Trevor's Writing

About writing, reading and lecturing

No Comments »21st April, 2012; Category: Christian, Devotional Writing, Reading, The Writer's Life

Regular readers of this site must be wondering whether I’ve dropped off the planet.

Both of my readers.

In reality, this site still continues to chug along with a steady readership despite not having new articles posted regularly. It must have something to do with the content written and posted here over the last six years. I missed writing anything for this site’s 6th birthday on March 6th. Happy Birthday!

Over recent months I have still been writing and very busy on writing type activities. Late last year I was offered a lecturing position at the university where I recently achieved my Master of Arts degree. This has meant a great deal of time in writing and preparing the lectures. My lectures are designed to help students new to tertiary studies on how to research a topic and then turn this into an academic essay. I am pleased that this is going really well.

More recently I have been asked to lecture in children’s literature to student teachers studying at the same university. This is an area I am very passionate about and have significant qualifications in this area. Not only do I write children’s stories, I have 35 years of classroom experience in using children’s literature to enhance student development. Furthermore, about a quarter of that time was spent as a teacher librarian. I’m really looking forward to teaching this extra unit in second semester.

Another thing I have been doing recently is getting back to reading more books. Over recent years the amount of reading I have done has shifted from books to more online material. I plan to redress that imbalance in the coming year or so; there are so many great books that I haven’t read yet – or wish to reread.

Another pressure upon my time for writing here since January has been my church life. Our pastor resigned unexpectedly in January and as one of the Eldership team it has been my responsibility to see that programmes still continue to move along. This has involved some preaching – a sermon takes many hours to write and prepare – a few extra meetings, and writing material, including devotional style editorials, for our weekly newsletter.

I trust I’ll find time to add new articles here on a regular basis in the coming weeks and months.

Good writing.

I had a good laugh

3 Comments »10th March, 2012; Category: Humor, Humour, Movies, Reviews

Last Wednesday my wife and I had the joy of seeing a preview of the soon to be released movie The best exotic marigold hotel starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and several other wonderful actors. My wife won the tickets through and offer made by the Seniors Card people here in South Australia.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie and will eventually buy the DVD as it is such a delightful romp with many hilarious lines and incidents. Unknown to each other a group of ageing English people respond to glossy advertising placed by the young manager of a run down hotel in India. Unable to afford their current housing, or seeking adventure, each in the group sets out to take up residence in the hotel. Through many misunderstandings, misadventures, comical situations and a touch of pathos, the group is thrown together in an unlikely situation and help one another to survive – or not.

I haven’t laughed out loud like this for some time. In fact, the whole audience – the theatre was full – enjoyed it so much that I occasionally missed some of the wonderful dialogue. Mind you, the average age of the audience was well over 60; you have to be 60 to qualify for a seniors card. The script was certainly written with seniors in mind – but younger generations will also get a good laugh at this, if only out of fear of what might happen to them in a decade or two.

I am a great admirer of the acting of both Judi Dench and Maggie Smith but this movie shows how both of them are ageing quickly. May they continue to delight audiences for many years to come – even if those movies send up the elderly in hilarious ways like this wonderful film.

Highly recommended.

Shopping in Addis Ababa

3 Comments »19th February, 2012; Category: Journal Writing

The following post is an excerpt from my journal written while on holiday in Ethiopia last December. We were visiting our daughter who was teaching at Bingham Academy, an international school in Addis Ababa. After leaving Ethiopia we travelled to Morocco and Spain. I’ll write about those countries soon.

Saturday 10^th December 2011: Addis Ababa

We are becoming acclimatised to the altitude here. Both my wife and I had the best night’s sleep since arriving. Our daughter also slept well after getting little sleep the night before due to her pain.

We were able to sleep in for a while and didn’t go for a walk before breakfast. After eating I wrote several long emails, including a newsletter to family and friends.

At 9:45am we all bundled into a school van to go shopping for the day. One of the staff members was the designated driver. His wife and two of their three children came too, as well as another of the teachers.

Mat maker at ALERT Leprosy Centre

Our first stop was at the ALERT Leprosy Centre. Our main interest was to visit the shop to buy some of the craft work made by the patients. We also watched some of the people doing their craft work, including an endearing man weaving mats despite having no fingers. My wife bought several items but had to leave some things she wanted due to not having enough cash. We decided to hire a driver next week to return to the shop.

Women doing crafts at the ALERT Leprosy Centre

From there we visited a silk shop attached to a very nice private house with a magnificent garden. I took a few photos of the garden and several birds while my wife bought herself a silk scarf and a bead necklace for her birthday.

In a private garden in Addis Ababa

Despite much confusion and several phone calls to other teachers, we eventually found Sishu, a lovely restaurant near the centre of the city. Our hamburgers were great despite waiting a long time due to many customers.

We then drove the short distance to the craft shops near the main post office. These catered for the tourist trade and were amazing for the variety of things sold, from T-shirts to swords. We bought several carry bags while our daughter managed to find several items on her Christmas shopping list.

Random acts of kindness

1 Comment »12th February, 2012; Category: Just a Thought, The Writer's Life

On Friday last while waiting for my wife to come from her appointment I went for a cup of cappuccino in the hospital coffee shop. I lined up to be served and the lady behind me suddenly asked if I’d like a free cup of coffee. It’s not something that happens every day so it took me a little by surprise. She explained that she had plenty of vouchers for free coffees and was pleased to share one with me. I agreed, and then struck up a short conversation with her while waiting for our coffees to be ready.

This random act of kindness got me to thinking; what if everyone set out every day to display one act of random kindness to someone else, preferably a stranger? What a better world this would be?

How about it?

Here’s the challenge: try doing just one act of kindness to someone else every day. Not only will those people be especially blessed by your action, you, too will be blessed in amazing ways by making this world just that little bit better, kinder and friendlier.

A visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital

1 Comment »8th February, 2012; Category: Journal Writing

The following post is an excerpt from my journal written while on holiday in Ethiopia last December. We were visiting our daughter who was teaching at Bingham Academy, an international school in Addis Ababa. After leaving Ethiopia we travelled to Morocco and Spain. I’ll write about those countries soon.

In the garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia

Thursday 8^th December 2011: Addis Ababa

We were up again at 6am this morning for a walk. During the night I had the best night’s sleep I’d had since arriving. One of the problems we have faced acclimatising to the altitude. We are gradually getting there. After staff devotions this morning we were invited to the senior assembly. The main focus of this assembly was to watch the K – 2 classes perform the Christmas story. This was both charming and delightful; we were privileged to have been invited.

In the garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia

At 10 o’clock our driver for the morning arrived. Rose arranged for her regular driver Alemu to take us to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. The son of the CEO is in Rose’s class and she managed to arrange an appointment for a tour of the facilities. We were made to feel most welcome by one of the office administrators.

Our visit to the fistula hospital was most inspiring, bringing tears to our eyes as we realised the extent of the work and how a simple, inexpensive operation can transform the life of a young woman who has a fistula problem. We came away convinced and convicted that we must help raise awareness of this work. We quickly thought of ways of helping the hospital and the patients in practical ways, not just with donation of money; simple things like encouraging people to make quilts or knitted rugs for the patients. If you’d like to help this wonderful hospital click here for details.

In the garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia

At the end of the tour we spent time talking to our guide Feven. We exchanged email addresses and website URLs. She is in the process of setting up a tourist business. Her clients will have a tour of Ethiopia, including the participants spending up to a week giving hands on volunteer work at the hospital. We are keen to assist in promoting this as well because it would help the hospital, assist local people with jobs and see some profits channelled into the hospital. You can check out her website here.

In the garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia