neXtDRAFT 29. Over This Wall.

Published: Tue, 06/26/18

Hello and welcome to neXtDRAFT 29. Over This Wall.

And over my wall things are turning and it feels good. Work is flowing, Jerry is settling into school, making friends, the weather has cooled. And I am writing.

All behind this wall.

Jerry and I live in a city between big concrete walls and locked gates and outside lights which run the whole night. Our house sits in the middle of two others encased behind heavy concrete perimeters.

Jerry climbed the mango tree one morning and told me on the other side of our wall was a big house, a fish pond, and a garden. And somewhere beyond our concrete walls are two other little boys -- Jerry has become friends with one of them.

Jerry met Manuel one morning while chasing Maxine.

"Maxine, ming (puss) ming (puss) ming (puss)" Jerry called to her.

"Maxine, ming ming ming" came a little voice from other side of the wall.

Jerry ran inside, telling me urgently there was a boy over the wall who wanted a friend.

Then one afternoon a few days later I found Jerry and Manuel outside their concrete compounds playing sword fight with long bamboo sticks. I manoeuvred them inside my wall and got permission for Manuel to be outside of his. Now Manuel visits most afternoons and weekends, watching TV with Jerry and playing with lego toy replicas.

And the boy from the other side? Manuel has never met him but Jerry sometimes relays hopeful messages. No results yet. We see him sometimes in his little school uniform when an early morning car arrives to take him somewhere outside the walls.

But my house isn't the only place with walls. The world over we are building more and more walls and keeping more and more people out.

Refugees. The homeless. The poor.

Native peoples driven from their lands by war, developers, and mining companies eager for profits. Apparently it is wrong to want to live somewhere nice.

And those people who now sit behind walls. Inconvenient to nations where leisure and lifestyle and lots of stuff have more value than people. And humanity.

So this edition of neXtDRAFT is all about walls. Murals painted on fancy walls, and the homeless communities living on busted cardboard boxes behind them. There's even a children book which flies high enough to see over the other side.

I'm challenging all my readers this week (including myself) to open your gate for a while and see who is standing outside. Just maybe we need the person waiting there as much as they need us.

Till next week.

Mel xx

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

inspired art

by oceans all stretched out

and human community

1858-70 1d Green - Roulette (green stamp above)

Stamp News (with Uncle Richard)

New Listings: Stamps of South Australia

For those not familiar with Australian history South Australia had its own postage system and printed their own stamps from 1855. Various issues were made up until 1912.

Just today we've listed some SA roulette stamps; where small cuts (instead of perforations) were used to separate individual stamps. Some stamps had roulette sides combined with perforated sides or imperforate sides.

We've features two of our SA stamps (just listed for sale this morning) here in neXtDRAFT but head over to the eBay store and you'll find a few more.

PS: Stamps for the Visayans is a project of my Uncle Richard. In 2014 he inherited the family stamp collection which dates back 3 generations. He sells the stamps individually on eBay and sends the proceeds to help me live in the Philippines with Jerry (as well as run small projects for other disadvantaged children). It's incredible how these $5, $10 and $20 stamp sales (plus the odd big one) add up and make our life here possible.

1866-85 10d Surcharge - Roulette + Imperforate(yellow stamp above)

Book Review: The Moon Dragon

The Moon Dragon is a beautifully illustrated folk tale that originates in China. Jerry and I just love it. It's the story of Ling Po, a boastful young man who sits apart from his community, refusing to join their activities and criticising their achievements.

And when he begins another round of boasting (at the annual spring kite making festival) bragging he can build a kite that might fly to the moon, the Emperor hears of his boast and proclaims he will attend the flight launch. Now for the first time in his life, Ling Po is forced to follow through on his claims and must begin making a kite with the whole of China watching on.

The book is very well told and the story unfolds beautifully. Jerry and I laughed and laughed all the way through, especially at Ling Po's funny arrival on the moon and his ultimate lesson in humility.

You can read my full review on the blog (or Goodreads) where I give it 5/5 stars.

#bookreview #folktales

Jerry reading The Moon Dragon by Moira Miller

Will You Look ... Over This Wall?

Over this wall

is a shopping centre

aircon and security guards

thousands of people

over this wall

Over the wall

is a gasoline station

aircon and fancy cars

thousands of drivers

over the wall

Over that wall

is a man

washing his t-shirt in a puddle

near a family on cardboard

behind thousands

Over that wall

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. The WritingBiz section is for anyone wanting to make writing a career (or at the very least make some money writing). Each week I share a few ideas on how to find writing jobs, self-publish your own eBooks, as well as how to setup your writing business and run it profitably.

Writing an About Us page for your website

Gender Inclusive Writing

Gender inclusive language has become the standard in journalistic and academic writing, and using masculine terms like workman, mankind, and man-made is antiquated and no longer representative of our culture and values in 2018.

PS: did you notice how naughty I am leaving that unnecessary gender reference in the quote by Joseph Fort Newton in the editorial?

#GenderInclusive #Equality

Company Profiles

Writing the text that describes your own company is challenging for anyone. It’s really hard to be objective when you’re fully immersed in the story, and how do you condense everything you’ve worked for into 2 or 3 sentences?

#aboutyou #mycompany

From the Vault: June 2017

Reusing the Bottle

Sitting in a bamboo stall drinking soft-drink out of a glass bottle by the Philippine roadside is like an adventure. It’s oppressively hot and noisy and the overcrowded buses and trucks and tricycles dragging bamboo stems three times their length roar by. But the glass is thick and cold in your hand: somehow it feels more real.