Hey Hey + Safran

It has been such a while since I posted, and I've been itching to get back into it. Blogging is so much about habit; the less one does it, the less one thinks to do it. I read other people's well-written, savvy blogs (e.g. Eurasian Sensation, Strong Coffee Please, Unique Schmuck) and automatically feel inadequate. Rhubarb rhubarb about blogs serving one's own needs and not being for others but, really, having a public space like this freaks me out sometimes. I self-edit a lot when I post about work stuff, and keep reminding myself that this blog may only be regularly read by a handful of folks but can be found by anyone. I also stop myself from writing too much about my academic work because - I cringe even as I think this - it's work that needs to be channelled into publications and I have little enough time to do that properly (also, there's that little issue of 'pre-publication' if things turn up on blogs before Haughty Publisher X gets their hands on material).

Good golly, how did this post become a defence for my slackness and mediocre content?!

To the topics in my title:

1. Hey Hey and the infamous 'black face' skit

Chris of Eurasian Sensation has already done a fairly comprehensive job of discussing this and the various developments around the issue (see HERE). I guess I'm just putting in my 5 cents as a matter of record more than anything else. I sure as heck haven't got any amazing insight to add - it's almost midnight and I was up at 4.30am this morning, orright? I didn't find the skit particularly offensive but I did think it was a really stupid thing to do, given contemporary sensibilities. It's not as if Hey Hey is known for challenging takes on issues, or any irony, so including the skit just seems dumb. Yes, I'm saying that it could be a skit that could function beyond just 'being racist' but that show sure wasn't going to pull it off.

I was annoyed by those who dismissed Harry Connick's comments as an 'American' response. Puh-lease. Australians wouldn't be offended by 'blackface' because we're such a laid-back bunch of funsters? And haven't had any history/experience persecuting black people? I can think of quite a few people who would happily set them straight on that latter point, and how...

And, finally, Daryl Somers? Wasn't funny for the almost 3 decades for which Hey Hey ran, and his penchant for lame double entendres was particularly appalling in his role as compere for Dancing with the Stars. All of that, plus the running 'jokes' with Kamahl, add up to a Barry Crocker of a celebrity. Shame, Dazza, shame.

2. John Safran's Race Relations - Episode 1

I know this series had its fair share of controversy before it even aired (which is ridiculous, in my book - how can you be pre-offended by a show? You could be dubious about the content but, until you actually see it, how could you be offended? Inquiring minds want to know...). I must admit to not being very interested in it because I'd watched Safran's stuff before and had never been particularly engaged, but my sister and her partner recced it today and - good lemming that I am - I watched it straight away.

I enjoyed it. I was appalled, I cringed, laughed, and called out, "Idiot!" at the screen a few times. This is the way telly should be. I had no expectations about the show, and didn't emerge enlightened about much at all (though my admiration for Penny Wong was only exacerbated by the fact that she didn't return Safran's phonecalls). But I didn't care. Given my work is researching and analysing race relations all the time, I don't actually want heavy doses of that material in my off-time (perhaps this explains the lack of substantial posts in this blog...ahem).

While I know we're not meant to take much of what he's doing seriously, I was slightly disturbed by Safran's puppy-like embrace of his 'Eurasian preference.' Having done way too much reading about exoticisation and racial/cultural essentialism, particularly in terms of the gendered nature of 'Asian' stereotypes, it was hard to dismiss his 'preference' as a quirk. I've met too many pasty white boys who like 'Asian women', and it's hard not to get the heebies about it. Even worse are those pasty white boys who like 'Asian women' AND costume themselves with Asian clothing and accessories. While I love indulging in the awfulness that is Steven 'The Orientophile' Seagal (cf. Glimmer Man), seeing manifestations of this in real life is another thing. I once sat behind a (pasty white) composer of 'fusion' music at a conference and he wore a brocade jacket with frog-buttons and also had meditation beads around his neck - OMG*gag*. I guess I have a wariness in general of anyone who dresses up 'ethnic', and sometimes this wariness is directed at ethnics themselves (yes, I'm talking to you, Kylie Kwong...).

Next time?

My Asian credentials, let me show you them...

Bit more than a fortnight on...

OK, so the (more) regular posting rule's fallen by the wayside after a fairly good innings (for this blog).

