Laurie Ann

“In those times no one really spoke about their feelings in the way in which they do nowadays. Today we have huge industries set up that profit from the idea that people suffer from a mental illness called ‘depression’; from the big pharma corporations to therapists, there is plenty of money to be made from emotional misery. The culture I grew up in discouraged people, especially boys, from ever discussing their ‘feelings’. You had to just accept whatever situation you were in and ‘get on with it’. I am a strong believer in that ethos of self-help and stoicism. Indeed, my father is a great example of that. In 1983 he was given six months to live by the doctor unless he gave up smoking and drinking. So he just went cold turkey and never told anyone. On his own, no shrinks or treatment centres for him; a man of the old school brought up the hard way.”
― Bobby Gillespie, Tenement Kid: Rough Trade Book of the Year