Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft, by John Opie

Mary Wollstonecraft
Wrote 'A Vindication on the Rights of Woman'
In 1792
And stated that
That the low status of women
And the way in which
Society, and women themselves,
Perceived women
As individuals, and as a sex,
As weak and inferior
Would be done away with
If women received a decent
Education

But today we find
In 2013
That even educated women
Are still relegated secondary status
Are still perceived as weak and inferior
Because the society in which we live
Says that women
Are mere sex objects
And things for looking upon

We live in a time where educated women
Choose
To be viewed and judged
By their looks and sexiness
Appear spread eagled and naked in magazines and videos and online
Use sex
As a way to pay for their education

We live in a time
Where even if you have a college degree
You have to stand up and say
No.
My body is my own
And not yours to oggle and coddle
Please listen to what I have to say
Not how I look as I say it

Where does this leave
A Vindication on the Rights of Woman?
Yes, we must educate girls and women
We must learn maths and science
And drama and music
And history and English
And languages and sport
We must be equipped with knowledge and skills
We must go out into the world

But we also must educate boys and men
To treat women with respect
To not fear women with power
To learn how to speak with women
(And about women)
With terminology that doesn't involve sex or beauty or derogatory statements

Women are still weak and inferior
Because the misogynistic system
That has been in place
For millenia
Has not yet been replaced
With a system
Of education
That teaches compassion, and respect, and humanity
Above looks and impressions and sex

So yes
Teach girls and women to be strong
But teach boys and men
To be okay with the shift
That says women are no longer inferior
But equal
That is the vindication I seek.

The end.

Birthday Wish

The first twenty-three years of my life

Were spent entirely 

In Australia.

I didn’t even own a passport until I was twenty-three.

And all I wanted

More than anything in the world

Was to see it.

To be in the world and meeting people and traveling to far off lands. 

And at twenty-three years, plus nine months,

I finally left the land girt by sea

And ventured to the 

Land of Overseas

It’s funny to imagine that twenty-three year old

Walking through the Departure Gate 

Hoping and trusting that wonderful adventures lay ahead. 

That year she turned twenty-four in Paris

And spent the day cycling through Parisian streets 

And eating lunch in the gardens of a French palace.

The following year she turned twenty-five in San Francisco,

Ate nachos and got engaged,

And the next day, cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge

Apprehensive that the any-moment-now Quake would send her plunging to her death. 

The following year she turned twenty-six in Sydney

And sang on stage

In a band with parents and teachers from her sister’s school.

She was no longer engaged, 

But knew she was going back to places far away. 

And the following year she turned twenty-seven in London

And her aunt spoilt her rotten 

With a day-long adventure of food and sights and a play and cupcakes

That ended after midnight,

And she felt free and in the right place.

And the following year she turned twenty-eight in Fort Collins, Colorado

And walked around a Buddhist temple in the mountains

And ate a picnic at sunset by the river

With a boy who was wise and loving and strong. 

And she reflected on the four years since the overseas adventure had begun. 

And she realized she had done many of the things she had first set out to do,

Go overseas. Live. Work. Play. Fall in love. 

And she wondered, 

What is Next? 

Where will she be at twenty-nine?

And she whispered a prayer to her heart, and said

Hold on. 

It all comes true, I promise. 

The end. 

Working 9 to 5

Many philosophers have agreed 

That in order to be happy

People need to be gainfully employed

And now that I’ve been unemployed

For the past six months

I understand this more than ever

I’ve never had trouble getting work until now

Being a student

Living in London during a recession

Times are tough

It’s the best of times 

It’s the worst of times 

And is it a portal into my future?

