June Vignettes

NEXT:
“A Mysteriously Charged and Magnificently Alive
Archetypal Presence”

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Life Comes First”: An Interview with Thiago Ávila
• Los Angeles, June 2025: “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Naming the Pattern . . . and Its Source
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Solstice Dawn
• Home to Be With Mum
• This Moment
• Australian Indigenous Culture and the Reality of LGBTI Lives

Images: Michael J. Bayly and Aunty Ruth.

Australian Indigenous Culture and the Reality of LGBTI Lives

The Wild Reed’s 2025 Queer Appreciation series concludes with an excerpt from an insightful and moving article by Steven Lindsay Ross (right) on his experiences growing-up gay and Indigenous in Australia. It’s a fitting piece to share given that I’m currently back in my homeland to support my mum.

Ross’s article was first published in 2014 by Archer Magazine, “the world’s most inclusive magazine about sexuality, gender and identity.”

__________________

Many Indigenous LGBTI people experience homophobia and transphobia in their own lives. Unfortunately, the perpetrators are often their own people or family.

I was about five years old, I reckon. My father, a Wiradjuri man, and I were getting out of our old family Valiant. We lived in what was called “the new mission,” in Macauley Street in Deniliquin, New South Wales. All the blacks had been moved to Deniliquin from Moonacullah Mission some 20 years earlier.

The charming houses built for the Moonacullah Aborigines were fibro and erected on the fringes of town, not far from the sewerage plant. A stiff northerly breeze carried the smell of raw faeces into our street, and if there was an operational issue with the works, the town’s sludge would come bubbling up into our bathrooms. Not exactly a welcoming experience of assimilation.

Deniliquin was, and still is, a pretty town on the Edward River (Koletch, in our Wamba Wamba language). Ever since I can remember, the sign coming into town announced that there were 8000 people living there.

On this particular summer day, after my father had been looking after me (I sit in the corner of the local TAB while he bets on the horses), we arrived back in Macauley Street to discover he’d left the house keys inside. He ordered me to climb through the window to open the door, but I refused. His response was to verbally abuse me and, for the first time in my life, I was called a “poofter.” I didn’t know what this word meant, but, considering the tone of its delivery, I knew it couldn’t be a good thing.

Over the following years I heard this word a lot more, and figured out its meaning. Given my pre-pubescent romance with another boy, I soon knew I was this thing.

This was the prism through which I saw my early sexuality. In the community I lived in, I did get a sense that homosexuality was not a good thing within our mobs. And, of course, like all homophobia and all bigotry, these attitudes were designed to de-humanise me, to marginalise me and to keep me down.

In 1978 my mother wisely left my father and moved to Sydney with my sister and me. Mum moved in some pretty funky and arty circles and we were often at bohemian parties in Balmain. My sister and I would hide under my mother’s skirt while mysterious white people drank and danced and ate exotic food.

The host of these parties was known as Aunty Sharon, a redhead with striking features and a beak-like nose, who spoke beautifully and loved hugging us kids. She was my mother’s boss and she lived in Waterview Street, Balmain, with her girlfriend.

My mother never had to explain any of this to me and I lapped up the experience, as any curious child would. I loved our visits to Aunty Sharon, and the look and smell of her house. My favourite thing was to fall asleep cuddling her life-sized Wonder Woman cushion.

In hindsight, these were formative years that helped to empower my sexual identity and sense of self-worth. My mother never sheltered us from these influences. She knew I was gay all my life, I suspect, and when I finally came out to her in 1991, she said “surprise, surprise”.

My mother is a proud Wamba Wamba and Muthi Muthi woman and she knows her culture, her ancestors and the way forward for her people. She spent her life working for the mob and instilling her knowledge into future generations through environmental work, weaving and storytelling.

My father, on the other hand, is highly colonised and, in my opinion, a tragic figure of a man who was never there for any of his children. When I came out to my father, he told me he used to bash people like me. Whenever we fought, homophobic insults were not off limits.

