Rosie Scribble

A glimpse inside a luminarium (that bloggers helped create)

2012-06-03T18:00:00+01:00

It's not every day you can tell your child you helped create something amazing.

Admittedly my own contribution was minimal but I did play a part, together with a group of bloggers from across the East Midlands, in creating two of the windows of the Architects of Air's latest creation EXXOPOLIS.

We first discovered Architects of Air and their amazing luminariums in Sheffield when we literally joined a random queue to get out of the rain and found ourselves inside one.

So I was more a little excited to be asked to be involved in creating two of the stained-glass effect windows.

Our efforts are now part of EXXOPOLIS. It’s a huge inflatable sculpture the size of half a football field and looks slightly space age from the outside.

Inside there are tunnels, pods, pillars and domed meeting points, which you can walk around at your leisure against a backdrop of piped music.

The colour and light is spectacular. I'll let the photos do the talking.

EXXOPOLIS by the Architects of Air at the Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park, Nottingham until Sunday 10th June as part of Wheee! – the Childrens’ Theatre and Dance Festival. Tickets cost £3 per person.

We received two complementary tickets to access the luminarium as part of the ‘creative team’ (I exaggerate slightly).

Silent Sunday

2012-06-03T07:30:00+01:00

Rosie Scribble

Stop the killing #Syria #TippingPoint

2012-06-01T16:01:54+01:00

I sat this morning in my daughter's school assembly and watched a class of eight and nine year olds showcase their maths skills, play musical instruments and introduce the class goldfish.

Within minutes I was welling up. It wasn't their slightly unpolished performance, or the five year old who got bored and decided to wander around the hall. And it wasn’t the sense of overwhelming pride and achievement that was evident in the faces of all the children at the end of their little show.

The emotion came from sitting in a hall with 300 children all under the age of ten. They were singing and clapping and there was a positive, happy atmosphere. Yet they live in a world where only a week ago so many children, who perhaps would have been at school today, were massacred in Houla, Syria in a conflict I suspect they knew little about.

49 children were killed, many just babies. As this Times article reported to the world, they were not killed by random shelling. They were murdered one by one in a manner too graphic to be detailed here. Children with their whole lives ahead of them. Gone.

In total at least 108 civilians lost their lives, 34 of them women.

I'm sad to live in a world where human beings afflict such harm on their fellow human beings. That has been so evident in the news this week. Not just in Syria but closer to home too, but Syria is the focus of this post today.

I'm not a politician. I don't have influence. I can't save the people of Syria. I can't bring those children back. But I have a voice so I’m joining in a day of protest against these mindless killings.

Today bloggers from the UK, Ireland, Russia, Syria and other parts of the world are blogging and tweeting their thoughts on Houla. We’re using the Twitter hashtages #tippingpoint #Syria #Stopthekilling and adding our posts to the Britmums blog. Do follow and RT.

Those children have no voice. Someone has to shout on their behalf.

You can also add your support to petitions by Save the Children and (warning contains a graphic image) Avaaz.org.

You know you're addicted to blogging when ...

2012-05-31T16:26:27+01:00

You know you’re addicted to blogging when …

… your first reaction on seeing mention of the word sponsored in a school newsletter is to question whether the link will be no-follow and they’ll be opting for full disclosure.

Seriously. Sometimes I worry about myself.

Rosie Scribble

A glimpse inside a luminarium (that bloggers helped create)

Silent Sunday

Stop the killing #Syria #TippingPoint

Sponsored video: VW Polo Dad - as it should be

You know you're addicted to blogging when ...