Here is the Sacred Australia -Class of 06- and welcome the new member: Rosemary! What a fabulous afternoon we all had in our intensive discussions of the way that poetic language can “restore” something in us all. We looked at David Malouf’s wonderful way of expressing how it is the ordinary events of daily life…
Category: x Blogging
Art Gallery Visit- Australian Literature ACU First Year
That was an excellent turn up for the Art Gallery Visit. Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm. It was great to see so many of you after the “guided tour”… dashing around and making the most of the time in this amazing Gallery space. I very much enjoyed linking the themes of many…
Sacred Australia at Vincentian Village
A wonderful start to a new twelve week program of teaching for homeless and marginalized people at Vincentian Village. We have embarked on a literature course called “Sacred Australia”. This is bona fide university Literature Course that runs at our local campus. It is a literature course with a focus on Australia and especially on…
David Malouf Visit
I forgot my phone camera today so I don’t have any “live” pictures of this extraordinary visit by David Malouf… but the whole lecture was video recorded so there will be some stills from that and there may even be an on-line video lecture if we can get it into WebCT… I was so gratified…
Heading into Week8
This semester is rocketing along… this week in Australian Literature we move into David Malouf’s Conversations at Curlow Creek- in preparation for David’s visit to us next week. In Twentieth Century Lit we are looking at an extraordinary new book “The Other Side of You” by the English novelist Salley Vickers. This book, like David…
Honour Bound
Here is the darkened stage at the start of this “event”… everything stark and feeling like a factory rather than a place occupied by humans. The roar of helicopters and the savage barking of distant dogs…. This was an amazing performance that utilized a whole range of media to get its powerful message across. Here…
David Hicks and Honour Bound
THEATRE VISIT Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre- Tonight! 6.30 Meet me in the foyer of the Drama Theatre at the Opera House at 6pm. The Drama Theatre is at Ground Level; its doors look across to the Harbour Bridge. If you are late I will leave your ticket at the box office. You should read…
Teaching has been hectic in the last two weeks with Discussions and Assignments coming in on top of regular teaching. But two batches of Discussions have now been marked: Australian Literature and Twentieth Century Literature. Both Discussions explored the possibilities of role-playing and of converting literary texts into film. Overall the experiment was succesful; it…
Teaching Week Four
“Visions of the Daughters of Albion” by William Blake was on the Agenda for third years this week: what an amazing poem in its challenge to conventional views of women and sexuality. Blake is here daring to declare that women have the right to determine their own sexuality -despite the tyranny of males. This poem…
Spring is in the air!
The end of week 3 and the start of week 4 and this weekend Rose (my wife) and I planted some Waratahs in our bush garden… a great weekend for planting given the off and on deluges! Then today we caught the first boronias in flower in the bush behind our place. This is the…
Real-Life Bloggin
If you want to taste what Blogging means to someone in the middle of the Lebanese war-zone go to the musician and cartoonist’s site http://mazenkerblog.blogspot.com/ and click on any of his amazing cartoons to get a sense of how difficult life is there and what responses he is getting from the world community. His blog…
Megan Heyward…. of day… of night…
What a fantastic session that was with Megan Heyward who not only provided such a detailed insight into the meaning and texture of her digital work, but who also helped to make us all feel the possibility of moving in the direction that she has pioneered…. add to this her great insight into the history…
End of Week 2
Hi all. The semester is now well under way: guest lecturers arriving, all LiveJournalers sailing on the high seas complete with their URLs…. hope you can all use this LiveJournal space to generate a really passionate relationship with your writing life. We all want to hear what you are reading what you are thinking and…
First Week of Teaching
A great start to teaching this week in all classes. In Australian Literature we launched into “The Mountain’s Own Meaning”…. what on earth is that? some asked!…. we explored the way Judith Wright and others see the exploitative attitude towards Australia -brought by the first European and British settlers- was an attitude that did not…
Presentation
Showcase Presentation on LiveJournal over…. and a great success… there was much interest in the way university students are using LJ so creatively. It was wonderful to have so many fantastic journal entries at hand to show the level of creativity and interactivity that is going on back home. Thanks a million to all of…
Chicago
Hi all.. Chicago is a Buzz… have just walked down to amazing Millenium Park… world famous for its outdoor theatre and its extraordinary animated faces 100 feet high that move, express a whole range of emotions and feel like God speaking down to us mere mortals… will upload some photos tonight and see if I…
Arrival in the USA
Hi all my friends… I have just arrived in Los Angeles in the first let of my visit to the USA. The main aim of this visit is to attend the WebCT Conference in Chicago where I am giving a ShowCase Presentation (that is the grand title!) on the use I have made of LiveJournal…
Romeo and Juliet- Bell Shakespeare Company
