Blog Hopping After Yasi

 
After Yasi: Finding the Smile Within is going on a virtual book tour, commonly known as blog tour, blog hop or virtual book tour.  A big thank you to all those listed.

Best comments for each blog will be given a PRIZE, either a free copy of the ebook or a choice of a signed print of one of the photographs from the book. Would absolutely love it if you retweet, reblog and share this post – and the blog hop posts, to all your friends.

The After Yasi Blog Tour includes visits to:

Jan 27   (Tuesday) http://open.abc.net.au  ABC Open  (guest blog, June Perkins, storytelling tips for covering the recovery from a natural disaster)
Jan 27   Karen Tyrrell http://www.karentyrrell.com/
Jan 28 (Wednesday)  Dimity Powell (interview) http://www.dimswritestuff.blogspot.com.au/
Jan 29 (Thursday) Charmaine Clancy (tips for writing about a natural disaster) http://charmaineclancy.com/
Jan 30 (Friday) Michele D’Acosta https://micheledacosta.wordpress.com
Jan 30 Jedda Bradley  – (interview)https://www.facebook.com/jeddabradleyartist
Jan 31 (Saturday) Carol Campbell  (review) http://writersdream9.wordpress.com
Jan 31 (Saturday) Gail Kavanagh  (review) http://gailkavanagh.com/blog/
Feb 1 (Sunday) Owen Allen (focus Dance) http://owen59.wordpress.com/ http://placestories.com/folks/Oen
Feb 2 (Monday)  Ali Stegert (focus children and youth after a cyclone) http://ali-stegert.com/
Feb 3  (Tuesday) Melinda Irvine http://businessonblue.com.au/
Feb 3   Wrap up and thankyou blog from June https://pearlz.wordpress.com

You can find sample pages and more details of the ebook here: http://gumbootspearlz.pressbooks.com/


You are welcome to attend from wherever you are in the world -the online launch -February 3^rd.
See the facebook page: The Launch Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/866286073402069/?pnref=story

*This schedule is still subject to  minor changes but I will post any changes closer to lift off.

After Yasi ebook on its way - Arts Led Recovery

The virtual launch of the ebook of After Yasi, finding the smile within, is being planned right now.  So watch this space!

As one historically oriented reviewer recently said, this book is not really about a cyclone, but more about what happens in its aftermath. If you really want to know more about the cyclone night itself there are links to that and there is lots of online coverage. There are at least three other books that focus on that more.

However, the project of this particular book was to reflect the emerging power of the arts to build a bridge for anyone recovering from a trauma. It is a social commentary on what creative means help people to heal after a natural disaster.

The ebook makes After Yasi widely accessible to the general community and it is hoped that community development workers, arts workers, community planners, councils,  health workers, and funding bodies make use of it when determining how to assist people in future recovery from natural disasters.

It has hyperlinks to photographs, blogs and videos, that encourage readers to explore and have an enriched experience moving  well beyond the original coffee table book.

The author/editor was invited to guest blog in the Place Stories space, which features many more stories about the role of the arts and artists in recovery.  You can still visit those spaces to find out more about the role of the arts in recovery:

Place Stories Creative Recovery Arts Network

Place Stories Creative Recovery Cassowary Coast

June also guest blogged  for ABC Open in the Aftermath project and chose to tell, video, and photograph her community’s recovery story and not just that of her family’s.

The coffee table book was created especially for the local community and is still in the library for anyone who wishes to go visit it at the Cardwell or Tully libraries. Furthermore it’s at the National and State Libraries and in the households of the families of many of those featured in the book and their friends.

It was not a cheap book to make or sell, and was an individual initiative undertaken with a noncommercial aim.  A bulk buy order helped us reduce the price of the book. The final product was beautiful and much appreciated by those it was made for. We had the launch at a cafe in Mission Beach last year.

You can still purchase the hard cover book of it if you are keen and yes these books are pricey because they are print on demand one of a kinds go to  JUNES’ BLURB   A more affordable pdf version is available if you want and this is a copy of the coffee table book version but is not what I would consider an ebook.

Multimedia storytelling is my passion and I hope to create more books like this which encourage guided online explorations of the stories and mediums that I love.

