Last night I went to see an art exhibition curated by a friend of mine called "The Australia Project". Many artists were invited to respond to questions about the Australian identity and I was overwhelmed by the diversity of the artwork. People from across Australia are now invited to answer the question, "what makes you Australian?" and send in their postcards. You can download your postcards or order some here:
Some of these postcards were hung up around the gallery last night. One 12 year old student had answered:
"What makes me Australian is cultural diversity...My mum's parents moved to Australia in the early 60s, to have a better future and quality of life than they would've in Southern Greece....My dad moved here (from France) in 1970 when he was 22. My friend came up with the term "Freek" (half French, half Greek) for me, and I'm Australian too, so for fun I'm a Freekalian. So watching Japanese TV, and American Movies, while eating Indian takeaway is why I'm proud to be 100% Aussie."
another 11 year old student wrote:
"To live in Australia means a lot to me because it is a kind of country that doesn't kick out people from other countries and cultures. I am thankful for that because my family comes from a different country and I have a different culture."
Contrast these hopeful messages with Pauline Hanson's comments yesterday, saying she would not sell her house to Muslims because they are "not compatible with our culture". Click here to put in $100 to collectively buy Pauline's house for a group of Muslim refugees. Let's embrace diversity and be the Australia that the school children believe we are.
Showing posts with label culture shift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture shift. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
time to celebrate
I felt really privileged recently to be invited to a school in Albury to speak at their student leadership day. I came away excited and invigorated by the energy and creativity of these year 11 students who created the space to discuss what leadership meant to them, their school and their community. I was struck by the wisdom and thoughtfulness present in all discussions. There were many occasions when I heard a desire to understand others in their community. At one point the group was asked how they would respond to a simple situation as a leader: what would they do if a student arrived at school and wasn’t wearing their uniform properly. The answers given were not reactive or interested in exerting power. One student said “I would ask how their morning was. There could be something really bad going on for them” These students constantly showed a deep understanding of the whole person. I look forward to spending more time with this group of young adults. I think they are going to teach me a lot about respect, creative thinking and wholeness.
These reflections of inspiring young adults are not the pictures we often see painted in our mainstream media. I always get upset at this time of year, as the media gets stuck in to school leavers, calling them everything from “unruly” to “unethical”. People everywhere seem to sigh “oh, the youth of today, they are so (insert derogatory adjective)…blah blah blah. ..” Little space is given to reflect or ask questions of the education system or the wider community. Every year, it seems, another fear campaign is launched against young people. This article in the Age tipped me over the edge and I had to respond:
I find it fascinating that the press continues to portray school leavers as one narcissistic, heaving mass. There are countless stories of young people from across the country planning creative and sustainable experiences to celebrate the end of their schooling. Last year a group of school leavers volunteered in East Timor during Schoolies and next year, in 2010, school leavers from across the state will participate in Schoolies With a Cause, an alternative schoolies program which will take young people on exposure trips to Indonesia, Cape York or Grampians National Park. Volunteers across the state also support school leavers in their local communities by driving shuttle buses, hosting free bbqs and making sure people get home safely.
Why this constant shallow reporting on end of year celebration stories? It is clear that this is an important time for young adults. We all need rituals and celebrations to mark out milestones in our lives, to grieve what has gone and welcome what is to come. Many year 12 students are celebrating this particular milestone in respectful and caring ways. And we can join them. What are we afraid of finding out if we were to get to know the school leavers in our community and ask some deeper questions? I am excited that our community has the opportunity to join with these young adults in celebrating their 13 years of schooling.
