Latte Sipper

I was born in 1963 which only makes me middle aged but my life as a child was a world away from my adult life.

For instance:

We didn’t have a home phone until I was 10 or 11 and were one of the few people in town that had one even then. I was terrified of it until my early 30′s.

If we had to call long distance to Melbourne which was 60 miles away, the call was booked through an operator who cleared the line and phoned us back to then connect us. We did this rarely as it was very, very expensive.

I never ever knew anyone who called overseas.

Most communication was done by letter. If it was urgent a telegram was sent, this still took hours.

We would go to family gatherings where my parents would drink all day and then drive 60 miles home not exactly drunk but not exactly sober either.

There were no seat belts.

No one had air conditioning or central heating.

My mother didn’t have an automatic washing machine until I was a teenager. She had an agitator and a wringer through which clothes were fed and most often had their buttons ripped off.

Computers were the size of a large room, no one had one and we couldn’t imagine why anyone would need one anyway.

My mother was considered over protective because she wanted to know my movements before I went off by myself all day and always supervised us when we were swimming.

The only reason why my parents drove me to music or dancing lessons was because they were 20 miles away and I was too young to drive. If anything was local I was responsible for getting there under my own steam. This was normal.

At age 7 I was considered mature enough to be responsible for my 5 year old sister when we went out by ourselves.

As much as I would dearly have loved it we had no personal portable sound systems except for an AM radio with one earpiece.

Children were afraid of adults and an adult’s word was always believed over that of a child’s.

Even though vegetables  were cheap and abundant we largely ate like 19th century Irish peasants. Until I was 16 the only fresh vegetables I knew were potatoes, pumpkin, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips and onions.

I was 27 before I saw a raw beetroot and realised that bright red color was natural and tinned was not the only option.

I was in my mid twenties before I ate cheese of the non processed variety.

Olive oil could only be purchased at chemist shops and was never, ever ingested.

Until I moved to Melbourne the only ethnic groups I had seen with my own eyes apart from Anglo/Celts and the Dutch were 5 Aboriginals, 2 Indians , one Italian family and two Greek families. The children of the latter 3 families were teased by the other children because the adults thought they somehow did not belong in our town.

There was a  family where the parents were white and the children were all adopted and Aboriginal. No one spoke of this and no one had heard on the Stolen Generation. These children were miserable.

The first time I had pizza or lasagne I was 10 and I had absolutely no idea what I was eating, I hadn’t even heard of them.

Curry came in tins, was mostly tumeric and no more than 2 teaspoons were used no matter how big the meal. Cabbage and minced meat boiled together with this was considered curry.

I was told not to drink the water in Melbourne when we visited because it was strange and may upset my stomach. My cousins from Melbourne also were told not to drink water when they visited us for the same reason.

I was told by my careers teacher in High School I did not need to think about a career or education because I was just going to get married anyway.

When I was old enough to drink women had only just been allowed to drink in the front bars in hotels.

The Australian Public Service had only just allowed women to wear trousers to work a few years before I started work and had also just removed the rule whereby women were sacked once they married.

Apart from migrants,I never knew anyone who had been overseas. When my grandparents went to New Zealand in 1973 this was considered exotic.

Renters were looked down on as they were considered shiftless and irresponsible.

No one ever got divorced but sometimes one parent would seemingly disappear off the face of the earth and never be spoken of again.

Everyone was married and sometimes a teenager would have a child out of wedlock which were then told was her brother/sister.

I was told not to accept sweets from strangers but there was no mention of what to do if an adult tried to touch you inappropriately.

We lived in this town for nearly 20 years and were still considered the new family.

There was a strict social hierarchy and anyone who stepped over the line was shunned.

Education and learning were treated with deep, deep suspicion.

The town was amazed and bemused when the rich family built a house with 2 bathrooms which was until this point totally unheard of.

Most of these things I did not like.

I have been a member of the Greens since 2001. Like many people my decision was based on the Tampa ‘crisis’. I was thoroughly disgusted by The Liberal Party’s demonisation of these asylum seekers. I waited and waited in vain for the ALP to point out that these were a small group of people seeking refuge not part of an invading fleet. Sadly this never occurred.

This left me adrift politically for a short while. I come from a working class background with a long ALP voting tradition however human rights are very important to me and I was extremely disappointed by Kim Beazley’s response to these refugees.

I had joined the ALP as a show of support when John Howard became PM, as I could see he was a negative step for Australia. When the ALP sided with him on this issue I could no longer support them.

