Brixton: Multi-Cultural London

Welcome to Brixton

Source: www.speakup.combr

Language Level: Intermediate

Standard: British Accent

Jay Brown, a 38-year-old Black Londoner, set up a tour company and gave the British media a big surprise. Her company, Brixton Tours, offers tourists the chance to see an area that no one previously thought of putting on the tourist map, even if as she told me, everyone has heard about it:

Jay Brown:

(Standard British accent)

I got the idea for Brixton tours from travelling: I’ve been to Bali, I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro, I’ve been to India, I’ve been to Copenhagen, I’ve been…travelled quite extensively round Europe. And from travelling and meeting people and they ask you where you’re from, I was really surprised that most people had heard of Brixton from one way or another. So, from knowing that, I thought, “Oh, my God, people are so interested in where…” wherever you go, people are always interested in where you’re from and, with Brixton, I realised that I live in a place which is quite unique and quite special and has so much to offer.

THOSE RIOTS…

Jay Brown found that people around the world know two facts about Brixton. One is that it is a black area, a long-established Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood and a national symbol of minority culture, but Brixton is still a highly unusual tourist destination. The other characteristic of Brixton that everyone members is rioting. In 1981, and again in 1985 and 1995, local youths, fought battles who the police destroying building and cars and creating an enduring reputation for lawlessness. Not to disappoint expectations, Jay Brown takes her tours along the roads where these riots took place, although she says the area is now greatly changed:

Jay Brown:

On my tours I take people down the street where the riots actually happened to show them, and now you’ve got cafes, you’ve got internet store(s), you’ve got restaurants, you’ve got a shoe store called Elephant Foot for people who can’t find shoes in a particular size, but there’s so much. They’ve really invested in the area. And there’s lots of people starting business, because there’s lots of young people in this area as well. You know, it’s attracted musicians, artists, Brixton’s a very creative are and it’s very good for business, because people come here and set up, you know, little shops within the market of bigger stalls on the street. So it’s good: it’s entrepreneurial, it encourages people to be creative and Brixton’s a very creative area.

GENTRIFICATION

Investment, along with Brixton’s central locations and its convenient Underground station, have also attracted many entirely conventional uncreative middle-class residents, but it remains a great place for exploring more exotic cultures. Jay Brown’s tours also go pas the stalls of Brixton market, where an extraordinary selection of international produce caters for a remarkable cultural diversity. As well as Afro-Caribbean fruits like ackee, plantain and callaloo, there are Columbian specialities and African produce like giant land snails.

A NEW EXPERIENCE

Of course, not all these cultures welcome curious visitors. The athletic young drug dealers hanging out on street corners with their mountain bikes certainly do not welcome the attention of strangers, unless they are potential customers. Nor is this an ideal to take photographs with an expensive camera. But, having lived here for 15 years, Jay Brown, is sure that anymore touring the area with her has nothing to fear. In fact, in her company, she says Brixton is an essential part of any visit to London:

Jay Brown:

People should come on Brixton tour because it would get them out of the West End, which is really boring, and it’ll bring them to a place which offers them culture, music, food, entertainment, bars. There’s just so much here that people need to just leave the West End behind and head to south London and do a Brixton tour.

A troubled Neighbourood 

Brixton's streets reflect 200 years of London History. Over the last century it has been famous both as a community of actors and artists, and as an important retailing centre where the first British department store was built and where a shopping arcade was lit with eletricity for the first time. Today, however, Brixton is known for its Afro-Caribbean community. Since the 1950s - when immigrants from the West Indies were invited to Britain to help rebuild the economy shattered in the Second World War - Brixton has become a symbol of Britain' most colourful cultural minority. 

The new lives of early West Indian immigrants were often hard. Painful encounters with racism were almost inevitable and until 1976 there was no legal protection against discrimination.

The Riots

At times the hostility of London's white working classes became violent. Opposition to Britain's first wave of "mass immigration" come to ahead in August 1958, when mobs armed with knives and iron bars appeared on the streets in search of what they insultingly called "niggers." After several black men were beaten unconscious, armed gangs of West Indians retaliated with similar violence. Brixton has been devastated by riots on several occasions, in 1981 thousands of young Afro-Caribbean men reacted to aggressive policing by destroying buildings and burning cars. In 1985 similar scenes of destruction occured after a policeman searching for a robber broke into his house and shot his mother, leaving her permanently disable. Again in 1995 Brixton's street witnessed violent confrontations after the death of a black suspect in police custody.

