THE AUSTRALIAN BABY BOOMER PODCAST

Yes, folks. I'm owning it. I am a Baby Boomer and a couple of years ago I decided to do a podcast that enabled people, not necessarily of  that specific generation (I actually don't like the way that labels pin people down to a particular thing and conceal their true identities) - what was I saying? The podcast enables people that I interview to talk about their own stories, tell stories, or talk about things that are dear to their hearts. 

From time to time I put something on there just to keep it ticking over, but I have been so lucky in having many generous people allow me to interview them about... well, take a look, and have a listen. 

Here is the link:

The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast

My Writing

Selfie 😛

I continue to plug away. Having written a couple of new novels which were not coming together in any sane or cohesive manner, and having started a  couple of others (works in progress), I decided to work on some shorter pieces where I could achieve some sort of completion. 

Why? You might well ask. All I can say in my own defence is that for me, as for many people who do this activity, writing is some sort of weird compulsion, part desire to communicate, part desire to tell ourselves a story, part way of thinking something through, and the major part, wanting to create something nice.  

So, in the spirit of smaller projects, I've been writing poetry, short stories, and over the Christmas break a book of song lyrics and writing prompts which I have impulsively published on Kindle Direct Publishing. 

If you are curious, follow this link to take a look. 

No, I haven't written the music (I have much too much respect for musicians to attempt such a thing) but I have made the lyrics available royalty-free for anyone who wants to try putting anything to music. Yours to play around with if you feel so inclined. There's also a print version (Print on demand).

Again, why do such a thing? The answer: fun. to free up my writing and shake things around. to cater for a diminishing concentration span (mine).

And a plug for another compilation. I attend a writing group at KSP in Western Australia. Each year the group puts out an anthology of work by group members. If you want to check it out, follow this link. This year's anthology is called "When There's a Moment" and I can boast three (very) short stories in that one.  

So that's what I've been up to. 

Also, I will be getting back into interviewing for the podcast this year. The last few months of 2019 was tough and sent me and a few others spinning off-course, so here's hoping for a better time for all of us in 2020.

New Episode of The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast

In a new episode of The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast, I speak with Kath Moore. Kath has always had a love of making art, of drawing and of seeing the beautiful colours of the world. Her artistic expression has formed the background of her work right through the time she spent in the teaching profession, and now since her retirement ten years ago, it has again come to the fore. As soon as she retired, she enrolled in the Claremont School of Art, and then travelled to Florence to the Angel Academy of Art for an intense Summer School. I was fortunate to be invited to her home to see the beautiful range of artwork that she has made and to talk to her about her art.

Podcast

Just a short one today to let you know that The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast is now available on Spotify.

Action on climate

At a time when the window is closing on our ability to stop our rush to the tipping point on climate change, I thought it would be timely to remind you of one of the great prescient science fiction writers who described a world where people had taken to living underground because the surface no longer supported their lives.

Here is the link to the E.M. Forster short story, The Machine Stops. I read it when I was a kid and it has stuck with me all these years.

Here is the Wikipedia summary posted on the site where you can get a free download:

The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "Homelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end. --Wikipedia

Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre in Flood                     

Today the land is singing.

She sings with rains from the North

filling river-beds boiling with fish

guiding the clever pelicans

following the first trickle down

singing through the channel of

water, bird, insect, wind

a haunting, meandering song

drifting across and through

her long desert dreaming.

She has been slow to stir, but when she does

she smiles and welcomes the flow

as it funnels-in and spreads

painting a fresh scene

on an ancient theme

free from cruel and ugly shackles

trappings of modernity

seeking to control her music

She opens her heart

her voice rising to crescendo

giving thanks

giving back

giving, and giving

and giving

New interview on The Australian Baby Boomer Podcast


The new episode is in two parts. The first part describes a time at the Royal Military College of Duntroon in Canberra in the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies. It includes a personal account of a young man's experiences with hazing or so-called 'bastardisation' that was practised at the time.

The first part of the podcast episode was posted this morning, and the second part will follow in the next day or two. Please follow the link above if you would like to check it out.