No, I’m not in Australia. But I’ve been hosting one of my Australian authors all week which is why I’ve been absent from this blog. Pauline’s book is being used by teachers working with English Language Learners in the behemoth Los Angeles Unified School District and she is so revered that when the superintendent was introducing her to a crowd of administrators and teachers the other day he compared meeting her to his recent experience meeting Paul McCartney. Hordes of teachers lined up to have her sign their dog-eared copies of the book, it was a gratifying sight. If only more progressive educators could be seen as the rock stars that they are maybe our education system wouldn’t be in such sorry shape.
It’s always fascinating for me to spend time with people from other countries because it helps me realize how cloistered I am in my life here. Did you know that Australia is in the midst of its worst drought in over 20 years? It’s really bad and there is severe rationing. Pauline was shocked at the abandon with which I let the water run as I was doing the dishes. I’m sure there must have been some mention of the drought on page 35 of our newspaper but hearing stuff like that just makes me remember how little the average American knows about what’s happening in the rest of the world.
Have you heard about Schapelle Corby? Pauline mentioned her as if I’d certainly know her story but I’m afraid it was news to me. She’s the 28-year-old Australian woman who went to Bali in October 2004 and was arrested at the airport for smuggling marijuana in her boogie board bag. She maintains that she was an unwitting drug courier for what was supposed to have been a transfer of drugs from Brisbane to Sydney. Apparently there’s a lot of such trafficking involving corrupt baggage employees who tag certain luggage but someone neglected to take out the stash in Corby’s bag before it was transferred to a flight to Bali. Her story is very believable to me (who would take drugs INTO Bali?) but even if she were guilty, 20 years is an insane sentence. The Australian government is trying to fight it or get her extradited but the Indonesian government is digging in its heels and recently overturned a reduction of her sentence. It’s a horrible story but I wonder if it would have attracted as much attention if Corby wasn’t a dead ringer for Charlize Theron. I'll bet Hollywood screenwriters are already at work crafting the story into another Academy Award-winning vehicle for the actress. Australian actor Russell Crowe has commented on the affair: “The photographs of Schapelle Corby broke my heart,” he said. “The first thing I thought this morning was, like, how can I get Johnny Howard (the Prime Minister) on the phone and say, ‘Look, what are you gonna do, mate, what are you gonna do? — that's ridiculous, what if it was your daughter?’” I wonder if Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, or Heath Ledger have weighed in.
Another Australian was executed in Singapore last December for trying to transport a shipment of heroin between Cambodia and Australia. Apparently Indonesia and Singapore are the last places on Earth you want to be caught with drugs in your possession. If you’re heading that way, I suggest you follow the current trend among Australians and buy some locks for your suitcases so no crafty baggage handlers will land you in the clink.
Did you know that Australia is nearly the size of the United States and yet there are only 20 million people living there—15 million less than we have in California alone? Talk about your wide empty spaces. Considering the small population, it’s amazing that a 10-year-old boy found a message in a bottle on Australia’s eastern seaboard a few days ago that a four-year-old girl threw into England's Morecombe Bay last July.
Our houseguest admits to having eaten kangaroo but finds it a bit gamey. She taught us a great new word that comes from the dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep and is used to describe a socially inept person.
“Don’t be such a dag, mate!”
See you all next week.
Dag!
Posted by: The Retropolitan | January 23, 2006 at 07:12 AM
oh i love that word!!!dag! thanks danny!!!!
and it makes me sick about 20 years for pot for anyone!!!!
pot is not a big bad scary drug!!!
you may get the munchies but that's about it!
aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Posted by: michelle | January 23, 2006 at 01:04 PM
don't you know everyone in prison is inocent? all victims. when you travel abroad weed is no joke. she does not look the sweet inocent part. sorry she got caught maybe. but the sentence is way too long for the crime. but abroad they don't see things the way we do. it is their country. it like here tourist think they can do what they cant do at home and getting caught is a dose of reality. and weed is usualy the drug most addicts tried first. it is a stepping stone for more serious drugs. thats the problem people think it is just weed, but other countries don't think as liberal as we do they take it very serious. but as i said 20 years is way out of line.
Posted by: vince acosta | February 19, 2009 at 02:10 AM