The Importance of Culture

To start with I want to define two terms and introduce some statistics about culture in Australia.

Multiculturalism: the preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation. (multiculturalism, n.d.)

 Cultural diversity: the cultural variety and cultural differences that exist in the world, a society, or an institution.(cultural diversity, n.d.)

Australia is both a multicultural and culturally diverse society with some 30.2% of Australians born in a country other than Australia, only 50% of Australians having both parents born in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). And at this point, we don’t require total assimilation into the collective for people to become Australian only partial assimilation, language, values and integration not a total stripping of self.

Australia’s cultural diversity has given us our food, our slang, our buildings and a large part of our national identity. Some argue much of our population too is from immigration. While younger generations are proving more tolerant of immigration (in personal experience) older generations can still take issue with it and not know exactly how insulting what they are saying is (or just not care or do it to provoke a response).

Libraries can be somewhere that people may congregate either as a social hub or educational purposes. Those moving here from non-English speaking countries may like the idea of something like Melbourne Library Service’s ESL Conversation Club which allows for the learning of colloquial language in a relaxed friendly setting. It is worth noting that some may not be aware of what an Australian public library can offer, outreach to new arrivals may be useful.

My video for the week focuses on cultural diversity in a school setting. Pressing the importance of acknowledging the diversity of students. With one speaker reminding that it is a source of identity, she grew up in Australia living in two cultures, before the importance of multiculturalism was decided. The run through of words at the beginning which feels like word association is a good idea. Words like courage, empathy, acceptance, belief and tolerance. While it is aimed at a school setting it is relevant to the community as a whole. If a library was going to run a diversity display there are a lot of phrases in this video that could easily be woven in. It provides a nice non-judgemental and positive overview of cultural diversity.

Two more recourses both deal with perspective. SouthSudanese Migrants’ Families Struggle to Come to Terms with Violent History (Fox Koob, 2018) is an article which goes a way to explaining why one culture keeps making headlines in Melbourne, and what can be done about it. I also have a song to add here Stacy Orrico’s Instead there are some lyrics dealing with the perception of diversity. Stopping and thinking before you act. Walking in someone else’s shoes before casting judgement.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Australia 2016 census quickstats. In Census. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/036

Australian Government. (n.d.). What's new for Australian citizenship. In Deparment of Home Affairs. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/citi/whats-new

cultural diversity. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cultural-diversity?s=t

ESL conversation club. (n.d.). In City of Melbourne. from http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/libraries/learn/pages/esl-conversation-club.aspx

Fox Koob, S. (2018). South Sudanese migrants’ families struggle to come to terms with violent history. The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/south-sudanese-migrants-families-struggle-to-come-to-terms-with-violent-history/news-story/bad62bbc3d01d07709d6cc98928c35be

KidsMatterAustralia. (2015, March 10). Thinking about cultural diversity. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIkII22h18

multiculturalism. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://www.http://www.dictionary.com/browse/multiculturalism?s=ts

Stacie Orrico - Topic. (2017, April 20). Instead. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTa15Zw1FsA

Peeling the Onion Review

Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr (1996)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This must be a mistake; life isn't supposed to be like this. Pain's supposed to be nasty but bearable, like period pain or cracking a rib. Nobody tells you that the real pain is more than something in your body, it's like a black vortex that engulfs your mind leaving you to wondering if there's a border between life and death and which side you're on. It leaves you knowing you're not the person you always thought you were, knowing you're not strong or brave, not even a person, just a speck n the maelstrom.

'Always someone worse off than you,' I remember that later. That's the worst of all. Am I supposed to be happy that orphans in Bosnia have had their legs blown off? To not mind my pain because other people can't buy painkillers? I don't want things like this to happen to anyone; the images of torn-apart children, raped women and murdered men pile on top of me in a suffocating mass of grey.

First off, I need to admit that I have read Peeling the Onion probably 10 times since I was 14. It was an assigned text for English, but it spoke to me on a level few books had to that point. So, I knew what was coming, I already had an affection for some of the characters and I already disliked some as well. And like so many who’ve read it at the right time in their life, it changed my life, my perspective on so many issues (even to the point of reaffirming my stance on euthanasia).

So that raises the question; why after 15 years do I keep coming back? Peeling the Onion has some of the best descriptions of pain I’ve ever read. There are multiple times where Anna is describing how she is feeling using metaphors that are brilliant and useful to someone in pain, someone who lives with pain. I love that the change in victims’ families are acknowledged and survivors guilt addressed. The book showcases the side of car accidents not often shown in fiction, a very human side.

Peeling the Onion follows the story of 17-year-old Anna Duncan karate obsessed and sporty from the time she has a life-altering car accident for the next 10 months as she starts recovering and decides what she wants to do next. It is nearly all in the first person, as Anna, as she moves through what can be seen as the stages of grief and as she tries to cope. As the world changes around her, as she finds her new place in it and as she defines and redefines relationships.

The writing is spectacular. Befitting the situation passages become longer as the book goes on, as Anna would be able to concentrate for longer. The descriptive passages are something to wonder at. Wendy Orr does a brilliant job of creating characters that a believable and realistic. Everyone is flawed, no one is all good or all bad. From the driver of the other car to the want-to-be boyfriend to Anna herself. Everyone is human.

Peeling the Onion is an oft-studied text and is not without controversy because of that. Anna is dealing with suicidal thoughts, thinking seriously about the act and the reader is right there with her. There is also teenage sex and a few other moral concerns that are inevitably raised. To people with those concerns I say allow people the window, allow them to see someone else's reality. Fiction isn’t going to change people’s behaviour, but it might allow them to develop empathy for someone in a different situation.

I won’t say that everyone should read this book because it isn’t one for everyone. But if you want to see the impact an accident can have on a group of people, if you want to read pain, read this.

My reading experience in a gif: 

Crossposted from Goodreads

References

Cover for 9781741149333. (n.d.-b). Allen&Unwin. [Image File]. Retrieved from https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781741149333.jpg

McPherson, C. (2018, April 2). Catherine McP's review of Peeling The Onion: How Many Layers Hide The Person You Really Are? Goodreads. [Goodreads Review]. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2344254437

Orr, W. (2006). Peeling the onion. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen and Unwin.

why-d0-i-exist. (n.d.). I think I need a hug. [Image File]. Retrieved from https://78.media.tumblr.com/d086d515adf581ad52b79093b5801ec8/tumblr_nwg93cAwke1u49eego1_250.gif