(This post is only partly to plug the Schoolies with a Cause program that we are working on for next year and mostly born out of a desire to celebrate stories of young people)
These reflections of inspiring young adults are not the pictures we often see painted in our mainstream media. I always get upset at this time of year, as the media gets stuck in to school leavers, calling them everything from “unruly” to “unethical”. People everywhere seem to sigh “oh, the youth of today, they are so (insert derogatory adjective)…blah blah blah. ..” Little space is given to reflect or ask questions of the education system or the wider community. Every year, it seems, another fear campaign is launched against young people. This article in the Age tipped me over the edge and I had to respond:
I find it fascinating that the press continues to portray school leavers as one narcissistic, heaving mass. There are countless stories of young people from across the country planning creative and sustainable experiences to celebrate the end of their schooling. Last year a group of school leavers volunteered in East Timor during Schoolies and next year, in 2010, school leavers from across the state will participate in Schoolies With a Cause, an alternative schoolies program which will take young people on exposure trips to Indonesia, Cape York or Grampians National Park. Volunteers across the state also support school leavers in their local communities by driving shuttle buses, hosting free bbqs and making sure people get home safely.
Why this constant shallow reporting on end of year celebration stories? It is clear that this is an important time for young adults. We all need rituals and celebrations to mark out milestones in our lives, to grieve what has gone and welcome what is to come. Many year 12 students are celebrating this particular milestone in respectful and caring ways. And we can join them. What are we afraid of finding out if we were to get to know the school leavers in our community and ask some deeper questions? I am excited that our community has the opportunity to join with these young adults in celebrating their 13 years of schooling.
(This post is only partly to plug the Schoolies with a Cause program that we are working on for next year and mostly born out of a desire to celebrate stories of young people)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
laugh for laugh's sake
I was asked to speak at a couple of chapel services on Monday and naturally, the idea terrified me. After a fair amount of anxious deliberating, I decided to speak about something I knew about...my friends. Thanks to those friends who continually inspire me...and give me something to talk about to secondary students across the state! This is what I came up with:
love and laugh with your neighbour...
lemons
The other night I went to see an orchestra playing at Hamer Hall in Melbourne. I had flown in from Sydney that morning and was carrying a lot of bags (one of which was pink and floral), so I decided to go and check in my coat and bags at the cloak room. My friend Phil and I went over to do this, and after I had handed over all of my stuff, I looked over at Phil who was not giving the staff member his jacket or bag, but calmly and seriously handing over a single lemon. I had to turn away to hide my laughter, but I could hear the staff member saying “thank you sir, I will be sure to look after that carefully for you” through what sounded like a large grin.
Now, this type of event is not that unusual when hanging out with Phil. Every year Phil undertakes a new experiment, and this year it is called: “2009: A year with lemons”. Every day he engages in one lemon related activity. It may be leaving a lemon instead of a tip at a restaurant, giving a lemon a tattoo or last week he was in Malaysia and fed a lemon to a monkey....In 2006 Phil gave a flower to a different person each day. He called it “2006: A year of giving flowers to people”. He lived in England, France and Australia during that year with a mission to give a stranger a flower every day. He then blogs about what happens- with reactions ranging from delight, to confusion, to annoyance, to tears of joy.
I once asked him why he does these quirky things with his life. “Because I’m a human and I want to interact with other humans” I was a bit surprised by this answer. Wasn’t he hoping to say something profound by giving a flower to someone every day? Or by leaving a lemon as a tip in a restaurant? Isn’t he trying to be provocative… or… kind? But he is doing these things, not to make a statement or to cause a scene. He is simply creating frameworks in which people can interact with each other in a way they maybe wouldn’t have done otherwise. He puts himself in places where he is asking people to see life in a different way, even for a moment. He doesn’t have an agenda that he is running- he isn’t hoping to get something in particular out of these interactions...he just wants to see what happens when strangers start talking to each other.
presence in public spaces
I find it very easy to slip into a routine and not notice all the people or places around me. Every day I catch the tram to work in the city and sometimes I get to my destination and realise I’ve been sitting with other people for 40 minutes and haven’t even noticed them. I’ve been in my own little “Sarah bubble.” Recently, when there was a big storm, the whole of the Melbourne CBD was advised to leave work at 4pm. I found myself sitting on my tram next to an older man who started talking to me about the storm. Usually no one even makes eye contact on my tram, so this was a big step. We spoke for the entire journey- he worked for the Melbourne City Council and had helped to plan the city’s tram routes. He was so passionate about city planning and his excitement was contagious. He made me look out the window and appreciate my city- not bury my head in a book. This stranger opened up my eyes to the moment I was living in.
