Monday, 2 August 2021

Monday August 2, 2021



 Time in nature... is life in nature. And life without nature is not a life.

Yesterday afternoon the sun on the swollen river and on my face took my breath away.

I stopped to feel the sun on my face and it gave me goosebumps. I realised recently that a good day is when you have that feeling of awe that gives you goosebumps and it has become my bare minimum. If I can harness that feeling most days, everything else seems rather insignificant.



I was only going to walk for half an hour  - had shopping to do - but once I arrived at this bend on the river and saw the bursting, yellow wattle blossom I couldn't turn back.

The one-hour walk of the Scenic Drive in Echuca is magical at any time of year. But late winter, early spring delivers the most when it comes to beauty and awe. The fresh, coolness from the damp ground after many weeks of rain coupled with luminous green grass and bright yellow wattle that smells like the bees... is there anything better?





Friday, 4 November 2016

Festival wrap - part media release, part feature story...

Writers’ Festival celebrates 10th birthday with the ‘unsettling’

The 10th Write Around the Murray Writers’ Festival was held on the weekend, showcasing 30 acclaimed authors and poets and musicians for general lovers of writing and reading from across the state.

Located in the cultural heart, and revamped arts precinct, of Albury-Wodonga, Write Around the Murray is a big-hearted festival that offers something for everyone: young, old, writer, reader, muso, or uni student.

The theme of this year’s festival Unsettling The Story – Memories and Imagination had the presence of a beating heart through every aspect of this very personal and intimate five-day event.

Big-time political journalist Barrie Cassidy set proceedings off with a bang on the first evening, discussing his memoir Private Bill – the remarkable story of a long-lost brother and heartbreaking secret his mother kept for 50 years. As well as being entertained with Cassidy’s full armoury of political tales and intriguing insight – he thinks Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership is in trouble – the audience was also treated with an incredible personal story that Cassidy (with permission from his family) felt compelled to tell. For a journalist, who started out as a cadet with Albury Wodonga’s Border Mail, getting to the truth appeared to be Cassidy’s greatest motivation, regardless of unpopularity or political consequence. Cassidy is certainly not afraid to ‘unsettle’ if it means getting to the truth. His honest account of both his personal family story and high-flying days as media advisor to Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and regularly rubbing shoulders with political powerbrokers as host of ABC TV’s Insiders, was both humble and insightful.

As a Bachelor of Arts student with La Trobe University student I, and a collection of other students, attended the festival for the Writers In Action program. This fabulous program provides an insider’s look into a writers’ festival and back stage access to authors and festival organisers.
At times this ‘outside your comfort zone’ experience was unsettling and true to the festival theme.
Early on the Thursday morning the ‘unsettling’ theme came to the fore during the curator’s Talk at the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA).
What I learnt from the curator's tour at MAMA, despite not being an art fashionado of any description, was the importance of storytelling - regardless of the medium. I was able to appreciate the collection of works in the Unsettling exhibition at MAMA in terms of narrative and the story behind the story.
Much of the art on display carried a strong theme of interpreted ‘unsettling’ and I found some of them difficult to admire for this reason.
Art, like great storytelling, means different things to the viewer and can be interpreted by our knowledge, our backgrounds and personal experiences. This session was a great example of the breadth of the Writers in Action experience, for which I was extremely grateful.

Solo Monologues, held at Wodonga’s Butter Factory Theatre, was a delightful couple of hours on Thursday evening where local performers read other people’s work.
The variety and talent – many of them students – who performed the stories was incredible and subject matter varied from crazy bus trips to the big question of ‘who am I?’ and the trappings of extending life.
This evening was another great example of storytelling through another medium and many of the monologues were personal and moving – and some quite unsettling. The artists filled the monologues with personality and emotion and it was a delight. This event was another first for me and it took me to a place of insight and storytelling where I had not been before.

‘Unsettling’ was again on the agenda for the Mother Lode panel, hosted by our talented La Trobe lecturer Dr Sue Gillett on Friday evening. Discussing their memoirs, Biff Ward, Helena Pastor and Benjamin Law delved into sharing their family stories (and secrets) and the associated joys and challenges.
Biff’s memoir discussed growing up with a mother who suffered from severe schitzopheana. She described how “she did 23 years of therapy and them wrote her book” and how she “wrote the book because she had to”.
She also described how “memory (and memoir) is a form of grief,” and how humour can help in this process.
The incomparable Benjamin Law discussed when writing his memoir about his eccentric Chinese-Australian family how he “wrote with the door closed and edited with the door open,” when considering what to leave of his memoir.
Helena Pastor wrote about her challenges with one of her sons and the pain and relief it had given her. She urged writers to “write your emotional truth as it’s what makes the story powerful”.
When discussing the problematic scenario of writing about family members, Helena suggested, “to pretend that everyone you’re writing about is dead”.

