Magickal Graphics

a time for change...

elizabeth evatt - first female judge of an australian high court and first chief justice of the family court of australia - stated many years ago that "we are not by constitution a christian country" - that statement has stayed with me  for many years and often helped reinforce my beliefs - 'smash the church, smash the state' was an imperative of the womyn's movement in the 70s and often helped sustain me... the separation of church and state - it is an absolute necessity in a free world...

although with the amount of christian 'celebrations' we adhere to you would never know we were a multicultural, multi-belief population, a non-christian country... you'd never know more than a third of the population doesn't believe in any religion at all - but then, you have to wonder how many ordinary people within the percentage of those considered christian  only identify with religion at certain times - christmas, easter - perhaps it's just easier for them to go through the motions - after all, let's face it, no child is born religious - it's purely an indoctrinated, learned behaviour from parents!!!!! what can i say - stop fucking brainwashing your kids with a mysoginistic patriarchal religious fantasy...


i'm surprised at the number of people that have said to me recently they're not christian, they just celebrate christmas because they always have... here's something novel - let's change it - let's still have a holiday, but at some other time of the year for something more worthwhile... perhaps international womyns day,  or any one of the struggles that have been fought by ordinary people - maybe a time special to our indigenous population, or new years day for new beginnings... maybe a children's day seeing so many people say "it's just for the kids anyway"... perhaps we could all just choose a time that means something significant to us - now that would truly be political and religious equality...

for some of us the last week has been a time to hide away - i certainly find it hard to listen to all of the talk of murdered non-human animals being basted and trussed and stuffed for human consumption - all i can think of is the horror of their lives and the grotesqueness of their deaths for this over-indulgent time of gluttony... huh, and this the so-called christian time of compassion - but for who? definitely not the animals - nor most humans from what's happening in the world today!!!!

so while many consumed misery and death while bonding with family, i decided it was time to watch a documentary i'd bought a while ago - 'earthlings' narrated by joaquin phoenix - it's about nature, animals and humankind - i wept for the animals, and felt despair for humanity...

i gained some respect for joaquin phoenix after listening to his narration, which encouraged me to read something about him - i learned he'd been a vegan since he was 3 - now that doesn't really say much but for the fact he's now 36 and still vegan!!! he won an humanitarian award for his social justice work including his contribution to this documentary... thank fuck, all is not lost with this generation - there is hope in the world yet!!!

do you consider yourself a compassionate person? then why not view 'earthlings' online... it's only right that you watch it - after all, if you eat or wear animals then you are complicit in the horror that is their life because you 'benefit' by them, so you owe them that much at least - to see what brutality is inflicted on them for you... to see what savagery humans are capable of - perhaps if you see, the world might change rather than stay stuck in this rut...

roll on new year - and hopefully a new, compassionate world where people take a stand against speciesism, rather than go along with 'tradition' - after all, we are all earthlings...

my generation - or, another one bites the dust...

what a lovely day i had monday... caught up with larry the librarian and got to meet his little adopted girl lottie who came for the visit too... she is a real sweetie and will be a wonderful, loyal companion... of course i didn't answer the phone when it rang - hey, i had visitors and as they weren't staying long i did the courteous thing and let the phone go to message bank - i also wasn't ready to deal with an emergency should there have been one!!!

eventually i checked the messages... my mother had rung - there'd been another death in the (extended) family - yet another from 'my generation'...

you have to wonder how much grief a person can cope with - how resilient we are... my dear childhood friend jennie has had such a hard couple of years... her mother (aunty al) died on the 18th december, 2008 - then her beautiful elderly canine companion cara died 12 months ago - on top of that benji, another furry friend and companion, died only 4 weeks ago... and just yesterday her only sibling - her brother jeff - died at 52 years of age... i'm thinking of you jen - your pain was palpable last night when we spoke...

jeff contracted an infection in hospital so, of course, they opted for antibiotic treatment - you'd think he was in the right place, being in hospital already (but not for anything life-threatening!)... not so - unfortunately they couldn't get the drip into his arm on the first try, so they then attempted to insert it into the other arm - they bungled that one too, with a 'clot' quickly developing - he was dead within 10 minutes... so very, very sad... goodbye jeff...

death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
love leaves a memory no one can steal ~ the quote garden

homophobia - still around and still brutal...

on receiving my latest email update from change.org i read with horror the story of millicent gaika, a 30 year old south african womon who was beaten, strangled, tortured and raped for five hours by a man as he screamed that he would “cure” her of her lesbianism...

'corrective rape' they call it - a term used to describe the rape of a lesbian with the aim of 'turning' her heterosexual - the implication being that this form of rape is justifiable because it's a 'rehabilitation process' - a necessary punishment - and therefore not a crime against womyn...

sadly the horrifying reality is that "more than 500 “corrective rapes” are reported in South Africa each year, and more than 30 South African lesbians have been murdered because of their sexuality over the past decade. Worse, for every 100 men charged with rape in South Africa, 96 of them walk free..." you can read more here or sign the petition below to have this heinous brutality declared a hate crime...

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

and still more violently acted out homophobia with this disturbing article from reuters uk office...

"Girl killed gay man in "Clockwork Orange" attack.  An 18-year-old girl was facing jail on Thursday after being found guilty of a homophobic attack which one witness described as being like something out of the film "A Clockwork Orange. 

