Create NSW needs a kick in the arts

Recently I learned that a number of regional galleries and three of NSW's regional art boards were unsuccessful in securing four-year funding from the state government through Create NSW

While Minister for the Arts John Graham has asked we wait for the two-year funding decisions to be finalised,  many of the organisations needing financial support will have already had their planning for the future disrupted.

This morning there's an interview being broadcast that I recorded with ABC Riverina yesterday, where I outlined some of the benefits of funding creativity.

There's data that shows Australians engage with the arts more than sport, although I think it's a bit of a false equivalence since both activities reflect our national culture. 

Many don't recognise culture, as it's like the joke about fish not knowing about water since we're surrounded by it every day.

One of my themes is that spending money on cultural practices is an investment in the future.

When you look at art you are able to get a perspective through the senses and thoughts of another person, so art builds empathy -- which is sorely needed in contemporary times.

It is at best ironic and at worst a sad indictment on NSW's arts ecosystem that one fifth of the regional arts boards were denied funding in this round, as they are the organisations placed to assist non-metropolitan communities to access grants.

Orana Arts is one board that was denied funding and I've been part of their innovative Studio Collab project for a few years, gaining opportunities to learn and collaborate and network with other regional artists.

I'm grateful for their residencies and other opportunities to promote creative practices, such as my talk on the cut-up technique.

Brian Eno has argued in a recent book that, where children learn through play, adults learn through art.

I think it's an important idea, since we gain perspectives and learn new capacities through experiencing culture.

It's as simple as feeling emotions when watching TV, those aren't considered art often enough to recognise the skills developed by a team of people to present interdisciplinary media.

In my ramble with journalist Sally Bryant I mentioned how 40 years ago the band Mental As Anything had a hit song called 'Live It Up'.

That band was a group of art school students and their exhibitions were opened by prime ministers, but their music was an unexpected outcome from their creativity (and possibly a desire for free drinks).

The song 'Live It Up' went on to appear on pop music charts around the world for two years, even returning to the Scottish charts as recently as five years ago.

It is one of our enduring cultural exports and an example of how something like free art education can lead to surprising outcomes.

As the world becomes increasingly fueled by (so-called) artificial intelligence, there's a need to invest in art to develop human creativity.

There is also a need to promote art-making for the benefits in developing empathy and, as careers are lost to AI, it will offer a balm in the well-being that arises from engaging in activities within our communities and sharing in the joy of creating. 

NSW teachers were recently told the creative domain was a focus in the High potential and gifted education policy and that's exciting as it's an area that I believe can be taught. 

However, every teacher knows the role of modelling to demonstrate their lessons and it's vital for students to see the arts are valued.

So, c'mon NSW State Government, Create NSW needs funding to give the arts a boost and regional communities deserve better.

Classless

All history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles 

Young perspectives

A student asked if I had a girlfriend and I replied, "yeah for about 23 years now."

"What?" She exclaimed, "Why haven't you proposed?"

"I've tried a few times," I explained.

"23 years," the student pondered. "I thought you were about 19."

Growing together

It's my daughter's 18th birthday today and I'm prompted to reflect

One of the wonderful aspects of being a parent is seeing those glimpses of personalities in little babies develop through childhood and blossom into adulthood.  

There are so many lessons that one learns about themself in the process, particularly that opportunity to revisit memories of one's own childhood from a new perspective.

I found a new gratitude for my parents and was able to let go of some painful experiences too.  

A key moment for me in fathering a daughter was recognising my own sexism, which came as a surprise after identifying as a feminist and studying that topic through one of my university degrees. 

It came after years of viewing my daughter with some suspicion, based on what I now see as a resourcefulness to get what she wanted without asking. 

A family member had written letters to each of my three children and, after they were discarded, I looked over them and recognised a distinct shift in tone within the correspondence directed to the girl. 

That prompted me to reflect on how my own interactions had subtle, yet observable, differences that meant I treated my daughter differently to her brothers. 

Over time I worked to consider my attitudes and address the perception that I might be unconsciously sexist in my behaviour. 

This isn't to say that I don't worry about how the world treats females, particularly how their needs are different, but it was a step toward recognising I wanted her to retain those capabilities and strengths that had been previously a source of conflict. 

