, helps someone to leap in their intellectual progress.

This may be a win-win situation.’  -Zdena

‘For me Yellow Bunting was a way to write about something I was passionate about and be part of a project that stood for giving women a voice and being about what was beneath the surface.’ – Sarah

‘To me, writing isn’t something you can learn. I think it is something you are either born to do or born not to do. It can be practiced but I believe it is a part of who you are and that’s what I feel writing is to me. Yellow Bunting has provided me with a very rare opportunity to express how I really feel about the things I care about. It has provided me with a voice and a platform for that voice to be heard. A writer is who I am and what makes a good writer is passion, because you have to feel something for what you write about otherwise you won’t produce good results. It takes drive because of deadlines and despite having writers block, those deadlines still have to be reached! People love to read about themselves through another person’s perspective and writing for this magazine allow me to reach out to those who may really need it. I am extremely proud of what we all have achieved as a team, and my page on the Yellow Bunting site makes me feel as though I have a purpose and a duty to be there for our readers. Becky and Daisy have done a brilliant job in delegating and running things smoothly and I just want to take this chance to say thank you to both of them for keeping us all in check and for creating this magazine.’ -Melody

We have had many writers, past and present, and I would like to thank every single one of them: Daisy, Beth, Sarah, Kera-anne, Meg, Alex, Catherine, Zdena, Melody, Rubyyy, Stef,Tahnee, Ellie, Bryony & Nesrine

. Without each and every single one of you my idea and dream would never have become a reality, so thank you all of you from the bottom of the heart!!

Yellow Bunting plans to have a good old revamp after our birthday. We are going to bring some more writers in, change how we edit articles, and market a lot more plus much more!

Here are some pictures from our reunion:

And finally I just wanted to thank YOU our readers, without you we really wouldn’t have gotten anywhere, thank you for being there and I hope we can give you a lot more in the future to come! 🙂

About the Writers:

Becky has just finished a degree in English and Creative Writing and is very happy with her 2:1. She is friendly, bubbly and just so happens to be the co-creator of Yellow Bunting. She hopes you enjoy it and that you get involved!Click here to see more posts by Becky.

Daisy is an irregular photographer, wannabe writer and full time female. In between tea and toast breaks she spends far too much time on the internetblogging, tumbling and tweeting. She is unapologetic in her love of the Spice Girls. Click here to see more posts by Daisy.

Sarah is a filmmaker and writer with an obsession for luscious visuals and a distain for tomatoes (they are a sneaky and untrustworthy foodstuff). If she’s not blogging or tweeting, she’ll be watching films or running around with her video camera. Click here to see more posts by Sarah.

Stef is a 22 year old graduate who has a lifelong obsession with books and reading who also loves music and live theatre. You’re most likely to find her in a book shop or out in London standing at a theatre stage door. She can be found on twitter and running The World of Blyton. Click here to see more posts by Stef.

Rubyyy Jones is a performer, writer and muse; originally from Canada, she moved to London to find the sexier side of life! Rubyyy is no expert but she’s listening, learning and loving her way towards wisdom and peaceful power. Click here to see more posts by Rubyyy.

Melody has just finished a degree in Journalism, Film and Media with a 2:1. She aspires to work with vulnerable women and children subject to domestic, and or other forms of abuse. She is an animal lover and has a small obsession with Fearne Cotton. She is a constant joker and can be found on Twitter. Click here to see more posts by Melody.

Zdena comes from Slovakia but has made Wales her second home, that is when she is not travelling, which she can’t live without. Two important things in her life are books and Scrabble and she also loves world cinema. Click here to see more posts by Zdena.

Catherine is a biology geek by day and cake baker by night. When she’s not in the kitchen you’ll be able to find her writing, tending to her tomato plant or curled up reading one of her many cookbooks. Click here to see more posts by Catherine.

