No Paywall: Jeanie Johnston, the Chocktaw Nation, Dublin Pride, free worlds, Unprocess, a new frock
nosebag #48
This nosebag is coming to you a little later in the day on Sunday this week because I got home from the airport last night at about 1.30am having been in Dublin since Thursday, and my eyes are now propped open with matchsticks. I hope you can enjoy it with lunch / afternoon tea instead, as I take you through the usual selection of everything that I’ve been reading, writing or thinking about in the past seven days. This is an exciting fortnight for me and I’ve lots to share! No paywall on the nosebag today by the way!
I went to Dublin with my eldest daughter (17) along with my oldest friend, her husband and their teenage son. My friend and I went to primary school together - a convent run by Irish Catholic nuns where we once got into trouble for bringing our pet mice to school (Sister Cosmos confiscated them in a scene in the dining hall worthy of Derry Girls).
My friend and her husband usually go to Glastonbury, but this year, for the first time in a very long time, they failed to get tickets, so by way of compensation we devised a trip to Dublin instead. Neil Young - who her husband got me into circa 1995 - was playing at Malahide Castle as a warm up gig for Glasters, so we got tickets and then decided to take the teens along as well. It goes without saying that Neil Young was amazing (as was his support act, Van Morrison, also 79!) It’s been an absolutely perfect few days of music, food, Guinness and the craic, with a bit of art and history thrown in to create the sort of balance Sister Cosmos would certainly approve of.
As it happened, one such educational moment happened when we visited the Jeanie Johnston, a replica of one of the ‘famine ships’ of the 1850s that took Irish people away from the starvation of the potato famine and towards a new life in Canada and America. The Jeanie Johnston was known as a ‘miracle ship’ because, remarkably, every passenger on its sixteen transatlantic journeys survived - whilst many many people on other ‘famine ships’ did not make it. Rather than being a miracle, their survival was in fact down to the extraordinary humanitarian nature of the boat’s captain James Attridge, who chose not to exploit the plight of his passengers. Instead he hired a doctor for the boat and devised innovative ways to attend to their mental health, too, for example by making small packets of flour a part of the food rations so that they would have to collaborate on the task of making bread.
The boat - and the really brilliant guide Claire - were a treasure trove of moving stories, but I was particularly blown away to hear of how, at the height of the famine in 1847, the Chocktaw Nation of Oklahoma heard of the plight of the Irish and felt a connection to them as a people who had also suffered famine and death at the hands of an oppressive colonising regime during the Trail of Tears. In spite of having suffered so much themselves, they held a collection and sent $170 to help Irish famine victims. This nearly 200 year old act of kindness is now honoured by the Irish who have a special relationship with the Chocktaw, including offering an annual scholarship programme for members of the Chocktaw to study at Irish universities. This sculpture, Kindred Spirits in County Cork, celebrates and honours the Chocktaw’s solidarity.
Whilst myself and my friends were learning about the Jeanie Johnston, the Pride march in Dublin was taking place in the background. There are elements of Pride I dislike - most obviously the ignorance of the vocal minority who see the protection of women’s rights via the Supreme Court judgement as an attack on trans people - but overall, it was fantastic to see the freedom that Pride encapsulates. In the Irish Emigration Museum, which we also visited, I was reminded that gay sex between men was not decriminalised in Ireland until 1993, so to walk around the city centre later that afternoon and see gay and lesbian couples holding hands really did seem like a wonderful thing. I can remember the discrimination that my gay friends faced in the 90s, even in England - but mostly the male ones, because I barely knew any ‘out’ lesbians, in spite of being in an all-girl school for the majority of my education. I’m glad my kids are growing up in a world where they can really consider their sexuality without fear of shame or punishment. We mustn’t lose sight of this as we fight for women’s sex based rights.
On Substack this week I wrote about Martine’s eyeroll and how in one gesture she encapsulated a thousand words of how many of us feel about the erasure of the word woman.
In praise of Martine's eyeroll
Yes yes, I know, I’m supposed to be promoting my new book about ultra processed food and women’s health. And, when you have a career, and money to earn, and bills to pay, it’s better to keep your head down - right? Perhaps, in particular, if, like me, you’re a) female and b) have heretical views about gender.