In psychology they identify positive and negative conditioning as ways of shaping behaviours, and I guess I'm trying to articulate that the opportunity to be a father to a daughter helped me to recognise a broader range of strategies in parenting. 

There's more I can write about identifying my biases, but for now I want to conclude with gratitude for seeing another child reach adulthood and how my capacity for love has grown. 

Tadpole at heart


 

John Cage on silence

"Try as we may to make a silence, we cannot. 

"For certain engineering purposes, it is desirable to have as silent a situation as possible. Such a room is called an anechoic chamber, its six walls made of special material, a room without echoes. I entered one at Harvard University several years ago and heard two sounds, one high and one low. 

"When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation."

Bills horse trough

Darrell Jones is shown cleaning a Bills horse trough at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum

George and Annis Bills established a trust fund to support working horses that led to 700 troughs being installed throughout NSW and Victoria between 1930 and '39.

Sketchy zine

Made this zine while I was waiting for my partner yesterday

It uses drawings from the sketchbook diary that I kept for a month in 2013, inspired by my family and the work of James Kochalka.

That project developed my comic-making skills surprisingly quickly and gave me an appreciation for how much work Kochalka put into his American Elf series.

This zine will likely be a parting gift to my class when I finish up next week and I hope it shows them the joy of drawing and self-publishing. 

I've used the format promoted by Austin Kleon, see here. 

You should print a copy of the zine and leave some lying around your part of the world because, assuming they don't become litter, it'd be great to be distributed! 

Little things

Red Earth Ecology are planning an excursion to Fivebough Wetland

Today Jo and I made this little guide to waterbird diets and it's a zine, so it can be folded up to fit into little pockets.

Kid art

Saw this in the art classroom at school

I feel a bit sheepish for sharing this pic, since it's not my art and I can't attribute the artist.

However, it made me feel sentimental for when my kids would draw pages of random-looking characters. 

Whelm

Recently I found the word "whelm" used in a book and thought it was unusual, so I looked it up

What I found was shocking! 

(Okay, shocking for a word nerd.) 

How is that when you're underwhelmed, you're not underneath by feeling engulfed, submerged or buried; and when you're overwhelmed it is more likely evoking that experience of being under the thing? 

Griffith during WWII

June McGrane (30 June 1932 – 21 May 2021) shares details about life in Griffith when the second world war raged, 1939-45 

She remembers the trenches dug at the high school and air raid drills, as well as a bomb shelter built in the site now known as Memorial Gardens. 

One remarkable recollection is the concern of locals for the real possibility of an invasion by the Japanese after the bombing of Darwin, because there was only one place in Australia where they grew rice! 

June was a long-serving volunteer at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum, where this interview was filmed during February 2017.
 

Not love

Two in every three men are liars

That's my takeaway from the study that found "One in three Australian men say they have committed intimate partner abuse." 

One of the questions was "Have you ever behaved in a manner that has made a partner feel frightened or anxious? (emotional-type abuse)" 

I know I've made my partner anxious when I raise my voice and overtake cars on the highway. 

Not saying that it's right, but it does seem a very low bar to be considered "intimate partner abuse."

Love

I'm grateful for the love of my family, particularly my partner of 23 years: Jo

This morning my Facebook Memories had this post and it's illustrated with a graphic she published to my profile yesterday:

In last night's subconsciousnews I dreamed that the vibrational field created by Jason and my love for one another was so powerful that it spread throughout the entire Universe in all directions of space and time. 
It was so significant an event that it was taught as history in text/books on other planets, and also anecdotally in the form of oral myths and stories passed down the generations among all sentient beings. 

Wandering in wonder

 

Recently Naviar Records called for contributions to appear in an exhibition in Japan

Marco wrote that his inspiration came from the Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, in his email to the Naviar community:

I've been working on this installation for a week now, studying and collecting sounds from my local environment, learning and understanding more about where my culture comes from. To someone who's been in contact with indigenous cultures all their life, this might seem like a childish game; however, for me, it's been an enlightening experience.

It brought to mind a project that I started to write songs reflecting my own heritage, which began around the time of Anzac Day and was inspired by the idea of that event being Australia's version of an ancestor celebration.

My contribution is a draft of one of those songs, drawing on the history of the Wanderer butterfly in Australia.

