On Tampons, Dissolution, Mugs, Kings, Dimmeys, and the beautiful reinvention of an old song

‘…out on the edge of darkness’

Hello dear friends (friendly readers, reader friends)

Here’s my five things for today. 

1. Tampon Tim and the crowd-power of left-Twitter

2. Progressive govt — and the 1974 Australian ‘election that never was’

3. Making change: in the dimness of Dimmeys  -> 70s girls (microlit)

4. A concrete-poetry mug for you

5. Riding the peace train again… 

Let’s see if I can somehow string these together. 

*

1. Tampon Tim!

I love this photo.

When the Democrats vice president nominee was announced as Tim Walz ten days ago, #TamponTim immediately began trending on Twitter. 

Apparently  the Maga folk thought this was a clever insult, whereas of course it just made people fall in love with Walz even more when we discovered that one of the things he did as Minnesota Governor was to make sure that there were free tampon vending machines in school toilets, so menstruating students didn't have to be embarrassed about bleeding through their clothes in class. 

He also brought in free lunches for school kids. 

And if that’s not enough, back in 1999 as a geography teacher he helped his students start their school’s first gay-straight alliance. 

A former teacher and football coach — what could be better?

Good at communicating, great at the detail that makes a difference in people’s lives, and excellent at encouraging people to embrace change and be their best. 

*

There was also a collective sigh of relief from many who were deeply concerned that the seeming favourite of the Democrats machine and the media pundits was Josh Shapiro.

But that was before progressive-Twitter-folk rolled up their sleeves and went to work, digging deep, crowd-sourcing and sharing widely a number of disturbing things about Shapiro that would not play well with the so-recently engaged and enthused voters pledging money and time for Kamala, many of them women, many of them young.

Things like … a stint in the IDF as a 20-year-old (quickly expunged from his Wikipedia page by his staff); his recent history of putting pressure on University boards to expel students protesting the genocide in Gaza; and a disturbing case of a woman’s death he ruled a suicide when the family appealed (and.. oops, is that a photo of one of Shapiro’s relatives with a relative of the accused fiancé?). 

Apparently the case is ‘more complicated than it looks’ and the verdict may well have been sound (suicide by 22 knife wounds, including three in the back of her neck)… but the thing is it doesn’t look good, and in an election campaign you don’t want things like this rattling out of VP closets. 

So thank you Twitterati! (Assuming this info rolling out in the days before the announcement made a difference, and I suspect it did.)

I know that Twitter is not what it used to be since Musk bought it, changed its name and tried to pull its wings off.

But with legacy media increasingly bland and right-wing controlled, I still find it the very best (and worst) place easily available for political information.

*

…And while we’re talking about tampons — you’ve probably seen this one, but it is so good, and such a masterclass in timing and the effective use of the pause: 

*

2. The role of progressive government

I thought this quote was particularly relevant given it is fifty years this month since the historic joint sitting of federal parliament after Gough Whitlam's Double Dissolution election of May 1974.

 Whitlam's govt took bold action and created massive hostility and revenge from the right wing, but it also changed Australian society forever.

That the Australian Labor Party won two elections in a row in the 1970s — the first time ever the ALP had achieved this — has often been overlooked in the aftermath of a coup which sought most of all to rewrite and take control of history and delegitimise a democratically elected government. As if only the conservatives had the right to govern in Australia, and as if the Liberal Party were the only ‘proper’ choice. 

It was also the first election in which 18 year olds were able to vote. 

Check out this excellent article by Jenny Hocking and Allison Cadzow - about ‘the election that never was’

So much here that is relevant to what is happening in Australian politics and political strategy at the moment. 

What is better in the long run — bold reforms or ‘small target politics’ aiming to keep hold of the reins?

And what if you risk losing government either way, but then have little to show for it?

*

3. And speaking of the 70s… 

I did promise that I wouldn’t make these Substacks all about politics (sorry) …

So here’s a little piece (video and text) I wrote for the Remnant microlit anthology published by Spineless Wonders and available at their website.

making change

In the dimness of Dimmeys the change from the $10 whizzes down the wire from the cashier in the loft above. Everything is woody and quiet. Gentled by fabrics and threads. The clang of a tram outside. 

    I am fifteen and the lure of making collides with a body that won’t match the Simplicity of models. I keep cutting, altering and adding trying to close buttons on a perfection designed, it seems, to both elude and snare.     

   We who walk the boards of Dimmeys in 1973 are inheritors of 60s sisters and Depression mothers. Make do. Make over. Make nice. Fix yourself up. A mannequin of wife-mother sits in a silk corner of my brain, upside down, gnawing bones. 

    Apply yourself, apply some elbow grease. What about a ribbon? 

     I cut and tack and sew, and cut and sew again, until there is little left of the tissue thinness of the original pattern. 

     The era of safety pins and raw un-hemmed edges is still a decade away, but perhaps it begins here, in all the unfinished dresses and culottes and jackets that line the bottom drawers of the 70s girls who just don’t fit. 

*

4. My favourite gift/gadget pick this week is a poetry mug

Perfect pressie for your republican friends.

…And no, not the US Maga type Republicans but the Australian kind. (Was it just accidental or did someone decide that because we are ‘down under’ that our political terms also need to be inverted? It gets tiring having to explain to US friends that here Liberals are right wing and we hate seeing the electoral map turn blue.)

Anyway, here it is — designed by concrete poet and artist Richard Tipping.

On special at the moment and you can get it mailed straight to your friend or just buy it for yourself — https://www.thirddrawerdown.com/collections/richard-tipping/products/no-king-mug-x-richard-tipping

And here’s Jenny Hocking (@PalaceLetters) looking very pleased with her pressie:

And congratulations to filmmaker Daryl Dellora and team for the shortlisting in the Digital History Awards for The Search for the Palace Letters — which you can still catch on iview. 

*

5.  And finally… more from the 70s…  

‘Peace Train’ by Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) has been made into a wonderful children’s picture book. I found this so moving given the world as it is right now:

*

Stay creative, dear friends, stay engaged, stay strong. 

Thanks for reading. 

This post can also be read online at Substack or at the Substack App.

And it’s a public post so please do share this email or the website link with anyone you think might enjoy reading it or who might like to subscribe.

And thank you so much to new subscribers, and to those who leave a ‘like’ and a comment at the Substack site (even a few words helps), and those who ‘re-stack’ the post (ie re-post it) or share it on other socials. It really helps to make it visible and thus encourages me to keep doing it. 

Much love,

Xxxx Beth