Magic Mountain's Mr Magic
Leeton's Mr Magic seems worthy of a mention
I remember he entertained a birthday party for one of my kids soon after we arrived in town.
A
few years later and David Boyd was the sole remaining member of a
writing group and asked Western Riverina Arts to help with a
workshop to acquit funds.
There weren't many people at the event, aside from the Regional Arts Development Officer and myself.
David
was a bit critical about the content and the outcome, which I think
might explain how it was he ended up being the sole remaining member.
Later in my role as Communications Officer at WRA I wrote about Mr Magic's workshops, which were a wonderful initiative that aimed to help neurodivergent kids.
The
book details his childhood experiences of WWII and was interesting for
the somewhat dubious deals he made to support himself during those
chaotic years.
I'd need to re-read it to remind myself of the details, but the blurb on the back cover notes:
His childhood experiences gave him the ability of spotting a good business deal when one presented itself. Or to use his favorite [sic] term "A great little earner". But unlike his child hood earners, [sic?] these would all be legit.
After I read the book I
pestered David when I saw him with his dog at the local park, hoping
he'd let me proofread the second volume detailing his life after moving
to Australia.
Another funny detail to share is
that his home used to have a sign out front saying "The Boyd Nest" and
you couldn't help but read it with his English accent!
Lexical gaps
English is such a weird mash of languages that I expect some of the gaps are explained by their origins.
Giant duck?
Went for a walk at Narrandera's wetland this morning
I guess it must be a wood duck!
Now Stop
I was inspired by the idea the signage outside the Leeton Rice Mill could be a creative prompt.
It then surprised me to discover my idea coincided with my 500th video response to these Disquiet Junto projects.
Season of Cool
Great news to learn that our innovative international collaboration has been extended until 24 July
This project evolved from writing workshops into contemporary music composition and is illustrated with stellar photography.
The collaboration between Red Earth Ecology and Italian record label Naviar builds on previous projects led by Curator Jason Richardson, particularly the 'Crossing Streams' exhibition in Narrandera during 2017.
This group exhibition includes poems that were distributed with the Naviar Records community of musicians, where each inspired dozens of pieces of music linked via QR code, as well as sharing over a dozen other haiku contributed by writers attending the online workshops supported by Western Riverina Arts earlier this year.
Many of the
contributors are exhibiting for the first time and some, such as Wagga
Wagga's Anne Carpenter, are new to writing haiku poetry.
"I am now so aware of Haiku that my walks with my dog now consist of me
tapping my fingers against my leg or in the air as I count out the
syllables to describe the ever changing morning sky," said Ms Carpenter.
"It must look rather
funny to others out for their early morning walk. It has given me a new
perspective on what I see, hear and feel."
A
selection of poems were distributed by Naviar Records to a community of
musicians from around the world, who interpreted the words sonically.
"It was really emotional listening to the sound tracks
created in response to my haiku," said Capertee Valley-based artist Leanne Wicks.
"I knew it would be cool to participate
but there's something a whole lot deeper going on with this
cross-creative collaboration."
An album of music from the Stay Cool project is available to download at https://naviarrecords.
"It is wonderful to be part of an exhibition in Griffith," said Marco Sebastiano Alessi from Treviso in Italy.
"I
hear the city is known for its multiculturalism, so an exhibition of
Japanese-style poetry that brings together people from around the world
should be right at home."
Stay Cool will exhibit from 25 April to 24 July at Artspace at the Griffith Regional Theatre,
The
project has been supported by Griffith Regional Art Gallery, as well as
financial assistance from the NSW Government through Western Riverina
Arts and Create NSW
Capcha snap
One of the things that I don't miss is completing these tasks every time I logged in.
Let's go algae
Obviously there's a political context for North Americans, but I really like the idea of celebrating microorganisms.
Currently I'm back into milk kefir, for example, and previously I've been keen to celebrate the local cryptogamic crust.
Dreams are wild
Been a while since I wrote about a dream and my partner thought this one was significant
I was at some sort of a corroboree, where First Nations men were
bringing food from a shipwreck in a river nestled in a lush, tree-filled valley and that included hot pizza.
When we
sat down to eat in a big venue, it was clear that I was attending with
people I knew from work and saw Ray from the gallery while I was eating prawns.
An older man sat down, seemed to be my manager and he said he was sorry
about the death of my father and how they didn't know what killed him.
I
still had a mouth full of food and he said he'd come back later to talk
about something important.
Later I realised this manager figure looked a lot like my paternal grandfather.
Jo saw this as a
healing dream, where I was supported by male ancestors in a process that
was still occurring through the nourishing quality of eating.
She asked
me to reflect on the role of prawns and, since they were being served
by Ray, and I assume it is a symbol for my creative practices.
I have been thinking lately on how few men engage with the arts and how my guitar-building project could be a way to interest more of a male audience.
The location
of the river with the shipwreck seemed to be the wilder landscape in a
section of the dream from the night before, which was a journey between Sydney and Bega.
Interesting to me is that my grandfather's coast house, where I spent time through my childhood, is in that stretch of the landscape.
Potato
Half a potato is a serve of vegetables
Easy to cook in a microwave but obviously sublime when roasted.
Cheap too, only $6 for 2.5kg at my local supermarket.
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