The lyrics are:

From foreign skies it came,
A fire-bright drift in golden flame—
On cyclonic winds, torn and tossed,
Somehow carried life across,
After this flight over the seas.
A stranger turned sovereign by the breeze,
In the year 1871,
Met the blush of Antipodean sun.

On winds of fate, it crossed the sea,
A monarch's flight to lands so free.
From foreign shores to Sydney's light,
The Wanderer took its maiden flight.


Milkweed bloomed—a bitter crown,
Bred the brood in orange gown.
Wings like stained glass kissed by fire,
A tale of travel, cocooned desire.
Not born of bush or Dreamtime's lore,
Arrived at a eucalyptus shore.
An exile once, now a monarch of air,
This Wanderer dances on blooms with care. 

The rationale for this symbol is:

In my backyard is a mint plant that I hoped might grow to replace my lawn. Many butterflies land on the flowers when it blooms.

I started researching their varieties as I began photographing them and became interested in the Wanderer, which is the Australian version of the Monarch in the Americas. It has distinctive white spots on a black body and magnificent wings coloured like autumnal leaves.

This type of butterfly arrived in Australia around the time my father's great-grandparents migrated here. It is thought it may have been blown here by a cyclone, but found the imported milkweed plant that supports Monarch caterpillars and was able to survive.

My parents were both born in North America, so I've come to adopt the Wanderer as a symbol for my cultural identity.

I've performed the song using a ukulele, as it is an instrument from the Pacific – the ocean that unites Australia, Japan and the USA.
And the bio I've provided is something I'm going to add here (mostly for future reference, sorry for appearing kinda bigheaded but it's my blog hey!):

With a focus on the Riverina landscape, Jason’s interdisciplinary art spans text, digital media, and community-driven initiatives, including his work with Naviar Records' Crossing Streams exhibition and Red Earth Ecology. As a writer and musician under the pseudonym Bassling, he has contributed to online music magazine Cyclic Defrost, won the Murrumbidgee Short Story competition, and collaborated internationally on projects like the Shinobi Cuts Remix Chain.

And in Japanese: 

ジェイソン・リチャードソン(オーストラリア)
ジェイソン・リチャードソンは、オーストラリア・リヴェライナ地方の風景を軸に、言葉とデジタル表現、そして地域コミュニティとともに行う創作活動を横断的に展開しているアーティストである。
Naviar Records の「Crossing Streams」展や Red Earth Ecology などのプロジェクトを通じて、自然と文化、個人と土地との関係を探求してきた。

ジェイソンの自宅の庭には、芝生の代わりにと植えたミントが茂り、その花に蝶が集まるようになった。
それらの蝶を撮影するうちに、特に「ワンダラー」と呼ばれる蝶に惹かれるようになる。これは、アメリカ大陸に生息する「モナーク(オオカバマダラ)」に類似した、オーストラリアの在来種である。黒い身体に白い斑点、そして秋の葉を思わせる色の翼を持つ。

この蝶がオーストラリアに渡来したのは、ジェイソンの曽祖父母がこの地に移住してきた時期と重なる。サイクロンに乗って漂着した可能性があり、北米から持ち込まれたトウワタ(milkweed)の存在によってオーストラリアの地に定着できたとされる。

北米にルーツを持つ両親のもとに生まれたジェイソンにとって、この蝶「ワンダラー」は、自身の文化的アイデンティティの象徴となった。

本作では、オーストラリア、日本、アメリカをつなぐ太平洋を意識し、その象徴的な楽器であるウクレレによる演奏を取り入れている。 

Memes make the news

Surprised to see a popular meme illustrating an article on a major news website today

It's a sign the mainstream media is continuing to become more detached from reality.  

When I was young I wanted to be a journalist and gained a qualification, but found the jobs were all in public relations.

For many years I wondered how media organisations got away with using photographs from libraries that didn't reflect their localities.

Of course, it was an economic decision based on the fact they no longer had the advertising revenue to pay the wages of photojournalists.

Given the recent examples AI-written articles, I'm expecting to see a sixth finger appear on the handshakes of politicians in coming weeks!

Feeling sentimental

Remember the sound of a librarian stamping a book? 

These days all I hear at the library are people talking on their phones!

Neve's iPad art

For years my daughter would rarely share her art

It seemed to be another aspect of the time she spent in her bedroom during high school, which was understandable as the middle child and a teenager.

Anyway, she's now home from uni and brought a few prints of her artwork that have now taken positions on the fridge.

