Black Dog is now a support blog for the FB page Southern Arts SA and also the FB page Southern Performers' Interactive Network (SPIN). If you are a South Australian poet or a musician and have an event you want publicised in the Onkaparinga region and beyond, post the info on the SPIN FB page and/or send the details to me on this blog.

Thanks to Getup! the super trawler has been sent packing.  You can see the whole story here.
This is a superb example of how we, the citizens of Australia, can make ourselves heard in the face of Government apathy and Opposition stupidity.  But the fight is not over yet: the Coalition is going to take court action.  We all need to follow this story and make sure we understand the implications.  If each and every one of us is alert to the dangers facing our coastline and marine life, we may be able to avoid adding to the mass extinctions and rapid depletions that are happening to fish stock and other marine life all over the world's oceans.

And this is the year I become a Coastal Ambassador!  A great thing to combine with walking for a good cause - I aim to do some coastal walks to give me some insight into what's happening to our coastline.  One thing I've already learnt is that seagrass is a vital part of our environment.  It used to be all over our coast, but has virtually disappeared from many urban coastlines.  I've also been learning about the hooded plover which I was completely unaware of until I moved down to the coast.  Until their nests were marked out and protected by simple fencing, people were quite obliviously walking over them and crushing the eggs.

More to come this weekend - we are kayaking in the mangroves at Port Adelaide.  I'll be taking my camera, hoping to get some interesting wildlife shots!

Happy Chinese New Year!  Now is a good time for me to resume blogging after a very quiet period.  Black Dog is getting very arthritic these days so we are taking far shorter walks, but she's still determined to help out with this year's Walk in Her Shoes Challenge
She has allowed me to put her image on a tshirt to suport the cause: anyone who joins our team can have a free tshirt!
But you might just like to donate to a good cause

radio plays rock

I saw this on stage and the radio version's almost as good!
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/airplay/9-fragments-of-sappho/3992040

Poetry goes viral

When the Radio Adelaide 101.5FM show 'Poets on Air' had its funding withdrawn at the beginning of this year I assumed  poetry was going to remain permanently unfashionable, but it seems to be spreading slowly but slyly not just over the Internet but onto the airwaves and podcasts as well.  Thanks to acclaimed poet and fellow blogger Mike Hopkins, Adelaide poets are getting a fair hearing at last.  Follow their progress on http://mistakenforarealpoet.wordpress.com and listen in to The Poet Stripped Bare on RN on Sunday June 3 at 10.05am.  To hear more about the Nameless Project, look up Streetcast's interview with Royce on Radio Adelaide.

While all this was happening, I was being enthralled by William Kentridge at ACMI and the Persian illustrated poets at the Victorian State Library.  The first one is sadly finished now, but the other one is on for a while to come - the catalogue is well worth investing in, as the pictures are very small and the room dimly lit.  For a dose of Rumi, try this.

The Endeavour departs

This is the Endeavour replica leaving Adelaide, photographed by my friend Jose. She's aided and abetted by a pair of very modern engines - in the old days the original ship couldn't go anywhere without a wind.

Bon voyage! Adios! See you next time!