OUR FAVOURITE TOYS

“Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” - Grace Abbott

Poets and Storytellers this week has given us the theme of “Brothers and Sisters” to write about. I’m always struck by the huge size of families in countries where poverty is the rule. And yet it seems that those big families of many children are happy in their misfortune, and it is touching to see how the siblings look after one another with love and affection.

Our Favourite Toys

A hard life our lot, where every day is a struggle,
Where putting bread on the table is hard labour,
Where drinking water is never taken for granted:
A life that cheats death every day.

A hard existence, where everyone works
To eke out a living, and children grow up early,
To till the barren soil, trying to raise a meagre crop:
A life that gives pleasures rarely.

A poor man’s lot, where bitter food is eaten greedily,
Where hunger never goes away completely, and disease kills,
Where most children never get a chance to grow up:
A life of want gratefully stopped short.

Our favourite toys:
A ball of rags kicked stealthily, in between chores;
Worn plastic containers, no good for reuse,
Grabbed avidly, to make toy houses, cars and drums to beat:
In secret, while we steal a few moments to play.

Sticks, pebbles, twigs – and if you’re lucky –
An old bicycle wheel, to make of them whatever
Your boundless imagination desires,
Rubbish transformed into wondrous things;
And most precious of all:
Your kid sister a living doll to care for…

MUSIC SATURDAY - BACH

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.” - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) 

I am currently working on the new edition of one of my published works and it involves a lot (and I mean a REAL LOT!) of proof-reading. This is a task that requires much concentration and it is quite tiring on both eyes and brain. One thing that makes the task a little easier is to listen to some music while I am working. Bach always works for me in this context and the music seems to enhance my concentration.

Here is a collection of pieces that I enjoy listening to while I am working. It is Bach's works for the viola da gamba: Sonatas for viola da gamba and obligato harpsichord & Suite for viola da gamba. In this instance performed by Paolo Pandolfo [viola da gamba] and Rinaldo Alessandrini [harpsichord]. 

Sonata in G major BWV 1027:
1. Adagio 0:01
2. Andante 4:26
3. Allegro ma non tanto 7:57
4. Allegro moderato 10:30 

Sonata in D major BWV 1028:
5. [Adagio] 13:24
6. [Allegro] 15:19
7. Andante 18:46
8. Allegro 23:13 

Sonata in G minor BWV 1029:
9. Vivace 27:02
10. Adagio 32:19
11. Allegro 38:39 

Suite for Viola da gamba in D minor [Transcription from Suite Cello No.5 BWV 1011 and Suite for Lute BWV 995 (arr. Paolo Pandolfo)]:
12. Prélude 42:06
13. Allemande 48:12
14. Courante 54:08
15. Sarabande 56:28
16. Gavottes I et II 1:00:12
17. Gigue 1:04:21

BOOKS ON MONDAY

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! - When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” – Jane Austen

I have been working rather hard lately proof-reading a major technical work of which I am co-editor-in-chief. This takes up a great deal of time and it is very demanding as it is an activity that requires a great deal of concentration and attention to detail. One must remain focussed and not be distracted. When fatigue sets in, I like to go out for a walk, watch a movie or read something that is completely different and not related to work.

So here are a few of the things I have been reading lately:

“The Book Of Eels” by Tom Fort (Published August 18th 2003 by HarperCollins Publishers).
The humble eel (about which most of us feel squeamish about nowadays) once was the food of kings and the nobility, a delectable delicacy and a mysterious creature about which not much was known, given its strange life cycle and curious migratory habits. Fort examines everything to do with eels in great detail, yet writes in a lucid, at times chatty style, with engrossing detail and subtle humour. There is also sympathy for a creature that is losing its habitat and its once high place in the gastronomic ladder, one that seems to be disappearing not only from our plates, but also from its former environmental niche. 