I have an excuse! I've had a 2nd baby in mid-June, four days after the last posting. G. was 11 days early and is now 3 weeks old. We have quite a few family birthdays in June/July and G.'s adds another one to the pile.

As always, the first few weeks after a new baby comes home is a blur of meeting the new little person, getting back into the feeding/changing/sleeping cycle for the bub (and the lack of sleep for the big people), and generally having one's domestic and social stability obliterated. It's not like I'm a vastly social animal since I've moved to Melbourne but it can be a bit disconcerting to be unable to see any appointments beyond community health nurses and doctors for the next little while. I look forward to coffee dates with buddies an inordinate amount, especially if they take place in cafes that serve lusciously yeasty cinnamon scrolls drizzled with swirls of icing.

As for my low GI-ness? My sugar levels were back to 'normal' almost a day or so after G. sprang into the world. To describe my attitude towards my diet as lax is no bad thing. I haven't gone out - yet - to hoover up huge bowls of hot chips, but I'm sure not missing out on chocolate biscuits and cake these days. I'm still sticking with the cracked wheat for the most part, and trying to retain control of portion sizes. The driving force for being on the well behaved dietary trail, though, is now the one ramping up my appetite like nothing else. G. feeds very well; so much so that the community health nurse has suggested I cut back on feeding him so much. I didn't think it was possible to 'overfeed' a breastfed baby...? Anyway, because I'm breastfeeding at least 8-10 times every day, I'm like a plague of locusts with my meals.

No farewell with promises of more regular posting cos, y'know, don't know if that's really going to happen for a while! Just wanted to make sure there was at least one post for this month.

Things I don't have time to post about properly:

• OMG, Michael Jackson! RIP, my '80s icon.
• 2 birthday feasts + 1 fabulous steam-boat meal and counting.
• How fantastic it is to not be at work.
• Mourning the 'three of us' family dynamic even as we're stoked about the 'four of us' coming into being.
• Various female crime thriller authors I've been trying out (sometimes against my better judgement). Thus far, they include Lisa Scottoline, Sara Paretsky and Tami Hoag. Very block bustery listing, no?

Another low GI find, which remains elusive...

Another product that I've become aware of since joining the low GI bandwagon is agave nectar (or syrup).

Apparently, its GI is only about 11-19, which is very, very low.

The only thing is that it's usually imported from the Americas (mostly Mexico), and isn't widely available on the shelf in Australia.

We've been scoping various natural/organic foodstores and checking out online sites, too. It's here. It's just not easy to find.

But, hey, upside of all this research is that we've discovered quite a few organic supermarkets/stores near where we live, which is a bonus.

By the time I order and receive any of this product, though, I probably won't need it anymore (fingers crossed, my gestational diabetes will take a hike after Sprog 2 joins us).

For your info:

Spiral Foods is importing it, and I'd assume it'd be stocked by any place that has a fair range of their products, and there is an outfit called Maretai, which has an online ordering system.

Caveat: I haven't actually tried the stuff, so can't vouch for its amazingness or otherwise in the taste stakes!

Can we fix it? Who bloody knows, sometimes...

I'm still appalled at the way in which violence against Indian international students here in Melbourne is occurring and being reported / sensationalised. Similarly, the ways in which the incidents in Sydney have escalated and the complications of why certain other minority groups think it's OK to target other Others.

This Melbourne Age article gives you an idea of what's been going on, and '"Curry-bashing" on the rise in Melbourne' by Eurasian Sensation (ES) from March 2009 gives a good overview of how things have simmered/exploded.

He also follows up on this initial posting with a couple of other ones recently:

• "Curry-bashing" - What ethnicity are the attackers? Does it matter?
• More Indian students attacked, and temple vandalised
  

The situation has become much worse in recent times, though has been a concern for months. A special police taskforce was set up more than 6 months ago to look into how to defuse the targetting of these students and the prevalent thefts/bashings against them. There is certainly a classist element mixed into the racism as well: international students are perceived as rich and dripping with snazzy mobiles and iPod gadgetry and there have been calls for these students to stop being so obvious about them (cos, y'know, only international students would have those items...). It's really sad that this kind of 'hints' page needs to exist at all, though I can understand the feelings of persecution and generalised fear that have arisen recently.

