Stop the Stigma

We need to talk about mental illness. 




















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Writer's Note August 2026

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  Image: A spray of blooms in a white vase in a dim lit room. How do you meet people? Reluctantly.  I’ve met thousands upon thousands; at times it felt like more than my fair share.  Observe and fix was a role.  Now I observe and wonder aloud.  This week, patches within the mist revealed I’d completed a full cycle mapping the night sky; Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman appeared front and centre to my writing desk.  Medium density at night, dogs off their leash to fuck in the street. Snarling and snapping at each other, no-one's picking up their shit.  So I looked up, and nothing compares. Image: chart of blog hits over the past 30 days, seven thousand, seven hundred and ten approximately. Thank you for your interest gentle reader.  Siv Parker House of Abundant Peace 2026
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The Knockout

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Image: Black satin funeral beads tied in a bow. 1.30am Saturday, Canberra Australia. I read The Knockout again last night, first time in many years.  Many of the participants have passed on; young and old they slipped into the life expectancy gap. ... THE KNOCKOUT a tweetyarn from a long time ago   For a time, I worked in a remote community. My job was teaching homeless kids how to make films. Number 1 job criteria: community engagement. * The project target group was 14-17yo kids. I had 12-20yo’s & younger who wanted to join in with their family members. I had to manage that. * I was new to town & they didn’t know me. They told me pretty much everyday for the 1 st year. Who are you? Why are you here? I liked my job. * We ran our youth projects on limited funds. Nowhere near as much funding as the local health service, juvenile justice, or family services. * I’d been a bureaucrat for X years so I know how to fill a form in. So I volunte...
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A fresh start

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I asked my cousin to send some photos of a fence my uncle made for her wedding. She didn’t get why.  She made the fence a tiny portion of a photo of a landscape that means very little to me.  It is not our country.  I had to blow it up to see the detail of the joinery, the finery of the finish, and that made the whole photograph fuzzy and disappointing. We do our family weddings like funerals.   There are more deaths than marriages.  Beside the top table, a collection of photos was arranged on two sideboards, surrounded by vases of roses and hydrangeas, fresh from the garden. I watched the guests on both sides of the invitation list as they realized the family portraits were a shrine.  Polite curiosity, some side ways glances but country folk will keep their criticisms to themselves. The sister of the bride was as immaculate as always. She is a beautiful woman. Thick, smooth hair that day was styled in a regal arrangement of twists and coils ...
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Writer's Note July 2026

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 Thank you for the visit, gentle readers. Image: graph of blog views 'Last 3 months' beginning in April upto 1 July 2026. Total views 21k Blog audience Image: List of countries in descending order starting with United States, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Russia, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, India, Bangladesh. Image: List continues of gentle readers in descending order Iraq, France, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, Chile, Saudia Arabia and Spain. Always in my thoughts. Siv Parker House of Abundant Peace 2026
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#mwf14 Blog-to-book Update 1.

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After blogging on every thing that caught my fancy over the past two years - from arts and culture, to social media, politics, and back in time to a shared history and the stories that keep my family alive - a secret wish has come true. Looking back now at my occasional brain snaps that were never posted, I know now how the final three Survivors feel when they walk down memory lane to read the spikes named for fallen cast members. I'm glad they never made it. (And if you are not a fan of the best mind game show on tv, please note, the players face elimination, not extermination.) . #MWF14 Blurb blog-to-book challenge Day 1 – Receive the news. Ask Garry to repeat it, just in case I had misheard that I am a Joint Winner of the  Melbourne Writers Festival ~ Blurb Blog-to-book challenge . Day 2 – Tell everyone and bask in their congratulations as we all get our head around what it actually means. Make up a list of people I can count on for honest feedba...
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A ribbon for her hair

