Leviathan ... and other pages

Just finished reading John Birmingham's Leviathan; which is a biography of the city of Sydney. It was great to learn more about the history of Sydney; and it doesn't just focus on the positive character of the city. Well worth a read. I'm now starting to read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the bit of which I read is beautifully phrased; before diving into: Battlelines (Tony Abbott); Stardust (Neil Gaiman); and Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell).

It will be interesting to read Tony Abbott's book; I haven't agreed with him on a number of key policies (eg Immigration and refugees), but it will be interesting to read how he thinks about these issues. A few of my friends have always raved about Neil Gaiman, so I will be good to read another of his; and David Mitchell was another recommendation. It is so great living close to a great library.

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And on another note ...  I'm not one to read much into these things, but in a friendly last weekend, New Zealand beat Serbia 1-0 in a game of Football. It is only the second time that the All Whites have beaten European opposition.

The Curse ...

Here's a cool clip for the new Josh Ritter song, "The Curse", which is a love story between the archeologist and his mummy... (Also on NPR you can hear two songs from the new Arcade Fire album).

Graduation speeches ..

I'm not sure if I've linked to these before, but here's two 'great graduation speeches', from Bono and JK  Rowling. (Along with the "anti-U2" stuff in the comments, which I don't get, there's a few other speeches to read as well).

weekend reading ...

While reading the Spectrum last weekend during I noticed an interesting article on evil by Terry Eagleton. Here's a couple of links to look over; I think, the fascination of evil was reprinted in the SMH.

:: The Fascination of Evil
:: Of men and monsters

Last week I also went to a lecture at UNSW on refugees - (here's the audio). It was quite sad to realise that just after I starting working at UNSW (in 2001), I sat in the same room listening to Ruddock outline the government's policy on border protection. During the lecture last week, I heard the Director of the Centre for Refugee Research, Eileen Pittaway, tell a different story from her experience in refugee camps. It was quite disheartening to realise how little has changed, and perhaps the obligation we have to do more to protect those who have displaced; and move away from the dialogue based in fear, and the language of queue jumpers, and 'illegal immigrants'. Perhaps the only resolution is the unachievable 'peace', but that doesn't mean we shouldn't advocate for change now.

Less than three weeks...

So, tonight in Melbourne New Zealand played Australia in their last game at home before the World Cup. Such a shame that it wasn't on free-to-air, but ABC Radio was broadcasting the game. I was encouraged
in spite of the result. (a 2-1 loss - with the winner scored from the last kick of the game), and if you read this report it looked like the All Whites played a great first half. Not sure it is as dire as that for Australia (but would be interesting to read Craig Foster's thoughts).  NZ has two more games before the World Cup against Serbia and Slovenia; while Australia will play Denmark and the US, but I can't wait for it to start on the morning of June 12.

Happiness conference...

Earlier this year there was a conference on Happiness ... who knew that there was a conference on happiness. There was a piece in Thursdays paper about Hugh Mackay's presentation ... where he reminded the delegates that "through sadness, disappointment, grief, failure, and doubt that people learnt and grew". The idea that we need to fail to learn how to cope (and to my mind find success), resonated along with the comment that if he had to wish anybody something it might be "Be whole' since wholeness strikes me as a far healthier, more realistic goal than happiness."

The Truce

Over the last week I've read If this is a Man // The Truce and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi; a survivor of Auschwitz. Hasn't been the most pleseant reading ... The Drowned and the Saved talks of memory and how the will and spirit of prisoners was broken; I found how he writes of himself as a witness rather than a judge intriguing. If this is a Man / The Truce was more autobiographical, as he wrote more about his time in the camp; and his journey home from the camp. Its intriguing to read how he answers the questions about how he feels towards the Germans; and whether or not they knew.

He also writes of what he witnessed and seeks to understand what enabled him to survive. The books are a reminder of the nature of evil - and as Levi says - that we can not understand it, as to understand is to contain; and "almost to justify", and to keep reminding our conscience, that this could happen again.