Pieces of a jigsaw…not quite finished. Some old poetry I found.

Going

I’ll go if You will.

Without You it’s all wrong.

Help me see what You see.

Amazing light blinds my eyes touch me deep inside tonight.

Dreams and visions of the way we could be.

Help me to be free, to shake the dust from my feet.

Ever moving, never standing still, except to breathe.

I believe there’s more to

be seen.

More than meets the eye.

I feel like crying tonight.

Don’t want to go,

but Your love compels me.

Drowning

Wave after wave comes crashing in. Stayed in bed again. Feeling down. Sit alone in the dark and hear the world outside go by without me. Noone sees my dreams, my fears are real slowly killing me. One by one, they come upon me, but You won’t let them overtake me. Not this time, not ever.

Regretting

Hitting the right notes is hard to do when you don’t know the song. Is it wrong to love, to give your heart to someone? The pain of rejection, the dull ache of another broken dream lost to the universe. How many stars in the sky? Can you count them all? Next to them I lack significance, despite my own perceived brilliance. When I compare myself, I fail.

Forgiving

Humankind isn’t so kind…well, sometimes. Look into these eyes, see the lies that hide inside. Perfection alludes me. A heart polluted by a pale reflection of all I’m meant to be. Come to me. Set me free with love. A greater reality. I open up the wound. Poison comes out. Now I am clean. So many dreams lost in the shadows. Look to tomorrow to start again. It’s now or never. Forever depends on it. Forgiveness does not come easy, but we choose it in order to enjoy peace of mind. I‘m in denial. Make me smile again. Pick up the pieces of my broken heart. Shattered dreams where I can’t breathe. Like a baby teething, I struggle at times to express myself. I make noises, but no one understands. Except You. The lights are on, but there’s no one at home. So much anger clouding my true self.

I breathe out and You breathe into me. Like oxygen and CO2. Only my breathe is bad for trees. I see now that there’s no running way. It’s better to stay. Here with You.

Flying

Not all I’m cracked up to be in light of eternity just a speck of dust; a drop of water in a beautiful landscape hanging on a wall. Feeling small. Escaping the world, I see a beautiful sky lit up at night that turns like a kaleidoscope as I drift off into space. I’m swimming in a sea of stars that is deeper than I originally perceived. I’m drowning in its beauty, dying to a false reality. Come and see. I’m being shaped by a journey into the outer reaches of the solar system, travelling further and deeper than I’ve ever been, longing to see more, to see what’s inside. Awoken to the sound of the rhythm of life itself. Bad for my health? You must be joking. I’m not choking anymore, now I’ve stopped smoking. Well, not as much as I used to, as I let myself breathe for the first time. Filling my lungs with air. Who cares anymore? I need to let go. Letting go is the hard part. I know now why space shuttles need so much power to get off the ground. To escape gravity we must live. Staring into the sun, we become one.

Breathing

Help me to forget my past. I hit the ground running the day that I was born. I started to die until you came to wake me from my sleep. Take me away; to a place where I can breathe, where I can be free. You breathe new life into me.

Healing

An empty home now filled with love. A love that’s real; a love that heals. A love that sets me free.

Show me more. Let me explore. Let me take a walk around.

Reminiscing

Take a walk around the broken pieces of my heart. The place where I grew up; where I laughed and cried. The places that stole my heart, that took my breath away. I’m afraid of the dark. I’m afraid of what lurks inside. I’m hurting, face down in the dirt. Tired of crying. Tired of lying to myself.

1001 JOURNAL ENTRIES…SOME OF THEM INCOMPLETE* (AKA MY MENTAL HEALTH AT THIS PRESENT MOMENT)

*The first of a number of ramblings I decided to make in the february of 2012 after my brain went bang (in fact it was january, but really, who cares?)…The chinese year of the dragon apparently, the queen likes diamonds and the olympics seemed like a good idea at the time.

Freedom to be myself. Something I’ve always craved. A voyage into the unknown. Rebellion against myself?

Standing on the edge of a long corridor in a neon landscape

trying to remember where i was yesterday, to help me get through today…

An iron weight that scrapes the walls of my fragile mind, creating fear. fear dulls my senses,

makes me wonder; wandering. am i making any sense? the endless conversation makes no sense at all, as…i forget anyway.

i get annoyed when i look back, and KNOW it’s wrong; a song, a poem or a letter to a long-lost loved one. i communicaTE in short rounds, trying my best to aim straight, to hit the target. And that’s about it for now…

1001 JOURNAL ENTRIES…SOME OF THEM INCOMPLETE* (AKA MY MENTAL HEALTH AT THIS PRESENT MOMENT)

*The first of a number of ramblings I decided to make in the february of 2012 after my brain went bang (in fact it was january, but really, who cares?)…Most are poems (in fact all). It’s the chinese year of the dragon apparently, the queen likes diamonds and the olympics seemed like a good idea at the time.

