Thank you; drive through.
Last year I bought a house in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
When I catch up with people and tell them where I now live they say “Oh, so you’ve made a treechange.” I never used to say much, but lately, having been to a handful of community events and sampled my local shopping areas I flatly say “No it’s not a treechange.”
See, I have come to understand that ‘seachange’ and ‘treechange’ have within them the notion of deconstruction. The simplification of a hectic, out-of-control urban experience and the longing for the simple life. Frankly, my motivation is a lot less Jacques Derrida than that. I was, and am, motivated by the beauty of the landscape and in particular the beauty of my home.
At first I thought that I was all citified and I had to learn to slow down, but then I remembered that I am the same person I was when I lived in Darwin for 15 years. It really doesn’t get much slower and laid back than the top end of Australia.
I have come to the realisation that I am blunt and impatient in either hot or cold climates.
The final example of who I am and what I need, came last week when I attended a community forum organised by the local progress association where candidates for the upcoming state election spoke to we concerned voters residents.
We gathered, sat down and listened. Each candidate was given 15 minutes to talk, with extra time allocated for questions afterwards if needed. The independent candidate- Robert Stock, got bogged down in the minutiae of micro policies and seemed to lose himself, let alone his audience. Robert Stock was followed by the Liberal candidate Michael Paag who was big on macro, expensive rhetoric, but completely fell down when asked specific questions relating to his sweeping statements, such as “Which sectors of the state public service will the 20,000 ‘back-room bureaucrat’ jobs be cut from?”
Michael Paag was followed by the ALP candidate Phil Koperberg. Thankfully, and cheekily he said words to the effect
Having heard the Liberal candidate speak I am so impressed by what he and his government will do on March 25, 2007, that I am going to change my vote to Liberal, but I am a realist and l live in a real world…
By the time Phil Koperberg was done and the Greens candidate Pippa MacInnes stood up, I was barely able to pay attention.
To be fair, the throng and thrust that is my natural style as I push for clarity and logic in the answers to questions clearly irritated most of the polite members of my ‘new’ neighbourhood. I was reminded of a ‘girlchild saying’ where she would whisper in my ear “You can stop helping me now Mama.”
I am thankfully, SO not suited to joining my very sweet, polite, civil, but misguided local community. I am so pleased that this venture into community development is out of the way and I can now get back to the real world of broadband and blogging.
So, out of self preservation- theirs and mine, I will happily limit forays into my community to weddings and funerals.
L-R Robert Stock (IND), Michael Paag (LIB), Phil Koperberg (ALP), Pippa MacInnes (GRN). Many thanks to Matt for generously sharing this image.
February 28th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
So, did you put Phil right on Iemma’s seriously wrong plan to build a
distilleryerr…money piterr… desalination plant? No one wants to drink seawater- I mean, whales fuck in it.February 28th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Are you kidding? Discussions stalled on the Woodford dam…
March 1st, 2007 at 5:27 am
Now look, Suki… I’ve seen the Woodford dam- and there’s no whales in it! No recycled poo-werage, either- although there IS a faint tinge of possum wee and skink scats. Just call it ‘local Aussie flavour!’
Everybody can just run up to Woodford with a long drinking straw and sip to their contentment. Problem solved!
It is a fairly long hoof from the CBD to Woodford, but hey, exercise is a good thing (cos you’ll only get a train on schedule out to the Blue Mountains about once a week).
One thing that disturbs me deeply about Iemma’s plan for a desal plant at Kurnell… that suburb also happens to be the location of the main Sydney sewerage outfall into the Pacific.
What’s the difference between drinking water distilled from recycled sewerage and drinking water distilled from seawater mixed with recycled sewerage?
March 1st, 2007 at 7:09 am
There’s the third change:
Sea change
Tree change
and
Me change.
Where you simplify your life down to the things you enjoy. My partner and I have done that one..
March 1st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I’m been thinking about this post particularly about these paragraphs…
To be fair, the throng and thrust that is my natural style as I push for clarity and logic in the answers to questions clearly irritated most of the polite members of my ‘new’ neighbourhood. I was reminded of a ‘girlchild saying’ where she would whisper in my ear “You can stop helping me now Mama.”
