December, 22nd. Chris and I had walked around the villages in the Dandenong Ranges to take in the community cheer that shop keepers gift us with in December. But it was nowhere to be found… with the exception of Monbulk… yay, Monbulk! But that was only because their community of traders had a competition for the best Christmas window.

But for Chris and I, their windows were a gift to the community, its their festive face, its the someone who dares to dag, to put festivity out there, to spark others to celebrate, to raise spirits in something we could all share. The other villages, Belgrave, Tecoma, Upwey, Kalista, Mount Dandenong, Olinda, Sassafras, Emerald, but for the handful of exceptions (however small) who remembered or bothered, were largely devoid of any effort at ‘cheer’. Instead, they presented like Scrooge, bland, almost stating ‘business as usual’ or, more bluntly, ‘can’t be bothered’. And what they forgot was that this resonates with those walking past their windows, and then we can’t be bothered to look much further into their windows… they modeled ‘why be bothered’ and we resonated that.

I decided to ask a few shop keepers why they had pulled the plug on decorating their windows. There were so many reasons:

* they couldn’t see the point spending money when business had been tough all year
* there was nobody around, everyone is buying on the internet
* most decorations are from petrochemicals, made in sweatshops and lights contribute to global warming
* decorations are for those celebrating Christianity so if you’re not Christian why do it
* having a whole street or village join in promoting a Christian event is culturally excluding to non-Christians and therefore not culturally sensitive to the vast numbers of non-Christians (including atheists and humanists).
* we have a summer Christmas so decorations of snowflakes, snowmen or heavy dressed Santa make no sense
* Christmas decorations in the huge shopping malls are so homogenous, pristine and ‘designer’ they felt their own would be poor by comparison
* people felt bombarded by the ‘hard sell’ use of Christmas decorations used as early as September for a season in December and they didn’t want to look like they were desperately pushing the same hard sell.
* customers complained in general about the pressure of Christmas, its wastage, its kitsch, its sensory bombardment, its me-me greed, its hard sell style of Chri$tma$ as the celebration of materialism and profits.
* keeping decorations in a box all year took up space for no good reason
* when December came, they looked around and saw nobody else was doing decorations so couldn’t get ‘in the mood’ and decided they wouldn’t either.

There is much to celebrate in December in Australia. We don’t have snow but we do have sunshine. The trees are gifting us with saplings ready to pot and gift to others. The herbs in our gardens are so abundant they are crying out to be turned into ‘bush bouquets’ and plaited garlands to be gifted to others directly or through displaying them for the passing community. The bees are active, the butterflies are everywhere, the birds are singing and all pollinating the plants and trees in fruit, waiting to be picked and shared with others. The open spaces are waiting for celebratory gatherings. It is time for dancing, singing, playing instruments, poetising, throwing an ‘art party’, story telling (there’s some good Dreamtime sun stories), time to dag out, be part of the abundance of nature and remember we are part of nature too. Dress up as an elf, don your butterfly wings, adorn yourself with flowers and vines and celebrate the earth and its abundance. You can even have a safe silk ‘bonfire’!

December in Australia is our Summer Solstice, the celebration of summer and solstice is an astronomical event, an event of nature that belongs to us all regardless of religion, beliefs or differences. You can commemorate solstice whether you are Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, Neo-pagan or committed undecided humanoid.

Is there a place for shops in Summer Solstice? Of course there is. Imagine our villages celebrating the spirit of summer in all its energy, exuberance, inspiration, abundance. Selling hammers and wheelbarrows? Great, we can use them to put up a summer garland or barrow the plants we’ve been gifted or intend to gift. Selling dresses? Wonderful. We can buy them and embellish them with the colors and symbols of summer; leaves, berries, flowers. A Beautician? Great, you can adorn hair and faces with color and the symbols of nature. A real estate agent? Then boast the gardens of your properties waiting to be seen, the opportunities in a season of enthusiasm and activity to take on something new. A paint shop? Remind people of the gift of color, its place in celebration, creativity, inspiration. A travel agent? Summer is a time of high energy, of getting out there, of having experiences. There are no excuses.

When I was a teenager in the late 70s-early 80s, I left dandelions on door knockers, filled discarded bottles with pine needles in water and ran tinsel around the outside to make “bottle trees” for people, dressed as an elf, bought sweets and went to the city and offered them around to strangers. In my twenties I dressed up as a bear and ran about in the snow (in Birmingham). When I was 30, I made mini boxes of dandelion seeds as “wish boxes” and dressed as a Santa girl and went shopping.