“Romantic Composers” by Wendy Thompson (Published 2003, Anness Publishing).
This is a large format book designed for the layperson who is interested in music of the Romantic Era and wishes to find out a little more about the life, times, works and historical interactions of these composers. A wealth of colour photographs show where these composers lived and worked as well as scenes from their ballets or operas, or historical events that influenced them. An easy to read book, but also one that can quite easily browse in now and then. Good one for introducing Romantic Era music to younger listeners. 

“Tea: A Miscellany Steeped with Trivia, History andRecipes” by Emily Kearns (Published 1st May 2015, Summersdale Publishers Ltd).
If you drink tea and enjoy it, a perfect little book to delve into, as the title says, it’s a miscellany of all things tea-related. Another book that is good to read when one is chilling out and doesn’t want to think about things work-related!

MUSIC SATURDAY - TELEMANN

“The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music they should be taught to love it instead.” - Igor Stravinsky

I have been working very hard the past couple of weeks, so I have been missing a few of my regular daily posts here. When I work at my computer, I enjoy listening to music played softly in the background. Telemann is perfect for this and here is a sample of his oboe writing.

Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 -- 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music.

He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city’s five main churches. While Telemann’s career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: His first wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving Telemann.

Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving oeuvre) and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time (he was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally).

Telemann’s music incorporates several national styles (French, Italian) and is even at times influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.

Here are some of his Oboe Sonatas performed by Paul Goodwin (Baroque Oboe), John Toll, (Harpsichord), Susan Sheppard (Baroque Cello), Nigel North (Archlute, Theorbo), Lynden Cranham (Baroque Cello).

ART SUNDAY - CAILLEBOTTE

“Pioneers may be picturesque figures, but they are often rather lonely ones.” - Nancy Astor

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), whose personal works were forgotten until recently, was a respected artist and a generous patron of the Impressionist movement. He was born in 1848 in a very rich family, which made its fortune in the textiles industry and then in real estate as Baron Haussmann was rebuilding Paris.

Engineer by profession, but also former student of the Fine Arts School of Paris where he studied with Léon Bonnat, he met Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, and Pierre Auguste Renoir in 1874 and helped them organise their first group exhibition in Paris this same year. In 1873, he inherited the great fortune of his father and was financially independent for the rest of his life.

In 1875, as he wished to make his official debut as a painter, he submitted a work to the Official Salon which was refused, thus encouraging him to exhibit in 1876, with the aid of Renoir, at the second exhibition of the Impressionist group. His works, and in particular the “The floor scrapers”, were noticed and appreciated. He took part in the subsequent exhibitions of the Impressionist Group thereafter.

Caillebotte was rich and generous and throughout his lifetime aided financially his Impressionist friends by buying their works at high prices and by paying the expenses of their exhibitions. He was a co-organiser and co-financier of the third, fourth, fifth and seventh Impressionist exhibitions, in which he took part.

In 1881, he bought a house with a garden in Petit-Gennevilliers where he created a number of his works. He was a highly skilled horticulturist, and he corresponded with Monet at Giverny and cultivated orchids in his greenhouses.

A man with a complex character and multiple facets, Caillebotte also was a racing yachtsman who had a passion for speed and sought to improve the performance of his boats. As a naval architect, he designed and built his boats in a workshop located on SNECMA's present site. There he created truly innovative boats, with silk saiil, external ballast, aerodynamic hulls, with which he gained many international distinctions.

Caillebotte painted some 500 works in a style often more realistic than that of his Impressionist friends. The painter liked particularly views of Paris streets made from high balconies, painted many scenes of working life, landscapes of gardens and parks, and nautical scenes (on the Seine in Argenteuil and Yerres). His penchant for realistic painting, his vivid colour, and his treatment of light make him well a great Impressionist painter whose work is original and diverse.

Caillebotte donated his collection of paintings, in his will written in 1876, in these terms:

“I give to the French State the paintings which I have; nevertheless, since I want that this donation be accepted and in such a manner that the paintings go neither in an attic nor in a province museum, but well in the Luxembourg Museum and later in the Louvre Museum, it is necessary that a certain time passes before execution of this clause until the public, I do not say understand, but admit this new painting. This time may be twenty years at the maximum. Until then, my brother Martial, and at his defect another of my heirs, will preserve them. I request Renoir to be my executor...”

