Saturday, April 24, 2010

the making of a myth...

i've umm-ed and ahhh-ed about even mentioning anzac day here... it's a day i have no respect for, and the 'digger mythology' is certainly not my idea of 'national identity'...




but, then i listened to a radio program about a new book that's been published - "What's Wrong With Anzac? The Militarisation of Australian History" co-authored by historians marilyn lake and henry reynolds... it 'struck a chord' and encouraged some research, and i came across an earlier article by marilyn lake which 'resonated' with me and which i think is well worth reproducing here - she so succinctly states much of what i believe on the subject, and she does it far more articulately than i ever could...




Fight free of Anzac, lest we forget other stories by Marilyn Lake (from the age newspaper of 23 april 2009)

"I have been pondering the Anzac myth. Clearly it continues to exert power. It taunts and troubles us. It looms larger than ever in Australian historical memory — with the generous help of the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But this business of memory-making demands analysis from historians, not cosy collaboration. A schoolboy selected to join the Government's annual pilgrimage to Gallipoli said he wanted to see the place where Australian history really happened. Really? To see the sites of Australian history you have to go to Turkey? Popular memory and scholarly history are clearly at odds here.

The observation that Gallipoli was a military disaster is beside the point. Anzac serves as Australia's creation story: in proving their manhood, Australian men proved our nationhood — a nation was born on that day of death. So the legend ran. And it ran like wildfire among anxious colonials seeking British approval. As the British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett reported: "These raw colonial troops … proved worthy to fight side by side with the heroes of Mons, the Aisne, Ypres and Neuve Chapelle."

The myth will remain our creation story until the nation is reborn, until we have the courage to detach ourselves from the mother country, declare our independence, inaugurate a republic, draw up a constitution that recognises the first wars of dispossession fought against indigenous peoples. Thus we can truly make history in Australia.

The Anzac myth has become more significant in recent years, having been mightily subsidised by the Howard government. War stories have figured ever more prominently in our culture, our schools, on our TV screens, in our bookshops — but they do not usually tell of the "perpetual state of warfare", as one colonist described it, entailed in the colonisation of Australia.

Rather, modern Australian history has been defined by the exploits of the expeditionary forces sent to engage in military operations overseas, which began with the Boer War in South Africa.

Before 1996, there was no historical commemorations program. Rather, there was a war graves program to "commemorate, individually, the sacrifice of those Australian men and women who gave their lives during, or as a result of, their service to Australia and the Commonwealth in war, or who were prisoners of war, and to maintain these commemorations".

Since 1996, the Department of Veterans Affairs has spent millions on inculcating history lessons to "ensure that Australia's wartime heritage is preserved and the community better appreciates the significance of wartime experiences to our development as a nation".

When participation in foreign wars becomes the basis of national identity, it requires the forgetting or marginalising of other narratives, experiences and values. The Anzac myth requires us to forget gender and racial exclusions, the long history of pacifism and anti-war movements, the democratic social experiments and visions of social justice that once defined Australia; to forget that at Gallipoli we fought for "empire" not the nation, symbolising our continuing colonial condition.

Anzac was a celebration of race and manhood. The Australians, proclaimed the Argus newspaper, "have in one moment stepped into the world-wide arena in the full stature of great manhood". Aboriginal men were legally barred from enlistment — many enlisted anyway and were denied repatriation benefits. Later attempts to include women in the Anzac legend — as nurses, servicewomen, Land Army girls, as grieving mothers and widows — should not prevent recognition that the myth seeks to locate our national identity in the masculine domain of military warfare.

The myth ignores the fact that participation in foreign wars has always generated opposition, and that many wars have been deeply unpopular. The Anzac tradition has been paralleled by an anti-war tradition, often marked as feminine, that embraces, among others, suffragists such as Rose Scott, the Women's Peace Army of World War 1 and Save Our Sons during Vietnam.

If the power of Anzac derives from its status as our creation myth, what about Federation? Clearly, if the nation was born at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, then Federation didn't do the job. The Anzac myth highlights its limits as a nation-building exercise in real and symbolic terms.

Unlike the American colonies — whose example of independence was implanted in historical memory and always before the constitution makers of the 1890s — the Australian federal fathers failed to achieve the heroic goal of manly independence. Absences can be illuminating. Australia has no equivalents of the American monuments to political liberty: the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial.

