I can safely say that I achieved that. I am clearer on how I can go about finishing this darned degree and how I can get on with the final half of my life. The blog has been a worthwhile exercise for me and it is something that I do actually look forward to returning to over the years to come. It captures a particular period of my life quite nicely.
I also look forward to the 2017 Bendigo Writers Festival. I look forward to taking my time and absorbing the sessions and to just loiter in the general ambiance of bookish delight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I leave this blog with the world looking more than just a little nutty.
The weekend news sites are filled with stories about an audio tape that has emerged of Donald Trump making lewd remarks about women. (source)
It remains to be seen whether or not this will finish off his candidature for president. Sadly even if Trump does pullout or is replaced, the celebrity culture that exists that made Trump a contender will remain. The decay of the United States of America and the vulgarity and violence of neoliberal capitalism will just move onto its next freak show.
It is no comfort knowing that Hilary Clinton moves closer to the White House. A careerist politician and part of an elite that has corrupted American democracy. A war mongering free market fundamentalist. With Hilary as president the rest of the world can look forward to new wars for profit.
The USA lost out when Bernie Sanders did not get the nomination for the Democrats.
In Australia, the plight of asylum seekers held in indefinite detention continues. It is not off-shore detention for processing refugee claims, but rather a system of corporate profiteering. It is a disgrace and something one day Australia will have to reckon with.
Martin McKenzie-Murray has a piece in this weekend's Saturday Paper - 'Leaked UNHCR report: Manus Island world's worst'. It concludes with the undeniable observation
Let it never be said that we didn't know.
