The great communist moment

Today I had some good friends and their kids around for lunch. 

Aside from the cake mashed into the carpet and a few other minor fatalities on the domestic bliss front, we had a great time, sharing stories of kids, routines, and domestic politics (aka how come we could hold down responsible jobs but find running a household with kids SO challenging). 

A big thanks also goes out to the makers of the movie, Madagascar, now thankfully on DVD, which chilled the littl'uns down a tad after too much sugar.

Two friends came armed, not just with salads, toys and kids in tow, but also bags of clothes.

 

I am amazed at their generosity. And it's not just them. As soon as we knew we were having a bubba, nearly everyone we know was giving us stuff. Stuff we didn't even know we would need. And boy have we needed it. 

Which gets you to thinking. Why haven't we always circulated our other clothes and possessions with anything near as much zealousness. (Yeah crap word I know but hey it's late).

This must be the ultimate communist moment in the circle of life.

The yellow peril

Check out this knol to find out more about the controversies surrounding this piece of sculpture in Melbourne.

The untold losers of a formidable work ethic

Written 17th April, 2008. 

“Formidable work ethic” is a phrase we’ve heard bandied about a lot lately.

Since the election of Kevin Rudd’s ALP led government and the recent discussions about the links between Kevin and other influential people like Glyn Davis (Vice Chancellor of Melbourne University), we are told that these tail-end baby-boomers have a formidable work ethic. They relish 7am meetings and drive those around them to also put in similar long hours and be tireless in their enthusiasm to better strategise and govern.

Answering emails at all hours of the day, these gods of intellectualism and influence, have got to where they are through sheer hard work and constant networking. Imagine them having hobbies, let alone family time or quiet moments of reflection? Rarely.

Perhaps such feats of endurance and energy console the masses below, allowing us to feel confident that we’ve elected leaders made of the right metal and that those bright sparks are going to make sure the country doesn’t go to the dogs.

Perhaps.

But would we envy being the partner, parent, son, daughter or colleague of such work demons? We haven’t heard this side of the story, but then we never really do.

And then there’s the call to Australia’s “best and brightest” to come together to share ideas on April 19 and 20 about where they think Australia should be by 2020, and what the roadmap will be to get there.

Second tier intellectuals could be feeling the pinch about now. Do they come up to scratch? Perhaps our young intellectuals of generation X, already ensconced in lower to middle levels of private and public sectors, in our universities, corporations, non-profits and government policy units, often juggling young families and already working long hours, just need to do a bit more.

But this is not about mere quantity over quality of work. Perhaps they just need to be more enthusiastic and less discouraged by structural impediments and more determined to “network”.

What of the “work-life balance” we started to hear a lot about from our human resource and ethics departments in the late 1990s? What are Kevin Rudd’s opinions on this? Is it no more than an ineffectual catchphrase sprinkled through our policy and corporate documents like a necessary condiment to make the simple carbohydrate seem more palatable?

Many of us have long suspected such a ruse, which tells us a lot about why such principles have never been taken up in this country with anywhere near as much enthusiasm as they have in many Scandinavian nations.

Which takes us to childcare. Kevin has just announced the government’s intention to overhaul 0-5 year old childcare into a one stop shop called a Parent and Child Care Centre, which will incorporate health, community services and education for our young ones, thus freeing up the potential of their parents to really contribute something useful to this country – their intellectual labours.

Once such a scheme is in place (let’s hope sooner rather than later), those younger second tier best and brightest will be able to really develop their potential by working longer hours with more enthusiasm, confident that their children are happy, safe and adequately stimulated.

Kevin tells us it’s your choice whether you take advantage of such facilities - sure you can choose to be a stay-at-home parent. But with our best and brightest and the constant reverence to their formidable work ethic. let’s just say, we know where this choice is going to leave these parents in the shifting pecking order of our nation.

Maybe this is the way things have always been – the best and brightest are like the squeaky door, always getting the proverbial oil. The rest of us do the job of opening and shutting and expect no grand entrance.

Taking the metaphor too far? Absolutely.

But you get the picture. God help the potential best and brightest intellectuals and strategists who happen to be unfortunate enough to be born the son or daughter of those with a “formidable work ethic”.

So much potential left underdeveloped.

Or will our overhauled education and childcare centres do this job now?

What's in a name?

We're on the air! After all that talk, I'm finally doing it. Writing SOMETHING that is!

Well what's in a name? Call me Gnu. "I'm g-not a camel or a kangaroo.  The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo. You really g-nought to g-know who's wa-who." 

Yes too many kids songs in this house. But this one really tickles our fancy. Click here to listen to the Flanders and Swann song and see more pictures of gnus.

Anyway, gnu is apt. 

We're not sure yet what this blog land is for us or who we are in it yet, so we are defining ourselves by what we are not - for the moment at least. But we have big, vague plans for what melbourne.muse will be. 

 Stay tuned.