Review: JALI BOY

JALI BOY           
By Ricky Macourt OUP 2011
ISBN: 9780195572520 62pp $19.95

He was a warrior at heart, that Jali boy. But unlike the stories of his ancestors, his story was one of struggling to find out who he was, in a world he wasn’t sure of yet.

The chapter headings of this YA novel - Regrets, Struggle, Sent Away, Darkness – are what struck me immediately for a story about a fourteen year old boy. But the headings appropriately reflect the pain and emotion of a young Aboriginal fella trying to be the man he knows deep down he can be, but is yet to prove.

Jali Williams is a loyal, strong spirited kid, who loves his family, and wants to be there for his younger brother Kain. But like many teenagers, Jali is misunderstood by his teachers and his peers and while he thinks about staying out of trouble he knows it’s not ‘hard for an Aboriginal boy to find himself in a whole world of trouble. That was how the world saw them, Aboriginal boys making trouble. That was how the world worked.’

While managing her leukaemia, Jali’s mother Marlikka is raising her sons alone. But Jali blames himself for his father leaving, and while feeling a sense of abandonment and sadness, is forced to role-model for his young brother the appropriate respect for country, especially along the riverbank near the Brownhill Aboriginal Mission where they live.

At school, with low literacy and numeracy skills and not fitting in with either the white kids of the Indigenous kids – Jali gets into a lot of fights and a lot of trouble. At times, he succumbs to the peer pressure of the mission boys and he ends up making bad choices.

Then, with no choices left at all – for mother or son – Jali is sent to boarding school in the city in the hope of a brighter, more positive life path.

Feeling out of place, still struggling with numeracy and literacy, and a few too many visits to the principals office, Jali misses home terribly, often losing himself in thoughts of his mother and brother and the pipis and fish he used to enjoy back home. But boarding school provides a more supporting schooling environment where teachers takes time to explain the consequences of his negative actions so that he could learn to be the better man he aims for. Jali also finds a sense of brotherhood with a new mate Jack who shares similar interests including rugby league player Johnathan Thurston.

Jali’s journey at St Stephen’s is also one about reconciliation, true friendship, and the difference a supportive educational arrangement can make to a young person. Jali proves that it’s possible to make change in yourself when offered positive affirmations as opposed to punishment and scolding.

Through Jali’s time at boarding school and his reflections back to the mission, we learn about the ongoing cultural traditions passed on to young people today in some areas, the need to respect and listen to Elders, and the joy in shared storytelling.

I am a firm believer that fiction that embraces our own life experiences can capture a passion, a soul, a depth that other created stories can’t. The themes of the work include: separation from family, struggle and sacrifice, and achievement through hard work – the same experiences that the author Ricky Macourt had as young fella. Ricky himself went to boarding school and admits it was ‘really tough leaving my home and family… and feeling like I didn’t belong.’ He says that all the emotions and experienced uncovered in Jali’s story he has experienced himself.

You can buy Jali Boy as a single work through Booktopia for $12.95 or buy the guided reading pack complete for $69.96 as part of the Yarning Strong series from Oxford University Press.

Review: JUST THE SKIN YOU’RE LIVIN’ IN

 

Gayle Kennedy and Ross Carnsew

OUP 2011 $12.95 $12.95 ISBN 9780195572544.

Tahnee is from the Wongaiibon people and lives with her extended family in western NSW, where there’s a multicultural school population. She likes doing what other kids do: swimming in the river, going to the footy, riding bikes, camping and so on.

But her seemingly normal teenage life takes a twist when she heads off to boarding school and finds herself as the only Koori girl in her school year. This is a similar experience for many young Aboriginal people seeking a good education -

Confronted with racial stereotyping from some of her new friends, who think she’s ‘too fair’, only pretending to be Aboriginal for financial benefit, or that she must’ve been ‘adopted into an Aboriginal family’, Tahnee is distraught when she heads home for school holidays. As if homesickness wasn't enough for her to manage.

