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Out in the Field

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Grass roots Australian literature lives and dies beyond the interest of most readers, even the many who say they love our local stories and voices. Events that might be supported by hundreds of professed lovers of the word often attract merely a handful of diehards.

But that’s alright as well.

I don’t mind the guerrilla film-making feel of faces and voices, bodies in motion coming into focus, words cutting through the air in muted explosions and the shrapnel of sporadic laughter. Clinking of knives to plates and espresso machines hissing. A dropped glass and that shattering that can create a half second of silence. Local events passed hand to hand by those that make images of us and our communities. Wanting to know where it’s coming from and who it’s being spoken to. Come and listen and you’ll know. ... read more

Written by Alec Patric on 6-11-2009, 1 user comment

Imagine Being Without Pen and Paper

You're probably used to my shameless plugs on this blog by now, but this event's well worth checking out. On Saturday night, I'm donating a half hour unaccompanied set of my patois and hip hop poetry to Pen and Paper, a charity organisation which raises money for Pens and Paper to be provided to thousands of refugees in east Sudan.  There will be African food stalls (can taste it now...) and a number of other performances.

Please come along if you can. It's too difficult for most of us to even imagine being displaced by war or famine. Perhaps we can start by thinking about what it might be like to be without Pen and Paper. 

pnp-a6-flyer ... read more

Written by Maxine Clarke on 5-11-2009, No comments

capitalism: a love story

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I reviewed the new Michael Moore film for Crikey. Strangely, Chris Berg from the IPA saw things rather differently. Anyway, the really important point is that I didn't say anything about Moore's title.

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Written by Jeff Sparrow on 4-11-2009, 2 user comments

last days of the Eastern Market

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My friend David Hudson sent me a link to a State Library of Victoria exhibition on the work of Eric Thake, someone whom I must confess I knew nothing whatsoever about. But have a look at his beautiful photos of the old Eastern Market, a central part of Old Melbourne that, like so much else, was casually destroyed during the second part of the twentieth century.

... read more

Written by Jeff Sparrow on 4-11-2009, 1 user comment