Chasing Asylum.

These grandmothers care enough to take it to the streets ... good old fashioned public protests are where it's at. Even more so now than before, because "raising awareness" and pressing the like button on Facebook doesn't really count for much.

They'd set themselves up outside Springwood Growers Markets on Sunday, I stopped and said good ON you all for doing this and literally taking a stand. We talked for ages, they handed me pamphlets to hand out myself and asked me to please join their Facebook page which I did while still standing there in front of them. You can find it here ... it's full of info and truth. The women weren't surprised that I hadn't seen the film Chasing Asylum as it's only on in a few selected cinemas by people brave enough to show it. The Current Affair "expose" was a manufactured veneer of the truth about the living conditions in Nauru and Manus Detention Centres ... the general public don't see the real story. Children are living in dirty tents and mouldy makeshift shacks. No toys. Utter misery, some have spent their entire lives there. Guards are issued certain kind of knife made to cut down the bodies of people who've hung themselves. The powers that be in charge of running Australia are breaking the International Bill of Human Rights.

I wish I could go there .. but one has to fork out a cool $7k to apply for a visa and if the application is unsuccessful there is no refund. And unsurprisingly there's no guarantee of walking around the place freely.

Chasing Asylum is the film the Australian Government does not want you to see .. has anybody seen it yet? The website and info on ticket sales is HERE. It's showing up here in the mountains at Mt Vic Flicks from the 15th - 17th July, and all around the country at selected cinemas.

The protesting grandmothers urged me to see it, urged me to urge other people to see it.

"We are grandmothers; we demand the immediate release of all asylum seeker refugee children and their families from detention."

Brava to them for taking action, petitioning local and federal government, and making their voices heard. People power is stronger and more effective than we realise.

"Chasing Asylum is a film made by Academy Award winner Eva Orner. It exposes the real impact of Australia’s offshore detention policies through the personal accounts of people seeking asylum and whistleblowers who tried to work within the system."

Wild at Heart

                                                         Image: Jeff Davies


Hello so today I prayed by dancing in my kitchen with the headphones on boiling the jug on repeat for cheap coffee sachets that I just don't think I can give up right now. I've given up so much ... worst thing about losing your mind? Losing your mind. Best thing about losing your mind? Losing your mind. So I put my mind in the second drawer of the kitchen because we all know that's where household deitrus ends up and I rocked out to Florence. No bra, sweaty rivulets, pray-dancing. A person once commented here they have never danced to loud music by themselves in their living room and I was just sad, you need to do that shit. Letting go is sometimes the only way to hold on CONUNDRUM.

Siri am I the evil one? Am I the Dark Queen as opposed to the Light Princess? The answer is .. both. THE ANSWER IS BOTH oh sweet baby jesus what a relief. Such an eye-opener in Maleficent, the backstory of why she became the way she was. She had her goddamn wings hacked off. I've been complaining and blaming my whole life about having my wings cut off but standing on the precipice lately I looked back enough to see that I was the one holding the goddamn hacksaw, you want a revelation?

Slide down the snake again while simultaneously reaching for the next ladder, I'm my own worst enemy and my enemy needs an enema, flush the crap away.

Hey just for today I am so blessed I could burst into a million pieces right here in the kitchen and all that would come out of me is white lightning in the purest form. When she is down she is very very down but when she is good, shit gets AWESOME. I've only just realised there's no end to the deepest traumas in our lives. I kept waiting for mine to blend in with all the other colours but they'll always be there, present and accounted for SIR and all that's left to do is on certain days is putting your brain in the second drawer of the kitchen and dance. It's all just a dance and just thank you for it all, Universe. All of it, every single piece that makes me me. To get to the end of our lives and realise we've never lived at all is a tragedy I hit a fork in the road and went straight.

Got a fortune cookie last week when I was dining solo at Canton Chinese just down the road and it said "You are about to meet somebody very special." I did, it was me, have never been this incarnation before it feels extraordinary and powerful.

I feel everything no filter and guess what, it means feeling good too. I'm applying for a job as a factory worker - I'll be a factory worker. And when people ask me what I do I'll say I'm a factory worker. BE the factory worker you wish to see in the world. 

Best be off, have a shower and get ready for a Friday night with my Taylor homegirl cousins watching horror films and eating chocolate brownies. 

Here's Florence, the one I was dancing to in the kitchen. Her parents would worry that she was so different and strange perhaps she was mentally ill? Hell no. Freedom often gets confused with crazy. She's just wild and untameable and you should blast this song loud too because people like her are living proof that wings grow back.


 

Street Talk: William The Worldchanger.

Do you like talking to strangers? It's pretty cool, the conversations you can have with people when you're open enough to listen. William told me he could change my entire world in two minutes.

