Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother,
Mother and Wife of German Descent
I've lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com
The air temperature was 5 degrees and the water about 11, but that did not stop about 2,000 swimmers from plunging naked into Hobart’s River Derwent to celebrate the passing of the longest night.
Key points:
The River Derwent plunge started at sunrise — 7:42am
The event is held to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice, or longest night
It marks the end of the 2022 Dark Mofo festival
The annual Dark Mofo nude solstice swim is billed as offering “renewal and resurrection” to those willing to strip off outdoors during a Tasmanian winter.
But it may have left some with more of an ice cream headache.
One participant braced for the cold by planning the best technique for the brief dip.
“I think in and out, head down, bum up,” she said.
“Or maybe bum down, head up.”
Another swimmer’s philosophy was “feel the fear and do it anyway”.
Participants gathered before first light, huddling in coats and towels before dropping their kit and running into the water en masse.
Temperley Eva and Stephanie Plain met at the Dark Mofo festival and did the nude swim together.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Cairns resident Temperley Eva said it was the perfect way to end the festival.
However, the chilly water was a new experience.
“Cairns does not have cold water at all … you can’t have a cold shower, it’s lukewarm at best.”
Kerry Watson and Colin Sandbach loved the physical challenge and the camaraderie.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
New South Wales tourists Kerry Watson and Colin Sandbach joined the swim after an internet search of the best winter activities on a trip to Tasmania.
Kerry enjoyed challenging her body and stepping outside her comfort zone.
“I’m not comfortable with being naked amongst other people but it didn’t matter,” she said.
“I think I was the last one out and it was just invigorating and youthful and I don’t want to be old before my time.”
Colin loved the atmosphere and camaraderie.
“Everyone’s in a great frame of mind it’s just like a real party,” he said.
Nude swim manager Gemma Chisholm said the swim’s popularity had grown and many people had to be turned away, with tickets selling out two days after going on sale.
Swimmers celebrate the longest night being behind them for another year.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
A two-day conference to be held at Queen Mary, University of London, 21-22 February 2024
Keynote by Professor Raewyn Connell
Deadline for abstracts: Monday 4 September 2023
Masculinity needs changing. As a manifestation of patriarchy, a predictor of violence, and a straight-jacket of identity, masculinity is widely identified as a culprit and symptom: problematic, traditional, ‘hyper’ and toxic. In response a loose network of feminists and allies, public health professionals, scholar-activists, social workers, civil society groups, international organisations and military and police forces have sought to reform masculinity for the better. Their efforts range from positive fatherhood campaigns to counter-terrorism measures, and from religious role models to queer theory. ‘Masculinity’ as a concept and configuration of practices is at the same time undergoing another round of crisis and change, split along axes of class, nation, racialisation, sexuality, gender identity and culture, torn between projects of restoration and abolition.
CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and Lead Convener of the Coalition of Peaks, Pat Turner says NAIDOC Week 2022 calls upon us to Get Up, Stand Up and Show Up, which can be tough! But as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we know how important it is.
From the Film Australia Collection 1998. Made by Film Australia. Directed by Robin Hughes. In a life of exceptional achievement, Charles Perkins, soccer star, university graduate, Aboriginal activist and Canberra bureaucrat, has often been in strife. In this interview he gives his own account of the personal experiences that fueled his great anger against white injustice and his determination to fight for Aboriginal rights. Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons.
In this first of a series of Canadian Patriot short films debunking anti-China Psyops, we ask the question ‘Is there actual evidence that secret Chinese Police Stations have been set up around the world as part of a Communist subversion of western freedom? This film will evaluate whether the single source used to justify this claim (a Spain-based human rights group called Safeguard Defenders) actually proves its accusations, and what actually controls it?
Stay tuned for future videos in this series which will investigate claims of Chinese election interference in Canada, Russian interference in the USA, Chinese spy balloon attacks, and more.
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
by Kelly Coynce and Eric Knutzen
Process (2010)
Book Review
This book sees three possible options for the future of industrialized society:
More of the same: a ruling elite with access to organic food and solar panels, with ordinary people eating heavily processed foods and being defined as “consumers” rather than citizens.
An apocalypse – driven mainly by resource shortages, civilization collapses
A shift in consciousness – a new urban agriculture arises, with people relying on their neighbors and community building rather than big tech.
The Urban Homestead offers an extremely comprehensive survival guide for all three of these options. The authors point out how citizens of Shanghai already produce 85% of their veggies within the city and how Cuban city dwellers produce half the fresh fruits and vegetables they consume.
Here’s a 2017 video of Meadows musing over his hopes that the coming inevitable genocide of 86% of the world population could be accomplished peacefully under a “benevolent” dictatorship. He said:
“We could [ ] have eight or nine billion, probably, if we have a very strong dictatorship which is smart … and [people have] a low standard of living … But we want to have freedom and we want to have a high standard of living so we’re going to have a billion people. And we’re now at seven…
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
AuntyUta 