Sure, Christmas is presently a conglomeration. For devoted Christians it will always be a time of going to church, of worshipping what they believe in, of celebrating in the name of Jesus and that’s valid for them and being summer solstice in no way takes away from their right to celebrate Christmas their own way. But until the 4th century Christmas was, simply, a celebration of the season, it was Yule. And in Australia, our season is summer. Our summer solstice coincides with Christmas time just as winter solstice does in the Northern Hemisphere. Chris and I We have a Summer tree, decorated with clip on craft butterflies and birds, beads and bling. We have a garland on our porch in rich summer colors with craft berries and fruits. I decorated the fence with ‘bush bouquets’ and we put up our little string of lights to spread the cheer with those passing.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The end of the year is a time to celebrate new beginnings, sometimes after a very tough year. My husband and I were both in hospital this year facing challenges that could have taken our lives. December was a time to celebrate new beginnings.

Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.donnawilliams.net

I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of this country throughout Australia, and their connection to land and community.

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Happy Solstice everyone! Where’s your ‘bling’?

Any person made homeless through eviction should be given a voucher for a camping store so they are least have a tent and bedding.

All homeless people should be sponsored for a free P.O Box to get mail

All homeless people should be provided with a facility to retrieve employment related phone messages through their most local library

If you run a radio program, feature homeless people, air their stories, their hopes and provide a contact people for those willing to give them opportunities.

People could leave ‘free to good home’ recyclables on park benches for homeless people to gather as they wished.

People with used musical instruments or art materials could leave them for artistically talented homeless people to use for busking so they didn’t have to ‘just beg’.

Those with room for a pet could offer to foster the pets of homeless people unable to house or look after them, with Sunday morning visits available on the front lawn.

Unwanted bicycles could be gathered so homeless people who can’t afford transport can use them to get around in seeking jobs.

Churches could run monthly Sunday after service auctions of donated goods with all proceeds to benefit services for those homeless in the area.

Whenever you stay in a hotel/motel, gather the excess bread rolls, butter, jam samples and leave them on a park bench on the street for the homeless to enjoy.

Whenever you fly and get free wash bags, combs, toothpaste, socks, earplugs, sleep masks, then you didn’t use them, leave them on a park bench next time you’re out walking.

If you see cheap picnic sets and picnic blankets at garage sales or charity shops, donate one to a homeless parent living in a car so they can at least take their kids for a picnic in the park.

If you have excess writing pads, pens, even pads of recycled paper, leave them for homeless people on park benches so they can write poetry, signs, letters, job seeker advertisements, skills lists, prioritize their thoughts, counsel themselves through journaling.

If your kids have 10 balls and only need 2, leave 8 in the park so homeless people can play ball.

If you have self help books, novels, kids books, books of affirmations, any books, leave them in a water proof bag on a park bench so homeless people can explore them, lift their spirits, may even adopt one as a valued possession, mental escape or solace.

All those freebie PR drink bottles… don’t want or need them? Then leave them on a park bench so a homeless person can fill them with water which is healthier and cost free compared to canned drinks.

Got a rucksack or wheel-able suitcase you don’t need. Leave them opened (so its clear there’s no bombs inside!) on a park bench so homeless people can take them to carry their possessions without a supermarket trolley.

Got reasonable hairdressing skills? Have your local church give you lawn space to offer free haircuts to homeless people once a month.

Got a second or third set of shaving equipment you didn’t need last birthday? More towels, soaps or handkerchiefs you already have excess of? Leave them on the local park bench for homeless people to find.

Got more constructive ideas? Feel free to post them in the comments!

Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

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Think you can’t help the homeless…

On May 21st, for one night only Donna Williams and The Aspinauts will perform the rock musical Footsteps of a Nobody 7-8pm, followed by an interactive question-answer forum with the audience, Walking In Autistic Shoes, from 8-8.30pm at the Wendouree Centre For Performing Arts.  Proudly sponsored by Ballarat Autism Network as part of World Autism Awareness Month.  With question time to follow the show this is an opportunity for an amazing, informative and inspiring night out.

WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH EVENT

Footsteps of a Nobody is a powerful one woman rock-musical written, directed and performed by Donna Williams, author of the international bestseller, Nobody Nowhere; Autobiography of an Autistic Girl and musically accompanied by The Aspinauts.   Through characterisations, gestural signing, evocative spoken word and song it traces Donna’s pivotal experiences from a meaning deaf, meaning blind feral child to homelessness and on to her ultimate fight to claim a place of equality among others.

