I haven't blogged for a while. I
suspect that's partly because I'm back on Twitter, and I seem either
to blog or to tweet, and partly because I've been exhausted. Tweeting
time comes out of dead time, usually – time in taxis, or waiting in
corridors. Blogging time usually comes out of sleeping time.
I should be writing, now, writing
things people are waiting for. But I need to blog as well...
It's foggy where I am today, and I can't tell where
the sky ends and the sea begins. In a few days I go to Norway, to
Sweden and to Spain, for a slew of appearances and interviews.
Looking over the schedule, I suspect that some of the signings may be
hard, as very limited amounts of time are scheduled for them, and
immediately afterwards I'm due at the next event or interview or
thing.
Last week I was in Jordan, and then
landed, still shaken up, and went straight to the British Library,
where I talked about Sandman and Art and Life with Tori Amos, then
got up on the stage and read some stories to an audience, then
collapsed.
I went to Jordan, as I reported here, for the UNHCR, the
United Nations Refugee Agency, to visit the Syrian Refugee Camps and
report on what I found.
Last year I wrote a short film for Georgina
Chapman to direct, and we really liked each other, and she said yes when I
asked if she'd like to come with me to Jordan. We had both planned to
bring our spouses – I had expected that Amanda would be there but
that Harvey Weinstein (to whom Georgina is married) would just get
too busy, because Harvey is always busy. Instead, Amanda found
herself dealing with a perfect storm of things, including health
issues and, most importantly, an unfinished book, and could not come,
and Harvey was there, showing a side I've not seen in the 20-odd
years I've known him.
No Amanda made the Jordan trip easier,
as I didn't have any attention on anyone else at any time I was in
the camps, and much harder, as I really would have given the earth
for a hand to squeeze at some points in the camps, or for someone to
hold.
I would write about the Jordan trip
here, but I wrote what would have been my blog already.
This is the link to the main article,
which I wrote for the Guardian.
This is the link to the Guardianpictures – I wrote captions to the images, or UNHCR took them from
my end of day video diary.
Here's a Buzzfeed article, following
refugees into Azraq camp.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/neil-gaiman-in-jordan
(Yes, the headline is clickbait, but it's a good article
nonetheless.)
And here's an interview I did with the
BBC World Service, while I was out there. If I sound a little shaken,
I am.
Everything is going to be collected at
http://donate.unhcr.org/neilandgeorgina,
which also gives information on the project and also on how to
donate to UNHCR.
I came away from Jordan ashamed to be
part of a race that treats its members so very badly, and
simultaneously proud to be part of the same human race as it does its
best to help the people who are hurt, who need refuge, safety and
dignity. We are all part of a huge family, the family of humanity,
and we look after our family.
Please share the links, especially the
link to the main Guardian article at http://rfg.ee/x6Kon.
Share them aggressively. Make people read them. It's important, and
I'll be grateful. Thank you.