Kera-anne is currently in her final year at London College of Fashion studying Surface Textiles specialising in Knitwear who loves nothing more than baking, writing and playing the occasional Nintendo game. She wants to give something new to future artists who are yet to taste the confusing fruit that is the fashion industry! When working on a project she tends to go for the darker viewpoints as the work always leans toward the obscurer side of art. Click here to see more posts by Kera.

Previous writers at Yellow Bunting:

Nesrine is a final year student , MA Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen. Her intention is to break through the media industry in the near future. She speaks four languages: English, French, Arabic and Spanish. Her trait is to: look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a boss. Click here to see more posts by Nesrine.

Meg is currently studying English and Creative Writing and hopes to one day become a writer or journalist and be known for her writing. She’s also a part time model and would not so secretly love to become a popstar! She may seem shy at first, but once you get to know her she becomes very loud indeed. Click here to see more posts by Meg.

Alex is a drama graduate and self taught photographer. She started out by photographing her friends unique style and was soon approached by others wanting to be shot by her. She has recently been offered representation and has been listed as a photographer for Vogue Italia. You can find her on twitter,facebook and her website. Click here to see more posts by Alex.

Bryony is a 3rd yr Applied Drama student. When she’s not teaching drama or writing (creative as well as articles) she’s attempting to fullfill her goal of living life to the max. Writing for health & well-being and making a difference here at Yellow Bunting, she loves star-gazing, the theatre, partying, surfing, being outdoors, cider n pasties. Click here to see more posts by Bryony.

Ellie is a history graduate and PR Consultant. She loves reading, dipping into 1984, Harry Potter and The Bell Jar. When she hasn’t got her nose in a book she enjoys creative writing, museums and galleries across the UK. When she has the time, she also likes nothing more than catching up with a few friends over dinner and a cocktail or two! Click here to see more posts by Ellie.

Beth is a music enthusiast as in she listens to music all day, everyday. When she’s not raving in her room she’s reading, working, tweeting or hanging out with her friends. Working towards being a film director, music producer or English teacher, Beth is currently studying media and literature along with more diverse subjects. Click here to see more posts by Beth.

Tahnee (say it Tar-Knee) is an English Literature graduate and works at a theatre in Cardiff where you’ll generally find her getting misty eyes over some new piece of writing. One day she’ll be the director of the Royal Shakespeare Company but until then you’ll find her writing for Yellow Bunting, mooching around second hand books shops and eating cake. She occasionally tweets too. Click here to see more posts by Tahnee.

Arts & Crafts

There’s something so very satisfying about making something yourself and being able to see it through from start to finish – be it making your own loaf of bread or a cake, to major house renovations or putting together IKEA furniture (a task not to be undertaken lightly). At the end of it all you can turn around and say (read: scream) “I made this!”

When it comes to crafting, I used to very rarely see things through to the end. Awful to admit I know, but I feel it’s relevant. A task would start out with enthusiasm and vigour but after a few weeks this would just disappear.

But not anymore! Well, that’s the plan. If you remember, at the beginning of the year I decided my word for 2013 would be ‘proactive’ to encourage me to get up and do things! Well, so far it’s working and I’m hoping it will continue to do so with the four – read them – four different projects I’ve got going on. Wish me luck!

• Pike’s scarf. My childhood consisted of watching Dad’s Army on video round at my grandparents’ house. Every Saturday we would spend the mornings watching episode after episode, laughing at the strange goings on and situations the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard found themselves in. I always wanted Private Pike’s scarf, so what better season to start knitting one? (At the time of writing it’s currently 28˚C and I’ve just been sunbathing.)

image from here

• Friendship bracelets. I made a lot of friendship bracelets when I was younger, it’s a skill I think everyone should have – how else are you supposed to know who’s your friend or not? They brighten up any wrist and are simple and easy to make.
• Bunting. It gives me an excuse to buy some fabulous, kitsch fabrics!
• Flower crowns. The sun is (finally) shining and the flowers are out in abundance and wearing a floral wreath to crown your day just seems very fitting.

Having company with you when you’re crafting varies from person to person. I however, like having someone around so when Stef came over a few weeks ago it was the perfect time to get busy with our various projects and giving a second opinion to an idea the other had.

