NGARGEE TO NERM: From Ancient Tree to Ancient Sea (Image compliments of Port Phillip EcoCentre)
Always was Always will be
Before European settlement to what is now known as St Kilda, First Nations Australians called it Euro Yuroke, from the Boon Wurrung language of the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung people who are the traditional custodians of this land, its waters and air.
Within our borders: Catani Gardens & West Beach. Across the shallow water: St Kilda Pier and the Royal Yacht Squadron marina berths. On the other side of the tram tracks: Albert Park Reserve sporting clubs.
West St Kilda was built at the turn of the 19th century on reclaimed land, roughly fifty hectares of the saltwater marshland at the edge of the Ancient Sea that the Bunurong Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation called Nerm, today’s Port Phillip Bay. West St Kilda occupies a relatively small part of the City of Port Phillip, wedged between Albert Park Reserve & Port Phillip Bay at their narrowest convergence. It is bounded by Fitzroy St, Beaconsfield Parade, Fraser St, & the 96 tram line. Find out more about our area here
Do you live in West St Kilda? Help support efforts to preserve and enhance West St Kilda’s residential amenity and livability by joining your local residents’ association. Your annual subscription of ten dollars helps fund the Association’s biannual newsletters and community gatherings. Subscribe or renew your subscription here
WSKRA is a not-for-profit, volunteer, community-based organisation of West St Kilda residents. It is non-sectarian and not politically partisan. WSKRA’s general objective is to serve the community interests of West St Kilda residents.
WSKRA aims to provide an open and public forum for all West St Kilda residents to express their views and to be informed on issues relating to their community.
– Preserving and enhancing neighbourhood character and residential amenity – Town planning, traffic management, parking regulation, and public transport, and – Preservation of heritage buildings.
WSKRA promotes integrated planning, active consultation, communication and engagement between all stakeholders in the neighbourhood.
WSKRA was formed on 23 March 1999 at a public meeting of about 100 residents of the West St Kilda area at what was then the West St Kilda RSL Club at 23 Loch Street.
The membership adopted Model Rules for an Incorporated Association and applied for incorporation on 8 June 1999 under the Associations Incorporations Act of 1981. This was granted on 18 June 1999.
After the Victorian State Government passed the Associations Incorporation Reform Act of 2012, the WSKRA Committee drafted a set of rules based on the new model, with changes to suit our specific requirements. These were approved at the 13 November 2013 AGM and accepted by Consumer Affairs Victoria.
WSKRA is non-sectarian and not politically partisan.
Contours Of Catani (2021). Buff Diss, Artist Photo Gerome Villarete
contours of catani: A public amenity uplift project
The Cummings Reserve Public Toilets in West St Kilda are located in the wide nature strip on Beaconsfield Parade. Their location is in a prime entertainment, sports, leisure and residential area in one of Melbourne’s treasured beachside locations.
The old brick toilet block had been slated for demolition by the City of Port Phillip Council, but due to more delays in the implementation of plans–and a severe lack of upkeep–the public amenity had become a local blight. It is however a perfect canvas for public art.
We are hopeful Council will decide against demolishing the old toilet block, which is now a welcome community landmark, and build the new design replacement toilets next to the existing structure, or in another location nearby — this open-air brick toilet block after all must be the last of its generation in the City of Port Phillip.
Bay Totem (2001). Peter Blizzard, Artist. Media Robert Hamer
BAY TOTEM: A public ART PROJECT
“The aim of the project was to mark one hundred years of Australian nationhood around a theme that may be described as ‘emerging together’ – a concept equally relevant to Australia in the next one hundred years as we tackle the remaining tests of tolerance and reconciliation.
The water element is symbolic of continuity and an ongoing process of calmness and healing.” –From the Creative Brief
West St Kilda is the area bounded by Fitzroy Street, Fraser Street, Beaconsfield Parade, and the 96 tram line. Womin djeka Euro Yuroke balluk.
Acknowledgement of country
We respectfully acknowledge the Yaluk-ut Weelam clan of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung people who are the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and gather.
We pay respect to the Clan’s Elders, past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations Australians across this land to which we all belong.
WELL WELL kilda was NO SAINT
Various theories have been proposed for the word Kilda’s origin, which dates from the late 16th century. No saint is known by the name.
Haswell-Smith (2004) notes that the full name St Kilda first appears on a Dutch map dated 1666, and that it might have been derived from Norse sunt kelda (“sweet wellwater”) or from a mistaken Dutch assumption that the spring Tobar Childa was dedicated to a saint. (Tobar Childa is a tautological placename, consisting of the Gaelic and Norse words for well, i.e., “well well“.) Scottish writer Martin Martin, who visited in 1697, believed that the name “is taken from one Kilder, who lived here; and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name.”
Throughout Carlo Catani’s positions at the Lands and Public Works Departments as surveyor and draughtsman and his latter engineering roles he was crucial to the development of our late colonial through to early state arterial roadways.
The St Kilda Foreshore Gardens are 15 acres of foreshore reclaimed by Carlo Catani amidst 27 acres of St Kilda shoreline that he designed and landscaped. Catani Gardens are seen to embody Mediterranean influences that Carlo gleaned from his European tour of 1912, which ’til today fixes Catani as one of Victoria’s chief place-makers.
West St Kilda is an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, a parcel of prime land, sand and greenery sandwiched between Port Phillip Bay and Albert Park Reserve, garnished by West Beach and Catani Gardens, then topped off with a pickled Fitzroy Street.
West St Kilda is bounded by Fitzroy Street, Fraser Street, Beaconsfield Parade, and the 96 tram line. Built on reclaimed marshland at the turn of the 19th century, West St Kilda occupies a relatively small part of the City of Port Phillip, wedged between Albert Park Reserve & Port Phillip Bay at their narrowest convergence.
Mixing the sometimes confronting character of Fitzroy Street & St Kilda to its south-east with the urban gentility of Middle & Albert Parks to its north-west, this densely populated area is dotted with early 20th century flats & post-war apartment blocks, while featuring some of the most exuberant post-Victorian domestic architecture in Australia. With a little imagination, combined with the changing light at different times of the day or year, you may easily sense the atmosphere and drama of a bygone era in several of its streetscapes.