I have seen this prejudice in other families in Deniliquin, too – we must have been a queer little community, given how many gay and lesbian relatives I have. One experience that springs to mind is that of my cousin Henry, who is transgender. Henry blossomed into Violet during her teen years. Not knowing how to deal with this change, her brothers were brutal and violent.

Violet moved to Newcastle and rarely returned home. Despite all this, there remained a staunch set of sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins who adored her, kept in regular contact and resisted, berated and belittled those small-minded brothers.

This group also provided powerful protection for the rest of us LGBTI kids growing up. Hopefully, the prejudice of the old uncles dies with them.

We were also lucky enough to have Elder LGBTI people guide us through our childhood and coming-out phases. Small country towns are not the most hospitable places for young black kids, let alone young black LGBTI kids.

That said, homophobia still finds fertile ground in our communities. In late 2013, a boxer by the name of Anthony Mundine unleashed a homophobic rant on Facebook following an episode of Redfern Now. Mundine’s comments released a flood of memories for black LGBTI people like me, and gave room for more Indigenous people to express their homophobic beliefs.

If anything good came from Mundine’s incendiary comments, it was the chance for collective self-reflection for Aboriginal LGBTI people, along with their families and supporters. For every person who supported Mundine there were dozens who spoke out against his narrow-mindedness, promoting the loving acceptance of gays and lesbians in our community. And it has also encouraged support and advocacy for black LGBTI peoples in local and broader representations.

The contrast between my mother’s open-hearted embrace of my sexuality and my father’s hateful reaction made me contemplate the idea raised by Mundine about the place of homosexuality in so-called “traditional” Aboriginal culture. There are indications from some cultures around the world that diverse sexuality is an integral part of “traditional” indigenous life – for example, the Sistergirls of the Tiwi Islands, or the Two-Spirit movement found among some Native American cultures.

There is also a logical and reasonable approach to this argument: Aboriginal people have been in Australia for more than 60,000 years in what many anthropologists describe as a triumph of survival and mathematics. Given the overwhelming evidence that homosexuality is biological, it is logical to assume that homosexuality would have been a part of such a social equation. It is estimated that there have been four billion Aboriginal people In Australia since the dawn of time. Four billion, and not one gay person? That just defies belief.

Some argue that our culture would have oppressed such behaviour. This raises some interesting questions, as well as some colonial mythologies. Which traditional Aboriginal culture is being referred to here? When white people colonised Australia, there were hundreds of Aboriginal cultures. To know the mores and values of every single Aboriginal culture would be a major feat of anthropological prowess – one of which I doubt Mundine and his ilk are capable.

This argument also ignores the major diversity between groups, and indeed within them. This is why a homogenous approach to government policy doesn’t work, and why a consensus on constitutional reform will probably never work. We are as diverse as any other ethnicity and this must be acknowledged to really move forward.

This idea of “traditions” is also dangerous because it glues us to the past, rendering us immovable and static. It also sets up a system of haves and have-nots – those who have maintained their “traditional” culture, and those who have lost it.

All cultures change, and Aboriginal people would not have survived for so long had they not been adaptive and dynamic.

As for gay people being accepted in Aboriginal communities, I know a dozen or more black LGBTI people who are strong and powerful leaders in their communities. Some have led their mobs to successful native title consent determinations – a role that is built on trust. A native title case would include holding secret knowledge of sacred sites, family histories and land management practices, not to mention being entrusted to negotiate on behalf of thousands of claimants.

This responsibility would not be given lightly. It is a position that involves trusting a person’s character. The fact that LGBTI people have been entrusted in these processes speaks volumes for the support we have within our communities.

Of course, there will be narrow-minded people in our communities, too. We may dislike the Fred Niles, George Pells or Tony Abbotts of mainstream culture, but we are not surprised that those voices exist in a liberal democracy. There are narrow-minded indigenous people. There are also indigenous fundamentalists, climate-change deniers, racists and misogynists.

