Conversations with a Superhero

I really struggled over this post. I couldn't think where I wanted to go with it. Then in defeat, I decided I'd just repost the story of Aki Ra, who is truly a superhero in his quest to rid Cambodia of landmines. It occurred to me, I probably need to mention LeBron James, the basketballer who just gave $42 million of his personal wealth to send 1000 underprivileged kids to college.

Then the names came flooding - J.Cole, the rapper, consistently gives his time, money and encouragement to make a difference to many causes; Jackie Chan, whose charitable works, charities he runs and generosity in giving his time and influence (as well as money) to causes is so great you need a book to list it all; that barber, Courtney Holmes, who gives free haircuts to kids, as long as they read to him in the chair; Sheik Umar Khan who worked with the ebola patients until he the week before he died of the disease himself; Elizabeth Blackburn, who stood up for what she believed was right for the good of mankind at her own personal detriment; Jean Moulin, and other Resistance fighters - the list is endless.

These are everyday Superheros. We don't have to have tonnes of money, or even raise money to donate (though that is always needed). We do, however, need to do our bit. We need to start thinking how we can make a difference. It can be big, it can be small. We can help someone we know, or strangers we'll never meet.

So the conversation with a superhero is the moment you ask yourself, what am I doing to make this world a better place?

Linking with #Blogtober21 on Superheros

Just when I thought I was wasting my time...

I've missed out on a few things I really wanted this year, in blogging and writing terms. The constant rejection can be quite devastating and erode all confidence.  Just when I was wondering if I should give up completely, I got the email letting me know my story was in the Hunter Writer Centre's Grieve Anthology again this year. It really gave me the boost I needed to continue, and know that I just need to keep at it.

I know I'm not alone in these feelings at the moment, so I will quote myself from last year's Proud Moments post "...to anyone else who is struggling with the crappity crap of life, sinking in a sea of uncertainty, search your blog for 'proud' and 'pride'. You'll be amazed what long forgotten memories and ideas are sitting there, waiting to cheer you up".

With Social September upon us, I'll be trying to write a few more stories, and focus a little more on the fiction side of writing...so happy holidays to you all, and see you in October (I will still be on twitter and the travel blog).

Linking with #FYBF & Flat Bum Mum

First of the Month Fiction

Story first, explanation later:

She stood looking at the wall, behind which her girlfriend was packing a bag. There is a rot that has set in, she thought to herself. Barely noticeable at first, but slowly it eats away to the core, making the structure weak. Tainting everything, spreading over their lives.

She heard the bag zip shut, footsteps and a door slam. No goodbye.

She put down her cup of tea and looked at her phone. She pulled up the search from yesterday and dialled the number.

“Hello? We have a problem.”

“Yes, in our kitchen.” She responded.

“Great. Thanks. See you then”

This story was prompted by this photo on a road overpass. I don't actually know if it's concrete rot or not. It looks distressed in any case.







My partner also complained I always make the men in the story nasty (to which I argue I make everyone in the stories nasty, regardless of gender). However, I will take his 'criticism' as a note that I am too conservative in my world view, so in future, I'll mix it up and share the misery around. Thus this time, it's an unhappy same sex couple.

By now you know the drill, but anyone new, in the comments add your 100 word story (exactly) or a story less than 30 words, then link up your blog if you have one....

Have a wonderful September, everyone!

Linking up with #MummyMondays

An InLinkz Link-up

Social September - disconnect to reconnect

There is a movement afoot. I've noticed it starting quietly. A few friends have taken themselves off Facebook, a few have left their twitter account untouched for months and slowly but surely, people are trying to manage their time online a little better.

Personally, I've been wasting a lot of time online. I've had to limit my engagement to set times, and leave my phone in another room once my partner gets home. I'm trying hard not to look at it when the kids are around. As I discussed on Her Collective last week, I want to engage with them, at their leisure, as I feel I've been missing those moments with my head in my phone.

Social September is a movement, like Dry July and Movember, where you disconnect from your digital life in order to reconnect with each other, and more importantly, yourself.  I think when things get difficult in our lives, it's easier to play around on facebook than deal with the real issues, as I've previously discussed.

