He had a dream: fifty years on

 

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King made his "I have a dream" speech 50 years ago, which was commemorated in Washington with this rally. Obama did not appear at this event.

There was a rally in Brisbane, too, attended by a few hundred, for World Action on Refugees Day. A trauma and attachment therapist called Lou spoke eloquently about her work with pregnant women on Nauru, who have to cover themselves in toxic insecticides, to prevent mosquito borne diseases. The children develop trauma as a result of their parents being emotionally unavailable. Due to their own trauma, caused in part by our Government. 

Needless to say, our once loved leader Kevin Rudd did not attend the rally.  Rudd rushed back to Brisbane, but only to film his Kitchen Cabinet TV appearance with Annabelle Crabb, before a briefing on the chemical weapons crisis in Syria. 

Where is the leadership, people?

It should be no surprise then, to read yesterday in the Murdoch owned courier mail, that many first time voters don't appear to have a social conscience: when asked about climate change or asylum seekers, they largely expressed great indifference. Of course, this may not be a representative sample, and I am proud of my sons for being different, but they grew up in our house, where everything the media dished up was critiqued and discussed, instead of swallowed whole.

MLK: Dream 

Thinking lots about values this week, as I have to write about my practice framework for social work soon. I said in class on Friday, that I have ethical issues 'coming out of my ears' at the moment. Hmm. I will have to do a drawing of that...

On the same topic, also on Friday, my partner S handed in his resignation, after 9 years in the Queensland Public service, without having a job to go to. A brave and necessary action, in line with his values. I will have to do a drawing of that, too...Meanwhile, watch this:

Martha an Intensive Care social worker, just made redundant in Queensland, speaks out.

 limited palette: watercolour pastels

And a couple more links:

Happiness and money article in the Conversation.

Margaret Atwood interview here.

I have to write a blog about resilience for my placement unit, so I will post that here soon too. 

more later

being human: accepting an imperfect world (and being inspired)

 Exhibition: Metaphor and Metamorphosis 

at Percolator Gallery, Paddington (ends today!)

This exhibition, by our second ever group of UQ Masters of Mental Health - Art Therapy graduates - school of 2008 - provided me, as always, with a big dose of pride, inspiration, and admiration, for their ongoing commitment to art and art therapy: what a wonderful way to end the week. In particular, one room focused on the work being done at Milpera high school, which provides intensive English language  support to new migrants and a whole lot more, including the amazing Heal program.

Their next campaign is to try to get art and music therapists in more high schools, which would be fantastic.

Meanwhile I am continuing with my social work placement, and still being inspired by Aboriginal artist Gordon Hookey. Latest project, drawing animals, and anything else, as you see them, and not necessarily how they objectively appear.  An example of a dog, from Monte Lupo gallery:

 noticing art - on a mozzie coil holder

 '50 shades of blue' - on placement

Being on placement is hard, however. I am missing the autonomy, the pay, and the status (to be honest) of being an employee, rather than a student. I am missing my day job! This is probably a good thing, in the long run, as I will be going back there once I complete my placement hours...meanwhile I am observing, and absorbing, but not, compared to usual, achieving a whole lot - apart from a Masters of Social Work degree, of course. Which will lead to other doors opening, so, I am trying to practice acceptance, as much as possible.

 'opening up' - pen drawing

I drew this after hearing some stuff from unhappy people - the proverbial can of worms. It was fun to draw, and more than a little influenced by Zentangles, which I wrote about in my last post.

I now have two Zentangles work books (Yoga for your brain, by Sandy Bartholomew, who like some real yoga teachers I may have mentioned before, says slightly odd things, like your brain is a muscle that needs exercising; and the just published Zentangle untangled workbook, by Kass Hall, who is Australian), to give me some ideas. Once I started drawing patterns, I noticed patterns everywhere. This one is from Buddha's head.

coils

I have also bought some Copic pens, and am enjoying playing with them. I now have a basket of art materials (expanded from a shoe box) to be as accessible and portable as possible, and hopefully inspire more art-making.

Further inspiration here from Austin Kleon's Steal like an artist, found in Title book and record shop yesterday. This link is to a TED talk, in which Kleon describes creating artists' family trees of influence - very cool!

Meanwhile, the mindfulness group I am attending at UQ is proving really helpful, I am trying to do a 30 minute body scan meditation every day, and finding this really great for returning to the body when the mind is too busy, overwhelmed, or just tired (been overusing that brain muscle, even!)...bliss!

Saw the movie Frances Ha last night, which is a poetic exploration of failure. Four stars.

No doubt I should write here more often, to avoid overload. I hope this also inspires some of you.

more later.