When I think of these people, or when I hear their bullshit in the media, I think of my accepting, unsurprised mother. I think of my sisters fighting for my rights, and defending my cousin Violet, and I remember the embrace of that Wonder Woman cushion.

– Steven Lindsay Ross
From “Homosexuality and Aboriginal Culture:
A Lore Unto Themselves”
Archer Magazine
October 20, 2014

NEXT:
June Vignettes

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Jojo Zaho: “Let Your Faboriginality Shine Through”
• Recognising and Honoring Australia's First Naturalists
• Clyde Hall: “All Gay People, in One Form or Another, Have Something to Give to This World, Something Rich and Very Wonderful”
• Terence Weldon: Quote of the Day – November 12, 2011
• John Corvino on the “Always and Everywhere” Argument Against Gay Marriage
• Same-Sex Desires: “Immanent and Essential Traits Transcending Time and Culture”
• Prayer of the Week – November 14, 2012
• Thanks, Mum!

The Wild Reed’s 2025 Queer Appreciation series:
• What the Bible Really Says About Gender Justice
• Remembering the “Out, Proud and Vivid” Sylvester
• Exploring the Meaning and History of “Two-Spirit”

Wild Beauty

May you allow the wild beauty of the
invisible world to gather you, mind you,
and embrace you in belonging.

– John O'Donohue

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Awakening the Wild Soul
• Yahia Lababidi: “Poetry Is How We Pray Now”
• I Suspect the World Remembers Everything
• Our Quiet Time
• Blue Yonder
• O Dancer of Creation
• Remembering Mary Oliver's Queer Pagan Spirit
• Winter Beauty
• “Window, Mind, Thought, Air and Love”
• Divine Connection
• Strange Tongues
• Afternoon
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Diarmuid Ó Murchú
• Where Soul Would Have Us Go

Art: “The Vision of Saint Hubert” (1892, detail) by Wilhelm Karl Räuber (1849-1926).

A Timely and Important Conversation

Kshama Sawant is an Indian-American politician and economist who in 2014 as a Socialist Alternative candidate toppled a sixteen year incumbent who was backed by a powerful Democratic Party establishment. As a result of this and future electoral victories, Sawant served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024 as an out-and-proud socialist. During her tenure she reshaped Seattle’s political culture around demands for economic and social justice, reviving national debate around municipal socialism in the process.

I find Sawant inspiring not only for these achievements (and her work in unionizing workers through Workers Strike Back, the Socialist Alternative campaign that she founded in 2023) but also for the way she knows and shares the history of the ongoing struggle for workers’ rights and social justice in the United States. She keeps it real, in other words. And I find that refreshing and hopeful. Currently, Sawant is a candidate for Washington 9th congressional district, running against incumbent Democrat Adam Smith.

Earlier today Sawant was a guest on the Due Dissidence podcast where she shared her thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist but, unlike Sawant, works within the Democratic Party, not outside of it.








Related Off-site Links:
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to “Billionaire-Backed Status Quo” in New York City – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 25, 2025).
“We Fight for Working People with No Apology”: Zohran Mamdani Beats Cuomo in New York City Mayoral Primary – Democracy Now! (June 25, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Win Triggers Colossal Meltdowns from Right-Wingers and Centrists – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, June 25, 2025).
Wall Street Loses It Over Zohran Victory – Breaking Points (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Primary Win Has Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump Reacting – Hard Lens Media (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Is Every Republican’s Worst Nightmare – The Majority Report (June 26, 2025).
“The Economy Is Rigged”: Robert Reich on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party, Inequality, and Trump – Democracy Now! (June 26, 2025).
Instead of Fearing Zohran Mamdani, Mainstream Democrats Should Follow His Lead – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Watch Epic Takedown of MSNBC’s Zohran Mamdani “Socialist” Propaganda – Jordan Chariton (Status Coup News, June 27, 2025).
Muslim Lawmakers Decry “Vile” Bipartisan Islamophobic Attacks on Zohran Mamdani – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Democratic Senator Gillibrand Goes on Islamophobic Rant Against Mamdani – Sharon Zhang (Truthout, June 27, 2025).
Is Zohran Mamdani “Good for the Left”? – An Interview with Socialist Congressional Candidate Kshama Sawant – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 27, 2025).


