ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Archives for May 2021

Make Saving Simple

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Make Saving SimpleNow that the lockdown is easing, we all have hidden pressure to go out and enjoy ourselves, which leads to more expenditure.  However, if you follow this simple guide, you can ‘Make Saving Simple’, keep yourself in the black, and switch careful planning you can afford those guilty pleasures that we all long for.

The hated word in any discussion is ‘budget’, it normally causes more rows in a family circumstance than any other as you are talking about money and money is a limited resource.  However, if you implement a simple budget you will be surprised at how quickly (even from small amounts) your savings will develop.

Remember putting a budget is not about stopping you spending, it is about making you realise what you spend on, and then by looking at this expenditure you can decide what is important and what you can adjust to make a saving (if possible); or even, if you need to get help.

I have created a simple spreadsheet for those who have access to Microsoft Excel, and I also have created a PDF so that those who do not have excel can download the four sheets of paper and fill them in that way.

 

The four sheets are:

  • Summary
  • Needs
  • Debts-Savings
  • Wants

If you are using Excel, all you have to do is fill in the Needs / Debts-Savings / Wants sheets and the totals will automatically complete the Summary Sheet.  Then you will need to fill in your earnings figure.

If you are using the PDF sheets, you will have to fill each item in yourself, then use a calculator to get your totals on each sheet, then manually fill in the Summary Sheet and total the figures in the first section, and then fill in your earnings in the second section.

Once you have completed this then subtract your expenditure in box 1 from your earnings in box 2 – if you end up with a minus figure, then you will need to go back to box one and see what (if anything ) you can adjust so that you end up with a positive figure.

 

“When your income is £20 and spending is £19.98, the result is happiness. When your income is £20 and spending is £20.02, the result is misery.”

 

Downloads:

Don’t forget to contact us if you need further help!

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At the destination [Am Ziel] – Gay short movie – Movie Review

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Am Ziel

A beautiful, yet non-descript day in Bavaria, to be exact Allgau.  A day like every other day, except for Tom who is about to make a momentous decision – that of coming out and hopefully making new friends with other ‘gays’.  He is full of fears, indecision, and ideas flash through his mind with all the stereotypes that he has heard people, the media (newspapers, radio, television and movies) discussing.

I found this a very appt short movie, having just read various reports and written my own article on how LGBTQ+ youth have been hit hard by the pandemic, and the effect of being forced back into the closet for some of them as they have had to return home with no job, or no university course continuing.

Friendship and Sharing

During the period 10th to 16th May it is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, not surprisingly the USA has a Mental Health Awareness Month!  But, the aim no matter where you are is to be aware of others, that they may be suffering, but not showing it.  Be patient with your friends, but not just during this period of awareness, be aware always and be open to providing support, whether that be a cup of tea or coffee, a chat, a walk in the countryside with friends – you never know what will help a person, so put your hand out and see who grabs it, and don’t be disappointed if there is slow take-up, someone somewhere needs your friendship

At the destination [Am ziel}

Tom – At the destination (Am ziel)

The short film was made in a workshop by queerblick eV at the youth group “BONITO” in the Allgäu (www.bonito-allgaeu.de). Its aim is to encourage young people to dare to join a gay youth group, to find friends and support, to not be alone.

I have been lucky enough to get in touch with Andi from the group, who told me that ‘The actual idea behind the story was to show young queer people in our area what a queer youth group is or isn’t in terms of clichés. The story itself was written by the main character Tom played by Axel, literally telling the story of his first attempts (it took him three) to come to Bonito.’

 

Movie Information:

Main characters:

Tom: Axel – 23

Guy with the bike: Andi – 26

Spooky Queen: Martin – 25

Guy in front of the house: Winni – 22

Length of movie: 5.39

 

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Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youth

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Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youth

 

In 2018 whilst discussing ‘Rainbow Colours At Ards Town Hall’ reference was made to a report on suicide prevention from the World Health Organisation, Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youthand the methods of measuring suicide attempts.  Reference was also made to the Rainbow Project report ‘Through Our Minds’ which indicated that 25.7% of those who responded, ‘had at least one attempt at suicide.’

