No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories

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Somebody works best with a critical mass of users in a given area; colleges, workplaces, parties and concerts can become Somebody hotspots simply by designating themselves as one (details on somebodyapp.com). Alan Stewart is currently the vicar of two churches in Hertford, England. He studied Foundation Art at Belfast Art College, then graduated with a degree in Fashion and Textiles from Central St Martins in London. From an early age he has drawn and painted. He has exhibited in various churches and galleries. He works are in charcoal, pastel and collage. Born Miranda Grossinger in 1974, she is the daughter of two Californian writers who run their own small publishing house. Their catalogue boasts titles such as The New Seaweed Cookbook and Healing with Whole Foods. A typical Berkeley couple, perhaps. In one of their daughter's best stories, a brilliant portrait of a miserable marriage, a woman announces: "We are not people who buy instant cocoa, we do not make small talk, we do not buy Hallmark cards or believe in Hallmark rituals such as Valentine's Day or weddings. In general, we try to stay away from things that are MEANINGLESS, and we favour things that are MEANINGFUL. Our top three meaningful things are: Buddhism, eating right and the internal landscape." Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT) is an East London charity providing practical help for people recovering from complex drug and alcohol addictions. They provide homes, therapy, productive activity and a supportive community to help people to avoid relapses and lead healthier, happier lives.

Whimsical…extraordinary tales…at the core of each strange, often comic tale lies the basic human need for love and understanding.” — The Village Voice

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But then the story collection decides to take a turn for the worst by having stories written about incest (“I Kiss a Door”) and pedophilia (“The Boy from Lam Kien”) in such a tone as if they're perfectly normal and acceptable everyday things. With Miu Miu’s support, July worked closely with designer Thea Lorentzen and a team of developers at the award winning Stinkdigital to create the complex, GPS-based messaging system. Half-app / half-human, Somebody twists our love of avatars and outsourcing —every relationship becomes a three-way. The antithesis of the utilitarian efficiency that tech promises, here, finally, is an app that makes us nervous, giddy, and alert to the people around us.

Miranda July’s No One Belongs Here More Than You (2005) is a collection of contemporary short stories about ordinary people living extraordinary lives, and for whom a single moment may change everything. One of the most acclaimed short story collections, it was awarded the 2007 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. July is the screenwriter, director, and star of the critically acclaimed film Me You and Everyone We Know. Her parents founded the alternative health and spiritual well-being publishing house, North Atlantic Books.Miranda July is known for artworks that depend upon the public’s participation — be they apps, performances or sculptures. Her interfaith charity shop at Selfridges will present customers with an unexpected retail experience that will resonate with founder Harry Gordon Selfridge’s famous pronouncement in 1909 that his store was created as an open house, where “everyone is welcome.” When you send your friend a message through Somebody, it goes — not to your friend — but to the Somebody user nearest your friend. This person (probably a stranger) delivers the message verbally, acting as your stand-in. The app launched at the Venice Film Festival along with a short companion film, part of Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series.

However worthless, not good enough, whatever sense of failure we might feel, we are shown in this picture that our true identity is found in Jesus who just wants us to be close to him and love him and allow him to love and transform us!July's writing has a whimsical, dreamlike quality . . . she has an understanding of human truths and an extraordinary honesty about our wish for acceptance" ( Guardian) A woman gives swimming lessons in her kitchen – of course! Miranda July can make anything seem normal in these truly original stories. She has first-rate comic timing and a generous view of the human condition. Maybe best of all, there's joy here, too, often where you would not expect to find it."

How to Tell Stories to Children", the final story in the collection, and the longest, describes the friendship between a single middle-aged woman and her married friends' daughter. "Don't underestimate how much joy an eight-year-old and an almost-forty-year-old can bring one each other." It's a complex, confident narrative, spanning a couple of decades, that brilliantly investigates the miserable plight of a childless woman who lives most passionately through her relationship with someone else's child. By the time that the child is 20, the narrator is alone and lost, her life gone, her friends elsewhere. "Inelegantly and without my consent, time passed."

Don't get me wrong - at our most obsessive/unrequited everyone has probably had some element of these behaviours - but you need to be chemically imbalanced in the first full rush of it all to relate - and a whole book of them is just grueling. The narrator in Majesty educates people on earthquake safety, engaging her own fears. And she dreams of Prince William? Yet she says "Life is just this way, broken, and I am crazy to hope for something else" (pg. 31), why does she have this dream? Is there a strange optimism in Miranda July's stories? The inhabitants of July’s imagination reach out to strangers in hopes of genuine connection. Unable to find it, they often use sex to simulate closeness. A teacher seduces a 14-year-old boy in her special-needs class, and no one notices because “nobody really cares about anyone but themselves anyway.” An old man dreams of bedding a teenage girl, only to result in his first gay encounter with a co-worker. A woman climaxes while listening over the phone to her sister catalog her nightly sexual conquests. Two women at a romance seminar hold each other and weep passionately, then break apart, embarrassed. Wave for Change is about encouraging and enabling mixed-ability friendships. Wave wants to see more people with and without learning disabilities mixing and having fun together in the heart of our communities. Their focus is on enabling places across the UK where this can happen. They connect, encourage and support those who want to see vibrant mixed-ability social and worship groups in their communities. To find out more about this project, see https://www.wave-for-change.org.uk/ This is the first and last time I will ever write these words: Man, I really want to read a Nicholas Sparks novel right now.