FEAST OR FAMINE

The Australian National University’s exhibition, Antarctica, at ANU Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra, from 24 May to 1 July 2012, is a contrast of images: from white to dark, ice to snow, pure to contaminated, virgin to discovered, hidden to exposed, inhuman to humane, fear to astonishment, fragile to forceful, humanity’s insignificance to nature’s magnificence, and inhospitable desolation to astounding beauty. A range of artists including Sidney Nolan, Jan Senbergs, Bea Maddock, Jorj Schmeissser, Anne Noble, Philip Hughes and Chris Drury give the vastness of the landscape amazing life. All seven artists have visited Antarctica, from 1964 to 2006, describing it as a crystal desert, a frozen sea, and a melting landscape. The Drill Hall Gallery continues to celebrate the centenary of Douglas Mawson’s scientific expedition of 1911-1914 to the Antarctic and the Antarctic Treaty signed by 12 nations, commencing in July 1961, that the Norwegian delegation declared “might be the ...

Two of my novels received recognition this week – The Sudan Curse and Kashmir on a Knife-Edge . My first novel, The Sudan Curse , published by Strategic Book Publishing in New York in 2009 was a finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Book Awards under the Faction category. The ‘Faction’ category (fiction based on fact) was introduced for the first time in 2012. My second novel, Kashmir on a Knife-Edge , published in 2010, was a finalist under the Regional Fiction category. On May 29, 2012, the National Indie Excellence Book Awards were announced in California, USA. Indie Excellence is open to all English language books including those from small presses, mid-sized independent publishers, university presses, and self-published works. Works published in 2009, 2010 and 2011 were accepted for award consideration. The National Indie Excellence Awards were first established six years ago in 2006, with a few categories, and are now a leading book competition for indepe...

New Scientist (26 May 2012) poses the problem that remote areas in developing countries have in keeping vaccines cool, especially when power is unreliable. The vaccines are required to immunise children against diseases such as polio, measles, and diphtheria. Hospitals and clinics in remote communities remain on edge when power fails and their back-up generators run out of fuel. Hospital workers often have to drive to the nearest major city to put their stock of vaccines in refrigerators in city hospitals. A pilot project run by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia suggested using surplus power from cellphone towers to run refrigerators needed to keep the perishable vaccines cool (New Scientist, 18 September 2010). The idea is being piloted in 10 church-run hospitals in Zimbabwe, with the support of Econet Wireless, a cellphone provider based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Cellphone providers have to keep their towers working reliably, even in areas with i...

Ardabiev is tired; he hasn’t slept for three days. He’s worried about his safety, for he’s a genius. He has just created the plant, Ardabiola, the offspring of an insect and a plant. Set in Moscow in 1980, Yevtushenko’s Ardabiola (1984) describes the mind of young student, with a shaven head and striking blue eyes, who has just completed his masters’ thesis on plants. Not related to his thesis, Ardabiev is excited about his new creation. “It’s vital that I don’t die just now,” he thinks. “I ought to lock myself up for safety’s sake… it’s possible I’m the most needed man in the world.” It began with a local plant in the region of his birth, Khairiuzovsk in Siberia. It was on old custom that the fedyunnick, like a bog whortleberry, when eaten would act as an anti-depressant and heal cancerous tumours. Ardabiev’s own father had eaten fedyunnick and his lung tumour was in remittance. However, its effects were temporary. Ardabiev, studying botany, crossed the fedyunnick wi...

Women who survive a significant trauma in childhood and comes from a small business background are the most likely to become corporate chief executives. However, men from stable households with a mother who remains at home and a father who has a professional career are the most likely to become corporate chief executives. It also helps to captain the school football team (Canberra Times, May 27, 2012). That is the research findings of Terrance Fitzsimmons from the University of Queensland business school. For his thesis, Navigating CEO Appointments: Do Australia’s Top Male and Female CEOs Differ in How They Made It to the Top? he interviewed chief executives from Australia’s largest companies, and the people who hired them. Currently 55% of Australian university graduates are female, but only six of the country’s top 200 publicly listed companies are managed by women. Fitzsimmon’s research revealed that their childhood experiences were pivotal in determining who ultim...

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou...