Butterflies and Zebras No 1 - The Sloth Post - Italian Slow Holiday, Breezy, Clint Eastwood's Forgotten Masterpiece; Jimi Hendrix's Happy Place; Gut Tips and Slow Food from Tunisia
Happy Spring Dear Luminaries Readers. Whatever you are doing and wherever you are, I hope you are safe, well and feeling open and excited about the year ahead, especially reading this letter! Welcome to the Butterflies and Zebra's letter from the editor, inspired by my life-long interest in Jimi Hendrix and the magical song he wrote called Little Wing. Jimi possessed the heart of a poet. I admire him for his imagination, for his mastery of the guitar, dandy style, writings and poetry!
Now let's begin.
I am rebuilding my dream of what I want this slow, slothful, organic culture magazine to be after the catastrophic events of Spring 2021. I shouldn't be here after what happened to me. It is good to be alive. I am a girl interrupted. Now I am back, I am ready to build the community I dreamt about creating around The Luminaries Magazine and slow culture five years ago, before the events of 2019 - 21. My dream is to build a community that is focused on campfire storytelling, fellowship, vibrant health, delicious organic, slow food and authentic, life-enhancing happenings. Everything will be inspired by my up close and personal encounter with a sloth in the rainforest in Belize, whilst interviewing film icon Daryl Hannah, now Mrs Neil Young!
One day you might come on the slow, organic magazine holiday I first planned in 2020 to Palazzo Tronconi in Ciociaria the secret organic land of shepherds and vineyards between Rome and Naples, in Italy, and visit Brigitte Bardot's sequestered fishing village. Start dreaming of days of biodynamic wine, roses, Roman ruins and making pasta from scratch. More about that later. Just whistle if you would love to come, and yes, any excuse for an a marvellous holiday with a wardrobe like Ingrid Bergman's in Journey to Italy to flaunt. I haven't been on a magnificent, carefree, real holiday since the injury from the novel product happened - luminarymageditoraj@proton.me
A Firmament of Luminaries and Icons
So, who am I and why was I crazy enough to start my own slow arts and culture magazine after working for various newspaper barons for too long as a feature writer interviewing the icons of the day from the world's oldest super model Carmen to Sir David Attenborough, Iman, Naomi Watts, Twiggy, Brian May, Dr Peter McCullough, India Hicks, Sienna Miller and Dr Raghavan and around 200 more luminary icons over thirty incredible years.
My adventures in journalism started early. I fell madly in love with magazines and journalism as a teenage girl, hiding away in my bedroom and then at university with pictures cut from magazines and the Sunday supplements of Bob Dylan, Jean Shrimpton, Orson Welles and Robbie Robertson from The Band on my walls as a declaration of my love of music, film, fashion, ideas and the cool cognoscenti. Growing up in dull, leafy, manicured Wokingham, it was absolutely essential to cultivate a first class imagination. I loved books, rock 'n' roll, fashion and films and most of all I loved the magazines of my teenage years, especially naughty Jackie Magazine and my dad's Sunday Telegraph colour supplement.
My life long, crazy, grand amour with magazines and colour supplements which led to a career on national newspapers in the UK, began with the wondrous idea of finding inspiration, allure, camaraderie and uplifting, thrilling ideas on how to live. Oh, and very pressing answers to things I needed to know about. Important burning questions that no one would tell me the answer to such as how to deal with boys and overwhelming and confusing 'feelings' about the boy I had a burning crush on in the upper sixth - to startling fashion stories photographed in exotic lands.
The fashion story that really stands out and changed my life is Peter Beard's fashion story with the Countess Veruschka coiled around a tree in Kenya, painted to look like half woman, half snake. I wanted to be the fashion journalist on that assignment. (Many years later, I went on assignment to Kenya and realised my dream to write stories on Africa and fashion and direct my own story in the African bush. I also stayed at The Mount Kenya Safari Club founded by one of my favourite leading men, the complicated, many splendored William Holden). You can watch The Lion a film set in Africa, starring William Holden, Capucine and Trevor Howard here.
I also urge you to discover Breezy, the forgotten masterpiece William Holden starred in with Kay Lenz in 1973. I've loved Clint Eastwood as an actor and director since I first watched the Spaghetti western films he made with Sergio Leone. And yet I had never watched his other romantic masterpiece, Breezy, starring William Holden.
Breezy is Clint Eastwood's third film and it is crying out to be championed, celebrated and rediscovered as a film about love, no matter what. Holden delivers a raw, flawed and compelling portrait of a cynical, profoundly unhappy and disillusioned business man who is transformed by Breezy, the young woman he meets by chance, and falls in love with along with a nutsy dog, called Sir Love-a-lot. The genius of the story is that Breezy takes dead aim at Frank (Holden) not the other way around and the journey to an unconventional love story, laced with satire, black humour and heartbreak. It's worth the ride, especially late at night and the transformation will warm your heart.
Watch Breezy a film by Clint Eastwood
Now back to my teenage inspiration....
To that you can add questions about why the mini was either in or out, again - to places I had to visit and the concert I just had to go to, despite my mother insisting I was too young!
Some of these ideas are the inspiration for The Luminaries Magazine and it is absolutely why I became a journalist aged 22. My first celebrity interview was sitting on the floor eating humous, interviewing Linda McCartney for the British Journal of Photography with her daughters Mary, Stella and Heather, about her life as a rock 'n roll photographer for Rolling Stone. The location for the interview was Linda's secret library, hidden away in a former Victorian warehouse in London.
I had first taken out a subscription to the bible, Rolling Stone, aged about fourteen, and every time it arrived, in its distinctive wrapper, paid for with money from my Saturday job, it was a rights of passage moment. One day, I would be a reporter. I didn't know how, but I trusted the universe to make it happen.
So, yes, it was thrilling to meet Linda, chatelaine of a Beatle, and spend a whole day with her. It took me more than a year of quiet determination to secure the interview. Along with a passion for the craft of long form feature writing, the secret of my success as journalist, is never, ever, giving up and the other quality is empathy. I have never lost my passion or excitement for my next interview subject. Linda greeted me at the door in scuffed, silver Mary Jane glitter shoes and one of Paul's tweed hacking jackets with a Punk, feather hair cut and shell pink Beauty Without Cruelty lip gloss. Can you imagine? What fashion inspiration! I have never looked back. Glitter Mary Jane's are still my favourite shoes, no matter what time of day.
Linda McCartney, Chatelaine of a Beatle
Linda was lovely too. She was laid-back, fun, warm-hearted and there was an ethereal, faraway quality to her. The phone rang quite a few times during the interview, and it was Paul on the phone!
This is the inspiration behind this new deeply personal monthly letter to you, where I will sprinkle my letter with stellar stardust, iconic memories, my ideas and amazing adventures in journalism, plans for The Luminaries, discoveries, insider hot tips, challenges, struggles and triumphs.
It's about living well, slowly, like our sloth, which is our mascot for life in the slow lane, because I have never, ever liked to rush. So let's go.
All this and more is the inspiration for my new monthly Butterflies and Zebra letter to you which is named after Jimmy Hendrix's ode to life Little Wing... a song for modern Alison in Wonderland's everywhere. I am aiming for magic and moonlight, like Mrs Ada Harris of Battersea in the film Mrs Harris Goes to Paris which I love for its optimism, allure and humanity.
For years, I had a cherished battered picture of Jimmy Hendrix looking like an 18th Century lord of the realm in a vintage frock coat, standing outside his flat in Mayfair, next to Handel's House. Now renamed Handel Hendrix House. Of course, I've made a pilgrimage to Jimmy's flat at No 23, Brook Street, London, W1 and then I went out and unearthed my own vintage frock coat a la Jimmy.
Jim Hendrix's Happy Place London Pad
If you want to go and see Jimmy's flat, here's how. Jimmy's flat is now part of Handel Hendrix House Museum. Handel's house and Jimmy's bijou flat has undergone a very careful restoration and this is a wonderful way to travel back to Handel's time and Jimmy's pre-eminence in the sixties. Jimmy said that the time he lived in Brook St was the happiest of his life. Handel Hendrix House offers a tour of Hendrix's flat and Handel's house next door and there are always incredible events happening to honour these two musical geniuses from session concerts with emerging musical stars and lectures and talks. Visit the website to find out what is happening over the summer.
