Drinking from the Cup of Knowledge
Review of the 2018 Trip to the United Kingdom
I had the pleasure of representing Ohio Northern University in the United Kingdom in July. My primary reason for traveling was to work out the final arrangements for our University of Salford workshop. We co-partnered with Point Park University in 2017 to participate in the Community Radio project Wythenshawe FM. We also co-partnered with
The wonderful, talented, and witty Malcolm Raeburn and his delightful family acted as our host for the first part of the trip to Manchester. He took us away from campus for a few hours to enjoy the surrounding part of this fantastic city. My wife and I had a lovely dinner and a grand tour of his home.
Festival of Research
It was also a pleasure to be the invited guest to the Festival of Research pop-up disruptive conference called “Music, Media & Mayhem” by Dr. Kirsty Fairclough on 13 July. It was good to hear grad students and leaders of thought in Salford talk about the issues that surround media and communication in Manchester. Dr. Fairclough started the Colloquium by with a presentation on the success of the Purple Reign conference from 2017 and the plans to continue this conference in the future.
Kirsty invited Jason Wood up to the stage for a Q&A after her presentation. Jason explained the importance of Film at HOME as a means of spotlighting local culture in Manchester. One of the takeaways I had from Jason’s talk was the need of cities like Manchester need to protect and support local-produced films, music, and video and the venues that present them or there will only be the nationally and internationally created content left.
We had a short break for lunch.
It was during this time that Davina Whitnall broke up the conference attendees into three groups. We created as a group a performance that represents what we learned during the morning session of the conference. One group created a performance where each member of the group placed a coin in a hat and then gave the money to Kirsty. This performance was to represent the community supporting the arts. Another group performed out the process of creating research. Our group created a meme that representing chasing after new topics of study.
Gary Kerr, Candace James, and Gwynne George followed Jason will an honest discussion that focused on the question “Is it really research?” I found that this topic was important as it helps identify the critical and vital issues associated in applying the rigors of academic research to the arenas of popular and mass culture worth studying. I appreciated the dialogue surrounding the push-back that the panelists faced with regards to creditability and acceptance of their work.
The last formal presenters for the conference was Karen Gabay who discussed the history of black music and performance in Manchester. I had two takeaways from her talk. The first being that it was hard to get artifacts and records of older performances in Manchester in this field. The second was the value of fans and their archives.
The final session was a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe Manchester to examine the work the University of Salford has done with Hard Rock Cafe to promote HRC’s work with bees and beekeeping. Unfortunately, Brandy and I didn’t have a chance to see the beehive that HRC keeps on the roof. We did have a chance to enjoy the post-conference party where we got the VIP treatment in their lounge.
The reason we missed the beekeeping session was that Dr. Fairclough and I needed to meet to discuss the future of the Ohio Northern-Salford Communication workshops. Much of this meeting formed the foundations for our new Global Communication course, which we plan on offering in the Spring of 2020. I will discuss this meeting in more detail in the post focusing on this new course.
Young Stationers’ Prize
Our next stop after Manchester was London. I was invited to attend the Young Stationers’ Annual Dinner as I was on their shortlist for the Young Stationers’ Prize. This event seemed like an excellent opportunity to meet the best of those in the five main sectors of the Company (Books and Archiving; Journalism and Communications; Office Products and Supplies; Print, Paper, and Packaging; and Publishing, Digital, and Design).
I was competing for the Journalism and Communications sector award. There were two other people in the running for the award: Asa Bennett and Salma Haidrani. I was impressed with Asa’s reporting on Brexit for the Telegraph and his ability to speak to the central truth of this very complex issue that is affecting the people of Great Britain.
However, I felt that Salma would win the section award and the Young Stationers’ Prize. She won the “Young Journalist of the Year” at the GG2 Leadership Awards and the “Best Feature” at the inaugural End Violence Against Women Media Awards. In addition, I felt her writing exposed areas that the general public would not be aware of and present the story using a very compelling narrative. I would point to her “Think ‘Honour’ Killings Don’t Happen In The UK? Think Again” article from Grazia as a prime example of effective storytelling in the realm of important social issues.
