(Grand) Mother's Day Wisdom

Anticipating becoming a grandmother in September is giving me cause to reflect on mothering from a new perspective.

Here's my top 10 truly wise sayings collated from 3 generations of mothers before me, and which no doubt I've been heard to say, too...

1. What part of 'no' don't you understand - the 'n' or the 'o'?
   
2.  I don't care who started it!
   
3. Of course you can do it. Your arms and legs aren't painted on!
   
   
4. No, life's not fair, so stop complaining
   
5. "I don't know" is not an answer
   
6. If you're bored, go and tidy your room
   
7. Because I said so, that's why!
   
8. There's no such word as 'can't'
   
9. I love you
   
10. I'll always be proud of you

Happy Mother's Day!

Social Media Profile Photo

Many people have a profile picture that is a contrived version of themselves taken using a webcam or by an amateur photographer. Some of these may represent a person really well but others can look a bit sad or artificial. We’ve all seen them, haven't we?  And if it’s someone we know using a bad one, we might roll our eyes and feel a bit of pity. The alternative is to get a good photographer who can work on location and not with endless white or fake backgrounds. A confident professional who can capture a good natural likeness in your own environment.

Mine was taken in my back yard on a sunny day in April and by a great professional photographer (my son) who just caught 'a moment' in my natural setting. I never wear makeup and I hate having my photo taken but this one really took me by surprise - I didn't need a makeover to get a really good picture!

I think the photo reflects my true nature and that the first impression a potential coaching client has of me is that I am warm, approachable, natural and non-threatening - someone who can relate the them and with whom they will feel comfortable sharing their aspirations and fears.

I have another profile picture out there in the ether that I quite like, too. It is used by Sageco (a national company with which I associate). Oddly enough it has endless white backgrounds but somehow seems appropriate. Which one do you prefer?

Now consider the social media profile picture(s) you post.  What does it really say about you? 

Renew, Reuse Recycle a City?

It's been 8 months since my appointment to the Port Adelaide Renewal Steering Committee and, from the outside, many might be thinking that little has happened since then to renew the city.  In one way they are correct but in other ways much has been achieved to enable things to move forward.  It's a bit like painting a house, the preparation takes all the time and effort - it can be interminably frustrating until the final stages when the paint goes on. Then comes the reward.

There's still a fair bit of prep work being done by the Renewal Committee and I'm keen to make sure we don't become complacent and accept anything simply  "because it's better than nothing".  I'm still not clear about what colours, themes and designs we're creating with the prep work but something is emerging organically, it seems.

Two weeks ago, at the opening of the 2 new shops in the Central Buildings (the paint starts to be applied) I was struck by the notion of 'sustainability' as a retail commodity. Both My Modern Nest and Remake Remodel offer a beautiful selection of home wares and furniture with the ethos of renew, reuse and recycle. Then at the Gilles St Market the next weekend I saw this phenomenon of 'sustainability retailed' amplified - with the average age of shoppers around 23. Next weekend I'll be at the BowerBird Bazaar - a simply fantastic opportunity for designers of (re)new, reuse, recycle design to promote, market and retail their wares nationally from Adelaide. So popular it has had to move to the Showgrounds!

So I got to thinking...  if everything old is new again, and it has significant value to upcoming generations, why wouldn't we repackage and re-promote the Port in a similar way? Renew reuse and recycle Port Adelaide! 

The Port is more than a found object, though, it's an urban centre (albeit needing renewal). One of its many features for renew reuse is the pockets of vacant. lf we decide that creativity is a theme for the Port (why not capitalise on having the largest artist and designer communities in SA located here) then why wouldn't we insist on creativity in urban design.  We know that fundamentally the Port needs more people living, working and playing here. We could either plonk more bog standard housing or we could be creative and sustainable about it. I vote for the latter.

If you haven't been to Christie Walk in Adelaide, then do hit the link and check it out.  

An internationally award winning "pocket neighbourhood", Christie Walk is full of great design features.  The people who live there love it (rarely does a house come up for sale) and it was designed 20 years ago by a community of buyers to suit their needs and with a 'green' theme.  

