Remembering is a Prayer

Grief is painful. Thanks for your words (April 9th).


As a palliative care nurse I saw many families racked with pain,

but among it all the majority came together.

Grief can pull people apart or bring them closer.

It really depends on how your family and friends relate.

If it is in silence - think of the portrayal of the Queen, recently seen again on TV.

She is the master of represssed grief.

Or in shared rememberances.



It is in remembering that I find solace.

Your article mirrored a recent interview I read given by Bruce Springsteen.

(in Rolling Stone magazine)

He was talking about the loss of Clarence Clemons.



'Losing Clarence was like losing the rain.

You're losing something that has been so elemental in your life for such a long time.

It was like losing some huge part of your own psychic construction

- suddenly it's gone, everything feels less.



Remembering is also a prayer.

The sometimes reluctant Aussie Traveller

I admit to being way behind in exploring my own country. I found my way to Central Australia at age 50. When I say Central Australia I mean via The Ghan from Adelaide through to Darwin.

I literally spent about 6 hours in Darwin before going home again! Adore train travel so have done The Ghan again since and experienced Darwin in the centre of a storm. But huge tracts of Australia remain uncharted for me. Hence I really value Australian Traveller magazine. I love travelling, writing, photography and the shock of the new. On reading your Broken Hill feature (Feb/March Edition) I decided to give it a go, via the Indian Pacific of course.

What a gem of a place. The sweet little tin houses and big wide streets. We were shown around on a hastily arranged tour by a Broken Hill local born and bred. There was nothing he did not tell us, leading to quite an extended tour. He took obvious pride in his days in the mines. The mines continue to dominate the town. With the line of vision drawn high up the mountain of the lode and the starkly modern architecture of the memorial and visitors centre at the peak. It feels like these buildings have just been plonked there on top of a gravel heap and mining site - which in fact they have!

My only regret is we had another quick turn around to get the train back to Adelaide. So lessons learned, need to spend at least 5 days in Broken Hill, to see all the galleries and salt bush country & surrounds. (Also avoid motels that are kilometres from the train station and main drag of town).

Kind Regards,

Jenny Esots - the sometimes reluctant Aussie traveller.


pix of a rusty hinge on an abandoned mine building - all I could hear was the cooing of a congregation of pigeons who had made there home inside.

The indefinable

Poets try to identify feelings that can be indefinable - that paradox of words. There however can be nothing more mournful, sad or searching the sound of a lone bugler on the horn for the last post.

The last eight eclectic years with the State Theatre Company

Thanks for the final interview with Adam Cook.

Having had an awakening to the world of theatre by the State Theatre Company, it is to Adam and Co. that I say thanks.

And add some memories and ramblings of the past eight eclectic years.

My highlights begin with the Night Letters production in the out of the way Queen Street Theatre,

We walked miles around Light Square that night before we found it hidden away. What a gem.

Blue Orange rang so many bells for me, so who is really the lunitic in the asylum?

The staging has always been innovative, but Death of A Salesman and The Price out did themselves.

Have enjoyed some riotous comedies and costumes including over the top The Misanthrope and The Lyrebird expose of Sir Robert Helpman.

Hamlet was brought to life by Cameron Goodall, a real find.

We were prividiged to see Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling world premier, the venue left a lot to be desired however.

So many moments to build on.

Thanks for the annual launch gatherings and the design details on everything.

Everything changes, so I look forward to the new.

The Last Letter............

It seems we are doomed to revisit our past, to try and make sense of it.


(The Last Goodbye - April 21st.)

The 'if only's' that come back to haunt us.

Letters can be treasures and such painful reminders of a person who is no longer with you.

Being a devotee of the art of letter writing, I wonder what this generation will leave for future generations.

A list of deleted emails and posts.

Or will cyber space live on long after the paper and ink of letters fades?

Too old to rock'n'roll?

Thanks for the article 'Too old to Shock'n'Roll'
There is the implied double standard of many men as veteran old rockers out there still able to strut there stuff.
Strong veteran woman are thinner on the ground.
Tina Turner seems to have been there first on this.
With her trademark mane of hair, heels and shimmy.
It seems it is alright if you can still produce the goods.
In this format it is killer dance songs.
Madonna is a music and style icon.
She can't keep away.
All I can say if you're reading this Madonna, is come back to Adelaide.

The allure of bleak negativity

What a timely review by Alan Attwood.
(Beyond Belief 'Religion for Atheists' by Alain de Botton. - 403)
As Christians get ready to pause to celebrate Good Friday and the resurrection.
De Botton writes that there is not a word for one who has no belief but is quite involved in the religious concepts.
I guess a large slab of the population could likewise identify.
As they lap up the associated holidays, symbols and merchandise of religion year after year, but fail to look deeper.
This failure to look deeper is like a global coping mechanism.
Too much reality about death and life's seeming futility is a downer(!)
Loved Alan's metaphor about musical chairs. As most could relate to missing out on that crucial spot on the chair.
But is life really a lottery? That too has a ring of fatalism about it.
Authors such as De Botton prefer to conclude faith and religion as all baloney, (just not for me) rather than acknowledge the experience
of reaching a real sense of peace and belonging in the mystery of a loving God.
As interfaith dialogue gains pace, it may be revealed more of our population coming together across faiths.
More searching but indeed more harmony.
The allure of bleak negativity is for the academics.
Real life faith is for people with guts.