I’ve also launched an entirely NEW substack this week, separate to this one you are reading now,
This will be a new venture on substack for me. WHAT ABOUT WOMEN will stay the same - we will still have The Word is Woman, the nosebag, Writing for Change, and regular posts on a mixture of topics that are all underpinned by the question WHAT ABOUT WOMEN - and some of the posts on here may still be about diet and women’s health. But over on
I’m going to make a space where we can focus on all of the issues raised by my new book Ultra Processed Women in much more depth. It will be a great place for anyone (male or female) who is interested in the current contents of our shopping trollies, what this says about the state of humanity, and how we can all be part of the change.
As an introductory offer for the whole of June / July, I’m offering paid subs at 50% off (and they are cheap already!) for an annual subscription, just £17.50 for a whole year’s sub.
There will be evidence based articles, live chat and interviews, and concrete practical info about how to implement positive change in your life, including recipes and cookalongs. I hope to see you all there!
This week will see the launch of Ultra Processed Women on Thursday, in hardback, audiobook and kindle. There are lots of ways that you can help me get the book off to a flying start - here are a few suggestions…
Share to your preferred place on social media - a quick post or story on Substack Notes, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok or Facebook would be hugely appreciated. Feel free to use the hashtag #ultraprocessedwomen
Write a review on Amazon, Goodreads or your blog / substack and help others discover the book. Just a sentence or two is enough.
Ask me to chat: if you run a podcast, event, book club or festival - or know someone who does - I'd love to be a guest.
If you have a Substack or other newsletter, feel free to write a review or just give the book a little plug!
Let friends and family, book clubs and colleagues know about the book - word of mouth makes all the difference!
And of course, if you haven’t already (and I appreciate that many of you have and I’m super grateful!) please do preorder it now from any good bookshop. Preorders are beloved of publishers, bookshops, etc - it’s a way to show the industry that there is an interest in the book and get the ball rolling.
People often ask me - where is the best place for me to buy your books? The answer is ANYWHERE! I truly do not mind! It all helps! I’ll still get roughly the same, I always think it’s about a quid or two a copy, that’s a rough approximation, could be more or less depending on the RRP etc. Don’t forget that authors also pay their agent 20% and the tax man 20%, we don’t have sick pay or pensions etc etc either! Remember too, that the publishers pay for the cover design, editing, proof reading, publishing, distribution, publicity and marketing etc etc etc! I just write the thing!
Anyway, here’s a few places you can purchase a copy…
And finally…my daughter and I went shopping on Grafton Street in Dublin yesterday as we killed time before heading to the airport. I’m off to the Harper Collins Summer Party on Tuesday night, a stunning annual event at the V&A that you get invited to if you have a book out with them that year. It’s a much appreciated chance to get out of my dog-walking clothes and scrub up a bit, so we popped into my current favourite shop, And Other Stories, and raided the sale rail.
“Try this one mum!”, she insisted, holding up a flimsy looking red dress that I thought would almost certainly make me look like a sack of Irish ‘taters. I went with it though, and amazingly, it did actually look really nice. In the changing rooms, my lovely 17 year old told me how absolutely beautiful I was and how she ‘hopes she looks as good as me at fifty’! I mean, we do all need this kind of assistant when we’re trying on clothes, right?! At the end of such a brilliant few days with her, I just felt so very lucky. Aside from the new frock and the much appreciated flattery, she really is a truly fantastic human being. I hope you all have similar reasons to be grateful today. With love for now, Milli. x
If you enjoyed reading today, please click the like button or share - today’s post has no paywall.
Such a precious bundle of memories with your teen daughter!
I love that you choose red… again… I also will be scrubbing up Tuesday for my graduation ceremony - alas we are advised black or white attire… what the heck, I’m 62 I’m choosing dark (won’t notice too much under gown) but wild cat print dress I made this week… I’ll share pictures eventually… maybe. And I want to say that the headshot of you in the pub is the best I’ve seen of you - it should be your author pic… beautiful.