Last night at ACMI I saw The Island President, the last film being shown as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. It was the tale of President Mohamed Nasheed’s fight to save his country, the Maldives, from climate change. The film followed his political defiance of the Gayoom dictatorship up to the […]
Read more
Archive | May, 2012
On Education of, and by, Activists
May 26, 2012 
0 Comments
Conventional models for education are considered by some thinkers and activists to be tools for perpetuating an oppressive and contemptible status quo. However, it is unclear how the knowledge of highly-experienced individuals can be shared in a more egalitarian way. Those involved in activist education ought to be aware of, and wary of, the tension […]
Read more Book 13: “Infidel”, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
May 26, 2012 0 Comments
I’ve read very few biographies, auto- or otherwise. It’s not a form of writing that has appealed to me much previously. I think fiction can hold great insight in to the human condition, and that non-fiction books are a great source of learning about specific fields. Of course, my view is narrow and limited. Biographies […]
Read more “The Ethical Slut”, Dossie Easton & Janet W. Hardy: Polyamory and Polyamorous Relationships
May 23, 2012 1 Comment
Dossie Easton’s and Janet Hardy’s The Ethical Slut: A practical guide to polyamory, open relationships, and other adventures is a book I read when I was too young for it. As I recall, at the time the person I borrowed it from was living in a small place in Seaview, so I can date the […]
Read more Lessons for Live Below the Line
May 19, 2012 3 Comments
Recently I’ve had the pleasure of working on the hugely successful campaign Live Below the Line (LBL). This campaign asks individuals to live on $2 a day for five days (henceforth known as “the challenge”) to have an eye-opening experience about what it’s like to live in extreme poverty. Participants receive sponsorship to take the challenge; […]
Read more On Love as an Artform
May 18, 2012 1 Comment
For a while, I didn’t get art. It boggled me. You see, I am a person who expresses themselves most fragrantly in spoken words, slightly less so written ones, aptly through music, decently through dance, poorly through cooking, and, Pictionary successes notwithstanding, abysmally through visual art. So when it came to art I wondered what […]
Read more Book 11: “Tuesdays with Morrie”, Mitch Albon
May 18, 2012 0 Comments
What this book did for me is very circumstantial. I was given it by one of my dearest friends, with whom I have had many a reflective and insightful conversation. She and I talk about many a thing: love, family, friendship, power, climate change, relationships, and how we like our tea. So, this book contained […]
Read more Lessons from Oaktree’s “Live Below the Line”
May 16, 2012 4 Comments
Recently I’ve had the pleasure of working on the hugely successful campaign Live Below the Line (LBL). This campaign asks individuals to live on $2 a day for five days (henceforth known as “the challenge”) to have an eye-opening experience about what it’s like to live in extreme poverty. Participants receive sponsorship to take the […]
Read more On Mothers’ Day
May 13, 2012 3 Comments
I know a number of people whose parents have died. One of the best people I have in my life, her mother died several years back. I’ve spent a lot of time with this lovely friend of mine, talking a bit about this event, how it has changed her life, what it means. This experience […]
Read more “Getting to Yes”, Roger Fisher and William Ury: Principled Bargaining
May 12, 2012 0 Comments
I decided to read Roger Fisher’s and William Ury’s Getting to Yes because 2011 presented me with two of the weightiest negotiations of my life. Of course, negotiation is nothing new to me nor to anyone. Whether asking for lower prices at a Fringe show, talking one’s way out of a tricky situation, or discussing […]
Read more