I’m stoked she’s sharing them freely, after my years of nagging to get a look!

Representing Leeton Shire in London

Happy to see my name among the contributors to the Cities and Memory installation at the Barbican Centre in London

There you can hear the dawn chorus at Leeton's Fivebough Wetland, a location which is also part of a project that Red Earth Ecology are developing for a local primary school next month.

Return of the Firefox effect

Some years ago I was enthralled by glitchy images when I browsed the internet

On this blog I dubbed it the "Firefox effect" and that might've been misleading, although it's where I usually see this result.

Today I was using an older laptop and saw it again, with this being one of the glitched pics on my feed that caught my eye.

Pickle in my pocket

My kids came home from the city with this and I'm not sure how I feel about the plastic packaging

Battle Critters

I made this role-playing game for a math-based exercise in my teaching

The idea is to use a six-sided dice to roll to pick your critters' super powers, then roll a second time for how many iterations.

Such as rolling 2 for extra heads, then rolling 3 for three of them to draw onto the figure.

This super power bonus (+3 for heads) is noted when you roll for attack, then is added to the other figure to tally each critter's energy.

Each round you must roll higher than your opponent's attack roll and roll below your defend score to avoid them, until energy drops below 0.

The attack roll has the super power bonus added to increase likelihood, and these two numbers form the damage taken from your opponent's energy if they don't avoid it.

Games last 3-6 rounds, take about 10 minutes and benefit from creative descriptions of the action.

I should probably incorporate the rules of gameplay into the design of the sheet, but that will wait for another draft.

How will COVID-19 impact the arts?

We're all still living in the pandemic

Despite the rush to return to crowded venues and the low numbers of people maintaining their immunisations.

Studies are presenting shocking results of the impact of the coronavirus on our bodies, such as this one.

Interestingly, the persistent cognitive impairment appears to be contained almost exclusively to the right hemisphere.

This means if you have lasting cognitive issues from long COVID they will affect your intuition, creativity and emotional reasoning more than your ability to do math or memorise prose, for example.

Along with the rise of AI, I wonder how this will play in the spheres of artistic production.

End of Democracy Sausage?

Australia's compulsory electoral voting system means most adults* have to play a role

In previous elections this provided an opportunity for the schools selected to host AEC voting centres, as everyone nearby would visit their hall on the nominated Saturday.

This led to the pheomena of "democracy sausage," where voters would be enticed to buy processed meat wrapped in white bread and slathered with tomato sauce.

However, recent elections have seen a massive shift in voting behaviour as people choose to get their electoral duties out of the way ahead of time. 

As a result, the schools' P&C committees no longer run fundraising like cake stalls and sausage sizzles.

It's a remarkable shift in Australian suburban culture that reflects the growing isolation of individuals, as they shun community groups like P&Cs and no longer linger outside the school hall to catch-up with locals. 

Six years ago I predicted the demise of "democracy sausage" when I posted this meme on Facebook and, while the recent election result was an improvement on previous years, it is surprising to see there were no sausage sizzles on my path to the voting booth last week.

* -- I acknowledge that not all adult Australians will vote, and it's not just the "donkeys" as prisoners and some of those serving in the armed forces or police will avoid having their name on the electoral roll.

Boys who won't listen

This week I had a sexist phenomenon confirmed

Some time ago I read there is a percentage of boys who will not listen to a woman when there is a man present.

It always seemed sorta ridiculous, yet somehow plausible given the rife nature of sexism.

Recently I've been on a placement in my teacher training and ended up in a kindergarten class.

I asked the teacher if she had seen this phenomenon of boys ignoring female teachers.

Her experience was having a student repeatedly give her a blank look, until the male gardener walked over to repeat her words and this boy responded to her instruction.

So I offered my services to be a mansplainer to the boys.

ANZAC Day

Captain John Foulkes Richardson was the first of my father's family to be born in Australia and both my Grandad and Dad share his name

Today I reflect that my great-grandfather was wounded leading a charge at Gallipoli and then, after recovering, was sent to the Somme. 

The latter was one of bloodiest and most futile battles, as Australia lost over 23,000 men and gained very little ground against German troops in muddy trenches.

He enlisted on 28 Sep 1914 for AIF WW1, as Captain of the 15th Infantry Battalion, Brisbane, Queensland. 

