School Blog

On Saturday 22 Oct, School of Everything hosts Mz-Tek's Chi-Tek Fest. A day long series of electronics workshops for women only.

Tickets

We have had a few people tell us that they would like to see teachers introducing their classes on video. It's taken a little while, but we have now begun to include videos in our Specials. We are using Specials to try out new ways of doing things before we implement ideas across the site.

Immo Klink came in yesterday to record a quick into to his Reportage Photography class. Klaudia joined us for lunch on Monday and got us all pretty excited about singing, while Tim just sat down and did his shoot in all of two minutes.

We would love to know whether or not you think these little shorts make a difference, and if they do, what would make them better! (We are aiming for single take productions that anyone can do, so any simple video tips we can pass on are useful too.)

P.S. We have made one BOGOF ticket available for Tim's How to Draw a Cartoon class tomorrow night. Catch it if you can.

Sometimes, the best way to get things done is to not do anything. Working on weekends, working late and skipping lunch don't make any real sense in the long run (or medium, or even short) run. Slack is good.

The most important bit of slacking at School of Everything is lunch. Every day, we get together around the table and have a good feast. Everyone chips in £3 and, the more people who come along, the bigger and better the lunch. So, we invite the neighbours, friends, School of Everything teachers and pretty-much everyone to join in. It's the cheapest way to get a good healthy meal at the office, it's fun, and it has become the centre of our community. Lunch is good.

So, in a celebration of A Good Week, here is a little guide to getting a good lunch.

• Find a space to have lunch (the boardroom is pretty good)
• Get a great big salad bowl (We found a huge one at Ikea - but they are not available online)
• Stock up on enough plates and cutlery to feed yourself and your guests
• Set up a cash box and a little accounting form to keep track of who has paid what. (Don't not do this, get the money stuff straight from the very beginning.)
• Find a place to wash the dishes
• Accept that, in practice, the same people will do the shopping every day. You can try to share the tasks around, but that is just more work. I am happy to get 30 minutes to think while I shop. (Slack is good)

Once you have the basics in place, you need to do the shopping and make the salad. By keeping track of everyone's account balance, you get to spend more on days when you need to stock up on condiments, salad dressing and cheese, and then just do a quick daily shop for the basics:

• Salad bits (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber)
• Hummus
• Bread
• Wraps
• Cheese
• cold meat

You might be able to just do a weekly online shop and get things delivered, but we never managed to make that work - we ate a whole weeks food in the first two days. Anyway, those few minutes of shopping are not lost, they are valuable (see above).

Once you get the process down, invite everyone you know to join you. Lets say it again, lunch is good.

Once you have had lunch, you can think of other good things to do with your time and maybe visit agoodweek.com for some ideas.

Enjoy the longest day of the year.

Over the last few weeks you may have noticed our School of Everything London Specials. We've had great fun putting together classes in things we think will be interesting. Now we're thinking of taking things a little further and planning a series of classes on related themes over the course a whole day.

Green School will be a day of "How to be green" classes in London. We would like your ideas about what you would like to learn - and who should do the teaching. (Venue suggestions are welcome too.)

We did a quick brainstorm, and here are our first ideas for classes, but we thought this was a good point to put the question out into the universe, and see what comes back.

• How to start a home garden
• How to clean ecologically
• How to compost
• How to keep bees
• How to keep chickens/build an urban chicken coop
• How to start an energy co-op
• How to do backyard permaculture

Email us your suggestions at [email protected], tweet us @everythingHQ, or post your suggestions in the comments.

Be quick to get a place for this special and you'll get an Early Bird Discount! Book tickets here.

Title: How to stop a witch hunt
Date: Tuesday 19th April 2011
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Location: 18 Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, London. E2 9PF
Duration: 2 hours
Price: £15
Teacher: Zoe Young

About this class:

• Only 12 spaces available
• 2 hour class including a 30 minute film screening in East London
• Taught by Zoe Young, the maker of 'What I Used To Know - The Road to Ghana's 'Witches' Camps'
• A shocking, moving, educational and empowering class

This School of Everything Special is your chance to get a unique ‘behind the scenes’ preview of the beautiful and shocking film ‘What I Used To Know’ by Zoe Young. You will find out how Zoe came to visit the 'witches camps’ of Northern Ghana - hearing about ‘witchcraft’-related abuse from local police, chiefs, priests, and the accused ‘witches’ themselves, mostly older women who are battered and exiled for maybe being a bit mouthy, or not bearing children.

In this class you’ll watch the 30 minute film Zoe made for Ghana TV as part of a West African campaign for women's empowerment and rights. You will gain an understanding of why and how witch hunts still happen around the world; learn about working with social movements in former colonies with little infrastructure and harsh conditions; and how you can help stop the violence against women both in faraway countries and here in London. There will also be discussion, debate, question time, and tips on how you could make your own campaign films.

About the teacher:

Zoe Young is a writer, researcher, film maker and educator. She’s featured on BBC Radio 4's ‘Pick of the Week' and been threatened by fascists in India and East London. She has made films with honey gatherers, conservationists and bankers, piqueteros, tax justice activists and her family. She’s written for the Times, in academic journals, anarchist zines and arts magazines. She’s worked with scientists and shamans, ubergeeks and woodsmen, underground rebel clowns and international civil servants.

Book tickets here.

Be quick to get a place for this special and you'll get an Early Bird Discount! Book tickets here.

Title: How to publish your own book
Date: Tuesday 12th April 2011
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Location: X Marks the Bökship, 210 / Shop 3, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London. E2 9NQ
Duration: 2 hours
Price: £15
Teacher: Eleanor Brown

About this class:

• 15 spaces available
• 2 hour class in East London
• Learn about self-publishing from conception to distribution
• Suitable for artists, photographers, writers, illustrators, and designers

In this School of Everything Special you will find out all you need to know about publishing your very own book. You will get a clear idea about what a self-published book is, ways it can be produced, and how it can be sold and distributed.

You’ll be given the chance to browse the ‘X Marks the Bökship’ shop to see the type of self published books that it stocks. Eleanor will then talk you through the key points of self-publishing in chronological order from conception to distribution answering questions about printing, quantities, ISBN numbers, distribution, costing, and selling it.

You’ll certainly benefit from this class if you’re an artist, photographer, writer, illustrator or designer who has a body of work you’d like to use to make a book and publish independently. But you’re also welcome if you’re none of these things and just interested in learning about self-publishing.

About the teacher:
Eleanor Brown runs a publishing project space for independent publishers in a bookshop called ‘X Marks the Bökship’. It promotes independent publishers through book launches, talk programs and the distribution of small press titles. Eleanor is also the editor and publisher of The Newpaper, a newspaper about artists and writers working with Newspapers. She regularly works with UK artist Fiona Banner producing publications for The Vanity Press.

Book tickets here.