Irregular Greetings!

Hello Irregular Friends

I hope you’re not feeling down – but if you are, you’re not alone. This is, apparently, the most depressing time of the year: you’re financially stretched from winter holiday spending, feeling unhealthy and uncomfortable from over-indulgence, your new year’s resolutions are abandoned and if you’re in a job you probably don’t get paid until the end of the month.

It’s my birthday this week, though, and being irregular means I can embrace freedom, ignore traditions and rebel against mainstream expectations. So I will celebrate every ray of sunshine, especially if I’m told that I’m supposed to be feeling down.

I didn’t make any new year’s resolutions, and generally don’t… having a birthday now, and a kiddo with a birthday later this month too keeps me in semi ‘holiday’ mode until February, putting expectations and routines on hold. To be honest I really don’t like routine, although in a world that is built that way it can be helpful to have some degree of structure and repetition if I want to function and connect with other people.

So I have, for the first time I can remember, made a myself a year-plan… Only since my neurodivergent brain doesn’t like the word “plan”, I’ve called it ‘Riding the Rapids’ and filed it under ‘Mapping’ – because I like metaphor and I am on a journey.

Having launched The Consent Compass in November, after over a year of developing, testing and sharing it, someone raised a question I hadn’t fully considered. So, before progressing the consent compass book and training programme, I am reworking it to be even more useful as a tool for making ethical decisions and choices.
This is consent in practice – responsive and connected – adapting to change as well as shaping it.

I am also busy preparing my first public performances of 2024, next week at Subjective Silhouettes Open Mic in Leeds and in February at Theatre in the Mill in Bradford – for Right Queer Right Now (RQRN). Details of both are here.

RQRN is a brilliant festival programme over two weekends and Early Bird tickets are now available through this link

I am so proud to be part of it, sharing new work in my home city, in the venue where Irregular Arts began in 2014 with the first showing of ‘An Odd Occasion’. Ten years on, we’ll be creating and sharing the new performance ‘Odd Adventure’ later in the year, too.

It is always great to hear from people, so please reply to this if you’d like to. I’d love to hear about your plans, adventures, journeys and challenges for the year ahead.

I’ll be sharing more irregular plans and offerings soon – and if you’re curious about up-to-the-minute irregular happenings, you can always follow us on Facebook or Instagram

Thanks for your support.
With love,

Jenn

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