“interrupt the ordinary, inspire the extraordinary.” Peggy Holman
I’m sure we all have stories like this- when a conversation makes us see life through a different lense and we realise that we are sharing life with lots of people all around us. My ordinary, everyday tram ride was changed forever. It made me realise that in every moment there is the possibility for the ordinary to become extraordinary- in a moment of connection.
facebook
I asked friends recently on my facebook site if they could tell me the favourite thing about their neighbourhood. Over 30 friends replied, and many of them said that the favourite thing in their neighbourhood was a person. Sometimes this was a person they knew, sometimes it was a local celebrity- like the guy in Prahran who rollerblades down chapel St being pulled along by two little dogs, or the old Italian man who gives everyone tomatoes when they walk past.
People are examining their neighbourhoods all over the world and asking what makes them special. Improv Everywhere are a professional group of actors working in New York who create surprise performances in very ordinary locations. Charlie Todd formed the company in 2001 with no fixed agenda other than to make comedy for comedy’s sake. He wants to create opportunities in his neighbourhood to “make someone laugh, smile, or stop to notice the world around them.” One of my favourite examples of their work is their Grand Central Freeze. The company also completed a mission recently where 2000 new Yorkers took their invisible dog out for a walk. Another favourite activity of this company is to break into musical in ordinary unpredictable places. Recently they staged a musical in the fruit and vegetable section of a supermarket: Grocery Store Musical. Another mission that got a lot of views on youtube was their food court musical, where workers broke out in song much to the surprise of people eating their lunch.
These experiments are unpredictable; anything can happen. The company has made many people laugh and many friendships grow. They recognise that people carry a strong desire for love and hope and they create opportunities for them to share this joy with the world. There is also a recognition that we are all in this world together, and that we need to imagine new ways of interacting with other people.
Improv Everywhere and my friend Phil both recognise it isn’t outcomes or achievements that matter. This is a hard idea for us humans to get our heads around. We live in a competitive world. Movies like Mean Girls show us how easy it is to fall into the trap of becoming competitive and jealous. But rather than competition what we need is space to be creative- time and places to connect with other people in interesting, fun and unique ways. When we give ourselves time to imagine, we are more fully ourselves, and give ourselves the space to love others.
People and relationships matter. Our local community, our school community and our global community matter. As the writer and thinker Margaret Wheatley says, "If we free ourselves (from competing with our friends and colleagues) we discover that it becomes easier to love them...We realize that we truly are in this together, and that’s all that matters."¹
This week I urge you to give yourself some space. Look at the world through a different lense. Love for loves sake, laugh for laughter’s sake, and maybe even give someone a flower.
______________________________________________________________________________
¹Wheatley, Margaret; The Place Beyond Fear and Hope; Shambhala Sun, March 2009
love and laugh with your neighbour...
lemons
The other night I went to see an orchestra playing at Hamer Hall in Melbourne. I had flown in from Sydney that morning and was carrying a lot of bags (one of which was pink and floral), so I decided to go and check in my coat and bags at the cloak room. My friend Phil and I went over to do this, and after I had handed over all of my stuff, I looked over at Phil who was not giving the staff member his jacket or bag, but calmly and seriously handing over a single lemon. I had to turn away to hide my laughter, but I could hear the staff member saying “thank you sir, I will be sure to look after that carefully for you” through what sounded like a large grin.
Now, this type of event is not that unusual when hanging out with Phil. Every year Phil undertakes a new experiment, and this year it is called: “2009: A year with lemons”. Every day he engages in one lemon related activity. It may be leaving a lemon instead of a tip at a restaurant, giving a lemon a tattoo or last week he was in Malaysia and fed a lemon to a monkey....In 2006 Phil gave a flower to a different person each day. He called it “2006: A year of giving flowers to people”. He lived in England, France and Australia during that year with a mission to give a stranger a flower every day. He then blogs about what happens- with reactions ranging from delight, to confusion, to annoyance, to tears of joy.
