Edition 2

On my mind this week:

I went bushwalking by the river in the rain today with my baby in her carrier. She just loves to walk around, her little face turned forwards, hands and feet twirling to wave as dogs and people wander past. My secret joy is seeing people’s faces light­­ up as they spy her little face peering out at them from under her beanie with the yellow pompom jauntily perched on top. She usually clocks eyes on a new face and gives them a disarming toothy grin. She is 9 months of wonderful. Afterwards over an almond latte I read an article in the café’s newsletter about how it is very possible koalas will become extinct in the not too distant future. I mean WHAT??? Life in 2021 is hard. If you’d like to help support on the ground heroes, finding and caring for Australian wildlife and be reminded that there are a lot of good people around visit The Rescue Collective.

Later on I wandered back along the river path and found a plaque with a local artist called Clara Southern who was described as a local red headed beauty, tall and lithe and nicknamed ‘Panther’. She painted landscapes of her bush home in the early 1900s and was the first woman to be a member of the Australian Art Association. I can imagine her with this bunch of dudes, bright red hair, taking her space and her seat, using her voice, asking everyone to call her Panther, rolling cigarettes covered in paint splatters. She held one woman art exhibitions in Collins Street in Melbourne and by all accounts was a seriously top broad who lived in her art studio with her husband, a cottage beside the river with no electricity. Even after she married she still went professionally by her maiden name which at the time was radical. There’s something about the idea of this red headed creative woman in her bush cottage, covered in paint and living unconventionally that makes me want to march around in overalls with an air of mystery. Why was she called Panther? There is no universe where anyone would give me a nickname associated with a ferocious big cat. Did she walk with a fluid gait, sauntering along tall and majestic saying things like ‘for what it’s worth Picasso was a total Wisenheimer (which I recently discovered is an insult from the early 1900s meaning ‘someone who thinks he or she is smarter than everyone else’.) For more glorious slang check out this article from Bustle. Wouldn’t we all want to be pals with her? It got me thinking about all the women in history that we don’t know about. The women who were strident and funny and smart and lived out loud and who often our history books completely miss. Let’s find the Clare Southern’s of the world and tell our children about them.

Something to listen to:

This chat with historian Clare Wright and former Australian PM Julia Gillard is a wonderful reminder of the forgotten women through history. Did you know Australia was the first nation to allow women the right to vote and stand for office in parliament? The suffragettes here were kick ass and brave. Often the rights we take for granted (and often seem mundane) were so hard fought.

Speaking of parliament our Australian parliament has come under (yet again) well deserved fire over the past few weeks for it’s treatment of women. Former PM Malcolm Turnball called the culture reminiscent of the 1970s corporate world. This makes me think of the TV show Mad Men - cue unbridled rage.

I don’t know if you share this same experience but I feel like I’m waking up from the delusion of equality that I thought previously was fact. The rise of equality and inclusion for women in the work force, autonomy over our bodies, education and financial independence is just so very recent. So much has changed in just the last 50 years which as a teen felt like an age ago but now at 35 I realise is a tiny blip in our history.

I want to write today about one incredibly brave woman Brittany Higgins who stood up last week on our national stage and spoke out about her rape in the Australian parliament house after hours. The courage and strength it must have taken, knowing that she may not receive justice for what happened to her but doing it anyway so that the women who come after her may find the path easier is staggering. Australian journalist Lisa Wilkinson conducted a brilliant interview and allowed Brittany to tell her story with empathy and clarity letting her articulate her emotions, tell her story while also displaying the backward and discriminatory nature of our political system. This is not surprising but also utterly shocking – opposing dichotomies. Our corridors of power seem so far from being open and easy places for women to be and yet the best way way we can tackle climate change, better health care and improved education for all is to have parliaments that reflect our societies. No wonder we are still under policies that feel backward and nonsensical.

It takes lived experience to really understand the needs of different communities and as Melinda Gates put so well in her conversation with Brene Brown on her podcast unlocking us, it has been proven that having women at the highest levels of decision making absolutely improves outcomes for all. This is true not just in the highest offices in the land but across every area of our lives, business, education, the media, tech, healthcare. You only have to look at the top Covid 19 responses across the globe to see that many of the greatest initiatives have been led by female leaders Angela Merkel from Germany, Jacinda Arden from New Zealand and Tsai Ing-wen from Thailand.