I'm glad that ES wrote about the Kamahl quote, too, because all I heard was the soundbite and I was getting all high-horsey about how offensive it was to have someone advocate assimilation as a panacea. Particularly when that someone is a well-profiled and established celebrity on the Oz scene. Racially marked difference wins out every time; you could be as 'strine and Anglo in habit and outlook as you like, but if someone's out to target an Other, they'll go by skin colour and 'Third World lookingness' (pace, Ghassan Hage) more than anything else. True/false?

UPDATE: ES just posted an update today HERE. I suspect escalation will come before any prospect of defusion. Alas.

Agave - Autumn 2009

Agave heart
Melbourne, Victoria - May 2009
[Photo by Tseen]

Gestational diabetic + low GI lifestyle

From my extensive 2 months' experience of being a gestational diabetic, I've put together some hints and strategies that I found useful in keeping my blood sugar levels (BSLs) within the desired range. Nearing the end of my pregnancy now, and having managed to stay off insulin by making significant diet changes, I think I'll keep on with many of the habits I've created.

I should flag that, being a non-obese gestational diabetic, my aim was NOT to lose weight. It was to keep my BSLs within the preferred levels, and I had to keep my calcium levels up (therefore, still have a fair bit of dairy in my diet). The preferred BSLs I had to keep in mind:

Fasting/pre-breakfast - 5.5 mmol/L
2 hrs after each meal - 7.0 mmol/L

As always, with these things, this blogpost is based on my experiences only and not to be taken as gospel (oh, except the bit about chocolate spread below - everyone should try that stuff...).

Below, I'll be naming actual products in Australia/Victoria because it's the kind of information I wish I'd had when I was launched into my new 'lifestyle' after my glucose tolerance test back in mid-April this year. Luckily (?) for me, my mother is a Type 2 diabetic and had a few books about the key factors in keeping the diabetes under control, including the uber-useful booklet, The New Glucose Revolution: The Low GI Solution for Optimum Health (Version for 'People with Diabetes'). For me, the most useful things about this booklet were the food tables + GI rating in the back, and the suggested snacking and meal options that they listed in the general information about what it meant to be eating a low GI diet. Never having been a carb or calorie counter EVER, getting this involved in the nitty-gritty of what I ate took some getting used to. Also being a bit of a listmaker, voila this blogpost!

The authoritative site for all GI information can be found at the USyd site, The Glycaemic Index (includes listings of publications you can get, formally 'approved' low GI products, FAQs, and info about how they actually test the GI of foods). Word of warning: Doing a general search online (e.g. Googling) for specific GI values of food can throw up some super-dodgey sites so remember to validate sources and only go with what's trustworthy.

GI values (from the book I mentioned above) appear in [square brackets] below.

The major things to keep in mind when trying to keep BSLs in the preferred range:

• Small, consistent portion sizes. At the beginning, I kept having to look up what a 'portion' of carbs should be at a given meal/snack. Putting this kind of portion-control into practice was another thing, and sometimes a little hit/miss. For me, I was appalled at how little I needed for a 'meal' (e.g. three-quarters or one cup of cereal at breakfast, two tablespoons of cracked wheat at dinner, one slice bread for lunch) to stay within preferred BSL levels, and the fact that these much reduced amounts were actually fine with making me feel full. I say I was appalled because I was previously eating 2-3 times more than I needed to, with a big emphasis on white rice, breads, (processed) cereals. Proteins (e.g. a piece of lean chicken or lamb) should only be the size of your palm - I balked at this, too, when I first started, but it has turned out to be enough to sate my appetite and, really, if I'm still looking to fill myself up, I'll tend to turn to (non-starchy) vegetables, which is all to the good.
  
  Something I'd really recommend is changing the size of your crockery at meal-times. No, really. Don't run away! Use smaller plates/bowls - they give you a much clearer idea of what and how much you're putting together. I found that using the standard sizes I used before just meant that I'd tend to fill it up the way I did before (then be scraping most of it off again).
  
  
• Pay attention to the type of carbohydrate consumed. Basically, there are carbs that a quickly digested by your body and send your BSLs spiking, and those that aren't/don't. I found that highly processed foods were the worst things for my BSLs (basically all junk food - not that I was a big eater of such, but I did have the occasional burger/fries combo, packet of chips, etc). I'm not a sweet-craver, though, so cutting out much of the shop-bought cakes/biscuits/muffins, pies/cheesecakes, ice-creams, etc, wasn't too difficult. Savoury stuff has been my bug-bear, being an established hot chip and sometime sausage-roll-eater.
  