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Midday on a Saturday in October and the weather is easy across the Northern Rivers. All house windows are open, all the better to hear the country pub band playing on the corner.  Soft rock covers. The windows would stay open till March if the annual monsoon doesn't bring the rain. It poured during the week, there's no doubt it will rain again.  I thought I had lost $20 on Tuesday when I went to pay at the farmers' market. I searched through my purse at the checkout and even said 'oh no' out loud.   I thought of all the ways I could have treated myself with $20 - if I had known I was going to lose it - as I trudged out to my car. Scented candles, surprised me, I'm not really a candle person. Ice cream was on the list but not chocolate. A good cheese flashed through my mind. Fresh scallops, in fact why not a nice mixed seafood for lunch with a couple of oysters kilpatrick.  And I wondered why the inside of my car seemed out ...
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Comic Relief

I was a country kid so I grew up on ABC. If you are of the same era, you know what I mean. Pretty much sun up and sun down screenings of shows imported from the UK. Many of the shows from the 1970s and 1980s still stand up or maybe it’s nostalgia.   Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Yes Minister, To The Manor Born told me a lot about England but mostly they made me laugh.   They were comedies set in a far away place with little resemblance to home.  They didnt make me feel blacker or invisible.  I watched them because they were funny and sometimes they were funny even when they were sad.  They did something to my insides.   I remember when it began to jar a little amongst cultural gatekeepers, the frissons of resentment that somehow we weren’t proud of local content. I cant think of any shows of comedic note that were produced in Australia around that time. Seriously. I can’t. Then and now I’ve never watched a tv show because I thought I had t...
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84th Edition Down Under Feminists Carnival May 2015

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I will be curating the  84th Editio n of the  Down Under Feminists Carnival  for May 2015. Home page - click here "wow, tell us more" The carnival is a monthly collection of blog posts of feminist interest from around New Zealand and Australia. It has been running since June 2008, with Downunderfembloggers taking turns to host. "blog posts?!! what kind of blog posts? Topics presently include Politics, Violence, Race/Racism, Science, Media, LGBTQIAU, Family/Women’s Work, Sex/Relationships, Language/Literature, Disability, Class/Poverty, Repro Justice, Intersections, Life, The Body, General Feminism/Social Justice, Reviews, Creativity/Geekery and whatever you fancy.   "where do I find the carnival?" the new home for the Down Under Feminists Carnival of blog postings, which is now in its seventh year is here Please follow the tabs to read past carnivals and how YOU can volunteer to host a carnival. "I need to get on to this A...
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My job

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My grandson has reached an age where he will ask his daddy to call me so he can get on, he wants to share some news. It’s either a question and a quick chat, or it's to tell me that he is disappointed.  I coo at him and talk about being happy about something that he can do or look forward to. His latest disappointment – he can’t make films and put them on youtube.  Both parents said no.  A definite 'no' from both of them.  He knows there are rules about online spaces, and some rules are non-negotiable. My grandson is under 10 years of age.  I haven’t posted a photo of him for years, and what made it into my social media feed was blurred or taken from the rear. He only watches shows with permission and is only on-line when under supervision.   He is a sensitive child in some ways, robust in others. He has a great sense of humour and he is smart as a whip.   He got the idea of filming his own shows. ‘Documents’ he called th...
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Smooth

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Smooth by Siv Parker Update Tuesday 23 February 2015, 12.30pm:  This blog post was prompted by a recent incident in Australia.   Rob Thomas best known as singer/songwriter of Matchbox20 is currently touring.  H e said some things at a concert. It triggered a social media firestorm.  He apologized quickly, twice on Facebook (links included below). That was good enough for me.   I decided to make some comments of my own. Rob Thomas’s response is also linked below.   If I had known the page hits to my blog post would be over 30,000 in 24 hours I may have taken longer than an hour to write it, but it is what it is.   Thanks for reading.   The last time I heard Smooth , it was a Sunday afternoon in January. A cover band was playing at the country pub down on the corner from my house. It sounded pretty good.   It wasn’t Santana featuring Rob Thomas, but it was kind of awesome to listen while ...
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