gathering ground

So I went to gathering ground at the block last night, on the coldest day in November for 100 years.. and despite technical difficulties and a wind chill I can safely say just about everyone there was feeling warm inside by the end. It was awesome! It's only on for another two nights but if you happen to read this and live in Sydney GO! Great talent Allan and Aleatha take you on a tour of the block imparting their knowledge and history of this incredibly important site. Included is a smoking ceremony & ceremonial dance, a beautiful projected slide show of some of the people and memories from years ago. A great setup outside of Mundine's Gym with boxers, breakdancers, acrobatics and a band! Then a protest walk leading to the basketball courts where wire mc and his proteges drop rhymes, beats, and some krumping to boot! We then got a fashion show, and it was so nice to see these beautiful girls building confidence (as strange as the idea of deportment is). And finally a number by the redfern community choir and some great videos made by the residents. So fun! And so much talent concentrated in such a small area. I've had conversations with the organisers today, and I feel that this is the most positive event i've seen in my five years of living in Sydney. Credit has to be given to all the people who have been doing things over the past year including the Squat-space guys for the Tour of Beauty, the walking tour of the Block protest that was organised a couple of months ago, and the monthly reggae and hip hop afternoons for slowly helping educate people and contribute to a growing sense of community and understanding in wider Redfern. I think this is a culmination of all those efforts. Last night left me with a great sense of hope, and I'm sure the momentum will only grow of the next couple of nights. I've flickr'd a few photos if you want to check it out. Friday & Saturday 7.30pm - meet outside Redfern Station.

a glove appears!

OK so I've accepted the fact that it probably is all my imagination, but by now I don't really care, as I've become comfortable to what it's evolved into - what it means.. which i will detail when i have more time. This was a gardening glove i found in the middle of the street (the same street as the boots). I placed it in the window sills of one of the workshop spaces on the street and put more flowers in it. Looks good I reckon..

titan arum

I went to see the very rare blooming of the titan arum last night at the botanical gardens - they opened late especially. The Titan Arum is the worlds largest and smelliest flower, and is endangered and only found in the jungles of Sumutra. It is referred to as the carcass flower because it smells of rotting flesh - this is to attract insects to it who the spread the pollen. Apparantly the flower grows 10 centimetres a day. The guys at the botanical gardens are so excited because they have managed (after 12 years!) to get two plants flowering at the same time which will allow for cross-fertilisation and make them leaders in the world for rare plant flowerings. How ace. I had a long chat to one of the horticulturalists who explained the life cycle - see the tree looking thing behind it? that's it's first manifestation, then this dies back into a bulb and then the flowers shoots up and then it dies back to the bulb and then the tree shoots up again and so on. Amazing. Afterward i started thinking about what life must be like for it. The idea of being still yet in constant metamorphasis.. every tiny change must be so pronounced and overwhelming. It kind of turns the way we live life on it's head. When i woke up this morning i realised that i must have changed a little bit overnight too meaning everything is new again becuase i am a little bit different. you can see the flower for one more day in the tropical atrium, and i think the other flower blooms in two weeks for three days.