Fringe fun in the streets

The following is one of my most recent journalism articles published on our UNISA student online publication: On The Record 

Fringe fun in the streets

ADELAIDE FRINGE, ARTS & CULTURE — BY UNISA STUDENT ON MARCH 17, 2014 1:30 PM 

By KATHERINE COX

This year, the Fringe Festival was host to many street theatre performances held in Rundle Mall and Gluttony.

A variety of performers from Australia and overseas were given the chance to entertain Adelaide’s crowds.

Long-running Fringe Festival performer Dado from The Doorway Cabaret “just knew” he was going to perform from a young age.

“When I was nine years old, I knew I wanted to be a performer,” he said.

“My love for performing started when I walked past a magic store and my dad bought [me] my first magic trick.”

Dado’s act included magic tricks, balloon art, some quirky dancing as well as swallowing a balloon.

It has taken him a long time to learn and perfect his craft. He did his first balloon gig when he was 14 and said he is still learning about balloon art.

Another performance during the festival was Pancho Libre featuring seasoned entertainer and acrobat Francisco Sandoval.

Sandoval is the producer and sole performer of the show and started doing circus 13 years ago when he first performed in the streets of Mexico before going to a circus school.

He went to circus school in China and Cuba and also taught in a circus school in Canada.

Sandoval encourages audience participation as much as possible.

A part of his act involves encouraging an audience member to cling to him “like a koala”, while he swings his hoop around in circles as he holds onto the inside edges.

Sandoval says it is important to make people realise that his act is a live show; it is not like theatre or watching a movie.

“We are very insensible these days because we have too much stimulation so the people, they start to lose their sensibility.

“So I think the street shows; they help to bring sensibility to people and to be conscious that we are humans and that we see each other through the eyes, and… we are not machines.”

Sandoval says his inspiration for performing is just to do what makes him happy and in life people should “try to work for happiness and try to find the things that are really valuable, not the material things.”

Film review- Saving Mr. Banks

                               Image source: http://collider.com/emma-thompson-tom-hanks-saving-mr-banks-interview/

During my holidays I have watched a few films at the cinema. The most recent being "Saving Mr. Banks".

This film shows the story behind the adaptation of Mary Poppins based on the first four well loved books in the series to the  later well loved 1964 film. The author of Mary Poppins Mrs P.L Travers resisted Walt Disney's offers for the film rights as early as 1938, until finally in 1961 she reluctantly decided to supervise his fantastical ideas to see if her treasured stories might work as a film. Travers demanded and received script approval rights.She was originally very hesitant as she didn't want her books to be turned into one of Disney's animated cartoons.

Image Source: http://www.factmonster.com/spot/disney-mary-poppins.html

The film of Mary Poppins was based loosely on the novels that Travers wrote of a desperate family in need of a nanny. Set in London, 1910 the first novel begins when the latest nanny of the Banks family Katie Nanna leaves the household after the family's two children Jane and Michael run off for the fourth time in a week. They are found in a local park by a police constable and brought home. Later on, their father, Mr. Banks writes an advertisement for a strict, no nonsense nanny. An alternative advertisement is written by the children for a fun, kind hearted nanny which is later torn up by their father and thrown into the fireplace... the paper pieces fly up the chimney and out into the London sky. Mary Poppins floats down from the sky with her umbrella and trusty carpet bag the next day after a strong gust of  wind blows away the other nanny candidates. Mary Poppins not only helps to look after and teach the children many valuable lessons in life, such as tidying their bedrooms and caring for each other and the people in the world around them she also helps the family come back together, particularly restoring Mr. Banks' relationship with his children.

This was something Mrs Travers was very passionate about and this is portrayed in Saving Mr. Banks, as she exasperatedly asks Walt and his employees  "You think Mary Poppins has come to save the children? Oh dear." Disney, played by Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks is desperate to please Mrs. Travers and do justice to her story, and eventually realises that there is a deeper reason for her strong attachment to the story. Mrs. Travers, played by Emma Thompson says, "Mary Poppins and the Banks' , they're family to me." Disney comes to find that Mr. Banks is not just a made up character and neither is Mary Poppins, the characters are based on her life and the relationship she had between her father and also her nanny. Mrs. Travers wants to save her father. Flashbacks are shown throughout this film to show Mrs. Travers admiration for her alcoholic father when she was a child despite his flaws and shows his loving heart.