Mary Street, West St Kilda. At the central roundabout standing among Australian native plants is Bay Totem, a public art cum bird bath.
West St Kilda residents worked with local community groups and local and state authorities to restore Catani Gardens and St Kilda West Beach — the foreshore stretching from St Kilda Pier to Fraser Street.
Melaleuca alternifolia at Catani Gardens. This ancient tea tree was last seen in the Spring of 2023.
Heritage-listed Catani Gardens covers approximately six hectares of West St Kilda’s foreshore. This greenspace promenade and gathering place also serves as an outdoor venue for music & arts festivals, dance parties, and leisure sports competitions during the warmer Melbourne months.
Kite surfing at windy St Kilda West Beach
West Beach stretches westward for about a kilometer from St Kilda Pier. Together with the protected Fairy Penguin colony, this inner-city beachside playground for kite-surfing, paddle-boarding and sailing attracts many visitors to Melbourne.
Walking on West Beach. Humans and canines are free to saunter, run and roam unleashed at our local beach.
“In 2017 realestate.com.au ranked Australian capital city suburbs by their access to schools, work opportunities, and a number of other factors. The top 10 suburbs were all in Victoria or Queensland. The nation’s ‘most livable’ suburb was St Kilda West (Albert Park came in at number 7 and Port Melbourne at number 9). As Melbourne was rated as the world’s most livable city from 2011 to 2017, we figure that St Kilda West must be the world’s most livable suburb! “ —Colin Fryer, President’s Report 2018 AGM
Who lives in St Kilda West? Find out from the 2021 Census.
Just About Now is A collection of things happening in our spaces & places, physical & digital, intersecting culture, community & CREATIVITY
Tap|Click on photos & other media: They are linked to featured or related content. find joy: freedom: peace: now: take it from Jack
Media|Artwork from the Waking Up App
here: Now:
Media Gerome Villarete
TRIENNIAL at NGV International, closes on Sunday 7 April 2024. Open daily 10am to 5pm. “Bringing contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue with one another and traversing all four levels of NGV International, the NGV Triennial features more than 100 extraordinary projects that invite us to reflect on the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be.”–NGV
ART | PAINTING. Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) by Betty Muffler, Pitjantjatjara/Yankunyjatjara (Australia). “Born near Watarru, Muffler grew up at the Ernabella Mission following the displacement and deaths of family members in the aftermath of the British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field. Witnessing the devastation of Country and surviving this experience motivates Muffler’s recurring depiction of healing sites and the intensity of her connection to these places in her paintings titled Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country).”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | PHOTOGRAPHY. TECHNOLOGY. “Megacities is a project that identifies ten of the world’s most populous cities – Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dhaka, Mexico City, Seoul and Jakarta – and presents the work of ten photographers who live and work in these environments. The photographers were invited to consider the question, ‘If, in the twenty-first century, the city represents the dominant human ecosystem, what does this mean for life in a megacity?’”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART. ETC. Drop Time + A Chaotic Garden + Block Flowers by Azuma Makoto (Japan). “Drop Time presents the lifecycle of flowers in hyper-speed, time-lapsed and shown in both forward motion and reverse. Set against a discordant soundscape, the video exposes us again and again to the mesmerising metamorphosis of flowers from bloom to wilt, celebrating each stage of the plants’ genesis and eventual decay.”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | DRAWING. INSTALLATION. Very Volcanic Over This Green Feather by Petrit Halilaj (Kosovo/Germany). “The work reveals the complex and ever-changing relationships between reality and the imagination, personal history and collective trauma, official histories and lived experiences. Symbols as varied as the Garden of Eden and its birds, trees and flowers are interspersed with images of war and trauma.”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | DRAWING. SCULPTURE. INSTALLATION. Rififi: Jean Jullien For Kids by Jean Jullien (France). “French artist Jean Jullien sees the world differently. His installation for Triennial is filled with his drawings, which he has produced as murals, and large cut-out shapes to create a close-up and intimate experience of colourful ocean life, inner coral reefs and treasured natural wonders.”–NGV
Media NGV Online
ART | DRAWING. TECHNOLOGY. Heterobota by Agneiszka Pilat (Poland/USA). “The relationship between humans and machines is now almost symbiotic. Machines rely on humans to build, program and operate them and we rely on machines to keep our technology-dependant society running smoothly. The more autonomous machines become, they are also potentially more useful, but the question of just how independent, or human-like we want machines remains unanswered. Beyond their utilitarian function, how would we feel if machines could show care for us? Would we care more for them?”–Agnieszka Pilat
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | WEAVING. Mun-Dirra (Maningrida Fish Fence) by Burrara women of the community of Maningrida in Central-West Arnhem Land (Australia). “For generations, Burarra people have been creating beautiful and intricate an-guchechiya (fish trap), burlurpurr (bathi or dilly bags) and bamagora (conical mat/women’s skirt used for ceremony), as well as many other woven items. Burarra women from Maningrida use natural materials such as gun-menama (pandanus leaves), burdaga (kurrajong) and various bark fibres to produce their work.”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | FASHION. TECHNOLOGY. Meta Morphism by Iris van Herpen (Netherlands). “For her Meta Morphism collection, van Herpen worked with tech corporation Microsoft on a hyperreal presentation combining digital avatars and augmented reality experiences alongside physical garments. Inspired by the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphosis and its themes of transformation, the designer posed the questions, ‘Who are we beyond our physical bodies?’ and ‘Where are we going as human beings?’.”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | HAUTE COUTURE. Schiaparelli, Paris, France by Daniel Roseberry (designer) (USA/France). “With a creative process that encompasses drawing, digital collage, and the artistry of the atelier, Roseberry’s design vocabulary is underpinned by his belief in fantasy and affinity for concepts of Surrealist displacement.”–NGV
Media Gerome Villarete
