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brightSharon

Listed below are comments made by brightSharon between Wednesday, 8th April 2009 and Sunday, 30th August 2009.

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After the Ashes 09:36am on 30 Aug 2009 I agree with campantman that life here in Australia is relatively uneventful. Which partly explains why the media like to dramatise and capastrophise so many things. I do not know anyone who hates the British. We have strong ties to the UK for historical reasons and because so many of us have lived there or have family living there, generally for a few years. My adult children both live in London. That has caused me to follow British news somewhat more, and to visit London somewhat more than I had in the past. When and if they return, as they plan to, we will no doubt continue to feel a special tie to the place that will have been such a part of their lives.
They know they will battle with the dullness but the pull of family, friends and climate is strong. The cricket issue is just a matter of interest; strong interest to some, no interest to others and something for the media to try to make into an interesting story.
Meaasuring the threat 1:22pm on 06 Aug 2009 I was not shocked, more saddened. Re Bali, there is a memeorial at Cronulla beach near where I live, to the seven local women who died in Bali. So it is not something I forget.
All of us in the world who have access to technology have to learn ways of dealing with the huge amount of information, much of it negative, with which we are bombarded. I think we retreat into trivia as a way of coping.
I watch SBS news every night, but I must say I dont really care if the news is three hours late. My own mother-in-law, a post war migrant, did not hear of her father's death for weeks as the news came by mail. The fist settlers waited months and years for such news.
Food, glorious food 11:37am on 20 Jul 2009 I was introduced to Masterchef by my thirteen year old nephew and became fairly hooked on it. I do not normally watch reality shows and its success is certainly interesting.
I personally have enjoyed it because of the lack of humiliation in it. As a teacher I have become increasingly exasperated by the expectation of parents that their children be shielded from the slightest criticism from other children, which they often wrongly define as bullying (which naturally we should deal with) For example a nine year old commenting that she does not wish to play a particular game, on a single occasion, can become a major incident.
Masterchef demonstrates valid criticism without personal putdowns. It fits in with our culture, where our language is low in modality or directness, I think coming from the English part of our heritage. My German and Dutch friends have been forbidden to complain in restaurants by their Aussie children, who find this habit quite humiliating!
I dont think there is any link to the recession. I would be interested to hear how Nick thinks we are dealing with the downturn-like others I was optimistic and remain so.
The great fly-over problem 07:18am on 03 Jul 2009 It is hard to know what to say other than what has been said already, and hard to know what should be done.
Cultural change doesn't happen overnight. When I started teaching in 1973, corporal punishment was the norm in NSW schools. When my daughters were young, the majority of responsible parents would smack their children. Watching Mad Men on SBS has reminded me how work cultures have changed-years ago everyone smoked at work, and almost everywhere else. Sexist jokes and behaviour were widespread in the workplace. When I was in high school it was both legal and regarded as normal for senior students and junior teachers to date. They were often separated by only about three years in age. These days it is illegal.
With the remote Aboriginal communities, we are basically looking about accelerating a change in some negative aspects of the prevailing culture while retaining other aspects of it. Most people I know with experience in the field believe the impetus for change must come from the community itself.
The Pom influence 08:30am on 27 Jun 2009 I am an Aussie. Three of my four grandparents were born here and the fourth left Scotland at the age of two. I am also a Republican. But I love Britain and its people. Just this afternoon my daughter in London sent me a text that she is in the overnight queue at Wimbledon for tickets and told me her queue number and that there are five pages of instructions for queueing plus a code of conduct. I have no idea why, but I like this very much, and replied that I was obviously English at heart!
I have found it strange that, in discussions of racism and other issues, the issue of our convict heritage keeps coming up. I cannot imagine that many of us can be descended from the few hundred thousand convicts who came here, and I think convict descent is a matter of pride these days partly because of its rarity.
22% of us were born overseas and 40% have a parent born overseas; I cannot find any figures for convict descent but would be interested to know.
Will the Chasers go to war on Rudd? 07:51am on 31 May 2009 I think all the research showed Workchoices was the biggest factor, along with Iraq and a generic need for change.
Outback film enchants and challenges 07:40am on 31 May 2009 I found this film to be confronting and depressing, but not particularly enjoyable. I think older people like me have seen so many attempts in our lifetime to address the types of problems shown and frankly, if there was a simple solution, it would have been found by now.
We should be careful not to stereotype our Aboriginal population. I am a teacher and when attending courses on Aboriginal Ed, it was always pointed out that Sydney holds the largest number of Aboriginal people. That in the capital cities, from 2006 Census data, 87% have non-Aboriginal partners, are in the workforce and no doubt spend their weekends shopping and driving the kids to sport!
That is not to deny the size of the problem amongst a portion of the group, but I know my Sicilian-born husband gets pretty sick of Mafia comments when he cops the "what an interesting name... what is it?" questions.
I must confess we only saw the movie when we couldn't get into "Gomorrah", no doubt an equally depressing one about the Mafia in Naples!
The revitalisation of Anzac Day 07:49am on 25 Apr 2009 I think there is a generational factor at work in the interest among the young. I am a teacher of mostly eight and nine year olds, and the Anzac Ceremony is the most serious ceremony of the year in our public school. The children love to tell the stories of their grandparents and great-gradparents who were involved in wars and show any medals etc. When I was at school the ceremony was similar but it was the parents of my generation who were in WW2 and my own peers who would later be in Vietnam. I think that it is a factor of the process on individualising that children often temporarily reject many of their parents' values but embrace those of their grandparents.
You see this, unfortunately, in the great reluctance of the many children of migrants to learn their parents' original languages properly but see the next generation embracing the grandparents' background. Witness the great pride the latest winner of Australia's Got Talent has in his grandparents' culture.
My European born husband insisted that we go to Gallipoli for Anzac Day when it happened we would be in Turkey at that time. As his father had been a prisoner of war on the other side I was somewhat surprised! Our London-based daughter came with us and there were, in our group, at least two young people escorting elderly grandparents on the trip. I think the young were incredibly moved to realise that the soldiers so long ago shared their love of travel but were so much younger than they, and their fate was so dreadful. I thought the crowd beautifully behaved and respectful.
Making arguments on race 12:18pm on 19 Apr 2009 If nearly 30% of our ancestry is non-Anglo this surely indicates a huge change in the composition of our population in the past few years. Fifty years ago we were much more Anglo. Anyway it is surely just as racist to prevent Anglo migration as to favour it!
Can I say, from the perspective of a resident of the Cronulla area, that binge drinking played a very sad role in that whole episode. Obviously there had to be underlying attitudes which resulted in the behaviour seen. However had the police had the power to close the alcohol outlets on the day, common sense may have prevailed. Not to excuse anyone involved!
I live harmoniously near Cronulla with my Italian Australian partner, with immediate neighbours who are Chinese, Indian, English, Kiwi, Italian, and German Aussies. This is the norm in Sydney. Certainly racism exists in this country but exactly where is there none?
The China syndrome 10:08am on 08 Apr 2009 I live in Sydney, and in Sydney at least, we have a huge Asian and in particular, Chinese, input in most aspects of our culture. I live in the so-called Anglo Sutherland Shire and people as diverse as my doctor and dentist, my dry-cleaner, butcher and my next door neighbour are all Australian/Chinese. We must engage with China and it is surely of benefit to us that our PM has worthwhile skills in that area.
Some people seem to be really concerned about the increasing government debt. I believe that well managed debt is beneficial, both personal and government. Our accountant told us many years ago that you have to borrow money to make money, and we have. Naturally it must be well managed and I have confidence in the ability of the government to do so.

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brightSharon