This film spoke to me about the attachment a daughter can have to her father and how much daughters need a strong father, or at least a father figure who is willing to be a positive role model in their lives. Mrs. Travers felt a need to impress and make her father proud when she was a young girl but also long after he has died when she grew up. She doesn't want to let him down again, like she felt she did when she was younger so she tosses and turns at night over the changes made to her story, hoping she is doing the right thing by turning it into a film. Eventually she decides that it is the right thing to do as she is bringing joy not just to a few children but many across the world and she forgives herself for feeling responsible for what happened to her father during her difficult childhood.

As a huge fan of Mary Poppins when I was growing up I really enjoyed watching Saving Mr. Banks, as it gave me more of an insight about the authors views of the story and her opinions about the film adaptation. Admittedly I have watched the film far more often than I have read the books but as an aspiring
writer I could relate to Mrs. Travers struggling to hand over the film rights to Disney as stories are usually based on parts of an author's life. The characters created, whether they are based on family members or not do tend to become like family members to an author if they have worked on them for so many years. They just seem to come to life. This film was engaging and tugs at the emotions strongly towards the end. I give this film an eight out of ten. :)

Nestle, stop draining global water supplies!

The Global Water Grab

Nestle has virtually taken over the water supplies in parts of South Africa, Ethiopia, and Pakistan, leaving residents of those countries to sicken and die from what remains.  Nestle has been deaf to pleas from affected villagers for access to clean water.

If you would like to sign a petition against this, here is a link from Facebook. 

Perhaps that is because of theircorporate belief that water is a commodity, not a basic human right.

Natural Society’s Anthony Gucciardi wrote:

“Is water a free and basic human right, or should all the water on the planet belong to major corporations and be treated as a product? Should the poor who cannot afford to pay these said corporations suffer from starvation due to their lack of financial wealth? According to the former CEO and now Chairman of the largest food product manufacturer in the world, corporations should own every drop of water on the planet — and you’re not getting any unless you pay up.”

Gucciardi is referring to a video from 2005 that recently surfaced and went viral. In the video, Nestle’s loathsome head exec, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe had these outrageous comments about the right to water.

“Water is of course the most important raw material we have today in the world.  It’s a question of whether we should privatise the normal water supply for the population.  And there are two different opinions on the matter.

The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs [NGOs = Non-Government Organizations], who bang on about declaring water being a public right. That means as a human being you should have a right to water.  That’s an extreme solution.

And the other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value.

Personally, I believe it’s better to give food stuff a value so we are all aware that it has its price and then that one should take specific measures for the part of the population that has no access to this water and there are many different possibilities there.” (source)

How benevolent of Nestle to make sure that we, the peons, realize that water has value. How rational that he believes all human beings having a right to water is “an extreme solution.”  Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, a Bilderberg group attendee, clearly has classic psychological issues.  ”Antisocial personality disorder is a mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others.”

All over the world, Nestle has been draining the water from financially beleaguered regions.

The technique Nestlé uses is this: Find an economically weak region, buy up the land surrounding the water source and grease the political wheels by making a proposal the residents can’t possibly refuse. How can depressed regions resist new jobs and added local revenue? But, the revenue generated by these regions natural resource by and large goes to a corporation headquartered in Lake Geneva, Switzerland. And if the financial incentives aren’t enough to assuage concerned citizens, Nestlé’s more than happy to battle it out in court. (source)

Just so that’s clear, they find places that are already struggling with poverty.  Then, they make the poverty worse by damaging watersheds and wetlands, siphoning off hundreds of millions of gallons annually, and leaving the fields barren and dry.  This isn’t something that is just happening in Third World countries.  They’ve done it in our own backyards.  Here are just a few examples of communities pillaged by Nestle:

• Denver, Colorado
• Sacramento, California
• Fryeburg, Maine
• Mecosta, Michigan

The small Canadian town of Hillsburgh, Ontario is Nestle’s most recent target.  Nestle has permission to take 1.1 million liters of water per day from Hillsburgh’s aquifers, even during droughts.  Initially, the province had set limits on the company’s ability to withdraw that amount during drought conditions, but after “negotiations” the Ministry of the Environment capitulated to Nestle’s demands that their water pumping not be restricted.  Meanwhile, residents of the town are held to usage restrictions, as their grass turns brown and their gardens die.

