snapshot #2 - Being There

Random thoughts... reflections on the way it felt... 

this is not a picture of bendigo writers festival enthusiasts partaking of refreshments at a view street cafe

There was something nice about the Saturday afternoon sunshine as people milled about View Street. There was still an August chill in the air lending itself to occasional slithers of melancholy. And as Kerry O'Brien quoted of Paul Keating, a little bit of melancholy is a good thing. It keeps you grounded... (But I wouldn't hear that get said until tomorrow)

I had just come from a session at the Capitol Theatre. It was good to stretch my legs. 

The football was also on at the Queen Elizabeth Oval. Bendigo-town was alive with activity today. 

I could have stood and watched the coming and going of people all afternoon. I am a people watcher.I am curious about them and their stories. I like to imagine what lives might have been like and what they may still offer into the future. 

Standing just removed from the cold shadows cast by the the heritage buildings and watching the groups of people and individuals come and go along View Street it is easy to imagine people doing something similar 100 hundred years ago. Gathering to discuss and gossip and swapping points of view. 

It is easy to imagine Indigenous people - this is Dja Dja Wurrung country - meeting on this ground 200 hundred years ago. Before the colonial conquest. Sharing stories, finding meaning, creating connections.

At the moment as I watch people go about their festival ways, I find myself feeling a strange warmth inside. There is a beauty to this... It is more than some sort of sickly sentimentality... Even if there is a twinge of nostalgia, but what for I am not sure of at the moment... 

For something that I am not aware of having lost? For something I am awaiting to discover? 

I then find myself going on a tangent and thinking what did people spend their money on before takeaway coffee? 

Most people were clutching one as they strolled about. Some people even held two. In recent times I have gone old school and resorted to using an old thermos. And a trusty old enamel cup. It saves on waste... (The more I watch the coffee cup clutchers the more I try to calculate the waste...) (Let it go Jason, I think you may be missing the point of the festival)

And of course no outing these days seems to be complete without a dog so people - not many but enough for me to notice - even had one of those along.

But they were probably only passing through. (Aren't we all?)

Perhaps they were just following their usual Saturday dog-walk-routine? 

(I like dogs but I think they are over-represented at public festivals...) 

(Unless of course they happen to be at public festivals for dogs aka dog shows ... but I don't go to dog shows)

But I couldn't spend all afternoon just watching people come and go.

There were other things to do, other obligations to fulfill. Other speakers to hear and other conversations to mull over. 

But I could spend all afternoon just watching people come and go and listen to the football crowd noise behind me and wonder what sort of discussions the festival goers were having in front of me. 

I think that is what I will do next year. I'll take up a spot just up from the old fire station in View Street and for a couple of hours I will just soak up the atmosphere. In a way that would be like being at a festival without really being at the festival. 

snapshot - Harold from Neighbours

I thought it was Harold from Neighbours.

I was sitting right at the back of the theatre and I heard the voice and I thought why is Harold from Neighbours talking to Sarah Ferguson. 

And just after that thought I remembered that the festival guide had listed Max Gillies as being in discussion with Sarah Ferguson. 

I have to get my eyes tested. That doesn't really have anything to do with Harold from Neighbours. But I find myself misreading things and overlooking errors in stuff that I write. 

In a weird sort of way it saddens me to think that I need glasses. It would only serve to confirm that the rot has set in. 

For the Max and Sarah show I was seated next to a woman from Leicester. She arrived in Australia on Thursday - a few days ago. She is in Melbourne for a conference. She is spending the weekend with friends who live in Mandurang. She said she watched rosellas outside when she was having her breakfast.

She said she liked the Bendigo Writers Festival. She said she had been to other writers festivals in Britain but she liked Bendigo because the authors speaking seemed less rehearsed. It seemed a bit more natural and free flowing.  

Review

I don't think my blogs from the weekend really work all that well.

I am trying to do too much. To cover too much. And what I am coming up with just isn't that good. They're of interest - or at least reflect things that are of interest to me - but I doubt they convey that much to anybody else. 