This photo shows him in the centre prior to embarkation on 22 Dec 1914.

Wounded on 27 Apr 1915. Promoted on 29 May 1915 to rank of Major, 15th Infantry Battalion, then discharged on 10 Nov 1915.

He enlisted again on 1 Jan 1918, which led to his role in France during WWI, then signed up again for WWII on 28 Dec 1939. 

He didn't fight in WWII -- presumably because he was 55 years old. 

Locked up

It blows my mind that a padlock is a romantic symbol

If there were an image that gave an impression of coercive control, then this would be an obvious choice.

Katzensymphonie

Moritz von Schwind’s 'Katzensymphonie' (1868) 

Pretty sure if this showed sheep jumping over the staves, then one would fall asleep listening to it!

Innuendo

Lately I've been playing with machine-learning services again and it turns out that they're great for quickly scaffolding lyrics

As a result I've been singing and playing ukulele a lot more, but that might also have to do with six weeks of teaching primary school kids to strum that instrument.

Yesterday the surf was too rough to do much on the beach, so I began playing with ideas.

It's my 23rd anniversary and I have been joking about romantic tropes, such as the role of cupids.

Since my partner likes joking about innuendo sounding like an innuendo, I made her a song and then recorded it.

However, as I only have the microphone on my camera for audio, I got carried away trying to make the recording work and it really doesn't have the quality -- in either performance or fidelity.

P.S. A few days later and I had a different idea for this chord progression.

Please look

Love these lines

Reminds me of Anatole, a most honourable mouse.

Now I want cheese!

Little Ned

I wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing Ned Kelly in kids book

Part of me recognises that one can't judge history with contemporary standards, but another part wonders if he was a thug. 

The moral of the story seemed to be how helmets distance people from those who love them, so maybe things might've been different if Ned had this book when he was young!

Pandora's cake tin

My partner has this container that looks like a prop from a horror movie

She says her cake tin belonged to some sheila named Pandora.

Celebrity portraits

In coming weeks my art class will be drawing portraits

It brought to mind this wonderful tribute by Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem.

Tupac was a remarkable musician and actor, as well as being a provocative thinker politically.

I love the idea of sending portrait as an acknowledgment of an influence.

It's also cool to see the musicians make sketches and another example is this sketch of Brian Eno by David Bowie.

At the first Art Deco Festival

Back in 2011 I mixed a new soundtrack for the classic film Metropolis

This pic from the local newspaper was in my Facebook Memories.

Plans for the weekend


 

Caravan's history and Mingus settling a score while recording a cover with Ellington

Caravan remains one of the defining jazz standards and has a remarkable history

First recorded in 1936 and becoming one of the best-known songs by Duke Ellington’s band, it originated with the trombonist Juan Tizol.

Among his contributions to the band was a role copying parts from scores, as well as composing.

Tizol often played a valve trombone and, as a Puerto Rican, brought some of that Latin American influence which can be heard in 20th Century jazz.

Mercer Ellington said the melody to ‘Caravan’ was suggested to Tizol through a technique called “inverting” that re-interpreted scores by reading the sheet music upside-down.

It remains one of the most-covered songs in history with over 500 versions published.

My favourite is possibly one of the most controversial.

  

The bassist Charles Mingus was also a member of the Ellington band and unleashed a version of the song during the fiery recordings for the “Money Jungle” album.

Mingus plays a rhythm part high up the neck that seems to force Ellington into the position of playing the melody in lower octaves.

It’s wild how the conventions of the standard ‘Caravan’ are thrown by Mingus taking the lead.

When I first heard it my mind was blown.

Then recently I read Mingus’ autobiography and gained a new appreciation for his bold playing.

It turns out that Mingus left Ellington’s band after Tizol lunged at him with a knife for the bassist’s playing of ‘Caravan’:

“…this is the band you don’t quit, but this time you’re asked to leave because of an incident with a trombone player and arranger named Juan Tizol. Tizol wants you to play a solo he’s written where bowing is required. You raise the solo an octave, where the bass isn’t too muddy. He doesn’t like that and he comes to the room under the stage where you’re practising at intermission and comments that you’re like the rest of the n****** in the band, you can’t read. You ask Juan how he’s different from the other n****** and he states that one of the ways he’s different is that HE IS WHITE. So you run his ass upstairs. You leave the rehearsal room, proceed toward the stage with your bass and take your place and at the moment Duke Ellington brings down the baton for ‘A-Train’ and the curtain of the Apollo Theatre goes up, a yelling, whooping Tizol rushes out and lunges at you with a bolo knife.”