While home with her family though, she finds comfort and strength in the words of her Nan, who reminds her that: Kooris come in all different colours. Ya brother’s dark as night but he’s still ya brother. Her Nan instils the message that skin does not define identity saying …your skin is just the thing you’re livin’ in. It’s the wrapping that you came in'.

An important message for children and adults, black and white alike!

The key themes of this story are: knowing who you are, refusing to be defined by others, racism and the importance of family.

Written by the David Unaipon Award-wining author of  Me, Antman & Fleebag,  Gayle Kennedy is a member of the Wangaiibon clan of the Nyaampa-speaking nation of South-West NSW. Gayle is a freelance writer based in Sydney but has previously worked at Streetwize Comics (1995-1998).

Ross Carnsew,  long time cartoonist with Streetwize Comics (whom I was fortunate enough to work with from 1992-94), uses his signature illustrations to bring to life the family and school gatherings and surrounds where Tahnee’s story unfolds.

This novel is part of the Yarning Strong education series and is targeted and 10-13 year olds. It can be purchased as a standalone title or as a teaching resource with a behind the scenes DVD, professional support CD-Rom and a professional support manual.

---

Review: Flytrap

Flytrap

Meme McDonald and Boori Monty Pryor

Allen & Unwin 2002 62pp $14.95

I was the kid in primary school who always shot their hand up in the air to answer the question – whether I knew it or not, I’d always give it a go. I don’t know that I ever outright lied about anything, although I did say once that my father could yodel. I thought he could, after all he was Austrian and he made a funny sound that wasn’t a whistle or a song. Turns out that that it wasn’t a yodel, just an attempted yodel. And he refused to demonstrate the weird sound during education week when my teacher asked him to go up and perform.

In Flytrap young Nancy tells a little lie-cum-wish about having her own Venus Flytrap plant, and when she's asked to take it into school, the real stories start to evolve. Seeking her mother's assistance reminded me of myself, and of my own mother who would help me out of sticky situation like as a child. Although Nancy's mum finds it difficult to pull herself away from the computer, she does help to devises some serious silly stories to explain the loss of a non-existent plant – because obviously, Nancy can’t present the plant to her teacher Ms Susan and the class, and she needs to save face.

Nancy’s step-dad Gee (otherwise know as Garth) adds a twist to the story as he brings home some strange critters at times like echidnas, which leads to Nancy – and the reader – learning how the echidna (binggaldamba) got his quills and how to make necklaces from them. There’s also a reminder that sheep are an introduced species to Australia while binggaldamba have been roaming the land for thousands of years.

Interestingly, the key message here isn’t about telling the truth, which is of course alluded to, but the main theme is sharing.

Although this book is for kids 6-11 years of age, I have to say, I really enjoyed it too because Nancy of the ‘tall tales’ is one very engaging storyteller!

Review: Njunjul the sun

NJUNJUL The Sun

Meme McDonald &  Boori Monty Pryor

Allen & Unwin  168pp $16.95

It is true this book first came out in 2002, and that I am only reading it NOW! It is also true that it is the third title in a trilogy about a nameless boy. But I like to do things different to most people, and it was well worth the wait and the change of strategy in starting with the final title. I can safely say though that this book is a gift to Australian teenagers, especially young men. It is a story about the coming of age of one young Aboriginal fella who leaves behind his immediate family in Happy Valley (which he thinks should be called Un-Happy Valley given everyone is always sad) and heads to Sydney. Once there, his aunt and uncle, an attractive uni student upstairs and some interesting men on the basketball court, will help him unravel the teenage demons many young Aboriginal blokes deal with today.

In following his journey readers will share teenage angst, self-esteem / self-worth issues, and self-reflection. But this is not a sad or depressing journey, rather it’s a story told with the trademark humour Boori Pryor is known for in his performances. There are some hilarious vignettes throughout, including the story of how the emu apparently got its name, and how the narrator watches his uncle stretching on the side of the basketball court and thinks to himself, ‘I never stretched in my life. Only thing I ever stretched was the truth when I got in trouble.’

This young lad doesn’t get in too much trouble though, because while he’s analysing his own life and those around him, he is also thinking about important things like football and checking out the chicky-babes, including Rhonda, his neighbour!