Whether you find it relaxing, gratifying or fun, I’m glad something has re-kindled my love of crafting because, as stated before, there’s nothing better than looking at a finished project (no matter how shocking it looks or how long it took) and proudly stating: “I made that.”

Happy crafting!

About the Writer: Daisy is an irregular photographer, wannabe writer and full time female. In between tea and toast breaks she spends far too much time on the internet blogging, tumbling and tweeting. She is unapologetic in her love of the Spice Girls.

Confessions of a Book Addict

Where to start? Books have been quite a large part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. My home has always been a haven of books, my mother is a qualified librarian, she took me to work with her, and well… it all just really was inevitable.

Books are a big part of my life, so much so that I’ve ended up working as a library assistant and am seriously considering it as my career (if libraries can be saved!) and I have realised more recently, that I have a rather big problem.

I am a book addict.

Barely an hour at work goes by where I’m not nose deep in a book, new or old, adults or children, trying to determine if it’s something I would want to read.

The really lucky books get to come home with me, and sit, sometimes for ages on my shelves as I try to find time to read them. Some books come back to the library, unread, only to be taken out at a later date.

Withdrawn stock is another issue. As long as we don’t take too much, sometimes we’re allowed to pick a book or two from the donations and withdrawn book sale. It’s terrible! Books I’ve eyed up on Amazon or on our shelves suddenly find themselves in my handbag on the way home and now, I’m seriously running out of space to keep them.

I can pretty much remember the first time I brought books on my own accord; in fact that is where it all started. I don’t remember buying my own books before this. I guess I must have had book vouchers before to buy books, but I have a feeling I wasn’t very involved in the decision on which books to buy.

I must have been about 5 or 6 at the time, because I remember after I brought these books I read them with my parents before bed each night.

So there I am, in a small local bookshop in Wokingham with my mother, looking at a shelf full of 1995 editions of the Famous Five by Enid Blyton.

Now, for those who know me, this probably won’t come as a surprise, after all I do run the World of Blyton Blog and belong to the Enid Blyton Society.

But I remember standing in this little independent bookshop, looking at the books, wondering which of these glossy new novels I wanted to buy. My mother was a strong advocate of me starting at the beginning but in the end I decided to take the books that had more than one copy on the shelves, because I didn’t want anyone to be left out.

I can’t describe to you how exciting it all was, these were my first “grown-up” books with no pictures. I still have the books now- a testament to my mother’s reluctance to give away books. Those books, Five Fall into Adventure, Five go to Mystery Moor, and Five Have Plenty of Fun were not only the slide from picture books to proper reading, but a slide from a regular reader to a book addict.

I find myself nowadays buying books all over the place. Sometimes in Waterstones I treat myself to an expensive hardback only to find the same copy in the library the next morning! (This has actually happened)

For example this morning I actually had to physically stop myself buying a set of books off Amazon (while being at work and not being able to find the first book in the series on our catalogue). These books I’m sure would have been bought on a whim. Also, I have never read that particular author before, but inspired by a movie with one of my favourite actors in, I wanted to read the books!

As my mother always said;

“Read the books before you see the movie; the book is always better!”

You see, if they had had a copy of the book I wanted at work, it wouldn’t have been an issue. I wouldn’t have had to stop myself from buying the books.

I don’t know if there is a group for book addicts- and if there was I’m sure we would all just sit about discussing our favourite books anyway. I mean I can talk books until the cows come home: I just love books!

See part of the problem is that they’re not seen as a dangerous thing (unless you’re throwing them- but I never advocate throwing books: they may get hurt!), and a lot of the time you can’t match the signs of addiction with Book Addicts.

But in other respects, its expensive, they make you “anti-social”, can cause emotional trauma (trust me there are some books I’ve never recovered from *stage whisper* Harry Potter).

