Celebrating Ordinariness

*

They were crucifying themselves, swirling in, regulation upon regulation, ache upon heartache, sea breeze in an infinite dawn, all that was breaking, heart open, crystal shore, these places were the beginning of new things and old, and he emerged like some primordial life form coming out of the swamp, almost laughing as the water streamed from him. I'm just a garden gnome alcoholic, the next three speakers said, the only time he ever said what was truly going on in his head. So instead he became friends with Maria from New York and they made jokes about the library card set - as in, I knew I had to do something about myself when I lost my library card. Fell off a bar stool. Got done for Driving Under the Influence. He could hardly be marshalled into believing. That just wasn't the way to corral him into anything. Neatness freaks and Jesus freaks. Dusty streets. I might go back to morning meditation. Or splatter myself against the sky, he said to Jaan on the Skype system. There were so many methods of communication these days. Shadows hovered like limpid belief systems. They weren't going to shrug this one off.

I'm American, from New York, Maria declared in her inevitably large, loud voice. What a mean ass junky she would have made. Never guess, would you, he said to the antique dealer. From Denmark. Everyone was truly from everywhere, here. He wasn't going back, that he knew. There were other things to be grateful for. Salvation. Oblivion. A hankering after a costly place. A costly state. Just that, frustration. A hankering after a divine place most mortals never knew, could never pine for, could never afford. These were darkened days; as if the shadows were waiting just around the corner. But at the same time he couldn't believe his good luck, good fortune, and should have embraced everything with a great deal of fervour. Just one happy year in Bangkok, that's all I want, he said. But already he worried about two or three years hence, as if it mattered; and the divine march? Well that was the way of it. Kah Koon Kahb. Thank you. How are you, I am fine, the boy parrotted. Sabadee mai kahb. How are you? Said to a friend, you care about the response, the guide book said. They walked across the Railway of Death on the River Kwai, another bunch of gangly tourists. And later the driver went into a great exposition about how the shop keeper had given them a discount just because he spoke a few words of Thai. They still spoke as if he didn't understand, but were more wary now.

The future was a troubled place, that he knew. So he just surrendered to the present and grew in depth. There were many opportunities awaiting abroad. And he maintained the joke, although it wasn't really a joke. Be careful with money, he would tell the boy, if I run out of money we have to go and live in India. Aek no India, tih nih degwahr, here is better, he would protest. And they would kind of laugh, as if it was really a joke. Someone would die, but would that really make things any better. Sometimes he was classified a ruin. Come and view. Come and see me, now! Let the girlfriend clean her gun. Let the security guards shuffle uncomfortably, or laugh outright. Let the gossip circle and the carrion birds fly. Let the crows hop from branch to branch above his head. Let the sinister trails reach out through what they knew to be their own. Make house. Make sure. Make a noble role of a noble house, noble life. Let's stand tall and say: at least I had a go. At least I lived. At least I watched the foreign climes collapse in sheets of profound colour; marking desire and longing and emptiness all at once; there in the tropical heat. He couldn't stop gazing out the window at the view, even when he was nowhere near the place. Well, that was it, they were moving to a new place. The boy was very busy.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/pm-uses-carbon-carrot-to-woo-green-vote/1953563.aspx

Prime Minister Julia Gillard hopes to take Greens supporters with her all the way to the next election by putting a price on carbon via a policy strongly influenced by the minor party.
To determine that policy Ms Gillard, at the request of the Greens, has formed an exclusive committee whose members must accept that a carbon price is the only way to tackle climate change. That rules out Coalition participation, with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who prefers direct action measures, already knocking back an invitation for two of his members to join.

Ms Gillard detailed yesterday the line-up and terms of reference of the new committee charged with investigating ways of putting a price on carbon. It will canvas various methods, including through a carbon tax, an emissions trading scheme, or a hybrid of several measures.

Ms Gillard will chair the body herself, while Climate Change Minister Greg Combet and Greens senator Christine Milne be co-deputy chairs.

Treasurer Wayne Swan, Greens Leader Bob Brown and Independent MP Tony Windsor will also sit on the committee, which will be supported by a panel of four expert advisers led by climate change economist Ross Garnaut.

The committee will function as a Cabinet committee, with all its deliberations and advice papers to be kept secret until the Government decides otherwise.

For more on this story, including details of a public forum to be conducted during the life of the committee, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/keep-open-mind-on-climate-windsor-20100928-15um9.html

Key independent MP Tony Windsor is encouraging members of a new multi-party climate change committee to bring an open mind to their deliberations.

But he has expressed concern about the impact a carbon price might have on agricultural land use and food production.

The parliamentary body will be chaired by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and includes Mr Windsor and representatives from Labor and the Australian Greens.

The Coalition has declined to join the committee despite an offer from Ms Gillard.

"I'm going in with a completely open mind," Mr Windsor told reporters in Canberra today.

"I suggest it's probably time most of us did that rather than have a closed mind at the start of the process."

However, the rural-based MP wants to ensure an "inevitable" move to a market-based carbon abatement scheme does not impact adversely on food production.

"We need to understand what we're potentially doing if we start to introduce a favoured economy over the food economy."

Independent senator Nick Xenophon said he'd like to be part of the new committee.

"I need to negotiate my way through on that," he told reporters, suggesting emissions trading as the "most efficient" way to tackle climate change.

"I guess I have to talk to the powers that be, [including Climate Change Minister] Greg Combet and others."

One of the first tasks of the committee will be to assess the worth of a citizens' assembly, proposed by Labor during the election campaign.

Mr Combet said that the committee would discuss the assembly in the context of how best to go about promoting discussion and debate in the community.

"We don't want to get hung up about the mechanisms too much," he told ABC Television.

Mr Combet said the desired outcome was improving the level of community debate and a better understanding of the options to address climate change.

His opposition counterpart, Greg Hunt, said the committee would be one of the most secretive bodies ever created in the Parliament's history.

Politicians could not sit on the committee unless they signed on for a preordained outcome and a belief test, he said.

"It's contrary to parliamentary practice, it's contrary to good democratic practice and it closes down rather than opens up debate.

"We think there's a better way - direct action, start immediately, clean up the power stations."

Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen said the committee was discriminatory.

"I don't believe in a carbon price, it's as simple as that," he told reporters.

"There are things that you can do responsibly without needing to go to a carbon price."

The opposition's junior environment spokesman Simon Birmingham said Ms Gillard had "totally backflipped" on a carbon price.

He also defended the Coalition's decision not to take part in the committee.

"We are not going to sign up to something where we fundamentally disagree with the outcome," he told reporters.

"This is not a committee that's open to deliberations [or] the public ... this one starts with predetermined conclusions."

Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne defended the make-up of the committee.

"The fact is climate change is real; acting on it is urgent; we've had that debate," she told reporters.

"There's no point in going back to square one," adding that there would be space for people on the committee to change their minds.

"And come up with a position that's different from all the original positions, people may have taken into the discussion."

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