put your thinking caps on.

 So today in the crayon box we  made these awesome brain hemisphere hats .

First they had to find out what each major lobe of the brain is responsible for, then they got to colour in the brain, cut it out and make the hat.  At the end of the week, they'll all be given a blank brain template that they then have to fill in themselves.  (The little guy will be given labels he has to affix in the right spots)

This was so much fun.

This is the little guy's brain hat.

And here's the Little Guy wearing his creation!

The Girl Child and back view of brain hat

side view of Boy Childs hat

Book Review: Manhattan Dreaming.

She's been termed the Koori Bradshaw of Chick Lit, but Anita Heiss is all that and so much more. 

I have many issues regarding the labelling of women writers as "Chick Lit" and Women's Literature". (Best left out of a book review, however I want it on the record that I object to the undermining of women writers and their stories by a label that with one hand pretends to celebrate women, whilst with the other it denigrates and devalues women's stories.   And, yes I know I said one should embrace Chick Lit  , it's a work in progress for me. I am getting there, and authors like Anita help me in achieving this. ) 

Manhattan Dreaming is the story of a modern, successful, urban Indigenous woman who breaks all the moulds. 
Initially it's the story of Lauren Lucas and her journey of life, love and career and how all 3 conspire to find her half way around the world doing just that. Living, loving and working at a job the leaves her inspired and fulfilled, with lashings of men on the side. But there's so much more to this than a modern day love story for the modern day woman. 

In these pages there's a deeper dialogue taking place. 
MD touches lightly on incarceration rates for Indigenous peoples (Lauren's brother Nick is in jail through out the story), addiction (very subtlety done. Lauren touches on the topic in a discussion with Wyatt, and the repeated statement that Lauren's only vice is cakes and sweets suggests her acknowledgement of how Indigenous people and their consumption habits involving alcohol and drugs are often viewed in combination with the high rates of addiction that plague Indigenous peoples), touched on lightly is also the concept of how often Indigenous peoples consciously change or moderate their behaviour to accommodate others and to consciously attempt to break down some of the stereotypes, (ie. Lauren's being on time or early for everything in an attempt to break the stereotype of 'Koori time". I giggled out loud at this one as it is something I consistently do for those very reasons). 

Other bigger issues touched on are Identity, I do love how even when describing characters physicality, Heiss doesn't tend to consign skin colouring to her Indigenous characters. (Because the reality is Indigenous Peoples have skin tones as varied as every other racial group) and the identity conversation is continued through brief allusions to questions of who and what is an Indigenous person. 

The notion of addiction is again broached with Lauren's obsession with Adam. Highlighting that addictions come in many forms and even intelligent women can make really dumb choices when our hearts are involved. I love how this part of the story line pushed Lauren's growth, with each new man in her life we see her emotional maturity increasing. None of the romance is gratuitous and I find that really refreshing. 

Cultural appropriation takes centre stage, Ms. Heiss's knowledge of the art world, especially Indigenous artists and their work is well researched and the shout out she gives to Indigenous artists (of all mediums) in her novels is nothing short of fantastic. (Check them out if you can. You won't regret it) I loved the questions she and colleagues touch on in regards to exhibits of Indigenous culture and the colonialist lens they are sometimes viewed from. (Does a bowl belong as an artefact or as an art work? Why are so many exhibits so male orientated? Viewing Indigenous peoples through a Western lens erases women and children from the culture, because Western culture has always had so little regard for women and children. ) 

But the thing I loved most about Manhattan Dreaming is that there are no less than 3 strong Indigenous women to act as voices and role models for Indigenous women. The Tiddahood taking pride of place. (Which all ties into connection to country and kin which is at the heart of Indigenous peoples culture everywhere) Australian Literature has a lack of modern urbanised female Indigenous voices. Anita Heiss fills that void with books full of heart, humour and wit. 

The story is much more light hearted than I paint in my unravelling. But there's a reason these books are so important to me. They talk about the issues that my people face in every day snippets. Casually and conversationally, Heiss doesn't shy away from touching on the political. But she does so in a way that brings the reader in, that doesn't alienate them and in her approach, may make them want to know more and become more involved. 


