How are we?

I’ve been thinking about lots of things, so this is a slightly stream-of-consciousness post.

How a sincere compliment can make someone’s day. 😁

I’m currently eagerly listening to a podcast called 13 Minutes to the Moon, which tracks the USA’s space race journey over thirteen episodes. 🌕

I am a bit of an astronomer – I love the stars, the moon, space. If it were safer and personally cheaper, I’d love to see the Earth from space (which is what the current episode is about.) We exist in a vast universe, which leaves me full of wonder. Including the little things here on Earth too. 🌏

I hope we continue to experience these wonders for years… though that does depend on action being taken against the bad things, like climate change. This leads to thoughts of what-ifs which are sometimes scary, because even if us little consumers do everything we individually can (which varies person-to-person), real action (not tokenism!) still needs to be taken by governments and major polluters. What will it take for the latter to be more concerned about changing for the better than preserving the current status quo? Bah humbug. 😠

My mind returns to other matters: all I can do is raise my voice and live my life as best I can, doing what I can. That includes being a part of the future through my work and communities – choir, church, online groups, friends. 😌

Spread love and do what you can. 💜

#WearItPurple

All-purple outfit today! #WearItPurple is a day to celebrate LGBTQIA+ diversity, and “To foster supportive, safe and accepting environments for rainbow young people.” See more at the Wear It Purple website.

The 2018 theme is Empower Together. Wear it proud, people!

I’m happy; I can now say that I’ve finished the project. Just a few little things to tie off before my holiday next week beckons.

Take care of yourselves this weekend!

Musings

Well I’ve had a nice little break and today I dive back into the uni world of classes and assignments for a six week block.

The rest of the year is falling into place in some ways – I know where I’m going on my last two placements, for example. This leads to excitement: as one student coordinator (who’s known me since second year) said to me recently, I’m only six months away from finishing uni and qualifying as an occupational therapist! It also leads to a few nerves now and again: six months until I’m trying to find work, and new accommodation, and and and…

So I put the breaks on that, focus on what I have now and what I’ve achieved so far, and remember to have gentle confidence in myself. What happens will happen. Until it does, I’ll take contentment where I can, and enjoy the nice things along the way. Like watching Moana last Friday night with friends at a choir singalong social evening. And cooking lovely things like last night’s dinner: a lentil bolognese dish I adapted from Cooking on a Bookstrap. Follow the link to see the recipe – and pre-order their cook book, due out in August. I’m sorely tempted to get it myself with some gift money I got recently!

Time flies

Well, I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks. But maybe I’ll get back into a rhythm now.

I had a nice Easter weekend which was a blend of old and new traditions. Including family, food, drink, and nature. Oh and some solid driving practice.

Placement finished last Friday. I’m truly thankful for the experience.

Now I have no uni for two weeks, to refresh and reflect.

Here are some of the things I’ve been getting up to lately:

Captioning these images doesn’t appear to be working on my mobile, so here are some descriptions:

A horse and ferns spotted on a bushwalk; the board describing of the trail we used; a disused rail bridge with and without a makeshift light filter (person’s hand sufficed). The over-bright shot made me think of the idea of a “voice from the heavens”.

Next are ducks and their lake; then a dinner – chicken drumsticks, boiled potato and veggies; followed by a shot of birds (lorikeets I think) in the flowering shrubs.

A menu from the Abbey Road café in St Kilda; a shot of the water there; and a view of Melbourne city as we went back over a bridge on Punt Road.

A salad I made for a lunch get together yesterday (cherry tomatoes, carrot, capsicum, cooked kale, with couscous); two crimson rosellas in ferns munching; a shot of some level crossing removal works happening near me; followed by indigenous flora in a nature preserve.

Finally, two birds having an argument on my window; before chicken schnitzel, noodles and steamed veggies for dinner.

Have a pleasant evening, all.

Three Years Ago: WGS

Three years ago today, I shaved off my shoulder blade-length hair to a number 3 cut, in order to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation, while challenging myself a bit. I’d never had hair shorter than my shoulders since primary school. You know what, though? Since the shave, it hasn’t grown very far past my chin before getting chopped back!

The “World’s Greatest Shave” is an annual event. Why not pop over to the website and see if you can sponsor a few people?

That is, if you’re not doing it yourself… 😉

Apparently, this year is the event’s 20th birthday.

Reblog: IWD

After I published yesterday’s post, I realised that I could have posted something a bit more directly relevant to March 8th, International Women’s Day.

My day consisted of doing placement duties driving around and sitting in offices, as well as a gym session followed by dinner with friends. In the car when we were driving around, I made sure the radio was tuned to Triple J. Every year they celebrate International Women’s Day by having “Girls to the Front”, highlighting female artists and presenters all day. 😊

I also read this piece by Carly Findlay, appearance diversity activist and friend, highlighting eight disabled women (and one non-binary person) to follow on social media.

http://carlyfindlay.com.au/2018/03/08/eight-disabled-women-and-one-non-binary-person-you-should-know-this-international-womens-day/

Quote from Carly, introducing the piece: “Happy International Women’s Day!

May your mental load be reduced, manteruptions be kept to a minimum and your voices be heard.

This year’s themes are “No Woman Left Behind” and “Press For Progress“. Disabled women are often forgotten in discussions about diversity and violence and media and women in general. So I’m going to let you know of a few who you need to follow.”

Reflections from the past two weeks…

It’s been a good week for me. The second week of placement.

A good week in the sense that I’ve learnt and am learning lots, and I feel I’m growing too.