The other day I was at Katoomba library at closing time and I hadn't finished yet. Twice I was asked to leave, by very friendly staff members. I picked up all trailing messy accoutrement that follow me everywhere I go (objects so annoying) .. and went outside to loiter in the hallway next to the public toilets. The cleaner asked me to leave, so I went outside in the freezing and sat down on concrete. Shout-out to concrete for being more cold and hard as we get older.

So I'm there finishing something on my laptop as if my life depended on it because probably at the time it probably really did feel like my life depended on it. Can't even remember now. Obviously my life didn't depend on it after all. Odd saying, "life depends on it."

I was there riding solo and suddenly this guy appeared out of nowhere, huffing and puffing so loud. Muttering, willing himself up the hill. It's a bitch of a hill, that one. He was kind of chanting, talking to himself in the third person. (Or second person? I get confused.)

"Come on William you can do this one more step just one more step."

I watched him. I watch people a lot. He grabbed the railing right next to me, poised. We were the only people there and he looks over to me and and asked me who I am.

"Eden. Well, Eden is just my name. It's not who I am."

Things are more than their labels. William said my name a few times, like I used to say it to myself as a kid, laying in bed trying to go to sleep. You ever say your name to yourself so many times you end up spinning out?

"Well Eden. I know things. I know so many things I could tell you and can change your whole world in two minutes."

BEAUTY. So I get all ready for my world to change in two minutes wouldn't you? He cleared his throat. People walked by, stepping out of his way because William was the kind of stranger you give a wide berth to. It's better not to talk to people like William - odd people, could be on drugs, could be just crazy or drunk or violent. Something to definitely be wary of. Couldn't tell if he was homeless. He was in a rush to catch a train somewhere.

"My name is William Grey. But you probably won't remember that."

"Yeah I'll remember that." I piqued his interest because I was listening. Seemed like he hadn't been listened to in a while.

"I've got all the answers to the worlds problems."

It was pretty cool to finally meet someone who had all the answers to the worlds problems. Old people and young children often have a lot of the answers too.

He stalled for a while and didn't say anything. I waited expectantly for my whole goddamn world to change.

"Um. Ugh. I have to go. I have to go now."

I said ok. We kind of looked at each other with so much to say but he had a train to catch with his bare hands and I had to finish writing something that my life depended on. He looked as wistful as I felt. He would have been in his twenties. Nice clothes. Dreadlocks. Backpack on his shoulder. Strange aura.

"Eden, it probably should have been really nice to meet you."

It probably should have been really nice to meet you.

That sentence was so beautiful that later on I text it to myself. We said goodbye to each other and I was so struck by this guy walking through the world. I snapped a photo of him walking up the street,  if you zoom in you can make him out up there near the Carrington, between those two white poles.

It's possible that William can change somebodies whole life in two minutes. Not my life, on that day. Somebody else's. All the answers to the worlds problems can most likely be covered in two minutes because life is probably much more simple than we realise.

::

(I started Street Talk in January 2013 with the intention of doing one a week. Then all these Things Happened and life went careening off its axis like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark when all of those freaky spirits come out of the Ark and melted all the people's faces like molten lava, etc. William is number 42 .. we'll get there. Better late than never.)

Previous Street Talks:

1. Noelene the Young
2. Megan the Mouse
3. Harpal the Australian
4. Darren the Artist
5. Jo the Interesting
6. John the Telstra Guy
7. Michael the Photographer
8. Peg the Lady
9. Jeff the Preacher Man
10. Andres the Cobbler
11. Honey the Prostitute
12. Mark the Masseur
13. You the Blog Reader
14. Jo the Podiatrist
15. Casey the Uni Student
16. Dream the Horse and Carriage Driver
17. Tamas the Hungarian Accordionist
18. The Dignified Trolley Ladies
19. Alex With The Studded Hot Pink Belt
20. Leaf The Fallen
21. Bel Of The Library
22. Jay And His Big Issue
23. Emma The Adult Shop Cashier
24. Teena, Saver Of Dogs
25. The Luna Park Face
26. Gary The Missing
27. Kristen at the Elephant Bean Cafe
28. Uncle Paul
29. Jess The Mama
30. The Two People At The Checkout
31. Alfie The Pourer
32. Breaking The Rules With Captain Starlight!
33. The Woman In Line At The Bakery A Few Weekends Ago
34. Dog The Dog
35. Julia Gillard The Person
36. Nancy The Badass
37. Bruce From The Psych Ward
38. Jeremy The Costumeless
39. The Women in the Morgue
40. The Lady Whose Name I Didn't Quite Catch.
41. Eden

Before you tell somebody on social media to go kill themselves ... don't.

Seriously just don't.