The problem is I viewed a lot of stuff over the weekend but I can't put everything in. 

I think it comes back to the voice thing. I'll probably disagree with this tomorrow but I think I need a stronger voice that is indulging in a more creative use of language and engage with a single aspect. 

The blogs from the festival should have been an opportunity to try stuff out but they seem to have gone a bit nowhere instead... 

It is hard because at some point I am still processing through stuff... and that's how it reads back to me. It is more like a recitation of what happened rather than anything particularly engaging.

The last couple of posts have also been too long. A bit rambling. 

I might take a step back from things and try coming at it using a different tack.  

I need an angle!

The Fifth Estate - part 1

A packed house to hear Kerry O'Brien, Margaret Simons and Dennis Glover in conversation with Sally Warhaft from The Wheeler Centre. 

Power and leadership and the intrigue that goes along with it. The plotting and the scheming and the ambition of certain individuals to hold sway over the consciences of others. The self-belief to put yourself forward and claim a particularly superior understanding of the world and to project a confidence to others that says within yourself are the answers to dilemmas that confront societies. Why do some people pursue these things with such obsessive zeal?

I must admit I don't get it. I don't understand the lust for power. I have never held ambitions with regards to career or career advancement or status. I have never wanted to hold influence and I most certainly have never wanted to influence anybody on anything. I know full well that I am not a "salesman" and I have absolutely no desire to cultivate "followers". 

Sure I have opinions on things but my attempts at advocacy have perhaps been half-hearted and certainly never all that successful. I like to support causes that I believe are worthwhile but I know my talents would never lie in leading a cause. 

Yet, for some reason, politics fascinates me. I am drawn to the intrigue. I am drawn to observing the egos that clash in battles for control of power. I enjoy watching heightened political dramas unfold and I enjoy trying to think-through potential outcomes. Tensions are high and the consequences extreme but there is something about the art of strategy that is involved that does absorb me. 

There is something about the "craftiness" of people who aspire to leadership that I find repellent. Distrustful. It makes it difficult to know when they are being genuine and when they are just saying something for the sake of advantage. 

Power can diminish people as much it can empower them - Kerry O'Brien

(Why do we persist with the idea of the leader? Why can't the position of prime-minister be a job share arrangement? 

I have heard it said that the modern corporation is like totalitarian regime in that it has a pyramid power structure that leads to an apex of a particular individual. Why do we encourage these sort of hierarchies?)

Leaders are also made by there followers - Margaret Simons

What do I look for in a leader? That is a good question and it was pleasing to hear what the panel said with regards to what makes a good leader. And in particular was the observation on what is lacking from today's leaders. Kerry O'Brien spoke particularly forcefully on this.

Life experience. A connection to a belief system that has been tested - that has endured a sustained period of ordeal - to have been allowed the time to develop depth - and that carries conviction and holds principle. It has consistency to it that is is born out of long years of struggle, and self-reflection, and refined through an ability to recognise where improvements can be made. In other words, the maturity to acknowledge when one is wrong and the creativity to incorporate new learning into an existing world-view. 

I am mostly not overly impressed with today's politicians - especially those put forward by the Liberal and National parties. They lack character and they lack substance. They are interchangeable. They've gone to university, probably studied law, joined a political party, worked as a political staffer or for a think-tank, been pre-selected to a reasonably safe seat. And then just churn out endless cliched drivel once in parliament. Because that is all they know. (Of course I generalise but I think I am relatively close to the mark) 

Where is the actual human contact with the broad range of society? Where is the engagement with the wider world? Where is the development of empathy and the ability to place yourself in somebody else's shoes and to imagine life from somebody else's perspective. The sort of stuff that can not necessarily be taught at a university or cultivated within a hegemonic political party social club, but needs to be experienced in the conversations and small talk of varied workplaces, and homes, and a diversity of other social meeting places where the hopes and fears and aspirations of a sweeping range of people dwell. 