Caillebotte died in 1894 of an attack of apoplexy. The Academists, led by Gérôme, then tried to prevent the acceptance of Caillebotte’s legacy of Impressionist works in collection of the artistic inheritance of France, a stance supported by the Official Salon. A particular sticking point were works of Cézanne, which were seen to be worthless artistically. The Institute of France initially refused the Caillebotte legacy to the French National Museums.

In 1896, however, the French State authorised the National Museums to select some paintings of the embarrassing Caillebotte legacy, works which might be exhibited in the Musée du Luxembourg. They refused among these “drifts of an unhealthy art” 27 paintings out of the 67 of the collection and accepted: Seven pastels of Degas, eight Monets, six Renoirs, seven Pissarros, five Sisleys, two Cézannes and two Caillebottes (the last two added to the legacy by Martial Caillebotte, after the death of his brother).

These works were presented in an annex of the Musée du Luxembourg in 1897. The exhibition caused violent movements and a political scandal at the instigation of Gérôme and seventeen of his colleagues, members of the Institute. Thus the Senate became embroiled in this controversy. Nevertheless, it is Caillebotte’s legacy, which Renoir had the merit to impose to the French State after the death of the artist, that allowed France to have in its possession major works of Monet, Degas, Sisley and Renoir.

Most of the works of the legacy that were refused were repurchased by a certain Doctor Barnes whose collection of Impressionists is now envied by the French national museums (an exhibition of the Barnes Foundation took place at the Musée d’Orsay in 1993-94). The Caillebotte collection was integrated into the Louvre Museum only in 1928, and is today in the Musée d’Orsay.

“Les raboteurs de parquet” [The Floor Planers] above, is one of the first representations of urban proletariat. Whereas peasants (“Gleaners” by Millet) or country workers (“Stone Breakers” by Courbet) had often been shown, city workers had seldom been painted. Unlike Courbet or Millet, Caillebotte does not incorporate any social, moralising or a political message in his work. His thorough documentary study (gestures, tools, accessories) justifies his position among the most accomplished realists.

Caillebotte presented his painting at the 1875 Salon. The Jury, no doubt shocked by its crude realism, rejected it (some critics talked of “vulgar subject matter”). The young painter then decided to join the impressionists and presented his painting at the second exhibition of the group in 1876, where Degas exhibited his first “Ironers”. Critics were struck by this great modern tableau, Zola, in particular, although he condemned as a “painting that is so accurate that it makes it bourgeois”.

WITHOUT A MAP

“When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes.” - Victor Hugo

I wrote the following snippet of a story as a result of a challenge to “write a short story of 350-400 words”. Here is what I wrote, counting off just below 400 words:

WITHOUT A MAP

My love affairs had always followed the rules. A disciplined existence such as mine always adhered to schedules, time-tables, agendas and dot-point lists. Was it so surprising then that my liaisons were predictable, worked out by a mathematical formula and more often than not, negotiated? Compatibility was not the result of exploration and the enjoyment of doing things together, but rather it depended on the outcome of some computer match test.

Relationships worked out as expected, rather like a well-rehearsed formal dance where both partners know the tune and steps, and the interaction becomes mechanical, rather than the expression of a deeper passion that drives both to improvise and enjoy the emotion of the moment. The machines of these relationships broke down with amazing regularity, not because the mechanism was being overworked, but rather of ennui - a boredom generated by the repetitive, clockwork-like precision of their predictability.

Caz was different from the beginning. She came into the office in an eyebrow-raising flurry of organised disorganisation. She held a tourist map of the City and a puzzled expression creased her impish face.

“I always confuse myself when trying to read maps, can you tell me how to get to this place?” she said, pointing vaguely to a spot circled on the map.