The Council of Canadians, along with several regional conservation groups, has appealed the ministry’s decision to an environmental tribunal.

“We find it very troubling that the Ontario government has settled with Nestle,” Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow said in a statement. “Ontario must prioritize communities’ right to water above a private company’s thirst for profit. Our government must think about water availability for our grand children, great grand children and beyond.”

“Under its current permit, Nestlé pays $3.71 for every million litres of water it pumps from the local watershed, which it then packages in single-use plastic bottles and sells back to the public for as much as $2 million,” the Council says.

But a Nestle spokesman told The Huffington Post Canada that the drought restrictions were only put in place due to an “administrative misunderstanding,” and mandatory rules were never the intent. (source)

Let me repeat the most important sentence in that quote.

Nestlé pays $3.71 for every million litres of water it pumps from the local watershed, which it then packages in single-use plastic bottles and sells back to the public for as much as $2 million.

$3.71 turns into $2,000,000.

A mark-up of 53,908,255%.  I checked it HERE just to make sure.

Nestle gets a free ride while water regulations abound for the rest of us.

While Nestle has free rein to tap into water supplies across the country, the rest of us are losing access to water at an exponential rate.  New laws are springing up that could tax people for the usage of well water and that disallow the collection of rainwater.   That’s right –  Nestle can take 1.1 million liters per month – but you can’t have a rain barrel in your backyard for your garden.

A  classic Agenda 21 strategy, this pretence at sustainability practices remove resources from the hands of the average person, and place the control in the hands of the elite, via large corporations who pay little to nothing in taxes.

Section II of Agenda 21, CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT, lays out the guidelines in warm and fuzzy language.  This section includes protection of the atmosphere, land, mountains, ocean and fresh waters. So basically everything in the environment of a given country.  This means that historical ways of using these resources could be outlawed, changing the basic ways of life for the indigenous people to make way for “progress” and “sustainability”.  This gives control of all natural resources to the good folks of the Division of Sustainable Development.

By specifically outlining the management of all natural resources, it disallows the use of them for any but the 1% in power, effectively keeping people from farming, fishing, mining or otherwise harvesting the innate supplies provided by their environments.

- See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/nestles-wet-dream-they-mark-up-water-53-million-percent-06052013#sthash.2TP51kpj.dpuf

Self Absorbed

I, I, I. That's all my sentences seem to begin with these days. In this day and age it's not really all that surprising. The media and culture of this world tells us it's all about you, and that the world revolves around what you are doing, where you are going, what you are eating when, where and with whom.

This has become a very hard habit for me to break. To stop thinking about me, me, me, and instead think about others. To put others needs first. This is what Jesus taught. He taught that we should treat others as we  treat ourselves, but to also think of other's needs as better than our own.

I have...stop it Katherine! Let me start again. My mission today was to try to treat others in this manner, but I found it very hard to be enthusiast, I could blame it on Monday-itis, but that's not really the cause. I don't know, maybe it is that I have been doing the same tasks at my job for too long, maybe I am sick of saying the same thing, seeing the same faces and just need a change. When I serve customers I wonder if they really see who I am, or just see the servant. I guess that doesn't really matter, as to be one of Christ's followers is to humble yourself like he did and to serve others with joy. Sometimes I find it a very difficult task though, especially if they are not always happy.

What I am trying to explain is that to care about others is to want to share part of your spirit, your soul with them, and in doing so it is sometimes nice to see that they want to reciprocate. It is painful though when others do not seem to see your efforts or do not have the time to care. But I guess it works both ways; sometimes I do not have the time to care for some of my customer's spiritual needs and can't talk long enough to express that I do indeed care about what happens to them after they get home and unpack their groceries. I care if they don't come in to shop for a couple of weeks because they have had to have an operation or they physically couldn't make it in for one reason or another. I also care about the regulars who come in every week or just about everyday, sometimes I wonder if this is a way to stave off loneliness. I know that I have been known to go shopping purely just to get out of the house for a while.