It comes from experiencing the anguish of life-choices of those whose lives are buffeted by forces so hopelessly beyond their control. That is when you can start to develop a sense of decency towards others and to forge insight into yourself. Too many involved in politics today "don't live a life of building beliefs." They know what they already know and that is all they need to know and they are right and they don't need to consider anything from any other perspective.  

Decency and insight are in shockingly short supply in today's Australian politics. Obfuscation and recalcitrance rule the day. 

So we have a decaying predominately two party system in an age of rapid technological and social transformation. What could possibly go wrong? 

Nationalism: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

It is interesting and timely that a discussion on nationalism should take place in Bendigo for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Bendigo has been the scene in recent years for protests by far-right groups such as the United Patriots Front and the like-minded Reclaim Australia in opposition to the construction of a mosque in Bendigo. These protests can be seen as part of a precursor to the reemergence of 'Hansonism' and the consequent election of three One Nation politicians into Australia's senate in the federal election held in June this year. 

But it is also noteworthy - probably more as a curiosity for history buffs like me as much as anything else - because Bendigo was the seat held by ultra nationalist Billy Hughes at the conclusion of World War 1. Trying to explain the political machinations of Hughes would take more space than this blog allows but needless to say Hughes held extremely firm views on what Australian identity was. To put it briefly it was uncompromisingly white and masculine. 

In 1919 Hughes, the then prime-minister, had returned to Australia from visiting Europe where post war reconstruction work was commencing. Reports from the period give a sense of Hughes having a spring in his step and convey a tone that while the war had been a great catastrophe resulting in horrific loss of life, it had also been an opportunity for Australia to prove itself on the world stage. 

I have come back as I could have desired, in a manner symbolical of war and the glorious aftermath of war... I could not have fashioned for myself a more splendid and  glorious way of returning to Australia than that which fate has destined for me... It is well that we should remember today, that after 16-months my colleague and myself have landed in Australia again and find it still a free Australia, a white Australia. Australia is free and white today; but it owes nothing to those who, being able to fight, remained behind, and everything to those who, being able to fight, went out and fought. (Source) 

For Hughes, Australia's participation in the war was completely tied to an identity of Australia as being a white man's country. The 'White Australia' policy received overwhelming bipartisan political support and was a key plank of the Australian Labor Party's political platform for a number of decades. The ALP stalwart Arthur Calwell was still clinging to it well into the 1960s. 


This afternoon's panel - facilitated by Louise Adler - consisted of Anne Summers, Benjamin Law and Peter Doherty. It was a wide ranging discussion that strangely enough - given the potentially bleak subject matter - resulted in a number of laughs. Unfortunately, it is impossible to give a detailed account of the conversation so I will have to cherry-pick my highlights.  

Benjamin Law spoke with characteristic intelligence and humour of his experiences growing up as the son of immigrants from an Asian back ground and living in a comprehensively white Gold Coast. 

A national history is a personal history - Benjamin Law

Law found himself in secondary school when Pauline Hanson burst spectacularly and controversially onto the Australian political scene in the 1990s. He felt a shift took place with regards to multiculturalism during these years - the "Hanson and Howard years" - and that Australian-ness was an ideal that was recognised by an ability to speak English. Law challenged this widely held mainstream perception - subtly and not so subtly encouraged by the sections of the media and political classes - by telling the story of his grandmother who did not speak English but who worked in Australia, paid taxes in Australia, and contributed much to Australia. 

Peter Doherty spoke of transforming the long-held rifts within Australian society through the emergence of a new Australian identity - a new understanding of Australian-ness - that was removed from a sense of nationalism - as understood as part of the nation-state construct - and based more on a love of country, an appreciation of landscape. 

 Although, Anne Summers challenged this to an extent by claiming that there would be many Australians of a recent immigrant background who would never have ventured far from the cities in which they live and would not have the connection to the sort of natural wonders of Australia that Doherty spoke of. 