What this nation does have is war memorials. Our landscape has been transformed by war memorials, small and large, local and national, statues of diggers in the hundreds, obelisks, cairns and cenotaphs. The cult of Anzac has been naturalised in Australia, but, to a newcomer, the monumental honouring of war dead might look excessive.

What other creation stories are available to Australians? We also have a vision of democratic equality and social justice enacted by the Commonwealth and endlessly articulated by liberals, socialists, feminists, labour leaders and trade unionists in the decades before Gallipoli.

Before World War 1, Australia had an international reputation as an egalitarian democracy and progressive social laboratory, a place that legislated to secure the equal rights of women and men, state pensions for the aged and for invalids, the rights of mothers, the recognition and remuneration of citizen soldiers and citizen mothers, all paid from general revenue. Australia enshrined the idea that workers should enjoy better conditions and be paid a decent living wage. As an advanced social democracy, this country led the world."


no, i won't commemorate the day... but while it overshadows all else,
let's not forget that rape is a weapon of war...

let's grieve for the innocent victims,
the womyn and children raped, maimed, mutilated and murdered by
soldiers of all nations
in the frenzied grip of patriotic and patriarchal zeal...

lest we forget...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

a 'vision-ary' tale...


there are some things i really don't look forward to, especially if it  involves an 'implement of torture'... and i definitely dislike someone i'm not intimate with invading any part of my 'person'...




least favourite are doctors, pap smears and the vaginal speculum (ooooh, think i'm way overdue for one of those!!!) - breast checks - internal ultrasounds - hey, let's face it, medical 'procedures' in general...






dental technicians - being fitted for new dentures is no fun at all - they fill these moulds with dental 'putty', shove 'em in your mouth to obtain gum impressions but yuk - the putty squishes out and down the throat and there i go, dry-retching!!! (luckily visits to them are years apart these days - but ohhh so expensive and uncomfortable!!)




i have to add hairdressers to my list - some people just shouldn't be allowed near scissors, 'product' or hot water  - i actually love the scalp massage when done well though... but there's also the brightness of the 'salon' (hurts the eyes), the sometimes very loud, intrusive, not-my-idea-of-music 'noise' (scrambles the brain and hurts the ears), the fact they ask what you want done but then don't listen - they keep saying 'yeah' they know what you mean, while doing something totally different (exposure to too much 'product' perhaps!!! - i've had a number of bad experiences over the years - and very bad hairstyles!!!)


needless to say optometrists fit into the category too - unfortunately it's been getting harder and harder to read - so i had to stop procrastinating and psych myself up for the inevitable... i hate things being done to my eyes - i can't even handle eye drops... watching anything coming towards my pupils turns my eyelids into steel clamps - anything touching my eyeball - nuh, no way - that's never going to happen - nothin' is gettin' passed the defenses of these 'lids - they clamp shut of their own volition!!!! that external contraption is bad enough!!!

my eyes have deteriorated (umm, that's why i made the appointment in the first place!!) so it's new glasses for me... i had thoughts of rimless frames (also cutting down on styles and designs to be overwhelmed by!) alas that proved to be "champagne taste on a beer budget"!!!! the frames alone were nearly $600 - with the lenses i need (they're $550 by themselves!) my glasses would have cost over $1100 - for 1 pair!!!!! i settled on semi-rimless, at less than half the price of the rimless frames - $758 all up... not exactly cheap, and i have to wait up to 10 days for them!!  it's an expense i could do without so there's a frugal few weeks coming up!!! sigh, sigh... there goes my 'splurge' on a nice piece of art for the lounge!!!!


i did treat myself (on a far less grand scale) on the way home though - hey, it's me birthday... i needed a new oil burner so i called into ishka where i  found some soy wax melts, "...a fantastic alternative to oils in oil burners. The soy wax allows for sensational scent throw and is an economical way to enjoy elume's beautiful selection of fragrances." i'm melting a frangipani scented one at the moment and it's delightful, and you can  notice it throughout the flat... i bought a couple of other fragrances to try out too - but i called in to see me mum and she 'snaffled' the lemon-myrtle one...