Former public schoolgirl Ruby Thomas was convicted of the manslaughter of 62-year-old Ian Baynham, who died 18 days after the drink-fuelled assault in Trafalgar Square." ... read more here


shameful isn't it that there is so much violent abuse in this world - so many more horrifying stories waiting to be heard... the brutal and callous treatment of any sentient being is hard to fathom in this world full of incredible beauty and natural wonder...

for those who were touched by tony the tiger's plight, an update...

sadly, this beautiful boy is to be psychologically and physically tormented for another 12 months... the action to free tony from his concrete and steel prison has been unsuccessful with the renewal of the truck stop owner's permit to keep him as a 'roadside attraction' for yet another year - but the fight to have him surrendered to a big cat sanctuary will continue throughout 2011... read more of tony's story here...

as it's that time of year - yes, summer! - nature's flourishing and abundant time (thanks Lily for sharing your lovely garden bounty of herbs and veg with me!) - i'd be remiss if i didn't wish you a happy summer solstice for tuesday 21 december...

simply magical...

it caught my attention earlier in the week when i heard of the death  of norman hetherington, puppeteer and creator of mr squiggle - one of australia's longest running childrens television programs... ohhh such childhood memories he helped create – magical moments of a black and white era of visual wonders - a very different technological world to now…

it was a time when simple pleasures exhilarated a child… mr squiggle entered our lives in 1959 (television only began transmission here in 1956!) – i was 4 years old – i was enthralled by this moon-dwelling marionette with a pencil nose who arrived in a rocket - and the grumpy talking blackboard used as an easel by mr squiggle... and of course the presenters - always female (obviously more empathetic to other-worldly beings!!!) - one of the longest stints being patricia lovell - 'miss pat' from 1960-1975...

i was totally mesmerised by that pencil nose and how quickly a few squiggles could be turned into a wonderful work of art (like i said, i was 4 – and i didn’t know someone else was pulling the strings!!)

simplicity is enduring though – after 40 years in production mr squiggle only ended in 1999 - although its black and white mystique was replaced by colour in the 70s, i guess it still held a unique appeal for kids...

it was a real family affair - margaret, norman's life companion and business partner, wrote the scripts, while he operated and voiced the puppets, with daughter rebecca a puppeteering assistant in the 80s and presenter in the 90s... here's a clip from a 1996 television report - a mini documentary about the beginnings and making of mr squiggle... enjoy...

and congratulations to larry the librarian and partner who have recently adopted lovely lottie - i certainly hope to meet her in the near future...

a cruel existence...

meet "tony the tiger"... this magnificent boy has suffered - you certainly couldn't call it living - in a chain link and concrete enclosure at a truck stop in louisiana for all of his 10 years - a life of misery spent as a 'roadside attraction', his only protection being a cage and sign asking people not to throw things at him...

i can't begin to imagine the psychological trauma of being subjected to constant harassment, noise, flood lights and exhaust fumes in a space no bigger than a couple of parking spots - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... then there's the living on concrete - their natural habitat ranges from tropical forests to birch woodlands, mangrove swamps and tall grass jungles... and to do it alone, with no other tigers to interact with - in 2003, after repeated violations of the animal welfare act, three other tigers were removed, but tony was left behind...

the "owner's" permit to keep tony comes up for renewal on december 14 - please sign wspa's petition letting the louisiana dept of wildlife & fisheries know this treatment is cruel and inhumane and that tony should be surrendered to a big cat sanctuary - a tiger's lifespan in captivity can be anywhere from 16-20 years so please help him experience something better than the horror he has endured...

dancing up a storm...

it's been such a sad week with the death of lucky boy - fortunately there are many treasured memories - but his death has made me ponder my old girl's mortality, more so than usual anyway - you could say i've been a tad down the last few days...

a bad asthma day on thursday didn't help lighten the mood any... and to top the week off, i had to go out earlier yesterday which turned out to be a wet, miserable day and - of course - i got caught in the major downpour of the day and got totally drenched - after trudging home and sloshing inside, the clothes needed wringing out and i needed drying off!!!

fuck, i really needed cheering up - and with no incentive or enthusiasm for cooking i decided to get pizza delivered from mr natural gourmet vegetarian pizza - they'll 'veganize' any of their pizzas - being all vegetarian anyway just means they use vegan cheese! -  so i opted for the chilli bean pizza (double chilli, pineapple & mushrooms please!)... i don't buy much 'fast food' these days, so very rarely order home delivery - but i was in need of a treat - that means food i don't have to cook, a nice big mix and a clean bong!!!

with dinner ordered, allie and shadow fed, dirty bong water changed and mix made, all i had to do now was wait for the food to arrive, choose a movie to watch and then snuggle up with the gang... being able to borrow 6 dvds at a time from the library meant i had plenty to choose from... i often reserve online, when i get notification of new films that have recently arrived, so without viewing the item but going on the summary in the catalogue record means it can be quite interesting when you get the dvd in your hand - i sometimes wonder if some of the movies chosen this way would have attracted my attention had they just come across the circulation desk...

white lightnin' was one of those 'sight unseen' movies... since bringing it home i've picked it up and put it down a number of times - with reviews like "a phantasmagoric tumble into the dark corners of artistic genius, addiction and insanity..." (sundance film festival) - "a visually brilliant work. revolting and compulsive in equal measure" (the times) - 'imagine deliverance with a dash of charles manson' (the financial times) - i wasn't sure if i wanted to deal with bleak, dark themes just at the moment - but i decided to give it a go - i could always turn it off if it was too heavy for my mood, or if it sucked...

it's based on the life of jesco white, known as the 'dancing outlaw' - born and bred in bandytown in 1956, a tiny community of boone county, west virginia, deep in the heart of appalachia - real hillbilly country - an area afflicted with total and utter poverty...