ART | ANIMATION. DIGITAL. SPECULUM by Dutch collective SMACK (Breda, Netherlands). “SPECULUM, and the work that inspired it, is the artists’ criticism of the actions and immorality of their times. Here, viewers are confronted with the consequences of indulgent consumerism, popularist politics and conspicuous consumption.”–NGV
Media Screenshot NGV Online
ART | SCULPTURE. Really Good by David Shrigley (UK). “This monumental public sculpture was originally conceived by David Shrigley for the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, known as Brexit. Characteristic of the self-conscious irony often found in Shrigley’s work, Really Good is intended as a satirical gesture, harnessing the capacity of art to critically reflect on the status quo. This exaggerated version of the universal ‘thumbs up’ also invites consideration of the role of humour when facing challenges in the world around us.”–NGV
Media NGV Online
ARCHITECTURE. Opening 2028. The Fox, NGV Contemporary. “The Fox: NGV Contemporary will be a thriving hub for local, national and international design and architecture, presented alongside leading contemporary art, fashion and performance. Set within the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct, it is fitting that the new gallery is designed and built by an Australian design and architecture team. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to create a building of architectural significance that will become part of the fabric of our state and cultural identity.”–Tony Ellwood
ART | PAINTING. Watercolour Country | 100 Works from Hermannsburg. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square. Until Sunday 14 April 2024. “This exhibition brings together one hundred watercolours made by Aranda, Western Aranda, Eastern Aranda and Kemarre/Loritja artists working at Ntaria/Hermannsburg, across generations. Among these are key new acquisitions by Albert Namatjira, one of Australia’s most well-known artists, whose landscapes are synonymous with the Central Australian outback.”–NGV
Media hermannsburg.com.au
PLACE. Hermannsburg Historic Precinct. “The Hermannsburg Mission was established in 1877 following an arduous 20 month journey from South Australia. It was managed by Lutheran missionaries and the Lutheran Church from 1877-1982 and is the last surviving mission developed by missionaries from the Hermannsburg Missionary Society in Germany under the influence of the German Lutheran community in South Australia.”–hermannsburg.com.au
Media The Song Keepers Movie
MUSIC. DOCUMENTARY. The Song Keepers (2018) directed by Naina Sen. Available on SBS On Demand. “For many of the choir’s 32 members, who hail from communities including Areyonga, Kaltukatjara, Titjikala, Mutitjulu, Ntaria and Alice Springs, it was also their first trip overseas. Many are senior cultural women who have, alongside their own traditional obligations, voluntarily preserved the region’s choral heritage for most of their lives, singing the songs in traditional Western Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara languages, as well as Zulu, German and English.”–Jack Latimore
MUSIC. DOCUMENTARY. Wide Open Sky (2015) by Lisa Nicol. “Wide Open Sky takes us into the lives of Kyh, Mack, Opal and Taylah, four brave and hopeful primary school children who travel far from home to music camp to prepare for the choir’s big concert. They have just three days to learn a demanding repertoire. Set against a stunning landscape and featuring music by acclaimed band Dirty Three.”–eOne ANZ. Available on SBS On Demand.
Media Dirty Three Facebook
MUSIC. 2009. Dirty Three ft. Nick Cave | “Sea Above, Sky Below” – Surveillance. “Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album Horse Stories was voted by Rolling Stone as one of the top three albums of the year. Two of their albums have peaked into the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Ocean Songs (1998) and Toward the Low Sun (2012). During their career they have spent much of their time overseas when not performing together. Turner is based in Melbourne, White lives in New York, and Ellis in Paris.”–Wikipedia
Ali McGregor | Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night, Arts Centre Fairfax Studio. “Since 2006 Ali McGregor’s Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night has been enticing audiences at Melbourne International Comedy Festival and beyond. It has become a cult late-night show that draws the biggest comedy acts, the sexiest burlesque, heart stopping cabaret and the most jaw-dropping circus acts from around the Festival. Hand-picked by Ali, this variety show is a carefully curated night of quality entertainment.”–alimcgregor.com
2015. Ali McGregor sings Creep with Tim Minchin on the piano at Mark Watson’s 27-hour Comedy Marathon.
Media TW OnlineChris Carroll | I Have No Enemies | TW Explosives Factory (Media Gerome Villarete)
THEATRE. I Have No Enemies directed by Christopher Samuel Carroll (Bare Witness Theatre Co.), Wednesday 10 to Saturday 20 April at Theatre Works Explosives Factory (Rear Laneway 67 Inkerman Street). “It’s a cyberpunk detective story. It’s a maniacal Ted talk. It’s a live-action 90s hacker movie. And it’s all true. We think. We’re getting confused. And paranoid. We’re probably on a watchlist. Not that we’ve done anything wrong. We’ve nothing to hide. We have no enemies. Has anyone actually read the terms & conditions?”–TW
Media TW Online
THEATRE. Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell, Friday 19 April to Saturday 4 May at Theatre Works, 14 Acland St. “Featuring renowned screen and stage actor Belinda McClory, and directed by award-winning director Kitan Petkovski, Things I Know To Be True is about loving too much, not loving enough and trying to find the right place in between.”–TW
Media TW Online
THEATRE. You’re Being Dramatic by Zadie Kennedy McCracken, Wednesday 24 April to Saturday 4 May at Theatre Works Explosives Factory (Rear Laneway 67 Inkerman Street). “Darkly funny and deeply moving, You’re Being Dramatic is a devastating and beautiful new play from emerging writer/director Zadie Kennedy Mccracken, exploring intimacy, queer identity, patriarchy, and the agony of unfulfilled desire.”–TW
Media TW Online
THEATRE. He by Rodrigo Calderón, Tuesday 7 May to Saturday 18 May at Theatre Works Explosives Factory (Rear Laneway 67 Inkerman Street). “Conceived, written and performed by Salvadoran-Australian theatre practitioner Rodrigo Calderón, He is physical, vivid and delirious storytelling, with a cumbia heart-beat. The performances on Friday 10 and Friday 17 will be in Spanish without English surtitles.”–TW
Media visitvictoria.com
PLACE. 1871. Michaelis Family Home. 1986. Linden New Art
Media lindenarts.com
ART | PHOTOGRAPHY. TECHNOLOGY. Aaron Christopher Rees | Mirage. “Mirage asks questions about the idealisation of seeing itself, the construction of the self as expert, and our relationship to the hyperobject that is the sun.”–Linden New Art, Acland St, St Kilda. Until 19 May 2024. Artist Talk: 1pm-2pm, Saturday 20 April 2024.
