For a full century preceding 1969, under the premise of various state and federal parliamentary acts and church missions, Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children in Australia were routinely and forcibly removed from their families. The intention varied from policy aimed at flushing out the aboriginal genes to those which were branded as so-called ‘protection’ of aboriginal people. Australia Day, which signifies the founding of the nation under the Commonwealth, is coined Invasion Day by aboriginal people who I know - and they have good reason.

The truth is that for a bulk of Australia’s history, little just thought was given to the dignity and rights of these ancient races of people. There was little appreciation of their relationship to a land which was not real estate, but an entity which coursed through their veins, inseparable from their spirituality and culture. Little just thought also was given to the devastating effects of forcibly uprooting a human being from their family and culture, especially when the culture is so deeply rooted in family. read on »

‘Tis first of March, and the fast begins at sunset. How appropriate that the blackbirds in my glen have today begun their song. Now we really know that the New Day is around the corner. The buds are about burst, the skies to clear and the sand at Killard to warm. Freedom is at hand.

I am unable to write. I am unable to think. My eloquence is lost. The urge has faded. Something has changed and I have moved into the middle period. The early period is one in which everything is carefully planned. The form is crafted and the content fills in. A sense of structure pervades and one proceeds in a state of conviction. There is a need to account for decisions made. But since last summer I find that the urge and the activity itself have become more natural. It is carried out without thought. And the logic has gone as well. I don’t know what the form will be as I plod along without knowledge - and without the need for confidence. Happy or sad, whatever. There is now nothing to lose.

Is this the Silent Valley?

One of the reasons for my Neocratic absence has been my mini-career in film criticism. I will occasionally post some of my pieces, in the sag times between substantial posts.

JJ Abrams can do no wrong. Fresh from the success of his TV creations Lost and Alias and en route to directing the new Star Trek film, he has in Cloverfield produced the best doomsday movie of recent years. read on »

Architecture?

The American myth is so potent. I found myself wistfully dreaming of the greyhound bus rides of my youth today, remember that pack of cigarettes and mrs wagner pies. What happened to those days, those dreams, those journeys, that youth, that lover.

Only to remember that i had not actually lived that life. I was nostalgic for someone elese’s dream! Powerful stuff nostalgia, especially when served by the pen of Paul Simon : read on »