I once asked him why he does these quirky things with his life. “Because I’m a human and I want to interact with other humans” I was a bit surprised by this answer. Wasn’t he hoping to say something profound by giving a flower to someone every day? Or by leaving a lemon as a tip in a restaurant? Isn’t he trying to be provocative… or… kind? But he is doing these things, not to make a statement or to cause a scene. He is simply creating frameworks in which people can interact with each other in a way they maybe wouldn’t have done otherwise. He puts himself in places where he is asking people to see life in a different way, even for a moment. He doesn’t have an agenda that he is running- he isn’t hoping to get something in particular out of these interactions...he just wants to see what happens when strangers start talking to each other.
presence in public spaces
I find it very easy to slip into a routine and not notice all the people or places around me. Every day I catch the tram to work in the city and sometimes I get to my destination and realise I’ve been sitting with other people for 40 minutes and haven’t even noticed them. I’ve been in my own little “Sarah bubble.” Recently, when there was a big storm, the whole of the Melbourne CBD was advised to leave work at 4pm. I found myself sitting on my tram next to an older man who started talking to me about the storm. Usually no one even makes eye contact on my tram, so this was a big step. We spoke for the entire journey- he worked for the Melbourne City Council and had helped to plan the city’s tram routes. He was so passionate about city planning and his excitement was contagious. He made me look out the window and appreciate my city- not bury my head in a book. This stranger opened up my eyes to the moment I was living in.
“interrupt the ordinary, inspire the extraordinary.” Peggy Holman
I’m sure we all have stories like this- when a conversation makes us see life through a different lense and we realise that we are sharing life with lots of people all around us. My ordinary, everyday tram ride was changed forever. It made me realise that in every moment there is the possibility for the ordinary to become extraordinary- in a moment of connection.
I asked friends recently on my facebook site if they could tell me the favourite thing about their neighbourhood. Over 30 friends replied, and many of them said that the favourite thing in their neighbourhood was a person. Sometimes this was a person they knew, sometimes it was a local celebrity- like the guy in Prahran who rollerblades down chapel St being pulled along by two little dogs, or the old Italian man who gives everyone tomatoes when they walk past.
People are examining their neighbourhoods all over the world and asking what makes them special. Improv Everywhere are a professional group of actors working in New York who create surprise performances in very ordinary locations. Charlie Todd formed the company in 2001 with no fixed agenda other than to make comedy for comedy’s sake. He wants to create opportunities in his neighbourhood to “make someone laugh, smile, or stop to notice the world around them.” One of my favourite examples of their work is their Grand Central Freeze. The company also completed a mission recently where 2000 new Yorkers took their invisible dog out for a walk. Another favourite activity of this company is to break into musical in ordinary unpredictable places. Recently they staged a musical in the fruit and vegetable section of a supermarket: Grocery Store Musical. Another mission that got a lot of views on youtube was their food court musical, where workers broke out in song much to the surprise of people eating their lunch.
These experiments are unpredictable; anything can happen. The company has made many people laugh and many friendships grow. They recognise that people carry a strong desire for love and hope and they create opportunities for them to share this joy with the world. There is also a recognition that we are all in this world together, and that we need to imagine new ways of interacting with other people.
Improv Everywhere and my friend Phil both recognise it isn’t outcomes or achievements that matter. This is a hard idea for us humans to get our heads around. We live in a competitive world. Movies like Mean Girls show us how easy it is to fall into the trap of becoming competitive and jealous. But rather than competition what we need is space to be creative- time and places to connect with other people in interesting, fun and unique ways. When we give ourselves time to imagine, we are more fully ourselves, and give ourselves the space to love others.
People and relationships matter. Our local community, our school community and our global community matter. As the writer and thinker Margaret Wheatley says, "If we free ourselves (from competing with our friends and colleagues) we discover that it becomes easier to love them...We realize that we truly are in this together, and that’s all that matters."¹
This week I urge you to give yourself some space. Look at the world through a different lense. Love for loves sake, laugh for laughter’s sake, and maybe even give someone a flower.
______________________________________________________________________________
¹Wheatley, Margaret; The Place Beyond Fear and Hope; Shambhala Sun, March 2009
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