Media lindenarts.com
ART | PHOTOGRAPHY. Jill Orr | The Promised Land Refigured. “Framed by the impact of Australia’s policy of turning back asylum seekers who arrive by boat, The Promised Land Refigured engages with the anticipated issue of global homelessness, due to the outcomes of mass destruction of homes and environments resulting from climate change.”–Linden New Art, Acland St, St Kilda. Until 19 May 2024.
Media Gerome Villarete
PLACE. 1857. New Bath Hotel. 1878. The Esplanade Hotel. Alfred Felton lived at The Esplanade Hotel from 1882 to 1904.
“Alfred Felton’s generous bequest in 1904 remains the most remarkable gift to the NGV and has enabled the NGV to be a world-leading collecting institution. You can follow in the footsteps of Alfred Felton through making a bequest of your own of any amount, so that you can personally be a part of the NGV’s future growth for generations to come.”–Tony Ellwood NGV
Media markseymour.com.au
MUSIC. LIVE. Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Friday 19 April 2024, at the Gershwin, The Espy. “Mark Seymour is an Australian musician and vocalist. He was the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors from 1981 until 1998. Seymour has carved a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in 1997 and winning an ARIA Award in 2001 for One Eyed Man in the category of Best Adult Contemporary Album.”–Wikipedia
The Gershwin | Espy (Media Gerome Villarete)Media Gerome Villarete
ART | PHOTOGRAPHY. COMMUNITY. Male//Chair by Garrie Maguire at the Victorian Pride Centre until Sunday 28 April 2024. “This project aims to shift the power dynamic, allowing each participant to craft their own narrative, presenting themselves to you, the viewer, in their truest form. Through these images, garrie hopes to provide the viewer with glimpses into interpretations of maleness that occupy this city.”–VPC
Media Gerome Villarete
COMMUNITY. Disco Club by Lise & Sarah, Saturday 20 April 2024 at The Prince Bandroom. “For $80 you can join Disco Club founders Lise Carlaw and Sarah Wills for a no-holds-barred night of dancing, singing, and cutting loose. Disco Club is the ultimate night out for women. Disco Club is LGBTQIA+ friendly and welcomes people who identify as female or non-binary.”–discoclub.com.au
INTERVIEW. 2024. It’s The Peaches Effect | Resident Advisor | Katie Thomas. “For International Women’s Day, Katie Thomas speaks to the singular artist about her era-spanning career, how she approaches costume and songs about self-pleasure.”–RA
FILM. BIOPIC. 2024. Bob Marley: One Love, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. Also by the same director, Joe Bell (2020), played by Mark Wahlberg. “The true story of a small-town, working-class father who embarks on a walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son [Jadin] is tormented in high school for being gay. Meanwhile, he realises he is instead missing out on his [other] son’s life back at home.”–IMDb
Media Gerome Villarete
PLACE. 2023. Peace Pole, St Kilda. “A Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four or six sides. There are estimated over 250,000 Peace Poles in every country in the world dedicated as monuments to peace.”–worldpeace.org
PLACE. St Kilda Corner Store, corner Fitzroy & Acland Streets, St Kilda
COMMUNITY. Free Assange Now! IJF International Federation of Journalists. “Since a conspiracy is a type of cognitive device that acts on information acquired from its environment, distorting or restricting these inputs means acts based on them are likely to be misplaced. Programmers call this effect garbage in, garbage out. Usually the effect runs the other way; it is conspiracy that is the agent of deception and information restriction. In the US, the programmer’s aphorism is sometimes called “the Fox News effect”.”–Julian Assange (2006)
COMMUNITY. Bridges of Hope: Stories of Immigration. 4 April–10 May, Artful Yoga Gallery. “The stories depicted in the exhibition are as diverse as the people themselves. From escaping conflict and persecution to seeking economic opportunities, each narrative offers a unique perspective on the immigrant experience. Visitors will have the opportunity to engage with personal accounts, artifacts, and interactive installations that provide insight into the hardships and obstacles faced by newcomers to our communities.”–AYG
MUSIC. 2024. All the way from France, Folamour… was at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne on Thursday 25 January, and at the Sugar Mountain Festival at Seaworks in Williamstown on Saturday 20 January.
Media France:A Journey Through Time Documentary Film
DOCUMENTARY FILM. 2021. France: A Journey Through Time by Michael Pitiot. “What if we looked at French history not in terms of its rulers but from the point of view of the landscape from which it was born?”–PSFF. Available on SBS On Demand until Friday 12 April 2024
ART INSTALLATION. FILM. Embassy by Richard Bell. “A free First Nations-led space for forging alternate futures and dialogue in support of Aboriginal rights.”–RISING:
“Every member of Dirty Three has a highly respectable career outside of the band: Violinist Warren Ellis works closely with Nick Cave, drummer Jim White is a sought-after collaborator with an instantly recognizable sound, and guitarist Mick Turner has released a string of gorgeous instrumental solo albums when he’s not working as a visual artist. But when the three musicians share a stage as Dirty Three — as they’ve done on and off for 20 years now — the result can be both beautiful and bonkers, as the opening moments of this Tiny Desk Concert amply demonstrate.”–NPR Music
MUSIC. LIVE. Tinariwen. “Tuareg rock pioneers bring guitar-driven grooves of hope, struggle and exile from the mountains of Azawad to the desert plains and beyond.”–RISING:
Media RISING: Online
MUSIC. COMMUNITY. Shouse: Communitas. “Unite with hundreds of music lovers in St Paul’s Cathedral for a communal outpouring of song led by SHOUSE—Melbourne’s worldwide party-starters.”–RISING:
Media RISING: Online
PERFORMANCE | DRAG. Eclipse by Cerulean and Stone Motherless Cold. “A future-forward drag show that spans the ages—from the Big Bang(er) to the Paleocene, through the Beyoncé epoch and into the Blak queer future that awaits us all.”–RISING:
MUSIC. ART INSTALLATION. DOCUMENTARY. Shannon Michael Cane: Someone Great–A Celebration. “A night of queer rock, dance music and icons of the New York underground—all about community and coming together in honour of Shannon Michael Cane.”–RISING:
BOOKS. THEATRE. Qui a tué mon père (Who Killed My Father) by Édouard Louis. “Four years ago, during the first months of the pandemic, German director Thomas Ostermeier premièred a one-man stage adaptation of Qui a tué mon père at the Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris. The production had its Australian première at the Adelaide Festival on 8 March this year, to a warm reception and standing ovations.”–Patrick Flannery ABR Arts, 12 March 2024
Writer Édouard Louis weaponises the autobiography | The Saturday Paper | Dee Jefferson. “When Édouard Louis says theatre saved him, it’s more than a figure of speech. For Louis, who grew up below the poverty line in the remote, rural, working-class town of Hallencourt in northern France, theatre was a lifeline as well as his ticket out of town. It also liberated him from a violent childhood. “Every day people were calling me faggot,” he says. “People at school were spitting on me … my father was telling me every day that I was a sissy, that gay people deserve to be killed.””
