Take local politics seriously!

VOTE 1

THE HOMELESS GUY BUM

(erratum... My apologies to Trev and to Kevin The Homelss Guy. Trev's campaign banner names him as The Homeless Bum, The Homeless Guy is another person completely)

I read in the paper that people think, Trev is making a joke out of the serious business of local politics....


SERIOUSLY!

See you at the poling booth!

STOLEN FUTURES Legislation

Recently the country didn't hear much about the new 'Stronger Futures' legislation brought down on Indigenous Territorians by Jenny Macklin.
You didn't hear much about it but that doesn't mean nobody's been talking! The problem is nobody's listening and even if they wanted to nobody's reporting it!
There's a tacit understanding amongst those who are aware of what's going on here and they'll tell you about it if you're interested.... If you're interested!

They'll tell you about "That Other Agenda".

....THAT'S RIGHT Winston!  "That Other Agenda!" We all know what it is... deep down we know!

Here's just one man speaking clearly... If you listen carefully to Mr Jeff McMullen you may hear something about us that you may not like.... The message is simple and clear and is being spoken loudly all around us. It may not be broadcast widely through your usual media sources... but they have another job to do!



"Walk With Us" book launch Sydney - p3: Jeff McMullen from 'concerned Australians' on Vimeo.

Gutfull

I've had a GUTFULLl!

Ego driven, Progressive Spiritual porn.
Superficial 'community connectivity...' Crap!
  Talk, Jargon, gossip!
Trading in words, starved of deeds,
TALK, Chatter, pretentious fulfillment of self... but the others....?
Social networkings, personal elevators to fame....
 farther than your footsteps, louder than your own voice...
Power...
Doors thrown open to snake oil peddlers,
 Sham mongers line up!
 you have arrived!
Flatterers and shit talkers, welcome!
  self appointed, gurus come gather ye here...
This wholesome space is here for you...
  Make the right sounds and join the chorus...
Ride on over on your bike and taste the crap... we serve it steaming!

We'll Re-Brand all your favorite feelings and sell em back.




No apologies for the scrambled eggs!

Crazy life in a plane. Hop on in one world... Hop off in another!

I am struggling to find authenticity in my life and The World around me. Over the past few years I've been engaged in various community activities, events, happenings and groups. I have attempted participate and failed dismally. The more I search the closer I get to meaningless... and it seems like the volume is increasing. My own attempts at original thought have only resulted in crude mimicry or replication of the shadows of ideas I've heard or seen. I have deserted various 'societies' afraid that I might vomit if I have to hear myself mutter their jargon one more time... "GOD grant me the serenity!" The bondage of self is no fun! I can't bear to watch others go there too! Get me on that plane and don't let me off untill it reaches the moon!

I've chucked Bob Dylan on the computer music player... The songs I'm hearing don't match the play list! But the tunes are good! I'm on the right tracks. To Hell with the script! The commentary really is not relevant!

Visiting friends in the Heart

Just had a magic couple of days in Alice springs! I was there for work but did get a few moments to just enjoy the space! The desert is green, the air is clean and there were plenty of opportunities to sit and breathe it all in. Fortunately we stayed at a fantastic venue and the meals were catered for! We didn't have to shuttle people for accommodation to meeting sites either so there was plenty of time in between meetings, to just hang out!
We even got a surprise invitation to the opening of Hector Burton's art exhibition at the Hele Crescent gallery!
Unfortunately most of the photos were lost when the other camera was stolen from the  hire car at the hospital!    We Thought we'd lost our second camera but it turned up wedged behind one of the seats of the hire car... I haven't seen the photos yet... Hoping there were some decent ones in there!


Ben and Graham hanging out at Hele Cres...(attempted oldifying photo using basic rgb tools)

The place where we stayed is called Campfire in the Heart. It is a Christian Retreat and had some great facilities! Outdoor kitchens, 'Campfire', meetings spaces indoors and outside, an awesome little prayer room including an atrium which created the illusion of the Desert within the house. What I really enjoyed was the stone labyrinth which I was told is 1km long! I walked about a quarter of it before it was time to set up for the morning meeting... It really helped me centre myself before commencing the serious part of my work for the day.
David and Sue, who own the place catered for our lunches and dinner, which not only saved me a heap of work but was a higher standard than I could have managed between meetings! It was a great break for Ben and I who usually end up doing all the cooking as well as meeting duties.
Another great bonus was that David was happy to drive people around a bit! I'm sure I got a great shot of all the old men in the 35 year old kombi... but it was on the other camera! I'll search the other camera when I see it.
Apparently he has owned that van since it was new!
A few of the guys missed out on the show... claiming to have been to too many opening nights. We'll I haven't and I'm totally glad I did go. I was enthralled by the stories behind Hectors paintings and the Trees he painted really stirred me!