Heiss creates warm believable characters. Their depth and range is what brings you back to her words. You relate to them, you know people just like them and you want to be a part of their tiddahood. These are characters, that if they were real, you would want to be friends with. 


And I think I may just have a wee bit of a crush on Wyatt.


EDITED TO ADD: Ana Australiana has some great questions on Manhattan Dreaming for reading group discussions  on her blog over here. 

"pretty maids all in a row" in defence of 'Chick Lit'.

Does anyone really heed the old adage "Never judge a book by it's cover?"  


A quick saunter around any bookstore will tell you no, definitely not. Book covers are yet one more way we further tailor our literary genre. Sometimes consciously, sometimes sub consciously, but none the less, these days a books' cover will tell you more than just the blurb on the back. 


Fiction can be categorised according to the type of story an author chooses to tell. And the main genres, (and most genres have sub genres) are easily identifiable by a cursory glance of the cover design. 


 The most polarising genre of all would have to be "Chick Lit" or "Women's Literature". All those pretty pastel covers littered with cupcakes, handbags, and shoes. 
I went through a phase of avoiding chick lit like the plague. There's a stigma attached to it that screams "Chick Lit: Faux Fiction, what you read when you don't really feel like reading."  which buys into the whole societal perception that women's stories and women's voices are frivolous and materialistic at best and well, who really wants to read about shoes and relationship woes and shoes, and why can't I ever find a man who'll help me with the dishes, and am I running out of time to have a baby and did I mention shoes? The kicker is, if people bothered to actually read the books they might find there is far more than meets the eye. That what looks like a romp in an urban world of navigating men, cupcakes, handbags and shoes, there are real stories being told and real issues being swept under the cover of a pastel coating. To which I say, fuck that.  


It's the publishing world's way of putting Baby in a corner and NOBODY SHOULD EVER PUT BABY IN A CORNER!   And we continue to allow the infantilisation of women's literature by the pastelisation and shopping whimsy covers we apply to their books.  


But where I once had trouble embracing and even tolerating the need to label certain books as women's literature, I now feel the exact opposite. We need this categorisation, we need a niche of our own so someone can stand up say, Guess what, Women's stories matter. Women's voices matter.  
That women are under represented in literary awards and reviews is common knowledge and yet for all that, the one area in which women ARE highly visible, we shun. We women, belittle our own. We need to defend these voices. We need to stand up and shout our stories are just like mens stories. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to. But until we can write that world into existence, then it is a necessity to carve our own niche and defend it against those that would seek to destroy it. 


James Patterson's novels are as much about relationships as Cathy Kelly's are. Murakami is as much about relationships as Picoult. Miéville is as much about relationships as Valente. There isn't a fiction novel yet written that isn't about relationships, irrespective of the gender of the author or the genre for which they write. This notion that chick lit is somehow all about shopping, sex, shoes and ticking biological clocks and nothing else needs to stop. It is about those things, but it's also about so much more. 


We reinvent our world through fiction. With fiction we are free to ask big questions and posit all manner of consequences and answers. We are free to postulate on societal issues and  societal cancers and offer different visions for different outcomes.  Fiction gives us a platform through which to examine the world we live and the world we'd like to live in. We all live in the same world. Male, female, and what ever other variation of gender you subscribe to. Our stories help us make sense of our world, it's what fiction does.  And male authors are doing this just as much as women are. Whether it's a murder mystery, a steam punk novel, an anime adventure or a blood curdling horror, the commonality of all fiction is that they need relationships to propel the plot. Whether that relationship is a romantic connection to another character, a familial connection or even a connection created between narrator and reader, a relationship is required and all authors use them to move the story along. 




And if it popularised literature  isn't your cup of tea, don't judge someone else for reading it. Fiction can be about pure escapism as much as it can be about enrichment and diversity. People are not one dimensional, neither are most (well written) stories.  Escaping into a life so very different to your own can be cathartic on many levels. Getting to finally read a story you can relate because it seeks to make sense of a world you recognise as similar to the one you inhabit, is also just as cathartic.  When it comes to reading, life is too short to focus on reading books you think you should be reading in favour of books you want to read.  It's like being judged for your taste in music, if some douche wants to judge you by the cover of the book you're reading, they're probably already judging you based on a lot of other superficial cues too.  So go ahead and read that bodice heaver, erotic fiction, fantasy, suspense, YA, poetry book you want to.  