My mind like a mirror that has fallen to the floor,

Broken into a thousand pieces and laying still,

My fragile reflection seen in shards that each tell their story

The same subject from a different angle.

Fingers pointing, as my eyes turn inward,

Too tired to wake, yet awake for hours

The reformation of a daydream, where the unconscious meets the world around

Lost in the sound of silence, Locked inside my looking glass house

where broken dreams go to die.

Interference or a busy signal

Four bars of communication lost inside a lead filled container

That carries the remnants of my over-active imagination.

Can’t hear me inside this box

I’m screaming, no one hearing

I speak yet cannot remember

The none-too distant past is lost as quickly as it is spoken;

Or played out.

PART II: THE IRONIC THOUGHTS OF AN OLIVER TWIST…(WORKING TITLE)

Freedom to be myself. Something I’ve always craved. A voyage into the unknown. Rebellion against myself?

Standing on the edge of a long corridor in a neon landscape

trying to remember where i was yesterday, to help me get through today…

An iron weight that scrapes the walls of my fragile mind, creating fear. fear dulls my senses,

makes me wonder; wandering. am i making any sense? the endless conversation makes no sense at all, as…i forget anyway.

i get annoyed when i look back, and KNOW it’s wrong; a song, a poem or a letter to a long-lost loved one. i communicaTE in short rounds, trying my best to aim straight, to hit the target. And that’s about it for now…

PART III: A DICKENSIAN REBEL LOST INSIDE HIS POCKET WATCH. (OR UNCLE CHARLIE COMES HOME)

Never did care for Dickens much. Alice was my first love.

PART IV: MADAME GUILLOTINE COMES FOR TEA (BUT WE DON’T TALK ABOUT REVOLUTION AT THE DINNER TABLE. IT’S RUDE).

We sit in silence, barely looking up. Her passion does not show at all,

but her eyes betray her dark intentions. She comes to destroy,

my mind wanders for a second. and then, all is black…

PART V: 21:31 ON A COLD FEBRUARY NIGHT…NOW 21:32 AND SO FORTH…

My head aches with loneliness,

My mind hurts with thoughts of a loveless life.

She will never come.

No time for myself,

Always giving away,

Didn’t pay for a refill.

Overwhelmed, by a calling that may not exist.

What is my life for? Have i missed it?

PART VI: YET ANOTHER SEQUEL THAT MAKES WAY FOR THE FINAL ACT.

EXT. SHOPPING CENTRE – EVENING.

A cold February day in town. Shoppers make their way past boarded-up shops, as cars drive past on their way to work…Too tired to finish this. Help?

PART VII: SAME AS BEFORE, BUT WITH A HAPPIER ENDING.

I turn on the radio, and I hear the voice of a thousand angels singing praise.

I join in, taken up with the heavenly song

a new beginning

written before the dawn

that brought me through the night watches.

AlFw-whCIAEsMk1

The Virtual Superpower: Global Warfare in the Digital Age

Cool title huh? I do love my X-box 360/PS3 first person shooter games. The appeal of joining millions of gamers across the world in multi-player matches to capture flags, score points and ‘get one over the Americans’ is, to all intents and purposes, liberating. However the computer warfare I’m talking about doesn’t involve jungles, or deserts or abandoned warehouses. I’m talking about the ideological struggle taking place through social media; as digital activists are using the realm of cyber space to bring down governments, and promote a fairer, more just society. The potential for this is so great, that regimes across the world fear its power, and debate rages about closing such sites down.

Throughout 2011, the power of sites such as Twitter and Facebook has grown dramatically. Culminating in the protest we saw on CHRISTMAS EVE in Russia (hey, when the Russian people get mad, there’s change in the air), we saw both the positive side of social media, and the negative. For me, the riots of last summer showed that not only could Twitter be used to dictate the movement of gangs intent on smashing up major cities, but also by those reacting to the attack on those communities, as the same network was used to organise mass clean-up operations. This round in the escalating war for the hearts and minds of young people proves that in order to engage this disenfranchised generation, we must engage better with growing technology. As I have said on a number of occasions: Whoever owns Facebook in the next decade will rule the world.

Recently, I spoke to a young man from Ghana, who uses Facebook to organise community book clubs for underprivileged children in villages around the country. He also works to provide clean water for those with none. He is an example of someone who chooses to use the Internet to promote positive social change, as opposed to the destructive influence of pornography, aggression and abuse toward authority. If you can influence the hearts and minds of people; you can bring about immense social change, and that is what governments are afraid of, as we can possibly see in countries like Russia. During the 1950s and 60s, a generation marched to demand the dismantling of nuclear arms, even though nuclear power has also been used for good. The internet is the new ‘bomb’. The question is, who will be the first to truly harness its power?

My Curriculum Vitae Online

JEREMY DILLON

PERSONAL DETAILS

Mobile Number: 07505777571

email: jeremydillon1000@gmail.com

PERSONAL PROFILE

Young, hardworking Creative, with experience in Local Government Leadership and Broadcast Media. A strong communicator, both written and verbal, well-travelled, with a passion for community development and regeneration through the arts.