Life in Sydney is a world away from tropical Queensland. In the city, his Aunty Em teaches at a multicultural school and is nicknamed Rush Hour because she rushes everywhere, and his Uncle Garth drives a powder-blue Merc. It’s while living with them that he finds a sense of personal happiness, a sense of place, and solidarity on the basketball courts, where he hangs with his Uncle and colourful characters such as Leaping Leeroy, Ritchie Rich, the Boss (who looks like Bruce Springsteen), the Sultan of Swat and the Guru.

Having already made a decision about drugs and alcohol at the age of eight (and having stuck to it!) peer-group pressure once in the big-smoke is handled well. When the lads pass njarndi in his direction, the young narrator declines in a calm, non-judgemental way, saying: ‘I do my thing. You do yours.’  And while he is accused of considering himself to be better than the others, it’s a strong message to young fellas – who don’t want to go down that destructive path – of how to handle such situations.

Identity is an underlying theme throughout the novel and the narrator makes it known that even though he moves to Sydney, he’s still a Murri, not a Koori. Identity doesn’t shift, just because the physical body does.

What I love about this story is that it shows that blackfellas generally can drive nice cars, do yoga, play basketball and be teachers, just like other Australians. And as Aunty Milly points out to her nephew: 

       There’s good and bad in any place, in anyone, good and bad in all cultures. No uniform’s going to change that. No colour of your skin gonna change what’s in your heart.

Questions about identity challenge the young fella also. He says:

       Up home I get busted up by whitefellas for being black. Down here I get busted up by blackfellas ‘cause they think I’m trying to be white. I’m wondering what the hell is me.

When Rhonda suggests they are both outcasts, it leaves him to ponder…

        ‘Outcast? I’m trying to think how that sits with those migloo fullas always wanting to call you half-caste, quarter-caste… telling you how to measure what’s in your blood. Maybe 'outcaste’ is like worse. Next to no-caste. Gone see-through or something.’

His identity as a blackfella also means he experiences, as many of us do, often unrealistic expectations through a barrage of questions by whitefellas:

            ‘Are you a traditional Aboriginal?’

            ‘Have you been initiated?’

           … They ask me what the drawings on the didgeridoo are. What the gecko 

           means to my people? Is it my totem?

Njunjul the sun is a contemporary, urban story that shows how one young Murri fella struggles to find his inner warrior, while showing respect for his elders, love for his family and exploring his own culture as a form of medicine.

Bowen Library launch party for the National Year of Reading

 

Yesterday was the best Valentine’s Day I think I’ve ever had. I spent it with 70 avid readers, including the Mayor of Randwick Cr Scott Nash, actor Bill Conn and a HUGE heart-shaped cake (pictured with me below). We all met at Bowen Library Maroubra to celebrate the launch of the National Year of Reading 2012, Library Lovers Day and to hear from the fabulous Cassie Mercer (pictured above) about the magazine Inside History! 

As a National Ambassador of the NYR12, I was extremely thrilled to be there to celebrate the launch of a year that is really about working towards making us all a nation of readers. It’s also about assisting our children in learning to read and then becoming so keen to read that they seek out and find new sources of inspiration for themselves.

The NYR12 is about supporting reading initiatives and helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books, in libraries, in classrooms, in homes, on the bus or at the place where I do a lot of reading, the beach.

Up front, and as someone who writes and reads across genres and mediums, it’s important for me to say that it doesn’t matter what you read – romance novels, kids books, cook books, comics, these are all as relevant as a classic novel. And let’s not forget poetry, graphic novels, newspapers and song lyrics. These are all forms of stories told different ways and often for different audiences.

And of course with today’s technology, a story can be in any format – books, e-books, novellas, magazines or even screen games. 

I am proud to be a National Ambassador for the Year of Reading and I have to say I love Bowen Library, where I spent many hours writing a complete first draft of my novel Avoiding Mr Right. I hadn’t tried working in a library for sometime before that and was quite surprised by the sense of community Bowen had. Indeed, I recall almost crying because it was a space that now had rather noisy enthusiastic students working on projects together, and people being tutored in different languages. I realised quickly back in 2007, that libraries had changed from the days when librarians shoosh-ed people all the time. I’m glad this library, as are many around Australia, remains a place that engages its members in many ways.

