The events from the last month weigh heavy on us and it is clear that all of us who want to stand in allyship need to do more, and do better. Louder voices are needed, but so are bigger, deeper, more consistent actions.

We are taking time out of our regular programming to share anti racism resources and tools, and ideas for positive actions that can be taken to support the Black Lives Matter movement. These resources have been curated by the team at the House of St Barnabas, we are engaging with and using them too.

We’re committed to listening, learning and doing more. If you think we’ve missed something vital, please let us know.

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Reading: articles & books
The American Nightmare – To be black and conscious of anti-black racism is to stare into the mirror of your own extinction (The Atlantic) – By Dr Ibram X Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.

From Minneapolis to London: who polices the police? (Freedom News) – a piece looking at claims that police brutality “isn’t as bad” in the UK.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today.

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of the Empire – by Akala
In this unique book Akala takes his own experiences and widens them out to look at the social, historical and political factors that have left us where we are today. Covering everything from the police, education and identity to politics, sexual objectification and the far right, Natives speaks directly to British denial and squeamishness when it comes to confronting issues of race and class that are at the heart of the legacy of Britain’s racialised empire.

Brit(ish) – by Afua Hirsch
The Sunday Times bestseller that reveals the uncomfortable truth about race and identity in Britain todayYou’re British. Your parents are British. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British. So why do people keep asking where you’re from?

The UK Black Writers Forum has shared a list of black-owned bookshops in the UK. Many are offering online orders whilst doors are closed, read the full list here.

Watching: film & TV
The 13th  (Netflix) – Ava DuVernay’s award winning documentary analyses the criminlisation of African American’s and the boom in the prison industry through conversations with scholars, activists and politicians.

When They See Us (Netflix) – a dramatisation of the arrest and wrongful conviction of the Central Park 5 in the spring of 1989.

Black and British: A Forgotten History (BBC) – The BBC is re-airing this 2016 documentary series from historian David Olusoga as he explores the enduring relationship between Britain and people whose origins lie in Africa. It’s back on BBC 4 from Monday 15^th June.

Listening: podcasts
1619 – an audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.

We Need to Talk About the British Empire – through six intimate conversations with a new generation of writers and historians – journalist Afua Hirsch tries to break through old clichés and unpick the true legacy of this complicated and difficult inheritance.

Conversations with Nova Reid – Nova Reid is a diversity and anti racism campaigner, TEDx speaker and writer, and is here to help you recognise your own power in being the change you want to see in the world. Her podcasts brings raw, unedited conversations about life, through the lens of race.

Action
Sign the petition asking the Department of Education to update GCSE reading lists to help battle racism.

Support the work of social enterprise The Black Curriculum, which aims to “reimagine the future of education through Black British history”.

Livity has an amazing network of young people looking for mentoring support. They are talented, driven and creative so you are guaranteed to not just be helping them, but to also learn things and gain a different perspective, email Emily Goldhill  if you are interested.

Follow and support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last year, the V&A’s “Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up” exhibition sold out, it sold out a lot. If, like us, you missed it but want to find out more about one of Mexico’s most famous artists, you can here. 33 museums and cultural collections from around the world have collaborated to bring their collections online. You can browse self-portraits, drawings and some of Frida Kahlo’s personal possessions to learn more about her work and legacy.

Gal Dem Magazine has compiled tips, tricks and inspiration to show us all that making our own sustainable wardrobe is possible, with a little bit effort. Find out how to ditch fast fashion here.

The Paris Review has gathered together the great and good of the literary world to take us through what they’re finally making time to read through lockdown. Read the full list from writers including Jennifer Schafer and Eddie Grace here.

We want to know what your reading / writing / watching / listening to during lock down. Email your tips to member@hosb.org.uk.

The Rainbow Tee is available to buy exclusively at jumper1234.com (hit the link below) with £30 from every t-shirt sold donated to the House of St Barnabas.

Chiltern Street Studio are also offering 25% off exclusively for HoSB members. The discount is valid site-wide on everything except the rainbow tees and cashmere rainbows. Just use the code HOSB at the check out.

Get your tee here.