REVIEWS OF DONNA WILLIAMS’ WRITING:

She allows us to understand our own perceptions as never before. NEW YORK TIMES

Powerful and unique. DAILY TELEGRAPH

Deserves every superlative a reviewer can muster. THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Powerful enough to make one reassess what it means to be human. MODE

By turns fascinating and harrowing. PEOPLE MAGAZINE

THE Q-A FORUM

One of the most well known authors diagnosed with autism in the world, Donna Williams was born in Melbourne in 1963.  Thought deaf and assessed as psychotic at the age of two, Donna Williams acquired functional speech in late childhood and was diagnosed with autism in her 20’s.

Her first book “Nobody Nowhere” was the first of two international best sellers (set to become a major Hollywood film) and paved the way for Donna to become the author of ten books in the field of autism, an international public speaker and autism consultant, and artist and musician.

Donna’s show, Footsteps of a Nobody takes us on that journey and the interactive Q-A forum (Walking In Autistic Shoes) that follows the show allows the audience to directly ask their autism related questions and is guaranteed to provide a fascinating insight into the world of Autism as someone who has actually been there.

• “The “feel good” feeling you get after the event is amazing. My manager found it the best lecture she had attended in her whole career!”

• “Never have I sat through a seminar that held me captivated the entire time. Donna is an expert on the subject and if you think you know a lot about Autism then think again”.

• “Donna Williams’ talks are spell-blindingly powerful. I regard her as the preeminent speaker on autism, from a powerful inside-out perspective”.

• “As remarkable a spokeswoman, activist, artist, author, and musician Donna is, her humanity is what really sets her apart; her humor, passion, wit and insight into the world around her; her ability to see beauty in everyday things, her playfulness, her way of being in the world. Donna not only changed the way I see people with autism; she changed the way I see everyone”.

• “Donna shares her knowledge with her audience in a way which makes it one to one, when in a room of hundreds. I would recommend her as a ‘never to be missed’ speaker”.

• “Donna’s passion for her autism topics dominate the whole room leaving you wanting more”.

• “In the years I have read many books on Autism but the most extraordinary and significant experience in my personal and professional life was my meeting with Donna Williams”.

WHEN: Friday May 21st, 2010
(Immediately following the show, Footsteps of a Nobody 7-8pm)

TIME: 7-8.30pm (show 7-8pm.  Q-A forum 8-8.30pm)

WHERE: Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts, Howitt St, Wendouree, Ballarat, 3350

COST (includes show + Q-A forum):  Full Price $20,  under 18s  $5.00

BOOKINGS: Phone Bookings & payment direct to Booking Office -03 5338 0980
Hours- Tues-Fri -9.00am -1.00pm and 2.00 – 4.30pm

ENQUIRIES: contact Kris kks@netconnect.com.au

Proudly sponsored by: Ballarat Autism Network

Disabled access is available.

Show and Q-A forum are suitable for teens and adults.

more info:

http://www.donnawilliams.net

This item originally posted here:

The Aspinauts head to Ballarat’s Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts

BARBIE by lyrics and music by Donna Williams 2008

VERSE 1

All lipstick, legs and long blond hair.

All made up with that vacant stare

All dressed up, she goes out to play with friends

She is a famous movie star.

She drives a most expensive car in

diamond rings, and all the most important things in a land of plastic dreams,

plastic dreams.

CHORUS

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad, oh yeah

I think she’d like to be a much happier “d-a” “g”.

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad,

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

VERSE 2

Barbie has such expensive tastes,

her packaging all goes to waste,

she is a very plastic girl.

Why is poor Barbie awfully thin?

Her mouth is shut, no food gets in.

She must be cold in such short clothes

but she can’t catch cold with plastic nose

for sure, oh for sure.

CHORUS

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad, oh yeah

I think she’d like to be a much happier “d” “a” “g”.

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad,

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

VERSE 3

She’s got a big cheerleader smile. That must cause cramp after a while

but hers is baked onto her face.

If she could speak, maybe she’d said, she prefers to wear yellow and red

and how she has got tired of pink,

and how she doesn’t like her mink at all,

not at all.

CHORUS

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad, oh yeah

I think she’d like to be a much happier “d” “a” “g”.

Sometimes poor Barbie, is so sad,

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

sadder than me, whoa, oh, oh

Donna Williams
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.

Ever the arty Autie.
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

Barbie song

ROOM WITH A VIEW by Donna Williams 1986

I’m singing now the clay birds have arrived today

and the view that I have painted can go on display

so we can gather on the sofa and imagine how it was

before the world went crazy.

I had the strangest of dreams.

There were days when you could breathe without a mask

and the skies rained down clear water,

people went out after dark.

That’s not just anything .

No, that’s not just anything.

And it could be everything if I could

just have a room with a view.

It’s warmer now that everyone has gone to sleep

and but for eight of them who snore you wouldn’t hear a peep

from where we huddle in the corner and dream of how it was

before the world got greedy.

