Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/didchurchillreallysaythis

It’s not just the UK that this shit is going on. These racist bullies seem to think that beating up non-whites is acceptable in today’s society. As a nation, we’re failing. More people need to get on board and confront this sort of thing. Way too much apathy.

“What’s most important is applause from my fanbase / The presence of a genuine smile and a handshake,” says rapper Koncept on ‘Aspirations’. For him, it seems, the music is all about dope beats, catchy hooks, smooth flows and thought-provocative rhymes, all of which contribute to waking up in the morning and really living the Hip-Hop culture.

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/konceptaspirations

New poem — my first of 2012 — which confronts memories of music that intertwined with a inchoate relationship. And this is why I don’t listen to Biffy Clyro any more…
View the poem here:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/poetryprose
(Scroll down to “Misc. Poetry” and click the poem’s title. It will open in Adobe Reader. If you don’t have it, get it here for free.)

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/writersblock

I have this poem in one of Bukowski’s poetry compilations at home, but I couldn’t find a web-based version anywhere. So I thought I’d type it out and put it here. One of my favourite Bukowski poems, even though not many people really talk about it.

an ordinary poem

since you’ve always wanted
to know I am going to admit that I never liked Shakespeare,
Browning, the
Bronte sisters,
Tolstoy, baseball, summers on the shore, arm-
wrestling, hockey, Thomas Mann, Vivaldi, Winston Churchill,
Dudley
Moore, free verse,
pizza, bowling, the Olympic Games, the Three Stooges, the
Marx
Brothers, Ives, Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Mickey
Mouse, basketball,
fathers, mothers, cousins, wives, shack jobs (although preferable
to the former),
and I don’t like the Nutcracker Suite, the Academy Awards,
Hawthorne,
Melville, pumpkin pie, New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Labor Day,
the
Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Good Friday, The Who,
Bacon, Dr. Spock, Blackstone and Berlioz, Franz
Liszt, pantyhose,
lice, fleas, goldfish, crabs, spiders, war
heroes, space flights, camels (I don’t trust camels) or the
Bible,
Updike, Erica Jong, Corso, bartenders, fruit flies, Jane
Fonda,
churches, weddings, birthdays, newscasts, watch
dogs, .22 rifles, Henry
Fonda
and all the women who should have loved me but
didn’t and
the first day of Spring and the
last
and the first line of this poem
and this one
that you’re reading
now.

A tattoo is no longer considered to be just a decorative body modification that is exclusive to the working-class male. Its purpose varies the world over: Some people choose to have symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, while others use ink within the layers of their skin to indicate their criminal history, organizational affiliation or quite simply because they like the way it looks. Whatever the reason, a tattoo is a permanent marking of the body, giving the individual a physical element of distinction.

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/tattooingasselfmutilation

It’s easy to patronize any patient with health problems; and it’s just as easy to neglect him. Whether the symptoms of the Crohn’s are mild or severe, the disease is life-altering, affecting the physical well-being of a patient, as well as challenging him emotionally. Showing a willingness to understand and assist him, though leaving a respectful distance so that he can manage his own productivity, are the first steps in reducing stress and allowing the patient to lead an active life as best he can.

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/understandingcrohns

Despite the common perception that “everything happens for a reason”, this reasoning seems harsh and unlikely when a person becomes critically ill.

No one chooses illness. Fate is about humanity’s actions being free: We make choices, which determine our outcome. How can we judge, say, a newborn baby becoming critically ill and then dying as being an act of fate, considering he/she never had a chance to live on their own accord in the first place?

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/illnessdeathandfate

Today, people on virtually every continent are engaging in all elements of Hip-Hop culture, with the music at the forefront. Whilst Hip-Hop has always been popular on the streets since originating from block parties in the 1970s, the music in particular has reached a new age of commercial success that has prompted many heads to re-evaluate what “real Hip-Hop” actually is.

Read on:
http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/hiphopdivided