Hello.

I’m glad you’re here.

My name’s Jo Mitchell. I started my working life selling buns in a Birmingham bakery. Now I work with the brilliant charity ACT Oxford, helping people rebuild their lives after prison or street homelessness.

Like most people, I’ve loved stories since I was little.

My favourites have always been about redemption, rescue and the power of hope over all that hurts and harms us.

Here are a few – some personal, some universal – I’ve found along the way.

The world can be cold and dark, but a fire was once lit that’s never gone out.

I hope you’ll find some of its warmth here.

Sometimes words can sing...

Why it’s time to stop forgetting our foremothers

‘…it’s hard to know who we are and where we’re headed if we don’t know who and where we’ve come from.’

A salty sea song for the Home Secretary

‘…when someone’s being sucked out to sea, you get up from where you’re sitting and do something.’

Guest post: 18 ways to set structure and sew love into everyday life

17-year-old Issy’s rules to live by

Trashed: the smashing story of the Bullingdon boys

‘Some Oxford boys end up in the Bullingdon Club. Some Oxford boys end up in Bullingdon Prison.’

Strange and stormy days

‘To make it through days of storms we need to be light, lean, quick and free…’

Scratching beneath the surface: an Oxford observation

‘…what if the real adventure isn’t on show, but happening in secret?’

Tidings of comfort

‘While comfort in a trouser may be deeply desirable, the change in the weighting of the word exposes an uncomfortable truth.’

Seven things I’m learning from… my dog

‘She may eat plastic, trample plants, steal shoes, spread dirt… But to me, she mainly smells of sunshine and biscuit.’

First draft fragment

‘…the unharvested edges mark out a margin – a border, set aside for those who don’t have enough.’

Song for my sisters

‘I found myself met by love, and I knew the comfort of containment by it.’

In praise of Port Meadow

‘…long, light summer evenings that seemed like they would never end’

Postcard from Paris

‘Paris and me, we have history.’

The Song of Digby and of Jane

‘May your heart always be joyful / And may your song always be sung’

Five ways to get through dark days

‘How do we find and stay true to our north star in the face of fear and fragmentation?’

The human cost of fast fashion

‘Just a glimpse of the red metal button brought back the taste of fishfingers and the Diff’rent Strokes theme tune…’

Sunday morning song

‘Pete is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.’

The camping trip that changed America

‘There was once a man who loved the mountains…’

Guest post: Everyone was a bird

‘The sound of a trumpet was interrupted by the jarring crack of gunshot.’

Four ways to live well I learned from my great-great uncle George

‘Refuse to be defined by other people’s expectations.’

We are all originals

‘Google can find someone’s net worth, but not what they carry in their heart, or the content of their character’

The wrong sandwich

‘…it can be hard to know how to be properly helpful.’

Song for an old friend

‘I decided to write her a present, and you are reading it…’

Art and anger in response to the sexual exploitation of children

‘Who knew that the police are poets?’

The importance of our stories and why we should share them

‘…her house was open and her laugh was loud and her friends were countless.’

He slowed down - lessons from life with a seventeen-year-old daughter

‘Life can be hard and painful, but it’s also bursting with wonder. Just make sure you don’t miss it.’