It's okay to dislike a book, or an author. I'm not saying you have to love all books and all women writer's. Sometimes you gotta dig to the bottom of the pile to find that one voice that speaks to your soul. But if you write off an entire genre based on some ridiculous notion that genre x isn't a real valid genre, you might just miss out on hearing that one special voice. 


So remember, before you sneer at the women's literature section (or any other section) at your local book store or library, just think about what you're really sneering at.  Is it possible, that by buying into the trivialisation of women's voices and stories, that in doing so, you trivialise and belittle your own?  

Not a review...

On Valentine's Day, the very lovely Dr. Anita Heiss sent out a tweet and face book status to one and all. Tweet a VDay tweet at her, send a VDay message via face book and she would send one tweep and one facebooker a free copy of Manhattan Dreaming .  Your Humble Narrator sent out such a tweet and my head near exploded with giddy delight when Anita tweeted back that if I sent her my address details she would indeed send me a copy.  (Not only did she send me one, but because she is generous and lovely, she sent one to all the tweeps who played along.)  My book arrived that Friday morning. Best of all, she took the time to write a small message in the front cover and sign it. Thank you so much. I love books and I love  books with personalised messages in them even more.  (I think it shows a level of care to give and  receive such a gift)

But anyway.

With one other book in my current reading pile (and by that I mean the pile of books I read just for me, not including the four novels and 1 play the kids and I are currently reading for our English and Literature studies, or the books we are reading for history, geography, science...well you get the picture.) I managed to pick Manhattan Dreaming up at 8pm on Saturday night.  I finally put it down just before 2am on Sunday morning after finishing it. Completely.

Since that time (it's now Sunday afternoon so 12 hours later) I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and all the things it makes me want to discuss.  And I will get to that in later posts.

But reading this has inspired in me a number of things. It's birthed the outline for several blog posts.  Posts I am unable to write just yet due to other things I should be doing.
And although this is not a book review, (I want to finish my second slower read through before I tackle that) it's certainly a big positive when a book inspires you, ignites the need to express yourself and provokes a need to learn, and tackle big things.  

But right now, I need to tackle the laundry!

"Because they don't look . Period."

.....because you don't look like or act like your people. Impossible! Because you are your people. You just tell them, they don't look. period. 

A very dear friend of mine sent me this link in a gesture of solidarity. Whilst she IS Jewish and I am not, the message in Vanessa Hidary's poetry can be equally applied to Indigenous Australians and pretty much all minority groups.

The amount of times I have had people shocked when I disclose to them that I am indeed Indigenous  is met with similar statements.
"But you don't look Aboriginal".
"But you don't act Aboriginal".
"But you're too pretty to be Aboriginal."
"But you're too smart to be Aboriginal."
"Oh it must be a long way back then. What percentage are you?"
"But I am darker than you!." (You'd be surprised by how many people over estimate the brownness of their tans, seriously.)

And yes, all of those statements are made in tones that imply it's complimentary to tell me I am not easily mistaken for Indigenous. Because to be obviously Indigenous is somehow a bad thing to be.

So to all my Indigenous family and friends, just remember, you are your people. Regardless of whatever stereotype it is you shatter in the eyes of the non-Indigenous, no one can ever take who you are away from you. EVER.

Mummy, How are babies made?

Winning the internets? This is how to do it.

Mummy, how are babies made?

Yes, this home schooler does teach her kids that Emperor Nasi Goreng did indeed erect the Great Wall of China due to a rabbit population issue*...