I am thankfully, SO not suited to joining my very sweet, polite, civil, but misguided local community. I am so pleased that this venture into community development is out of the way and I can now get back to the real world of broadband and blogging.
So, out of self preservation- theirs and mine, I will happily limit forays into my community to weddings and funerals.
My reading of this is (Warning: large amounts of transference of my own experiences into your words ):
You did your Suki magic – in asking questions and being political
It didn’t produce the effect you desired (either some activity outside, or some feeling inside)
You felt you had stuffed up in some way, and were hard on yourself and flogged yourself with an old shame. (“You can stop helping now…” imagery”
You imposed self-exile on yourself, and are isolating yourself from the rest of the community (So, out of self preservation- theirs and mine, I will happily limit forays into my community to weddings and funerals.)
—
My guess is that in your politicising, the following would have occured:
Some members of the audience would be bored
Some members of the audience would be threatened
but
A young wife will see another woman stand up at a group and express her opinion, and will realise that women aren’t as weak as she’s always been told
Another person will learn that authority can be asked deep searing questions
A third would see that there is actually some logic in politics, and understand the issue for another point of view.
By far the most important thing that sticks in my mind is what you said about Marcus. If I may prevert the original words…
In voicing my questions, I remind everyone in that room that women (and people) have power.
—
Sorry, I’m just rambling to avoid doing work.
March 1st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Smart rambling, nonetheless.
Suki faced something at the meet-n-greet she’s faced all her life- the reaction of paternalists and other sorts of conformists to a woman who just ‘doesn’t know her place.’ Some narrow minds just don’t like women asking the sharp questions.
Hooray for uppity women. They absolutely do empower other women. The creation of more assertive women, if by Sukian osmosis, can be a bit uncomfortable to those who like being on top of the patriarchal heap- and their associated hangers-on.
March 1st, 2007 at 9:46 pm
I agree with everything Dave C said. After reading your post, Suki, I was a little disappointed that you felt like you had to retreat. I have been reading your posts and I’m inspired by your probing and searing questions on politics, feminism, social justice etc. I can’t imagine you being defeated by a bunch of conformists. (However, it’s understandable, I will add)
As Dave pointed out, had I been at this meeting, I would have been the “young wife”, although I’ve never been told that women are weak – but I do feel the paternalism and judgmentalism when I’ve attended meetings of this kind. Whilst I’m not easily cowed into submission, there are times when I would love to connect with another strong woman who refuses to sit down and shut up. It can be a very isolating experience, as no doubt you found (and that’s where it’s easy to give up), but you don’t know the positive effect you can have. It only needs one person to start something.
As weez said, hooray for uppity women indeed!
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:48 am
Going from Colours comment, I would have been the third:
A third would see that there is actually some logic in politics, and understand the issue for another point of view.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:13 am
Dave C, as always very insightful.
Thing is, there’s a reason why online writers don’t often leave the house and use the less conventional ‘blog’ as opposed to meeting at Jim and Marg’s house on the last Thursday of every month.
I believe by and large we online writers are somewhat socially inept, socially clumsy or plain anti-social.
By some quirk, we go against human type and do not enjoy the company of others just for the sake of company.
We are the peripheral people- we know it and others know it.
BUT, every now and again I am seduced into a physical-body-necessary meeting place where there is an assumption of common ground and a gathering of like-minded people.
Alas, I do not sharpen my social skills enough to have the required amount of social capital to be anything other than odd. At that point my broadband speed is wistfully and lovingly remembered and before I can stop them, my feet are back underneath my desk, I am communicating in a way that suits me and all is well with the world.
My father tells me I am like I am because when I was little he used to tell me to “just ignore them” when people would yell at my family “go home you fucking krauts.”
He is sweet to give me a reason, but I believe some people are just not cut out to commit to the hard work that maintaining social groups can be.
And I am one such person.