I looked disapprovingly at her rather scruffy appearance, but her smile was sunny, genuine and disarming…

I wavered and smiled back without meaning to, spontaneously and helplessly. There was something remarkably appealing and fresh about this woman. I started to rattle off a set of directions, but her blank expression after a couple of sentences made me smile again. I nodded and pointed her towards the door.

“It’s lunchtime,” I said. “I’m walking down that way, put your map away and let me show you…”

Caz and I are as unlike as two people can be. Opposites attract, they say, but how lasting can such a relationship be when there is almost nothing in common between two people and their relationship is a constant succession of surprises, clashes and opposing goals? A roller-coaster ride of passionate outbursts and deep emotions, discovery of not only of the other person but also of one’s self.

We’ve been together for 20 years now and this one, crazy relationship that has lasted, was all without schedules and formulas, tests and compatibility quotients – a wonderful trip, without a map…

POETS UNITED - WAVES

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” - Vincent Van Gogh

Sumana from Poets United is prompting participating poets this week with the word “waves”. Here is my offering:



The Waves

The wind blows cold and sharp,

The leaves are raised in russet waves

Only to fall again in watery graves,

Circling, lost in Autumn’s maelstrom.

The sea is grey and green and dark,

The frothy spumes of angry waves

Dash on the shore and enter rocky caves

Interred in Winter’s frigid embrace.

The woman stands on highest cliff

And with a trembling hand she waves

A white kerchief; and sheds a tear that laves

Her ice-cold cheek, as ship departs.

The pain it gnaws and feeds and multiplies

Deep in her heart, in throbbing waves

And in her troubled mind abruptly staves;

Such seas may claim so many souls…

The ship bobs up and down, tosses to and fro,

It falls in troughs and rides on crests of waves,

Each sailor holds fast a single thought that saves:

The white kerchief waving on the distant shore

And the sweet hand that holds it tight and waves.

The illustration is a painting by Montague Dawson, “A Ship in Stormy Sea”.

POETRY JAM - TEA OR COFFEE?

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” - T. S. Eliot

Poetry Jam this week sets as its theme the doublet tea/coffee. Contributors are invited to: “Write about your first cup in the morning, or a special event that happened when you were drinking either at home or in a café. Share your fist cup of the day with us.”

Although I love tea and drink quite a bit of it, coffee is what I choose to start my day with. As far as the way that I drink it is concerned, typically a caffé latte in the morning, and if I have another cup during the day, it is usually an espresso or a double espresso without any sugar – coffee that is dark, strong, bitter and aromatic. Occasionally I will have a Vienna coffee or rarely a cappuccino.

Here is my poetic contribution:

Haiku for an Autumn Morning

Look! The East’s on fire
Darkness is quickly dispelled:
I start to think of work.

A crowded train; packed
Escalators, hubbub, din –
Cold streets are empty.

Fragrance of coffee
Warm cup; steam in the cold air.
Bitter taste, absence.

Words, numbers, papers:
My desk chaotic. Your call
Orders my morning.

A full day ahead,
The diary’s crammed, I talk on,
Loth to lose your voice.

A sunny morning,
Cool air and leaves that yellow:
Work as clouds gather.

CHILD LABOUR

“Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” - Grace Abbott

In the late 19th century and early 20th, child labour was not only common but an accepted part of life in even industrialised, Western nations such as Britain, USA, Australia and many more. The world painted by Charles Dickens in his novels, where small children were exploited by a cruel society brought home chillingly the everyday reality for many of his readers who were amongst the privileged and well-to-do. The upper crust of New York and Chicago in the early 20th century lived their elegant lives and were oblivious to the plight of the children in the factories, mines and sweat shops that provided them with their wealth. The struggling farmers, drovers and other itinerants and their families in the Outback in Australia, were far from the mind of the comfortably well-off city dwellers in Sydney and Melbourne in earlier days.

