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19th
October
2004
Vaguely tangential to the discussion about Derrida over at lowercase the other day, I heard an interesting interview with author Tim Winton on Triple J on the way to work this morning. The discussion focussed on how Tim felt about his books being studied as part of the high school literature curriculum across Australia and his take was that he was both honoured by it yet also felt sympathetic towards the students who were forced to study and analyse his novels in depth. His purpose in writing was to provide people with entertainment and enjoyment, not the anxiety and heartache provoked by studying for exams. He cited a time once where he was holidaying on Rottnest Island at the same time “schoolies” week and could feel the ill-feeling towards him from the students who were also there, which made him sad. Imagine how they would have made Shakespeare feel if he was staying there - my guess is he might have ben lynched!
The dicussion then turned to the differing analyses and interpretations of his novels by students and their teachers across the country. It was interesting to hear how many students are being taught about hidden meanings in his text that Tim never intended or thought about. One great example was a teacher in Queensland who had been showing her students in great detail the many clever references to the “Son of Sam” serial killings in America in one of Tim’s books. This was news to Tim, who had not once thought about “Son of Sam” whilst he penned that novel. Tim’s ultimate point was that a novel is in the end a collaboration between the writer and the reader and he was happy (though bemused) for people to take whatever they liked out of his work. I must confess I’ve never read any of his books, since they weren’t on our lit curriculum and I’ve never got round to it since, but eventually I’ll have to check them out. He came across as a really genuinely nice guy.
Categories : books |
19th
October
2004
The last week or so I’ve been seeing a sudden crop of people with drug problems, ranging from marijuana, speed, and heroin to tobacco and alcohol. And have a guess which of those patients was the most degraded and impaired? If you said the alcoholics you’d be right. This legal drug causes much more devastation and destruction to people’s lives than all the illicit drugs put together. I’m not saying they are not a bad idea, just that we as a society tend to underestimate the danger of alcohol. Once it has you in it’s grips alcoholism is a much harder force to break than heroin for example. And it negatively effects the person’s life in so many different ways - as one of my alcoholic patients put it this week the areas of life that it destroys are the four ‘L’s - “Liver, Lover, Livelihood, and Law” That is, health problems (which are more severe and chronic than any of those other drugs, save tobacco), relationship and family problems, financial problems, and legal problems (the young man I saw yesterday was continually in trouble with police for assault and the like). Now I’m not saying we should ban alcohol completely or anything like that - in low doses it can actually be good for you, and I don’t mind a glass of wine once in a while. Besides the 1920s showed that prohibition is a failure. What I am saying is that the size of this problem is not promoted enough - sure, you see ads regarding the drink driving issue, but never any regarding the rest of the destructive effects of alcohol abuse. It won’t cure the problem, which in many cases is a very complex multifactorial one, but some more community education might be a good start.
Categories : General Practice |
19th
October
2004
Great article in today’s paper by Gerard Henderson which addresses the failure of the left wing parties to take seriously the rising political influence of suburban evangelical Christian on the election, and the negativity and derision with which the media treats this group of society.
“The fact is many Australians noticed when Costello declared on May 29 that their nation “draws on the Judeo-Christian tradition”. And, as Jim Wallace has indicated, to many Christians Latham’s failure to “endorse Judeo-Christian values” was a “negative”.”
Henderson makes note of three “committed Christians” specifically - Nationals leader John Anderson, Peter Costello, and Labor’s Kevin Rudd. He also notes that Rudd was the only Labor MP in Queensland to increase his vote. Interesting. It’ll also be interesting to see how vocal Prime Minister Costello is about his faith once he finally gets given the keys to the Lodge (sooner, rather than later I hope) and whether this helps him in the next election. Continued attendance at the Hillsong conference probably won’t do his vote in the burbs of Sydney any harm either.
Categories : Politics |