“LGBTIQA+ people experience family violence at higher rates than non-LGBTIQA+ Australians, in the form of intimate partner abuse/violence (IPAV) and violence within families of origin.”
“LGBTIQA+ Australians with other diverse identities – such as being multicultural or multifaith, having a disability, or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people – may be at higher risk of family violence due to cultural sensitivities and marginalisation.”
“Health professionals need to understand that the experiences of discrimination, violence and abuse of LGBTIQA+ people in Australian society are associated with significant disparities in physical and mental health.”
“A new study led by researchers at Vanderbilt found that 83% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) individuals reported going through adverse childhood experiences such as sexual and emotional abuse, and worse mental health as adults when compared to their heterosexual peers.”
“Minority stress continues to cause clinically significant negative health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people. “These negative outcomes include depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.”
“Crystal meth use is a silent epidemic among gay men throughout communities across the United States. Lack of access to culturally competent care can hinder efforts to address substance use disorders effectively.”
“LGBTIQ+ communities have been identified as priority populations under The National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement (Cth of Australia, 2022) and for data development as part of the National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System. Under the agreement, governments have a responsibility to support priority populations, who may be at higher risk of mental ill health and suicide due to vulnerability caused by social, economic, and environmental circumstances.”–AIHW”LGBTIQ+ communities have been identified as priority populations under The National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement (Cth of Australia, 2022) and for data development as part of the National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System. Under the agreement, governments have a responsibility to support priority populations, who may be at higher risk of mental ill health and suicide due to vulnerability caused by social, economic, and environmental circumstances.”–AIHW
“The NSW Police Force has admitted its officers may have made serious mistakes while re-examining potential gay-hate murders among a list of 30 unsolved deaths.
“An SBS investigation has uncovered a failure by police to check even basic details for some of the men, resulting in an erroneous assessment being provided to NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes.”
POST-POST-SCRIPTUM:
Vale Phil Carswell | Thorne-Harbour Health (March 2024). “On 12 July 1983, Phil was the convenor of the Victorian AIDS Action Committee, and the organisation’s first President as it became the Victorian AIDS Council a year later. Phil went on to serve in a number of leadership roles at both the state and federal level through the height of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Australia.”–THH (In 2018 the Victorian AIDS Council was renamed Thorne-Harbour Health.)
“Everyday we are engaged in a miracle, which we don’t even recognise. A blue sky. White clouds. Green leaves. The black curious eyes of a child. Our own two eyes. All is a miracle. So smile. Breathe. And go slowly.
“Walk as if you’re kissing the earth with your feet. Drink your tea slowly and reverently as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves. Slowly,, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
“Many people think excitement is happiness. But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace. The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path I walk in peace. With each step the wind blows. With each step a flower blooms. Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive you will see it. Life is available only in the present moment. How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural. You need to smile to your sorrow. Because you are more than your sorrow. The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile. But sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”–Thich Nhat Hanh
INTERVIEW. Kōji Yakusho on finding happiness in simplicity, Perfect Days, and working with Wim Wenders | Q with Tom Power (March 2024). “The Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho is prolific, from his roles in Japanese films to parts in American movies like Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel. This year, Kōji won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Perfect Days, directed by Wim Wenders. He tells Tom about his rise in film and TV, how working with renowned director Wim Wenders showed him the fun of filmmaking, and what Perfect Days can teach you about happiness.”
“‘Phoenix-rising vibes’: Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross of Electric Fields, who will represent Australia in this year’s Eurovision. Photograph: Nick Wilson” [Media Screenshot The Guardian Online]
THEATRE. Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell, ends Saturday 4 May at Theatre Works, 14 Acland St. “Featuring renowned screen and stage actor Belinda McClory, and directed by award-winning director Kitan Petkovski, Things I Know To Be True is about loving too much, not loving enough and trying to find the right place in between.”–TW
Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell | Theatre Works [Media Gerome Villarete][Media Fred Negro+Peptides Online]
MUSIC. COMMUNITY. The Peptides at the Bowlo (St Kilda Sports Club), Sunday 5 May 2024, 5pm–7.30pm… and every first Sunday of the month, same time, same place, till they drop dead. Don’t miss them.
