Where we live, it is mum central with the expensive prams and yummy mummy exercise groups that get together of a morning. I think there are certain staple items that I would spend money on, knowing it would get good use and be handed down to baby #2, but I still think there is nothing wrong with second hand either. My brother and sister in law just bought a beautiful cot and matching change table from EBay in sold dark timber for less than half the price in store. I can’t say I’m much of a sewer, but I think you could take the reins on that one when/if the time comes.

At the end of the day, we havent been there on done that yet so no doubt it will all be a learning curve, but i say bring on old school up brining. Get em well fed and grubby! haha

You’re born -> re-birthing was a trip
You eat and sleep -> holy heck- what happened to the good wine ?
You play with toys -> don’t go there
You go to school -> what a chronic waste of socialization
You play little league -> actually it was union
You go to (high)school -> stoned mostly
You learn to drive -> in stolen cars
You go to (tertiary ) school -> the lecturers made me do it
You leave high school -> arh…yup, sort of.
You go to more school, but you pay for it now -> we always did in more ways than one
You get a job -> nah …I worked my way through
You get married -> third time lucky in three weeks time
You buy a house -> over and over
You have kids -> three to three differing mothers
You watch your kids eat, sleep, play and go to school -> and go to daycare
You work, work, and work -> and play,play and play
You retire -> what ?….bullshit
You die – < what a god damn relief.

They are healthy, robust kids, who are rarely sick and go to the doctor even less. And on the odd occasion they are unwell, are given the opportunity to heal, without medication, unless we think it prudent!

I love your “common sense” approach Robyn…. may there be more of it!

In many ways ,all symptomatic of the banality of twitter escaping it’s network boundaries.

The “meme” game comprises it’s logical extension, a social networking version of email “Chain mail” which has it’s roots in an earlier form of snail mail chain letters. All seek to exploit the modern boundary between the anonymous and the personal. Typically sent from one whom you trust & know they ultimately seek to expand beyond the boundaries of a social network through “6 degrees of separation”.

Like its chain mail precursor, the meme game contains a nascent threat of violence inherent in all “viral social networks”. If you don’t send it on then …..

As my parents one told me “if you don’t have anything worthwhile to say don’t say anything”

I say “defy that which threatens and strengthen that which affirms”

I would find something from Nietzsche but it’s too late …

Sure the whole ‘Send it on or die a thousand deaths thing’ is a bit off… and inboxes full of cute emails about wife/husband 2.0, prayers for your soul, fundraising pleas and weird questionaires that promise eternal wealth are annoying and really are spam to most of us…. but are these the same as opt-in community projects?

Personally I think the community that’s started to build around the #365 days projects (there are several in the edusphere and others globally), 52 weeks and some of the twitter memes are lovely. They are creating new connections between community members and dont come with threats of disaster or requirements to take part.

Go check out the #365 days discussion groups on Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/groups/twitter365project/ – sure its full of pics of people’s foot, dog, cat, cereal bowl etc etc and that can get a bit mundane.. but in amongst it all people are enjoying it and making some really creative works. Many are also using it as both a visual and a writing project – diarising and commenting on their lives in really open and interesting ways.

The 365 days project also has me thinking about historical photographs and the ways in which we access and record history. Perhaps all those highly domestic, personal images of people cooking dinner and cleaning their room or their latest prized acquisition will form an important part of the visual record of this century in a few hundred years?? (If we can figure out e-permanance that is.. hehe!).

The one prob we do still have is how to filter all of this in our twitter feeds and flickr streams – so that those who want to join in can, and those who dont can filter out. Hashtags are one way, but maybe we need to look for more sophisticated tools for this.

I have a colleague who continually sends me prayers which makes me wonder just how tragic she thinks I am, I mean really. Iknow I don’t have “thousandfold wealth” ….. but do I look that bad? Clearly she feels I’m on my last legs and given the number of chainemails and prayers I’m receiving I’m starting to wish I was.

Friends against chain emails unite!

I recently acquired a HDTV tuner for my laptop (as if I didn’t already watch too much TV!) and have been able to watch programs on NITV (National Indigenous Television). Last night I watched a documentary called “The Intervention”. It was probably biased, as I’ve seen some Aboriginal communities say the intervention has worked for them, but what I saw was appalling. Massive disruption of communities, loss of autonomy and dignity and very little improvement of many of the problems the intervention was meant to address. Shame.

I felt a sense of morbid fear that it needed to come to an apology and a great sadness and yet electrifying joy that it was possible and that it would occur.

Afterward I reflected on the statistics that A HUGELY disproportionate number of Indigenous Australian’s are still incarcerated for sometimes ridiculous charges, that poverty, sickness and a massive lack of understanding from authorities of all descriptions is still permeating and permanently imbued in Aboriginal communities.

Likewise it’s a brilliant moment in history however like Australia Day a blight in our euro-centric paternalistic effort to come clean about unsustainable agricultural, social and cultural-emotional history which has left our colonized landscape decimated.

Ratifying anything would mean that we’d have to be acknowledging the misdemeanors of million politicians that have past unto pearly gates with no mention of their biased and racial indiscretions anywhere on the annals of their careers.

Let alone their tombstones.