India Childs
Bio
I'm an aspiring writer and poet, with a daydreamer's addled brain. Proud editor of This Is Us Youth project which aims to encourage young people to speak up, no matter what they think.
Stories (10)
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Woe Betide the White Man
DISCLAIMER- I am providing a stereotype relative to my own community in rural Norfolk, England. This is only relevant to a few people, but I think it's important to highlight why in spite of privilege, we can still overcome these things and put energy into a more meaningful cause, instead of pursuing something expedient. Most importantly, we can learn and grow instead of turning a blind eye.
By India Childs6 years ago in Poets
The Problem with Afternoons
No one would willingly exchange places with me for a glimpse of my world view, of my perception. Perhaps the view from my window they would be even less inclined to see, to bare witness to. In the mornings of more average days the sky is a tepid grey, like sullen dishwater clouded with soap and scraps. The birds drift listlessly along the skyline, entangled in the froth of the clouds. They call out their names in shrill cries, the sharpness of their beaks indicating that they are gulls, and yet I’m a few miles out from the sea. They torment me with their freedom, receding into the distance, into the sun that isn’t there to paint a warm picture. Instead, I paint it, skidding over the canvas with a tarnished brush, a chip on my shoulder.
By India Childs6 years ago in Motivation
Night Lives and Past Times - Welcome to the Neighborhood
In my bedroom, I have a large window that spans most of the far wall. I've started to use natural light from this window to wake me up in the mornings instead of an alarm clock (let’s face it, I’ve got nowhere to go), and I find myself staring at the open expanse of sky and the rosy blush of every new morning fading to a tentative blue. It’s funny because from my bed, that’s all that I can see, but if I lift myself up and sit by the windowsill, I see the rooftops of the houses that line my street, the mess of laundry lines and patches of garden separated by fences and walls.
By India Childs6 years ago in Humans
The Passage to India
I grew up in a small town that was the kind of place people stopped off at before they got to where they really wanted to go. It felt like a limbo of some kind, with the residents stupefied by the aromas of the takeaways that lined the high street, grease and ashy paper turning into forlorn mush on the pavement. The church, a supposed ‘pillar of the community’, seemed only to echo the in-between transition of bus stops or train stations, elderly people parking themselves on benches and staring at the headstones as if pondering who would fill the next vacancy, the next patch of fraying grass, before calling their dog and moving on at a speed punctuated by sighs and pauses, hobbling away into the day after, into tomorrow . I resented all of it, feeling trapped in an endless cycle of hazy afternoons and woebegone mornings, and it was only when I traveled that I could really see it in an altogether different light. It was home.
By India Childs6 years ago in Wander
Food and the Glorious Fury
So this is an essay that I wrote some time ago but something about it has always stuck with me and I can't quite shake how it feels to read it after all this time. It was an assignment given to me in High school by my English Teacher, and it became so personal that I never really got rid of it. So, here it is for the world, or a small part of it ...
By India Childs6 years ago in Motivation
Harry Potter and the Remote Revelation
It’s been awhile since the UK went into Lock-down, and the boredom, for me at least, is really starting to set in. My ‘one prohibited form of exercise each day’ is not enough to sustain my current need to see something other than the four walls of my house, and hey, if we were gonna be honest, my bedroom is a little closer to the truth on that one.
By India Childs6 years ago in Geeks
Why is Anime so Popular?
Why is Anime so Popular in Japan? The analysis of Anime’s popularity within Japan almost seems to be a disingenuous question, when you consider that Japan itself is the country where the hand drawn and computer animated style originates. A style rich in often lucid escapism, breaking the boundaries of modern and conventional storytelling with fantastical and often philosophical elements, a better question addressed would be - what makes Anime so popular worldwide? The detailed, vivid drawings and cartoons have attracted a western audience for decades with the vibrant color palette, the rich storylines, and the humor and wit that so often accompanies animated features but in a more overarching way. This can be seen in the popular show Cowboy Bebop that aired in the late nineties, with the more somber hues of grays, blacks and blues being used as a backdrop to further accentuate other colors, such as reds and yellows, symbolizing joy or pain. Cowboy Bebop also appeals because of the exaggerated expressions of the characters in times where they find themselves hurt or, indeed, the punchline of some joke which paints the character’s face with the signature tracks of sweat or tears, enlarging their eyes and focus on the screen. The show is indicative of Anime’s wide-spread appeal not just because of its trademarks in the style, but also for its cult status and success, reaching western audiences when it was dubbed in English and given subtitles, like many of the great Studio Ghibli films. The sheer expanse of Anime’s reach throughout the world is surely proof of the passion and fervor that went into cultivating its origins in Japan, and why it is still so much enjoyed today.
By India Childs6 years ago in Geeks
With a Little Help from my Friends
A while ago now, before the Covid-19 Pandemic forced the UK to go into a more official lock-down, I was having a conversation online with one of my closest friends, who feared the consequences of the virus and was letting her fear consume her. She was questioning everything she had achieved in her short life, whether it was worthy of any appraisal, and whether she could survive the virus. Whether she would have anything left to build once we all reached the other side, and possibly that was her biggest fear, her base instinct to assume that she would have nothing, be nothing.
By India Childs6 years ago in Humans