Labyrinth at Campfire in the Heart

I wish I'd had more time to just chill, there was definitely some special energy in the Centre this weekend. Full Moon too!
Unfortunately I could only stay for one night and had to return to Darwin at 5:30pm on Saturday. It was kind of a surreal flight home... I was tired and kind of drifting in and out of dream like imaginings.

P.S -
Here I was in an aeroplane again.... Now in the center of Australia, watching the Stuardess demonstrate how to fit the buoyancy vest in case of emergency and wondering what were the chances we'd crash land into the only visible body of water after take off... the Alice Springs sewerage ponds.... What a strange procedure!
Now I'm talking to a fella who tells me all about flying into remote mining camps and working shift for bucket loads of money, gold prospecting and safety training.... 
Now we're getting closer to Darwin and the sky turns dark..... darker... black... Lightening flashes and we're engulfed in darkness!
Now we're circling Darwin just a few ks from the tarmac waiting for a thunder storm to pass...
Now my feet are on the wet tarmac... smelling av gass and humidity... Now I'm hugging my wife and the kids are wrapped around my feet as I try to get my gear from the carouselle... Now I'm home...

Snyder, beat bums... and parrots

A few weeks ago I ordered one of my favorite documentary films, 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'.
I didn't realize but it's actually rated G which means the kids can watch it. They loved it just because of the parrots.. but there's more to the story. Anyway this post isn't all about the film so much but where it's lead me.

The film is set in San Francisco... the most interesting city in the US by far! (Well I haven't been to many but it is a cool place! and home to The Great Beat movement!) The film follows this fella Mark Bittner, who has lived the life of a 'Dharma bum' in inner San Francisco... Mark befriends and nurchures a growing flock of feral Conure parrots. It's really a lovely story about Mark, the birds, his relationship with the birds and his freestyle life, which I can't help admiring.

Anyway there's a bit in the film where Mark mentions the legendary Beat era and the heroes who created it... or at least featured in it's happening! In once scene is an image of a bookshop with a the cover of a Kerouac book, which set me off thinking some more about on the Road, Dharma Bums and wondering who were those other guys he used to hang out with?

It might seem a bit odd that it has taken me so long to find out about a bunch of fellas who had soared so high so long before I was born. The Beat Generation was a movement or an event that happened way back in the 50s! I remember watching cartoons in the 70s that had some funny stereotypes of Beatnik poets but I never really knew anything about them until a mate recommended I read 'On the Road'. That was more than 10 years ago.

I've since read a bunch of Kerouac's stuff. He really appealed to me and I identified with him straight away! Of course what he really represented to me was what I would have been if I'd completely cut loose rather than the reality of my actual life. Anyway I remember as I was reading Kerouac that I'd looked into the rest of the pack he used to muck around with. They each had their own unique style and talents, Ginsberg may have been really out there, but Snynder seemed to be coming from a far more informed place... Maybe why he didn't appeal to me immediately. They all had something special to offer but I was just too wrapped up in Jack's crazy Egotistical and probably immature world that I wasn't able to absorb what the others had to offer. Now that I think of it his books tended to put his own perspective as the pinnacle experience which may have sabotaged my impression of the others before even knowing who they were. He somehow managed to keep me enthralled and attached to his character above all the rest. Even at his worst.

Now I've finally found Gary Snyder and I'm wondering why has it taken me so long? (OK I know... I'm slow) It amazes me now, as I am getting older, that what seemed old and outdated to me as a kid growing up is now so appealing! When I saw those cartoon character Beatniks I thought they were an era of people who had well and truly passed. Like dinosaurs they must now be extinct... No way. Some of these guys are still with us and just as relevant as they were back then...

For a Stone Girl at Sanchi


half asleep on the cold grass
       night rain flicking the maples
under a black bowl upside-down
on a flat land
       on a wobbling speck
smaller than stars,
                space,
the size of a seed,
       hollow as bird skulls.
light flies across it
              –never is seen.

a big rock weatherd funny,
old tree trunks turnd stone,
       split rocks and find clams.
                all that time
loving;
two flesh persons changing,
       clung to, doorframes
       notions, spear-hafts
in a rubble of years.
                touching,
this dream pops. it was real:
       and it lasted forever.


                         Gary Snyder