It's not like I haven't thought about their needs before, and I often try to put myself into other people's shoes, so to speak. But during my work shifts I can still hear a voice nagging at me, saying, "Hurry up, serve the next customer, don't worry about this one, they are fine." Sometimes I need the nagging voice, as I can be quite a slow grocery packer but at other times it is quite beneficial to show patience towards the customers. Nobody likes to be pushed out of the way, brushed away like a biscuit crumb.

This may all be obvious to you but sometimes I need a reminder to be genuine and actually show genuine love for people. I wonder how my actions actually stand up to God's standards... I know that I'm a sinner, (we all are) so I can never live up to his standards perfectly, but if He had a check list for how to behave I wonder how I and everyone else would measure up!

I have just found a helpful link that suggests three ways to avoid being so self-absorbed in our lives. Hopefully it inspires and encourages. Anyway, I have finished my little rant for this evening, enjoy and take care. :)

http://societychurch.com/3-ways-to-avoid-self-centered-living/

Christmas is coming!

Wow! Time sure has flown by. I have been meaning to write a new blog post for ages but again, my images did not want to upload for some reason so I have avoided it until now.

At work I have been slightly bored lately, as there haven't been as many customers coming in as I was expecting. It's probably due to the 30 degree days we have been having lately. Australian summers, tsk, tsk. Although we have had a cool change lately so that has been nice.

Anyway a new game I have come up with to entertain myself while waiting for customers is to think of some Christmas phrases using alliteration and personification.

Here are some examples I came up with this week...


Twisted tinsel twinkles around the trembling, tragically overloaded Christmas tree.


Bright blue boisterous baubles bobbed beneath bountiful, beautiful blooming baby blue blossoms.


Melba's marvellous melons meandered meekly on Monday. << This sentence isn't very Christmas-y but oh well!


I also decided to think of some describing words so I could try and make a poem about Christmas baubles. I was staring at a gold bauble in our store and came up with the following list to describe it:

*bright
*big
*bursting
*brilliant
*shiny
*round
*reflective, like a mirrorball
*looks like a yellow watermelon



I'm sure many of you could come up with better descriptions, but these were just a few ideas I have been tossing around lately.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'm looking forward to a swim in the Murray River and a break from study. I hope you all have a wonderful break too. :)

Couch Surfing, a serious issue

The following article comes from the Adelaide Now website and was also featured in this Tuesday's Advertiser. (09/10/2012)

The article is about Couch surfing, a form of Homelessness. Yesterday in Rundle Mall and Federation Square there was an event to help raise awareness of this issue. The event was called Couch Day.

There is also a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/CouchDay.

How would you feel to have to ask, every night, if you could sleep on someone's sofa?

• Paul Edginton
• adelaidenow
• October 08, 201210:00PM

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For many young Australians, couch surfing isn't a choice, it's a necessity, and it's a precarious position to find yourself in, without a place to call 'home'. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

SEVERAL thousand young South Australians do not have a bed to call their own, says Paul Edginton.

HAVING a warm bed to sleep in each night and a safe and happy home is something many of us take for granted.

Now imagine being 16, or even younger, and not knowing where you'll be sleeping from one night to the next.

This is the reality and the daily challenge for tens of thousands of young Australians around the country, including many in South Australia.

These young Australians are often hidden from public view, under the shroud of what's known as "couch surfing".

For some, couch surfing is a cheap form of accommodation when they're travelling or crashing on a friend's couch after that big night out.

But for many South Australians sleeping on a couch isn't a choice, it's a necessity and it's dangerous.

Many of us only think of the homeless as people sleeping rough on the streets or in hostels.

For young people in South Australia, that number is almost 3000.

Even more concerning is the fact that nine out of 10 of these young people are "couch surfing".

Add to that the fact that many of these youngsters are young women, often with children, and their plight becomes even more alarming.