What an amazing night out it was for us last night. The MA group that I have just been teaching were invited by the Bell Shakespeare Company to see Romeo and Juliet at the Opera House last night. This was a direct result of the publicity we received in the Sydney Morning Herald last week…
Prizes for LiveJournal Entries Autumn 2006
Hi Folks the decision has been made… but it was tough- really tough… … there is so much good material around… Prize for the top journal was the hardest because there are so many different styles of excellence. In first year top of the pack was Marie B http://reejecktedyouth.livejournal.com followed close at heels by the…
MA Drama Performances
Hi all… our work with the disadvantaged students at MA had a wonderful conclusion yesterday with a performance of scenes from Midsummer Night’s Dream and How Does Your Garden Grow. The Sydney Morning Herald published a piece on the show in today’s (Tuesday’s Herald). Here is the link in case you haven’t seen it: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shakespeare-fits-the-bill-on-the-journey-to-hell-and-back/2006/06/07/1149359820571.html.…
Final Evening Rehearsal before the big day at Mission Australia
Here is Tom playing the role of Sam in “How Does Your Garden Grow” – Tom has been rehearsing all day and has been lasting the distance. I feel this experience has given Tom a new lease of life. Well done Tom- here all alone in your prison cell! Here, from the next scene in…
ABC Radio Interview- re Mission Australia
Hi all- check the airwaves at around 1.34 pm (ABC 702 -NOT FM) and at 9.10 pm today for a conversation about uni’s work with MA: extending the boundaries of Uni education beyond the walls of academe!- Ciao MG- Both interviews went very well… managed to read some creative works from John, Anissa and Reza…
MA Drama Week 12
Drama Rehearsals in full swing now for the “big” presentation next Wednesday the 7th June at the MA Centre, 19 Denham Street, Surry Hills. Performance at 11 am sharp. We have had a ball rehearsing both the extract from the Bard’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and from Jim McNeill’s “How Does Your Garden Grow”. The scene…
Nineteenth Century Literature- Drama Presentations 06
Well done all. Here is a whole class shot to pop into your LJ as a reminder: Thank you all for bringing back into focus these 3 amazing plays we have been studying. Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabbler” and Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”. What connects these 3 plays – aside from…
Shakespeare Performances 2006
Well done Shakespeare Class of 06. So good to have the five plays we have been working on brought vividly back to memory. I was very gratified to see the amount of work you had ALL done… I really do think that this component of the work in the unit as a whole pays great…
Hypertext presentations
Thank you so much first years in ENGL104: your collaborative effort in bringing together and demonstrating your research into the new creative medium of HYPERTEXT was really fabulous. I thought that as a whole the class learnt a great deal collectively about something we knew nothing about only 3 weeks ago… now we are on…
Prizes for LiveJournal Entries Autumn 2006
There are 2 prizes for this semester’s work. These prizes are applicable to all first, second and third year students. Prize number 1 is for the best creative work in any category. Creative Work in this context means: poem, short story, review, photo-image. Prize number 2 is for the best LiveJournal of the first half…
Hey how about this great LJ Tool I have just discovered… please do the poll for me, MG
Creative Works in Progress in LJ
Hi all Neill M – one of our most prolific LJ users has a fabulous idea to produce a creative work in progress… so please visit him at http://neillmorgan.livejournal.com/17639.html?view=17383#t17383 and lend a hand… In broad terms this is an empowering idea for the group as a whole in which all can contribute to an evolving…
Moliere’s: The Flying Doctor
Thank you all first year’s – that is the whole class!- who made yesterday’s work on Comedy so enjoyable and entertaining. We really did learn something about the nature of comedy in the way it challenges fixed attitudes to all those who are so self-important in our society: doctors, lawyers…. fathers…. and how comedy literally…
Moliere's: The Flying Doctor
Thank you all first year’s – that is the whole class!- who made yesterday’s work on Comedy so enjoyable and entertaining. We really did learn something about the nature of comedy in the way it challenges fixed attitudes to all those who are so self-important in our society: doctors, lawyers…. fathers…. and how comedy literally…
Moliere's: The Flying Doctor
Thank you all first year’s – that is the whole class!- who made yesterday’s work on Comedy so enjoyable and entertaining. We really did learn something about the nature of comedy in the way it challenges fixed attitudes to all those who are so self-important in our society: doctors, lawyers…. fathers…. and how comedy literally…
Kinetic art/ poetry
One of our first year students Noah N has discovered ways of bringing animated text into LiveJournal. Check out her simple blog at http://nohanoun.livejournal.com/4234.html?view=6794#t6794. This is the beginning of something big I suggest to you all. There is much to be explored on the internet pertaining to Kinetic poetry… Go for example and have a…
MA Drama Week 9
Did we have fun yesterday with the bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”- we managed to introduce and discuss questions about how the language of drama is different from fiction and poetry- how it draws on the expressive power of all the other art forms: painting, music, dance, sculpture…. Drama is an art form that is…