Summers makes a good point but I must admit I found what Doherty said to be consistent with my own thoughts. That an appreciation and celebration of Aboriginal culture and heritage - and in particular having that esteemed sense of place - as something intrinsic within oneself - that does allow for the possibility to rise above a narrowly conceived and crudely articulated jingoistic sense of what Australian identity might be - as being crucial to a maturation of both an individual and collective identity. The way in which I experience what Doherty speaks of is as a quietism, that is meditative and mindful, aware and conscientious, that has definite 'spiritual' aspect and if allowed to develop to its potential could well become a way in which one is guided in life. (That would of course become a challenge to finance capital and the expoitative and extractive industries that historically and presently plunder the Australian countryside.) (Perhaps there is an enforced dissociation between Australia and Australian-ness because of this?)

All panelists agreed that there is generally a sense of confusion surrounding ideas of Australian nationalism. 

The fundamental problem is that we don't know who we are as Australians - Anne Summers

Summers remarked  that unlike America whose main days of public celebration were July 4th and Thanksgiving - days that are more inclusive rather than exclusionary as to who can participate - Australia's public days of national celebration were more problematic. Australia Day antagonises many because it can justifiably also be seen as an Invasion Day. And Anzac Day is a commemoration to a World War 1 battlefield that in spite of considerable media attention does not actually hold any significant direct connection to many Australians. 

Is this how we want to express ourselves? - Anne Summers  

We don't have unifying symbols - Anne Summers  

(It is an interesting point, but how would you go about determining a new national day of inclusive celebration?) 

Doherty spoke of the rapid rate of change - technological and economic - that has taken place and the sense of uncertainty that now exists around jobs. For Doherty much of this has been caused by the "toxic religion of economic rationalism" and that something needed to be done about "the bastards" who know about "the commodification of everything and the value of nothing" and that "we need to do something about neoliberalism."

Doherty's comments fitted nicely with a question that later came from the floor regarding the role of 'Fox News' in the impoverishment of American political discourse and the consequent rise of nativism as expressed by Donald Trump. 

Summers viewed 'Fox News' as not just pushing fear that drove a wedge deep into political discussion but also being driven by and actively perpetuating "a reign of terror" through "a regime of misogyny" that was over seen by Roger Aisles. 

Fox News promulgates lies - Anne Summers 

The 'Fox News' mode of operation was then tied back to the reemergence of Pauline Hanson in Australian politics and what Louise Adler referred to as the "incivility of discourse" where the likes of Hanson already have their minds made up and "are not wanting to hear any other views." How can rational discussion take place under those sort of circumstances? 

While there is much to be concerned about there is also plenty that warrants optimism. Public discussions of the sort that this panel contributed to demonstrate there is still a desire of many to engage thoughtfully and constructively in talking through and trying to give sense to complex modern issues. (My account above of the session has condensed much and selectively highlighted the sensational. It was far more measured and issues teased out more gently than I have detailed)

It was stimulating to listen to four highly intelligent and articulate people speak at length on issues that often are reduced to sound bites or vigorous slanging-fests on social media. (Or recounted with extreme discrimination in a self-serving blog!) 

To take the time to be fully absorbed into what somebody is saying does allow you to reflect more thoroughly on what is at stake. It is actually nice to be in a communal public space and be surrounded by other members of society and to experience some sort of pause for reflection.   

Australia is very much at a new part of its history and it is very new to all Australians. We are ground-breakers in this complex multi-cultural place with its difficult history and potentially antagonistically fraught future. (It seems as though at times it is all up for ceaseless contest)

Perhaps there is some confusion and muddling about but we do still retain the possibility to shape our futures. It is very much up to us how we engage with the challenges.   

The beliefs of the likes of Billy Hughes do continue to loom large within the sentiments of many contemporary white Australians and it is noticeable in the attitudes of many who live in central Victoria.  


In other words, something such as Nationalism: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly could easily run at future Bendigo Writers Festival's well into perpetuity.  

