Imaginif

Welcome to the October 24, 2007 edition of Carnival of Australia. This edition begins with a recognition of October as

sexual violence awareness month

and this week as

Crime Prevention week.

Even our Prime Minister agrees, Australia says NO!

Imaginif Child Protection became Serious Business is supportive of ending violence against all people, especially children and we therefore begin this edition of the Carnival of Australia with posts that recognise safety and acknowledge abuse and child protection.

Jumping in Puddles is an Australian woman who has suffered severely at the hands of her parents. Abused her entire childhood, Jumping created alter egos to survive. Diagnosed in adulthood with Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka Multiple Personalities), Jumping blogs (at Lifes Spacings) her days from the perspective of the alter ego present. If you wonder on the effect of child abuse, read Jumping’s blogs. She allows us the privilege of looking into a life than normally only therapists and doctors would ever get to see. In the darkness how it creeps and seeps, Jumping provides a rare insight into the fear and confusion of fractured personalities too scared to stay in but too terrified to come out. JIP, thank you for sharing your self with us. On behalf of non abusive parents everywhere, I am so sorry that you had to endure abuse at the hands of anyone, but especially at the hands of your parents.

Duncan Macleod presents NSPCC Be The Full Stop posted at Duncan’s Print, saying, “An advertising campaign for NSPCC challenging people to get involved in putting a full stop to child abuse and neglect.” I would encourage you all to visit the campaign and to pick something that you can do to help keep children safe. When was the last time you gave a child a hand? Letting kids know they are worthwhile goes a long way toward creating a culture of child value.

Megt presents Bloggers Beware! Your Privacy Might be at Risk posted at Dipping into the Blogpond, saying, “I urge you to read this. Your home address details might be displayed to anybody who wants them. Mine were. If you have a blog (on your own domain), or any website for that matter, please manually check the information that is listed for your domain.” Far out! What’s the point of having a silent telephone number if my address is displayed to all and sundry. Thanks for this Meg.

While I was out Stumbling, I found Disclosures of child abuse posted at Foster Care Victoria. A relatively new blog, I invite them to join our Carnival of Australia and to share their excellent work with the rest of us. As a foster carer myself, I have first hand experiences of what life is like for children in care.

Alex Garcia presents Trooper David Pearce killed in Afghanistan posted at Life in Brisbane - Queensland - Australia.

The death of Trooper David Pearce is a grim reminder of the risk faced by our troops on deployment, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Brisbane-based father of two is the first Australian soldier (digger) to be killed by direct enemy action in the current deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq. The nation mourns with his young family.

A sad, sad effect of our involvement in war. Rest in peace David.

Mad goat lady presents Who is caring for the carers? posted at Mad Goat Lady. As a carer myself I know the smell and coarse feel of emotional and physical burn out. I know the isolation, the intense fatigue and the joy in being able to share private pain with others who understand. Care for a carer today…just think what the alternative is - if all the carers walk off the job, you may have to become the carer!!!!

Illusive Mind presents Liep Gony posted at Illusive Mind, saying, “This article is about how we failed to provide safety for those refugees who desperately sought after it. As a result the government demonizes the people they are supposed to protect.” No matter what colour a person’s skin or which part of the world they have come from, surely Australia is big enough to keep all kids safe. The murder of this young man was indeed a black day for Australia.

Michelle Sweeney presents Living The Dream Tshirts Fly In The Face of Super Mum posted at Tonic Gifts. Michelle always posts interesting retail related items. I just love the idea of these T-Shirts as a way to market reality rather than media contrived images that leave us parents often feeling inadequate.

James K. Bashkin, a new comer to the carnival of Australia, presents  Patricia Carlon posted at Nearly nothing but novels, saying, “My Aussie heritage keeps me searching out top books from Oz.” Check out James’ descriptive conclusion in his review of this piece of Australian literature:

This particular Australian crime fiction travels as well the best Shiraz and arrives at its destination with just moments to spare.

Craig Harper presents The Meaning of Life posted at Renovate your life with Craig, saying, “So in an age when space travel is possible, phones are now mobile computers and Michael Jackson can turn himself into some weird-ass version of Elizabeth Taylor, surely I can figure out the meaning of life. Or not.”

Roger presents Film Review: Into the Wild posted at typing is not activism…., saying, ” this is a review of the latest film to be directed by Sean Penn. Into The Wild is a future classic which really hits the eyes, heart and mind.”

Mr swollenpickles presents Study confirms men in utes are “hot” posted at Car news @ MotorDude.com. I have but one question pickles: if the “poll found that 53% of women think that a man driving a ute is sexy,” what do men think of women who drive utes? For those of us non gendered drivers who prefer a more conventional vehicle, does that mean we just can’t get it right because we are “uteless”? Oh dear, I laugh at my own jokes way too much! 

Stumbling the topic of Australia brings me into contact with so many great blogs: I found Why I love Australia posted at scottberkun.com. Slanguage, that particular Aussie bent on bastardising the English language, tickled the fancy of an American blogging guru when he presented at the Wed Directions Conference in Sydney. He’ll be back to ‘aveagoodweekend. After all, who can resist our unique way of talking, ey.

That concludes this Crime Prevention Week edition of the Carnival of Australia. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of Australia using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page. Next fortnight (7.11.07) we’ll be over with Martin at Small Office Australia Blog.

What are you doing on Friday evening, the 26th of October. Join Imaginif in creating alternative energy for a Reclaim the Night Light march

Technorati tags: carnival of australia, blog carnival.