  Upping the amount of wholegrains, veges, and legumes in my diet overall made a huge difference in controlling BSLs for me. As I mentioned in another low GI post, I cut out all jasmine rice [89-109] and potato [72-101] after a few scarily high BSL readings. There are 'better' rices that you can have, like Doongara [54-66] or basmati [58-65], but I thought the lower GI of these rices weren't worth the swap. Instead, I swapped to bulgur/cracked wheat [48] as my staple grain (and ate it with all the stuff that I'd normally have with rice) - it has worked out beautifully and I think I prefer it to rice now. This feels particularly weird, given that jasmine rice has been my household staple for almost 40 years.
  
  Our household now bakes most of its own bread, with my 'low GI' bread being quite heavy with wholegrains, added fibre mixes and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower). It's delicious: nutty, dense and flavourful, and toasts well. I usually only want/need one slice of it at any meal.
  
  We also bake our own biscuits, muffins and cakes. Where possible, we're using LoGIcane (low GI sugarcane [50]) or yellowbox honey [35]; wholemeal/wholegrain flours; and margarine/plant butters rather than standard butter (this is more for S., who's aiming for low cholesterol). It has been fun experimenting, mostly because the baked stuff tastes fab and I can eat caramelly ANZACs without living in fear of the glucose monitor's readings.
  
  
• Shake off the food myths associated with diabetes (e.g. Sugar as the ultimate evil - actually not true at all. White rice and boiled/mashed potatoes are more your diabetic Lucifers...). Read up properly about what a 'diabetic' diet is all about - you may well be surprised. I was. Never having had to know much about it, I found that most of the info is commonsensical and part of what recommended healthy diets are these days anyway: eating less more often, reduce fats/sugars/salts (esp processed foods), increase veg/fruit servings, + keep up the hydration with good old water. The main thing with diabetes in particular, of course, is the carb/blood sugar dynamic (mentioned above).
  

Right now? I'm eating a LOT more veg, salads and non-starchy veg in particular. I've never been a salad fan - in fact, abhorred it for a long time. Something about cold vegetables just didn't appeal. Now, I'm finding combinations that I love and it has become a staple part of my 'going out' eating strategies (where portions are always so huge). I'm also making hearty salads at home as meals in themselves; I'd always previously associated salads with deprivation and feeling hungry 10 mins later.

====================

Random other hints for your gestational diabetic phase (or Type 2 diabetic lifestyle in general):

1. I found it really useful to keep a food diary (of all meals/snacks) in the first few weeks. This allowed me to monitor what gave 'good' and 'bad' results, and change my diet accordingly. It also gives you a good idea of the kind of variety you've got in your eating plans - and to change this accordingly, if necessary! Getting bored with your food isn't any fun. I kept mine for over a month, then stopped because I felt that I had a good enough idea of what to eat/not eat, + a broad enough foundation in the basics of what works for me that I can get creative without worrying that I'll send my BSLs too high.
   
   
2. ALWAYS wash your hands before checking your BSLs. Not only is this for hygiene reasons (you are about to break skin/draw blood), but it ensures that there are no sugary contaminants on your hands to skew your reading. When I started doing the regular checks, I'd sometimes forget to wash my hands and had some bizarre readings that caused the endocrinologist to frown and make comments about putting me on insulin. Now, if I get an odd reading (i.e. what I've eaten shouldn't have spiked my BSL that much), I'll re-check after washing my hands again, or on another finger. It's been surprising the number of times my blood reads as 'normal' the second time. Another factor to keep in mind is that the portable blood glucose monitors most of us use all the time are NOT the most accurate things in the world. Some of my readings, taken within a minute of each other on different fingers, have been different by 0.5-0.9. Given that my diabetic doctor has raised eyebrows/threatened insulin at readings that happened to be 0.2 higher than preferred levels, let's just say I'm more than a little sceptical about the overall level of monitoring that goes on in the public hospital system...
   
   
3. Work in more exercise and movement into your everyday life. I know this is easy to say and a bugger of a thing to put into practice, but it makes a huge difference. As one gets increasingly waddly and huge at the tail end of a pregnancy, working in exercise isn't that easy or possible. Still, a regular short walk (10 mins), some household stuff (e.g. the dreaded vacuuming), and low-impact aerobic workouts (e.g. wall pushups - which don't feel like you're doing anything at all initially but once you get to about 100 a time, it starts making a difference) can make the difference between having more consistent, lower BSLs and not.
   

