Categories: uncategorized
Date: 15 August 2006 08:07:00
Well, I have decided that blogging may not be so intermittent as this machine seems to be a major link to holding on to normality at the moment.
Whilst festivating in the damp I managed to finish my WISE book, that Yay so kindly sent. "My Place" by Sally Morgan was a wonderful choice, being a biography that also had deep political and spiritual significance. It is the sort of book that gets you mesmorised, horrified, laughing, crying and learning all in one go.
For those who have not come across this book before (and if you are like me that is probably most of the UK contingent) it is the story of a family who come to terms with their Aboriginal identity. It explains how one family were subjected to what effectively amounts to state sponsored abuse due to the policies that were implemented against indigenous peoples in the early 20th century and the effects this then had on the generation(s) that followed. It also highlights the wider attitudes that led to often covert racism (where many in society didn't know they were actually being racist). It is a book which explains the strength of the human spirit and the way in which generations of working class women, particularly, have worked to survive and keep their families intact and provided for in the most difficult conditions.
In the end it is a book that shows the power of speaking and storytelling to break silence caused by fear and / or shame and the power and transformation that can come from this act. If you can get hold of a copy I'd say it is definatley worth the read.