Blogger goes crazy

Wow - hopefully I haven't deleted anything again!

I posted my blog on Mike Carlton and noticed a couple of errors that I thought I'd correct and then somehow ended up with about half a dozen posts on Mike Carlton. 

I must be doing something wrong when I try to update a post.

Anyway, it is now time to step away from the lap top before I do anymore damage. 

I'll sort these multiple Carlton's out later. 

Mike Carlton

Mike Carlton, according to his profile that still appears on a web-page of his former employer, the Sydney Morning Herald

began his career in journalism at the ABC in 1963. He has been a war correspondent in Vietnam, ABC News bureau chief in Indonesia, a TV news and current affairs reporter, and then talk radio presenter in Sydney and London.

 In addition to that it is worth noting that Carlton was pivotal to the success of the pioneering ABC television current affairs program This Day Tonight - known for its often "highly irreverent approach to stories". 

I have long held bit of a fascination with Carlton. (Perhaps in a way his is the life I would have once liked to have had for myself?)

He has a cheeky, provocative, quality to him that is not afraid to declare his opinion - often on Twitter using such colourful phrases as "fuckwit" and "clusterfuck" - and generally serving as a source of considerable annoyance to those of a Conservative social and political bent. 

Provoking the somber Gerard Henderson appears to be a particular delight of Carlton's.

And this. (A sentiment that research has confirmed is shared by much of the Twittersphere.)

confirmation is being sort as to whether this is gerard henderson reacting to news that mike carlton is appearing at the bendigo writers festival (gif sourced from here)

During his session at the Bendigo Writers Festival Carlton joked - I assume - that he liked Bendigo and was actually in town for the beer festival. Fortunately, for the crowd of his well attended stint on the main stage where he was in discussion with the ABC's Sian Gard, he had put time aside to give some insights into his new book 'Flagship'

So much was covered during Carlton's one hour talk it is difficult to know where to start  to condense it. But what I found most fascinating was Carlton's obvious love for history and equally his sense of obligation to tell these stories of the sailors and their families who were involved in the war to protect Australia from invasion by Japanese armed forces. 

Carlton refers to that generation of Australians who endured in the aftermath of 'the Great War', the Great Depression and then World War II - his parents generation - as being "Australia's finest generation". And there is an obviously strong tone of admiration in his voice when he recounts meeting the survivors from that period - now sadly diminishing in number - and being able to spend time with them and hear of their lives and experiences.

The fun and privilege of writing this stuff is that you get to meet some of those people who were there... - Mike Carlton

Carlton is a popular history writer in the vein of his great mate Peter Fitzsimons. The focus of Carlton's new book is an area of naval history that has long been of personal fascination to him. As Carlton observes "most naval history is written for specialists by specialists" and in response to this he wanted to write something that was informative and accessible to the lay-person  and to also keep knowledge of the events 'alive'. 

Carlton said he deliberately set out to write something that had the urgency of a page turner, that it it was in some way like a novel in how it engrossed people and drew them into keep reading. This is stylised 'history from the bottom up' that is geared towards a reliable readership. These are stories of the 'ordinary' person aimed towards a market of the 'ordinary' reader. 

In her discussion with Carlton Sian Gard remarked that she learned a lot about routine life on the warships. Carlton responded by saying it was important to him that there was a strong sense of these people - how they ate, what they wore, the context of the period, what else was taking place in Australia at the time etc., - as a way of encapsulating a period that has now mostly vanished. 

It was a different Australia... - Mike Carlton

It was obvious that Carlton had spent his time creating a piece of work that he was immensely proud of and at the same time had been a source of enjoyment for him. Once more referring to the sense of privilege that he felt in putting the book together Carlton remarked on the experience of handling now fragile primary source material such as letters and diaries. The tactile presence of time that had passed and withered and decayed but which still recorded intimate musings of those who once held life so vibrantly was something he cherished. 

Vibrant is also a good word for Carlton himself. In introducing him he was described as being "a vital man with a vital mind". He certainly proved that claim true. 