he started huffing lighter fluid, petrol, glue - anything that could be sniffed - at eight years old... he was in and out of 'correctional facilities' much of his young (and some of his later) life, with self mutilation and delusional behaviour ensuring time spent in mental institutions... alcohol and any drug he could hit up also played a part in his mental state!! and he was no stranger to violence - both perpetrated upon him, and by him...

his father d ray white was renowned for his mountain dancing - known variously as flat-footing, foot-stomping, buck dancing, clog dancing, jigging - a form of frenzied tap-dancing... he started teaching jesco dancing in the hope it would keep him on the 'straight and narrow' - but he was a troubled lad from a cultural background most of us will never come in contact with or understand - think frontier and daniel boone (yep, that's who boone county was named after!) then strip away the romanticism and exaggerations - what's left? a poverty stricken, superstitious community steeped in 'old-time' religion, large families, domestic violence, family feuds, moonshine stills, multiple firearms in every household, limited access to basic education and facilities, limited employment opportunities, and the major likelihood of some degree of in-breeding - ohh, did i mention the extreme poverty, or the desperately bleak landscape of these mountain people?

on d ray's death (he was actually murdered) jesco inherited his dad's dancing shoes - having been taught his father's craft early in his life, he honed his style and took his 'show' on the road - but psychosis, depression and violence  were never far from the surface (he certainly didn't take heckling on stage very well!!!)... with so much substance abuse from a young age, its subsequent damage to a young brain, plus the psyche drugs ingested and injected over the years, along with his continued use and abuse of various substances - and of course the hillbilly culture itself - there's no doubt nor wonder he suffered mental illness... 

according to the plot summary of the documentary dancing outlaw the adult jesco white has three distinct personalities - "the gentle and loving Jesse, the violent and dangerous Jesco, and the extremely strange Elvis"... norma jean, who first married him in 1974, would have known all three - theirs appears to have been a very volatile relationship - they married three times, divorcing twice!!... she died in 2009 at the age of 70 so she was a number of years older than jesco who turned 54 this year... i'd like to know more of her life story, so i'll have to check out the documentary...

i found it compelling, bleak, sad, dark, violent, and touching - it's well worth the watch - but remember it is only based on his life - it appears fairly accurate according to the articles i've read, except the film sees him die at the end, when he is in fact still very much alive... hmm, the library doesn't have dancing outlaw though, i just checked the catalogue - might have to request it...

i had a bit of a wander over to youtube and found a clip of d ray dancing - and one of jesco - if you're intrigued...

the whole white family is infamous apparently, and have been the subject of a documentary - the wild and wonderful whites of west virginia - so if you want a brief insight into the white family clan, here's another clip...

by the way, the pizza was delicious!!!!! for under $20, i think that could be an affordable treat every once in a while...

goodbye lucky boy...

a beautiful friend died this week... so unexpected and so very, very sad... many tears have been shed over this gentle, handsome boy...

i was fortunate to have developed a close relationship with this beautiful companion of my dear friend irene - lucky (aka the old man and luscious lucky amongst other endearments)...

sadly he died yesterday - he'd been healthy all of his twelve years - so heart failure was unexpected - but poodles are prone to many things due to genetic manipulation over time, heart problems being one of them...

Until one has loved an animal,

a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Anatole France.

it's a sad time for all who knew and loved him, but a much sadder time for irene...

goodbye luscious boy xxx

courageous, strong and free at last - again...

Aung San Suu Kyi has been released 'unconditionally' according to all reports... 

it's been a hard-fought-for outcome by the long-suffering people of burma / myanmar,  and human rights supporters worldwide...

but you have to wonder what ulterior motive lies behind the military junta's decision to end the 7-year house arrest of the country's most notable human rights advocate, freedom fighter and nobel peace prize laureate... after all, an appeal against her detention was rejected by the supreme court in february, and her latest appeal on november 11 was also rejected... perhaps after 'winning' the sham of an election on november 7  (the 'fifth phase' of the junta's roadmap to democracy) an extension of her detention order (which expired on november 13 anyway!) would have been seen as counter to their 'roadmap' (and proven their lack of 'commitment' to the democratic process) - oh, it probably would have caused worldwide outrage too!!!

since co-founding the national league for democracy in 1988 aung san suu kyi has spent 15 out of the last 22 years in detention (see timeline) so it's highly unlikely that the fraudulent 'government' will allow her to resume her political activities as leader of the nld 'regardless' -hmmm, guess we'll just have to wait and see how threatened they feel by her and what 'freedom' they allow her...

aung san suu kyi - a strong, courageous womon...

"You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right." 

yummmmmm....

i was inspired yesterday when i came across a very quick and easy, no-bake chocolate cheesecake recipe - vegan of course... so i had to make one (with a couple of minor changes) and this was the result... berries would have been a nice topping but i only had chocolate chips (and they only went on one piece - should have melted and then drizzled the chocolate over!!!) still, simple yet delicious - although i did have the munchies at the time so perhaps anything sweet would have been delicious...

my (slightly altered) recipe...