Family Gathering Newcastle
This weekend we had a large family gathering in Newcastle…. a 21st birthday party… couldn’t resist snapping the sun as it set over Newcastle Harbour and here is my son David with 2 of his children. He is just back from having walked the Kokoda trail in 6 days! Next time I will have to…
Mission Australia Fiction (Week 8)
Yesterday we tackled three stories about people who were either living on the margins or living under circumstances of extreme stress: Patrick White’s “Down at the Dump”, Olga Masters “On the Train” and Tim Winton’s “The Turning”. With the exception of Olga Masters all authors- we decided- were also capable of finding and expressing huge…
A Hard God- by Peter Kenna (Wharf Theatre)
Wow, what an amazing production with Jackie Weaver (Aggie), Kerry Walker (Monica), Max Gillies (Dan), Ralph Cotteral (Martin), Ben Matthews (Joe), David Lyons (Jack) and Maeliosa Stafford (Paddy). Each actor contributed so richly to the dramatic texture of this powerful performance of this classic Australian play. The reason we went to this production was twofold.…
MA Fiction (Week 6 and 7)
We have been having a very rich time exploring the language and meaning of Henry Lawson’s “Send Round the Hat” and Barbara Baynton’s “Squeaker’s Mate”. Both stories reflect on experiences that gave shape to the Australian identity in the late 19th and early 20th century… but what an incredible difference in their point of view…
WebCT and LiveJournal
Hi all… I am plowing through all the LiveJournals for the first half of semester and I am having a ball. Especially with first years who I have not really got to know yet… and their LJs are a mind-expanding, mind blowing experience for the way they put me in touch with their lives (outside…
Hamlet at the Ensemble
This was a magnificent, powerful production at the Ensemble with this year’s third year students. This production brought lines of Shakespeare to life with wonderfully creative interpretations using gesture and many exaggerated movements of character. I noticed in the programme that the director (and performer of Hamlet) Mark Kilmurry has published “A Hamlet Diary” (Currency…
Poetry ENGL104…… fantastic crop of new poets!!!!
Wow, what an amazing crop of new talents emerges in first year as they respond to these 3 paintings and turn these into poetry. Go to the Poetry Community to see the fruits of this creative exercise… yay to First Years!- And please first years… copy your poems into your own LiveJournal and then copy…
Mission Australia Poetry Week 4
We had a stimulating morning discussing Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Number 130). Lots of great ideas flowing in the room… one of the best was John’s comment that Shakespeare was challenging all the conventions about women’s beauty which tend to “FLORALIZE/FLORALISE” women – I have not been able to…
Poetry Competition on Spirit
Hi all – there was such an interesting diversity of offerings that it was very hard to choose “The Best”!… I think all the poets who contributed to the strand are deserving. So I am proposing that ALL the following talented poets read. In 2 groups of 4. And each poet must preface the reading…
New Debate is Raging in Hot Topics
Please go to Hot Topics (click in my side bar) to take part in this new debate on whether Australian Students in 2006 are Apathetic about issues that really matter….. Here is an image of French Students in 2006 who are objecting to laws that affect their studies:
The Importance of Being Earnest
What a great event this was to see some exponents of radical fringe theatre performing in a traditional “straight” play. The discussion with the actors at the end gave a real insight into how and why they were drawn to adapting this “conventional” play to their own radical theatricals. The truth of the matter is…
Bush Walking Around Jerusalem Bay
I went with a friend of mine Graeme on a great walk around Jerusalem Bay (in Kuring-gai Chase) on Saturday. We found an ancient track that led out almost to the mouth of Broken Bay. My passion is the Angophora, the Sydney Red Gum which moulds itself around rocks into some extraordinary shapes. Each tree…
Welcome on board Mission Australia
I have just started teaching an “Introduction to Literature” Course for Mission Australia. This happens at the Mission Headquarters in Surrey Hills. I have thoroughly enjoyed my two sessions there so far where we have introduced the three core genres of literature (poetry, fiction and drama) and are now busily working away at the poetry…
Shakespeare and Romanticism Week 5
Yesterday we explored Golding’s translation of Ovid’s image of the four ages of the world. How much we need the influence of that vision of the Golden Age! How accurate is that depiction of the Iron Age which seems to be the prevailing condition of human life on this planet… and yet we have someone…
New Short Term Poetry Competion: “The Spirit”
Hi all…. Poetry in the Gallery PIG was such a success that we plan to continue this “Marriage” between LJ and PIG…. a new exhibition of paintings to do with the Spirit is opening on March 31st…. we (the royal we!) are proposing that you find the inspiration to write a poem called “Spirit” or…
New Short Term Poetry Competion: "The Spirit"
Hi all…. Poetry in the Gallery PIG was such a success that we plan to continue this “Marriage” between LJ and PIG…. a new exhibition of paintings to do with the Spirit is opening on March 31st…. we (the royal we!) are proposing that you find the inspiration to write a poem called “Spirit” or…
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Spring 2025 