After a while...

Err, hi blog world...

I guess I've been gone a long time! And without making excuses I had a lot in my head to sort out. And I spent ages and ages just trying to come back to this, and think of something to write, and so I picked the one thing (or, should I say, person) who's inspired me out of the past couple of months of feeling down.

Now, I haven't got crazy-fangirly over anyone for a long time. But recently I read 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith, because my dad recommended it to me. I wasn't sure about it at first - I found her too lyrical, consciously poetic. But that literally lasted for the first five pages. And then I was hooked.

Patti Smith was really - and there is no other word for it - cool. She basically dedicated herself to art and lived in terrible conditions in basic poverty with her best friend/lover, Robert, and they made art all the time and she worked in a tiny bookshop to make ends meet and they hung out in all the artsy places of the time and met a bunch of people who eventually all became famous for their art/music/personalities and then, after years and years of barely making enough to scrape through life, they both individually made it in their own rights. Sadly, Robert died, which is part of the reason Patti wrote the book and that inspiration is obvious in the tender way she writes. What I originally mistook for effort to be lyrical is actually a beautiful way of capturing the mentions of someone very close who's now gone, and the whole book feels really precious because of that. Even though its obviously mass-printed, it felt like I was holding a small piece of two peoples' exciting, glittery lives in my hands.

But more than the epic coolness of her life, Patti Smith is the sort of person girls want to - or should want to - be. She does what she wants and makes no apologies for it. She has sad days, she has times when she's down, and she's not ashamed of them, but nor does she dwell on them and pity herself. She completely disregarded a desire to make money or do something practical and spent a large portion of her life living in discomfort and being poor just so she could do the things she loved, which in the society we live in is something barely anyone does. It feels like I'm talking about a fictional character here because she's so awesome, but the fact she's a real person makes it so much more amazing. Plus, her style was so much fun!

These are some of my favourite photos of her. Her outfit, her hair,the black eyeliner - it's all really messy and thrown together but it looks so effortlessly fun.

It makes you want to wander around in baggy shirts and black leggings and tights and messy hair and never clean your room.

As a kind of disclaimer, all these photos are from Judy Linn's book 'Patti Smith 1969-1976' which my dad got after I finished 'Just Kids'. It's the most perfect photo book ever. Apart from maybe Postsecret, if that counts.

Anyway, I hope this is an adequate blog post after such a long time! It's nice to be back :)