My placement is in mental health services and it’s really interesting. I’ve been placed across two parts of the service: community and long-term inpatient. (Those are layperson’s terms for the areas; they have more formal names.)

The work I’m doing is challenging and rewarding. We do what we can do to help the clients engage in treatment, under a model of “least-restrictive practice”, using practice models like the recovery model and others. I’m supporting seriously unwell people, advocating for them and above all, doing my best to keep them safe. They’re really vulnerable because they’re unwell. At higher risk of being a victim of violence and other trauma than they are of being a perpetrator.

It’s challenging; figuring out how to engage with and build rapport with clients, trying to prevent them from coming to harm, supporting their over-stretched families and support networks, as well as dealing with the bureaucracy of funding and resources.

Some days and moments are really hard. This role teaches you about boundaries and self-care, because you can only do good work if you’re taking care of yourself.

You have to become really good at reading someone’s mental state and analysing their risks, which is a skill that develops and is honed over time. But you can only do what you can, as best you can. After a certain point, it’s not up to us but to the clients. We’re working with real people, after all.

That’s what makes it so rewarding. Real people, real personalities. Real stories. It’s things like making the time to start a conversation, finding out what interests them, inviting them to activities you think they’ll enjoy. Taking pleasure in observing positive changes, even small ones, and creating space when people need to talk about things that matter. Advocating for them, while helping them (re)develop skills including the tools for self-advocacy. And more besides.

The next six weeks, like these past two, will be challenging and rewarding. I know I will keep learning and I hope I give something back, too.

In my current mood, this comic panel about life, by Awkward Yeti, speaks to me. Especially the last panel.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

#PostYourYes

Aussies, have you sent back your survey yet? 

Times are pretty tough for LGBTIQA+ people right now. There’ve been quite a few nasty attacks. This whole survey is in a way an attack because why should everyone have the right to decide on the validity of the relationships of a few? … If you were inconvenienced by a text message on the weekend, maybe have a think about that, ey? 

Anyway, here’s a brilliant (polite) video, directed at those who are considering voting no. If you are one of those, please watch and think before you do. 

Also, see this: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/logically-theres-only-one-good-reason-for-voting-no-20170922-gymr7n.html 

Just… think about it, please? 

I – and my funky-toe socks – am a yes. I posted my yes within 12 hours of collecting the survey (filled it out minutes after receiving). Go do that.  

Then watch this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3FkwaMGpnrg

So proud of all of those who made it!  Beautiful. ❤ 

Who Really Inhabits the Refugee Activism Space?

Every day, it seems, there are things going on in the world that are just plain awful. I glance at them and pick a few to get properly worked up about. Then I take action about those things in some way – like going to the Palm Sunday rally. It was blooming cold and a little wet, though luckily most of the wet had occurred the day before. Still, there was plenty of people there – some reports said 5,000. We listened to the speakers – of different faiths and backgrounds, young and old, male and female – give witness to the truths as they saw them. Including one articulate woman, Idil Ali, who had the courage to speak truths to the power of a dominant force in the refugee movement, the Action Collective. She’s part of RISE – Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees, a group that is run by refugees, for refugees. Why aren’t they more mainstream I wonder? Is it because they don’t quite fit the narrative that other “mainstream” activist groups want to send?

See video here: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRefugeesSurvivorsAndExdetainees%2Fvideos%2F1613517298688403%2F&show_text=1&width=560

At all of these rallies, the dominant presence are the loud, sometimes confrontational, people from the Refugee Action Collective or Network. There are other groups too – I need to do some investigation at some point into how the groups are connected.

In the lead-up to Sunday’s rally there was some friction – as mentioned in the video I think. It’s reminded me that we all need to be critical thinkers as activists, to make sure that the cause we’re fighting for is what we really think it should be.

I have a little motto for these things that I was given last year after hearing from a good speaker. Solidary and allyship, three bits of advice = 1. don’t be a dickhead – it’s their space/agenda/issue, not “yours”; 2. respect the main people affected by l-i-s-t-e-n-ing and following their lead in actions; 3. remember that issues are all connected (i.e. climate change issues are connected to refugee issues are connected to land rights issues and so on). Or, as RISE say, “Nothing About Us Without Us”.

A failure to listen properly has caused hurt here. But if that’s acknowledged and the wake-up call is heeded, things can improve.

There were some really good messages during the speeches. A moment that touched me was when one speaker asked us all to make hearts with our hands as she took a photo to send back to Nauru, to show those waiting in limbo that we’re still here, still pushing for change, still wanting to bring them here with us. Pressure is key – things are shifting. we can keep building momentum. Four years in limbo is far too long – let’s create change.

 

 

Palm Sunday Refugee Walk for Justice

Taken from the Walk for Refugees 2017’s profile picture

This event is occurring this Sunday. I’m excited – it’ll be the first time I’m able to attend. (Meant to go last year, but the knee intervened…)

I saw this photo up at my uni the other day.

#LetThemStay poster at uni – on one of the health student discipline-specific noticeboards. Way to go!

It made me happy. A bunch of my friends – including some who did the #LetThemStay group shot with me last year (well, the same student club) – are going along to Sunday’s rally.

There are rallies across Australia:

Palm Sunday Rally 2017 details.

 

 

(Source: Catholic Religious Australia)

I’m going to the Melbourne one and I”m really pleased that some issues regarding solidarity – doing these events with refugees, not for or to them – appear to have largely been resolved. See the link below/.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FDemocracyInColour%2Fposts%2F1902309170026451&width=500

See if there’s a rally near you and come along!