I had long been admirers of the Greens but believed that they were a one issue party. I found this was untrue and that they shared my belief in a range of progressive issues. They are visionary and think long term rather than just to the next election.  The concept of caring for the environment is a sensible thing and anything else is a dangerous experiment. I would have thought any country that has our history with pests such as rabbits, foxes and cane toads should understand this.

This is the reason behind my decision to join them and as much as I respect and admire and like Bob Brown his presence did not factor into it at all.

If anyone has ever spent any time involved in progressive groups they would be very aware that, for good or for bad, there is never one person calling the shots. The type of personality that is drawn to these groups is exactly the type to reject this situation and it happened it wouldn’t happen for long. It would be precisely like herding cats.

I mix with in green community and in any discussion as to why anyone has ever joined the Greens I have never once received the answer that is was because of Bob Brown. We believe in the goals, we work for the outcomes because we believe in them not because we are driven by a leader.

Bob Brown is loved and admired as he is a wonderful man and he can be very proud of what he has done. His legacy is permanent.  I have met him on a few occasions and am totally charmed by him but the Greens do not run on a cult of personality and talk about the Greens sinking without him is ludicrous.

They are by far the most democratic group I have ever been involved with. Every member can vote for pre-selection of candidates and on the direction of policy. Decisions are made across a wide supporter base and the leader’s word does not outweigh this. For this reason I’m much more engaged than I ever was as an ALP member.

They are by far the most democratic group I have ever been involved with. Every member can vote for pre-selection of candidates and on the direction of policy. Decisions are made across a wide supporter base and the leaders word does not outweigh this. For this reason I’m much more engaged than I ever was as an ALP member.

It is very lazy thinking to compare the greens with the Democrats. The Greens are a collection of people drawn together because of a strong ideology unlike The Democrats ‘which are the brain child of one man. Bob Brown was an outstanding leader but that role in the Greens is not like the other main parties, this seems beyond the comprehension of many in the press gallery and I see little evidence that an attempt is being made to understand that.

I am also amused by the concept of the Greens having peaked. The ALP lost the recent election in QLD quite badly, does this mean they have peaked and will never be in power again? Of course not. Election outcomes will wax and wane for us, as it does with any other political party.

I believe our influence will continue to increase as society’s views catch up with our vision and with Christine Milne as our leader we will continue to be a successful progressive party.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker  has signed a bill repealing the state’s 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which allowed victims of workplace discrimination to seek damages in state courts.

http://www.care2.com/causes/wisconsin-equal-pay-law-repealed-because-money-is-more-important-for-men.html

Now we are talking equal pay for doing exactly the same job. Same outcome, same KPI’s, same conditions, same goals everything except the paypacket. Somehow if the work is not being performed by a straight white Christian male means it has less value.

There is also the totally gob smacking idiocy of Republican state senator Glenn Grothman who stated  -After all, men need money more than women do, since they have families to  support.”  “You could argue that money is more important for men” – yes Glenn you could but you would be an ignorant fool to do so.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/07/wisconsin-s-repeal-of-equal-pay-rights-adds-to-battles-for-women.html

Are  mothers in the paid workforce not supporting their families?  My sister and her husband both work hard, both support the family. Should most of that burden now fall onto my brother in law? This is unfair on him, why should his burdon increase? And why should the work my sister performs  lose its value? What about men with no families – shouldn’t they also earn less?  What about me – I’m not supporting a family but neither are many males at my work, is my work still worth less even though it is of high quality?

Of course this system would be totally fair if the cost of housing, food, healthcare and all general living expenses were 75% of white heterosexual males – I expect if Scott Walker was really were interested in fairness this would occur.

The Equal Pay law wasn’t just about women—it also offered protection from discrimination based on race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors I guess the needs of anyone in that category come second really.

Humans like to come up with theories for our behavior. I think a lot of people have problems believing we are animals and not the cool rational beings we like to think we are.

Desmond Morris is one of these people. He is an author best known for his “lipstick” theory. This is the theory that women wear lipstick on their mouths to simulate their vaginas. But of course!

Now I don’t know about anyone else, but I consider myself pretty normal as non contortionist that even with all the miracles of modern technology I would be unable to select my own vagina in a lineup. It could be green and orange striped for all I know.

Another theory is that beauty can be measured by facial symmetry – the idea is that if both sides of your face match that means you are beautiful. Being an enquiring type I tested this hypothesis with myself, friends and family.

Unfortunately I can’t publish the results as that was three laptops ago and sadly the results are now lost to science. But I can provide the results of my findings  – it is absolute nonsense.

