 I am interviewed by Zvi
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Jun. 19th, 2009 @ 06:30 pm 
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If you want me to interview you--post a comment that simply says, "Interview me." I'll respond with questions for you to take back to your own journal and answer as a post. Of course, they'll be different for each person since this is an interview and not a general survey. At the bottom of your post, after answering the Interviewer's questions, you ask if anyone wants to be interviewed. So it becomes your turn-- in the comments, you ask them any questions you have for them to take back to their journals and answer. And so it becomes the circle.
1) Tell me about the best place you ever lived.
This is really rather hard to answer, so I'll tell some aspects of places I've lived that I loved.
- My uncle's house in Kloof, in Durban. I only stayed there for a few days, but it was beautiful - in the hills above the city, high enough that it was cool, and the humidity of the area was just a heavy moisture that meant the plants were richly verdant in a way I'd never seen before. The terrain was somewhat rugged, so here and there in the area around the house there'd be sudden deep gullies, and cliffs green with moss that dropped away sheer to vibrant treetops, all so very very green. The trees were the homes of innumerable vervet monkeys - troublemakers, but delightful to a foreigner such as I.
- A house I shared a while with friends and their daughter, then three years old. The house itself had little to recommend it, but being around friends and an adorable little girl who loved me was great - I love children, and I absolutely adored living with one.
- Here, now, where I am loved and accepted and understood, where things are okay, no problem is insurmountable, and I have a real family.
2) Explain something about race relations in Australia I probably don't know.
With the possible exception of Ernie Dingo, indigenous Australians are more amazingly invisible in the media than native Americans. We have a brand of cheese called "Coon" and somehow nobody minds. Possibly the biggest one that people from outside Australia might not get, though, is the issue of Sorry and the Stolen Generation.
Back in the day, the Australian Government had a policy of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families; it was official from 1909 to 1969, but took place outside those bounds as well. This was managed by the "Aborigines Protection Board", and had an explicit purpose of removing children who weren't full-blooded Aborigines to institutions (and, later, fostering with white families) so they could be brought up 'white' and overcome their Aboriginal origins.
Astonishingly, many people involved in this genuinely meant well; they expected that in doing this they would be giving the children a "better life".
The children taken from their families have become known as the Stolen Generations, although certain reactionary elements in Australian society (and the now-defunct Howard government) refuse to use this term. In 1997 the Bringing Them Home Report investigated the matter in depth.
Many records were lost or destroyed, and a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not, in fact, know where they come from, or who their relatives were; siblings were deliberately separated and many parents never saw their children again.
I can't find the original video clip - it seems to have been extensively repurposed, which is a little troubling, even in cases like this, where it's backing images of Canadian First Nations children, but Archie Roach wrote a rather powerful and moving song about the experience.
Where this became the Sorry issue was that, after the Report and so on (including the song), it became a major issue about racial reconciliation in Australia to recognise the deep, profound, and grievous wrongness in this, and to recognise the ongoing harm that it caused. Because the Stolen Generation isn't history, not really - not when there are people only a few years older than I am who are members of the Stolen Generation, and not when so many people have been permanently alienated from their families and their personal histories.
So a widespread movement formed. Liberal-type white people signed Sorry books, and joined marches, and all kinds of things like that, acknowledging that harm was done by Australia, and that, as Australians, we are in a sense complicit in that; acknowledging that the harm is ongoing.
A lot of us weren't even born then. It's not the point. It's about recognising and acknowledging that these people were hurt, and we are sorry that they were hurt, even if we didn't do it - it's not personal guilt, it's national guilt, and we're part of the nation.
But that wasn't the only thing, you see. Because many people of the Stolen Generation, and many people who were the kind of people who'd sign Sorry books, wanted the government to apologise, too. Specifically wanted the Prime Minister, as the head of the government, to issue a formal apology on behalf of the Australian Government for the harm caused by Australian Government policy.
The Prime Minister was, then, John Howard, and John Howard flatly refused. He hadn't done it personally, so he wasn't going to apologise for it. The argument that this wasn't about personal guilt didn't sway him. He and his supporters didn't see the point anyway - it wouldn't change anything, after all... but that wasn't the point either. The point was that too much past harm had been denied, ignored, not admitted. Howard and his allies said that this was just a setup for compensation claims... which it wasn't, either.
The apology came in 2008, at the very first Parliament of the Rudd Government. And yes, it was a really big deal - elders invited to Parliament, crowds forming to be witness to the event, as the new Prime Minister tabled the motion:
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.
Even rereading that, I get a bit teary-eyed, because this was a major issue for much of my politically-aware life, and even though it was, yes, really just words, it was words that matter.
Of course, Howard's successor as Liberal leader, Brendon Nelson, immediately attempted to piss all over the moment of hope and joy and unity that had briefly touched the nation, but everyone reacted with due disgust and clung to the sense that healing actually could begin. Has it done so? Hard to say. The bitter divide that this issue represented, the wilful denial that harm was caused, is at least behind us. How to fix the problems left behind is an awful lot tougher, alas.
3) If you could take back one internationally famous Australian media canon that makes non-Australians act stupid, which one would it be and why?
A few years ago I would have said Crocodile Dundee. A couple of years ago I would have said The Crocodile Hunter. I think I'll return to Crocodile Dundee, and not just out of respect for the dead; at least Steve Irwin was reasonably sincere in his extreme ockertude, whereas Crocodile Dundee is just horrible in so very, very many ways. Including bits like getting asked if we still put shrimp on the barbie when I was in America, and... dude, they're prawns, okay? And nobody actually says "cobber" unless they're being sarcastic.