====================

Foods and products that worked for me:
(These are presented here with the caveat that they worked FOR ME. YMMV)

Cafe/restaurant meals that usually kept me within range -

• Pasta with non-starchy veges and protein - you don't need to finish the plate and, chances are, half the pasta should stay on your plate. I'm partial to creamy pastas and have often had smoked salmon/capers/roasted tomato combos.
• Grainy bread sandwiches/wraps (if the servings are gargantuan, I usually take half home with me, or for a snack later).
• Grilled/roasted/baked meat or fish, + majority non-starchy salads.
• Freshly made small pizzas (again, I tend not to have whole servings and will either share with someone or take some with me).
• Most breakfast stuff (e.g. bacon + eggs, mushroom + eggs) won't send you over because there isn't much carb in evidence at all. I love going out for breakfast, but don't do it often so have no guilt about indulging in these kinds of things once in a while (as well as the occasional French toast + bacon + maple syrup).
  

Food franchises that have good choices -

• Sumo Salads. Fantastic place, this one. I'm a total convert. They even offer specifically "low GI" salads and sensible portions (a 'small' is actually small). There are many things one could choose from their line-up that would suit a diabetic/low GI diet, and it's all super-fresh and delicious. I've been there a lot these past couple of months and it has all been good. And, no, I'm not getting a commission for this plug. I was excited when I found the chain (esp having avoided it in the past - see aversion to salads above).
  
  
• Subway. Heaps of choices - avoid sugary sauces and white breads, and you can have pretty much what you like...as a 6-inch sub, that is...
  
  
• Any kebab place. A standard-sized kebab with meat/protein + non-sweet sauce + non-starchy veges is pretty safe. I've had quite a few of these. Many kebab places are even offering gluten-free wraps and low-fat meat options (e.g. grilled chicken breast). I never really went with those because the standard ones are darn tasty and keep me within the range (it's all about the range, eh?).
  
  
• Sandwich bars. Pretty basic, but one of the places I tend to overlook because they are so ubiquitous. Hopefully, if you can tell someone exactly what you want on your grainy roll/sandwich, you can't go too far wrong.

I should note here that I avoid all rice- and potato-based things, so a sushi place for me was out (though others who don't get as much of a spike with rice could well do this).

Supermarket/grocery products that have become pantry staples -

• Vita-weat '9 grain' biscuits. I've always avoided these because, frankly, I'd always thought them hard and inedible (+ ppl at school used to eat them with Vegemite and I thought that was altogether a bad thing). Now, again, I'm a convert. I could eat these things all day: crunchy, so toasty with the seeds, and super with a smear of peanut-butter.
• LoGIcane sugar. As mentioned above, for baking and other cooking.
  
  
  LoGIcane sugar [50] - substitute for normal sugar [65]
  
  
  
• Sweet William Chocolate Spread. This is perfect if you want a nut-, gluten-, and dairy-free chocolate spread. Plus it's a chocolate spread with a GI of only 43. I've had this quite a few times with my homemade grainy bread... *Homer drool*
  
  Even if you're not following a low GI diet, this stuff is delish. If you're cool with nuts, dairy, gluten: Nutella has a GI of 25, so a fairly good snack topping once in a while!
  
  
  Sweet William dairy-, nut-, gluten-free chocolate spread [43]
  
  
  
• Yellowbox honey. One of the lowest GI honeys around at 43. Stringybark and Ironbark are also quite low [44 and 48 respectively].
  
• Bags and bags of wholegrains, and wholegrain products. We make up our own porridge mix, which we have most mornings (rolled oats, rye, triticale, barley), and (as mentioned before) we do most of our own baking now. All biscuits contain wholegrains (mostly oats) and wholemeal flour (this flour usually added as half of the flour for pikelets, muffins, breads, etc).
• Bags and bags of whole dried fruit. Also for baking our breads/snacks. Mostly sultanas, currants, apricots, prunes, + dates.
• Bulgur/cracked wheat. My rice substitute.
• Cashews and peanuts. These are good as snacks, and eminently portable for work and outings with the munchkin (er, not that she gets any - just me).
• Pinenuts. In salads, these toasted little fellas are love. I also tend to make my own semi-dried tomatoes for pastas and salads (from mini-Romas) - highly recommended and so tasty.

