kissmycloaca:

I didn’t wanna write all my white moaning all over that post with the white girl wearing the bindi, so i’ll moan here instead. 

I get really annoyed when people claim to be “part Scottish”. My reasoning behind this is because i feel like scottishness is something you have to experience to be a part of it. It’s not something that shows through on someone who has never been to scotland. So it’s kind of an eye roller when someone is like “I’m part scottish!” 

What part? Were you born there? Did you ever live there? Are your parents Scottish? 

If none of the above - what is meant by being “part scottish” ? Is it something you feel is apparent in the way you approach life? Do you feel a “spiritual connection” to scotland? 

I personally don’t think being Scottish is a condition as much as being an experience. If you’ve never experienced it then i don’t think there’s any point in going ahead and telling people you’re part scottish. But if you truly must tell people that DON’T TELL SCOTTISH PEOPLE. Cause it’s farcical. If you only have vague images of what scotland COULD be like, then you’re wrong. 

Scotland is a varied place. Like any place there are rich parts, poor parts and completely boring parts. There are highland hoochter choochter parts, there are slummy jakie parts. There are upper working class parts with Barrat houses and Toyota people carriers. There are middle class parts with big gardens and land rovers. 

I think to say you identify as somehow being Scottish is really obtuse. 

I often wonder what it is that draws half the world to claim some part of scottish identity and some of it i can see as being Scottish settlers when we decided to colonise the rest of the world - fair enough. I wouldn’t consider you to have ANY scottish in you cause you’re now Australian/american/whatever but i can see how you reached that conclusion. 

Why brag about it? Well, i realise that most of the world sees us Scottish folks as being rowdy, aggressive or whatever and it might make someone feel good to have that “in their blood” so to speak. 

But again, scottish people are many different things. They’re loud and aggressive, but others are tight lipped, sour faced and bitter. In fact, most scottish people i know aren’t loud or aggressive. They maintain a stiff upper lip and don’t talk about or sort out their problems. 

But anyway, the part that i find depressing is this; the majority of Scottish people are working class and all the “fun” stereotypes perpetuated and adopted by people who claim to be “part scottish” are actually horrible truths in some areas. 

Scotland has such a problem with poverty and as a result has major problems with violence, substance abuse, domestic violence, young offenders, knife crime… you name it, we’ve got problems with it. And i think a huge part of scottish cultural identity is learning to live with that. And i say this because i feel like those privileged enough to not have had to deal with that kind of stuff (I personally have had a serving of all of impoverished Scotland’s downsides) don’t REALLY understand what it is to be Scottish. 

Now before i go on i wanna make myself clear - i don’t think there is anything that makes a person Scottish. I think your experiences define how you interpret the world around you, but i deffo don’t think that Scottish people are any fucking different to any other white people in the UK. Cities like Liverpool and Leeds and Manchester are basically the exact same as Glasgow, so there ye go….

But anyway back to what i was saying. For middle class people or privileged people, scotland is all about WOO IRN BRU TARTAN ARMY RAAAASRGHHH WHISKEY ANGER WOOO

Where as for me, i’m like WOO IRN BRU! LIFE IS COMPLETELY SHIT AND DEPRESSING OTHERWISE!!! 

And this is getting more and more on my nerves as the Independence referendum comes nearer cause it shows more and more clearly how Scotland is not taken seriously as a country in its own right. All the propaganda from the pro unionist sides is all depreciating crap about we can’t manage ourselves as an independent country. And these reasons are attributed to all the problems we have as a result of the deprivation we’ve suffered at the hand of Westminster.  

Did you know that in the last election the conservatives only won one seat in Scotland? The election of the tories was based on a decision made by England. 

To round up what i’m saying, people consider Scotland to be an attribute rather than an identity. You see it everywhere. People like that white lassie in the bindi deliberately make clear that they are “part scottish” - why? Because she feels like she can just adopt others’ identities and then that says something about her. 

And just to make clear, the adoption of “part Scottish” as an identity is nothing like the widespread appropriation of indigenous cultures. It’s not the same problem, more does it carry the same gravitas as it does for those POC who are appropriated. 

But as a Scottish person who has experienced a working class life, it angers me so much when people just casually want to be a bit Scottish. NOW that is not to say you can’t be interested in Scotland, want to visit Scotland or that you can’t say you have Scottish ancestors. But just be careful what you are trying to imply by it and where you are confusing stereotypes and mythology with reality. 

For most people in Scotland, reality is pretty shit. 1 in 4 women are raped in Scotland. In 2012, 3 rape cases were being reported in Scotland every day - and the majority of rape cases are unreported. Domestic violence is endemic in Scotland. And it’s on the increase too. These problems can almost always be linked with poverty, cubstance misuse and the widespread problem of young people becoming pregnant and being forced to accept responsibilities they are in now way ready for. 

For me, certainly, scottishness represents a lifelong struggle. It represents not feeling safe, feeling that we are patronized and feeling like we are an afterthought. A few weeks ago there was a big furore over an English MP making a joke about Scotland being the UK’s dumping ground for nuclear waste. Scottish people were quite rightly pissed off  and the English retorts were “IT WAS JUST A JOKE,” 

But the thing about it is IT’S NOT A FUCKING JOKE!!!!!! There are huge areas in Scotland where the coastline is polluted by depleted uranium. And we are struggling to halt the effects this is having on the environment - BUT LOL WHO CARES, IT’S SCOTLAND! Is the response we hear. And what that spells to me is that we’re not a part of the UK at all. We’re unfortunately STUCK to the UK. Westminster ignores our needs and exploits us and our land for it’s own ends. And it’s not just the tories either. Scotland is notorious for being a Labour voter because we are duped into believing that somehow Labour will listen to us. Well, in the last 8 years that Labour were in power, our country got steadily worse. They don’t give a shit about us either. 

