872: (322/365) MATRICULATE!

I have this image in my head – last day of Dalek highschool, a bunch of Daleks more and more excitedly rattling off “Matriculate! Matriculate!”:

Yesterday another cohort of seniors left school to join the journey to the next phase of their life. I am blessed to have taught some of them. For a teacher there is no greater gift than an enquiring mind that wants to learn. Continue reading

869: (319/365) Love is Love

For what seems like an age, Australia has been torn apart by a divisive postal survey that the incumbent government decided was the best way to determine what the right thing to do was:

Ignoring world trends, common decency and justice, we “voted” on whether 2 people who love each other should be allowed to marry. Labelled the “Same Sex Marriage Debate”, it became an embarrassing mud slinging match as conservative bigots surfaced all sorts of reasons why this was a bad idea.

Thankfully, the majority (61%) of Australians said “Yes”, this (theoretically) now means the government has a MANDATE (hahaha, sorry, my inner 7 year old took over for a moment) to change our constitution so “Marriage” becomes a union between a loving couple, regardless of gender, orientation, hair colour, religion, IQ or political ideology. Continue reading

865: (315/365) 11/11/2017 Lest We Forget

The poppy has become a symbol of remembrance, reverence and honour:

A humble flower capable of thriving in the harshest of conditions, flourishing under duress with a beautiful, if short-lived ephemeral flower. Something existential to learn here for all of us.  Continue reading

854: (304/365) … you make One Fairy Cry …

Australia does not really have a tradition of Halloween, it seems to me a cultural import that encourages the worst sort of excesses – a point I tried to explain to a small halloweenie dressed as a fairy who came knocking on my door on this day a few years back:

It did not go as well as planned, needless to say I am now labelled “the grinch” of our street and little kids scuttle past our place in costume afraid of the bad man in that house. Continue reading

851: (301/365) Vale Vicky

People process loss in different ways. 10 years ago a friend lost her fight with cancer and I am still saddened by the loss of such a bright and affirming soul:

While I could not bring myself to attend a memorial mass, none the less I still feel the loss. I chose to find solace in the many wonderful memories of a friend and confidante. Continue reading