I had the strangest of dreams.

There were days when people sat under the sun,

and you could get food from the soil,

there was even space to run.

It’s peaceful now that everyone has just been fed

and it’s amazing how much more there is when half are dead

to leave the rest of us to scavenge what has already been ravaged

since the world got hungry.

I had the strangest of dreams.

There were days when you could buy food in a bag,

where you could be the first to try something

no-one had ever had.

That’s not just anything .

No, that’s not just anything.

And it could be everything if I could

just have a room with a view.

Donna Williams

Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Ever the arty Autie.
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

A Room With A View

“I would like to be optimistic that we’ll survive, but I’ve got no good reason to be.  I order to be safe we would have to reduce our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2015.  We are currently putting in 3 percent more each year”.

Want to help change that?  Lets stop over glorifying the replication process we call populating, get over ourselves,  give the planet a rest and speak out to make the changes needed for us to be a planet that can still feed ourselves in 2015.

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons

author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter

http://www.donnawilliams.net

This item originally posted here:

Reduce emissions by 70% by 2015 or face the cull

Aside from the rainforest at Grant’s Picnic Ground and the gum forests of Monbulk, Kalista and Kalorama just minutes from the festival, there will be fairground rides, buskers, market stalls, roast chestnuts (of course), Devonshire teas, cakes, sausage sizzle, raffles, face painting, plants & showbags at the festival itself and the warm hospitality of the hills folk (of which I am one!).

Proceeds to the Mt Dandenong Pre-school up here in the hills. And you can hang out with me and the band, Donna Williams and The Aspinauts.

The lineup of performers will be:

• Actress and Children’s entertainer, Bethany Fisher will perform 12-1pm,
• Fresh back from her UK tour, hills singer-songwriter, Janette Geri 1-2pm,
• Off the wall, avant garde, inter-arts, musical surrealism with Donna and The Aspinauts 2-3pm

Hope to see some of you there.

Donna Williams

http://www.donnawilliams.net

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

This item originally posted here:

Come and get nutty with The Aspinauts at the Kalorama Chestnut Festival.

Donna Williams

http://www.donnawilliams.net

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

This item originally posted here:

Did the Earth Move For You Too – Melbourne has its 2nd earthquake in 2 weeks

Warmly,

Donna Williams

author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

http://www.donnawilliams.net

This item originally posted here:

See Donna Williams and The Aspinauts playing live!

“The gig – ‘Rock and Rebuild’ benefit concert for Victoria’s bushfire crisis, was organised and promoted by Kaine Marsh, head of Finbar Production.  The bands – A very eclectic yet thoroughly charismatic line up of artists who have some sort of connection with the towns affected by the fires. The location – Hurstbridge Oval, an iconic picture of pure Aussieness.

Tigger-dog and I had a visual introduction to Rock and Rebuild as the officially on-time Connex rolled into Hurstbridge station. A sun dried brick of a country oval transformed wonderfully into a fruitful orchard of stalls and country folk milling around a flat bed truck pumping out music with a whole lotta heart. As we lounged around in front of the stage, Donna and the Aspinauts sauntered into their first number and had the audience looking up from their snags to see what the hell had hit them front and centre between the eyes and ears.

A-ha! These were no ordinary folk songs to be kum-by-ya’d around the campfire, no way! As the guys in the Aspinauts band changed gear quicker than a red Ferrari, front-woman Donna kept apace brilliantly with her phonetically charged lyrics and mesmerizing hands shaping the melody like an artist at the easel. I watched, captivated like the crowd around me. Each song blurred deliciously into the next with Donna’s spoken word etching out the poetry of human condition, always so very eloquent and astutely connected to the song the band was about to launch into, such a poignant moment when Donna painted the scene of a blackened landscape, burnt by the very fires this benefit concert set to quell.

The set itself was just the right amount of time for Donna and the Aspinauts own musical genre to be smacked firmly into the hearts and minds of the audience. As a muso myself, I intuitively looked around to see the reaction of people who might not have had the chance to experience such a richly flavoured ensemble before, and as a muso, I can confidently say that The Aspinauts had the crowd in the rather elusive ‘palm of the hand’.

I’ve seen this band a few times now and I thoroughly recommend an audience with a Donna and the Aspinauts event if you are ever given the chance. I say event because they are so much more than just a band playing music, each of your five senses will be buzzing before the end of the first song, and by the end of the show, you’ll be definitely Aspi-fied.”

Heidi Everett

http://www.heidieverett.com.au/Home.html

This item originally posted here:

Heidi Everett reviews Donna Williams and The Aspinauts