Why Rudd had to go!

I personally don't think that Rudd was dealt with harshly by his party.

He got what he deserved because he had forgotten that as PM it is not incumbent upon him to tell others to jump and for them to respond "How high?", but rather to lead a team. He clearly didn't do that. And the team eventually revolted.

When asked by my keenly observant 16 year old who said "I don't understand why they got rid of Rudd, why did they do that?"

My reply was simple.

"He had forgotten that he was so supposed to work with people and just chose to do what he liked." I am glad that we live in a democracy that calls this sort of behaviour out.

Good thing

It was a good thing to hear Tim Costello at one of our local churches last night. The CEO of World Vision Australia was congratulating the local Blackwood community for last year's support of the 40 Hour Famine and inspiring us for this year's (see the You Tube clip below)

Whilst the worship was nothing like my cup of tea (despite the younger S Clark leading the worship team and the youngest S Clark singing alongside her) Costello spoke gently and persuasively. It was in fact good to be allowed to hear him, a Baptist minister, address the Gospel; so often he has to speak in a secular context that ti was good to hera him preach.

He spoke about Luke 8:26-39. An exorcism story in which Jesus casts out a whole lot (legion) of demons into a herd of pigs who then career into the sea of Galilee. Almost worthy of Monty Python!

I found myself wondering how he was going to connect it. His point. It is not until we go over the other side, and prick the bubble of our sheltered lives that we even begin to understand these complex problems.

His point being that the 40 Hour Famine (as tokenistic as it might be) goes a little way to prick the bubble. An interesting and, I thought, helpful point.

It was also good to see the young Greens' Senator Sarah Hansen-Young there and have a little chat with her. I'll tell you about that in the next blog

Oxymoronic

Yesterday, in that Facebook sort of way, I was invited to join a facebook group Christians for Same Sex Civil Unions-SA another FB friend made the comment isn't that an oxymoron (contradiction in terms). My reply is "That I am nothing if not moronic, but no!"

I have blogged extensively about same-sex unions in the past (see a range of them here). My point basically is that we Christians are in the business of encouraging faithfulness and stability in relationships.

In a curiously disarming conversation with the youngest SC as we drove home last night from luxury ice cream, she informed me that she was going to vent her anger this weekend by demonstrating...and more than that it was a sort of birthday outing...perhaps trip is a better word... for her young gay-tending friend. They were going to State Parliament to demonstrate in favour of (you guessed) gay marriage.

I was a little taken aback. But we talked about all sorts of interesting things like the failure of society to deal honestly with the history of homosexuality. It is a particular sadness to me as an agent of the Church that we are as bad at this as the wider community, and in many ways worse.

But the youngest SC, well aware of the fact that she is a member of a church community which has a much more puritanical and, perhaps, punitive attitude towards homosexual people and their supporters..is brave in the face of this.

Perhaps there is hope for us yet!

Ante Porte Latinam

Perhaps (one of) the oddest feast days of the Church is today (May 6) St John ante portam latinam...or St John at the Latin Gate.

I think it's there because the actual solemnity is kept on December 27th which is one of the great Christmas days. St John is so strongly associated with Christmas because his masterly Gospel has those wonderful words in the first chapter which sum up the whole of Christian theology

and the word became flesh and dwelt among us

God becomes human in the form of Jesus Christ. However good old John, who is the patron of this parish and district deserves commemorating in his own right...so this strange feast...ante portam Latinam. Relates to a traditional story (story) where the emperor Domitian attempted to deep fry St John ...there is still a church called St Giovanni in Oleo (St John in Oil!) today.

I choose by and large to ignore it. Though Sophie and I did have chips at lunch time!!

Nothing you can do can take you away from My School

Like hundreds of thousands of others I looked at My School this morning.

I first of all checked that the youngest SC's school was where it should be. I then checked my local school of greatest interest, then I checked the little local school....yes I was making my own league table. I checked the middle SC's school where she has just begun teaching...no way of telling how they go at music (her speciality)

The information is OK but we are kidding ourselves if we think that folks aren't going to use it to make comparisons. And these comparisons will inform choices, and some will be able to respond to those choices. Those most affected (the bottom of the heap ) will probably be least able to move kids into other systems or schools. They won't really have choice.

Lots of questions not answered, principally questions about funding. What I called above "my local school of greatest interest" has peculiar funding issues.

They are the new middle class poor in a way. Unable to access disability or indigenous funding, special needs or other extraordinary grants...because they are really socially in the middle...the funding is an issue.

That school is good. Kids are bright. Staff work hard. Facilities are mixed.

But you can't tell anything from the website that lets you know that.

There is a lot more discussion to be had about that.

Sondheim chanted Sweeney

At a Walford school production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd last night I was left in awe at the imaginative production of director David Lampard who amongst other things is "That Science Guy".
His ability to be able to get out of a team of (admittedly very talented) girls a stirling production of a sinister musical is remarkable. Well supported by an amazing Ian Andrew, who was as much a Sweeney as Johnny Depp (and very much in that mould).
And of course the youngest S Clark was a great beadle

Will we ever get over the Holocaust?

Yet another person I know was deeply effected by the simple little film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. 

