bentenlaughing

We hope you are keeping safe in these crazy times. Here's some uplifting music for your ears.  A homage to the artists of Paris...to  Victor Hugo's Quasimodo & Esmeralda. Love the one you're with! Stay in the now!  https://soundcloud.com/vocalatti/rive-gauche-by-janice-slater-and-kirk-kadish?ref=clipboard Kirk Kadish, all instruments except guitar. Guitar Parris Spivey. Janice Slater soundscape and backing vocals. Vocals Vocalatti. Cowritten by Kadish/Scott/Slater/Spivey. Apra/Ascap 2020

Janice: Dannielle, I believe you have a love of mid century modern design. When and where did that passion begin and why does it inspire you?  I think the love for MCM aka Mid Century Modern began in my childhood. That is the furniture and style of the times. I think it was reinforced by the programs I would watch on television and film as well; Thunderbirds, Get Smart, The Man From Uncle, James Bond, The Italian Job, etc. Also my play time from toddler years up was all about drawing, and building with Lego, and I recall rearranging walls, designing multi story homes in great detail. I still love watching those old films, and never get tired of that era. Having said that, I have a real appreciation for many styles of architecture and art. Georgian homes, for instance, are very livable for today. You can find inspiration from every era of architecture. Janice:  As a designer you must be always looking forwards. What would you would like to explore in the ne...

  Mountain Poem we question the morning where to begin and morning’s crazy face questions us with a light grin through cracked wooden shutters, a sceptical pattern on the wall we tease with shadows shall we answer first shall we introduce ourselves to the clouds the early clouds that graze at our door and sulk for lost moonlit pasture? John Ellison Davies https://twitter.com/johndavies45?lang=en https://quadrant.org.au/writer/john-ellison-davies/ https://books.apple.com/au/author/john-ellison-davies/id649130384 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/author/1946-johnellisondavies

Biog: The year Jo turned fifty, she sold her house to finance her lifelong dream of exploring the sacred sites of Egypt, the Mayan jungles in Mexico and the Native American reservations in Arizona where she was invited to participate in ancient traditional ceremonies. After reading an article Jo wrote about her adventures, a travel agency in Queensland offered her the job of escorting groups from Australia to explore the world’s most sacred sites – a brand new career destined to last another seventeen years. Janice: Jo, we've known each other for many moons now. From that first random meeting I experienced your  nature as all accepting and embracing. Were there particular role models who embodied these qualities? Jo:  My first role models would have been my parents. Back in the 1940s when I was a child, they ran what we call these days, a ‘soup kitchen’ at the South Melbourne Presbyterian mission. Not only did they supply food, Mum made lots of clothes for the home...

Now that we are through the worst of the situation, for the moment, on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, we are safe. And the good news is that solid rain is forecast for the entire south eastern region of Australia in the coming days, which promises to finally put this crisis to and end, a crisis that began in September and has continued to ravage our lands, our lives and our lungs. So our attention now can safely turn to recovery and rebuilding our communities.  We are passionate gardeners and have planted a food forest of over 300 plant species at our home. This includes greens for daily eating, as well as tomatoes and pumpkins, but also fruit and nut trees and herbs such as All Spice, Cinnamon and Lemon Myrtle. What we are presently looking for is soil donations so we can collect plant cuttings to give to our friends who have thankfully saved their houses, but faced with the blackness every day of looking at scorched lands.  Many people in ...

  Janice:  Margaret, you recently were in Vietnam working with students of theatre.  Can you share some of your experience with us? Margaret: This was my second visit as Guest Lecturer at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema working on plays by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov with third year acting students.  In 2018 we worked on The Seagull and in 2019 Three Sisters.  These intensive classes form part of a semester on Western Theatre in which the students also explore texts by Moliere and Shakespeare. The Chekhov texts are difficult for acting students around the world because the style of naturalism requires detailed study of the text for clues about what motivates the characters. The Vietnamese style of acting is much more presentational - big on physicality and powerful gestures - with less emphasis on the tiny moment by moment shifts and inter-personal relationships that playing Chekhov requires. Als...

You might notice The way that spaces Surround each moment's gift. How hurrying people adorn A world That sighs with murmured wind. Clocks will tick Unheard behind The pressure of today. One day silent they sit As cicadas cut the air. How this now Can't ever be grasped No matter how you try. You are void and open mind Dancing throughout so called time. Biog: I was born in Cootamundra in country NSW in 1955 but spent my formative years living by the ocean in Sydney's northern beaches, many hours spent walking on deserted windswept sand ,soaking in the vast beauty of sea and sky .  I tried my hand at poetry in my teens and twenties , particularly inspired by Gary Snyder , but I lacked confidence to do much with it. Now that I'm in my mature years I don't care very much what others think but I'm delighted if someone enjoys my ramblings, rough and unpolished as they are. I feel that poetr...