A vintage frock coat or very good modern copy is a fantastic way to cultivate an air of Hendrix rock 'n' roll insouciance and daring and a one of a kind individuality. Film icon Jane Seymour is also a fan of the vintage frock coat and once met Princess Margaret before a premiere in frock coat she picked up from a vintage market. For an antique or vintage masterpiece, look in antique shops, vintage fairs, vintage and period clothing auctions and Oxfam online. For a brilliant contemporary frock coat, I like The Really Wild Clothing Company, Moloh and the best kept secret Browne and Daughters who pull off the military look so very well for the aristocracy, tv racing pundits and the royals.
Now let's talk about the importance of the gut biome and the fascinating role of microbes and bacteria for vibrant health.
Learning to Love My Gut, The Fantastic Dr Davis and a Fascination with Bacteria
All I want for Christmas, my birthday or any day of the week is a gut biome like a beautiful, organic garden. Ever since I can remember, I have struggled to have a happy, calm gut biome. A good day or week is an uneventful trip to the loo that doesn't involve pain and discomfort.
Gut Reaction
It's horrible to have to work the day around digestion. Do you know that feeling? For me, it started in very early childhood and would would come and go, and looking back, it was probably triggered by eating disastrous sugar soaked ultra-processed cereal for breakfast, plus equally awful Frankenstein processed bread and any form of teenage emotional upset. Cereal is a processed food invention. Give me a full English breakfast any day of the week.
I now eat brunch instead of breakfast and it is consists of a souffle with bacon or ham and berries with homemade super gut yogurt, a cooked brunch or salad with organic meat or oily fish.
My father had the same issues as me. I can remember him clutching his stomach in the mornings, before more than one trip to the loo, and then he would leave for work looking stressed and anxious. I observed all this behaviour as a very curious child. My dad died from bowel cancer far too early, two decades ago.
Healing the Gut Biome with High Strength Probiotics, Low Sugar and bone Broth
Three years ago, and at the height of my vaccine injury, I had a DNA test, and I was told I had vaccine induced autoimmunity, very high inflammation, genetic gluten intolerance and damage to my gut lining leading to gut dysbiosis. My consultant asked me to give up all wheat and grains immediately to begin the slow process of healing my damaged stomach lining. I almost began a naturopathic detoxification to rid my body of heavy metals. There was also very serious damage to my good bacteria which had been wiped out by antibiotics given in hospital on two occasions over the past two decades.
Eating for a Happy Gut!
My gut biome improved dramatically as soon as I ditched all gluten and grains and followed an anti-inflammatory diet, rich in good fats, grass-fed meat, cream, cheese and some good quality fish including cods roe, wild prawns, trout and haddock. It felt like a miracle. I had wonderful trips to the loo, perfect bowel movements and no pain. The new me was very happy, with my rejuvenated gut. I had a whole year of perfect digestion. Then, I experienced extreme stress over a cowboy builder and the horrors of trying to get legal justice whilst still very vulnerable with autoimmunity from my vaccine injury.
The inflammatory bowel symptoms returned during a period of extreme legal stress and being let down by institutions such as insurance companies and law firms who are not doing their job. My poor gut took in all the stress of the situation and it was horrible. My gut repair simply had not had long enough to weather such an onslaught.
Now this is what I have learned to get through tough times. In times of stress and to build a gut that that is like an impregnable castle with a calm immune response, make organic bone broth and drink it every single day. Making bone problem is so easy. Just invest in a slow cooker like a Crock Pot or any good quality slow cooker.
If you really don't have the time, then buy organic bone broth. You can also get the benefits of the collagen in the bone broth in powdered form as an organic, grass-fed collagen peptide which you can add to smoothies, soups and one pot dishes.
Practice deep breathing, walk for at least half an hour briskly every single day, get really interested in being a flaneur and looking at flowers, shop windows, antique emporiums, charity shops in posh neighbourhoods and beauty in all its forms. Then get help with the stressful situation and focus on finding support from family and friends with a problem that is making you ill or stressed. Watch comedies that make you laugh out loud often and smile deliberately throughout the day, to diffuse the stress response.
The next step is to get acquainted with your own bacteria and discover the fantastic gut guru doctor, Dr Davis and his book Super Gut. I love Dr Davis's candour as a cardiologist. He is fun, brutally honest and conversational. He takes dead aim at ultra processed food, glyphosate, a broken medical system fixated on disease and greed and all the things in the 21st Century that are making us ill and then tells us how to get very interested in our microbes to cultivate a garden of good gut health.