Probably the highlight for me during the festival was the Stereo Stories – A Song. A Place. A Time.
This incredible evening encompassed music and memoir, narrative, story and song – and delightful live music.
As described by Director of the Newport Folk Festival, Michael Stewart “Stereo Stories has emerged from a melting pot of writers and musicians to become one of the most interesting ways for people to enjoy, understand, and connect with the live performance of songs that have been pivotal in people’s lives”.
Billed on the program as an ‘evening to enjoy a superb night of storytelling and song as you drink, feast and chat with friends and festival guests’ Stereo Stories didn’t disappoint. The stories were poignant, moving, emotional, funny, often tragic and insightful.
The story and song of the night, for me, was the hilarious and very talented writer Anson Cameron, who had been one of our author mentors across the weekend. Anson had been open, honest and frank during the time we had spent with him, and very entertaining. However when he revisited a story about offending a friend in his regular column in the Age, Anson referred to this chapter in his life as ‘the death of a friend’ and the memory of him being his ‘new album’ friend or ‘new book’ friend: the guy you call when you hear a new song on the radio. This stereo story was moving and emotional and provided a window into the devastation this ‘loss’ of his friendship had delivered. It was truly unsettling and gave an insight into the challenges and potential damage of writing from the heart about the people you love.

The entire experience of Writers In Action was like being in a reading and writing bubble and was akin to falling down the long rabbit hole of literary learning. And by the end of the weekend I felt closer to being a writer than ever before. The world of writers seemed a little less foreign and more within reach than it did beforehand.

During my experience I wrote down an array of quotes and themes that were touched on, including:

Quotable quotes from the festival:

Anson Cameron:

“I write on trust and that a story will appear in front of me… let your writing effect you.”

“Everyone’s life is as valid as someone else’s when is comes to writing memoir.”

“You owe a debt of truth to the people in your memoir – and dignity.”

“You have to choose a ‘self’ to write about.”

On memory: “The writing of the event becomes the memory.”

On persistence with your writing: “Fire enough shots so you eventually hit the target.”

“Humour is a variety of wisdom.”

Benjamin Law:

“To see the world differently is a good prerequisite for being a writer.”

On humour: “If you’re going to tell someone the truth, make them laugh.”

Jen McDonald:

“The less you tell the reader the more they want to read on.”

Deborah Oswald:

“I pummel my characters into a terrible place and then I do my best for them.”

“I love the joy in creating a character that readers don’t like and the relish of turning this around.”

“I love character and I also love story, and the power of a moment in a plot.”

“Enjoy the process of writing and don’t worry about the outcome, otherwise it leads to madness.”


Themes from the festival:
·      The unsettling
·      Identity
·      Stereotypes
·      Memoir
·      Memory
·      Creativity
·      Music and words
·      Character
·      Being human and having flaws
·      The power of the story





Thursday, 8 September 2016

Curator's talk at WAMA...

What I learnt from the curator's tour at Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), despite not being an art fashionado of any description, was the importance of storytelling - regardless of the medium. I was able to appreciate the collection of works in the Unsettling exhibition at MAMA in terms of narrative and the story inside the story.
Art, like great storytelling, means different things to the viewer and can be interpreted by our knowledge, our backgrounds and personal experiences.
This session is a great example of the breadth of the Writers in Action experience, for which I am extremely grateful.

Bill Henson image, featured as part of the Unsettling exhibition

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

Writers in Action - Barrie Cassidy

Barrie Cassidy with ABC radio presenter Gaye Pattison
I've just come from my very first event of Write Around the Murray (Albury Writers' Festival), and what a treat it was.
The undisputed doyen of Australian political journalism, Barrie Cassidy, was live in conversation with local ABC radio presenter Gaye Pattison and it was an absolute gift. 
Not only did Barrie spill the beans on his almost 40-year career as a political journalist (with a stint as press secretary for Bob Hawke - no less) but he also shared his incredible family story of a long-lost sibling - a secret his mother kept for 50 years. 
Barrie was generous in revealing the pain of his mother and father's story and spoke with compassion and integrity about how this affected his family. He also shared that all-too-familiar story of attempting to draw out a father's (or mother's) harrowing war-time experience and then deciding what do with this knowledge. As journalist he felt compelled to document this story and his sensitivity and emotional awareness during this process with his family was heart warming to hear.