Most people do not have absolutely symmetrical faces. If you pull your hair off your face and photograph it, then split the photo down the middle and mirror each half you will find you do indeed have a good side. If this is what you looked like you would maybe a little better looking although in some cases the result is a little inhuman.

However, like most things, there is also a bad side, if this was your true look you would be less attractive but somehow perfectly symmetrical.

You are welcome.

I was watching footage of a well known comic performing a show when he visited Australia recently. Whilst watching this, I came to the decision that he deserved a prize – this prize unfortunately  was not for stand-up brilliance. The prize I would award is for being approximately the 3,874,322nd person to commit the two biggest errors any comic can commit when visiting our fair isle. As a public service announcement I have written this short note to assist any comics from boring the pants off us with this way too common occurrence.

OK are you paying attention? Please take notes and ask any questions you find necessary.

Error 1. Talking about our dangerous wildlife. Sure Mr Overseas Comic it is fascinating to you but you are speaking to a room full of people who actually live here with that wildlife. It is of absolutely no interest to us to hear you explain that we have snakes and crocodiles. We are aware of this and have done so for some time now and   neither surprises or astounds us. It lacks the power to astound us in the same way it would fail to astound an Inuit to be told they have a lot of snow.

Error 2. The convict thing. Non Australians mistake our disinterest in this subject for reticence and a reluctance to discuss our shameful past. This is incorrect. I doubt anyone in Australia would be disappointed to find a convict ancestor. Our convict past, much like the wildlife thing is not a big talking point between us. Having known about this all our lives it now lacks the power to astound, fascinating as it may be to you. Our convict past happened over 200 years ago and a few more things have happened since then. We do not speak of it often in the same way as any nationality avoids speaking of events that are commonplace, well known and long in the past.

So there you go simple steps so any comedians touring Australia avoiding being number 3,874,323. Australia will thank you for it.

An idiot’s guide to cyclists rights.

1. Car registration goes toward building roads so anyone not in a car has no right to use them. Car registration fees pay for the cost of collecting car registration fees. Roads are built and maintained by taxes.

2. Registration allows cars to drive on the road, bikes don’t so they shouldn’t be on the road. Wrong, registration allows you to drive a machine on the road, bicycles having no engine, are entitled to use the road for free.

3. Bicycles hold up traffic. Well if people stopped riding those annoying bikes how would they travel instead? There would be more people on public transport and also many more cars on the road -  that would tend to cause an awful lot of slow travel times.

4. Bicycles slow car journey. How hard is it to safely pass a bike – I’ll tell because I also own and drive a car - the answer is not very. Anyway unless you are driving an ambulance or fire engine it is doubtful that speed is really an issue here.

5. Cyclists need to be licenced so we can make them obey the rules – oh yeah because all those car drivers always stick to the rules don’t they?

6. Roads are made for cars so bikes shouldn’t be on them. No  roads are made for horses actually it’s just there tend to be more cars than horse drawn carts these days. Freeways often don’t allow bike riders – but freeways were invented by the Nazis.

7. Bicycles are children”s toys and grown-ups should be in cars. Bicycles were designed for adults to travel on as a cheap and efficient means of  transportation for the masses.

8. Cyclists break rules. Yes some do – most don’t. Car drivers break rules too, maybe we should make all car drivers get off the road.

9. Cyclists think they own the road. No they have just have a perfect right to use and share it.

Yes indeed lets clog up the roads with cars- let’s compare Amsterdam with Bangkok which one would you prefer to travel in?

A tweet appeared a few days asking us to write a letter to our 15 year old selves – I realised my letter would be much longer than 140 characters so here it is.

Dear Deborah,

Have faith in yourself. You don’t have any adults around you who can help you with your misery but some of your friends are lovely and much more mature and understanding than you realise.

You feel as if you are confused and understand nothing and other people have life all worked out – they don’t, they are just as confused and scared as you.

Also don’t be so afraid of people, you are the match of any of them. If anyone tries to push you around they won’t get very far and you will end up being the person others turn to for strength.

Don’t ever try to be what you aren’t, it will appear phoney and it won’t work – there is no big flaw in your character so just be yourself.

You have a good instinct for not joining the crowd, this will be a good thing.

Don’t feel bad about feeling a bit of an outsider, there are a lot of outsiders and you will find them.

Don’t listen to anyone’s voice but your own. It’s very rare for anyone to not have their own agenda and they certainly don’t know you any better than you do.

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you’re unlikeable it’s just not true. They are just doing this to build up their own egos.

