The Ship of Theseus. Or Triggers' Broom. Or
Jayde Adams needs someone to fix her piano.
Oh hi. It’s so great to bump into you here.
I was recently at an event where I didn’t know anyone, but felt pretty sure everyone else knew everyone else. I had been offered a plus one, but I had said no thank you - not because I wanted to get stuck in, get amongst it, be forced to speak to new people and make new friends. I said no to bringing a guest because, unusually for me as someone who always wants the reassurance of someone I know by my side - I wanted to see what it felt like be in the world, (or at least in that tiny part of it, for a very limited amount of time) all on my own.
When I arrived I took a glass of champagne from a tray, and instead of trying to integrate and catch a friendly eye, I tucked myself into a corner to watch how other people do things, without any of the pressure of having to be a person, or do any of the things myself.
One man, looking for a place to put his coat, came into my corner. I smiled, and he smiled back, clearly unsure if we were meant to know each other.
‘Oh hi,’ he said to me, a complete stranger, ‘it’s so great to bump into you here.’
And now, that’s the greeting I’m going to use for everyone, old friends and new.
It’s so great to bump into you here. Because it really is.
Slow Burn
Everything Changes But You
I am a prolific collector and sharer of memes. A hunter gatherer, finding my favourite content that I didn’t make, and sharing it with my nearest and dearest - or really, anyone who happens to follow me. So much so, in fact, that every Saturday for the past…maybe 5 years? Maybe longer? I have shared a roundup of my favourite finds from Instagram, in a collection I like to call Nonsense. The nonsense has gone through phases, but one of the most enduring has been Greek mythology memes, which it turns out I have a soft spot for, despite not having the deeeepest knowledge of the subject.*
*I wanted to study Classical Civilisations as GCSE, but no-one else in my school picked it, so the class didn’t run, and my knowledge remains at approximately a Year 9 / 13 year old level.
Over the years I have shared plenty of posts about The Ship Of Theseus without reallllly knowing who Theseus was, or why his ship needed to be repaired so often. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t grow up in a house where slaying the minotaur was part of our dinner time conversation, in fact, the closest we came to anything similar would have been watching Jason and the Argonauts (1963) at Christmas. Which is, we can all agree, not even close to similar - though the janky stop motion will always hold a palace in my heart, and nightmares.
Through the language of nonsense memes, I had picked up enough to understand that The Ship of Theseus was something that I did in fact know, but from a completely different context - the idea of Triggers’ Broom (from the Only Fools and Horses 1996 Christmas special, but who’s counting?). Or, if you’re slightly younger then me - the Sugarbabes paradox. All things that beg the question - how much can something change without it changing at all? And how much do we care so long as they play Push the Button?
I’ve spoken so much about my love of the Barnardos charity eBay shop, so often and on so many different platforms that I simply won’t bother you about it again. Except to say that a couple of months ago, when I saw they had a listing for a book called The Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka with ‘unique annotations’ I placed a bid, in part because if the universe wants me to learn about this ship, who am I to argue, and in part because I wanted to see the marginalia. Holding and reading the notes that some other person has pulled out to pay special attention to always feels like a very special thing to find or inherit - even if you’re inheriting it from a stranger on eBay.
If you don’t have your own generational wealth, store-bought is fine.
When the book arrived I was shocked to find it not only appeared to be an ex library book, with withdrawal stamps ranging from Dec 1957 - October 2000, but that nestled in between its pages it was absolutely jam packed with postcards, newspaper cuttings, old photographs, a carefully snipped out, aged, obituary. On the pages themselves I found not only marginalia notes about the text itself, but also what seemed to be an incredibly in depth back and forth conversation between two people who appeared to be arguing, or maybe falling in love (it’s a fine line) in the margins. It was beautiful and complex, mesmerising and confusing. What was going on here? Who were these people? And how had this piece of someone's personal history ended up in a charity shop on eBay?