Having turned 70 earlier this year Carlton remains in fine form. His next project for him to complete is to be a work of memoirs. Something to look out for.

I could have listened to Mike Carlton all day and one suspects that he would have been up for the challenge and happily have talked all day. It was a real joy to have heard him speak.    

. 


  

Music from the War Years

i had the craziest dream

Foot tapping, gently swaying, bald heads, comb-overs, salt-n-pepper beards, Germaine Greer - WtF - is she doing here? - oh it's not her... hey all these people look the same... where's the diversity that is representative of Australia's multi-cultural present? It's looking more like a tedious reunion of folk who went to teachers college together back in the dying days of White Ausralia 1960s...

Apart from the strangely intense looking young fella - with wild staring eyes - blink goddamn it - I find myself staring at his unblinking stare - stop staring Jason it's not polite - I JUST WANT HIM TO BLINK - I am once again one of the youngest in the audience - Woot!

Although I notice that there don't appear to be too many here my age... 

Why is it that? Other things to do on a Saturday? Kids sport? It is mostly an older gathering... I wonder if that is typical of Writers Festivals? 

What does that say about me?

Get a life Jason?

What does it say about Mike Carlton? Oh wait hang on Mike Carlton is about to start... 

Peter Singer - Alive and Kicking

Before turning my attention to Mr Singer I would just like to remark that I had my second encounter with the hurly-burly of festival life. 

After the delightful Indira Naidoo completed her session I thought I would grab a drink and have toilet break and generally just mill about filling in the 10-minutes or so before his eminent braininess took to the stage. That was until I opened stage door right and discovered vast hordes of crazy eyed folk looking to burst into the arena. (These dudes made the school kids from this morning look positively subdued...)

I scurried back to my seat - treading on an elderly woman's foot on the way - sorry! - she said that's ok but looked at me as if to say fuck you - I felt rather rotten about it but I was frantic to once more reach the safety of my seat - hey - I thought - Peter Singer has generated some considerable interest here in Benders on this chilly Friday afternoon in August. 

Singer took to the stage with much less flamboyance and joi de vivre than the fabulous Indira 'Garden Guru' Naidoo. However, after plopping himself down onto the throne Singer took on a strangely serene countenance. It was the sort of calm that I thought only somebody like Yoda would be capable of. In fact Singer seemed so content sitting there with a goofy little beatific smile that I started to wonder if perhaps he may have carked it...

Nope not dead yet and the talk got under way. Hosted by Anna Goldsworthy, a musician and - in the words of her website - an "acclaimed memoirist, essayist, playwright, librettist, and festival director" (man I find successful and clever people nauseating) the talk set about rattling along in a sing-song voice at a cracking pace. 

The most significant question would of course be "How much of this will I actually understand?"

Surprisingly - given my usual state of gormlessness - it was actually quite easy to follow. In fact I sort of felt a bit cheated. There were no great insights but more of a casual sort of shrug that worked itself into the underwhelming assertion of just doing "The Most Good That You Can Do".  Well la-dee-da! Thanks for unraveling the profound mysteries of life. I come here looking for enlightenment and receive a Pollyanna-motherhood-statement instead. 

It was some time around discovering that Bill and Melinda Gates had written an endorsement for the book that I started to feel slightly unsettled in the tummy. Nothing against Bill and Melinda - I just don't trust them.

And as much as I like the idea of effective altruism - how can we use our resources to help others the most? - I can't see us overthrowing capitalism - or other means of hierarchy dependent on domination-submission - with this. In fact my gut feeling is it would probably only strengthen it. People are left with a warm afterglow of having positively - in their subjective reckoning at least - contributed something good of themselves all the while the structural and systemic corruption that gives rise to so much suffering and inequality remains intact. 

Having said all of that I probably really should read the book before sounding off about it.
(Perhaps effective altruism really does reframe the relationship between consumerism and materialism?) 

