Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Comical times ahead

A lot of words have appeared in Fremantlebiz during the past four years of its existence. They've been a chronicle of a few of the things which I've been obliged to negotiate in that time.

In recent months I started to include photos. As they say a single picture can replace a thousand words, but I don't entirely agree on that. There are plenty of truisms about the power of words too. I was discreetly informed quite early in the life of Fremantlebiz that it was on a list of sites which had been blocked from general access on defence computer systems. I assume this literary distinction is still in place.

Anyone who has been in close contact with the military can tell stories about incompetence, vindictiveness, lies, waste of materials and extraordinary examples of poor behaviour by people who should know better. Many of these events take on a life of their own, due in no small part to clumsy attempts at coverups and obfuscation.

This week someone connected with the Army alleged that a female Australian entertainer had granted sexual favours to Australian soldiers in the Middle East while she was involved with a concert tour for the troops. The allegation naming her was widely circulated in an official report which reached the public domain. Whether the allegations are true or not, her reputation has suffered significant damage.

The Australian military has an appalling record for its treatment of women. One of the time-tested tactics has been to spread rumours about their morality and sexual attitudes. This time there's been a feeble apology/excuse issued by a brigadier, but that's unlikely to repair the damage done to the woman. It's outrageous.

However, back to Fremantlebiz. As I mentioned in the past, I've done a lot of writing, but I've also dabbled in various art forms - poetry, plays, short stories, sculpture, watercolour and oil painting; oh, and comics.

I reckon everyone should have a go at these creative things in their lifetime, no matter how inadequate are the results. Comics are an interesting genre for me. I did my first ones in BC - that's before computers. I used to submit photos of my work to publishers, but a couple of rejection letters persuaded me to give up. I revealed my interest in creating comics on 24 Hour Comics Day last year on 24 October 2007. I like them for their potential economy of words.

This year I've been thinking about comics again, and have thus today added another evolutionary chapter in the life of Fremantlebiz by placing a recent one in my Picasa website. As usual with these type of images you can click them to get to the full sized version.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.

Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

About the writer

Click here to see our backyard.

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!

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