We may think that child labour is part of history and that we do not have to contend with such a problem this day and age. However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries—at least 120 million on a full time basis. Sixty-one percent of these are in Asia, 32 percent in Africa, and 7 percent in Latin America. Most working children in rural areas are found in agriculture; many children work as domestics; urban children work in trade and services, with fewer in manufacturing and construction.

The problem is most acute in the countries where the economy, social services and political systems are such that force many people to live below the poverty line. Poor families will rely on the work of their children for survival. In such situations, it is often that the children who work provide the only source of income… Child labour is often hidden away because it is not in the industrial sector, but rather in agriculture, in the household, in cottage industries or within the urban informal circle. Long-term survival and well-being of a family will often dictate the course of action to take and this, in the short term means forcing the children to work, sometimes at an age as young as 5 or 6 years.

Childhood is a magical time that should be full of love, innocence, happy memories and a family that nurtures, educates and supports. How many millions of children in the world are denied this right? Think of how our lifestyle in the West is encouraging child labour. The cheap imported products on our shelves are often produced in the sweatshops of developing countries where children may have been forced to work in order to survive. We can help and support these children in a different way, rather than by buying these products that perpetuate the problem.

Some historical information may be found here, where the British experience between 1750 and 1850 is outlined. Child labour in the USA between 1908 and 1912 is documented here. The UNICEF page is informative but also extremely distressing. The International Labour organisation has an excellent subsite devoted to child labour with strategies for the eradication of child labour. And as far as helping individually to stamp this out, World Vision has a rescue plan that may be sponsored.

Be aware, care and do your little bit to help!

MOVIE MONDAY - THREE DOLLARS

“Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none.” - Richard M. DeVos

For Movie Monday, today an Australian film made in my home city, Melbourne. The film is Robert Connolly’s “Three Dollars” (2005). It is based on Elliot Perlman’s novel of the same name, which I haven’t read, but which I was motivated by the film to read and hopefully will be doing so shortly. The film stars David Wenham, Frances O’ Connor, Sarah Wynter, Robert Menzies, David Roberts and Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik. The film was recommended to me by a friend who described it as “really good and thought-provoking – an intelligent film about modern-day problems and choices we each make in our lives”.

The plot involves Eddie (David Wenham), who is a typical “good guy” in his thirties, living in a large City (Melbourne but could be any other large Western city). He is a public servant in a government environmental testing agency as a chemical engineer. His latest assignment is to investigate soil samples, in what looks to be a lovely country spot, so that a large residential development can go ahead. Eddie’s wife, Tanya, is an academic and they have a young child, the adorable (and scene-stealing!) Abby. They also have a mortgage, problems relating to long-term financial security, career development, relationship stability and generally coping with the small and large problems of the modern-day urban lifestyle. The main premise of the plot is how much pressure a modern-day “nice guy” (who wants to do the right thing by his conscience and his integrity) can take before he succumbs to the temptation of corruption. Will he, won’t he?

I found the film a little tedious. Overlong, with too many details that weakened the plot and many scenes that diluted the central theme and distracted the viewer. For the first 90 minutes of the film (and it is 118 minutes long) there is little that happens and the humdrum details of everyday life are stretched out to the point of making one yawn. There is some distracting flash-back/flash-forward nonsense that is meant to enhance the plot, but that also was a distractor rather than adding to the artistic merit of the film or serving to build up to the climax. It is becoming an annoying habit with novelists and film-makers to do this flashing back and forth in order to “build tension”, but the device so often falls flat on its face…

Much is made of the “three dollars” of the title, and the three coins turn up in various scenes, but I found this a lame ruse, and ultimately devoid of the huge significance given to it by the writer/director.  The tagline of the film is “It’s about change…” – an obvious pun and as far as puns go a weak one. Director Connolly says of the film; “it’s an epic story of an ordinary man”. Hardly epic, and Eddie is not too ordinary by modern urban standards…

Now for the good points. The acting was well done on most counts and as I mentioned earlier young Abby was played extremely well by Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik. There is a cute scene, homage to Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” and I liked seeing my hometown on the big screen. With a bit of re-editing and lots more film on the cutting room floor, this movie could be improved dramatically. If you have not seen the film I won’t spoil it for you, but for those who have seen it, don't you think that the beginning of the film really weakens its whole plot development?