she was having a bit of a 'bad day' today - exhausted without doing anything - and, unlike her, was still in her dressing-gown and couldn't be bothered getting up when i left... she's sick and tired of not being able to do anything - so i'm cooking lunch for her and my aunt on thursday and shouting them a taxi around to my place - she wanted to take me out for lunch or cook for me for my birthday, but she finds both an effort - and let's face it, with her very limited 'cuisine likings' and dietary requirements, my veganism (which she's trying to get her head around!!) i can make something delicious that we can both eat - and she gets a few hours outside of her daily routine while feeling comfortable in the knowledge that she can lie down should she have to!!!!
 
 
i'm going to leave you with a photo of her on her wedding day (minus my father - no pics of them together seem to have survived their separation!!!!) 
 
and, coincidentally, they were married on 21 april 1950 - 
5 years to the day before i was born on 21 april 1955... hmm, that could explain some things about our relationship!!
 
with my grandmother (centre) and great-grandmother (known to all as 'nanny great' - a very stern and scary womon!!!)
 
 
 
with her brother kevin (and i just don't recall his ears being that 'noticeable' before!!) ... sadly her younger brother graham has just been diagnosed with early stage altzheimer's - he's only 66...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

awesome autumn....

what a glorious autumn day... so i thought a stroll along the esplanade (st kilda) market might be in order - i've got this week off work and with my birthday on wednesday i thought i'd treat myself... i've been thinking it's time to 'retire' the escher prints that i've lived with for way too long and buy myself a nice piece of brightly coloured artwork... i'm not sure what i'd like - something that'll complement my wall hanging... maybe a local scene, or a retro style graphic, possibly a streetscape or landscape - perhaps something with an autumnal theme ... let's face it, i really don't know what i want...


i ended up catching the tram around - hey, it was warmer than i thought once i got outside - but there were soooo many people i just kept going on to the supermarket - "maybe i'll check it out on the way back" i thought - but no, still way too many people (that'll teach me for not getting 'out and about' earlier)... guess i'll just keep pondering the prospect for a while... more time for inspiration (or is that procrastination??)





while on the topic of artwork, i came across this amazing tattoo on a blog post by vegan cookbook author jennifer mccann - she was 'talking' pomegranates and so shared her tat - absolutely stunning... it was created by amanda myers - if only she painted on canvas!!! (but i'll betchya a full sleeve like that don't come cheap - or painlessly!!!)





with a penchant for all things 1940s and those war themed, i thought you might be interested in this one curvy kitty... the prahran mechanics' institute victorian history library have a display starting tomorrow and finishing saturday may 1 (although you're probably a member and already know about it!!!)



ww2 art deco aeroplane ashtrays... apparently they were extremely popular... 

"between the late l930s and the early 1950s many Australian households gave pride of place to at least one such ashtray. Not only did their stylised appearance and shiny finish add a touch of modernity to contemporory decor, but the choice of subiect matter touched emotions lodged deep in the hearts of our grandparents."






oooh, i didn't realise it was so late in the afternoon - i'm off into the kitchen to make a yummy spicy bean dish for dinner but i just have to share some pictures of my cute wee shadow taken the other night when i was going to bed - this is the boy enjoying one of the 'hugo' library bags from work... talk about colour co-ordination and style - the accessory no cat should be without!!!


hmmmm, good enough to curl up and snooze in....



and i can't go without wishing sailor lily...




we're both autumn 'n' april born womyn - a beautiful season!!!


"There is a harmony in autumn,
and a luster in its sky,
which through the summer is not heard or seen,
as if it could not be,
as if it had not been!" Percy Bysshe Shelley


Sunday, April 11, 2010

food, glorious food...

far out - two posts in as many days - it's been a while since i had the time, energy or incentive!!!!!

i've been checking out a lot of vegan ‘foodie’ blogs and sites lately looking for inspiration – there are so many out there - sweet, savoury and downright weird - from the ‘far out that looks incredible but who could be bothered going to all that trouble’ to the ‘wow, that’s so easy and looks so yummy', and then the 'what the fuck... you've gotta be kidding'!!!!


