“According to current thinking, anyone who fails to succeed must have something wrong with them. The pressure to achieve and be happy is taking a heavy toll, resulting in a warped view of the self, disorientation, and despair. People are lonelier than ever before. Verhaeghe shows the profound impact that social change is having on mental health, even affecting the nature of the disorders from which we suffer……” (Book review from
‘Readings’ , a Melbourne based independent bookstore.)
“She’s on the cusp, before the shell of womanly politeness, meekness, quietness hardens over her. It’s the female tragedy; that we all close over, become someone else; someone who others expect us to be. This little girl’s vividness is blazing, raw, unchecked, beautiful. The clip ends with a knowing curtsy, as if to say: “I’m so much more than what you think I am.” Words by Nikki Gemmell, Weekend Australian Magazine, about the video featuring an 11 year old dancer.
Keep pushing elephants up the stairs.
Paul Jennings, an author well known to young readers, talks about rejection; losing (and finding again) the confidence to write; fame; and boys wanting to fly. (Interview by Dumbo Feather, a magazine).
For a woman that was the embodiment of the golden era, Poet and Singer Patti Smith resists the pull of the past, instead inhabiting the space between now and tomorrow… “I believe that we, that this planet, hasn’t seen its golden age. Everybody says it’s finished…art’s finished, rock and roll is dead. God is dead. Fuck that! This is my chance in the world … If only each generation would realise that the time for greatness is right now when they’re alive. The time to flower is now.”