Are you cooking the same few dishes on rotation? Us too. The charity Migrateful usually run in-person cookery classes led by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who are struggling to integrate and access employment. Right now, they’re running classes online. You can add Ethiopian, Trinidadian, Ukrainian or Lebanese to your cooking repertoire and help support people to learn English and build confidence. Loads more info and how to sign-up, here.

Check out some of the superstar DJs who’ve played at the House in days gone by over on our Spotify Channel. With mixes from Craig Charles, Gilles Peterson, Toddla T and Norman Jay, they’re the perfect soundtrack to a sunny Bank Holiday. Listen here.

What’s keeping you entertained in lock down? Let us know: member@hosb.org.uk 

Stath Lets Flats is the BAFTA award winning comedy that follows hapless Stath as he tries to let flats (you probably worked that out from the title, didn’t you?) In an online short released by the show’s creator Jamie Demetriou this week, we catch up with Michael & Eagle Lettings Agency as they meet on Zoom to figure out how they can keep doing flat viewings during lock down. Spoiler: they can’t. Watch here. Both seasons of the full-length episodes are available on All4.

Want to know how this pandemic will end? Us to. This article from the New York Times features analysis from medical historians about how other pandemics have ended. Read the article here.

We’re loving this visual round-up of how cinemas around the world are responding to social distancing, from Lonely Planet. Cinemas in cities from Berlin to Cork are finding innovative ways to provide socially-distanced cinema, see how here. In the UK, the Luna Cinema is soon-to-launch a drive-through experience, sign-up for more details here.

What’s keeping you entertained during lock down? Let us know, email member@hosb.org.uk

A few weeks ago, one of our graduates was furloughed from his job. But what furlough means and the rules around what was allowed weren’t properly explained to him, and he started picking up work from another part of the large organisation that employs him whilst being on furlough from his regular role. This resulted in confusion over his furlough status and impacted on what and how he was being paid.

Our Employment Academy team are working through this situation with him; to help unravel his furlough situation with his employer and to speak his benefits advisor to understand the impact that the initial confusion has had.

Because his regular role doesn’t involve the use of IT or the internet, this graduate finds managing communication and completing paperwork online really difficult. He didn’t have his own laptop or access to the internet. To help support him during this time, and so that he can start to manage more independently, we have supplied him with his own laptop and arranged internet access. Now, he is able to complete IT and digital training, via Learn My Way delivered by the Good Things Foundation.

At the beginning of Coronavirus crisis, this graduate was receiving daily crisis support from our Employment Academy team. As we have managed to understand his furlough and benefits status, provide more stability around his income and give him tools so that he can manage some things more independently we have resumed weekly support Zoom calls with this graduate, focused less on the immediate crisis and more on the bigger picture.

We wouldn’t be able to do any of this work without the help of our members and supporters. We know that this is a challenging time for us all, but if you are able to make a donation to help this work continue, you can here.

When: Wednesday 20th May, 7pm

What: Labyrinth

After goblins kindnap Sarah’s (Jennifer Connelly) baby brother, she must venture through a labyrinth of creatures, puzzles and David Bowie in an extremely tight leotard to save him. Expect puppets, music and to see far more of Bowie than you bargained for.

How: Labyrinth is streaming on Netflix, and we’re going to use the chrome extension Netflix Party to watch and discuss together. We’ve put together a short how-to below.

To watch and discuss the film with us in real time you’ll need access to Netflix and Google Chrome.

You’ll need to:

Download the chrome extension “Netflix Party” from the Chrome web store – don’t worry, it’s free

Once downloaded, a red NP (NetflixParty) icon should appear next to your HTML browser box allowing you to host/join film watching parties

Let us know you’re joining the party, by emailing member@hosb.org.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 20th May

We’ll share the film’s URL with members who are joining the party

You’ll need to click on the URLc we share and then click on the red Netflix Party icon to join

Prepare your preferred film viewing snack

Sit back, watch and chat!

Can’t join the Netflix Party? Feel free to watch the film in your own time on the platform / channel / DVD of your choice, you can share your home cinema set-up over on our social channels.

Have a film favourite you want to discuss? Let us know! Drop us a note with your suggestions using the member@hosb.org.uk email address.

