As wonderful and challenging as I may personally find Christmas, I nevertheless feel grateful for Christmas as a time of the year when you can give thanks.
First off the rank thanks go to Going Down Swinging, an incredible Australian literary journal that has been supporting new writing from Australia and the world at large for some three plus decades now. A little while ago, GDS nearly closed its virtual doors, but I’m grateful to say that this was not the case. They’re back off the ropes and that’s all thanks to you, and a bunch of other gorgeous readers/writers/lovers/fighters.
This year, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a special sequence of events, One Night Wonders, featuring full sets of some of Australia’s finest spoken word performers. The live recording of this album is now available either by digital download or just you wait a little long for the harder copies.
Because it’s awkward for me to describe what the album entails, I’m grateful to GDS editor, Geoff Lemon, for doing it better:
She channelled the chapel surrounds, tying together the long shadow of lapsed Catholicism, an aversion to melodrama, the families we choose and the families we’re given, the strange long hours in the middle of summer nights, the confusion over who we’re supposed to be, all ending with her magnificent meditation on the way we leave this world, built around the seven stages of a funeral’s order of service.
All that with a bow on top.
I would love to hear your feedback and your thoughts, and would be honored if you’d consider splashing your hard earned $15 on this collection of work. If you want to wait for the stuff you can touch, I will certainly let you know here, but also on the GDS site they keep track of such things.
eleanor j jackson 