If we drew from that idea, would there be cyclists interested in a 'no car' housing cooperative centred around one garage used as a shared bicycle workshop. Or what about one for self-funded retirees acting as a 'shared garden/rainwater/solar powered neighborhood'.  There'd probably be a queue for shared workshops, kilns and exhibition space surrounded by family housing for artists. And maybe we could provide a wheelie-friendly pocket neighbourhood for wheelchair bound residents the spin-off of which would be a wheelchair friendly community. There may even be interest in a 'mutli-generational' housing cooperative, where individual families can live in close proximity to children and grandchildren (a la Vietnamese family structures). Maybe the Minister for Ageing and Mental Health, Mark Butler, might want to support that as an 'ageing in place' initiative?

My academic qualifications relate to sustainability and change, with an emphasis on equity and social justice, personal and collaborative action, imagination, and learning from nature and history - with a healthy dash of economics. These are the things that drive me. I'm a social ecologist and I know I'm not alone, especially in Port Adelaide and Semaphore!

Exploring the principles of renew and reuse - sustainability themes - for our community builds on what attracts us to each other: things we have in common, a sense of belonging and mutual respect. It might be time to remake and remodel these into the prep work before the undercoat of paint goes on Port Adelaide.

What if Port Adelaide was granted status has a new kind of City?  One where reuse, new and recycle is more than just what gets done to objects. A City dedicated to the discussion and practice of Urban renew, reuse and recycle, Sustainability and Pocket Neighbourhoods.

It could be a Killer Unique Selling Proposition...  what do you think?

Look Out World

Thanks to everyone who responded to my FaceBook call for contacts for overseas aid work.

For those of you who didn't know, I've recently been accredited by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC as a Business Counsellor.

What this means is that I am able to apply to work on APEC approved projects around the world as there are reciprocal arrangements in the US, too.

A Business Counsellor, in a way, coaches through the entire process of decision making and knows who and when to refer to for specialist advice. What I hope to get involved in is assisting emerging economies and start-up businesses gain an objective view of their business to identify the areas for improving performance.

Being a Business Coach already I believe that a business operator knows (and owns) their problems and is best placed to find their own answers. I help uncover those problems and answers through coaching. I may not be an expert in your field or your industry but as a good coach, I'm expert in coaching and there is a better chance of success at the end of the process if the business operator owns and implements rather than becomes dependent on me.

Having run a couple of small businesses for the past 20 years, I can also take the role of mentor as someone who has already travelled the path.

It is the type of work I have been doing for the North West Business Development Centre in Port Adelaide for the past decade.  So my plan is to build connections in 2012 with a view to at least one month's work in a developing country each year thereafter.

So thanks again for your interest, your contacts and for your support so far.

Get Real, Cath!: The Small Book Shop

Get Real, Cath!: The Small Book Shop: For the past 20 years a small group of around a dozen avid readers have met in various homes around Adelaide on the first Tuesday of every m...

The Small Book Shop

For the past 20 years a small group of around a dozen avid readers have met in various homes around Adelaide on the first Tuesday of every month, to discuss books.  I count myself very lucky to be one of them.

We talk on all manner of topics and, some times, even about books.  Our group is defined by many things, one of which is it's name. This has evolved over time and now alternates between Adelaide WORD - Women Out Reading & Drinking, and the oft more appropriate, Adelaide WORLD - Women Out Reading, Laughing & Drinking. (Early on, the acronym even had an "s" on the end which stood for Smoking but that's all in the past now, well nearly...)  As you might imagine from these monikers, we don't take ourselves too seriously...

Strangely then, at a meeting a few months ago, a heated, well warmish, debate ensued about the Borders Bookstore demise and what that signified in our society.  A  few proud owners of kindles and ibooks, while sympathising with the loss, understood its inevitability. Others lamented the seeming trend of not only devaluing books as artifacts but (outrageously) the wonderfully indulgent past-time of browsing shelves in public spaces.  We all agreed wholeheartedly that it's hard to replicate the experience of reading a child to sleep with an e-reader.