1 1/2 containers soy cream cheese (i used tofutti)

150g of dark dairy-free chocolate (i only had sweet william and only about half the required amount - and it's really only good for 'emergencies' - now a good quality raw dark chocolate would have made it richer - next time!!)

big slurp of dark agave syrup (i only had light syrup on hand but it's not as dense and full-flavoured)
approximately 8 plain biscuits (e.g. leda golden crunch or mcvities digestives)

3 tablespoons of nuttelex
cake tin or dish (in hindsight i should have lined this with baking paper!)

crush the biscuits until crumbs

mix the crumbs with the nuttelex until it all sticks together

pat down the crumb mixture on the bottom of the sandwich tin

place in freezer until finished next part of the recipe

for the filling:

place cream cheese in a mixing bowl

melt the chocolate and fold into cheese

add agave syrup
mix thoroughly

take the crust out of the freezer

pour the mixture into the sandwich tin

level out with spoon

put in fridge for 3 hours to set;

after set, top however you'd like and enjoy!!!

and no, allie and i haven't eaten it all - yet!!! for all her other elderly infirmities me old girl's sense of smell is amazing - that nose twitches away - then she's off the couch and on a mission - doesn't take her long to zoom in on her target!!! even shadow doesn't mind the filling (fuck the biscuit base he reckons though!!)

psychic warriors and torturous tunes...

i watched ‘the men who stare at goats’ last night... having read jon ronson’s book a few years back it was disappointing that the movie didn’t quite succeed in 'capturing' the very dark humour contained within the book... hugely entertaining yes, but terribly disappointing that the seriousness was lost in the ‘hollywood-izing’ of the subject matter…

granted, the book did have comedic value – as in, if it wasn’t real it would be funny – but it was more frightening for being true – that didn’t quite come across in the movie…

the book is an expose of the american army’s venture into paranormal and psychic warfare with the aim of creating a breed of super soldiers who could become invisible at will... remote viewing was one of their 'specialties'… there are many accounts of the existence of a 'goat lab' at the special forces command center at fort bragg, north carolina (the number of de-bleated goats at any one time fluctuates between 30 and 100 depending on which account you read) - why? for the purposes of testing the psychic abilities of the 'warriors' to stop the hearts of the goats by staring at (and psychically zapping) them - the basis for the title..

jim channon (lieutenant colonel) is one of the major players in the book - on his return from vietnam in the 70s he had contact with a group called the human potential movement - and drawing on their philosophy came up with his idea of a new military to be organized along 'new age' lines - the first earth battalion…

“LTC Channon believes the Army can be the principal moral and ethical basis on which politics can harmonize in the name of the Earth. Since "Earthkind" has grown from pack to village, to tribe, to territory, and then to nation, LTC Channon envisions going from nation to planet next, and thereby declares the First Earth Battalion's primary allegiance to the planet. Making the planet whole requires the ethical use of force based on the collective conscience.” In his operations field manual titled Evolutionary Tactics, LTC Channon lists some of the important missions of the Earth Battalion as:

Urban pioneers

Counter hostage force

Disaster rescue

Eco pioneers

Animal rescue

The First Earth Battalion will organize itself informally: uniforms without uniformity, structure without status, and unity powered by diversity, since its members will be multicultural, with each race contributing to "rainbow power." As a guiding principle, members of the First Earth Battalion seek nondestructive methods of conflict resolution because their first loyalty is to the planet.”

hmmmm... "the ethical use of force" - whose ethics, and how much force? of course, what’s an army without force??

another major player was albert stubblebine (major general)… “A proponent of psychic warfare, Stubblebine was involved in a U.S. military project to create "a breed of 'super soldier'" who would "have the ability to become invisible at will and to walk through walls"...

stubblebine led the army’s intelligence and security command (inscom) for a few years and this group was actually given the go-ahead to implement some of channon's 'vision'...

“Within weeks of the publication of the First Earth Battalion operations manual in the spring of 1979, soldiers throughout the U.S. Army began seriously trying to implement his ideas. One example was when the Army's Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) began developing its own remote viewing program in 1979, which was a parapsychological intelligence gathering method that had already been experimentally tested at Stanford Research Institute** since 1972 by parapsychologists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff. Channon's principles trickled through the services and even contributed—through ramblings about lifting soldiers to a higher spiritual realm—the Army slogan Be All You Can Be. Keying off of Channon’s blueprint, a Special Operations experimental team, dubbed “Jedi Warriors,” after the Star Wars craze, were trained in a wide array of Eastern oriental martial arts and meditative techniques, combined with super strenuous physical training programs."

(** coincidentally uri geller was tested at the stanford research institute (and features promintently in the movie - george clooney's character is based on him!!) - interesting that he is considered one of the more exceptional and talented psychics by some, a fraud by others, and a de-commissioned psychic warrior by the rest - he was purportedly 'head-hunted' by stubblebine's stargate project!!!)

of course, the military being what the military is, they weren’t ever going to be 'all pacifism and peace'!!! the first earth battalion manual proposes the use of music to effect "psychic mind-change"... 'naturally', they took the  use of music to epic proportions – it became a means of torture – we’ve all heard of guantanamo bay and abu ghraib…

“In September 2003, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, approved the use of music as part of a package of measures for use on captured prisoners "to create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock," and as is spelled out in an explosive new report by the Senate Armed Services Committee into the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody (PDF), the use of music was an essential part of the reverse engineering of techniques, known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE), which are taught in U.S. military schools to train personnel to resist interrogation.” … from ‘a history of music torture in the war on terror’ by andy worthington, historian, journalist and author of ‘the Guantanamo files’…


if you're wanting to read more, the real story of the men who stare at goats by journalist danny penman makes for a good read... and so does "the pentagon's twilight zone" by journalist sally squires...

so, though the movie was entertaining, it 'lost something in its 'slapstick' translation'… I’d definitely recommend the book over the film...

and what better way to end this post - here's "kiss my ass" by country joe mcdonald...