There are two ways to participate - either challenge yourself to disconnect, or organise an event to reconnect face to face (start making time to see those friends you've let slip through the cracks) or both. Money raised goes to Reach, the youth organisation, founded by the late Jim Stynes OAM and Paul Currie.

Personally, I'll be disappearing for a little bit (digital diet) and work on catching up with some long lost friends.

Why not try it and see if it makes a difference?

Linking with 

When the bar becomes a limbo stick

I have noticed the trend to post pictures of yourself naked or in a state of undress on the internet to prove a point. Your point might be to show off your post baby body, or that you're skinny & proud, that you're curvy & proud, that you're sexy transgender - anything really. Celebrities old enough to know better are doing it to prove that they're pregnant, that their boobs are real, that they're not too old to be sexy.

Ladies, and it is ladies, (men do not feel the need to prove points without their clothes on) if you have a barrow to push, could we try using words? Could we have a think about whether women are worth more than their appearance, even on appearance issues?

I can read. I can understand. I just don't want my Facebook page and twitter feed inundated with naked, sexy photos.

I get I'm older than all of you, so many of you will shrug it off but I don't think the internet is a place for naked photos (unless you are actually in the porn industry, then go for it). Our online behaviour models through to our children. Our distorted thinking model imprints on our children.

I've said it before, when Elizabeth Blackburn told the President of the United States what she thought of his decision, she did it with her clothes on. When Mother Theresa went out to help the poor, she had clothes on. Can we start to focus on achievements rather than sexiness? Smart is sexy, confident is sexy. The constant state of undress seems desperate and implies a neediness to be accepted (that you're not too old, too fat, too anything).

Don't get me wrong, nude it up at home, on the pole, even at the beach. All fine (except the skin cancer). Be happy and proud of your body both dressed and undressed. Just don't plaster it on the internet.

Pre internet, would you walk down the street naked? To the shops in your underwear? No, you wouldn't dream of it. That is what the internet is though. Your naked image is in the shops, in the street, all over the world. And our kids will follow suit if we treat it as acceptable and normalise it.

If Betty White's topless photos from when she was 17 are still following her around, after her successful career, then let's remember our moment of 'empowerment' will be thrown back at us when we want to be taken seriously in a career.

So as a call to action, could we please not click on the links to these photos, don't press like, don't encourage this behaviour. Or tell me that I'm just too old to understand it, and explain it to me...

Linking up with #FYBF and later, #WeekendRewind and the UltimateRabbitHole

Fear and the news

We were listening to a podcast the other day (NPR TED talks on Maslow's Human Needs April 17) and they said 'We shouldn't fear what we read in the news, as that's rare and unlikely to happen to us. It's the things that happen so often they don't make the news; that are so frequent they're no longer news worthy, that we should fear. Car accidents, domestic violence and so on'.

I think it is true - as I look at the terrible calamities around me, it's cancer, childhood illness and divorce taking their toll, not the incidents gracing the papers. I'm not sure if that's something to be thankful for or not.

This may be a small shift in the lens I view the mankind with, but I think it may have seismic results.

Of course, it doesn't take away my responsibility to instigate change for others, to try to help my fellow planet dwellers and to save our planet and all species on it. Just focus a little more clearly on the world around us, and the little universe around me.

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”

Marshall McLuhan

I know this is a little unfinished thought, but it's been buzzing around my head for days, and I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it....so I'm putting it to bed.

Linking with Flat Bum Mum

Do you protect your phone?

To everyone who lets their kid skate board without a helmet, here's a question for you? Do you put your phone in a hard case? If so, why? What is going to damage your phone that won't damage your kid's skull?

The sponsors of the pros insist on helmets (maybe only for advertising space but it's still required) so if your kid wants to get in the big leagues, they better get a helmet (not to mention all the money to be made with merch later on...it's the helmet design that differentiates them).

I know it's not popular but is it really a risk you're prepared to take? Which is irreplaceable? Your kid or your phone?

(And for those of you that argue with your teen on this, ask them the same question).

Linking with #MummyMondays