I’ve never been ashamed of being a book addict; in fact I think at secondary school I was a little bit snobbish about it all. There were the more popular girls in my classes who would make fun of me for reading books, but I always believed that I was taking the moral high ground and believed I was better than them, not because I was picking on them right back- oh no, I was an introvert when it came to bullies, but because I had more imagination, more freedom, more knowledge and common sense than them all put together, because I read!

I know, I know; it didn’t make me better than them, but at the time it made me feel better about myself.

Inevitably you could say that reading led me to writing because I would never have taken up writing if I didn’t have such wonderful authors as inspiration. Authors like J.K Rowling who swung up into fame quite quickly, and Enid Blyton who typed away on a keyboard in a male dominated world. Terry Pratchett the creature of the wonderfully sublime Discworld series, full of sarcastic humour, and obvious humour come to that!  More recently, Sara Sheridan (Twitter Account? Website?) of the Mirabelle Beven Mysteries has given me lots of inspiration for my own work.

Its authors like these who make me think that one day, possibly, my little scribblings might be more than just little, and certainly more than scribblings. Could it be that one day my work might mean something to someone the way these authors do to me?

See, I wouldn’t have these aspirations if I’d not been a book addict, pouring over page after page drinking in descriptions, new ideas, life!

For me, books are more than just words, they ease the soul, soothe the worry and take you away. And No, you don’t get the same feel with a Kindle.

So stroll on to L-Space (copyright Terry Pratchett) at your own peril. Come on! We’re waiting for you to join us!

About the Writer: Stef is a 22 year old graduate who has a lifelong obsession with books and reading who also loves music and live theatre. You’re most likely to find her in a book shop or out in London standing at a theatre stage door. She can be found on twitter and running The World of Blyton.

Interview With Carers

Margaret Lewis and Katie Jennings, mother and daughter, have gone through major upheaval and stress throughout the last three years. Moving in with the grandmother after the death of her husband and then caring for her following a stroke and an extreme change of personality, it was a real struggle. Margaret’s other daughter, Tamsin, then had a major relapse in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and was then diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa.

How are the carers coping? They are the ones who have to deal with the consequences and the emotional turbulence. So how exactly do they feel? They are the ones in the background who don’t receive the ‘get well’ tokens of pity and compassion. How do they cope with having to watch their loved ones suffer? What do they do when they can do very little?

Here we interview these two people in how becoming carers has changed their lives.

 

Margaret

Margaret Lewis used to describe herself as an easy-going and hard-working person but what could have changed to make her view herself so differently?

When I asked her if her personality had changed at any point in her life, she replied that it had. When she elaborated further, I found a mournful story. She explains that when she became a carer her whole personality changed. She says she was happy to move in with her mother at the time.

Asked if she had had a close relationship with her mother, she told me that she used to, less so now because she is a totally different person. Having a good relationship with my mother, it really struck me: What if my mother totally changed? What if the person I had come to for help and spoke to every day on the phone was the reason for my nervous breakdown?

Having a happy home, happy family and overall happy life made Margaret worry that something bad had to be brewing for her. ‘I had too much luck going for me. I knew at one point something had to tip the scale and change things.’ It is weird to think that the scale needs to be tipped the other way now as Margaret and her family are still waiting for some good luck to return.

After the sudden and unexpected death of her father, the abrupt move in with her mother, and the constant arguments between her brothers and husband, it is difficult to see what more could go wrong. ‘One thing seemed to lead to another. I think my daughter could see that I was struggling and in a lot of pain and she couldn’t do anything about it. So I think that her subconscious allowed her to be in control of one aspect of her life, her weight. I think that is where her anorexia originated from.’

If she had her chance again, would she still move in? ‘My father wanted us to move in. He told the neighbours that if anything happened to him that he knew we would move in and look after mum. With that said, I would seriously reconsider moving in, but that’s easy to say with hindsight. If we hadn’t moved in then I don’t know if mum would still be here. If I didn’t move in then I would just feel guilty.”