moving the masses...

i was 'transported' back in time the other evening when i read kitty's post ‘ding, ding’ - it brought back memories of the time i spent on the trams as a connie… it wasn’t a long stint, 12 months – but it was an interesting and stimulating time… it was 'world's away' from working life in an office (or a library) - my mother was horrified when i told her i was leaving the 'security and prestige' of a government typing job to become a connie; she actually told me i needed to see a psychiatrist - it really was seen as much lower down the rungs of the working class ladder! - perhaps that was partly the reason i did it... to 'erk' my mother (mother-daughter relationships and all that!!!)

it was the end of the 70s, and the w-class trams were the mode of public transport on melbourne streets – safety was somewhat questionable – note the only ‘safety feature' on the doorways was a drop down bar… in winter there were canvas blinds to pull down to keep the weather out (ha ha ha) – unfortunately the 'getting on and off side' was always open to the elements… and that could be pretty dangerous if you were in the wrong place going around a corner with a bad driver!!!! the commercial road turn into st kilda road was deadly – i almost fell out the tram a few times at that one (i learnt to make sure i was hanging on)!!!! they had started to 'incorporate' sliding doors into the design but it took years to fully implement the 'upgraded' model...

us connies came kitted out with bag, tickets, thumb (or finger) rubber, small cash tin and ticket-clipper – i loved my ticket clipper – did you know that each one had a different hole-punch pattern? i was quite fascinated by that when i found out (but i don't know if it was always the case)... and kids just loved the stubs of the tickets – such simple pleasures just don't do it for them these days!!!

the bags got really heavy though – we had a number of different priced tickets and most commuters had the ‘exact change’ – and that included 1 and 2 cent pieces - some paid their whole fares with these pesky coins!!! (of course there were always those that 'tried it on' for a free ride by getting on with a big-denomination note hoping you wouldn't be able to change it - guess what, coinage was something we had plenty of - and if you really pissed us off that's all you got back for change!!!)




it was around 4 hours before you got back to the depot for your meal break (where you could empty the first half's takings into your locker) so you had to carry the weight for a long time - you could empty some into your tin, but they were only small (and then there was nowhere safe to put that - the drivers compartments weren't safe and enclosed like they are today) so roaming the trams meant you had to carry everything...

doing the early shift – the shifts ranged from a 5am start to a 1am finish – was always interesting… you had to give two bells to let the driver know it was safe to move off, so on those freezy-cold mornings you had to unwrap your hunched up body to stand up - well, i did anyway being one of the shorter connies (5'2") - and it didn’t matter how empty the tram was – if it was a cold morning some fucker would come and steal your warm seat - they’d just slip in right behind you!!! of course i always felt compelled to acknowledge "it's cold, hey" and they never ceased to amaze me by replying "yes, lucky there's a warm spot to sit in"!!! so off you would wander to warm up another spot for the next passenger!!!

unlike some connies i didn’t mind pension days  – i loved the elderly people who’d chat away and tell you about their lives, and conspiratorially utter to you how "i wouldn’t want your job for quids love, having to cart that heavy bag around" - yes, the older folk understood!!!

there was heavy lifting involved in a connie's job - helping people with jeeps and prams - mind you, people with jeeps or prams weren't supposed to be stopped for during peak hour, because the whole point of 'peak hour' was to get the factory and office 'fodder' to work on time!!! fortunately not many workers took notice of this 'directive' (although if you hurt your back in the 'pursuit' of this non-sanctioned assistance you could well have a fight on your hands!!!)

there were characters like the ‘shopping jeep womon’ – the first time I tried to help her up with her heavy jeep I got majorly verbally abused – her standard reaction apparently so needless to say I quickly learnt she didn’t like to be helped…

there were the homeless people who spent their days riding the trams (sadly a capitalist society will always produce poverty-stricken people) - the derelict alcoholics were sad sights (and some smelled so bad but of course insisted on standing right next to you!!!) but they were (usually) harmless.. unfortunately some drunks (not necessarily the derelict) would drink on the tram and become downright aggressive and violent - booze wasn't meant to be consumed but ever tried telling a drunk that they can't drink on the tram? ever tried getting a drunk off a tram because they were threatening the passengers? (we're talking drunk people with glass bottles - deadly weapons - in their hands here!!)

'drug-addicts' (why doesn't that include alcoholics???) didn't pose the same problem as they do today because chemically altered 'designer' drugs weren't widespread then - smack and speed were the 'heavy' drugs, lsd was still quite popular, along with the prescription drug mandrax... home-grown dope was the most used and pretty much socially acceptable - what can i say, it was the 70s... marijuana was 'safe' then... until the 'scientists' got hold of it and decided to chemically alter seeds which made certain strains so toxic that their crops were possibly deadly and couldn't be smoked until a couple of 'generational strains' down the track!!!! these days there are way too many 'entrepeneurs' and way too many dangerous (if not lethal) chemical combinations!!!!

there were the lovely little kids from struggling families on their way to school – funny how they were the ones that always offered to pay their fares (unlike the little shits from the rich private schools!!!) – there were times you'd ask, to be told a child had nothing for lunch so, like many connies, i would give them a ticket (inspectors were routinely rostered on most routes so a ticket was a must) and tell them to buy something to eat for lunch (or breakfast!) with their fare (and perhaps a little bit extra thrown in out of my own pocket) - of course the ticket shortfall had to be made up… tickets were all accounted for at the start of each shift, and connies had to maintain a daily running sheet, so when you paid in at the end of the day tickets and money needed to balance - of course if you were under, it came out of your wage - if you were over, well you never saw that...

it was still a politically volatile time in the tramways - the management and union were extremely conservative - they didn't like strong, politically active people in 'their' ranks - i'd joined the tramways along with 4 other friends and we were all 'quite political'... hey, this was just 4 years after womyn had gained the right to drive trams in 1975...
 