The Scottish National Party have been trying to win Scottish affection by taking into account our issues and raising the referendum question. The problem with the SNP is that they are distrusted because - like ALL politicians, they are slimy and underhanded. But this is NO REASON why we should not be independent. English politicians are just as bad, if not worse! And to say to us that we should not have independence because they do not believe Alex Salmond can do a good job of it is to also say “I think you should just give up and allow yourself to be run by England because you could do no better yourselves,”

Independence is not about Alex Salmond. Independence is about reclaiming our identity and changing things for ourselves. It’s about actually having half the chance of being run by Scottish people who have lived a Scottish life rather than distant rich English people. 

And for me, personally, it’s about having the power to express my Scottishness without being told to shut up by people who will go “I’M HALF SCOTCH!!!” with a gigantic grin on their face, given half the chance. Where being Scottish isn’t just some tokenistic bullshit that everyone and their dog can be cause Scotland isn’t really a place, it’s a race of people who inhabit “north England,” 

A theme.

A long running, ongoing, persistent project for my photos.

Like, I’ve seen photographers that will have 30 photos of the same landscape as it changes throughout the year. Or, a photo essay about the vast homelessness problem in their home city. Or Ellen Von Unwerth style fetish photos.

And I think about the things that I’m passionate about….Video games…Tumblr….Photography…Sophie & Katie….Cosplay…Chocolate…. Nothing really much there.

I mean, I take photos of Soph all the time, but that aren’t really photos that other people want to see…they are just candids, just snapshots for our family album, they just happen to be taken on an SLR, rather than a point & shoot. That doesn’t make them good photos.

Video games. The best photo project on video games that I’ve seen was a photographer that took photos of people’s faces while they were playing games. That or the guy who took photos of folk dressed up like their WoW avatar. But clearly, they’ve both been done.

Tumblr? Chocolate? Photography itself? Nothing there, really.

Cosplay…it’s a bit of a wide subject, and there is not going to be enough interest in Ayr. I mean, come on. Ayr is as dead end a town as you’ll find. All the interesting people leave, and never come back. No chance any of the folk left would be ardent cosplayers.

I’m not crowd sourcing for idea…I’m just musing and ranting and complaining. As is my way. But if you do have ideas, I’ll certainly listen. OR if you do live in AYR SCOTLAND and are interesting….hit me up:

https://www.facebook.com/KittWakerPhotography

“I can’t wait for hoodies and cold nights”

I know what you think you are saying, but to anyone in Scotland, all you’re actually saying is

“Here, this SUMMER I’m currently enjoying, this SITTING OUT IN THE SUN malarky, This EATING ICE CREAM TO COOL DOWN, all this LAZING BY THE POOL/FRONT GARDEN….well, I’m just gonna take it all for granted.”

I’m still waiting for summer to hit Ayr. We’ve had like, what, 1 day? Maybe 2? The rest has been shite. Torrential downpours, wind that’d blow leaves and Greggs carriers into your face, more fucking rain.

If you want to “snuggle up under a warm duvet to keep the cold out”, go on, move to Scotland. See how long you play that tune.

I’ll gladly swap with you. Unless you live somewhere cold. ¬_¬ 

astrid-:

You Know You’re Scottish When…: Scotland where……….

youknowyourescottishwhen:

“Alright baw bag” is a customary greeting

“Thingy” means absolutely anything
…
“Fuck off” means really

“Moan then” is an invitation to battle

“Hunners” means 1,2 or 3

“12 degrees” means summer

“Ma bit” means your house

“Bawhair” is a recognised unit of measurement

“Where u fae” determines if your getting a dooin or not

“Fuck it” is the solution to all problems

“Ahh ya bastard” means ouch I just hurt myself

“Swear doon” means I promise

“N wit” stands as a valid come back

“Aboot a hunner year ago” means last week

“Hawl u” means I demand your immediate attention

“Ye gem” means want to have sex with me

“Get yer rat oot” is an invitation to sexual intercourse

“Bullet” is an appropriate name for a dog

“How diz naw grab ye” is a valid response

“Patsy cline” is not a singer

“Mad man” means normal person

“Poke” means finger sex

“Here” means excuse me

“Pure” is an adjective for every noun

“Yer maw” is a comeback for anything

Scotland where they speak fluent sarcasm

Scotland where getting mwi is a hobbie

Scotland where u get stabbed for wearing chinos

Scotland where everybudys yer cusin

Scotland where you get the jail even although ye wur only havin a laugh

Scotland where “chappy’s” a sport

Scotland where verbal abuse is “banter”

Scotland where anyone younger than u is 12

Scotland where you learn to spark a fag before u can count

Scotland where head is more than just a body part

Scotland where going to the shop before 10 is a mission

Scotland where sexual harassment is considered as flirting

watchthis-:

just to laugh at it when i take it walks..

it would faceplant.

 Poor wee man :( I’d build it an enclosure with a slope so he could run around all day and not fall over.

And then when he’s nice and fat…….OM NOM NOM!