163 // on paper | oh comely

the perfect combo - a notebook (to jot down inspiration), oh comely, a cuppa

Up until a couple of years ago my magazine consumption consisted of weekly flimsies (in all senses of the word) and monthly hefties (thanks to the abundance of advertisements) devoted to celebrity. Now, there's nothing wrong with an indulgent flick through said mags every now and again (I mean, there's only so much one can read on a tea break) but my interest in them waned and when I no longer found satisfaction from parting with my pennies on my weekly trip to the local shop, instead of searching for something a little more on-par with my tastes, I gave up magazine-buying (and thus, magazine-reading) altogether.

Fast-forward to the present day and I've (only just) realised that magazines do exist outside of the poorly-stocked local convenient-store shelves (who, inconveniently, offer a measly selection of quite frankly terrible reads, all rather dog-eared and thin-of-page) and that one can, in fact, choose from a whole host of interesting and independent magazines whilst in the comfort of one's home - whilst bum is firmly planted on seat and finger on the not-so-obvious button of a laptop. There are plenty out there to choose from; so many that my quest to choose just one to quench my need for a quicker-read fix - that is,  for those times when I don't necessarily want to dive between the pages of a book or I can't enjoy a good bloggy read because the situation in which I find myself could result in disaster where a laptop is involved, i.e. when I wish to read in the bath, because said lap for the laptop to sit atop is situated underwater - certainly took great effort on my part (please sir, can I have them all?).

That is where 'oh comely' (whose tagline - or slogan? - is 'keep your curiosity sacred' - how divine is that?!) comes in. I saw it's name mentioned in a couple of spots across the interwebs (along with some others I'm very keen to pick up as-and-when I can) and thought I'd give it a go - the beautiful photography featured on the website of this month's issue, and the enticingly-awesome subtitle 'Different, interesting women are our heroes', was more than enough to draw me in, and after happily placing my order I awaited it's arrival with decidedly-bated breath.....

background // words - Hannah Zeilig, image - Stepan Obruchkov, pg 104
foreground // ayesha by francesca: a portrait series, pg 70

It's quite the befitting name - the design is so captivating, and it's flashes of colour and stunning imagery such a visually-delightful feast for the senses, that I'm doing my best to savour it by sticking to reading just a few pages at at time (not in order - never in order) so my reading-experience isn't over too quickly. The issue itself, in-keeping with the aforementioned subtitle, features not only a plethora of female interviewees but interviewers and contributors too - from illustration, to words, stories and photography. One of the main topics-at-hand is 'a conversation about bacon' (I'm not quite sure why? It's possible I have missed the reason due to my delving in at random points, or maybe they don't feel as though one is needed?) that gives rise to a whole host of interesting articles including; 'does the patriarchy worship at the altar of bacon' (a discussion between Anna Godfrey - one of oh comely's contributors, a writer and recent Bristol-grad - and Carol J. Adams - writer of The Sexual Politics of Meat - centred around why the latter believes being a feminist and meat-eater shouldn't go hand-in-hand); 'how's your hot dog, mr hot dog', an article that features signage 'so delicious it wants to eat itself' and 'what meat means to me' - a women's inner-debate-and-meat-filled trip down memory lane. 

outside the giant's garden // an interview with clio barnard, pg 49

There are a few articles I've yet to get through only for the reason that I'm enjoying the very first read too much to gulp it down all in one sitting. One I have already read was an interview with Clio Barnard, who wrote a favourite film of mine from 2013, The Selfish Giant, about the film and the motivation behind it's story. The piece certainly made me think twice abut the way I had, admittedly rather two-dimensionally, interpreted the story and it lead to a couple of discussions with the boy about our impressions of the film (and so-forth). Despite only tackling about half of the magazine so far I have found that, as I am always striving to be a better (more interesting and well-rounded) me, oh comely (and no doubt many other independent publishings out there) has offered me a fantastic opportunity to become just that, by supplying it's readers (definitely this one here) with articles that are thought-provokingly-provocative; they most certainly got me thinking and wondering and pondering, and and what more, really, could I ask of it?