"After an attempt in 1956 by the M&MTB to train two conductresses to drive, the ATMOEA went on a snap strike, and passed a resolution banning women drivers.

With the development of the women’s rights movement in the late 1960s, female tramway employees gained new hope and began a concerted push to become drivers. Joyce Barry played an integral part in this campaign. In May 1973, the M&MTB attempted to train Joyce and a colleague, Catherine Stone, as drivers, but the union immediately declared the Wattle Park line black, withdrawing services and forcing the M&MTB to stop their training."

this wasn't to stop joyce barry though...

"Much rancorous discussion was held at this union meeting, until Joyce Barry stood up and uttered the immortal line, “I don’t need a penis to drive a bloody tram!” This single statement swept away all union opposition to the proposal by exposing the moral bankruptcy of the status quo and opening it to ridicule. This enabled the M&MTB to implement an equal opportunity employment policy, and she became the first female tram driver in Melbourne.

Ms Barry’s action in overcoming this barrier (in somewhat startling fashion) enabled women to aspire to fill any role in Melbourne’s tramway system, and publicly advanced the cause of sexual equality in the workplace in Australia – particularly as female tram drivers were highly visible to the general populace."

there was still a lot of resentment towards womyn (and male 'sympathisers') in the 'old boy network' ranks - believe me they could make your life very difficult - and some managers and union delegates continued to 'stymie'  applications by womyn to become drivers - however some depots were more 'accepting' than others...

friends of hawthorn tram depot (the 'training' depot for connies) have some wonderful articles if you're interested in reading more...

there were many heartwarming (and some heartwrenching) sights and happenings on the trams - it was a valuable experience - you really were working amongst the public... i'm definitely a 'bring back connies' supporter...

i was surprised at how hard it has been to find pictures of connies over the decades – i would have liked to show a timeline of the changes in uniform – i was around at the time of the brown uniform – yellow shirt, brown tie, brown trousers or skirt (another hard fought and fairly recent battle for womyn - the right to wear trousers!) and brown jacket...

here are some pictures of female connies during ww2… "It was not until 1941 that the first conductresses were employed by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board to relieve the manpower shortages experienced during the Second World War. However, women were banned from driving trams, as it was thought that it was an unsuitable occupation for the more delicate sex, and thus were not eligible for the higher status and pay awarded to tram drivers."

what's it all about??

now call me old fashioned, or just plain old, i don’t care – but i don’t get ‘muck up day’… getting dressed up (in costumes or 'civies') and then being slathered in shaving cream, pelted with eggs, splattered with urine filled balloons (or condoms) - or the myriad other 'activities' some have gotten up to – just doesn't appeal to me... 

i’ve been trying to find the origin of the term and the day, which has proven quite hard… of course, my first thought was ‘typical american crap’ but it doesn’t appear to be american in origin – well, they don’t use the term anyway - but they do have something called senior pranks which doesn't discount the concept perhaps coming from america… muck up  is used informally in both britain and australia as in “to ruin or spoil; make a mess of” - but only australia uses it as in “to misbehave” – although i suspect that some ‘pranksters’ rather than just 'misbehave', do actually ‘ruin or spoil’ the day for others…

although they ‘celebrate’ muck up day in britain there is a view that “the term is originally australian and was probably imported to the UK through popular australian soaps such as neighbours.” – those lucky brits…

so, if it’s australian, when did it start? it wasn’t around ‘in my day’ – and speaking to some colleagues ‘of my vintage’ the other day at work supported this recollection…

research hasn't led me to any definitive date of origin... i couldn't find anything about it’s ‘inaugural unveiling’… but i did come across a blog by debbie kruger about her younger life in sydney in the 60s and 70s - she's about 7 years younger than me so i found her reminiscences stimulating and entertaining - she happened to mention her muck-up day in 1979 and i learnt “the last day of school before the HSC exams was traditionally known as "muck up day," and was celebrated with a pre-dawn champagne breakfast”... that little snippet took a helluva long time to find in my 'quest for knowledge'...

the education system was changing when I was at the end of my schooling though – we had the leaving certificate (form 5 then, year 11 now) and the matriculation certificate (form 6, now year 12) - hsc replaced matriculation in 1970 but the leaving certificate wasn’t discontinued until 1972 so it was dependent on which school you went to as to when hsc was actually introduced…

so, there really wasn't such a thing as muck-up day in my era!!! my generation (and 'socio-economic' group) usually  'celebrated' leaving school by going to work and earning our own income so we could move out of home and buy what we wanted - mind you, we were living in a time defined as having 'full employment' in 1970 - yeah, there were lots of low-paid factory and office jobs to be had!!


i wasn’t fortunate enough to be able to continue my education after form 4 – i had obtained a 2-year scholarship to undertake matriculation but that still would have been an added expense and pressure for my poorly paid, overworked and separated parents who were both trying to make ends meet, because I would have had to change schools (good ol’ holy redeemer only went to form 4 – it really was a poor, working class catholic school)… there was also the fact that unless you had at least middle-class wealth then you certainly weren’t going on to university so a lot of working class families couldn't see the point in going further than 4th form...