The following passage where Mingus describes how Ellington asks for his resignation has been seen as documenting his considerable charm.


 

The role of an artist

Yesterday was a good day as I joined two art classes in my role at a primary school

One of those was the "special education" class, which brings together neurodivergent students.

I had sketched my submarine when the girl next to me said "Wow, are you an artist?"

It was a question that I thought about briefly, before remembering to say "yes."

Maybe it was because my role at the time was "paraprofessional," which is vague and I mostly follow the teacher's directions in art classes.

At other times I've described myself as an evangelist for creativity, as I think more people need to recognise the diverse benefits from having a creative practise or three.

This morning I was pondering my reluctance to accept the title of "artist" yesterday, reminding myself that I've had exhibitions and won prizes.

It really is important to raise the profile of the arts and validate the activity for others, I think.

As the art lesson progressed this student shared that her mother was an artist who sometimes made collages and other assembled artworks.

Then, nearer the end of the lesson, she said quietly "I'm a bit of an artist" and it was the conversion that I realised one should be working toward.

As an artist it is my responsibility to help others see the artist in their activities.

Stealing beauty

Looking through the card from a camera and realised this memory wasn't mine

After recognising the subject and setting, my mind ran through observations about the time of year based on the angle of light and then confirming the layers of clothing suggested it would be winter or early spring.

Then I wondered why it surprised me as much as it did?

There's an intimacy in a selfie and looking in on a scene, a kind of voyeurism that I don't think about enough to feel guilty for it.

The thing I liked most, I decided after sifting through a mess of emotions, is the lighting of the eye.

Jo's irises were one of the first things I remember about her and still give me a thrill to read their grey-blue intentions.

Some days it's like looking at the sea and seeing something leap from the sparkle.

An assault on assault rifles

Taking aim at bad deals

In 1990 Eugene Stoner (left, with his M16) met Mikhail Kalashnikov (right, with his AK-47). They traveled together and became friends. In many of the world’s wars since 1965, the two guns were on opposite sides.

The US-made M16 had a reputation through the Vietnam conflict for jamming, while the AK-47 had a cartridge so solid that it was used by soldiers as a hammer.

The M16 routinely left the rifleman defenseless. In May 1967, one Marine wrote to his family: "We left with 250 men in our company and came back with 107. We left with 72 men in our platoon and came back with 19. Believe it or not, you know what killed most of us? Our own rifle. We were all issued this new rifle, the M16. Practically every one of our dead was found with his rifle torn down next to him where he had been trying to fix it.”

If you’ve paid any attention to Australia’s purchase of F35 fighter jets, then you’ll likely recognise how the MI6 overcame technical shortcomings to flood the battlefield with such uselessness through marketing and tradeshows.

According to former US Marine officer C.J. Chivers, author of The Gun, “The M16’s journey was marked by salesmanship, sham science, cover-ups, chicanery, incompetence, and no small amount of dishonesty by a gun manufacturer and senior American military officers.” 

As the Trump government are reshaping the New World Order, it's a good time to reconsider Australia's desire to be a Deputy to the US' Sherriff.

Jonfun

Spotted a burner in the wild

Ear to eternity

Working with pastels in art class this week

The teacher was talking about Van Gogh and drifted from talking about him painting sunflowers as a gift to cutting off his ear, which I seem to remember was also gifted?

Co-becoming

In a tutorial we read this paper that listed the Country it was written about as an author

It's one of those ideas that's exciting to an academic (definition: scholarship), yet seems a bit academic to a broader audience (definition: not of practical relevance). 

I'm still collecting my thoughts, so at this point I'm probably simultaneously excited and not relevant. 

Another thing that was interesting about the tutorial was the Acknowledgment of Country was done in Irish and reflected on that connection with the landscape. 

It reminded me that the closest I feel to a sense of co-becoming is asking the Country if I can proceed. 

I imagine that is like my Celtic forebears reciting ancient words to stir yeast when cooking or brewing with the belief the bread or beer will be flat if I don't.

Hey Google

Google has started giving general feedback