LONDON'S MELTING POT

Today, despite problems with guns and crack cocaine, Brixton is calmer. Like the Notting Hill riots, which inspired the Notting Hill Carnival, Brixton's riots had positive long-term effects. By drawing attention to local problems, they inspired official efforts to combat racism and diminish poverty. In the years since the riots the West Indians community has also established itself as a valued element of national life. Black fashion now shapes all of Britain's culture, with Afro-Caribbean men and women making a prominent contribution in music, fashion, sport and entertainment. 

In recent years Brixton's association with the West Indies has also began to weaken. As the area lost its reputation for lawlessness, it began to attract a growing number of white professionals. Some locals resent their arrival, but they are just part of a growing diversity - a mix of cultures now being enhanced by an influx of French, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking immigrants from Africa.

BRIXTON GUIDES

For those of you wishing to discover Brixton's past, the Brixton Society visit http:www.brixtonsociety.org.uk publishes guidebooks and provides guides for walking tours. And if you want an insight into the lifestyle of Brixton's black community today, contact Jay Brown of Brixton Tours. Website: http://www.brixtontours.co.uk E-mail: jaybrixton@hotmail.com 

Tel:      +44 (0) 1843 840737

Mobile +44 (0) 7951 676 015

Expedition: Serrote do Capim and Fundoes

As you know I'm a Regional tour guide and also we develop projects for example plant trees and preserve the Archaeological Site's Heritage, and this is an off-topic on my blog about the tourism highlights check out, friends. You can also visit my second blog www.aventureirosdacaatinga.blogspot.com 

Both are located at Sitío do Bráz, in Carnauba dos Dantas town far from 8 kilometres away from the downtown. There we climbed up the river, passed by water falls, archaeological's site (engravings, and rock art painting untill to arrive one of the biggest shelter with painting of Northiest tradition, Serido sub tradition. afterwards we visited the Serrote do Capim beautiful landscape. The Caatinga Adventure fullfilled their promise in the evening , Dean Carvalho, Julio César and me returned to the town.

                                          Belvedere of Cabeço do Capim 

                                 Me, Carlos tour guide on top of belvedere

                                  Pedra do Chapéu (Hat's rock)

                                    Petroglyph located in Water-eye's river

                                  Mirror formed by water's shadow

                                                                           Sunset on top of Falcon's mountain  

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Jokes

Para mais informações visite o site e adquira a assinatura da Revista Maganews www.maganews.com.br

Jokes

 

Santa's Motorcycle

Q. If Santa [1] rode [2] a motorcycle, what kind would it be?

A. A Holly [3] Davidson.

A mother’s love

A little kid asks an expectant woman:

- What is in your tummy [4]?

- My baby!

- Do you love him? 

- You betcha! [5]

- Why have you eaten him then?

Female intelligence

Who has more sense: men or women?

-Women, of course. Have you ever seen a woman marry someone just because he had nice legs?

Father and son

Father: What did you do today to help your mother?

Son: I dried [2] the dishes.

Daughter: And I helped pick up the pieces [7].

Round house

A man built a round house with round rooms. His friend asks him why. The man explains: 

- My mother-in-law [8] said: "I hope there will be a corner [9] for me in your new house."

Noisy night

- What a disgrace! Your dog howled the whole night under my window.

- Don't worry. It usually sleeps well enough during the day.

Publicado na edição de número 52 da revista Maganews.

Áudio – Andy Shepherd e Daniella Rabelo

Vocabulary

1 Santa (or Santa Claus) – Papai Noel

2 to ride a – andar de

3 Holly – sagrado / santo (obs – Harley Davidson é o nome correto da moto)

4 tummy – barriga

5 you betcha! – exp. idiom. = pode apostar

6 to dry – secar / enxugar

7 to pick up the pieces – pegar os pedaços (ou cacos)

8 mother-in-law - sogra

9 corner – canto / “cantinho”

Ireland: The Cork Guinness Festival

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Advanced

Standard: British accent

IRELAND, THE CORK GUINnESS FESTIVAL

All that Jazz!

Ireland tends to be famous for its traditional folk music, but the country also hosts an important jazz event. This takes place at the end of this month in the Republic’s “Second City,’ Cork, on the South coast. Indeed such is the success of the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival that the city’s population will increase by almost a third, thanks to the arrival of up to 40.000 music fans from all over the world.

About 1.000 musicians from more than 30 countries will play in 80 venues around the city over the course of the five-day festival. This year’s acts will include the Branford Marsalis Quartet, the Kurt Elling Quartet, the Lou Donaldson Quartet Featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith, the Joe Lovano Nonet and Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Trio.

