Hey one and all.
Helen and I attended TINA in Newcastle this year and spent four days in Newcastle from 2.10 - 5.10.2008 at the end of which were were completely spent.
Here are five things I found out:
1. Newcastle has a lot of places to buy stationary from.
This is one of the strongest rationales for having TINA in Newcastle every year because you pick up various items on the way to talks like notepads, glow in the dark stickers and super glue to fix a cat's tail that may have broken off at the hostel but was luckily fixed before the zine fair.
2. Attending art/literature/film/music talks is a lot like going to university tutorials combined with channel surfing.
I had this conversation with quite a few people, except with the lack of tutors marking your name on any kind of list, you are free to wander from room to room, hungrily searching for some cultural nutrition to munch on. I suppose the challenge that presented itself was to actually concentrate on one topic at a time and not start channel surfing topics at TINA but stay in one place for an entire thing. I would give myself a B+ on this. (Feel free to grade yourself in the privacy of your own home.)
3. It is pretty easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of things going on at a festival.
It is as if someone has given you the keys to the sugar factory and it all looks pretty good but realistically speaking, you can only have so much at a time and have to throw the rest away. And then you reach your weekly of quota of how much candy, soda pop and cake your body and brain can actually cope with but because you know it is all going to run out suddenly and dramatically on Monday evening when TINA wraps up, you do your best to try a variety of flavors before your time is up.
4. Helen and I are doing okay.
We had a creative health check (one of the festival features) and delved into some issues of blockage and how we were feeling about our next joint collaboration. I do recommend seeking therapy if in need of some creative direction, I think anyone is as good a therapist, your mum, the newsagent at the corner store, your cats (I use my cats a lot. They give the best answers.) Even if there are no answers, it is good to articulate how it all makes you feel. (I find "weird" and "confusing" pop up a lot.)
5. I like things to be nice and conflict-free.
I know I didn't mention lots of names (okay, any names except Helen's) or anything specific in this post but I realized at TINA I don't like to do that. I worry about people getting upset or saying I misinterpreted what they were trying to say. I know this can make for a boring post but I hope that my roundabout way of telling you about TINA has shed some light on how such events can make you feel. In other words, I hope it was all right.
Helen and I had a good day at the zine fair on Sunday and we agreed with the girls from Tiny Paper Hearts that there was a lovely feeling in the air that day. I think it's best to leave with a good feeling even though obviously, some things were enjoyed more than others. That's just how it goes.
Good night and here's hoping you feel all right.
-Emma.