I declare we need to ditch supermarkets and go back to buying the freshest organic and grass-fed produce from organic farmers, farmers markets and slow, organic food producers. Are you ready to join the real food revolution? You can find out how to buy from farmers here in our organic farm 2 fork guide - Farm 2 Fork Luminaries Guide You will also find lots of organic and slow food articles in our magazine Spy Columns. Gazegill Organic Farm, Farm to 2 Fork and the Natural Grocery Store are very good places for box scheme deliveries of the highest quality organic food ingredients for scratch cooking.
We Are Made of Bacteria and It's Time to Love Them
We are made of microbes, and if are bacteria are not in good shape, or even awol, then we have to put them back and adore them. I am now happily making Dr Davis's different strains of probiotic yogurt to gain very specific benefits including the amazing Lactobacillus Gasseri to effectively fight off bad bacteria and digest more and reuteri as an ancient bacterial strain for all-round foundational health, greater empathy, deep sleep and so on. It is exciting. Lactobacillus Gasseri is particularly good for IBS and to get rid of SIBO. I can report that it is working. My gut is calm and happy again and the world and my horizons are expanding.
Now that my gut is in good shape, it is time for some wanderlust...
Come to Italy with Me on a Luminaries magazine Slow Organic Food and Wine Holiday, to The Land of the Shepherds in Ciociaria
Now, before I was interrupted in May 2021, I had just set up the idea of this marvellous glam, uplifting and organic and slow travel holiday for you dear reader with me as your hostess and guide, to the stay at the Palazzo Tronconi, a small hotel and biodynamic vineyard in Arce, Italy. The main components being seriously good organic food and wine, company, dressing up for dinner, pasta making, vineyard and wine tastings and spa days, Roman ruins and days out to look at the countryside and seaside, including Bardot's favourite little fishing village to escape her fame and the paparazzi. The fishing village is called Sperlonga.
Well, that holiday is five years late! Here's the lowdown from ..... now who wants to come? Email me and join the list to come on a one of a kind holiday with your journalist hostess. Groups will be small. I am thinking no more than six to ten people maximum.
The Luminaries On Holiday at Palazzo Tronconi
Did You Know That ...
Did you know that Paul Gallico wrote three more adventures for Ada Harris? Mrs Harris Goes to New York, Mrs Harris Goes to Russia and Mrs Harris MP. I hope that Lesley Manville will be asked to reprise her roll as Ada Harris in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris and go on all these adventures for our delight.
Watch Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
The world needs more ladies like Mrs Ada Harris of Battersea.
You can find vintage copies of Mrs Harris's adventures on WOB Books, in second hand book stores and the reprint of Flowers for Mrs Harris to complement the Film Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. Note that the film changed the title of Paul Gallico's Book. The flowers are really significant, so you will just have to read the book. It's fun to compare Gallico's original heroine with the film. All I will say is that there are some fascinating differences.
Wellbeing Tip from Sweet Bee Organics
Many of us 21st century humans are seriously depleted in magnesium. Magnesium helps us to relax and repair are bodies when we sleep deeply. I like the simple ritual of massaging lavender scented magnesium butter into the soles of my clean feet before I drift off and dream.
Sweet Bee Organics is my go to for very good, additive-free magnesium butter.
Slow Organic Pantry Food Treasures
And finally, here is my delightful slow and organic small farm 2 fork farm producer of the month for you to discover, try and adopt and create an organic pantry at home, so you can always rustle up a delicious healthy meal pronto.
Les Moulins Mahjoub - Farming for 200 years, this wonderful family farm produces exquisite organic and slow store cupboard jars of succulent, juicy olives, buttery artichoke leaves, sundried tomatoes and fat jars of preserved lemons, apricots and mulberries on their organic farm in the Medjerba Valley, in Tebourba, Tunisia. This is slow and organic food grown with love for the soil and great husbandry in a Tunisian garden of Eden. Look out for their produce in health food stores across the world from the UK to the USA. All these small organic farms are in peril. We need to adopt them, tell your friends and experience the joy of eating real food grown in season. I like to buy them from the Artisan Olive Oil Company and Well Easy in the UK.
Until next time, AJ xxx
Copyright Alison Jane Reid/The Luminaries Magazine. All Rights Reserved. No Copying in any format, including unauthorised Ai use.
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