The Little Things - July

What a wonderful July this has been - my 2 weeks of travels have been the most marvellous holiday!

READ While away I heard a press conference by some politician who spouted this fact and I just couldn't believe it so I had to google - and yes, it's been true and reported since the 2020s.  1 in 3 adults, of 44% of Australian adults are functionally illiterate. For a country that spends more on education per capita than most, we have really dropped the ball on education. (As an aside, every time we send delegations to Finland to find out how to fix our education system, they tell us to get rid of the private schools and the bigger the affluence divide, the lower the education standards but we aren't interested in that so here we are - Pasi Sahlberg has a brilliant book, Finnish Lessons if you are interested in reading this more fully). This stat is so alarming and before you blame the current education system, the worst figures are in the 65+ and then over 50s. I can see how people are manipulated by certain political parties that are intentionally misleading with 'facts' that are nonsensical. I can see how people don't believe basic science or fall for conspiracy theories. And let's not forget the misuse of they're, there and their. Signs are everywhere. How do we fix it? 

This article expands a little for those that want to read more, but this has been raised in Parliament since at least 2020, because the figures are even worse in Tasmania (1 in 2) so they've made papers specifically to improve literacy in that State, but this needs to be applied to the whole country. I have a lot more reading to do on this, as we really need to make change in this area.

WATCHED I like everyone else, went to The Odyssey as soon as I got back. We just went to Hoyts but will go to IMAX once the frenzy dies down. Given the carry on from some people, I find it interesting how little they understood the film (though from what I can gather, the ones complaining didn't go and see it, like those that dismissed Wuthering Heights without watching it). He even says it's 'based' on The Odyssey - like Butch and Sundance is based on historical events but they totally changed the ending and how they died (rather than the heroic blaze of glory depicted in the film, butch killed Sundance in a murder suicide...but that doesn't make for a good movie). To me Nolan's Odyssey is a critique of modern society & politics - the hypocrisy of those mouthing religion as a belief but not upholding the charity and generosity of it, the behaviour when a society functions purely in self interest rather than thinking about the country as a whole, the ugly side of war - there is no such thing as a righteous army, and as Helen shows, the spoils of war are indeed spoiled. The childhood stories (for some of us) create the frame work. Now I grew up with these stories; I even had a record where some were set to classical music as a way to introduce children to the music rather than the stories. So for me, I'm never quite clear which story is Homer and which is Virgil as they were presented to me as children's stories, not as a whole but short tales that wove together. And this is probably why I loved Jean Giraudoux's The Trojan war will not take place when I read it in French at Uni, as it was the familiar presented in an unfamiliar manner - the well known events from a different view point, saying something meaningful to present day society, rather than a tale from long ago that means nothing to us now. If you are not seeing our current global disarray when you watch the movie, I'd say you are missing the point. (I would also say that play is why Casandra is my favourite character of all the mythology and my only disappointment is she did not make the film!) So if you've yet to see the film, my advice is go looking at it as present day failings and you will see it is indeed a very clever use of those stories of old. 

Last night we went to a screening of 150, about an Australian woman who ran 150 marathons in 150 days, from the top of the East Coast of mainland Australia to the bottom (In the Q&A she added that about a month after she finished she ran Devonport to Hobart as people pointed out she'd missed Tasmania - so she has run the whole east coast of Australia now). It's funny but also amazing. You can organise a screening through Fanforce or it's still showing at a few places around the country.

HEARD In Ibiza we say Robin Schultz who I've wanted to see for about 2014, so it was wonderfully to finally make that happen. My heart was bursting with joy and I frenetically danced for his whole set. I just adored it! So his playlist was the soundtrack for much of my trip (when not Alle Farben used to scare bears away in Japan and calm my nerves while scouting for bears...but that's a topic for another post). 

MADE Such fabulous memories! It was such a great trip! I had the best time!

WORE When I finally did stop moving, and have 3 nights up in Misawa, I spent a good deal of time getting around in the room pyjamas and the slippers they gave you for inside, that you wore to the onsen and dinner (bathroom slippers stay in the bathrooms). It was like a cult uniform as the whole resort wandered around in them. Arriving late the first night, I went to the show in my normal clothes, and out of 130 of us, there were maybe 10 not in the pyjamas. So, when in Rome...(or when in Japan more accurately). That's me with the onsen basket, which you took your towels etc down to the Onsen in...

MY TOP THREE MOMENTS FROM THE MONTH GONE BY This is really hard to narrow down and the more I think about it, the more it changes....My day in Nantes following the green line was so joyful and elating, Parookaville and the nights in Ibiza - both felt like my heart would burst open with happiness and I think I'll go with my delight in the Towada Art Centre - I walked around with my grin getting bigger and bigger with each discovery and experience. What a magnificent collection!

That's been my July - slowly playing catch up on all the work that built up while I was away....

Linking with #MuralMondays #MondayMusicMovesMe #WordlessWednesday #TalkaboutitTuesday #TheLittleThings #MosaicMonday, #TheMonthlyWrapUp  and cheating a little for #AwwMondays  as there are a lot of creatures in my pics, just not real - but elephant, dogs and a big bear!