Among the first and the fastest responses was from Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan. Back in January, at the first sign of a new illness, she introduced 124 measures to block the spread without having to resort to the lockdowns that have become common elsewhere. She is now sending 10 million face masks to the U.S. and Europe. Tsai managed what CNN has called “among the world’s best” responses, keeping the epidemic under control, still reporting only six deaths.

Excerpt taken from this article in Forbes.

And as always my recommendations podcast Suggestible with the perpetually cynical James Clement (who also happens to be my husband man) is released every Thursday.

Something to watch:

Have you watched this gorgeous cover of an old classic by Corinne Bayley Rae and Jon Batiste? The duet is spellbindingly good. Corinne’s voice. The microphone. The just perfect way she reaches each note with precision, love and gentle joy. I was transfixed until the last piano note fell away. Afterwards, Jon and Corinne linger, holding the audience inside their spell for a few extra, delicious seconds. Watch immediately, possibly with a whisky or at the very least a hot cup of jo. I’ve only recently discovered Jon Batiste as an artist and pianist and I must have been living under a rock. You might recognise Jon from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where Batiste is the band leader. He is also the leading role in Pixar’s latest offering Soul on Disney Plus.

I stumbled on this interview with Batiste where he is asked to describe his musical philosophy and it floored me. As someone who just loves to sing everywhere (I really do wish that the episode of Scrubs where their whole lives is a musical was a real thing) Jon’s description hit a chord. Pause for the perfection of my pun. Okay onwards. In a way I have a grief in my life, a longing for social music. I grew up in church singing my heart out and later as a teacher found music wind it’s way into my classroom. More recently though I feel a real loss for making music with others as social fabric. I don’t drink much anymore so rarely go out dancing and am not skilled enough on my guitar or piano to feel confident creating sing alongs at home or with friends. I really have an ache for social music. Music that surrounds everyday life in a way that is transcendent, funny, silly, toe tapping, rich in culture and heritage.

Excerpt from this article by Jacob Uitti.

Interviewer: May I ask what your philosophy is?

JB: At the time and still today, I call it ‘social music.’ It’s the idea of creating love, joy and community wherever you are through musical exchanges and that the blueprint of these kinds of exchanges are found in the centuries of history in humankind before music was commodified. Primarily, within the last couple hundred years, even just the last one-hundred-and-fifty years, to be exact, music morphed into a form of commodified entertainment. But for many thousands of years before that, music was a part of everyday life as ritual music, sacred music and all things in between. I think that the 2.0 version of all of that music is ‘social music.’ How does that get reflected in a contemporary environment? That is kind of my whole belief in a nutshell.

I also love his single and video clip I Need You. We must start spontaneous swing dancing immediately.

Something to eat:

Jimjam Beans. I fell in love with these jars of beans. They have a whole lot of amazing flavours but the one called Kiss is my favourite. We usually make them wrapped up with some chicken tenderloins or chicken breast, baby spinach, grated cheese and grated carrot, jalapeños (because everything is better with jalapeños). Instant meal. Tip for wraps with kids. Use the small wraps rather than the big ones. I like the small mission ones. And for the love of God don’t over fill them. The joy in wraps is having two small ones rather than one over stuffed, dripping mess. Further to this, if packing for lunches put the lettuce down first and use this as a cover for the wet ingredients (and use cherry tomatoes) NOBODY wants a soggy wrap.

My favourite chicken spice rub: One teaspoon of sweet paprika, dried oregano, garlic powder, cumin and a pinch of salt. Add a splash of olive oil, rub on chicken. BBQ or pan fry. You are welcome.

And that’s a ‘wrap’ (see what I did there?) for Tonts this week. If you are feeling blue or overwhelmed listen to Jon Batiste, eat some chicken and beans and take some deep breaths. This may just be the hardest part of our lives we are living through right now so the only way through I reckon is RADICAL kindness to your good self and exercise. Also drink water, go to bed early and take some Vitamin D.

Oodles of love to you pal.

‘Til next week.

Tonts x