Home Schooling is back in the spotlight again thanks to this news  item.
The article itself is nothing to get all up in arms about. For the record, we are registered home schoolers. And I am all for registration and accountability. (For us the pros of registering far outweigh the cons)

My concern with this article is the way it has painted the whole home school community. We spend a lot of our time already pandering to others who feel we have to validate and quantify our reasons for the choice we made to satisfy them. They need to know we are being monitored. (Why it's their business is yet to be fully explained to me) They give our kids pop quizzes. They attribute any behavioural quirk as a product of home schooling. They tell us we're endangering our children by not letting them experience the real world. (Because spending 6-8 hours a day in a class room with only people your age is experiencing the real world)  They worry our kids aren't being socialised right. They worry that we're teaching them that the sky is made of carpet and 2 + 2= Elephant.  (Yes, someone actually said that to me) The biggest concern people have is that we're all not teaching them about evolution. (Because apparently the world will fall apart if we don't.)

I don't ask you to validate and quantify why you send your child to an institution. I live firmly with the belief that as their parent, you have their best interests at heart and have made an informed choice based on what works best for your family. Australians increasing obsession with "illegals" is rather disturbing. Do I need to carry my registration certificates around and whip them out every time someones feels that they need reassurance I'm not illegal?

The assertion the article makes that home schoolers are religious types with tin foil hats who are suspicious and fearful of big government is, frankly, reaching.  Whilst there certainly are types who choose to home school (either on or off the grid for this very reason) one needs to remember that we are not Americans.  Rob Reich's studies and finding are UScentric. Americans by nature have an ingrained suspicion and fear of their government and the more conservative a person is the more extreme that suspicion and fear seem to become. Australians as a whole are not as anti government.

As a parent I would like to remind everyone that education is not a one size fits all system. If it was our literacy and numeracy rates would be higher and more stable. Not in decline.  There is no one perfect way. Because all children are different and all children learn differently. All families are different and all families function in a different way. Don't be so quick to judge the family next to you based on an assumption of what you think their choice means. No two home schooling families are alike. We don't judge you on your choice. Nor do we expect you to explain it.

I can't speak for the non-registered community (I am not a part of it) and I can only speak for my family when it comes to registered families. I'm not entirely sure what purpose this article was supposed to have. Or what the public is supposed to glean from it other than the message that there are "illegals living amongst you".  If the purpose was to be divisive, then the MSM have succeeded yet again.
ABC I am disappointed. I expect better from you. But this was tabloidy and tacky.

* no I didn't really but some fictional guy on a tv commercial did so it must be plausible.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary....

 Well, there's no silver bells, cockle shells or pretty maids all in a row, but...I love my little garden. The time we spend together each morning alone as I sip my first cup of tea for the day and I turn on the hose to satiate their morning thirst.  It's peaceful and calm. I love watching my vegetables and fruit grow.

Impatiently waiting for the pumpkin to ripen.

More from the pumpkin patch...babies. 

My marrow, they are actually much bigger than they look.

This one is actually enormous.

Yummy yellow zucchini

and green...

Spaghetti Squash

Capsicum

Tomatoes.

So ends the pictorial....there's plenty of other plants in the garden, (cucumbers, herbs, strawberries, MORE tomatoes...different varieties.) But I figure, that's enough for one day. 

We spent New Year at Bermagui this year.  (We usually spend some part of the Christmas holiday season in Bermagui, when we are posted close enough to that is.)

Anyone who has ever spent time in Bermagui will have also spent some time in Central Tilba. I love Tilba. And not just because this is the best cheese ever, or because it's shops are quaint and beautiful and the smell of the ocean drifts lightly on the air or because you can find delightful sleepy friends in doorways but because the place is just so green and lush and beautiful. Even on a day when the street is overflowing with tourists and you'd expect it to be all loud and bothersome, there is a peacefulness, a calm and the cheese. Did I mention the cheese?  Oh sweet Lord the cheese. (Fighting urge to run to fridge and cut up some cheese....it must last until march. Dammit.)

One of my other favourite things is cemeteries.
I have often marvelled how a place full of silence and death is so rich with life. Every grave, every mound, every stone, every marker, they all tell a story. And the Tilba cemetery, well, it's just beautiful.

We took the girl child so she could pics that she could then use to draw, paint, sketch with. She hasn't started yet but I can't wait to see her finished products.

Tilba really is a beautiful place....

Learning, when our backs are turned.