March 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Suki, having read your comment, I really understand now. I, myself, am somewhere in the middle – both an introvert and an extrovert, both a social butterfly and a recluse (for want of a better word). For me, it boils down to the mood I am, how energetic or tired I feel, and whether I have any idea of what may greet me ahead.
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:27 pm
You make it sound as if it’s an issue with you rather than with the rest of the world.
—-
I always liked this as an explanation for who I am:
Highly Sensitive Person
Sensitivity as a trait to be celebrated.
I really loved the “Making work work for HSP” and “HSP handbook”. They really spoke to me, and made a great deal of sense.
Maybe you might find something in there too?
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Dave C, you’ve neglected to examine the possibility that instead of Suki being highly sensitive, a large chunk of the population may just be assholes.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I’m not saying that people are assholes weezil.
What I’m saying is that I have so little motivation to engage in the energy sapping ritual that joining a social/sporting/dinner/political group can be, that “No thank you” is my most common response.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Fair point… but if they weren’t assholes, you’d have more energy for it.
March 3rd, 2007 at 4:37 am
weez:
a large chunk of the population may just be assholes.
Given that we’ve kept on voting for Howard and Bush, that is always my starting point. 🙂
—-
But being a sensitive person (ie a person who can follow a complex argument, appreciate nature/art, believe in something bigger than the every day) in a non-sensitive world (ie people who just follow their upper most thoughts, watch sport and drink excessively) is exhausting. Dealing with other people’s emotions and ideas which they haven’t sorted through and just want to dump on you, is a pain in the arse.
For example, Marcel. I haven’t read his stuff, but I’m guessing he probably hasn’t sifted through all his psychological and intellectual baggage about God. So instead of doing what a sensitive person would (and working it all out) he dumps it on Suki. No amount of arguing and pointing out will help him understand that he needs to sort himself out – therefore it becomes a drain on Suki.
On the web, this can be controlled. But in live interactions, it all happens in real time, and you can’t block the idiots out by knowing their IP address.
Hence, live interactions are exhausting.
—
Anyway, that’s my experience.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:54 am
“Fair point… but if they weren’t assholes, you’d have more energy for it. ”
Maybe, or maybe not. Only Suki would know.
BTW who is this Marcel Dave C is referring to?
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Colours,
Marcel White and his comments, go a long way back with SHAO. He has been banned twice since 2004.
His most recent efforts (and need for banning) can be seen here…
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm
sure you can… just choose your company carefully. 😉
Marcel has several problems. The first is belief in omnipotent, omniscient imaginary friends (OOIFs). That wouldn’t be as big a problem if he didn’t also have the notion that everyone else is obligated to not only believe in but obey his OOIFs just as he does.
If an ordinary person hears voices from people who are not there, they’re checked for schizophrenia. If a person who professes that they are Christian claims to hear their OOIF talking to them, they get nominated for sainthood.
March 4th, 2007 at 4:54 am
weez.
sure you can… just choose your company carefully.
Alas, sometimes it is not that easy. There are some times when you cannot choose your company – for example, work places, organised groups, body corporates.
Also, according to the HSP theory, there is added sting of:
10-15% of the population are sensitive (artistic, spiritual introverts)
90-85% of the population aren’t.
Because of the superiority of numbers, society (work, play, social constructs) is set up to cater for the non-HSP people. These are the thicker skinned, those that aren’t jarred by stupidity, rampant materialism and empty conversations. (Which is why newspapers only have two pages of opinion, but 30 pages of sport)
The world is not set up for HSP. And as such can be a constantly jarring (and lonely) experience in which the HSP can never find their place, or understand themselves.
March 11th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
suki i wouldn’t want you to be any other way and quite frankly i find people bloody exhausting too and prefer to isolate with my cats and boy for company.
i don’t do polite, how are you’s, or remember to ask about family operations and the amount of power playing that goes on in any group due to a lack of self-examination by members is more than reason enough for me to stay home and read a good book!!! =^..^= i love all your work!!!
March 11th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I love you too cat =^..^= !
Friends
make sure friends
…don’t have empty letterboxes