A special thank you to all the community groups, families, artists, writers, creatives, and organisations that made the story of this book possible, especially to ABC Open, Creative Recovery and the many people who had faith in my portrayal of our collective journey.

Welcome to the Blog

Thanks so much for dropping by the blog. I wonder what attracted you here.  Was it the poetry? The photography? The memoir? The discussions of writing? The interviews? Did we meet somewhere? Was it the philosophy?  Would love to know.  I usually blog HERE though.

I am finally working on some individual books, and you may like to purchase them when they are ready.  More announcements on this soon.

I am in the middle of techno land learning about ebooks and create space. I am learning about treaties between Australia and America that enable us to be taxed less when we sell books.  Maybe you are too?

I try to visit as many blogs as I can, especially those that inspire, educate, trigger, connect and help me to keep on practicing writing, art and photography.  

I love to interview people as well as you learn so much from each other in the process.

However I do have to be careful not to get lost in cyberland and pay concentrated attention to doing writing and art, but part of writing and art is about connecting is it not?    Thanks so much for your follow, like, comment, inspiration and encouragement.

All the best with your creative journey and  hope to see you back again. Please respect all copyright. Thank you.

--Gumbootspearlz - June

Portraits of a Musician

Lately I've been taking photographs of Musicians.  You can view this portfolio here.

Portraits of a Musician

A big thankyou to local musician Melinda for being my model for this work.  Melinda may give me some quotes from her beautiful songs to put with this later, but for now some general quotes from music give the idea of what kinds of things I'd like to produce for song writers and musicians looking for a photographer.

I posted a story on the day I took photographs as my Pearlz Dreaming Blog

A Day with a Song Writer

Listening Divas

Published on ABC Open, November 22nd, 2012  Listening Divas

When we were young, Dad told us bed time stories. They were always silly with us in starring roles.

Dad liked Spike Milligan and AA Milne. Sometimes he’d recite his favourite poems and direct them to one of us. Snatches of AA Milne come back to me at the oddest times, with his poetry of children whose parents run away and cautionary tales to not step on the cracks in the footpath.

Dad’s stories were funny and satirical but sometimes we protested about the way he portrayed us. We were unruly characters, tiny divas, jostling for bigger and more complimentary roles. We directed our storytelling Dad just so. 

Our favourite thing was Dad giving us magical powers. We told him the names we wanted and what we should be doing. 
‘No I wouldn’t do that.’
‘I should be taller’
‘I need to run faster’
‘I’d jump to … the moon'

We loved to take over his stories. Sometimes our diva listening ways were so out of control they would make our storyteller abandon his tale and he’d grab out the Muddle Headed Wombat book to read to us and do all the characters voices for us. Tabby Cat, Mouse and Wombat became our friends. I read all the books when I had mastered the art of reading.

These stories were important because when we were very small our Dad was often away for long periods working as a labourer. Partly because of not having qualifications from his years in Papua New Guinea and partly due to prejudice over our Mum’s race he found it difficult to get and keep other work.

Our Mum told us when Dad came home after long labouring jobs my little brothers had forgotten who he was, and would hide behind her crying as the strange man with the overgrown beard came to hug us.

When Dad was finally home again for most of the time, we were able to know him again through the storytelling ritual.

Just as we were getting used to on tap Dad, he was away again to study and become a teacher and then later a librarian. Luckily I could read some of the books he had read to us so I didn’t miss him too much. Dad lived in another town with a landlady and sometimes we would visit him. 

Dad hitch-hiked home to see us when he had a chance. This time when he came home we would come running out to meet him and my younger brothers would pipe up with ‘a story, a story.’ I listened for old time’s sake. 

I was less of a listening diva because by this stage I was writing my own stories – partly thanks to my Dad’s early storytelling efforts to reconnect with his children.

(c) June Perkins

From Wheelchair to Walking: The Story of Paul

This Story was first published at ABC Open 7th January 2013 - From Wheelchair to Walking: The Story of Paul

At first the medical fraternity thought my brother, Paul’s, accident meant he was going to be a vegetable and if he was lucky to leave his bed would be stuck in a wheelchair for life, but my Mum had other plans.  

