the Bee Lucks Be.

..♥ A Letter to Our Lovely New Readers:

The above photo was taken practically in my own backyard--well, just around the corner, past the children's hospital and through the forested area of the park in a clearing. There was something poetic and reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe about the two young girls sitting in Cardiff's Roath Park in the rare hot sun with their umbrellas, which in these parts would normally be used for the incessant rain. As a Californian used to many weather patterns but not such stark seasons as we've been getting here lately I found myself intruiged by the paradox.

Threats to open spaces the world over wear many masks: climate change & pollution in all its many forms; degredation of endangered species of flora and fauna; oil and gas extraction; mining and other resource removal techniques...the list feels endless at times. Yet if biological science has taught the human race a thing about environmental stewardship it is that only humanity links together the natural global threats we see today: we are the cause of our own suffering.

Now, don't get me wrong; no need to snap closed this tab in disgust at the prospect of another evangelical environmentalist publication. The non-profit sector and staunch sustainability advocates throughout recent history like Al Gore or Ralph Nader of U.S. politics and climate change and green activism-related media fame share bits and bobs of the blame. Human civilisation and society have developed and progressed in zigs and zags as we evolved originally from humanoid species to reach homo sapiens sapiens and move on towards a globalised and interconnected society. Currently, the trend in the global economy is regressionism, nationalism and other -ism's that display a renewed fear of the "other" which some thinkers and activists have declared to be a thing of the past since WWII.

This photo, and further this entire zine, is not here to say "take care of your open spaces! Here's how you must do it! Listen to me and no one else!" Instead, here at Bee Lucks Be. we aim merely to utilise natural and preserved open spaces in the UK such as National Parks, city greens and regional preserves as the centre of a news website. What you choose to make of the information, data and literary pursuits we publish is up to you. I personally will continue to care for and strategise ways to ensure the protection of the planet, however, and I will start by taking care of...my own backyard of course.

the Bee Lucks Be. is an innovative slow news site which publishes stories centred around the UK's 15 National Parks.

Currently, we are a team of just two: I am Editor-In-Chief and in charge of web design, data analysis and collection, interviews & writing for this first edition. I published an earlier, more academic draft of this website as my Dissertation for my MSc in Computational & Data Journalism at Cardiff University. My partner, Sochi Ezeemo, is a Master's student in business at South Wales University & has provided advice on the promotion & outreach side. He was also kind enough to drive me around in a rental van during a week-long research trip to many of the UK's parks which provided much of the data & research for this first edition.

(I don't drive. Never been liscensed to. Personal reasons.)

Sochi also provided van-side journo assistance with his eye for photography.

I want to thank my tutors, Glyn Mottershead from JOMEC & Martin Chorley from COMPSci, for supporting my learning process this year as I've become a more confident journalist & skilled programmer. My family and friends back home, too, have been amazingly encouraging. I'd particularly like to thank my Dad, who helped support my UK adventure financially. And I'd like to specifically mention my Mom as well, the ultimate travel buddy who came to visit me halfway through the taught portion of this Master's & took me on a preliminary research trip around the island.

Allie and Kati: you know what you've done. I thank you for it.

I dedicate this project to Bear. To Christopher Anton & Matthew Thomas Holstedt, to all my sisters on this wee planet & to my two stellar parents: I couldn't have done any of this without you. For real. To my future audience: thank you for reading, thank you for listening.

Love and Buzz Always,

Becca