Recently, I read an article in the SMH on this topic in which Jeanette Winterson (fantastic British author) was quoted as saying, "I'm wondering if the problem has not been in the retail or the independent niche book stores, but in fact the big leviathans in the middle that have just been sucking up everything the way whales suck up plankton … they were never interested in books anyway. This may be a renaissance for the independents.''  How insightful and metaphorically descriptive!

Being the advocate for small, locally-owned businesses that I am, upon reading that quote, I cheered.  My mind leapt to small book shops of the future with mixed offerings that match the lifestyles of their communities... a new niche market set flourish in such village shopping precincts?  Really?

Well, the possibilities for reducing overheads and stock warehouse and distribution costs would be maximised be emerging technologies such as on-Demand printing allowing retailers to have a huge backlist with little or no warehousing costs.  Mmm.. by combining on-line, street retail and local offerings in a shopfront store, old fashioned customer loyalty might just ensure viability and profit. Really!

Now I can't wait for a small business owner or independent book store to locate in Port Adelaide and capitalise on such an opportunity. How about these for some combination ideas...

Cook & Book where Masterchef meets a Library

Look & Book... Multimedia and Local Gallery

Hook & Book... a Fish Cafe and Bookstore

Book & Play... a children's play cafe, toy store and book retailer/lender

Click Books... all on-line, including reading groups!


For me, just to be able to smell the print and the coffee when I walk in off the street... to use it as a venue for my reading group... to attend readings, and poetry, writing and self-publishing workshops... support a shop that partners with schools and kindy's to nurture the love of books, storytelling, imagination, music and play... a model business that also has an on-line retail outlet to support its cashflow... a local shop where the owner is interested in the stories and books of our lives!


In a town like Port Adelaide such a store would be seen as at least as important to the community as the product it sells. So come on independent bookstores how's about providing a bespoke service with a lot of hand-selling small print run, high value books, with a unique twist.

Adelaide WORD, one of many, many such reading groups, would support you!

Another attempt at Port renewal...

I got back from overseas late April to the news of my appointment to the State Government's Port Adelaide Renewal project.  There were many really qualified people who applied for the limited number of positions so I was both surprised and honoured by the news.

In the 10 days since forming, the Steering Committee has met twice and taken government representatives for a Sunday morning walk of the Port (because there's nothing like embodying the experience of our fantastic town to get them enthusiastic!).

Someone asked me yesterday how I thought the Steering Committee was going to which I replied "if only I could be quietly optimistic... the reality is that I just can't help myself from being loudly optimistic".  That's right, you heard me, I'm loudly optimistic!

I have been blown away by the willingness of the state government representatives working with us to listen, to be open and to share.  If you've been up on the Hart's Mill Project website recently you will already know that access to the very buildings our community has been locked out of, including the Harts Mill complex, was unconditionally given. Here's a picture of the ground floor pulleys and systems that drove the mill - authentic, gritty and beautiful!

I know that many, many people share my passion for the Port. Our collective outrage, social action and the long struggle that saw good people losing their livelihoods, their health and their spirit, I believe, has resulted in our community, finally, being heard.  Yep, the fight to save the Port's authenticity appears to be have been won.

The biggest challenge for me is how to reframe my mindset.  I might have to slow down or stop "defending at all costs" and, instead, think really deeply about the opportunities ahead and how they might best work for our community. Perhaps to be "alert not alarmed".

Like other Steering Committee members, I'm keen to make sure that the people who aren't sitting around the Port Renewal table have an equal voice - that also includes people who didn't have a voice in previous committees and consultations. So anyone can contact me through this blog or facebook or when you see me on the street and, when they're up, I'll post the links to the Steering Committee, so that you don't have to go through just one person to be heard.

I have (cautious) faith that Premier Weatherill's intentions to renew the Port have serious regard for what our community values and for our aspirations and I, for one, am sincerely grateful to him and to our community for working so hard to get to this point.  Next...?