UPDATES: Zohran Mamdani Win: Is It the Beginning of the Democrat Party Taking Over the Campaign? – Kit Cabello (Hard Lens Media, June 28, 2025).
What Every Democrat, Everywhere, Should Take from Zohran Mamdani’s Upset – Dan Pfeiffer (Message Box News, June 29, 2025).
A Roadmap to Beat Trump? How the Rise of Zohran Mamdani Is Dividing Democrats
– Lauren Gambino and Alaina Demopoulos (The Guardian, June 29, 2025).
Do Democrats Mean What They Say? Mamdani’s Primary Win Offers a Test – Masood Haque (Common Dreams, June 29, 2025).
Democrats Are Panicking Over Mamdani’s Win – An Interview with David Sirota – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 30, 2025).
Bernie Sanders Puts Democratic Leaders on Blast for Snubbing Zohran Mamdani: “Get Behind Him” – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, July 1, 2025).
Will Zohran Mamdani Empower or Betray the Working Class? – An Interview with Kshama Sawant – The Chris Hedges Report (July 2, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Fighting the Rich and Their Two Parties
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Terry Eagleton: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2011
• Playwright Tony Kushner on Being a Socialist
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Capitalism on Trial
• R.I.P. Neoclassical Economics
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

Quote of the Day

It looks like Andrew Cuomo will be running in the general election as an independent against the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani [right].

. . . I was angry with Bernie Sanders and all the other progressives who shamed us for years into shutting our mouths and supporting the Democratic nominee. No matter how horrific they were.

After being cheated out of the nomination, Bernie should have run as an independent or the Green Party nominee for president. Instead, he told his supporters to suck it up and support Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Same with AOC. If progressives wanted to exert their power in the Democratic Party, they should have run on third party lines after being cheated or they should have endorsed Green Party candidates.

You know who is already using this strategy? Corporate Democrats. When it looked like Bernie could win in 2020, some corporate Democrats started recruiting people like Mike Bloomberg to run on a third party line. Now, it looks like they will deploy it again against Mamdani.

Again, there is no future within the Democratic Party. As you can see, it’s where progressive and leftist movements go to die.

– Dorothy Lennon
via social media
June 26, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“We Fight for Working People with No Apology”: Zohran Mamdani Beats Cuomo in New York City Mayoral Primary – Democracy Now! (June 25, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to “Billionaire-Backed Status Quo” in New York City – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 25, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Win Triggers Colossal Meltdowns from Right-Wingers and Centrists – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, June 25, 2025).
Cuomo to Stay on New York City Mayoral Ballot in November on Independent Line – Oren Oppenheim and Brittany Shepherd (ABC News, June 26, 2025).
“The Economy Is Rigged”: Robert Reich on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party, Inequality, and Trump – Democracy Now! (June 26, 2025).
Instead of Fearing Zohran Mamdani, Mainstream Democrats Should Follow His Lead – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).


UPDATES: Muslim Lawmakers Decry “Vile” Bipartisan Islamophobic Attacks on Zohran Mamdani – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Democratic Senator Gillibrand Goes on Islamophobic Rant Against Mamdani – Sharon Zhang (Truthout, June 27, 2025).
Is Zohran Mamdani "Good for the Left"? An Interview with Socialist Congressional Candidate Kshama Sawant – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 27, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Win: Is It the Beginning of the Democrat Party Taking Over the Campaign? – Kit Cabello (Hard Lens Media, June 28, 2025).
What Every Democrat, Everywhere, Should Take from Zohran Mamdani’s Upset – Dan Pfeiffer (Message Box News, June 29, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Is Right: We Shouldn’t Have Billionaires – Christopher Marquis (Jacobin, July 18, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Fighting the Rich and Their Two Parties
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein: Is a “Historic Collaboration” in the Making?
• Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein: Is a “Historic Collaboration” in the Making?
• Terry Eagleton: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2011
• Playwright Tony Kushner on Being a Socialist
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Capitalism on Trial
• R.I.P. Neoclassical Economics
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

This Moment

When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story, of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love.