Don’t attack anyone who shows signs of loving you, they aren’t deluded they are good people and you deserve that love. You have a good heart and are not a bad person.

Have confidence, it’s not unwarranted and there is nothing wrong in believing in yourself. Others do not know better.

Don’t put up with the second rate, there is no need. You can achieve the best in life.

Don’t feel inferior. People will try to take advantage of you luckily your natural distrust will protect you.

Relax and learn to like yourself. This will make you a much more pleasant person to be around.

Don’t worry what others are thinking of you – chances are they aren’t thinking about you at all. And if they do disapprove of you – so what? Is their opinion so very valuable?

You’ll be ok – you will find a very nice life one day

all the best

Love Deborah

unaustralian, unnewzealander, unfijian, unindonesian, unfrench, unscottish, unmexican, uncanadian, unindian, unmalaysian, undutch, unswiss, unamerican, unwelsh, undanish, unswiss, ungerman, unswedish, unjapanese, unchinese, unirish, unnorwegian, unrussian, unbelgian, unalbanian, unangolan, unbangladeshi, unmauritian, untongan, unsomalian, unsouthafrican, unliberian, unfinnish, unsudanese, unczech, unestonian, untunisian, unturkish, unvietnamese, unegyptian, unslovenian, uncookislander, uncuban, unromanian.

and if all else fails – undead

Just cut and paste whichever idiotic unword you require to describe the unnationality in question.

Like any reasonable person I was gobsmacked to hear of death threats against climate scientists. We hear stories of persecution of scientists during the middle ages and feel smug thinking this would never happen now.

It would be interesting and probably most disturbing to speak with someone who genuinely believes a person must die because they have found proof that the planet is warming. Hardly a hanging offence I would have thought.

I have had this happen to me in a very minor way. I have tweeted articles about the growth of renewable energy and had angry snarling responses which were totally out of proportion. You would have thought I was proposing fueling power stations by having small children operate treadmills from the responses I have received.

This made me question why  these attack dogs are so anti development, so anti science – against non polluting technology and the development of a resource which won’t run out in the near future.  Why would you not plan for the future and the day when fossil fuels are not available well before that happens? What I realised is they aren’t – what they are is anti progress – so partisan that they can’t see straight.

To call these people attack dogs is very apt – they have simple responses to key triggers. They are self programmed to respond to any initiatives by progressives negatively without examining the issues.  The coal and petrol companies are really doing an excellent job getting these people to work for them for free.

Now I do realise it takes an exceptional person to look at issues dispassionately. I can’t do it but I am reasonable enough to at least make an attempt to question my automatic responses.  I like to behave as a logical human being and not like a cornered rat acting on instinct alone.

I would really like to think we have moved on a bit from the middle ages – just a little.

I was bullied in school in grade 5, not by the other children but my  teacher. It was a very traumatic experience for me and resulted in nightmares and crippling fears for many, many years. My mother was aware and very upset about it but was too afraid of authority figures and too scared & unsure of herself to confront the teacher about it. I was terrified and felt very much alone and helpless.

My very lovely and gentle father eventually rang him one night to  ask him to lay off. He found it very difficult to confront him and at the time seemed very ineffectual to me and I was upset about this. I now see he did the best he could. However it worked anyway as, like all bullies, my teacher was a coward and after one last outburst did indeed back off.

I was able to look back later and see the teacher only bullied those he perceived would not fight back and it was not a flaw in me that caused his behaviour. The other children he bullied were similar to me, quiet and well behaved and totally undeserving of his cruelty. He was truly a pathetic creature.

This experience has given me is a deep and abiding dislike of bullies and a distrust of authority figures. My friends and family know that if a bully is around they will not last long around me.  I have an instinctive ability to detect them and I strangely do not fear them in the least. My body goes into defence mode even if it’s not my fight.

Representation of the writer when she encounters a bully

I don’t thank my teacher for this, it wasn’t his intention to create strength in me, he wanted to crush the spirit of a 10 year old girl to make himself feel more powerful. The outcome of his behavior is thanks to me alone.

My entire life and politics are a reaction against bullies and it is why I am so passionate about human rights and animal welfare. I can’t stand to see anyone being exploited or abused by those in positions of power.  I have confronted strangers in public when I witness bullying. It isn’t easy for me to do this as confrontation is not my natural mode but I find it impossible not to.

It is also why I dislike politicians such as Tony Abbott so much. It is my inner bully detector which has served me well and is never, ever wrong.  I guess it’s the 48 year old me doing what I wished someone had done for the 10 year old me.