Image|Art Gavin Brown (detail)
ART. Gavin Brown Grand Tour, at 45 Downstairs, Saturday 27 April to Saturday 4 May 2024. “An ongoing theme in my work is the fascination of collage and assemblage. I have been trying to work out how I could use actual oil on canvas cut-outs to create a new language.”:–Gavin Brown gavinbrown.com.au
Main Entrance TW Explosives Factory [Media Gerome Villarete]
COMMUNITY. Let’s Keep Explosives Factory Open For Indie Artists. “I am inviting you to join us in supporting the future of local independent artists by investing in our little venue that is making a big splash–Explosives Factory.”:–Dianne Toulson Don’t miss an act: Donate Now
COMMUNITY. “Every day of the year, Sacred Heart Mission assists hundreds of people who are experiencing homelessness or disadvantage to find shelter, food, care and support. Sacred Heart Mission are strong supporters of the Indigenous and LGBTIQA+ community.”:–SHM
MUSIC. 2021. Ben Howard – Every Kingdom (live). “Howard plays guitar left-handed and sometimes plays right-handed guitars upside down. He also has a distinctive percussive strumming style, called the “pick and go” and Howard’s method of laying the guitar flat on top of his knees and playing it percussively was influenced by contemporary folk songwriter and guitarist John Smith.”:–Wikipedia
“A boy splashes around in the NGV’s exterior pool in 1968.” [Media Fairfax Archives]
PLACE. 1861. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. 1968. “The opening of the current NGV International building in 1968, marked the beginning of the Conservation department as it is today. In his building plans, Roy Grounds included a dedicated space for conservation of the collection, an area still occupied by the department today.”:–NGV
“The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia’s oldest and most visited art museum.
“The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two sites: NGV International, located on St Kilda Road in the Melbourne Arts Precinct of Southbank, and the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, located nearby at Federation Square. The NGV International building, designed by Sir Roy Grounds, opened in 1968, and was redeveloped by Mario Bellini before reopening in 2003. It houses the gallery’s international art collection and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.
“The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, designed by Lab Architecture Studio, opened in 2002 and houses the gallery’s Australian art collection.
“A third site, The Fox: NGV Contemporary, is planned to open in 2028, and will be Australia’s largest contemporary gallery.”:–Wikipedia
ART. Yayoi Kusama | Japan, at NGV International, opens 15 December 2024, tickets on sale from 22 April 2024. “A major highlight of the exhibition will be an impressive assembly of Kusama’s iconic immersive installations, including her infinity rooms that ingeniously use mirrors to create the visual illusion of infinite space. A new, never-before-seen kaleidoscopic infinity mirror room, currently in development especially for the exhibition, will make its global premiere in Melbourne.”:–NGV
[Media Gerome Villarete 2018][Media City of Port Phillip Online]
PLACE. 1859. St Kilda Botanical Gardens, Blessington St, St Kilda. “St Kilda Botanical Gardens are a botanical garden located in the suburb St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. Located on the former site of a gravel pit and rubbish dump, they were formally gazetted on 28 September 1859 and opened in 1861. In October 2010 City of Port Phillip provided funds for the design of four distinctive new gates, to celebrate the gardens’ 150th anniversary. The gates were installed on Tennyson, Dickens and Herbert Streets. They were designed and sculpted by designer/blacksmith David Wood of Bent Metal.”:–Wikipedia
COMMUNITY. PHOTOGRAPHY. Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua) by Timms Holden, St Kilda Botanical Gardens. “The Garden is open between sunrise and sunset seven days a week and the conservatory is open between 10.30am and 3.30pm all weekdays and from dawn to dusk Saturday to Sunday and on public holidays.”–City of Port Phillip
[Media Timms Holden]
ILLUSTRATION. 1885. Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua). “Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany. Permission granted to use under GFDL by Kurt Stueber.”:–Commons
[Media Kew Gardens Online]
ART | PAINTING. 1997. Areca Palm (Areca catechu) by Emmanuel L. Cordova (watercolour on acid free paper, 1997) | Shirley Sherwood Collection, Kew Gardens
[Media Gerome Villarete]
PLACE. COMMUNITY. 1912. Luna Park, St Kilda. “With over 100 years of memories at our iconic St Kilda location, Luna Park is undoubtedly the most well known and loved of the theme parks Victoria has to offer. More than just some of the most exciting rides in Melbourne, Luna Park has seen many changes over a 100-year history, with highs, lows and of course many new rides installed throughout the decades. Take a step back in time and view over 100 years of history, rides and laughs within Luna Park Melbourne, including incredible footage of the Park opening in St Kilda back in 1912.”:–Luna Park
Luna Park [Media Gerome Villarete]
MUSIC. 2024. Beirut – Live at Tempodrom, Berlin – ARTE Concert (filmed 17 February 2024). “Mené par Zach Condon, Beirut libère toute la puissance émotionnelle de sa musique sur la scène du Tempodrom, à Berlin. Une performance à la fois sensible et puissante portée par Hadsel, album paru en 2023.”:–ARTE
MUSIC. 2015. Beirut Full Concert | NPR Music Front Row. “When Condon’s Beirut first came to prominence in 2006, it emerged from Santa Fe with a fully conceived, pan-global folk sound unlike any indie sensibilities popular on the day. Zach’s trumpet and flugelhorn playing was informed by local Mexican mariachi horns, his engagement with the Roma brass bands of the Balkans, and modal jazz changes via a percolating bossa nova; he favored timeless instruments (ukuleles, accordions) and images, to the rush of the modern; and the songs his quavering tenor delivered, also traveled the old continents. Live, the group grew into a formidable sextet, heavy on keyboards, horns and harmony, a world onto themselves.”:–NPR
THEATRE. You’re Being Dramatic by Zadie Kennedy McCracken, ends Saturday 4 May at Theatre Works Explosives Factory (Rear Laneway 67 Inkerman Street). “Darkly funny and deeply moving, You’re Being Dramatic is a devastating and beautiful new play from emerging writer/director Zadie Kennedy Mccracken, exploring intimacy, queer identity, patriarchy, and the agony of unfulfilled desire.”–TW
[Media TW Online]
THEATRE. He by Rodrigo Calderón, Tuesday 7 May to Saturday 18 May at Theatre Works Explosives Factory (Rear Laneway 67 Inkerman Street). “Conceived, written and performed by Salvadoran-Australian theatre practitioner Rodrigo Calderón, He is physical, vivid and delirious storytelling, with a cumbia heart-beat. The performances on Friday 10 and Friday 17 will be in Spanish without English surtitles.”–TW
Theatre Works [Media Gerome Villarete]Linden New Art [Media Gerome Villarete]
PLACE. 1983. Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. “ACCA was established in 1983 and moved in 2002 to a purpose-built, award-winning architectural building designed by Wood Marsh at the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. This consolidated ACCA’s position as a leading centre for contemporary art and a beloved platform for our diverse community of local, regional, national and international artists, curators, audiences, colleagues and collaborators.”:–ACCA
“Laure Prouvost, Wantee 2013 (detail), installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. Courtesy the artist, and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels; carlier | gebauer, Berlin and Madrid; Lisson Gallery, London, New York and Shanghai. Photograph: Andrew Curtis” [Media ACCA Online]
ART. Laure Prouvost, ACCA Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Exhibition dates: 23 March–10 June 2024 (Free). “A limited-edition artist’s book will be published to coincide with the exhibition, including contributions from fellow artists, friends and collaborators across the globe, paying homage to grandmothers, artistic matriarchs, ancestors, inspirational elders and forebears.”–ACCA
“Video Land by Callum Preston is a replica 1990s video store, a place of significance during his carefree and joyous teenage years.” [Media museumsvictoria.com.au]
ART | INSTALLATION. Video Land by Callum Preston, at the Immigration Museum
“Bring It to the Runway, Runway by Spencer Harrison invites you to strut, dance, pose and celebrate who you are.” [Media museumsvictoria.com.au]
ART | INSTALLATION. Bring It To The Runway, Runway by Spencer Harrison, at the Immigration Museum
Princes Pier, Port Melbourne [Media Gerome Villarete]
PLACE. COMMUNITY. Princes Pier, Port Melbourne, Princes Pier Refurbishment. “Melbourne every bit different.”