Apropos of that, according to the ABS site, which I checked just yesterday, libraries are in the top three most visited cultural venues in Australia. After zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens. See how important they are in our lives!

With Paula Grunseit, Collection Development Librarian and Project Leader NYR 2012

Reading is about more than books though. Being literate gets me through each day. I read the news articles on-line to see what’s happening locally and around the world. I read emails to advise me about my work. I read letters and postcards from friends and family in faraway places so I can be connected to their lives. I read street signs and directions to get where I need to go. I read recipes now, because at the age of 43 I’ve decided to learn how to cook.

And of course, I read books. I read novels to escape to countries that entertain and enrich me. I read memoirs and autobiographies to learn about the lives of great role models who inspire me. I read history books to understand why and how we became the nation we are. I read poetry to learn about how others can describe places and human experiences in ways that I never could.

My whole day is about reading! And the ability to read is one of the reasons I’m a passionate about being an Ambassador for the for Year of Reading, but also an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Indigenous Literacy Day, held on Sept 5 this year. I’m sure many will be as shocked as I was to learn that by the age of 15, more than one-third of Australia’s Indigenous students 'do not have the adequate skills and knowledge in reading literacy to meet real-life challenges and may well be disadvantaged in their lives beyond school'. (PISA cited in Bortoli and Cresswell, 2004, page 11). And we all know that the development of English literacy skills is important for the life opportunities of Indigenous children and youth. Literacy 'provides them with the necessary skills to interact within mainstream society and avail themselves of the broadest range of civic, social, educational and employment possibilities'. (Mellor and Corrigan, 2004)

I am also a Books in Homes Ambassador because, I have, over my lifetime, taken for granted the ability to read. I have taken for granted that there has always been a local library full of books that I can borrow for free. I have taken for granted that every school I went to had a library filled with books. But still today there are many communities without these resources that we all enjoy, and to some degree probably still take for granted.

And this is why I work to raise awareness and funds to make a difference to the large numbers of Indigenous kids, Australian kids, who can’t read. So they can learn about the world through books and they can then dream about what is possible for them, for their futures.

So, in celebrating this wonderful initiative which is the National Year of Reading, I ask you to stop and imagine what it might be like not to have books in your world at all. How different would your world be? If you can see how limited your life experience would be, then consider that’s what it’s like for many others today, and pop over to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation website, and see how you might be part of the process of change.

Finally, I admit that I am a slow reader… but in 2012, as part of the National Year of Reading, I have set myself a challenge:  to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Here’s five I’ve read already…and I highly recommend them. You should be able to find them at your library. [Pic above is of Christine Howard Supervisor, Events and Marketing, Randwick Library]

My first group of NYR12 books... more to come in the weeks to come...

1. Nicole Watson’s The Boundary 
2. Lisa Heidke’s Stella Makes Good 
3. Monty Pryor’s Njunjul the Sun 
4. Lorna Little’s The Mark of the Wagarl 
5. A Handful of Sand: words to the frontline (Southerly: Vol 71. No. 2, 2011)

I’d love to hear your recommendations also.

Happy reading everyone!

MEDIA RELEASE: AM I BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?

G words I’m grateful for today...

 ·         GADIGAL: The traditional owners of the Sydney City region are the Gadigal or Cadigal band. I’m on the road so much it is always paradise for me to wake up in Gadigal country, as this is where my life is, where my immediate family, many of my closest friends and my heart. I’m so grateful I can call this place home that I was one of many Aboriginal writers who contributed to the anthology Life in Gadigal Country (2002), with a deadly cover design by Khi-Lee Thorpe.

·         GENIOPHOBIA: I love this word, it means fear of chins. I’m afraid I’m getting a second one!

·         GOLUPTIOUS: How cool is this word? It means delightful, magnificent; luscious. I’m grateful I had a goluptious day!