i’m learning about replacement ingredients for old favourites – i've just discovered that nutritional yeast is supposed to add a cheese flavour to sauces – I’ll find out what it tastes like tonight because I’m making that good old comfort food for dinner - baked macaroni and cheese - just right for this almost wintry Sunday!!!






i got the recipe from a book called 'vegan yum yum' - a new book from work (but it just might be worth buying) - a vegan cookbook with photos - that's rare... there's also a vegan yum yum website - created by lauren ulm, a very talented and 'crafty' young womon...






if you're at all into cupcakes and decoration, check out her knit night cupcakes or her  hand-dipped ice-cream cone cupcakes - amazing (but yeah, who could be bothered -obviously for some it's a very therapeutic activity - i'm happy to just look and wonder "do they taste good???") or maybe you'd rather check out the YouTube video...




 


or have a look at cupcake kitteh's decorating style....



you wouldn't think it after all of that but i'm not even a big cupcake eater!!! the creativity of some people never ceases to amaze me though - it's certainly worth sharing...
 
okay, i think that's enough about food - for now... there'll be plenty more later... now that i've decided it's going to be a curling up and relaxing day, i might do some reading...
 



i've just finished 'pretty little things' by jilliane hoffman - working as an assistant state attorney must have been harrowing at times, but certainly adds a chilling reality to her novels – and no doubt her latest title has its basis in sexually abhorrent crimes she’s had to prosecute... internet chat rooms, unhappy and malleable  teenagers, false identities, sexual predation – a problem becoming more widespread in this technological age – a frightening reality woven into a wonderful example of the suspense genre – I couldn’t put this one down... I’d have to say it’s her best to date!!!





so now it's just a matter of deciding what to read next... i've picked out two books - all i have to do is make a choice...


'resurrection' by tucker malarkey - "the author .. weaves the discovery of the Gnostic gospels into an elegantly written thriller..."





or 'ordeal' - a memoir by linda lovelace, who died at the age of 53 in 2002 - "Linda Boreman starred as Linda Lovelace in Deep Throat ... She later wrote a book, Ordeal, about her experiences, and became an outspoken opponent of the porn industry."




or maybe i'll watch a movie... decisions, decisions... guess i'll just have to go and have a bong and mull it over...



Saturday, April 10, 2010

what a strange week…

it was a lovely long weekend with no work - an enjoyable friday evening with irene visiting and leaving louie to stay until Monday – then catching up with steph and pete monday afternoon - they're going to italy for a few months so won't see them for a while - we ambled down fitzroy street, found somewhere outside to sit and shared a bottle, some food and wonderful conversation.


unfortunately all good things come to an end and my four glorious days off work were fading into a memory already - it was time to get back to reality and work…




and the mountain of returns in the chute room that greeted us on tuesday morning was just a taste of the week to come!!!!! it’s been absolutely chaotic at st Kilda all week… everyone’s just been soooo weary…







so, as you'd expect, none of us were looking forward to working the weekend - especially with the system down all weekend for network maintenance - luckily (for me) I was only doing 1-5 today – but after the frantic week would we survive the day with our sanity intact???




well, what a surprise when i arrived - i walked into a very sparsely populated library – there was hardly anyone on the computers, nor were they booked up for the rest of the day – unheard of on a Saturday – and happy staff!!!! it was a tad surreal!!!!

there had even been an extra staff member arranged for desk – I think there was an extra shelver too - everything that could be done without the system (shelving and interfiling dvds) was pretty much up to date – i can’t remember us ever being ‘over-staffed’on a saturday or everything being 'calm and relaxed' (in a fantastical 'this can't last' sort of way) in the 12 years i’ve been at the library!!!!

so of course, in good team spirit I offered to stay for the lunch cover and then go home if there were too many of us – and to my surprise my offer was accepted - thanks Kitty - our weekend budget has been a bit 'over-extended' lately too so it worked out well all ways round (hope the sunday team have the same 'cruisie' time we did... although who knows what happened when den and i left at 3... and aren't i glad that i don't work mondays - now that's going to be a day of pure horror!!!! good luck everyone...)

cool, i could do some shopping at the health food store and then come home early to my furry companions – if i was lucky there wouldn’t be any piss to clean up because i hadn’t been gone long – now that’s wishful thinking with me old girl’s incontinence!!!