Choosing a career where I am likely to be unemployed for long spells of time

Every actor goes through it

I remember reading Michael Caine’s autobiography

And his depression at watching his friends get jobs around him

His friends not get jobs around him

The despair

And the heartache

And coming to London and giving up everything I’ve ever known

To be living in the hope of the next job

And when I finally get even a tiny bit of work

The relief, the satisfaction

Spending an evening with lovely people

Well-heeled folk with a passion for supporting the arts

The student-actors gathered around the left-overs

Living the bohemian dream

The reality is so much tougher 

Much scarier when you’re not sure how you’ll meet the next rent

Pay for next week’s groceries or travel pass

Because you’re living on sheer determination and hope 

And praying praying praying that all this 

Despair and heartache will be totally completely worth it 

When one day you can say you’re earning your living as a performer

I am an actor

I am living the dream

And it’s even better than I could have imagined

The end. 

Just Around the Riverbend

A year ago today I knew I was moving to London but I didn’t know how

A year ago today my best friend was despairing that he would never meet someone and in six months he’s getting married. 

A year ago today I had no idea what 2011 would bring but I knew it would be exciting.

And it was. It was exciting. It was lovely. It was hard. It was emotional. It was inspiring. It was draining. It was everything I had hoped it could be and so much more. 

I met my heroes. I fell in love. I moved to a whole other country. 

And here we are on the brink of 2012. 

The Occupy Movement is rustling. 

I have six months left at school. 

Another trip to America is on the cards. 

After that? Who knows? 

They say that 2012 was the end of the Mayan calendar

That the end of the world is nigh. 

But I choose to believe it's all about to change. 

There is a shift, a quickening, a change in the air,

And I’m not quite sure what it holds.

But I breathe, and trust, and light, and love,

And know that something’s just around the riverbend.

Because something’s coming. Something good. 

Could be. Hold still.

This is the beginning. 

Rachel

So imagine you have a friend

And she is an artist

And she knows a lot about sustainability

And she studied trash for her thesis

And she inspires you to know more

To learn more

To be better than you are

And she shares her books about recycling and up-cycling and waste reduction and breaking the waste cycle and the one about how it is possible to use human excrement as fertilizer without making people sick

And you see her in action

Teaching young people about sustainability

The table of beads made from rescued factory bits

Rubber tubing and buttons and bolts and nuts and screws

The left overs from other things 

That in the current system would just be thrown away

The table with the “guess-who” games on food and energy and water

Did you know that Fiji water comes from a place where the local people have no access to clean drinking water?

The fact sheets and interactive tables

How quickly can you sort the recycling?

Do you know what can be recycled in your town and that it changes from region to region

And country to country?

And it blew you away

Her commitment and her enthusiasm and her passion

And you know she is one of life’s rare people

A sparkling gem of intellect and vigor and joy

And you want to know more, do more

Because you have met her

And shared a few days with her

And been inspired by her

And you know it is possible to live in a world where people care about the resources they are using

And be responsible for the life they are living

Because she showed you it was true

She shone light on that which was less than ideal

And she made you see things in a new way

And you are glad that such people in your life exist

To make you question

To make you see

To give you renewed enthusiasm for this life this path

Of creativity and sustainability and passion

Dear Rachel, thank you for your light and joy

Moving to London

Left: Abuelo and Abuela in Manilla in the 1950s, Right: Mum and an assortment of (now) uncles and aunts in 1963

Forty-eight years ago you sailed into Sydney and leaned against the railing of the ship 

Thinking of children who weren’t even born yet

All the children with you would one day be grown-ups and married with children of their own

Could you have imagined me, your granddaughter, named after you

Who when she went to Spain for the first time felt strangely at home

Despite the language barrier 

Who longed her whole life to be European, to speak Spanish, who thrilled and delighted at finally getting a Spanish passport 

How would you feel knowing your nieta is not an out and proud Australian

That I cringe at our accents and our inability to speak more than one language 

That I find Australian culture frustrating

That I can’t stand that our national day of pride is a day commemorating a bloody battle thousands of miles away 

That I cannot connect with Australian history because it is so contested 

A few months ago I sailed into Sydney myself

I got up at 5am to watch the lights of Sydney Harbour come into view

And I thought of you leaning against the railing of the Iberia

Could you have imagined as you sailed past Nielsen Park or Point Piper or Taronga Zoo that these would be the sites of my childhood?