as i was no exception to the norm i subsequently started work as a receptionist/telephonist/typist/clerk in september 1970 at 15 earning $30 per week - that paid rent to my mother and bought everything i needed - i'd 'come of age'!!! that's me at 15 with my first beautiful poodle companion golly (the cameras were crap then and so were the photographers more often than not! and scanning a poor quality picture doesn't help!!) …





luckily further education became easier for more people and those less 'well-off' were soon given the opportunity to go to university when, in 1974, gough whitlam and the labor party introduced an important reform in education – “the abolition of university fees, which allowed many young people and, importantly, women, an opportunity to obtain a university degree and broaden their career choices.”

it was an important change in australian education and an important time in australian politics, but now i've got domestics to do so i'll leave you with one of the  top 10 selling singles by australian artists in 1970 - the year i was venturing out into the world as a young adult - the masters apprentices with 'turn up your radio' - "bona-fide Australian rock legends" according to milesago - and what 15 year old wasn't lusting after jim keays in 1970???

one strong womon indeed…

mary mackillop was canonized australia’s first saint today… no mean feat for a strong, independent, feisty womon born in the 1840s...

she was born in fitzroy, victoria in 1842, the eldest of 8 children... she started work as a clerk in a stationery firm at 14, and soon became the primary provider for her family – her father was frequently absent, at one time mortgaging the family farm and leaving the family to fend for themselves while he gallivanted off to scotland for 17 months...

at 18 she became a ‘governess’ to cousins in penola, south australia (a family who appear to have been quite affluent for the time)...

she held a deep commitment to education and social justice for everyone and it was here she had the space, resources and ability to include the poor and under-privileged in her schooling activities… it was also here that she came in contact with fr julian woods… according to sr marie foal, author of Mary Mackillop: biography...

“Mary and Father Woods had a very close relationship.

"I think they loved each other very deeply," she said.

"Father Woods was such a charismatic character that when he moved to Adelaide, according to Mary, many of the mothers of the town locked their doors when they saw Father Woods coming past, because they didn't want their daughters to be running off and joining the Josephites."

in 1866 they opened the first free catholic school in penola, and the next year they formed the sisters of st joseph, the first religious order to be founded by australians, known as the josephites, and affectionately called the ‘brown joeys’ - they chose to wear a brown habit rather than the usual black one - they even had their own josephite emblem - now i'd say that was definitely 'making a statement'!!!

of course, there was a lot of resistance to the order from the clergy – religious orders were always controlled by the local bishops, but the 'brown joeys' insisted on governing themselves with mary as mother superior – a ‘slap in the face’ to the hierarchy…

nothing changes within the priesthood apparently - mary was excommunicated after 4 years with the josephites for daring to go public with claims of child sexual abuse by fr ambrose patrick keating from the kapunda parish…

 
according to an article MacKillop banished after uncovering sex abuse "The Vicar General subsequently sent Father Keating back to his home country of Ireland, where he continued to serve as a priest.

Father Paul Gardiner, who has pushed for MacKillop's canonisation for 25 years, says Father Keating's fellow Kapunda priest Father Horan swore revenge on the nun for uncovering the abuse.

"The story of the excommunication amounts to this: that some priests had been uncovered for being involved in the sexual abuse of children," he said.

"The nuns told him (fr woods) and he told the Vicar General who was in charge at the time and he took severe action.”

"And Father Horan, one of these priests, was so angry with this that he swore vengeance - and there's evidence for this - against Woods by getting at the Josephites and destroying them."

Father Horan was by now working for Adelaide's Bishop Shiel and urged him to break the sisters up by changing their rules.

When MacKillop refused to comply, she was banished from the church at the age of 29.

"Mary was not excommunicated, in fact or in law. She submitted to a farcical ceremony where the Bishop had ... lost it," Father Gardiner said.

"He was a puppet being manipulated by malicious priests. This sounds terrible but it's true."

Five months later Bishop Shiel was gravely ill and dying. From his deathbed he instructed that MacKillop be absolved and restored.”

note the priest was sent home to continue child abuse while mary was excommunicated!!!!! typical - and they still get moved around to continue their criminal behaviour today (now mary would be horrified at the extent of sexual abuse within the church - and at how long it's taken for them to acknowledge and start to address!!!!) and yes, she was un-excommunicated, but there were constant battles with the church hierarchy…

broken rites australia helps victims of church-related sex-abuse, and they confirm and expand on the above in their article Church sex-abuse victims see Mary MacKillop as their patron saint...

education wasn’t the order's only function - they also founded hospitals and orphanages, provided shelters for the homeless, former prostitutes and unmarried mothers. with no funding, they raised all of the money themselves - mostly by begging… property deeds have just been released showing mary mackillop to be a savvy investor – she had bought 11 properties with monies raised by the order and by going into debt (view youtube clip here)… definitely another ‘thorn in the side’ for ‘the powers that be’ – they would have preferred these monies go into the church coffers!!!

she died in 1909 – so it’s taken 101 years for the church to recognise her… "MacKillop's recognition as Australia's first saint might have come 20 years earlier if not for a delay that is still formally unexplained but says much about the tribulations the Melbourne-born nun faced at the hands of her male colleagues in the Catholic Church." from an article Cover-up held back Mary MacKillop's cause for decades...