Some of the family didn’t deal with the move very well. In terms of her marriage, Margaret says that it made them stronger as ‘we have helped each other.’ But how does she feel about her brothers? ‘Sometimes helpful – some more than others. But I feel alone in terms of that family as they don’t help at all.’ What was an extremely close-knit family turned out very differently when something major happened.

If she had decided to remain where she was, what would be in store for her? ‘I’m unsure in what way my life would be different but yes, it definitely would be. It could have been worse because of my guilt, but it also could be less stressful as I wouldn’t have had to become a carer. It all depends on what would have happened to mum.’ Margaret is carrying a lot of confusion, ‘if she had gone to a home and deteriorated then I would have felt guilty. But to be honest, I don’t see how it could be worse than the last 2 years.’

And how does she feel towards the people who put her in this situation of worry, panic and sadness? ‘Sometimes angry. I can get very annoyed at my mother but I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s not her fault, although that is hard to do.’ She adds as a quick after thought. ‘It doesn’t help that I don’t get a break from her. I also worry about my daughter a lot.’

The role reversal is very strange to deal with. ‘It’s almost like my mother has gone back to childhood.’

However, Margaret seems to be happier than she has been in the last two years and is looking forward to a well-earned break next week when she goes on holiday to Florida. ‘I can’t wait! I seriously need to just get away and I can’t wait for all the sun!’ Her face has lightened up considerably as she is reminded of what awaits her.

And what is going to happen when she has to return to real life? ‘I need to start having more breaks and some ‘me time’ – away from everyone, just to chill.’

 

Katie

Katie Jennings is your average seventeen-year-old girl. Her hobbies include driving, Wii, shopping, socialising, and, having just passed her driving test, driving. She is the middle child of 3 children and thinks she suffers from middle child syndrome. She has lived in Cardiff all of her life but has only lived in her current home for the last ‘two wonderful years.’

While she points out that living in a family of five can be hectic and you’re not left alone for more than ten minutes, she likes it. Although she does admit that sharing a room with your older sister does have its drawbacks. When her sister received her diagnosis, Katie says that she felt ‘sad.’ Her eyes raise slowly from the ground as she tells me that she wasn’t angry when her sister was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but was for the Anorexia Nervosa. Explaining that this is because ‘OCD is more mental rather than with anorexia which doesn’t begin mentally but develops into something mental.’ Asked why she believes that Tamsin is prone to these anxiety illnesses, Katie notes that ‘she has always been a worrier and I think that it didn’t help that she used to be quite largely overweight and would be more paranoid due to past bullying.’

Katie points out that she sometimes felt like less attention was put on her and their other younger sister, Bryony, since their parents were always focused and worried on Tamsin. ‘I also didn’t want them to be any more worried than they already were so I tried not to discuss any problems I was having.’ Looking-shame faced at the table between us, she adds, ‘I know it sounds bad, but I was always the thin one. It was just my place within the family. When mum said that she thought Tamsin could be thinner than me, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.’

‘I try to help her. I used to help a lot more as it was easier to help with her OCD and I was the only person to know at first. However, now that I’m not the only one to know, I’m not included as much.’ When I ask her if she gets on well with her sister despite the illnesses she smirks and comments, ‘sometimes but she can annoy me.’

While people may pity the poor sufferer of these illnesses, does anyone think of their carers and families? How can it effect them personally? ‘It takes a long time to recover from OCD so no matter how much I tried to help, it didn’t work as quickly as I would have liked. It was also very difficult to cope with the fact that my sister could die.’

I ask her if she could go back in time, would she change anything? Her reply takes a while to come as she deliberates the many possibilities. She finally looks up and states that she would change nothing because if we didn’t make the mistakes then we wouldn’t regret anything.

Has she noticed any changes since becoming a carer? ‘I am more understanding now and know a lot more in my psychology classes at college thanks to these illnesses.’ Unfortunately these things seem to be the only advantages of having to suffer alongside a family member, but even worse was when Katie had to move out of her local community after the sudden death of her grandmother. ‘We all thought it would be nice living with Nan,’ she says with a quick smile, ‘but after her stroke we became her carers, too.’