Strange to think that the Opera House wasn’t even finished yet 

Could you have imagined me singing in the Opera House?! Or having my year 10 formal at the Zoo overlooking the giraffes looking out to the Harbour? 

Could you have imagined that I would grow up among the eucalyptus and the smell of the Australian bush

And yet never feel at home in it

To feel frustrated every time someone asks “but don’t you feel so lucky?”

In two months, I’m leaving this place

To go to the land where your brothers live

And then to London to seek my own life and put down my own roots

Where I will be in forty-eight years time? 

And what stories will have played out between my arrival at Heathrow and sitting down to reflect on it all?

Abuelo, forty-eight years ago you sailed to Sydney

To a land that for you was entirely sight unseen 

No internet to do your research

No crystal ball to let you know that it was all going to be ok, that you were making the right decision

Our wanderings are not over yet

We are still shifting in time and space 

But wherever we go, there we are

And we have our stories and our ancestors to guide the way

Cultivating Happy

Sometimes you feel down. And tired. And frustrated. And you have to remember that it’s okay to feel this way. And you have to remember to allow yourself some down time. It is okay to sit and watch television and not be productive a thousand percent of the time. And you watch Adam Hills who is a very funny and lovely man because he is so human and genuine. And the episode is about hobbies. And you recall that your hobby is collecting moments of lovely. And Nick Vujicic warms your heart because he is all heart. And Jennifer Byrne inspires you to smile because she genuinely smiles and talks about optimism. And you remember that happiness and bliss and joy need to be consciously cultivated. And you feel better because you have had a cup of chamomile tea with honey. And you have laughed. And you have let yourself be. And that is a moment of lovely in itself. And that lifts you a little bit so you feel ready to go out into the world again. The end. 

Tangled

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/tangled/#/home/

Ah the magical world of Disney. It has received many criticisms over the years. That Walt was a controlling, conservative, women-belong-in-the-kitchen-and-chained-to-a-man kind of guy, that the corporation treats its employees badly, that it fills children's minds with unrealistic expectations about life and love. As an eighties baby, it's almost in my genetic code to love Disney. I grew up with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. These movies are under my skin. The heroes and heroines and tunes are a part of my very being. 

In recent years, Disney have churned out a few great films. Wall-E was beautiful. Any film where the world is saved by a robot watching Michael Crawford croon out “It Only Takes a Moment” on repeat is a winner in my eyes. But the message of Wall-E was spoilt by the plastic land-fill filling paraphernalia that inevitably followed the film. Enchanted was fabulous. It humorously captured the magic of Disney at its escapist, all singing, all dancing, all glorious technicolor best (though I will never understand why they cast Idina Menzel in a non-singing role. That’s just ridiculous). 

Today, I saw Tangled. And it was magic. It made me cry. It made me laugh. At twenty-something, Disney still has me oohing and ahhing at a cartoon. The girl twirling in the meadow, the lanterns floating through the sky, the wild chases through medieval Europe. The re-telling of a fairytale with plenty of feminist, post-modern self-referential punch. The score, by that genius of film music, Alan Menken, though not particularly memorable is beautiful. The throw-away lines and psychological break downs provide plenty of adult humour. It is Disney doing what Disney does best. 

Yes, it is escapist. It is a land where the concepts of republicanism or fear do not even exist. The environment is still in tact. Girl can meet boy. Boy and girl can fall in love and have adventures. There is sunshine. There is love.  And your dreams come true. And you live happily ever after. Is Disney filling me with false hope that life can be so sweet? Perhaps. But it is nice to have hope. And it is nice to believe, even if only for a couple of hours in a darkened cinema, that love and beauty and inspiration can win over darker forces. And that is the magic of Disney.