The conversation then turned its attention to politics and Barrie ramped things up, with a sparkle in his eye, when discussing the politics of the day and thrived on questions regarding the intricacies of the political world he knows oh so well.
It veered from his humble beginnings as a political scribe in Melbourne, to taking a job with the prime minister because he 'liked him as a person', to the Age of Entitlement debate - with a scoop thrown in about the just-in news of disgraced Labour front bencher, Sam Dastyari handing in his resignation. Once a journo, always a journo!

Barrie described himself as a bridge builder when it came to his career and appears unstained by the often-dirty world of politics.
He gave a few pollies a good kicking, but without venom and spoke in truths about hard-working politicians with high values and morals, and the greedy ones who let the stupid, little things trip them up.
He spoke with sadness about the daily-event politics of the day and on his conscious (and very pleasing) decision to base himself in Melbourne and not in Canberra - away from it all.

Regardless of your political views or where you stand when it comes to the Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin scenario or Malcolm Turnbull's destiny, listening to Barrie Cassidy was like taking a very pleasant walk in the park, accompanied by a few moments of reflection and more than a couple of good-sized belly laughs, thanks to Christopher Pyne and his colleagues! 

Thanks Barrie, what a way to start Write Around the Murray - I hope you'll be back next year.


Love a good Writers' Festival?

Love a good Writers' Festival?





Tuesday, 26 May 2015

How to stay comfortable when travelling, without the comforts of home...

To stay comfortable, and sane, while travelling with a family of five there's a few simple strategies to maximise enjoyment and not 'lose your shit' in the process.

1. Stay calm...
Even though I'm a relatively-regular meditator I've been cramming extra meditation sessions over the past two weeks to ensure when we're in the thick of things, and the taxi we ordered to the airport has not turned up, I will hopefully not lose my shit. 
That's the beauty of mediation. You don't really recognise the good it does until you're in a pressure cooker environment and when you'd normally lose it, you actually keep it together.

2. Be patient, and kind - to yourself and those around you...
Being patient, especially with over-tired children who are way outside their familiar environment - it's tough for them.
If you're a long-time lover of travel (like I am) you will relish the challenges of travelling overseas: the hustle and bustle of airports, the adventures of finding your way (or not) and unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and tastes. However, you must remember your 11, nine and six-year-old might not appreciate a good dose of 'culture shock'. Go easy on them, let them sleep when they need it (even if it's 11am) and be aware that your might have to tolerate some pretty 'out there' behavior from some pretty tired kids. Also let them eat, anything (within reason) anytime, because when we're hungry, we are grumpy. And listen to their questions (even when you're too tired to listen), explain the things they see and teach them different isn't always a bad thing. The world is full of different and interesting - that's why we should explore it!

3. Don't do everything...
We are currently in San Diego - a gorgeous city; very much like Perth, Australia - it's 10.45am and we're waiting for our children to wake up. I've been up since around 7am after a great night's sleep, done some yoga, made some coffee, enjoyed a light breakfast and I'm keen to explore.
The urge to wake our children is a strong one, however, my husband, keeps reminding me about their two days sans sleep.
There is so much to see and do here - Sea World, Lego World, a world-famous zoo - however the idea of coming here was to catch up with a childhood friend of mine and chill out... recover.
Yesterday our girls played in the surf while I rested on the beach - resisting the urge to fall asleep. It was just what we all needed.

Sometimes even when there's a world of things to do and see, you just need to chill and recover for the next leg of your adventure.  
I consider all of this as I eat my second breakfast of eat avocado and vegemite on toast and impatiently wait for our bloody kids to wake up!

Catch you soon, 

Christy xo






Monday, 25 May 2015

We're finally here...

Wow - one whole day (two by the clock) and we've made it here to the USA with our family of five! Everyone coped pretty well, relatively speaking, and we are now recuperating in a quaint little cottage by the beach in chilled-out San Diego - something I would certainly recommend for a family after a grueling day traveling: time to recover and chill...