The evening started with a lovely wine service in the garden of Stationer’s Hall. The location is absolutely breathtaking as you are surrounded by nature in the City of London. It was nice to socialize with the various dinner guests before being seated for dinner in a wonderfully serene environment. I managed to talk to a few of the past masters of the Stationers’ and the leadership of the Young Stationers’, our host for the night’s festivities.
The staff led us into the main banquet hall for the Gala dinner. William Alden lead the guest with Grace before the dinner. Grace in the Stationers’ Hall is a combination of a prayer and an op/ed piece. William’s Grace spoke to the times we are currently living in with the fears surrounding Brexit and international politics. After Grace, we were treated to a marvelous four-course meal with wine service throughout the evening. Each course was an example of how food can be art. For example, the first course was a Grilled Courgette with Basil Mascarpone Stuffing, Red Pepper Gel, and Heritage Tomato. The course was visually appealing, only to be matched with the engaging dialogue had by my fellow guests.
I had the pleasure to be seated beside Michael Binyon, OBE, which lead to some interesting discussions about the current state of American politics. I felt like I received an education on Russian current affairs and the history of the nation that goes beyond any lessons I could receive or will receive in the future.
I was also fortunate enough to be sitting across from Lewis Stevenson, which lead to an interesting discussion about printing and stationery work. He was up for the Young Stationers’ Sector Award for Print, Paper, and Packaging. This also reminds me that I need to order some business cards for work later. Lewis’ passion for the process of creating fine stationery speaks highly of the work that he and his company creates.
Also across from me was the only other American in the room, Felix Lecoq. Felix is an intern for Londnr magazine and was representing Nina-Sophia Miralles as she was the one who was nominated for the award in the sector of Publishing, Digital, and Design.
The last guest that was sitting in my immediate vicinity was Tina Randall, who was the wife of the Court Assistant Martin Randall. I want to offer my thank to her as she was the one that encouraged me to take lots of pictures when I was nervous about appearing too much as a “ugly American.”
The sector awards were given in-between courses of the meal. Nina won her section award and Felix accepted the award in Nina’s honor. In addition, Marie Cannon received the Young Stationers’ Award for Books and Archiving. Callum Edwards received the Young Stationers’ Award for Office Products and Supplies. Julie Chen received the Young Stationers’ Award for
Print, Paper, and Packaging.
I wasn’t surprised that Salma Haidrani received the Young Stationers’ Award for Journalism and Communications. It was nice that she shared the moment with her mom.
Lewis and I chose to enjoy our meals and wine and look over the lovely framed certificate that Felix accepted for Nina with the knowledge that the awards were over. Giles Fagan then announced that Dominic Graham had one more presentation.
It was for the Young Stationers’ Prize.
Dominic began his speech by noting that the Young Stationers’ Prize was to awarded to somebody from the Journalism and Communication sector. In addition, that the winner was the first international winner of this award.
To be honest, the rest of the ceremony was a blur.
To conclude
This July has been wonderful and surreal. Manchester will always hold a special spot on my heart. I must thank Malcolm Raeburn and his delightful family for host my wife and I to a lovely dinner and grand tour of his home.
It would be bad form not to also thank Dr. Kirsty Fairclough and The University of Salford at MediaCityUK for allowing me to attend their thought-provoking Festival of Research. It was good to hear grad students and leaders of thought in Salford talk about the issues that surround media and communication in Manchester.
Finally, I must express my admiration for Deborah Rea, William Alden, Ian Buckley, Ella Kahn, and the combined Worshipful Company Of Stationers and Newspaper Makers and Young Stationers for inviting me to the Young Stationers’ Annual Dinner and Young Stationers’ Prize and awarding me the 2018 Young Stationers’ Prize.
I look forward to coming back next year.
Thanks for everything.