·         GYNIOLATRY:   Meaning deep respect or devotion of women or a particular woman. I’d be grateful as we had into Valentine’s Day if someone felt that way about me! *am smiling*

·         GELATO: In actual fact, I’m grateful I was strong enough to walk past Gelatisimo at Eastgardens today, but if I WERE to stop, I would’ve ordered Veronese chocolate or banana or choc mint or macadamia and caramel or... or... or...or...

Faith Gray is grateful for deadly, vibrant women…

 I’ve been fortunate to have some very loyal followers here at my blog and also on Facebook, and even though many of us have never met, we share an appreciation of books, reading and literacy, inspirational women and quite often food (especially chocolate). And for that I am grateful!

One such woman is Faith Gray who I’ve had many brief conversations with on Facebook, having recognised connections with mutual women friends, some highlighted in Faith’s blog below. Some readers will recall these women from my own posts in the past. Indeed, at least two women Faith is grateful for feature in my forthcoming memoir, because they have featured in my life for many, many years. Too much mystery I know, but today is about Faith, and all she is grateful for, so without further ado…

 

 Faith says:

Wow, what an opportunity I’ve been given, having followed this blog and learnt about some amazing people, to now share what I’m grateful for. I have no credentials with which to introduce myself, except to say that I’m a 30 year-old Indigenous single mum of two children, with a love of working with young people and developing leadership skills in their lives.

Today and every day I am grateful to be a woman, a daughter and the mother of a daughter. Obviously I’m very grateful for my little boy, but today it’s about the girls, sorry my son!

I’m grateful for the women who inspire me, whose stories I now share with my own daughter as she embarks on the ever-changing career options and plan for her life.

My mum is the woman I most admire, as single-handedly led our family by example, allowing us to see truth, integrity, compassion & enduring commitment in action. She has guided and allowed me to be who I am, a strong-willed, passionate and all too opinionated Indigenous woman, despite not always knowing what makes me ‘tick’. As a non-Indigenous woman my mum has supported my desire to go & learn more about my cultural heritage and asks only that I help her understand along the way. She daily teaches me what courage is and what being a real mum looks like.

As I teach my own daughter about our nation’s strong Indigenous female leaders, I am so grateful for their determination, their vision and their drive, providing all Indigenous people in this great land of ours with wonderful opportunities and inspiration.

During my graduation ceremony for my Certificate IV of Indigenous Leadership, I had the honour of meeting Aunty Lowitja O’Donoghue. Aunty graced me by sharing with me her heart and desire for young people to ready themselves for leadership, to become equipped with the wisdom, knowledge and skills to take the baton of leadership when the time comes. I am grateful for her wisdom, for her example, that she spoke so openly with me. I felt more ready to embrace the next transition of my life from that one conversation, and have learnt so much more from learning more about her life in the time since meeting her.

I’m grateful for other deadly, vibrant women like Dr Jackie Huggins, Kerrie Tim, Terri Janke and my gorgeous, talented friend Anne Kngwarreye Hanning. All of these women have identified their own strengths, they’ve looked for ways both professionally and personally to represent & protect their culture and all done with style, elegance and excellence.

Finally I’m grateful for this wonderful author, Anita Heiss, for her style, her openness in sharing her creative processes and for this opportunity to share something close to my heart. It’s wonderful to be able to share my appreciation of and brag openly of some of the truly gifted, capable women this nation has to offer.

The BlackWords 5th Anniversary Celebration and Symposium

The BlackWords 5^th Anniversary Celebration and Symposium

FIRST CALL FOR PRESENTERS

The School of English, Media Studies and Art History, AustLit, and the University of Queensland Art Museum are sponsoring a symposium to celebrate five years of work on the BlackWords resource for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers. Coinciding with the UQ Art Museum’s Desert County exhibition, this symposium will focus on written and oral storytelling in its many manifestations; on art as storytelling; on research and teaching; and on cultural exchange and expansion in the early 21^st century.

We invite proposals for 15-20 minute papers from writers, researchers, teachers and others engaged in relevant fields to address ideas around the place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writing and Storytelling in contemporary Australian education, research and publishing.