Some further investigation has led me to understand that V.M. Straka is a fictional author, and the book The Ship Of Theseus is a project by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams (yeah, the LOST guy). It looks so realistic because rather than being printed in the usual way a book is, with the margin notes being made in a font to duplicate handwriting, each page is actually a full colour photograph. The marginalia is real. There are ink pools where a pen has been held down for too long, there are doodles, arrows, crossings out - thoughts are developed, rethought and retracted. Apologies are offered and accepted, or not. All of it was actually written by a real hand, onto paper that was deliberately aged, then painstakingly photographed, and put together to make a book.
I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even close.
Finding it like I did, in a charity shop, without any of its context - not knowing, or even having the slightest clue of what I was getting must be, I think the purest way to experience this book. To make a little personal discovery, then discover the work, and the artistry behind it.
Friends came over for dinner, we sat in the conversation pit, then served a fondue and showed them our latest trinkets, including the book. They were as spellbound as we had been. They poured over it, taking out the inserts - examining, investigating, putting them back almost certainly in the wrong places.
They asked how I knew the places that the inserts had been when I found them were correct. I didn’t. They asked how I knew nothing was missing, or had been lost along the way. Again, not a clue.
How much would have to fall out, be lost or misplaced before the book was no longer The Ship Of Theseus that the authors (artists?) had imagined and intended?
Again, I don’t know. I don’t even know if that’s the point they’re trying to make. Everything changes, or maybe nothing does.
But I’m not sure it matters, so long as they play Push the Button.
An early treat - here is another bit of language to immediately add to your personal lexicon, alongside our new favourite euphemism ‘Don’t mind me, I’m just off to slay the minotaur.’
Hot Takes
Black History Month (USA) & LGBT History Month (UK) reminds us that we’re never far apart.
Depending on where you live, you probably think of February as either Black History month, as it is in the US, or LGBT+ History month, as it is in the UK and other parts of Europe.
The work that I do, as an educator and speaker about social equality and intersectionality, means that I have spent a good chunk of this month doing what I love the most - talking to people and businesses about not only how we are much better together than we are apart, but also how our struggles are much more interconnected that they might seem at first glance. We will never make the progress that we want, and need, without being each other’s first line of protection and support - we are, and always have been, all in this together.
This knowledge means that I was surprised and troubled this month to receive the following ‘opportunity’ from a WhatsApp group that I’m a part of, which mostly offers gifting in return for social media coverage from brands looking to get a bit of a social media boost (I’ve never taken up any of the offers - posting for product isn’t massively my type of thing). The group, which is broadcast only meaning that there’s no chat or chance to meet the other people in the thread - only opportunities and silence, is run by an agency that positions itself as ‘Championing Diversity, Inclusion & Representation’.
I presume ‘how’ is a typo for who.
‘Influencers who are cis-gender women’
It’s the first time I’ve seen this in a brand requirement. Sadly, I’m not confident that it will be the last.
If even groups who claim to be ‘Championing Diversity, Inclusion & Representation’ in closed environments where they are speaking directly to people who have built names and platforms for themselves in social justice and activism spaces, are not only working with brands who feel it’s acceptable to stipulate that, but feel confident in posting that requirement to a chat full of people with big platforms - clearly feeling confident enough that it won’t lead to any backlash on said platforms - then what other conversations are happening? What’s being said behind closed doors? It’s nothing I want anything to do with.
I haven’t decided what to do, or even what I can do yet - but I think telling you about it is my first step.
Recommendations
As always, feel not only free, but actively encouraged to drop yours in a comment.
I’ve Been Listening To
This brilliant playlist of Saharan music. It’s really special.
Ben Pechey’s Queer History Lessons. Each week non-binary educator and icon Ben shares a slice of queer history with us all. They’re always brilliant, and this week we’re learning about the queer age of consent.
My own podcast, Welcome to Successville, returned at the end of January for its second season of trying to get to the bottom of what success really is, and if it ever actually feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. So far I’ve spoken to:
Jayde Adams, who needs someone to fix her piano. I spoke to Jayde about Strictly, safety, and her piano - a Yamaha CVP 103 Clavinova with a floppy disk drive. Her parents got it for her in 1997 and it’s never needed a repair until now. Not very Sugarbabes of it at all. We also speak about access to creative spaces for working class kids (which we both were) - which The Guardian has also just run an interesting piece about.
