Welcome to the April 2009 poetry challenge.  Who knows, any of you coming to see us at any of the upcoming gigs for Donna and The Aspinauts may actually see some of the poems performed, complete with gestural signing and characterisations.  But right now, you can send in your poetry challenges for the April 09 poetry jam.  So off you go – feel free to send me a TITLE or THEME to write to in the comments section and up to the end of April, you’ll find I’ve responded by posting a poem here addressing it.   Come on, give it a try. 

Here’s the poems so far… Read the rest of this entry »

This month’s featured artwork is titled Blah Blah Blah.  It’s a painting about meaning deafness Read the rest of this entry »

  As governments worldwide put economy before climate let me quote from , New Scientist cover story, from 28th Feb 09 issue from article “Surviving in a Warmer World” by Gaia Vince, who on page 33 quotes Crutzen in conclusion:

“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

A student named Kim Fairley had read several of my books and ws writing a paper on The Development of Autism.  She asked if she could ask some questions.  I agreed on the basis I’d publish it as an interview for the benefit of others.  Here’s the interview: Read the rest of this entry »

  Barrie Silberberg is author of: The Autism and ADHD Diet: A Step-by-Step Guide to Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) and Other Interventions, to be published by Sourcebooks, Inc. April 2009.  Having been one of the earliest diagnosed people with autism on a GF/CF and low Salicylate/low Phenol diet (I went on this in 1990) I invited her to send me some questions about my experiences with the diet.  Here’s our interview:  Read the rest of this entry »

   With his very first art show coming up this April 16th (opening is 1-3 Saturday April 18th 09 so hope to see you there!) I interviewed my lovely, shy techie husband, Chris, on his upcoming exhibition, “Wonderment”, at Jarmbi Gallery at Burrinja Cultural Centre in Upwey, Victoria, Australia.  I asked him how his own Wonderment manifests and how he, as a techie, discovered he was also an artist.  Here’s the audio interview.

Enjoy,

Warmly,

Donna Williams *)

http://www.donnawilliams.net

I was a kid who’d fall out of a tree and never cry.  Winded, bruised, I’d get up and try and keep going, puzzled that I was winded or that a bruised limb wouldn’t move well.  Emotionally, I had ’emotional fits’ several times a day when it was like a laundry basket of unprocessed, undifferentiated emotions would suddenly come to the surface, feeling I was eaten up by tidal waves.  I had no words for these and couldn’t tell what moods were in there, what situations they’d come from, so I’d just rage at myself, biting, hitting, pulling my hair or race around in circles like a tortured animal.  Read the rest of this entry »

At 4.31pm I was sitting at my desk just like I was 2 weeks ago.  Then the whole house rumbled, the foundations, the walls, the very earth.  By the time I realised Melbourne had yet another earthquake, a 4.6 this time (last time was a 4.7), it had stopped.  I strode outside and called to my neighbour.  Did we just have another earthquake?  She wanted to know.  Yep, I said, shocked.  Wild stuff.  Melbourne and earthquakes were always such unlikely dance partners.

Donna Williams

http://www.donnawilliams.net

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

  I was reflecting on what it takes for me to be friends.  I’m friendly to all and friends with far fewer.
Sometimes someone will ask what it takes for me to want to be friends especially because I’m very solitary and autonomous.
So, for what its worth, here’s my basics: Read the rest of this entry »

  I do not support thrusting health treatments onto any person without health conditions though I support the right of those with health disorders to treatment.  Health treatments of a person with autism should be based on relieving their health issues – gut, immune, metabolic disorders and perhaps the neurological and psychiatric fallout of these disorders.   Trying to alter an autistic personality through health treatments is ridiculous but one can have an autistic personality with or without serious health disorders and their associated challenges. Read the rest of this entry »