Bill Johnson is the chairman of the Cork Jazz Festival Committee. He explains the reasons for the festival’s growing popularity:

Bill Johnson

(Standard: Irish/corn accent):

Cork is one the reasons for the success of the festival. I’ll explain that by saying that the size of the city – it’s a relatively small city of about 150.000 people – and it means that, number one, everything is very accessible and there’s a tremendous friendliness about it and I certainly, as a totally unbiased Cork man, would say that I suspect that the festival wouldn’t have worked as well in a bigger centre because it would become too fragmented, you know, whereas the whole city become involved and it’s great in that sense. For many, many years we have had the tag of “the friendly festival” and I like to think that, again, that still exists because most of us who are involved are fans of the music and of the people who make it. And therefore there is a definite welcome.

In actual fact Ireland is itself an attraction for many of the festival’s performers, as Bill Johns explains:

Bill Jonhson:

Quite often, which is nice, too, some of the American musicians who will be contracted to play here will bring friends with them and make a sort of a holiday of it, you know, and perhaps stay on and, you know, go on and have a look at some of Ireland. And, of course, naturally enough, our history being what it is, a number of them will have Irish connections somewhere along the line, you know, so they welcome the choice, but I think one of the great things about the festival is that we find that we can sometimes get major stars to come to Ireland because they have heard from some of their fellow musicians what a good time they’ve had in Cork, so they say, “Yeah, we’d like to do Cork.”

You know, and I can think of instances where big names have come to Cork for less money than they would normally charge, which we probably couldn’t afford, just because of the reports that they got back from some of their fellow musicians.

The second City (no audio)

Cork is the second city in the Republic of Ireland. Built around the River Lee, the city got its name from the Irish word “corcach,” which means “marshy place.”

During its 1.400-year history, Cork has survived battles, fires and invasions from Vikings and Norsemen. Today about 120.000 people live in Cork city and another 50.000 in its suburbs. The city was the European Capital of Culture for 2005 and many include a 400-year-old food market (called the English Market), the City Jail Museum, St Finbarre’s Cathedral, the Cork Opera House and the church tower of Shandon, where you can ring the church bells.

The county of Cork is the biggest county in Ireland. People who live there often call themselves Corkonians. Their county is known as the Rebel County, probably because it played such an important role in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.

The 30^th Cork Jazz Festival will take place from October 26^th to 29^th. For more information on musicians, tickets, planning your visit etc., go to http//:www.corkjazzfestival.com  .

Family Album, XXVI

Source: Famly Album

History of OK, part II

History of OK, part II


Source: www.voanews.com

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're back with the author of the new book "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word."

RS: Last week, Allan Metcalf explained how OK began as a joke on March 23, 1839. That was the day a Boston newspaper first used it as a humorous, misspelled abbreviation for "all correct." Other factors later helped propel OK into wider use.

AA: But not everyone thought OK was OK, says Allan Metcalf.

ALLAN METCALF: "Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, it was well-known, but there were places where it was not used. And one of them was by writers of fiction. All the good writers seemed to avoid OK, like Mark Twain, who certainly used slang, and Brett Hart. Both of them could easily have used OK. They must have known it. But they avoided it."

AA: "What did they use in its place?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Just something like 'all right' or 'that will do' or whatever else. And then there's a very interesting case. Louisa May Alcott wrote a book called 'Little Women' about twenty years after OK was invented. And, in it, there's one OK in a letter from one of the girls to her sisters.

"And then that was revised for a second edition, and OK was removed and 'cozy' was put in instead. So everything is 'cozy' instead of everything is 'OK.' So there must have been some sense that OK was too silly a term to use even in fiction."

RS: "How does OK in our vocabulary represent who we are as Americans?"

ALLAN METCALF: "One way that it represents who we are is that it represents the pragmatic sense of getting it done. Maybe not getting it done perfectly, but it's OK. But the other way began with a book published in 1967 by a guy named Thomas Harris. The book is called 'I'm OK -- You're OK.' And the book happens to be about a kind of psychology known as transactional analysis.

"Now most of us have either forgotten or never heard about transactional analysis. But that brilliant statement, 'I'm OK -- You're OK,' which happens also to be the only famous quotation ever involving OK, is one that has seeped into our American consciousness.

"And I think nowadays we as a people are much more tolerant than we used to be, partly because 'I'm OK' -- that means I can do what I want. 'You're OK' -- you can do what you want. Maybe we aren't doing the same thing, but that's OK."

RS: "And speaking of OK, do you think OK also has not only a past longevity, but a future?"

ALLAN METCALF: "It's hard to imagine a world without OK, and I mean not just America without OK but any other part of the world. I've received a few anecdotes about OK once my book was published. It was used in Polish. That's one anecdote. Another in French.

"I'd be very pleased if your listeners would send me any stories about how OK is used in their countries. I'm thinking of a sequel called 'OK Around the World.'"

RS: "We'll try to help you on that."