Accepted papers will form the basis of panel discussions on particular themes and be considered for publication in an edited collection.

DATE:     20 October 2012

...following an evening of celebration and readings

at Avid Reader Bookshop, West End.

VENUE: UQ Art Museum

Convenor & Chair: Dr Anita Heiss, inaugural BlackWords National Coordinator

Papers and presentations could explore the following questions/themes/issues: 

·       How do the varied formats of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing and storytelling fit into the idea of Australian literature?

·       Is there such a thing as an ‘Aboriginal genre’ of writing?

·       Protocols and methodology in researching and writing about Aboriginal Australia.

·       Developing Indigenous literacy through literature.

·       Life writing, oral histories, and trauma texts.

·       Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander texts in the national curriculum.

·       Children’s literature and Indigenous stories.

·       What are the most appropriate ways of teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature and story?

·       Post-colonial and continuing colonisation investigations.

·       The international presence of Australian Indigenous literature in teaching and research.

·       Translations into and out of language: English to Indigenous languages, English and Indigenous languages to other languages.

·       What is Indigenous visual literacy?

Expressions of interest including 200-300 word abstracts are due by 10 March 2012

Contact:    Dr Peter Minter & Kerry Kilner with your abstract and contact details, at blackwords@austlit.edu.au

The Avid Reader Bookshop in West End will host a celebration and reading event on Friday 19 October, 6-8pm.

***********************************

What is BlackWords?                         

BlackWords is an informative website and a database of information relating to the lives and work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers. As a research project of the AustLit resource for Australian literature BlackWords researchers and records detailed information about Indigenous story in all its forms, poetry, oral history, life writing, and related scholarship. BlackWords is the only database of its kind in the world.

The research for the content in BlackWords has been undertaken by Indigenous researchers and librarians at five of AustLit’s partner universities (UQ, UWA, Flinders, Sydney and Wollongong) and AIATSIS in Canberra. BlackWords has grown from a base of some 700 entries relating to the published works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, to become a unique resource that now records details of the lives, writing and storytelling activities of more than 4,800 people and it grows by the day.

The BlackWords team has included award-winning writers and researchers, including Dr Anita Heiss, Dr Jeanine Leane, Dr Peter Minter, Yvette Holt, Jake Milroy, Yaritji Green, Elizabeth Hodgson, Janine Dunleavy, Irene Howe and has benefitted from the involvement of Uncle Sam Watson, Dr Jackie Huggins, Dr Jaky Troy, Professor Gus Worby, and staff from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, the School of EMSAH and the Library at UQ; the Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research at Flinders University; the Scholar’s Centre at UWA Library; and the Research Division and Library at AIATSIS.

BlackWords was launched on the 6^th of June 2007 by Uncle Sam Watson at the State Library of Queensland

                                            

Kerry Kilner, Director, AustLit  

School of English, Media Studies and Art History

k.kilner@uq.edu.au         Ph: 07 3365 3313

Why one mum is grateful she had sons...

I’m not parent, but I love being a daughter. I often wonder though if mothers prefer to have sons rather than daughters, and so asked my sister Gisella just some of the reasons she may be grateful for having the gorgeous boys she has – Matt (in front) and Ben – pictured below with her.

Gisella writes: I’m grateful I had sons because...

·  It’s highly unlikely I will ever need to share my clothes, shoes, make-up, perfume, jewellery or handbags with my boys – I’m not so sure about the face cleansing masks though.

·  Nothing beats their height, broad shoulders and strong arms as they give me a special hug; a minimum of one hug per day from each son is required and I’ll accept nothing less.

·  They only need carry-on luggage when travelling because three pair of underpants, two t-shirts, two pair of shorts, a pair of thongs, a toothbrush and a hat is apparently enough for a week.

·  They’ve taught me to laugh at the most random and ridiculous jokes. Sometimes we laugh uncontrollably at nothing at all.

·  I will hopefully one day be a mother-in-law, having honest, loving and lasting relationships with the partners that my sons choose. I want to be the “nice” mother-in-law that everyone is happy to visit.