The F-word

Image via Bold Thinking Series

Feminism that is.  Details are now online for Embracing the F-word: has feminism had its day? being held on 20 September featuring La Trobe academics – genetic scientist Professor Jenny Graves AO, a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow who has had a long and distinguished career including winning the Prime Minister’s Award for Science in 2017 and Dr Beatrice Alba, an evolutionary psychologist.  They’ll be joined by musician, actor and broadcaster Clare Bowditch and young feminist writer and editor Bri Lee, who recently released her memoir called Eggshell Skull.  It’s a pretty powerful panel and I’ve already spoken to all the panelists who have much to draw from and contribute to what will be a very timely conversation.

L-R: Dr Sara James, Natalie O’Brien, Francis Leach, Melissa Browne and David de Garis

I had my Smashed avo: is there a war on youth? lecture last night (pic above) at the State Library and it was a fantastic night with another very strong panel all with different perspectives and professional backgrounds which made for a very diverse discussion on the sociological, economic, business, technological and political intersection that we are now at.  My biggest take outs were that Gen X and Y women need to become more financially literate, Millenials have superannuation (if not housing) and opt in on issues online that interest them rather than swear allegiance to a particular political party or union (and that this generation needs to move from the activist space to policy in order to enact some of the change they want to see happen), Gen X have been largely silent because they are in the middle of juggling careers and family and not all Baby Boomers are out there spending their kids’ inheritance.  Some more creative solutions put forward included more social and co-housing as well as simplifying tax concessions, offering more incentives to downsizers and finance to those on short-term contracts, increasing Newstart and abolishing payroll tax.  I finished my night having a late dinner at Cookie with an ex-work friend and feeling a bit weary today.

It’s been an interesting week in politics given we now have a new Prime Minister and I do despair that young people are becoming more disillusioned and disenfranchised by the shenanigans of both major political parties in Australia.  Perhaps some more bold thinking (and action) required there…

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Living la vida local

Me with a sneaky pic of the gorgeous Greek fruit seller at Halki

Greece is a hard act to follow and Melbourne in the winter time is far from inspiring.  It’s lucky I’ve been busy at work promoting my next Bold Thinking Series lecture – Smashed avo: is there a war on youth? continuing the conversation that demographer Bernard Salt started in terms of the intergenerational wars between millenials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers and whether jobs and housing are harder opportunities for younger people to come by.  On the panel from La Trobe are cultural sociologist Dr Sara James (who reminds me of actress Katie Holmes!) and alumnus David de Garis who is a regular media commentator on all things economic for the NAB.  We’ve matched them up with GetUp’s Chief of Staff Natalie O’Brien and Fairfax finance columnist and entrepreneur Melissa Browne who has recently written the rather naughty sounding book called Unf*ck your finances.  We also tried to get Mr Barefoot Investor Scott Pape himself for this panel as he is a La Trobe alumnus but he was already engaged as many of the high-profile people I deal with in my job often are.  It is Open Day at La Trobe this Sunday and if you are considering studying in any kind of capacity, it’s well worth a visit to find out more in terms of short courses, languages, undergraduate and post-graduate courses as well as some of the other University assets like the library, Wildlife Sanctuary or Sports centre.  We’re lucky to have such a big campus so close to us in the north-east and there are exciting plans afoot for the University in the near future in terms of its development as a hub.

I’ve been driving through the suburbs since coming back from overseas and there’s been a lot of interesting new businesses I’ve noticed like Pilates Republic Ivanhoe at the back of the Centre Ivanhoe near The Foreigner cafe and Vinyasa Studio Yoga in Burgundy Street, Heidelberg.  I’ve returned to Iyengar classes with Pamela Speldewinde at Action Yoga underneath Hatch Contemporary Arts Space in Ivanhoe.  I also noticed the cute sounding name of new organic cafe Mr Macleod while having my boots re-heeled at Chris the Cobbler who’s now also found at the Macleod Village group of shops in Aberdeen Road.  They needed a crane to lift in Chris’ very heavy shoe repair machinery equipment and Chris himself has been a busy man renovating houses as well as opening his fancy new digs.  My sponsor and trainer Nikki Ellis from Cinch Training in Macleod has also been a busy person – she’s launched a new holistic health and fitness program called Find your fierce which I’ll be finding out more about given my fierce seems to have gone missing in action plus the studio is moving somewhere close by in October so I’ll be following her there.

My former client Helen Webster is holding her once a year Raffal Wraps scarf sale tomorrow afternoon if you’re in Ivanhoe and I think it would be worth a visit to pick up a bargain before the end of winter.  I also wanted to mention the Rosanna Station Community Fun Day on Saturday 11 August from 10 am to 2 pm taking place right in front of my other sponsor Hunter Lane Cafe and you will see me there in the middle of the day if you’re coming along to celebrate the opening of the new Rosanna station and level crossing which seems to have taken forever to finally finish.  I’m reserving judgement about it until the big reveal happens but took a photo today (above) as I do love the new Rosanna station sign.  There are a number of other launches taking place locally next week which I will post about in the coming days.  Four weeks to go until Spring!