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She stood and listened. It was here, she said. Right here. No-one heard anything at all, or knew how she could tell anything through her ears. A dog barked some way off. Was that a clue? Did she hear it then, judging distance and depth of field in sound with remarkable alacrity? Or was she just mad? Who wouldn’t be, after all this, someone thought. A bubble of consternation hung... Continue Reading
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Wrote this piece for The National Times, but they held it then spiked it. Happening a few times lately and it’s pretty friggin’ annoying. However, for readers of this blog – all 6 of you – here’s the dubious benefits of my pondering on the carbon emission trading scheme (don’t call it a tax…) Most of the bleating about price hikes after July 1 is generated by those very people... Continue Reading
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This is a bit of a thinly veiled doco by al Jazeera to hone in on the “Nakba” (The Catstrophe) which Palestinians call the establishment of the Israeli state in 1947. While the central line of it wavers a little, it does show that librarians can be soldiers of sorts too and that cultural heritage, as expressed through the books held by a generation, are valued and that their theft... Continue Reading
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Mass at the Igreja Evanglelica church invokes Mark 3:25 and its warnings about nations divided, and ends with a prayer for peace and guidance. The congregation murmurs its assent and heads out blinking into the penetrating late-morning light of Dili. With parliamentary elections scheduled for 7 July, the preacher’s thoughts of a safe future weigh extra heavy on all. Big decisions are about to made in this tiny, poverty-stricken, half island country... Continue Reading
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This is a beautiful speech by one of my heroines, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Lady finally made it to Oslo and delivered her Nobel Peace Prize oration, some 12 years late. Better late than never and she’s clearly in fine form. The bit about not wanting to be forgotten is particularly poignant. I was on the border between Somalia and Kenya about 5 years ago as a travelling... Continue Reading
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With another presidential election year upon us, the workings of the vast political machinery once again revs the engine and surges forward. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney figuratively stand upon rather rickety, jerry-rigged party platforms, funded and constructed by hordes of supporters and cotravelers in an effort not only to promote their man, but also to forward the ideals that each man purports to stand for. These ideals are, more... Continue Reading
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I’m told this ran in Saturday’s Courier Mail and the Daily Telegraph. Didn’t catch it myself and can’t get an online copy, so here’s my copy. THE WATCH BY JOYDEEP ROY-BHATTACHARYA VINTAGE FICTION – WAR 2012 RRP $32.95 Nothing much changes in war. Its cruel inhumanities and soaring nobility has inspired writers through the generations to question the human condition and to ponder our future as a species... Continue Reading
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