As I sit here, thinking about the lessons I am in the middle of compiling, the curriculum I have yet to purchase, my mind is on worry mode. We haven't covered enough from last year, will I have the time to cover what I want this year? We should be learning RIGHT NOW, we've had a 4 week break, going into our 5th and we STILL HAVEN'T STARTED LEARNING YET.....ARRGGH!!

Learning is something we do every day and truthfully, most of our useful skills are learnt through doing, observing and osmosis. Really. Kids absorb their environment unconsciously.  If you don't believe me, pay attention the next time you see young  kids playing. If you pay careful attention you will see how much education is really going on, while you weren't looking!

I have learnt more as an adult just by living my life than I ever did in a classroom. Actually, that's not entirely true. I am a book worm. My nose is always in a book. Always has been. My mother had to ban reading at the dinner table because my youngest sister and I would read and not eat our dinner.  I was educated by books. All books. Not just reference books. Fiction plays such an important role in teaching us about our world and how to live in it. Even when we are reading about Middle Earth or a galaxy far far away or a hidden world in the back of a cupboard.

When I say things like this around other home schooling parents they nod their heads, smile and say "Oh, You follow Charlotte Mason!" To which I am always quick to politely reply, No, No I don't.
Ms. Masons method, though seemingly complimentary to my own approach to education is simply not how we roll here in the crayon box.  Whilst we love nature walks, we're not really into doing them every single day.  And I don't agree with her that grammar and spelling are not important, even in the early years.


But literature is the focus and lynch pin of our home school environment. All subjects have a literature component. (We have a not-quite unit study approach to all our education so numerous subjects are covered by studying one topic) We read, together, separately, out loud. (The crayon box is a very silent place to be after 9pm. We're all in bed, either already asleep or reading.) In fact, recently on holiday in Bermagui, the family who own the caravan next to ours commented on how quiet we are, I just smiled and lifted my book up in answer. For a whole week the television was never turned on  and yes we do have a tv in the caravan.   During school times, if the tv is on it's because we are watching a documentary, something political, the news or listening to classical music on AIR. Books are our crack.

When we studied WW2 we read literature. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,  The Morris Gleitzmen trilogy Once, Then and Now.  The Book Thief.  And various non-fiction books. We read seemingly un-related fiction, like John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began series, Catherynne M Valente's The Little Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a boat of her own making, Michael Gruber's The Witch's Boy.  (Because the thing that linked them together was the human need for stories. It's why history exists in the first place. It's why our Indigenous cultures taught through story telling, through art, through dance, through song and why those cultures have prevailed despite the efforts made to rub them out of existence. It's why book burning has been used as a tool against societies for as long as there has been books.  Because it's  the humanities that show us how to be human, perfectly flawed humans. )

We also looked at Maps and we watched documentaries. And never cracked a single textbook.  I'm not sure how much of the dates we remember, or the names of actual people, but we certainly got a feel for the human cost, for the lessons that history had to teach us and a hunger to know more.

And that is my job as an educator and their mother. It's not to prepare them for high performance on standardised testing or how to parrot back information, it's to light that fire in them, to fuel the hunger to want to know more.  To show them how the world was, how it is and to ask them  how they would like it to be and urge them, guide them, facilitate them towards making that happen.

Literature is a powerful tool for an educator. Charlotte Mason got that much right.

Holidays over back to the grind.

Well, not that my version of grind is really grinding at all.

We've spent a fabulous month just existing as a family.  Fishing trips, bush walks, fierce xbox 360 Kinect competitions (I swear, I will beat the man in a sprint race eventually. My mistake was that I beat him first go and showed him how to run correctly for the game... *sigh*)
But I do believe I have the Kinect Ten Pin Bowling Trophy in the bag.

Our time spent down the coast was wonderful, but I did miss my ed and my garden that is spewing up all kinds of wonderful things to eat.  (I will post pics soonish, haven't taken any of the garden and my hay fever has reached such astronomical levels as to render me incapable of talking normally I couldn't be bothered to do it today. I keep losing my voice, much to everybody else's amusement)

So internet time is still sporadic as I finalise schooling plans for this term, get the dishwasher fixed (which judging from the telephone call I got today I am a little sceptical about whether or not 'Donna' logged my job properly.)  get some reading time in and you know just the general everyday stuff we women do that men never even have to think about!