– Eckhart Tolle

NEXT:
Australian Indigenous Culture
and the Reality of LGBTI Lives

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Now
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• Dwelling in Peace
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• Today I Will Be Still
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• Aligning With the Living Light

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

[Trump is] violating the Constitution. You can’t, as the president, engage in strikes on a foreign country when there’s no imminent threat without coming to Congress for authorization. In this case, the missile strikes were characterized as a war on Iran. That was how it was characterized in papers across our country. That’s how the Iranian people felt it. And that’s why Rep. Thomas Massie and I introduced the bipartisan War Powers Resolution.

. . . I have been consistent, as have a few of us, in speaking out against unconstitutional strikes, whether they’re Democratic or Republican presidents. . . . The Libya attacks [under Obama] were blatantly unconstitutional. Those strikes were also counterproductive. They incentivized countries to say, “If you voluntarily agree to give up your nuclear program, the United States may still attack you.” And the attacks on Yemen [also under Obama] were unconstitutional. Bernie Sanders and I passed the first War Powers Resolution to stop the refueling of Saudi planes.

The question for the Democratic Party is, are we going to take the mantle of being the anti-war party? That’s not pacifism. That means against these wars of choice. The American people are desperate for that. The anti-war candidate has usually won. And Trump outflanked us in 2016 and 2024 on an anti-war platform. I am pushing my party to be very clear that we will stand against these overseas wars of choice.

. . . The biggest problem in American democracy is the role of big money. It has skewed our foreign policy into bloated defense budgets, it’s skewed our foreign policy in the Middle East, it has prevented us from getting Medicare for All, it has prevented us from taking on Big Pharma and lowering prescription drug prices, it has prevented us from getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies. It is why I don’t take any PAC money. It’s why Rep. Summer Lee and I have a bill to outlaw super PACs that still would be constitutional under Citizens United. If you can regulate the amount of money that someone can give to a candidate, why can’t you regulate the amount of money someone can give to a super PAC?

– Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca-17)
Excerpted from “‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’:
Rep. Ro Khanna Decries U.S. Strikes on
Iran Without Congressional Approval”
Democracy Now!
June 24, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Report from Tehran: Iranians View U.S. Strikes on Key Nuclear Sites as “Act of War” – Democracy Now! (June 23, 2025).
Busting the Fallacy of Trump as an Anti-War President – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, June 24, 2025).
“No, Mr. President – You Don’t Know What You’re Doing,” Says Rep. Ilhan Omar After Trump’s Iran-Israel Rant – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, June 24, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Phyllis Bennis on the “Stark Danger” Posed by Israel’s Attack on Iran
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Inauguration Eve Musings (2021)
• Saying “No” to War on Iran (2020)
• Veterans for Peace Strongly Condemns Any and All U.S. Aggression Towards Iran (2020)
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• The Relevance and Vitality of Marianne Williamson’s 2020 Presidential Campaign
• Major Danny Sjursen: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2019
• Jeff Cohen on How Obama’s “Corporate Liberalism” Led to the Rise of Trump
• Obama and Progressives (2017)
• Jeff Cohen: Quote of the Day – January 29, 2011
• In a Blow to Democracy, U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Corporate Personhood

Home to Be With Mum

I’m currently in my homeland of Australia where I’ll be spending the next three weeks with my family — my mum in particular. As some reading this will already know, mum has recently had some health issues.