MOVIE MONDAY - DEPARTURES

“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” - Leonardo da Vinci

We watched a very good Japanese film at the weekend. Although it seemed interesting even just by reading the synopsis and looking at the cover of the DVD, we were a bit diffident to watch it as it dealt with a rather lugubrious theme. It came highly recommended though, having won the 2009 Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as another 33 awards. When we watched it we discovered it was a curiously uplifting and even cheerful film despite the serious themes it dealt with.

It was the 2008 Yôjirô Takita film “Departures” with a screenplay by Kundô Koyama and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryôko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tsutomu Yamazaki. At 130 minutes, this was a long film, but once one starts watching it, one does not notice time passing, which is always a good sign. The film ticked all the right boxes for us, with plot, character development, acting, cinematography, direction, music and thematic breadth all being excellently done.

The movie concerns itself with Daigo Kobayashi, who is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved, and who now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over, while living in his old family home. He answers a classified advertisement entitled “Departures” thinking it is a job in a travel agency, only to discover that the job is actually for a “Nokanshi” (an encoffineer, a funeral professional who prepares corpses for burial and entry into the next life). While his wife, friends and acquaintances despise the job, Daigo takes pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of “Nokanshi”, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

The film is complex and has several subplots, not the least of which is the relationship of parents and children, especially those parents who have left or have had to leave their children at a young age. The relationship of married couples is another theme and of course the obvious one of how we view death and what our feelings are towards the dead – dead bodies as well as well as people whom we love and have died. However, the most important theme of the movie is life – life and how we should live it. If we live life the ‘right’ way, then we have no issues with death and we are prepared suitably for its arrival.

This film is a tribute to ritual and the universal human need for it. No more perhaps needed by our psyche than at the time of death. In the film, the encoffination process is shown repeatedly, although it is the reaction of the relatives that show us the vastly different way in which people view death and the dead. Sometimes the mourners make it raucous, melancholy, embarrassing, joyful or even comic. However, the film demonstrates the quintessential Japanese culture that knows the value of theatre.

The movie helps the viewer grow through an examination of his/her own views towards death and how he/she woudl cope in situations such as those depicted. It is successful as a movie because it deals with fundamental human emotions that are universal and do not depend on specific ethnic or cultural experiences. An excellent movie, we recommend it most highly and it is an uplifting and in the end joyful film, that provides an insightful and wise view of death, and life!

HOLIDAYS

“Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.” - William James
 

These days over Christmas and New Year are a perfect opportunity to take some holiday time and relax. Resting and taking one’s mind off work is something we should do daily and at weekends, so what is more opportune than doing so at the end of the year when the holy days also conspire to make us take some holidays also? However, today I heard from a friend who is working over this holiday break as he needs to catch up with work… This friend is a confirmed workaholic and having no family is something that unfortunately allow shim to work long and hard.
 

The workaholic is very much a product of our modern society and is nowadays in many cases the rule rather than the exceptional case that we were familiar with in the past. Work makes enormous demands on our time, not only in the workplace, but it also invades our own space and private life. How easy it is to take work with us every night. Simply a matter of loading some files into a USB drive and the computer at home takes over from where the computer at work left off. Email access is universal and we are expected to be able to send and receive work emails at any place and any time. Mobile phones increase our accessibility and before not too long we may be called upon at all hours to respond to employers’ demands.
 

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is certainly something that applies to today’s world as much as it did, all those centuries ago when the folk sage came out with this saw. It is surprising that in this day and age of labour-saving devices, increasing leisure time and strictly regulated work hours many of us still manage to run out of time in order to amuse ourselves and take pleasure in the company of our friends and dear ones. A re-examination of one’s life is in order if this is the case, and the workaholic is certainly one who should be chastened by this re-examination.

UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG

“A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.” - Benjamin Disraeli
 

Although Wollongong is New South Wales’ third-largest city, Wollongong has more of a large country-town feel. It’s essentially a working-class industrial centre (Australia’s largest steelworks at nearby Port Kembla looms unattractively over Wollongong City Beach) but the Illawarra Escarpment, rising dramatically beyond the city, provides a lush backdrop. The students of Wollongong University certainly give it extra life in term time and the city also enjoys a big dose of surf culture as the city centre is set right on the ocean.
 

The University of Wollongong, abbreviated as UOW, is a public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2012, the University had a total of 30,516 students enrolled, included 11,440 international students from more than 140 countries. The University ranked 276th in the 2013 QS World University Rankings, 276-300th in the 2013-2014 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 301-400th (352nd) in the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
 

The University of Wollongong has fundamentally developed into a multi-campus institution, three of which are in Wollongong (Wollongong, Shoalhaven and Innovation), one in Sydney and one in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Wollongong Campus, the University’s Main Campus, is on the original site five kilometres north-west of the city centre, and covers an area of 82.4 hectares with 94 permanent buildings including six student residences. In addition, there are University Education Centres in Bega, Batemans Bay, Moss Vale and Loftus as well as the Sydney Business School in the City of Sydney. The University also offers courses equally based on the main Wollongong Campus in collaboration with partner institutions in a number of offshore locations including Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
 

The University of Wollongong traces its origins to 1951. The University was founded in 1951 when a division of The New South Wales University of Technology (currently known as The University of New South Wales, UNSW) was established in Wollongong. In 1962, the Division subsequently became the Wollongong College of The University of New South Wales.
 

On the 1st January 1975, the New South Wales Parliament incorporated the University of Wollongong as an independent institution of higher learning consisting of five faculties (Engineering, Humanities, Mathematics, Sciences and Social Sciences) with Professor Michael Birt as its inaugural Vice Chancellor. In 1976, Justice Robert Marsden Hope was installed as Chancellor of the University.
 

The University in Wollongong is on a delightful, well-treed and gardenesque campus, whose serenity is conducive to study and enquiry. One of the most enjoyable aspects of my visit there was the beautiful smell from the gum trees and native flora around the university buildings. The rustle of the leaves and the birdsong was a wonderful backdrop to the chatter of students socialising on the campus grounds. The facilities are world class and the academics passionate and dedicated. The Campus offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The Courses are offered across nine faculties including Arts, Commerce, Creative Arts, Education, Engineering, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Informatics, Law and Science. All together, nearly 30,000 students attend classes on the Wollongong Campus.

POSTCARD FROM WOLLONGONG

“You get educated by travelling.” - Solange Knowles
 

I am travelling for work again and visiting the seaside city of Wollongong,  located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Wollongong lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney. Wollongong’s Statistical District has a population of 292,190, making Wollongong the third largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle, and the ninth largest city in Australia.
 

The Wollongong metropolitan area extends from Helensburgh in the north to Shellharbour in the south. It sits within the Wollongong Statistical District, which covers the local authority areas of Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama, extending from the town of Helensburgh in the north to Gerroa in the south. Geologically, the city is located in the south-eastern part of the Sydney basin, which extends from Newcastle to Nowra.
 

Wollongong is noted for its heavy industry and its port activity, having a long history of coalmining and manufacturing. The quality of its physical setting is unique, occupying a narrow coastal plain between an almost continuous chain of surf beaches and the cliffline of the rainforest-covered Illawarra escarpment. It has two cathedrals, churches of many denominations and the Nan Tien Temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the southern hemisphere.
 

The city attracts many tourists each year, and is a regional centre for the South Coast fishing industry. The University of Wollongong has around 22,000 students and is internationally recognised. Although other explanations have been offered, such as “great feast of fish”, “hard ground near water”, “song of the sea”, “sound of the waves”, “many snakes” and “five islands”, the name Wollongong is believed to mean “seas of the South” in the local Aboriginal language, referring to NSW's Southern Coast.

