End of 2010 (1/2) By Joe Hakim

(1/2), (2/2)

Maybe it's because winter is here... Maybe it's because we're here at the end of the first decade of the new millennium... Maybe it's because we have a new government in power... Maybe it's because I'm getting on a bit... ...but just lately I've been thinking about a lot of things; things that have happened, things that are happening and things that may yet happen.

I've been thinking about the journey I've been on, both as an artist and a person. I've been thinking about thisisUll.com and its continuing evolution. I've been thinking about art and culture in general, particularly its current circumstance. So I thought, fuck it, why not write about it... because if there's one thing that has made itself clear in the past few years, it's the fact that the one defining aspect of my nature and existence is that I write about stuff. Maybe, you, the reader, will get something of this exercise. A bit of insight maybe, or at the very least something to pass the time while you do whatever it is you do. So here goes... For art's sake...

Unless you're some kind of super-strength lager addled moron whose only window out onto the world is Jeremy Kyle and the X-Factor, it's been pretty hard to avoid the all the news about the oncoming cuts that hang over nearly sector like a giant meat-cleaver. Just like everything else, the arts industry looks set to receive some pretty big cutbacks over the next couple of years.

This, of course, was inevitable, but some people within the industry are acting as though this is the onset of creative apocalypse. Now the arts is so sensitive that it even shrugs away from the moniker of being an 'industry', instead preferring to be referred to as just 'the arts'. But it is an industry nonetheless, and one that has historically struggled to generate financial profit.

However, as much as I realise 'the arts' obviously aren't as essential as some of the industries and sectors that support our day-to-day life, I still think that creativity is an essential part of life, especially here in Britain. Our music, film, literature and art are the best in the world in my humble opinion, and they are some of the things that make us, as a nation, Great. As someone who has spent the last couple of years working within 'the arts', I've seen first-hand some of the panic that is sweeping the country. Yes, times are going to be tough. Yes, a few institutions and jobs will inevitably cease to exist after the cull.

And yes, getting funding for projects will become all the more difficult, but the good thing about 'the arts' is that as a reflection of contemporary life, it will evolve and adjust to suit the times. I think that a lot of genuinely essential avenues into 'the arts' for people who don't necessarily have the right background will be shut-down. One thing that I have learned is that there are a lot of people from 'privileged' backgrounds working in 'the arts'. I'm not saying this in an effort to stir up the whole class debate (that's another drunken rant entirely) I'm just saying it as a statement of fact from my own personal observations and experiences.

And it is frustrating that things like education and community projects will suffer, but I have to believe that in times of uncertainty - economic, social and political - people who want to express themselves creatively will find a way. I have to, because if I don't, I'll descend into a gin-soaked oblivion and spend the rest of my days shouting abuse at passers-by whilst masturbating furiously into a Netto's carrier. I'm not going to use the example of the early eighties, because it's a lazy comparison and we're living in a different era, but I think we will see resurgence in DIY underground alternative culture.

And thanks to the internet, there is a relatively cheap and utilitarian platform available to distribute and promote work.

Not everybody can afford an iPhone, but thanks to falling technology costs, all but the poorest of households have access to a computer and the internet. And then there are things like internet cafes and such to offer access to people who are less fortunate. All of my initial writing was done on an old PC that I was given by someone who was going to throw it out, and I sent my stuff using a 56k modem. The fact that you're reading this on a Hull based alternative culture website is testament to what can be achieved. The only limit is ambition and time. Go forth and thrash, please. Speaking of which... In the beginning, when life was simple...

When thisisUll.com was founded around Cilla's kitchen table in 2003, the internet was in its Wild West phase. Youtube was still a couple of years away, and social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook didn't exist yet. For many people, including myself, Internet access was still a novelty rather than a way of life. I had just become a father at that point, already well on my way to becoming a single one. I had been writing fairly steadily for a couple of years, but my attempts to turn it into something other than something I did for the sake of it had so far come to... not a lot.

I had flopped out of my journalism degree, and my experiences with an all-male writing group had left me feeling a bit jaded. I just didn't fit in, and like many people who want to write, I hadn't 'found my voice yet'. I found thisisUll.com by accident. I was looking on the net for writing opportunities in Hull, and there weren't many, but then I found thisisull and had a look around the site, and even though it was just starting out, it already had an impressive range of writing. Covering everything from poetry to fiction to local interest articles, I decided to send something in that I had been working on.

A couple of weeks later, I got response. They liked it and they were going to publish it. It was my 'lit match in a pool of petrol' moment. I don't think I've ever matched that buzz. It was the early hours of the morning and I'd just got in from a ten-hour shift, and I went absolutely mental. This was it, I thought, and in many ways it was. That bit of faith enabled me to truly explore my writing, both in form and content.

I made a couple of missteps, but I had the freedom to. There was no pressure to be anything other than myself, and over the past five, nearly six, years I've managed to carve out my own little place.

Continued .... Next Page (2/2)

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