I don’t have the tools to talk about the large political, philosophical, sociological issues of our times. I don’t have the language, the exactness to express that need I have, that desire to explain my frustration with the system in which I live. The control it has over me, the all pervasiveness of it. I am frustrated in my attempts to try and articulate the situation I find myself in – like a baby who knows what they want but can’t say it, can’t be succinct, can only point in the general direction and grunt until someone eventually gets it. I am a babble machine vomiting goobledegook as I try to make my way beyond the shadow of control into the light of freedom.

I was invited to go North in February to see, be part of, help with, a performance week Sinead O’Donnell was curating with others in Belfast. There was to be a Canadian Performance artist one of whom was Paul Couillard. The various Performances, discussions, and collaborations were around the theme “Chaos” A Condition or place of great disorder and confusion and to be held/seen in Belfast’s Catalyst Art Centre, Black box, theatre space, and other Not for Profit Art Spaces.

Hy Mayerson and Sean Corcoran step onboard an Amtrak train in Miami on the 12th of March for a not so ordinary journey. They travel for 30 hours through 11 states covering a distance of over 1500 miles until it reaches New York. The entire journey will be captured on camera. Hy is an experienced videographer and Sean uses photography as a tool of his trade.

a friend recommended a taverna near the famous Minoan ruins at Knossos; we were told to order mezédhes, similar to the Spanish tapas or the Italian antipasto. As the holiday neared its end, we remembered that we had a wedding anniversary to mark and off we went to the Knossos restaurant. As instructed, and with no great expectation, we ordered the mezédhes. We were blown over; this was a truly memorable meal.

Cauliflower is especially plentiful and delicious this time of year. It grows enclosed in its swirling green leaves – and so the head and its undeveloped flowers remain pale (unlike its tan sibling broccoli who grows up near naked). It’s rich in those classically autumnal tastes – milkyness and nuttiness - but is spearheaded by a sweetness which keeps it relevant through spring.

Every month we pick a website to profile. This month it’s againstthegrain.org, a radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. We’re based at the studios of Pacifica station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California.

This months choice books from our arts blog are; Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: An Introduction by Ben Highmore, Tribes by Seth Godin, Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage

IN VALOUR would describe their musical style as song based electronica. The duo first met in Sydney where they were members of trip-hop band ‘Kinetic’. Re-acquainted in Jan ’09 they thought they might work on a handful of tracks, but found that their musical connection was still alive and kicking. They took the name ‘IN VALOUR’, and forged their unique sound from a blend of cultures, styles, tastes and experience

An audio story from The Moth on New York. This month Malcom Gladwell speaks of a well-intentioned wedding toast goes horribly awry for a young man and his friends. Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the best sellers “Blink,” “The Tipping Point,” “Outliers,” and “What the Dog Saw”.

Two poems from our resident poet Alan Maguire; Manical Monsters and Urban Gorilla