Katie has had to cope with an extreme change of personality in her grandmother but she is still always an optimist. ‘When the rest of the family all went downhill, into depression and nervous breakdowns, I just tried to carry on and remain happy.’

Thanks to this strong will of Katie’s, she pulled her sister out of the dark side and into recovery. Though she does say that if they hadn’t moved in, ‘Nan would probably be dead.’ When asked whether she misses her grandfather and the ‘old’ Nan, she frowns. ”Course I miss them.’ Her face relaxes slowly. ‘But we do sometimes get glimpses of the old Nan.’

Does she believe that if these ‘events’ were more spread out then it would have all been easier to cope with? ‘Yes, definitely. Less stressful. I wouldn’t have found it necessary to have to bury my emotion so much.’

And when she was finally asked if she thought that life is improving or if it is going to improve, she assures, ‘We’re quite happy at the moment. Could be worse. Life is going to improve because we have a holiday planned to Florida! Also when we get back, I am going to Teenscene! It’s a Christian camp which is really modern and great! I can really see my religion improving there.’

What did I find when concluding this interview? That one, Katie Jennings is in no way selfish, giving so much of her time to helping others. Second, that the carers of the ill suffer, too, and that the government should spend more time thinking about them and what they are going through.

About the writer: Becky has just finished a degree in English and Creative Writing and is very happy with her 2:1. She is friendly, bubbly and just so happens to be the co-creator of Yellow Bunting. She hopes you enjoy it and that you get involved!

Don’t call me a consumer

I was unemployed for a few months. Coming back from my big trip, full of ideas and enthusiasm, I was enjoying freedom for a while but then, feeling like a waste of space every time someone didn’t bother to answer to my plea for employment, I felt more and more into frustration. The low picture of self is good only for self-loathing, which is, as you can imagine, very unproductive. So instead of doing something worthwhile, I end up watching a TV programme that I used to like. I borrowed all 8 series from a friend of mine and fed myself morning, lunch and afternoon. As it is, it was an interesting experiment. Before I would see only a random episode here and there, just like homeopathy, but being overdosed, I’ll tell you what happened.

 

First two series I was so taken by beautiful people on the screen that I wanted to be like them. I kept thinking a lot about my hair and creating new outfits. Then I decided I needed some accessories. How could I live until now without a belt or hairpins or little scarf thingy? I didn’t get as far as doing my make-up because 66 episodes later my point of view changed. I realised what the show was doing to me. I was being brainwashed into being a consumer! Me, who lived in the campervan for a year, basically in one T-shirt and one pair of shorts! The same person who had in mind creating a masterpiece was suddenly turned into a self-obsessive person standing in front of the mirror and searching the Net for inspiration on how to look good. Ouch.

I think that all the time dedicated to improve the appearance takes away the valuable time that seems to be vanishing with each breath. Where does it go, I don’t know, suddenly I have wrinkles and grey hairs but I still remember how impatiently, at the age of 13, I was waiting to turn to be an adult. One blink, and my age more than doubled. One more blink, and I am dead. So, definitely, I need to prioritise. Will I create that masterpiece people will remember me by in 200 years or should I make a masterpiece of myself and enjoy the odes on me now?

 

That is one question sorted. They say the beauty comes from within but they still sell us thousands of beauty products for I don’t know what. I am not going to spend my valuable free time wandering the aisles of Boots to find out how far from ‘perfection’ I am.  I wash my hair regularly, I have a shower every day, I clean and cut my nails, I use a deodorant and perfume, sometimes even make-up. I feel comfortable in my body. Nobody can ever guess my age. What else can I want? I may be spending all my money on the clothes and cosmetics (which, it seems, doesn’t really work because the women who overuse them look older than they really are) or I can save up for the next looooong trip somewhere out there. I think I know what I’m choosing.

 

About the Writer: Zdena comes from Slovakia but has made Wales her second home, that is when she is not travelling, which she can’t live without. Two important things in her life are books and Scrabble and she also loves world cinema.