4) So, this journaling thing. How'd that get started?
Back in about 2001 or so, I started a blogspot blog, because it was an easier way to collate and post about various links and things than the manually-coded-HTML weblog I'd previously had on my then-website. Then I got a LiveJournal invite - a lot of people I knew at the time all joined LJ as fast as we could send codes around, actually - and meant, at first, to use it just for fannish stuff, but then the fact that I could update it from a desktop client and the convenience of the friendslist and the way my social circles were, then, communicating extensively through LJ, meant that it sort of took over, and I more-or-less abandoned my blog.
Oddly enough, starting at Dreamwidth coincided with some real-life acquaintances trolling my LJ enough that I developed a mild aversion to it, which combined with increasing dislike of How LJ Is Changing that I haven't been following LJ at all, lately, and everything has been posted to DW.
I like communicating with people, I like talking about things I think are interesting, and my journal is a mixture of that, and a place to write down things that I'm thinking about so I get them out of my head without boring my friends. Also, you meet such interesting people online.
5) Tell me about the fanfiction story of your heart. If it exists, review it. If no one's written it, tell me what it would be.
Well, Veterans of the Psychic War may or may not count, since it's RPS AU, but in a lot of ways, that's it. It's not perfect, but I love the story, and I love the way the relationship between the characters develops; it's the kind of story I want to read, but I feel weird about reviewing it, since I co-wrote it, and all.
The fanfic of my heart, right now, would be relationship fic, but not sexual. It would be an epic, intense love story of two (or three) people who aren't physically attracted to each other, because I don't think sex is intrinsic to even the most fiercely intense love. It would be a story of a struggle against bad odds, of dire dangers weathered by will and brilliance, where the plot is at no point motivated by stupidity on anyone's part, good guys or bad. (And it would have some ethical dilemmas in there, too.) It would also be funny, witty, with many other characters who are all real people in their own right. (Even characters with cameos in Veterans have fully-developed backstories in our minds, and I love that too.) There would be other friendships, there would be arguments that don't descend to vitriol. It would have positive representations of people, diverse and wonderful, there would be a reason why everyone does what they do.
It would quite possibly be Star Trek-based, the epic love of Kirk and Spock and Bones, and all the other characters would be important too, not just foils for their Epic Platonic Love. And everyone would be brilliant in their own field - you don't have to make Uhura into an action hero to make her badass, you just have to make her be Uhura. Sulu was born to be a swashbuckling hero, even if he hides it. Scotty's true love is the Enterprise and she loves him back, and there is a power in that. Chekov is young and innocent but has a strength he's not yet begun to tap, and he'll be a great captain himself one day.
And it would have a happy ending.
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![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/3735513/338) |
| From: | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) zvi |
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| Date: |
June 19th, 2009 02:02 pm (UTC) |
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Closing the loop
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Interview me!
![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/3974986/75896) |
| From: | sami |
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| Date: |
June 20th, 2009 07:40 am (UTC) |
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Re: Closing the loop
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1) Identity and history are narratives. What's the key story someone has to know about you to be able to understand you?
2) What was your first fandom, and what are your major memories of it?
3) Tell me about a happy memory.
4) If you were without any constraints preventing you, what major life change would you make, if any?
5) What kind of music do you enjoy the most?
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| From: | sami |
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July 5th, 2009 03:10 pm (UTC) |
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1) Describe the place you think of as home.
2) What story would you tell people if you were trying to tell them who you were?
3) What's your earliest clear memory?
4) Most people have something that in theory they want to do, and they probably could if they got around to trying to, but they don't. What's yours?
5) Is there something that you're really, really into, that you don't talk about because you don't think anyone else will find it interesting?
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| From: | elaran |
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June 22nd, 2009 04:52 am (UTC) |
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meeeeeeeeeee
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| From: | sami |
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July 5th, 2009 03:12 pm (UTC) |
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1) What's the first thing you think of when you think of Australia, when you're in India?
2) What's the first thing you think of when you think of India, when you're in Australia?
3) What would you say are your best qualities?
4) What's the thing that you want to do, that you're putting off because you don't have time/opportunity at the moment?
5) Can I take pictures of you some time? I have a new and awesome camera, and you're beautiful.
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| From: | elaran |
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July 30th, 2009 01:19 pm (UTC) |
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I have been meaning to answer this for a while. Sorry for the late response.
1. Uni in summer with the greenery and the peacocks and the tantalising glimpses of the river. Or my house in summer, sitting on my bed listening to music and reading with sunlight coming in through the window. [Or this last trip at the start of this year, David.]
2. My grandmother's house - it's rather large with concrete floors painted a dark green with a red border. There are raised doorways that are locked and unlocked with large keys. There are ceiling fans in most rooms and there's a front room that opens out to the street. There's a head high wall and a black hip-high gate and in front of that, on the stoop, my grandmother used to draw kolam.
3. I'm drawing a blank here. My loyalty? My bossiness leadership skills? My trustworthiness? My [currently lacking] intelligence? My independence? I guess.
4. Med. Moving out. Relearning piano. Being up to date on what's happening in the world. The last two have to do with lack of motivation not time or opportunity though.
5. I am flattered you think so. <3. I am however, pretty self-conscious about photos. =/ Like, a lot. I think there are maybe 3 photos of me after the age of 6 that I like. So I am inclined to say no. Sorry. :(
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