WORK HISTORY

2011- Freelance journalist for DeHavilland political website. Covered social housing and healthcare fringe events at Labour Conference in Liverpool.

2011- Producer on ‘Treading Water’, an independent feature film set in Stoke-on-Trent, working with volunteers from the YMCA, Hanley.

2011 Access Radio. Working as a Promo Writer and developing a Social Justice Agenda.

2010-2011 Stoke-on-Trent City Councillor for Stoke and Trent Vale Ward. Responsible for Policy-making, as well as Chairing Committees and Public Scrutiny of various services.

2010 (Feb to May) Alton Towers Ride Operator. Customer service and Welcome Host at Sharkbait Reef by SeaLife.

2002-2006 UCB Radio Broadcast Engineer. Involved in audio production, and producing the Word4U2Day daily broadcast, as well editing the daily news magazine show for air. Attended outside broadcasts and interviewed a diverse group of personalities from different organisations.

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS

2011- Channel 4 4Talent Training Day at Staffordshire University.

2010-11 Warwick Business School – LGA Leadership Academy (Political, Personal and Community).

2006-2009 – Staffordshire University

Film, TV and Radio Studies 2:1

1997-1999 – Telford College of Arts and Technology

BTEC National Diploma in Media Studies – Merit.

SKILLS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Leadership and Team Building

• Elected to Stoke on Trent City Council in 2010. Chaired the Mitchell Memorial Youth Arts Centre Committee, a key regeneration project in the City Centre, and sat on other Overview and Scrutiny Committees (including Children and Young people and Corporate Parenting).  Worked with Neighbourhood Management to provide quality service for the Public.
• Helped produce an award-nominated feature for the Easter season, as well as a daily youth programme and news magazine show for an International Internet Radio Station. Have been involved in youth work development and small group leadership in previous church.
• Directed a number of short films at University, as well as a ‘live’ television programme, working with small teams of camera operators, writers and sound engineers.

Effective Communication

• Gave my maiden speech to Council in 2010 about the need for regeneration through the arts. Was interviewed by BBC Radio Stoke about the proposed plans for the City Centre developments. Spoke to young people about political engagement.
• Professionally trained in radio voice-overs, as well as interviewing numerous people for Radio WM, Internet and Local Community Radio. Responsible for writing promos for airplay.
• Written articles for various websites, including the Christian Socialist Movement (team member), and Think-Act-Vote.org, as well as engaging with social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc.)
• Undertook scriptwriting projects at University. Received positive feedback from the Head of Production at Screen WM, and scriptwriter from the Sundance Festival.

I.T. Skills

Competent with Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.

REFERENCES

Councillor Mohammed Pervez Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council mohammed.pervez@stoke.gov.uk

Stephen Griffiths Senior Lecturer Staffordshire University s.c.griffiths@staffs.ac.uk

Pension Strikes: The Public Sector Fights Back.

Today, I visited Kingsway Car Park, outside the Civic Hall in Stoke, as members of Trade Unions such as Unison, CWU, Unite, GMB, PCS joined their counterparts all over the country to challenge the government over public sector pensions. I was greeted by a flock of different coloured banners, as protesters converged around the cenotaph outside the King’s Hall. The weather was, at best, freezing, but the determination red hot, as speaker after speaker spoke passionately about the attack on the Welfare State, including the daughter of one Unison member who passed away recently. In a tearful speech, she quoted Martin Niemoller, the famous German Anti-Nazi Pastor:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Now, I have a confession to make. Like many critics of modern society, I thought that good old-fashioned protest (that which characterised movements like those in 1968) was dead, or seriously undermined by an attitude of apathy and blind consumerism. The low turnouts in elections this year were discouraging, and I have been quite vocal about the need for changes in engaging people in politics. And then came 2011: when people all over the world just…snapped. Something broke. 70% of schools in Britain closed, three million public sector workers out on strike, as people continue the fightback against the actions of a government who, according to one speaker are “out of touch with reality”.

The Occupy Movement, the March against the Alternative, the Student Protests and now the biggest strike since 1926; the question has to be asked: Are we seeing a return to radicalism? Speaking to a lady yesterday, she believes that the attack on the welfare state will lead to revolution. Revolution on the streets of Britain? Is that over-the-top? Can you imagine what that would look like?

Britain is in the middle of civil war; but one that is a struggle of ideologies. As one speaker said “the working man is being set against the working man…by the media”. The reaction by the establishment over the continuing backlash toward those who are responsible for the economic crisis is disturbing, but despite police brutality and eviction notices, I’m not sure this movement can be stopped. It is too big, too bold, and too fresh, and could easily morph into something else, based on its fluidity.

One thing is for sure: Expect more strikes, more occupations, more anger, more statements, more marching, more banners, placards and general rounds of applause. And maybe some hand waving and mic checks. The protest movement is back online and 2012 looks like it could be an interesting year.