Princes Pier, Port Melbourne [Media Gerome Villarete]
COMMUNITY. GUIDED MEDITATION. The Earth In Balance: Deep Time Walks | Port Phillip EcoCentre. “Deep Time Walks are transformational experiences that encourage people to look at our planet in a completely different way. Most people are aware, at least at a basic level, of some of our environmental challenges, such as climate change – but people lack awareness of the 4.6 billion years that led to this point, and struggle to conceptualise such a massive number.”:–EcoCentre
“Every year on 26 May, National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as ‘The Stolen Generations’.”:–Reconciliation Australia
2008. National Apology To The Stolen Generations (2008). “On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation. The journey to National Apology began with the Bringing Them Home report – the findings of an inquiry instigated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1995.”–NMA
“Eddie Mabo of Mer island in the Torres Strait spent a decade seeking official recognition of his people’s ownership of Mer and on 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia agreed, rejecting the doctrine that Australia was terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) at the time of European settlement.”:–NMA
“For the first time in Australia, Fever Ray opens the iron gates and ushers us into their gothic synth-pop odyssey.”–RISING:
[Media RISING: Online]
RISING: Fever Ray | 9–10 June 2024 | Hamer Hall
MUSIC. (2023). Fever Ray in Passengers — ARTE Concert. [Available until 26/11/2024] “Beautifully grotesque, politically confrontational and utterly unique: Karin Dreijer’s Fever Ray project has come a long way since the immaculate icebox of their eponymous 2009 debut. It’s been a thrilling journey. Mournful explorations of parental paranoia and Scandinavian solitude crumbled under the force of a newly emerging identity straining to devour societal interdictions and accepted gender frameworks with 2017’s Plunge. Splintered facets of a stridently non-binary personality were explored with 2023’s Radical Romantics along with a very human need for intimacy, its most vulnerable moments still as steely and unsettling as a shark circling its prey. Experience the idiosyncratic Fever Ray vision for this exclusive Passengers session beamed in from an abandoned factory in northern France.”–ARTE
“Fed Square becomes a constellation of art and stories that share First [Nations] Peoples futures, connections to the cosmos, and political discourse.”–RISING:
[Media RISING: Online]Art Tony Albert [Media QAGOMA Online]
ART. APT7 / Michael Cook discusses his art practice and ‘Civilised’ | “Michael Cook’s works depict an ethereal dreamworld, a timeless place that traverses both the colonial and contemporary worlds and is sustained on ‘what ifs’ and hypotheticals. It is a place of Cook’s own modern Dreaming. His central question is quite simple: what if the British, instead of dismissing Aboriginal society, had taken a more open approach to their culture and knowledge systems? This all-Aboriginal world is a sort of utopia where questions can be posed and answered without the complication of race — there is no black and white, no right or wrong. The figures within them are both conquerors and conquered. Through the use of images of Aboriginal people, often in roles opposite to the stereotypical, Cook ensures that an Aboriginal voice is ever-present.”:–QAGOMA
“New expanses to create. New music to share. The legendary trio Dirty Three are finally home.”–RISING:
[Media RISING: Online]
“Every member of Dirty Three has a highly respectable career outside of the band: Violinist Warren Ellis works closely with Nick Cave, drummer Jim White is a sought-after collaborator with an instantly recognizable sound, and guitarist Mick Turner has released a string of gorgeous instrumental solo albums when he’s not working as a visual artist. But when the three musicians share a stage as Dirty Three — as they’ve done on and off for 20 years now — the result can be both beautiful and bonkers, as the opening moments of this Tiny Desk Concert amply demonstrate.”–NPR Music
“Justin Talplacido Shoulder works in performance, sculpture, video & nightlife/community events production. Justin has performed and exhibited internationally and across Australia, performing and creating under the pseudonym PHASMAHAMMER.”:–insitearts.com.au
“Unite with hundreds of music lovers in St Paul’s Cathedral for a communal outpouring of song led by SHOUSE—Melbourne’s worldwide party-starters.”–RISING:
MUSIC. 2021. Shouse | Love Tonight (Official Radio Edit). “SHOUSE is Ed and Jack; a couple of friends who like to hang out to make weirdo-house and the occasional anthem. Their recent song Love Tonight has morphed into a global pandemic release phenomenon. Love Tonight has become so many things for so many people. A declaration of love during a time of isolation. A demonstration of solidarity. A cry of collective strength. Jack and Ed have spent much of 2020 locked down in Melbourne and are ready to reach out across the world in the spirit of Love Tonight. That is all we need.”