In more general observations I found Singer pleasant to listen to. I mean his voice was actually quite disarming and reassuring. He could probably have a successful career as a cult leader if he wanted one.  

And I did find myself mulling over some things he said with regards to personal choice. The question "How best to go through the world?" does resonate with me. 

What is the best way for a person to spend their time so that not only are they getting what is most useful out of themselves for themselves, but also to ensuring that they are contributing what is most useful of themselves to the world around them for the benefit of others. 

They are questions that do have rational explanations that can be stepped out by thinking through things in a logical and ethical way. 

I made a note in the aftermath of Peter Singer's talk  that was headed "The questions I found myself asking of myself."

How to spend your time most resourcefully? 

What are the best things you could be committing your time to? 

On the surface they are simple questions yet if addressed with openness and unflinching honesty could well have the power to be utterly trans-formative to a person's life. 

The Indira Naidoo Express

Yes. This is more like it. A decidedly older crowd which I always appreciate. Especially if I am left feeling as though I am one of the youngest in attendance. Vanity, I know, but it does reassure me. (It temporarily alleviates the sense that I am turning into Grampa Simpson!)

this gif was taken from here 

Bingo indeed. (For some reason I am reading that and hearing the voice of Leslie Phillips from the Carry On movies...)

Needless to say I had been eagerly anticipating Ms Naidoo. I had taken particular care with my grooming and things just had an overall feeling of being tickety-boo.

Yes, it was all looking promising that we - the fun loving festival going public - were about to be in for a good time. The air was filled with anticipation. There was a heady, almost intoxicating expectation. The combination of gardening and celebrity does have an odd impact on me. And by the look of the generous crowd that awaited the wonderful Indira Naidoo, I am not alone in my odd little character traits. 

I had sighted a few cheese-cutter caps in the foyer. Always a good indication that one is in the company of those with discerning taste and cultured refinement. This should be a pleasing way to pass an hour or so. 

I took my seat strategically placed left-of-centre, positioned half-way up the auditorium. 

And then there she was. Indira. Naidoo. What a wonderful whirl-wind of a life force she is. 

She strode confidently - dare I say regally? -  into place with a commanding reassurance that she was in total control. She sat down in the rather monstrous chair that had otherwise been occupying my thoughts with deliriums of the French Revolution, guillotines, and regicide, but now the monstrosity was transformed. It now looked worthwhile and purposeful. Indira Naidoo gives the world meaning, style and grace.

As my heart composed its fluttering that had been caused by being in the presence of a living Goddess / Empress / former newsreader for SBS, my thoughts for obscure reasons turned briefly to the 1970s television show 'The Good Life' that featured Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers.  

Tom Good, played by Briers, having just turned forty, experiences some sort of epiphany that leads him to believe that he would like to reprioritise his life. So he resigns from a job that had become increasingly unfulfilling and sets about leading a more self sufficient, 'hands-on', existence. He transforms his Surbiton house lot into what is effectively a suburban farm that raises pigs and chickens and grows fruit and vegetables. 

I must admit I do still enjoy watching repeats of 'The Good Life'. No doubt that is due in part to a sense of nostalgia, but there is also something surprisingly contemporary about the show and how the Goods were trying to connect to something more sustainable and, ultimately, more meaningful.

The Goods were trying to reestablish a link to a way of life that modernity had for the most part trampled all over. 

For almost the last decade Indira Naidoo has embarked on a similar sort of personal experience. Having left behind a successful career as a broadcast journalist Naidoo set about chronicling her adventures in small space gardening.

Her first book 'The Edible Balcony' was in part a result of a revelation provided to her by tasting a homegrown heirloom tomato. Stunned into action by how 'different' this tasted to the supermarket produce she had come to accept as 'normal' she set about transforming the balcony of her high-rise Sydney apartment into a living space that provided considerably to her food needs.

A positive consequence of the book's success was how it served to introduce her to like-minded folk that shared a passion for home grown fruit and veg. Networks and alliances were formed and attention turned from utilising balconies to transforming the wasted space areas in cities such as rooftops and verges. ' The Edible City' - Naidoo's latest book - looks at how Australia could and should start to consider using "roof top farms".    

