IN THIS ISSUE
I’ve always believed in ghosts – not the chain-rattling, frighten-the-witsout-of-you type, more the kind that looks after you and just wants to check back in with those they’ve left behind. I’ve never seen one, but I’m happy enough to believe they’re around us. My nephew did freak me out a little when he was younger, about three or four, when I told him he was coming to stay in my apartment one evening. In front of his parents and mine, he asked me: ‘Will the man who lives with you be there?’ As I had been single for years, my family were intrigued as to who this man was! But there had never been any man in my house at the same time as him apart from our family. When I questioned him, he described a dark-haired man who sat on the couch by the window. He was so definite about it that I had to believe he had seen something. It initially made me uneasy but then I realised that if there was someone/something there, they’d never done me any harm so were clearly just there to watch over me. My nephew made similar comments in his own home about a woman on their middle landing, so maybe he has some sort of ‘gift’. Which leads me to Stacey Duguid’s compelling confessional on page 30. She regularly sees and speaks to spirits, channelling messages from them to the living, as well as taking advice herself from them. Whether you believe in such a thing is entirely up to each individual so as long as there’s no harm being done and nobody is being exploited, everybody can make up their own mind. As far as I’m concerned, with all the challenges we face in the world at present, a bit of help from another realm is always welcome.
Clementine Ford admits on page 26 that the word ‘feminist’ took on negative connotations for her for a while, but then she embarked on a gender studies course and realised that it doesn’t have to be a dirty word. It can mean embracing all that is good about being a woman and ensuring that we back each other up whenever we can. And that can’t be a bad thing. Enjoy the issue!
A BIT OF HELP FROM ANOTHER REALM IS WELCOME”