We offer all graduates one year of post-graduation support. This means they work with a member of our Employment Academy team who provide practical support and guidance with things like job applications, interview prep, housing support, and benefit claims or changes. During this time, each graduate is also paired with a volunteer mentor who helps with regular check-ins and is an important listening ear. We operate an open-door policy for all graduates, which means we’re always available for additional support, even after the first year of more formal post-graduation support has come to an end.

This graduate’s volunteer mentor had checked-in when the lock down started and found her worried and anxious about how she was going to feed her three teenage children. Before the lock down, she was working in social care but because she was on a 0 hours contract, many of her shifts were cancelled and her income had dropped significantly. Working together, the volunteer mentor and our Employment Academy team managed to apply to Westminster Food Bank, who are now providing regular food boxes. We are also helping this graduate with a Universal Credit application, but because of the huge surge in new applications, this is proving a trial. We’ll be on hand to make sure that the application gets through the system and approved and will be providing care packages alongside the food bank packages until this is completed.

We would not be able to do any of this work without the help of our members and supporters. We know that this is a challenging time for us all, but if you are able to make a donation to help this work continue, you can here.

Over to Ella…

For putting it all into perspective:
Pulitzer Prize winning “The Overstory” by Richard Powers is a read that will take you into the very rings of the trees in the giant Redwoods of California, and show you different ways of looking at them, all woven through a story of activism, love and gaming. It’s a complex book but elevating and inspirational, and makes our human woes seem like a small matter in the great scale of time and natural history.

For making you laugh:
“Bad Monkey” by Carl Hiaasen – the Californian writer is guaranteed to make you laugh as he writes his dark perspective on life in the Florida Keys. Carl mercilessly rips the pomposity out of landowners, politicians, and tourist magnates, and creates a satisfying crime riddle to be solved, taking you along with him for a high-speed ride.

For a book-shaped comfort blanket:
“Comet in Moominland” by Tove Janson. The first Moomin book written by the Finnish genius that was Tove Janson, inhabiter of tiny islands and creator of irresistible woodland folk. This book is perfectly appropriate for this almost-apocalyptic moment in our lives. The enchanted folk of Moomin Valley have seen signs that a comet is coming, and they are fearful and anxious. As they wait for disaster, they turn to philosophy and helpful potions that might save them, until the denouement. Read this and be reassured that all will be well in the end!

For shaking cabin fever:
“A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towes. The unlucky Count Alexander is incarcerated in a luxurious hotel in Moscow for 30 years, sound a tiny bit familiar? The Count is such excellent company that you will wish you were stuck with him for another 30 years, and you might even  wonder why you felt so claustrophobic in the first place.

For escapism, drama and excitement:
“Papillion” by Henri Charriere. This rollicking read takes you through a series of escapes, lucky chances and high drama chases. All told in the charismatic voice of the Butterfly, Charriere’s depiction of himself, this book is based on the story of his own life. Once you pick it up, you’ll find it impossible to put down..

For shaking that claustrophobic feeling:
“The Martian” by Andy Weir. Mark Watney is stuck on Mars, his crew have all left him for dead, and he has barely enough oxygen and water to keep him alive for a day. How can he survive, the only man on Mars, for the next four years? Watney’s resilience, humour and powers of survival are an inspiration to anyone who is struggling with the privations, socially and physically, of our terrestrial lockdown.

For historical escapism:
Pick up Maggie O Farrell’s fantastic new novel, “Hamnet”. This reveals the life of Shakespeare’s son, and how his death affected the entire family, and indeed, the writings of Shakespeare. A magical, enchanting book, it gives the reader a whole new outlook on the life of the Bard, and will have you looking forward eagerly to your next visit to the Globe, either virtual or once lockdown is over.

Enjoy your reading

Looking for some inspiration for the audio round on the Zoom quiz you’re hosting? Popbitch have you covered, find almost 40 different ten-track rounds here.

We’ve been reminiscing about Employment Academy kitchen takeovers and have dug out one of our favourite plat du jour recipes to share. Check out Nisha’s recipe for Gujarati Fresh Vegetable Curry here, and read a little bit about why this dish is important to her.

What’s keeping you entertained and sane during lockdown? Send your #inspo tips to member@hosb.org.uk