but how fortuitous the timing… walking down loch street just around the corner from home i noticed a beautiful black labradoodle (just like the one opposite only, well, black - more a greyish black) looking very distressed, very lost… he was trying so hard to find a familiar smell – and when he just ran across the road and almost got hit by a car i couldn’t just leave him to a terrible fate so i crossed over and started talking to him – he came straight up to me and snuggled - he was a friendly boy – jet was his name – and luckily he had a mobile phone number on his tag – well, even more lucky was the fact that i had my mobile with me (i quite often walk out of my flat without it!!!!)

and yes, his human companions were frantically searching for him – he’d made his quick escape when someone opened the gate… we exchanged more pats and nuzzling while we waited for his family to find us, and then jet and i said farewell, told each other how nice it was to have fleetingly crossed paths, and went our separate ways…



ahhh, all’s well that ends well…


Friday, April 2, 2010

this'n'that...

had a very pleasant afternoon visit from larry the librarian on monday - we shared a bottle, some food, had a smoke together and caught up on each other's lives (i'd have more regular updates if you went back to your blog you 'turncoat' twitterer and facebooker!!!)


it was me mother's birthday on tuesday so it was a trip around to spend a bit of time with her... 'armed' with flowers, gifts and a bag of books from a friend (there's a library in the community room so once she's read them they go downstairs for the rest of the residents - all donations gratefully accepted!!) - it was only a short stay though because she get's really tired... she did ring the next evening to say what a thoroughly enjoyable time she had - doesn't take much these days - kidney disease is giving her a 'rough ride'... here's a few more early pics of her...


at a work ball with a friend approx. 1947


she can't remember the year this one was taken but the fashion was very WAAAF inspired...


taken around 1949...



i received an email from a friend on wednesday evening that led me to an article about smoking 'tailor-made' cigarettes that every vegan and vegetarian should know about...

"Cigs contain pig's blood, academic says. 

Cigarettes may contain traces of pig's blood, an Australian academic says with a warning that religious groups could find its undisclosed presence "very offensive"

University of Sydney Professor Simon Chapman points to recent Dutch research which identified 185 different industrial uses of a pig - including the use of its haemoglobin in cigarette filters." ... read more here

i was horrified... guess i'll have to think about a return to rolling my own ... i used to smoke rollies - champion ruby or drum menthol depending on how the mood took me... is there no end to the heinous uses humans will put anything animal to??



i came across a really good vegan recipe site yesterday - the post punk kitchen - i'll definitely be trying out some of the recipes from here...



i 'lashed out' and bought an ebook the other day - after seeing the beautiful pictures of the 71 recipes contained in the book (yeah, pics only on this site - you have to pay for the book before you get the recipes!!) - i just had to have it - they look mouth-watering...

"Gunter took up a Pastry Chef apprenticeship in 1971 and when he immigrated to Australia in 1987, he started his catering business “Gunter’s Gourmet Gateau” and later, “Gunter’s Cafe and Continental Cake Shop” on the South Coast of NSW.

In 1999 his dedication to a vegan diet inspired him to continue his passion for baking and adapting traditional recipes to his vegan lifestyle."

guess i might have to make something to take into work one day.... yeah, one day... until then i'll just drool over the pictures!!!!


i had a bit of a 'meltdown' at work on wednesday - allie had a wee regress - back to weeing in her sleep (that'll teach me for changing the lounge and bedroom around and don't i feel bad!!!!) - worry about her, judy and life in general got me really down, totally depressed and unable to cope with work on thursday (i had a wee regress too)...

but then Sailor Lily called in yesterday afternoon bearing some lovely treats to cheer me up - such a lovely thought... thanks Lil, the loving earth chocolate is quite delish and part of their philosophy is - "Conscious Consumerism : healthy - sustainable - fair - the 3 fundamental principles of Loving Earth and define the strict criteria, which we use to source and develop all of our products" - everything is vegan, gluten free and low GI... they're a melbourne based company that believes in fair trade and they work with indigenous communities here in australia and around the world... you can read more about them here...






okay, now i've spent some time blogging i might start reading jilliane hoffman's newest novel 'pretty little things' ... so enjoy one of the only things worthwhile from this christian (but once pagan Eostre) celebratory time... a 4-day long weekend!!!!!