AA: "Speaking of these other languages, you mention that there are similar terms in other languages. Did any of those come before OK, or have they all emerged since then?"

ALLAN METCALF: "The Greek language has an expression something like 'olla kalla' which means 'all good,' which has been around in Greek for a couple of thousand years. And so when OK was imported-exported to Greece, the Greeks thought 'Oh, that's an abbreviation of one of our expressions.' But there's absolutely no connection leading from Greece to the American Boston in 1839."

AA: "And there are so many ways it's written: O.K., OK without periods, o-k-a-y. Is there one you prefer?"

ALLAN METCALF: "Well, for my book, since I wanted to emphasize OK, I used capital O, capital K without periods. But those other spellings that you mention are also legitimate. The original OK was 'o.k.' And if you want to make it look more like an ordinary word, you spell it 'okay.'"

RS:    Allan Metcalf is the author of "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word."

AA:    Let us know if you use OK in your language.

RS:    OK?

AA:    Go to voanews.com/wordmaster, click on the Contact Us link and tell us your story. We'll forward it to Allan Metcalf.

RS:    That's WORDMASTER for this week. With Avi Arditti, I’m Rosanne Skirble.

New York: Biking the Big Apple

Source: Speak Up
Language Level: Advanced
Standard: American accent

Biking the Big Apple

New York City is well known for its fast pace of life, busy streets and heavy traffic. Of all the places in the world, the Big Apple seems an unlikely starting point for a leisurely bicycle ride. Yet New York was listed in a recent survey as the third-best City in the USA for cycling. This is also the only place in the world where bike riders have 24-hour access to the underground transport system. As the number of cyclists increase, New York’s drivers become more aware of them, which mean fewer accidents. The city is much more bike-friendly than many people realize, says 24-year-old Jesse McDonough, a guide with bicycle tour company Bike the Big Apple.

Jesse McDonough

Standard: American accent:

You know, you can get can anywhere on a bike in certainly less than an hour, usually a lot shorter. The cars are used to having people stepping out in the road, used to having carts and truck and things like that in the way and in most cases they’re not going fast enough to really harm you anyway. So yeah, it’s…as long as you, you know, assert yourself and own the road, it is a very bike-friendly city. And also I think the system of…of bike paths…is improving a lot, as well, there’s a great organization called Transportation Alternatives that really pushes a lot for a bike-friendly city.

OVERCROWDING

There are already an estimated 100.000 cyclists riding through New York each day. By the year 2030 the city’s population will have grown to around nine million and, without a big increase in public transport and bike lanes, the streets will be unable to cope with all the additional traffic.

Manhattan is already increasing the number of bike lanes on its busy streets and currently has around 40 kilometres of bike paths totally free from motorized vehicles. Avoiding the worst traffic and rush hours. Bike the Big Apples takes advantage of the freedom for cyclists to offer visitors a unique, close-up view of the city’s culture and people. Most of the regular tours take four to five hours and begin at one of two different bike shop in Manhattan. Led by an experienced guide, visitors cycle along quiet roads and bike paths, through different neighborhoods and parks, along rivers and over bridges. Fortunately, New York is a fairly flat city with very few hills. And the average speed is only six kilometers an hour, so you don’t need to be particularly fit to enjoy the trip! The average age of riders on Bike the Big Apple tours is around 40 years old, but children as young as 10 and pensioners in their seventies have enjoyed the riders. Most importantly, in seven years of cycle tours, no-one has ever got hurt. Bike the Big Apple proves that finding your way around New York can be easier on two wheels, rather than four – especially with a guide who knows the shortcuts and history of this fascinating city.

Jesse McDonough:

I love it. I mean, you know, I love being on a bicycle and I was a history major in college and New York’s got some really great history and some interesting history. And then its current events…always champing, it’s hard to keep up, reading the metro section of the newspaper every day. And I personally love it. And as I do the tours myself, I see things change and develop each time, you know, I’m at the same location. So I mean it’s great for me, you know, I just learn more each tour myself and then get to pass that on to the riders.

Cycling in the City (No audio)

Bike the Bike Apple is the only company to offer fully-escorted, year-round bicycle tours through all five boroughs of New York City. The most popular tour – Tour A, the Ethnic Apple Tour – travels 15 miles in 7 hours and costs $75. For full information telephone +1- 201-287-1133 or visit www.bikethebigapple.com if you feel confident, why not hire your own bike for the day? Rates from $5,99 an hour up to a maximum of $24,99 per day; www.pedalpusherbikeshop.com Transport Alternatives campaigns for safer cycling and provides up-to-date information about biking in New York City; www.trasalt.org if you are keen on biking and cinema, remember that every May sees the start of New York City’s Bicycle Film Festival: www.bicyclefilmfetiva.com

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