The concept of roof top farms have been quite successful in places overseas, in particular New York, but have been slower to establish in Australia's large urban centres. 

Naidoo believes that initiatives such reclaiming waste areas in cities for productive gardening use, as well as revitalising community gardens, are important for the well-being of the residents who live there. Friendships are made through gardening groups while bonds to 'place' are strengthened. A sense of community pride becomes a way of life. 

"Gardening teaches patience," remarked Naidoo. In addition it also provides the means to reconnect to the natural world and provide an understanding of how food naturally happens. In a consumer society where fast food, frozen food, and canned food dominates the lives of many it is heartening to know that people like Naidoo are actively "reconnecting to the lost roots of gardening." 

And it is true, nothing does beat the flavour of a carefully nurtured home grown tomato. 

Ms Naidoo was a charming, humorous and engaging speaker who held the audience captive throughout her hour long chat with ABC Central Victoria's Fiona Parker. She effortlessly promoted her book without it ever seeming obvious or gratuitous. She is a first rate performer and a natural for a writers festival. 

I was left feeling inspired to spend more time in my own little patch of earth and grow some goodness too!     

School children: What is the point of them?

On arriving at the theatre that was previously the prison I was approached (accosted) by a very attentive and helpful (intimidating and demanding) customer service officer. I was then put very firmly on the spot.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm just here..." an ellipsis that turned haphazardly to a facial expression of puzzlement.
"... for the thing..."

"Oh o.k." she said. "There's going to be a lot of kids here this morning so you'd be best to sit in the balcony."

An admirable suggestion and advice I was more than happy to follow.

I made my way to the salubrious surrounds of the balcony and thought, "Gee, this is a neat place." I started to entertain thoughts of being a sophisticated chap from a long-ago era. Perhaps a 1950s theatre going New Yorker. As I sat waiting for the cigarette girl with a becoming smile to offer me tobacco products a stream of seriously undersized people started to flow in. It was an invasion. And by the look of them they would have no mercy. I momentarily found myself fearing grievous bodily harm.

an admittedly extreme option, but could these guys be used to sort australia's obvious problem with school children?

Fortunately my dread passed once I noticed the admirable school teachers take control without resorting to throwing any of the school "children" over the balcony.

Then the main event got under way. A wacky and zany chat transpired. It even involved a moment of casual chauvinism when a distinctly grey headed chap mentioned that he was going to abscond to a deserted tropical island with Scarlett Johansson. That's great. And by "great" I mean creepy. 

I'm guessing I probably am not the target demographic for this particular sort of forum.

Although I did emerge with a new respect for school teachers.

Indira Naidoo is #1 on my to do list

I am very much looking forward to experiencing the fabulous Indira Naidoo tomorrow afternoon. 

I love gardening.

This is a snapshot of the veggie garden I have been working on the last few years.

jason veggie garden

And this is some of my handiwork from last summer.  

Growing your own fruit and veg isn't just a good hobby but a great way to assert a sense of individuality in the face of the capitalist nightmare of global corporatism. 



In an ideal world I would attend tomorrow afternoon's session dressed something like this.

photo comes from fennel's guide to country living 

Because nothing says up yours global corporate capitalism nightmare like imaginatively connecting to a quaint period of yesteryear... (I am still working on acquiring this wardrobe...)

I have previously mentioned in this blog that in recent times I have developed an interest in the Dig for Victory campaign that was carried out during World War II.

I have managed to track down a couple of CH Middleton's books.

I adore the propaganda posters that accompanied the campaign. 

I love the photographs of the period.

I was so taken by the above photo I managed to track down a donkey jacket - as worn by the gent on the right - from Viper London, and I've also bought myself a collection of cabbie / newsboy style caps. 

I may well be an eccentric nutter but I also have an excellent patch of kipfler potatoes!