“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” – James Thurber
The Latest
Alienation – Alien Nation
[This is the text of my Tim Costello Lecture, given on 18 September 2013. A number of people have asked me to put it online] I had a conversation with Tim Costello some years ago which significantly changed my way of seeing things. He told me of a time when...ON PRIVILEGE
ON PRIVILEGE [This essay was published in 2009 by Melbourne University Press as part of their series of essays on various subjects] I first saw privilege before I heard the word or learned its meaning. My father’s parents lived in an enormous house in Toorak. With a...Manus Island: What will it take to shock us?
Reports about what is happening on Manus Island are mixed. According to inside sources, hundreds of asylum seekers have been on a hunger strike, many have sewn their lips together, and tensions are high. According to the Department of Immigration, security levels have...A BIT ABOUT WORDS-Cutting Through
In an earlier essay I drew attention to several strange gaps in the Oxford English Dictionary. And I do mean the 20 volume work, with over 600,000 entries. Strange that there could be any gaps in it. But one of the gaps is philtrum. It is the vertical groove from the...A BIT ABOUT WORDS: Scrabble
Summer holidays open the way to all sorts of pastimes. Scrabble is a favourite family game, and it now infests the internet in the form of a game called Words with Friends. It is a seductive little app for the iPad, which looks like Scrabble, but has its bonus squares...Threatening our way of life
I have been criticised by several people I respect (and a few I do not respect) for a tweet last week in which I said “Sorry to see Andrew Bolt stirring up Islamophobia today on his blog. People like Bolt and Abbott are the real threat to our way of life” This has...Human Rights & Social Justice
- The National Pro Bono Resource Centre is an independent organisation that supports and promotes pro bono legal services in Australia.
- JusticeConnect: working to provide effective means for people and organisations in need to access justice
The Arts
Jewellery
- Kate Durham’s jewellery: a small sample
- Kate Durham exhibition of jewellery at fortyfive downstairs: Show ran from 17 Sept to 11 Oct
- A VIDEO showing some of Kate’s work and a few photos: here and here
Art, music and theatre
- what’s on at fortyfive downstairs (45 Flinders Lane Melbourne)
- Wolfgang Sievers photographs for sale
- Fine chamber music: Musica Viva Australia
- Look at this remarkable example of art in cut paper: truly amazing
Asylum Seekers
- Australian Human Rights Commission: Facts about asylum seekers and refugees
- Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre at UNSW: debunking myths about refugees
- New website: Compassion Without Borders
- And find various refugee support groups across Australia here
- Doctors for Refugees
