Whew! Yes, it’s another “whew!” mudlark. The last few months have been very busy and there’s little sign of things letting up.

I’d started this year wondering why I was trying to find work as a writer and looking at other jobs. I did manage some interesting work with UQ’s Architecture Department on raising urban creeks, and I’m still hoping this might lead to other things. But by May, more work started coming in and piling up. Ross has had no time to wonder about anything. He has been making, designing, entering, writing, and making like a whirlwind. We did take a few days out to deliver some commissions to Sydney, visit Jim, and see a small bit of the Sydney Writers’ Festival; we had to drive back via the inland route because of the floods along the coast.

A paper presented at the Ideas Festival, Brisbane March 2009 by Dr Tamsin Kerr.

Creative conservation: listening

Listen like a river

In the midst of the city, we listen to human-manufactured noises – the hum of cars, passing sirens, air conditioners. Within our houses, we hear the insistent beeping of microwaves, the many sounds of messaging, the mediated noise of our media. When we listen deeply, it’s to understand a difficult idea or to comprehend another point of view. But we do also notice the overt sounds of nature, particularly at edge places. In swamp remnants where night meets day, we hear the choruses of frogs and birds. The late night guttural calls of possums, even the neighbourly barking of dogs, remind us that we live in a more-than-human world.