Tomorrow is World Homeless Day, a day we hope draws attention and awareness to the devastating issue which affects so many people.

It's also Couch Day, a day when we at SYC (the Service to Youth Council) will highlight the issue of couch surfing as a prevalent and often hidden form of youth homelessness and social exclusion.

We've developed the Couch Day concept to raise awareness of this issue; giving a voice to the thousands of young Australians each year out there couch surfing.

"Couch Day" is about helping young people and the community to identify and destigmatise the reality of being homeless by encouraging a conversation and recognition of this serious issue.

So tomorrow, Rundle Mall, Victoria Square and Melbourne's Federation Square will be taken over by a sea of couches, many bearing poignant messages about the issue.

We're encouraging the public to grab a free coffee, sit on the couches and listen to young people's stories on MP3 players - and generally learn more about what couch surfing really means and where to go for help if it's needed.

We're encouraging people to share their own experiences of couch surfing - either as a young person who's couch surfed or as someone who's offered their home to a young person with nowhere else to go.

The Gillard Government has declared that it will be addressing homelessness as a national priority. The Federal Government is committed to halving the rate of homelessness and providing accommodation to all rough sleepers who seek it by 2020.

But reducing homelessness is everyone's responsibility.

Homelessness for young people is different than for adults. Young people need more direct and sustained assistance - they need their community to support and protect them.

We hope conversations on Couch Day will act as a trigger to change perceptions in the general community about homelessness and also help in the early identification of vulnerable young people.

We believe the community can, in many different ways, play an instrumental role in helping young people get on their feet, by putting their hand out to help and also by supporting organisations like SYC.

Couch surfing is also not just about homelessness and having a roof over your head, it can have an impact on every aspect of a young person's life.

Moving from couch to couch, asking yourself every day where will you be sleeping that night, which very well may not be the same place as the past night, is as exhausting as it is challenging.

What would it do for your confidence to have to ask people, every night, if you could sleep on their sofa?

Would you feel like a valued community member?

With that in the background, you can only begin to imagine how hard it is for a young person to concentrate on staying at school or even contemplating getting a job, without that place to call "home".

So, as you go to sleep tonight safe in your home, spare a thought for 34,000 young Australians, including the thousands here in SA, who won't be enjoying the same luxury.

Paul Edginton is chief executive officer of the Service to Youth Council, a non-government, not-for-profit community service organisation established in 1958 to support disadvantaged young people.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/how-would-you-feel-to-have-to-ask-every-night-if-you-could-sleep-on-someones-sofa/story-e6freai3-1226490905447

Poetry Procrastination

Believe it or not I actually have been trying to write poetry all afternoon, I just haven't got to it yet. It is now 7.50pm. :S Oh dear. For the later part of this afternoon I have been trying to work out how to adjust my layout on this blog and really, really wanted to add  the following image either behind or next to my title (Katz's Space). I could place it underneath my title but then there is too much empty space on the right hand side of my page.

Isn't it pretty?!   : )

I found this pic on Facebook the other day and couldn't resist saving it. There are a few other pics I have saved from Facebook recently too.  Such as...

This one! 

I love fairies. I love drawing them, painting them, collecting pics, photos and figurines of them. I also really like butterflies. If I was ever to write a children's picture book, I would really like to write a story about fairies, just so I could illustrate it as well. I used to read Shirley Barber's books when I was younger so she has been a big inspiration for me as I was growing up.

I also really like watching Doctor Who, both the new and old series. I really liked the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker due to his eccentric ways and his humongous, outrageously long scarf!  But in the new series my particular favourite has been David Tennant, who just happens to be the Tenth Doctor! 

And finally... what would have to be the cutest of them all...

I just had to share this one with my bestie. I think she appreciated it. However, it is unfortunate that they spelt "roar" wrong. I understand that this was probably done on purpose, but the grammar Nazi in me just wants to cross it out and rewrite it correctly in black texta!






Lol so yes, blogger is a great way for me to procrastinate unfortunately. But it also does help me to start writing, so this hasn't been a complete waste of time I guess! I just wish Blogger was easier to work out with regards to layout and formatting!