Although she continues to make a good recovery from the stroke she experienced two months ago (just a day after my return to the U.S. after a month-long visit), mum will be moving into the assisted-living section of the retirement village in Port Macquarie that’s been her home since 2013, first with dad and then, after his passing in 2019, on her own.

The time is right for this move, and I’m looking forward to helping it go as smoothly as possible. I’m also looking forward to supporting mum during this time of transition and change, and to spending meaningful time with my family.

Following are some photos of my journey from Minneapolis to Guruk (aka Port Macquarie).

Above: Late-spring light in my attic apartment in south Minneapolis on the morning of my departure for Australia – Thursday, June 19, 2025.


Right: My dear friend Kate drove me to the airport on Thursday. On the way, we had a delicious lunch at Wise Acre Eatery in Minneapolis.

Above: Californian hills outside of San Francisco.

Above: Leaving the U.S., with the lights of San Francisco in the distance.

Above: Flying over the wharf of the former Kurnell Oil Refinery (now an import terminal) in Botany Bay. We were coming in to land at Sydney Airport – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

After landing at Sydney Airport’s international terminal, I made my way to its domestic terminal (above and below). Here I boarded my flight with QANTAS to Port Macquarie.

Above: Shortly after takeoff, the plane that took me to Port Macquarie yesterday morning flew right over Sydney Harbour. What a spectacular view I was treated to! . . . It was just over two months ago that I had a much more up-close experience of this world famous harbour.

Above: A view of the beautiful Mid North Coast of New South Wales – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Above: Mum — Saturday, June 21, 2025.

I think this photo is a lovely one of mum, but she’s not so enthusiastic about it, saying she looks like an “old lady.” 🤣

While in Port Macquarie I’m staying at mum’s villa in the independent-living section of her retirement village. For almost a decade now, this very spacious villa has been home for me whenever I’ve returned to Australia from the U.S. for a visit. It’s definitely strange to be staying here alone. Indeed, I realized on my first night that I’m here with my father’s ashes and my mother’s absence.

It is without doubt a challenging time for my mother. Yet in certain ways it’s also a time of transition and change for our entire family, myself included. Now that mum is in assisted-living, my days of having a “home” in my homeland are coming to an end. With such a realization there comes a range of emotions. And yet I remain hopeful . . . for both myself and mum.

Interestingly, within an hour of arriving at mum’s villa, I came across a book in the kitchen/dining area. It was Julia Cameron’s Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life, a book that Cameron herself describes as “a companion in challenging times.” A page was bookmarked, no doubt by mum, and I immediately experienced the prayer on this page as a blessing, one that I continue to hold in my heart; again, for both myself and mum.

All change can be expansive in potential. The choice is ours. As I open my heart to accept change, my heart softens and grows larger. Every experience carries the seed of transformation. Every event can bring blossoming and wealth. My personal will can resist change or embrace it. The choice is mine and determines the life I will have.

Today, I choose to embrace change. I open my heart to its hidden but abundant blessings.

– Julia Cameron
Excerpted from Transitions: Prayers and Declarations
for a Changing Life
p. 3

Above: For the last two mornings I’ve watched the sunrise from this bench on Port Macquarie’s Shelly Beach. It’s been a very grounding, very anchoring way to start each day.

NEXT:
This Moment

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thanks, Mum!
• Last Days in Guruk (April 2025)
• In Birpai Country
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2024)
• Last Days in Australia (March 2023)
• Family Time in Melbourne, Guruk, and Gunnedah (2023)
• Return to Guruk (2019)
• Across the Mountains
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2018)
• Guruk Seascapes, From Dawn to Dusk
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2017)
• Port Macquarie Days
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2014)
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2013)
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2011)
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2010)
• Happy Birthday, Mum! (2009)
• Congratulations, Mum and Dad! (2009)
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents (2006)
• Trusting the Flow
• Surrendering in Sacred Trust
• The Guidance of Higher Forces
• A Prayer of Anchoring
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• A New Day
• The Art of Gentle Revolution

Images: Michael J. Bayly.