growing up in a different era to mary i have a passionate hatred of misogynistic, patriarchal institutions, and i have to wonder had she lived in an era where womyn had less strictures placed on them and more opportunities available to them, would she have become a nun? somehow i doubt it… i don’t doubt that she would have been an advocate for the underprivileged no matter what, but let’s face it, there was very little scope in the mid-1800s for womyn to do anything in their own right - and people actually feared religion and abusive men less that unmarried, unencumbered womyn, so being a 'bride of christ' afforded them the ability to travel further and outreach to more people… would she be happy with all the ‘hoo-haa’ this sainthood shit is creating? i doubt it - i think she would prefer her legacy be the continued support of those in need, and that her order continue to make a difference in peoples lives…

ohhh, she was also an advocate for a womon’s right to vote and once attained, she encouraged all 'her nuns' to vote… “It is the duty of all of us to vote,” she wrote to her sisters in 1903. “Find out who are the members proposed for election and vote for those who are considered most friendly to the Church and to Religion. Every so called Catholic is not the best man.” – bet the hierarchy didn’t like that either!!!!!

goddamn she was one helluva womon taking on the misogynistic, patriarchal church hierarchy – she certainly deserves recognition here as one strong sister…

where does time go?

i can't believe it - the second week of my holidays has flown by and it's back to work tomorrow... it's been one of the most relaxing times i've had for a loooong time - and there were no family crises to have to deal with (which is rare these days)... i've enjoyed some beautiful spring weather which meant the courtyard door was open most of the time for me old girl and boy, who both loved being able to get outside whenever they chose - sad i have to leave them tomorrow... oooh, not only is it back to work tomorrow, i've just checked the weekend roster and i'm also working next saturday - now that's enough to depress anyone - roll on retirement!!!!!

i've shared some lovely times with friends over the past couple of weeks - i caught up with larry the librarian for an afternoon, and steph and pete came for dinner... i had lunch with irene in the city - we found an indian restaurant where a lot of indian people were eating (always a good sign) and had a tasty curry... sailor lily called in and we shared (as she put it) "one of lifes greatest taste trifectas - olives, dips and wine"... i did some cooking and tried out a new recipe because i've got friends coming on friday night for dinner - i'll be making vegan stroganoff - it's a recipe i hadn't tried before and i wanted to make sure it was worth the time spent cooking it - which is minimal luckily, because i'll be making it after work!!! - it also needed to be tasty - it is, it's delicious (although i did alter the recipe a wee bit)  - and rather than pasta i might serve it on jacket potatoes, or perhaps roasted garlic with rosemary potatoes, along with a salad and crusty bread... yum!!!!

i didn't watch any of the dvds i'd brought home (and they're all reserved so i'll just have to take them back to work and perhaps watch them some other time!) - nor did i do much reading - far out, where did the time go? it just wasn't long enough - my, to have 4 weeks off would certainly be 'luxurious' - but that would mean going the whole year without any time off - an impossibility these days!!! perhaps i need to check out the 48-52 option - is it available to 'part-time' (30-hour per week) staff? or maybe what i really need to do is sit down and work out what the minimum amount is that i need to survive and implement that budget and cut down my hours... hmmm, food for thought!!

i was determined to read at least one book by the end of the holidays - and i succeeded in this endeavour - finally, yesterday i finished "the journal of dora damage" by belinda starling (and recommended by lily)...

now, i have to admit to almost giving up on this book - i just couldn't get into it to start with... i'd pick it up, read a few pages, put it down, pick it up and put it down... i was about to put it in the 'return to work unread' pile and choose another book, but decided to pick it up just once more - i'm glad i did because once i gave it my total concentration i just couldn't put it down!!!

it's an historical novel set it victorian london in the mid-1800s where squalor and poverty are part of peoples lives and womyn nothing but chattels ... dora's husband peter, a bookbinder, is suffering from the typical illnesses of the trade - bad lungs, rheumatoid arthritis - consequently the business is in huge debt and the family (dora, peter and lucinda, their epileptic daughter) are in danger of losing everything (not that they had much anyway!!!)

dora, having helped with the business over the years, 'takes over the reins' and searches for more clientele... as her artistic and binding talents become recognised and highly sought after, she finds herself unwittingly drawn into the shady world of affluent, aristocratic men by binding their highly illegal pornographic volumes (a very risky business, especially for a womon)... she is provided with all manner of luxurious bindings - the softest leathers, silks and satins - for these explicit tomes... one of her major customers, an 'eminent' physician, also supplies her with laudenum for her husband - another shackle that binds her to these rich and powerful men, but becomes an addiction which eventually kills peter...

she realises her peril and the untenable position she has been put in when provided with a binding material she can't quite identify - but she soon delves deeper and discovers this unusual 'hide' is the skin of a female slave... it was time to extricate herself from this murky existence, but in refusing to bind anymore of these 'aristocratic obscenities' she discovers how entangled in their grotesque world she has become, how much power they really had and how many powerful men they controlled...

america was gearing up for the civil war at this time, and we 'meet' the abolitionist movement in london in the form of the "ladies' society for the assistance of fugitives from slavery" who talk dora into taking on an escaped slave named din to work in the bindery... a 'progressive' movement? you'll have to read the book to find out because that's all i'm telling you of the story...

so, after procrastinating i am really pleased i persevered and finished this book... sadly there will be no other books by belinda starling, who died not long after finishing this, her first novel, in 2006 - she was admitted to hospital for an operation to remove a cyst from her bile duct, but following complications she died of septic shock at the age of 34...

now i should get off my arse and get down the street - ooooh, i am so not looking forward to tomorrow - my time's far better spent with my family - we're all so much happier and healthier when i'm home!!!! i can already feel a headache coming on - although i suspect that's to do with the wind and hayfever or sinus problems rather than my impending return to work (but perhaps that could be considered an allergy)... best i stock up on ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine!!!