She played his favourite music, Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ to him when he was in coma and spoke to him continuously. 

She brought him home and embarked on all sorts of therapies, including Reflexology  - a foot massage based therapy. After many months, against the odds, he was mobile in a wheel chair, and then after many more months he was able to walk, but with a slight loping rhythm.

Does he remember what he was once like? I think the question is avoided so he doesn’t grieve for it.

Before his accident Paul Junior (named after my Dad and often called Peejay) was doing brilliantly at school, a good soccer player, a tap dancer, and planned to win a scholarship to go to a private school.  He was a young man with the only obstacle being when rather than if.

He was by far my favourite brother (sorry other brothers), because he was gentle, chatty and enjoyed being the perfect little brother. But as I think back he was accident prone even from a young age and had a few scrapes before ending up in hospital big time. 

Everything changed when my brother chose not to wear a helmet and cycle out of a steep driveway to come home.  

He was knocked off his bike by a car and hit the pavement at full pelt head first. Sounds like one of those terrible cautionary ads you see in television now, but this was a long time before helmets were heavily promoted. Every second kid chose not to wear them. 

I have vivid memories of my other two younger brothers wheeling Paul around in his wheel chair at full pelt for fun in the city mall, much to the dismay of my mother. I thought at the time it was cool that they were treating him like they always did, head injury or not. He must've missed going off to play cricket with them. 

It was not easy to ask Paul how he felt about things as it took a while for his speech to return, besides everyone was focusing on physical recovery as he was paralysed down one side. We were all employed by Mum to support his therapy, but she did most of it and he did the hardest yakka of all.

When Paul did recover his speech his sentences were formed so slowly it seemed like if you just taped them, then sped them up it would be easier to understand what he was on about. 

‘Do you speak PeeJay?’ My irreverent boyfriend, now husband, asked when he first met him. He jokes with everyone and wasn’t going to let an obviously brain injured individual cramp his normal personality. Paul laughed. He has loved David ever since.

Paul has come a long way in his recovery, but like it or not, we' ve all had to accept he will never have the same fluent personality or movement.

The thing I love most about Paul is the way he laughs at life. His mind is quicker than people think, so he recognises when someone is patronising him; his slow motion mimicry of them annoying him is hilarious.

I think he has more he could say but it can take so long for us to understand so he just gives up and chuckles. We try to overcome our limitations to reach out to him the best we can.

My Mum said when she read the first draft of this:

I remind him everyday how far he has come. And prepare him for a future I won't be there, so he can be as independent as possible.

She has done so much for my brother to assist him to overcome the challenges life has presented. She always seems to wish she could do more.

Paul makes a lot of people happy through the joyful way he lives his life, and is part of a large caring and extended family.

He and my mum are more inspirational than they will ever really know.  Mum said these days Paul listens to a lot of music and loves making costumes and threading beads for the culture performance group she facilitates. 

The last word of this family journey belongs to Paul:

I am happy with my life. I'd like to move forwards and get better and better. Ever forwards, forwards. 
I like playing drums and dancing in the dance group practices with my Mum's culture group.

Further links of interest are: 

Headway Tasmania

Music Therapy for Brain Injury

(c) June Perkins 

Inspirations

                                     Reading the Sunset - By June Perkins

It’s an inspiring time.

I’ve finally managed to make headway on my writing projects. A memoirs is well underway. I am enjoying the process of bringing memories of past friendships back to life. The process of the memoir was given momentum during November.  I was writing stories for the ABC Open project Who Shaped Me.  I decided to do a blog challenge – 19 stories in the month. I was delighted to complete the challenge I had set for myself during the month of Nanowrimo.  At the end of the challenge I had 12,000 words towards my memoir.  It is now up around 25,000 words and continuing.

I love the process of memory unpacking.

On top of this I've managed to finally finish a poetry book which a  dear friend is going to illustrate.

It's designed for families to read together;  it isn't for children or adults alone and is based on my time living in North Queensland.

Some of the works are quite lyrical and have been sung at various places for friends and family.