It is almost facile, though when I read the slender book a couple of months ago I did so in one sitting, and in the end was late for an appointment because I had to finish it.

The film, which youngest S and I went to see, is easy to get into. And is annoying in the way that 8 year old boys can be annoying. But seldom have I sat in a theatre at the end of a film and felt so much Angst, there was deathly silence, and the youngest S (who hadn't quite known what she was letting herself) in was quite upset. At 15 she should know what Auschwitz was all about.

Though you can see the end of this film coming a mile away it is nevertheless deeply shocking.

I keep wondering what the real theme of it is. It is more than just never forgetting the Holocaust. (though I am inclined to think we never should)...if we look at each character as echoing the same thing it is about how easily we lose control of our lives, and how evil can overwhelm even the best of us. That life is disorienting and we should be on our guard (1 Peter 5:8).

None of this should surprise us. But it still has the capacity to shock

Facing the Book

The other day there was a special Facebook  event, called a "Day without Facebook".
It is an interesting concept, what is of particular interest to me is that our youngest daughter was the one who was keenest on it. She explained to me the reasons for ti as she had discovered them...that Facebook collects information about its users, that it then uses it to target advertise.....so she will always have lots of things about High School Musical and the Jonas Bros. To my mind this is not so invidious but she understood something of its significance...what we don't know can in fact be rather suspicious, may in fact be malicious and is almost certainly something more than we bargained for.
I rather think this is the nature of the world we live in, and has ever been so, it is called propaganda. It is not necessarily a bad thing. But we are right to be suspicious.
Dear old S did, I think, have a day without Facebook,  she spent it on My Space instead!

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Show and Tell

I am looking out the window on my day off and wondering about going to the Show

But it's grey now, and I really think I am just avoiding my Master's assignment. So think of me as I try to be virtuous.

K is in Boston today (Yes I managed to find her accommodation from here while she was in NYC). The girls are in Melbourne for Wicked. Which Sue and I saw in London last year. Sophie has to fly home tomorrow, for the first time by herself, because she has Tournament of Minds this weekend, this fabulous competition looms large in her mind, as a challenge for intellect and creative thinking. The actual competition is on Sunday.

Touched by an Idea

The youngest SC (and 120 others)had an a capella workshop yesterday with The Idea of North
What an amazing concert then followed with 5 very different choirs, ranging from our fantastic Chanterelle to a small ensemble of Mick Rostrevor boys who may not have been perfect but who threw themselves into it with such enjoyment and enthusiasm that they were a joy to behold.
The Idea themselves are a fantastic ensemble of four singers, who obviously love working with kids and getting them enthused about it. I mean I suppose they get paid for it, but what they have to give is just incredible.
I heard SC whisper to L (who is TION's number 1 fan) "Best day of my life!"

Calling prison home

Number 3 came home today full of the case study they had done in 'extension'. It was about the Stanford Prison Experiment. Those who like me are involved in minor acadmeic research will be intrugued what you could get away with in the name of psychology in 1971.
S was fascinated by an academic experiment which had gone both horribly wrong, and intriguingly also exposed some very important truths.
I didn't really know very much about it; some volunteers are invited to play prisons. Half being the prisoners and half being the guards. It is a fascinating study of how we seem to intuitively know what to do when we imprison people...it's worth spending ten minutes to buzz through the slides. But pretty frightening really. (here)
What is of great interest to me is how my little girl is growing up!
I remember when K first started to tell jokes what a sign that was of intellectual growth, now the baby is critiquing the ethics of psychology experiments.
It's good isn't it?

Thespians

Two of our number are in theatrical productions at the moment so it is not without its trials. Little do most attendees at theatre note what performers go through in the weeks prior to performance.
Long hours standing around while others do what they might have to do.
Families have to hear the songs over and over again... you hairy bunch of Ishmaelites (here)
And to put up with trying to run cars in four different directions whilst building a barricade (here...incidentally if you haven't got your ticket for les miserables then it's too late...sold out...fantastic)

Not entirely getting the logic

I was interested to watch the youngest SC's reaction to the recurrence of the drug advertising this week. We sat quietly as we took in the theme.
"I wanted to be a fireman!" said the child voice of the desperate boy ravaging some woman's bag for credit cards or money. "I want to be a chef" said the girl who was screaming in an uncontrollable rage at her mother,. the mother who she had just confessed had given her the love of cooking in the first place.
The voice of the seven year old boy told about being a professional footballer, as his 17 year old body was zipped into a body bag.
Big SC and little SC watched quietly as the punchline was delivered. "Drugs cost lives"
They are a very powerful and good series of adverts.
Yesterday the mandatory government packet arrived in the post with the same message, being print it's a bit boring. And in fact still sits sealed in its plastic bag.
Am I too cynical to think that this latter piece of information is not about drugs at all, it is about election? It is a government who fears that it is perceived as doing nothing about issues that really hurt, and so wheels out the icing just to remind us that they are the source of this strong stuff.
It is not surprising either that the terrorism ads have also reappeared don't you think? Nor that the State Opposition has announced a policy about exposing police corruption if it gets elected.
It seems to me that it is not about any of this stuff. It is about wanting to be seen to be hard.
Unfortunately too many electors are appeased by this, when we should be saying...."I see the advertising, but are you actually doing anything?"