Anna Kirova, CEO of dating app Feeld, about growing up in post communist Bulgaria, falling in love with the feeling of inhabiting and moving her body as a teen, and being a female tech CEO in an overwhelmingly male space.
Lauren Currie, Founder of Upfront, about her mission to transform confidence for women, and tall poppy syndrome.
Selina Flavius, Founder of Black Girl Finance about money, mourning, and the race and gender pay gap. If you want to know more about the gap This is a really good summary, with lots of interesting stats, facts and infographics from the Lean In Foundation.
I’ve Been Reading
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King by Harry Trevaldwyn. There are times when I can’t face anything heavier than a rom com, and Q1 2025 is firmly one of those times. I bought this book because I saw this social post - it really was as simple as that. As someone who has tried to make fun posts for my books before, I know it’s harder than it looks, and this is the best book promo I’ve ever seen. The book is just as fun, just as silly as the promo - think Adrian Mole meets Bridget Jones - your friend, who makes you scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND WHY IS IT THAT? I’ve finished it now and I already miss it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a rom com from a male POV before.
My paperback! Somehow it snuck up on me that it’s already been (almost) a year since The Glass Cliff was published, which means it’s (almost) time for the paperback to come out. It will be out on March 7th, it has a cute new cover design, and it’s somehow much smaller than the hardback, despite having some new bits added. It’s a treat.
I’ve Been (re)Visiting
Roomy - London’s preloved plus size clothing market is one of my absolute favourite events, and the main reason I refuse to ever leave London. (Untrue, but I am a big fan.) It seems as though a lot of the plus size babes are shrinking and I’m sweeping in to claim all of their pre-loved clothes. Follow Roomy to find out about future dates - but make sure you arrive late so I’ve already had my pick of the best bits.
I know things aren’t going super well when I re-visit Bo Burhman’s Inside. In 2020, everything felt awful, and Bo felt, at least to me, as though he was able to put language to that experience that was simultaneously so shared, and so isolating. I’ve revisited Inside in the past few weeks (it’s ok - the sun will be back soon , I will recover, and I will dream of being invited to hang out with Fred Again on rooftops, instead of being locked down in a shed, or whatever it was Bo was up to), but it was fun to dip back in, to have a feel around and to think about which parts still feel relevant, and which parts feel like a relic from the past.
I know a lot of you will already be familiar with Inside, and so what I want to share with you today is an interview from 2013 between Bo, and Tim Key - one of my all time favourite comedians. Maybe I should have put this in the Treats section at the end. Either way, you’re welcome.
After you finish I also recommend Keys chat with Simon Amstell.
Your Treat
This video of a rollercoaster was at the top of my YouTube recommendations. I only clicked on it to demonstrate to my partner how stupid the recommendation was, and how the algorithm doesn’t know me at all. 7 minutes later I was enraptured, enthralled, staring open mouthed (literally) at the projector, asking if we should pop it back on, just once.
I have tried a lot of Dahl recipes, and although I’ve had favourites before - this Dahl recipe is currently my absolute front runner. I thought I’d have to sort of eat around the big bits of sweet potato, I thought it wouldn’t work without pre-soaking the lentils. I thought a lot of things, all of them wrong. It’s even better the day after you made it. Pop some ghee on top, thank me tomorrow.
We spent all of that time talking about The Ship of Theseus up top that it’s only right that we wrap up with a modern look at some classic mythology. This time it’s Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades and Persephone in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert for Hadestown. I’m sorry to say, they don’t play any of the Sugarbabes back catalogue - which is a clear and sad oversight. But if there’s one thing Orpheus and Eurydice can teach us, it’s that we must never look back.
As always, I’ll leave you with Alex the parrot’s last words
‘You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you’
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SW. <3
Thanks for reading The Intersection, by Sophie Williams! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
I love comments, this will make me very very happy, and less like I’m shouting into a void <3
Haven't read the whole thing but the vibes are immaculate. Thanks for sharing 😌