Dirt Music is a big sprawling novel about the ancient Australian land, about loss, life, death, and redemption, about change and stagnation, but above all about love, and its power to change people. Peopled with small, recognisable, and believable characters, and deep, intense themes, the prose is poetic, and powerful, and at times, the structure experimental, but it is possible to read this book solely for the plot. Fast, engaging, and stunningly beautiful, Dirt Music is the kind of book that can, and should be read, and re-read.
In regards to the characters, I really enjoyed the contrasts, both technically and personally:
Tim: Different tenses and perspectives offer you different things. It helps to distinguish the world that they are in. I used the different tenses to make them seem to be inhabiting worlds of their own – a voice, or tool that they could use to express their personalities, and experiences. Past tense offers authority, distance, and present tense offers emotional immediacy. This technique isn’t new. People have been doing that since long before the birth of modernity. It was just a means for allowing the reader to experience these characters from their own perspective.
It was a strange novel. I kept looking for something drastic to happen, only to realise that things were happening all of the time, crashing over us like waves. Sometimes we just have to notice.
My favourite part of the novel was the description of space. For me, I was taken back to my time in Lancelin a few years ago. I remember travelling north to see the Pinnicles, but we never ventured beyond that. Sadly, I never got the promised fresh lobster. As a place, I always had a feeling that there was always something more happening. Maybe there always is.
Life certainly has a way of teaching you lessons. Personally, I have been a literally quieter this month, as I lost my voice. This is a bit of a problem when working in support. In part I returned from illness earlier than I probably should have and subsequently copped something on the rebound. What was interesting is that I had a dry irritating cough which meant I was unable to sit down for long without having a coughing fit. Actually, I could not even look down. This meant that as much as I wanted, I was unable to do any work. One of the positives was that I was that I felt best when walking and not talking.
The winner of the walking was the dog that we are currently dog-sitting. I have not lived with a dog since I was a child. It has definitely given me a different perspective on things. Firstly, I cannot believe how many people seem to throw away their fast food fries. Secondly, I cannot remember being so conscious of poo and whether we have been overfeeding. The other interesting thing was how much more exercise we have done as there is someone else involved.
On the Work front, I have been spending time trying to get to the bottom of ongoing issues. This led to using Google Sheets to create a template for filtering errors by school making it easier to email out issues.
Personally, with all my walking I have really dived back into books, listening to Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet and Dirt Music, Christos Tsiolkas’ Barracuda, as well as Dave Eggers’ The Every. I also watched The Umbrella Academy, Squid Game and the latest Predator instalment, Prey. While in regards to music, I enjoyed Stella Donnelly’s Flood and Hot Chip’s Freakout/Release.
Here then are some of the posts that have had me thinking:
Education
Essential Tools for Teaching?
Miguel Guhlin reflects on the process of selecting the right tool for teaching.
Should we be wary of so-called coaches? (Life Matters)
Hilary Harper speaks with Dr Sean O’Connor and Carly Dober about the different iterations of coaching.
The education minister’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea*
Alison Bedford and Naomi Barnes respond to the proposal to produce centralised planning resources as a means alleviating pressure.
How to Make Notes and Write
Dan Allosso provides a guide to how to make notes and carve them into ideas.
What Can Students Do?
Cameron Paterson shares examples of where his students have co-constructed assessment criteria, self-assessed their work, written their own report comments and taught their own lessons.
Technology
What Adults Don’t Get About Teens and Digital Life
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James talk about teaching teens to build personal agency, anticipating and discussing different dilemmas before they arise, and encouraging collective agency where groups respond to challenges together.
Curious About 3D Printing? Here Are Some Tips Before You Dive In
Kenneth R. Rosen provides some tips to consider before starting your own foray into 3D printing.
The approaching tsunami of addictive AI-created content will overwhelm us
Charles Arthur maps the evolution of AI-created content until now and ponders where it might be heading.
These 3D models take you inside the shattered ruins of some of Ukraine’s cultural treasures
Emmanuel Durand is capturing the war in Ukraine in a new way, capturing 3D models of various heritage sites as a means of documenting the impact.
General
‘They said it was impossible’: how medieval carpenters are rebuilding Notre Dame
Kim Willsher discusses the importance of the Guédelon project in regards to the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Wherefore the Cover Song? (Pretty Much Pop)
Pretty Much Pop podcast team speak with Prof. P.D. Magnus about various aspects associated with cover songs.
Kayaking the sickest urban river in Australia
Beau Miles traverses the Cook River in Sydney, providing an insight into the health of our urban rivers.
To Support Salman Rushdie, Just Read Him
In response to Salman Rushdie’s stabbing, Randy Boyagoda argues that the best way we can respond is to read his work.
A vision of life beyond burnout
Jonathan Malesic suggests that the answer for burnout relates to moving dignity back to the individual rather than being dependent on work.
Read Write Respond #079
So that was August for me, how about you? As always, hope you are safe and well.
Image by Bryan Mathers