A CONFERENCE

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” - Albert Einstein
 

I attended a conference in Sydney these past two days and it has left me quite excited and brimming full of ideas. I participated both as a speaker and as a chair of a day's sessions. The two roles are different, yet related, in both cases acting as the agent that stimulates all-inclusive discussions with the attendees. However, I also enjoyed my function as an engaged audience member, who contributed to the general discussion.
 

The group attending was relatively small, but this perhaps contributed to the success of the conference as there was active engagement of all participants. The conference was an excellent opportunity for networking, for contributing to an ideas fest and for also being made aware of developments in the higher education sector across Australia and the rest of the world. Overall, if chosen well, such conference activities can revitalise an academic's stagnant mental marshes and will serve as a powerful creator of currents of intellectual activity.
 

The reason conferences are such a good scholarly activity is that they bring under the one roof people that share similar ideas, interests, jobs, contacts. Attendees are in a receptive frame of mind and at the right time and place. The bringing together of so many people under the same roof where they actively engage with one another and exchange ideas is conducive to active thinking, generation of new ideas, learning and exploration of brave new territory. Conferences  are safe environments for discourse, for thinking out loud and provoking people with some left field concepts and intellectual challenges. It is a good environment for oneself to be challenged and provoked!
 

The theme of the conference was using big data in driving strategic direction at universities. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much good work is being done in Australia at the present time by some very passionate and dedicated academics, administrators, executives and support personnel. The speakers were Australian and knowledgeable, experienced and engaging.

JOTTINGS FROM SYDNEY

“The party is a true art form in Sydney and people practise it a great deal. You can really get quite lost in it.” - Baz Luhrmann
 
I am in Sydney for work again and have been going flat out with little time to spend on the computer. As well as attending a conference, presenting and chairing a whole day’s proceedings, I have had meetings with some people and working dinners. At least the whole thing is close to Darling Harbour and I did manage to have a stroll there after the long day was over…
 
Darling Harbour is intended to be one of Sydney’s trendy places, although some visitors find it lacking in character (and greenery). It used to be a former dockside area, but now the small functional harbor of yore has been transformed into a major tourist site and a leading convention and exhibition centre.
 
A monorail service used to run from the Central Business District to Darling Harbour and skirted the harbour, making stops at points around the harbour. However, this year the monorail is being dismantled and its skeletal remains are to be seen in various parts of the city. Until now, Darling Harbour has been a place that has appealed more to kids, due to the number of children’s attractions, but the advent of the Cockle Wharf restaurant and cafe complex has added a new dimension to Darling Harbour.

POSTCARD FROM SYDNEY

“Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.” - Seneca

Sydney is Australia’s largest city, and capital of the state of New South Wales. Located on Australia’s southeastern coast, Sydney has a magnificent harbour and a strategic position, making it one of the most important ports in the South Pacific. In the early 19th century, when it was still a small convict settlement and the first settlers had barely penetrated the interior, it had already established trade with the Pacific Islands, India, China, South Africa, and the Americas.

The first sight of Sydney, whether from the sea or the air, is always spectacular. Built on low hills surrounding a huge harbour with innumerable bays and inlets, the city is dominated by the bulk of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the longest steel-arch bridges in the world, and the Opera House, with its glittering white shell-shaped roofs that seem to echo the sails of the many yachts in the adjacent harbour. The intricate confusion of water and buildings makes a striking impression either by day or by night.

Because of its history as a great port and its status as the site of the country’s main international air terminal, Sydney is perhaps the only city in Australia with a genuinely international atmosphere. Yet it remains a very Australian city, with a nice compromise between the Anglo-Saxon efficiency of its British heritage and the South Seas attractions of its climate and environment. The area of the City of Sydney is 26.2 square km; while the Sydney Statistical Division is 12,406 square km. The population of greater Sydney is nearly five million people.