I have been loving working for ABC Open as a moderator/Editor.  It's just awesome - and I had my time extended there so will be doing this for a bit longer. Working there just doesn't feel like 'work' but more of a blessing.

Reading, writing, editing!  Ha yes, even editing.  It's something to enjoy, not detest, because when you are reading, editing and moderating other people's work, it gives you even greater ability to be detached when it comes to editing your own stuff.

I'm reading so much now, that I really know which things jump off the page at me.  This  makes me strive even more to write in a way that makes the reader want to read my work!

I am so grateful to many people I've never met, except through reading their blogs, or joining them in online writing projects.  They are brilliant because they inspire me with their comments, feedback and their own enthusiasm for writing.  I especially love the Monday Writing Sprint Group - !!!  But the ABC Open contributors and producers are pretty amazing too.  I also adore the Soul Food group of Heather Blakey and am enjoying getting to know the Write Practice Crew..

To unwind I head out and take photographs, like the one above.  I am so blessed to have such great settings to easily access.  There is magic in the cane.  I've even written a poem about 'Ghosts from the Cane' that follow you to the city.  All will be revealed in my poetry book.

That's all from me for now - you can checkout my work and if you feel inspired please leave a comment on my Pearlz Dreaming Blog or at ABC Open.

Sometimes There's no Need for Words

I am gearing up to do some short poetry films.  Here is a short practice film without words, except for the titles and credits.  It's about a day at the beach.  The thing about film is it began in this silent form often with piano, with no words (except for the occassional written ones on screen) came later.  It is good to understand the craft in its simplest form, and to strip away the words and simply express with moving image.   Then I will begin to layer the words on.  There are quite a few poetry films out there, I must explore and see how they are approaching it.

Usually I use Vimeo for sharing video but for this one have opted for youtube as it is compatible with easy embeds in blogger.  I will also explore the best video share options.  I like vimeo because its  has no ads and is frequented by people serious about the art of film-making.  But then I also enjoy paying for a vimeo pro account to have good storage and freedom from ads.   Just remember I don't endorse any of those youtube ads if you click through to view this on youtube.

My goal is not to be a youtube sensation, but to explore the art of film and express what is important to me, if that pleases you leave a comment and discuss.

(c) June Perkins

Kite Girl

KiteGirl-June Perkins

She looks at the kite small and bright
She wonders if she can make herself light
For the air and for the possibility of flight

KiteGirl 2- June Perkins

She checks out the string and the physics of things
She follows the plastic rainbow streamers that will make it work
And she dreams of what life seems in the centre of rings

Kite Girl3- June Perkins

She is the kite girl who has found her inner bling
She will dance and take the breath out of the wasps sting
She is the kite and the kite is her.
At least that’s what she thinks as the world blinks.

(c) June Perkins
[Time to start making some poetry films I think - putting video, poetry, photography and performance together. First posted in http://pearlz.wordpress.com ]

Butterflies Storified

I love butterflies and today I created this in storify after taking a photograph of a Ulysses.

Many Sides to One Story

It's easy to have one major storyteller in a family - as one person may be naturally good at it. However, there are many sides to a story and multiple perspectives can be illuminating.

The above video is my son's perspective on Cyclone Yasi.

You can find the story of my family in the cyclone from the parent's perspective mostly in the house that shook although the kids view comes through as we asked them questions and included them in the video we took during the experience.

In my latest ABC Open blog Pam, Joe and the Mighty Yasi I suggest that people consider making a spoken story video not just a written or photographic account of their cyclone experience. In the advent of mobile phones, skype, and video accessibility perhaps a lot more than in the past can consider this, that's if they can embrace and explore all technology has to offer. ABC Open are providing summer schools to help people develop these skills.

If you have a bit of time on your hand you can produce a video documentary for future generations. With a bit of practice efforts can be sped up, although I find I want to spend a lot of time editing to get it just right!

My latest video editing attempts saw me trying to master more in the sound editing department. I wanted to weave music sound track in and out to accentuate the story and ensure it did not detract from the story. I worked out how to do it in Pinnacle, but I am wondering if there are easier ways to do it. Obviously this is the next part of my digital storytelling journey, working out more about sound editing!.

(c) June Perkins, all rights reserved.