With all this talk about the future – girl worried about her own.  Weary from having fought the darkness for so long, she declared …. beauty must now reign.   Click image to view this beautiful definition of beauty/ print/stick on your bedroom wall/in a scrap book .  Particularly like the  ’morally impressive’ and ‘a combination of qualities’ part of the definition.   And I asked a friend recently if they thought I was weird or mad, to which they replied, ”No, I think you’re just very unusual’.   So I tucked that tasty reply into my pocket for safe keeping.  Redeclaring beauty must reign on the unusual, the flawed, the old, the different and weird too.  Image from old book (1840!) ‘Grecian Stories’.

Received this beautiful, mind bending bowl as a gift today from my young friend Mags - handcrafted using Black Dog posters!   An absolute work of art and something I shall forever treasure.   Mags also does the inky black handwriting for the Army of Ink – and is hand making the next book too.   Check out the new ink in the diaries.  Happy 21st Mags! x

Sometimes things are harder than you think.   Gulliver arrives on the page to sort out the overburdened Boy in the previous post,  ’Makes You Wonder Alice’.   Click image for new hand typed print version.  Stay tuned some good things on the way.

Lithograph by Edward Bawden titled, ‘I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side …’ from book ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ by Jonathan Swift.

Taking August off from the website to concentrate on some things in print.   In the meantime, a big thanks for your K I N D N E S S  in supporting Black Dog – see you back in September. 

Click on above images for new hand typed on genuine old typewriter print version you can stick up somewhere or in something private (journal, scrapbook, bedroom wall, back of toilet door) … and/or a public place (noticeboards @ work, uni, school etc) to help spread all things Black Dog.

“Life is mostly froth and bubble.  Two things stand like stone.   Kindness in another’s trouble – courage in your own.”  Barbara Dinham’s Father.   She writes …  “The mature conscience of the postwar generation globally dropped do-gooding in favour of analysis and insight into social and political structures that maintain inequality and general injustice.  Kindness did not fit into analysis.  Being kind was for animals, children, the elderly, yourself even, and maybe the environment.  Kindness was too banal for the big social issues.  Kindness was for private, personal actions.  Yet one of the major social movements of the second half of the 20th century fought fiercely for recognition that the personal is political.  So is it time for a new kind of kindness?” 

Barbara Dinham, Director, Pesticide Action Network, UK.  Pic and story from book ‘A Revolution In Kindness’ edited by Anita Roddick (Body Shop) – my bible.  Another BLOG post  about kindness.

Click image to view all the BOys and their impossible things - print off and stick up somewhere … Why?  Listening to young people, one thing that comes through really strongly is the weight of the world they carry on their shoulders (particularly so for guys – and farmers, war veterans … ).   So I hope this one helps to lighten the load a bit.   It’s a true story, arrived on my page this week - pass it on …

NEW: click image to print and collect.   Such a comforting thought.  Tim Winton’s version of Alice in Wonderland is a visual feast.  When at his exhibition recently, the eye boggling costumes, including Alice’s hand made shoes, were also on display – as was the Bat Mobile!  Check out this previous blog post for more of Tim Winton’s inspiring art and story and other related posts.

Caught some of a debate on ABC radio this week over ‘should white crosses be allowed on roadsides and in public places to symbolise the place a life was lost?’  

The arguments against were along the lines of  …. they make people feel bad;  they’re an eyesore, visual pollution …  an intrusion … a dangerous distraction for motorists … or could cause children distress.    All valid arguments however … considering the rising rate of depression in the community (and my own experience of how unresolved and suppressed grief can play a major part in that), I couldn’t help but wonder … surely if this symbolism and public expression of grief  helps to ease a person’s suffering, isn’t it more important as a community to have a heart than an opinion?  To endeavour to understand the value and relevance of this act in someones healing process?   As for visual pollution and dangerous distraction to motorists …. I wondered why we’re not leaving the sad people alone and instead, debating over the banning and tearing down of advertising banners and billboards… 

… that surround our roads, homes and schools; deface buildings and city scapes; and fill our minds with toxic messages that are causing real harm to children and adults alike.   

It also made me wonder…  if council (and residents) proposed to remove the little white cross on the crosswalk of a school near my home, which marks the loss of a student who was hit by a car as they stepped off the bus.   This cross does more for slowing traffic through the school zone than huge signs, flashing lights and brightly coloured ‘lollipop’ people waving flags and blowing whistles.   And I’m not sure the children at the school see the cross as ‘distressing’, perhaps because the questions raised by its presence are dealt with in a way that helps them understand that death is a natural part of our life cycle, although sometimes it’s cut short in tragic circumstances, and symbolism like the white cross is a way of acknowledging that person’s life, processing the grief and telling motorists a story to ensure the painful loss was not in vain.

And there is another white cross under a tree outside my home (just near another school crossing).  It helps to transform the image in my mind of a young man laying motionless next to his motorbike that had collided with the tree.  I’d stand in protest along side the family if the local council ordered it removed – thank goodness they have a heart.

Similar posts relating to grief and loss and what’s affecting young people -  Blood Red Rose helped me deal with grief as did  Army of Ink # 24  .  Check this one by Phillip Adams on Bad Time Stories - makes you worry a little less about the possible negative impact of white crosses … this one for a further look at what may have a negative impact on children and young people, Why have our children stopped dancing   …  poem that helped me with the recent loss of a friend.  Feel free to pass these on to others  …

 NEW click image to print & collect.   Let’s wish upon a time when … Billboards fall flat on their perfect faces.   Golden arches buckle at the knees in shame.  And we’re free from going anywhere ‘quick!’, ‘while stocks last!’, ‘before it ends’ or be the first so you ‘don’t miss out’ on a ‘must have!’   A time when fat was used to make gravy not deemed ugly, unsightly lumps and rolls to be sucked out (and in) …

… massaged away, jogged off, measured and cut, or provided a menu for those surfing for something to escape world news and those who dream of being the ‘biggest loser’.   A time when kids associated ‘board’ with scrabble and not nothing to do.   Offers weren’t ‘limited’ and we accepted fixing wasn’t quick.  When buses had people going up and down through windows not wrapped in wrinkle free banners promoting the same.   Googling was staring in wonder at the sky or the sound of a blocked sink – not entry into an unsavory feast for curious young minds to consume.

A time when watching the sunset sizzle into the watery horizon was a celebration of the end of another good day – not an added load on the social consciences our children must carry into the future.

And … a time when seagulls went fishing and stopped squabbling over chips!

Pass it on through cyber space or print out to keep, stick on the noticeboard, class room door, back of  toilet door,  on fridge door,   in a scrap book … etc etc.

Received this from Rebecca from the Office for Youth yesterday - “an invitation to young people 18-25 years old to apply to be WA’s Young Member on the National Planning Group for NYW in 2011.  This is a great opportunity for a passionate and creative young person to take a lead role in National Youth Week (NYW) celebrations in 2011!”

Contact Rebecca (she’s really, really nice so don’t be too nervous) on (03) 6217 8315 or via email Rebecca.Zappelli@communities.wa.gov.au for more information or if you’d like help to submit an application.  Or visit the website to download an application form at www.youth.wa.gov.au/template.asp?CID=522    Applications close on Friday 23 July @ 5pm.  Go for it!