But this is not the whole story, the following table gives a more concrete overview of the facts and figures:

General population (suicide attempt ever) LGBT population (suicide attempt ever) General population (suicide attempt past year) LGBT (suicide attempt past year)
Northern Ireland 4% 25.7% ? 6.17%
Great Britain 4.4% ? 0.5% 4.02%*
Ireland 7%** 21.4% 1.68%** 5.63%

 

*Excluding transgender people, recalculated on the basis of the two studies (2008; 2011) taken together
**Aged 17-25

 

LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report

LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report for 2020 published yesterday (May 10) highlighted how the LGBTQ+ community was affected by the COVID pandemic with a higher number than ever of younger people calling the LGBT Ireland helpline with a correlating uptake in online peer support groups….[FactcheckNI(https://factcheckni.org/articles/have-1-in-4-lgbt-persons-attempted-suicide/)]

So why am I raising this again?  We are all still living and working within the pandemic and its impact on all of the community within the United Kingdom.  However, the LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report covering the year 2020, has highlighted the LGBTQ+ community was affected by the COVID pandemic with a higher number that ever of young people calling the LGBT Helpline.

Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ YouthBut in Northern Ireland, I would also suggest that the number of calls for support whether by phone, text or online will have gone up.  Our youth have also suffered from the impact of the pandemic, and so many reports, studies and articles over the period have indicated that for so many that had to return home from university halls, or from rented accommodation which they could no longer afford had the ‘return to the closet’ syndrome as they either were not out to their families, or their families preferred that they kept a low profile.

The cancelling of so many venues and the limitation of support groups has also brought further psychological pressure on our LGBTQ+ youth.

Indian Variant

Today we heard that we are moving forward towards new normality, however almost immediately we are being told about the ‘Indian’ variant and that if the numbers continue to increase from this it may lead to local or limited lockdowns. 

None of us knows the future, and indeed the one thing that is guaranteed apart from birth, death and taxes (which are bound to go up due to Brexit fallout and the pandemic costs) is that the pandemic is here forever, and that it is down to us all to be sensible and use the skills we have developed over the last 15+ months, but also that we need to think carefully on how we can support and care for our youth ( and indeed everyone).

 

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Hand Off – Gay Short Movie 2019 – Movie Review

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Hand OffHand Off is a movie written and directed by Chadlee Skrikker, is 24 minutes long and is about rugby in Cape Town, South Africa.  Jaco decides to admit his feelings about Willem just after they have come out of the changing room having cleaned up following rugby training. 

Willem is taken aback having had no inkling that Jaco was gay, and that he had feeling for him.  As they walk towards the car Willem walks on by leaving [Jaco] feeling isolated and downcast, and not knowing whether their friendship will continue.

He gets home and is met by his mother but moves away from her with a lame excuse and goes to his bedroom collapsing on his bed and falls into a fantasy world with an imaginary friend.  You can tell he is imaginary by the heavy gold on his forehead and his earrings – Leo then directs hisHand Off fantasy.  It at this stage almost has a feeling of Caravaggio or Sebastiane.  The languid bodies lying on rugs with cushions and roses set the scene.

Hand Off is a rugby term, it is when a ball-carrier is permitted to hand off an opponent provided excessive force is not used, to push him away whilst he (or she) continues with trying to get a try.

The actors are of a suitable build to all be rugby players, and indeed carry themselves as testosterone ladened lads. Jaco seems to move from training to his fantasy, all the while Willem is on the periphery reconciling what he has been told and trying to understand how it affects him and his friendship.

Jaco’s fantasy moves forward and becomes more sexually explicit, but the question that is raised is will he come back from fantasy?

Jaco then discovers that Willem (or someone) has told all his fellow team members that he is gay, and they take the action of shunning him with the stereotypical reactions that writers of these scenes often use.  He meets up with Willem expressing how he feels and Willem shows how good a friend he is and becomes the friend he was before Jaco came out.

Soundtracks:  there are several musical tracks used during the movie, but “Lucifer’s Tear” which was written by Ayden Marthinus stands out for me, and fortunately there seem to be three or 4 other tracks hidden away in YouTube.

 

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