“A future-forward drag show that spans the ages—from the Big Bang(er) to the Paleocene, through the Beyoncé epoch and into the Blak queer future that awaits us all.”–RISING:
[Media RISING: Online][Media Cerulean fb]
COMMUNITY. 2024. LGBTQ+ Drag on social media: profile photos of Eclipse performers Cerulean and Stone Motherless Cold.
“Fasten your pyjamas and desyncopate your circadian polyrhythms. It’s time to unsettle in for eight hours of experimental performance about the commodification of rest.”–RISING:
[Media RISING: Online]
“In 2022 we clocked on for 8/8/8:WORK—the first in Marcus McKenzie and Harriett Gilllies’ triptych about work, rest and play. It was eight straight hours of life-coach gurus, micro-dosing tech bros, office politics and piss bottles. We laughed, we shared, we shaved Jeff Bezos until he was smooth and ready for atmospheric re-entry. Now the band’s back together, beckoning us to wade through the wasteland of REST. From 9pm until 5am, the plush backrooms of Arts Centre Melbourne will cushion our collective unconscious.”–RISING:
“A running total of what’s owed to First Nations’ people of this land.”–RISING:
Media RISING: Online“A decorative flag used in Sydney, 1901, as part of Australian Federation celebrations. Australian nationhood and national identity were formed around Federation. Wikimedia Commons”:–The Conversation
2023. The Great Australian Silence | NITV The Point | John Paul Janke & Narelda Jacobs (August 2023). “To walk to a future that is just and equitable to all, we must examine the past; the good, the bad and [even] the [very] ugly.”:–John Maynard
“One way to tell the story of antinatalism is to say that it begins with the beginning of the world, or with the beginning as it is described by most major belief systems—with the creation of a universe that contains misery, and whose inhabitants eagerly await their chance to be released from it, to rest in the arms of the divine, to transcend the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Pratima Naik, one of the founders of Childfree India, a support group of sorts for antinatalists in the country, told me that she was drawn to antinatalism in part by the Hindu and Buddhist satsangs she heard as a child, which suggested that “the main purpose of life is not to be happy” and “to come out of the cycle of birth and death.” (Schopenhauer was notably moved by both faiths, which he found told the story of existence not unlike he did.)
““I do not think that one should have children; I observe in the acquisition of children many risks and many griefs, whereas a harvest is rare, and even when it exists, it is thin and poor,” the Greek philosopher Democritus is supposed to have said. He thought people should adopt, as “one can take one child out of many who is according to one’s liking.” In The Childfree Christ, published in 2021, the Belgian antinatalist Théophile de Giraud argues that the Bible is an antinatalist text, a view emphatically held by Kierkegaard, who found it obvious that the Bible instructs the Christlike not to have kids. Jesus gave his followers lots of examples of how to be good in the world, but one thing he did not do was start a nuclear family. Instead, he collected a spiritual family, like that replicated in nunneries and monasteries.
“Some Christian sects—most famously, the Cathars, who were sentenced to death by Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century—later found cause to conclude that the Christly thing to do was not to procreate. “Better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun,” writes the author of Ecclesiastes. “May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived,’ ” says the miserable Job. Likewise, the Talmud has it that “it would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created.””:–Harper’s
“The knee-jerk response to observations like these is, “If life is so bad, why don’t you just kill yourself?” Benatar devotes a forty-three-page chapter to proving that death only exacerbates our problems. “Life is bad, but so is death,” he concludes. “Of course, life is not bad in every way. Neither is death bad in every way. However, both life and death are, in crucial respects, awful. Together, they constitute an existential vise—the wretched grip that enforces our predicament.” It’s better, he argues, not to enter into the predicament in the first place. People sometimes ask themselves whether life is worth living. Benatar thinks that it’s better to ask sub-questions: Is life worth continuing? (Yes, because death is bad.) Is life worth starting? (No.)”:–The New Yorker
“The ubiquity of local anti-abortion laws is all the more striking given equally ubiquitous polls showing that abortion in some form enjoys wide support, though the level varies according to the circumstances. Some 60 percent of Americans, for example, told Gallup that they support abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, a number that dropped to 28 percent regarding abortion in the second trimester. Many people do not understand the restrictions already in place where they live. In the twenty-two states currently enforcing abortion restrictions, 70 percent of those polled were either unaware or unsure that these measures were on the books.”:–Harper’s
“I’ve never wanted to be pregnant, and I’ve been pregnant three times. Each time I learned the news, my commitment to what I’d already known was confirmed viscerally and instantaneously—with the unshakable certainty of no. I say “no” often. I think “no” frequently. I am no stranger to “no.” But this refusal lived at a different depth. It saturated me. It constituted me like my lungs and my limbs and my mind. No, I do not want to be pregnant, I do not want to give birth, I do not want to have children. I wasn’t choosing because there…”:–Harper’s
“The dominant force in our lives is something we scarcely talk about as a force. It’s called consumerism.”
Consumerism Is The Stifling Of Our Moral Imaginations | George Monbiot
“It destroys our relationship to each other. Because when we commodify ourselves, we commodify other people as well. We start to think: what can they do for me rather than what’s it like to be with them. We start to monetise our relationships, even our relationships to the natural world. This whole natural capital agenda, which says, “Oh we won’t value things until we have put a price on them.” So, a primrose has to have a price. An elephant has to have a price on it. Otherwise, it’s not worth anything and we can’t account it. Everything becomes a consumable. It’s consumerism driven by the demands of capitalism, extends into every aspect of our lives, and the lives of those around us. It destroys our humanity. It destroys our place in society. It destroys our place in the present, in the past and in the future. It detaches us, it removes us, it objectifies us. It destroys our minds.”:–George Monbiot
What is the value of your lifestyle? Does it have a price? Is it called cost-of-living? What is the value of your life? Does it have a price on it? What is the price of a life lost to war? Is there value in that. Art Saves Lives. So does peace. Work for peace. Gerome Villarete, Secretary
[Image|Media Waking Up App]
Honesty by David Whyte, from Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment And Underlying Meaning Of Everyday Words