Well, that got long, eh? May tinker with this post as I remember other things, but this is it for now.

We'll be returning to the normally eclectic topics on this blog next...

What's that smell?

A very good reason why I love working from home:

(Low GI) Berry & cream cheese muffin, made by S. for me
* 1/2 plain flour swapped for wholemeal * Smidge of yellowbox honey instead of sugar *

I was diagnosed as a gestational diabetic a little over a month ago. This means that I've had to keep very close tabs on my diet and portions to ensure that I stay within the recommended blood sugar levels (BSLs); otherwise, if my levels are all over the shop, or stay too high, I'll be prescribed insulin shots for the rest of the pregnancy. On top of that, I wouldn't be able to stay with the midwife-only care that I had for my first pregnancy/baby, and would be transferred into hospital obstetrics care. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'd much, much prefer to stay put.

Insulin and care-model change in the last month or so of the pregnancy - how unattractive would that be?

So unattractive that it's enough to prompt me to:

• Cut out all rice for the moment. Have discovered that cracked wheat/burghul is a fab-o substitute and, weirdly, I'm even preferring it. It's strange to have had rice as a staple part of my diet for decades, then to cut it out totally (literally, I was chugging along eating rice like a fiend, got diagnosed, read some low GI guff that same day, and excised it from my diet from then onward) and not to miss it. I thought I would go into rice withdrawal, as I do when I've travelled for extended periods on a budget (and tend to subsist on sandwiches or cereals...).
• Cut out all potato. No matter how small a portion of potato I eat, it seems to affect me a lot. The hardest part about this one is giving up hot chips. With the icy winds starting to set in for autumn and winter in Melbourne, my cold-weather vice has always been scarfing down a bowl of hot chips every once in a while, preferably with an aromatic, full-fat aioli to accompany it. Woe.
• Only eat half the amount I think I want to eat at just about every meal. This was quite difficult to do initially, given my family's religion is feasting and we believed very much in the centrality of food in socialisation and bonding. For a few reasons, S. and I chose to eat semi-vegetarian (or sometimes vegan) several times a week; this was rather challenging for a few folks (esp my mum).
• Expend energy on thinking about every meal I have. Having had some closer than preferable encounters with medication-happy registrars at the diabetic clinic I regularly have to visit, I've decided not to wear my ranty-pants about over-medication, lazy and unproven protocols, and passive-aggressive doctoring. I figure I only have a short time to go, and I've successfully controlled my BSLs thus far, so I just have to keep on doing what I've been doing. Having to think about everything I might eat, and how to configure meals, was all a bit tedious and irritating in the beginning, mostly because I'd never really given that much thought to what I ate. I didn't eat badly, just not thoughtfully.
  

There are some pros to the changes, though, and some of these include:

• Being forced to be more aware of how abysmal and non-existent my 'exercise routine' is, and making good changes. You'd think that I'd have realised by myself that the aim of "trying to go for a walk every once in a while" doesn't really cut the mustard, metabolism-wise. I'm taking regular (short [I am super-waddly right now]) walks around our neighbourhood and that's been a revelation in many ways. I've always liked where we live, but travelling around it regularly on foot gives me a new appreciation for its layout, moseying vibe and the level of communal care that's taken.
  
• The strongly recommended meal portion reduction is accompanied by the encouragement to eat 6 (smaller) meals a day. This usually works out as 3 meals (b'fast, lunch, dinner) and 3 'snacks' (am tea, pm tea, supper). I love eating 6 times a day! I was previously a non-snacker, and only had 3 squares. Chances are I'm eating approx the same food per day, just spread out more evenly through it. Actually, that's probably not quite true. I am eating a much healthier diet, and almost never having junk food is no bad thing. I read on a gestational diabetes information site (that was otherwise super-useful and sensible) that one could probably have a McD's 1/4-pounder as a 'lunch' that balanced the things you were meant to include...er, I just don't think recommending eating any kind of McD's is a good option for people who have health issues. Is that old skool?
  
• Expend energy on thinking about every meal I have. I've had a very valuable and gradual learning curve about food, types of carbs and sugars since the diagnosis. It never hurts to be more aware of these kinds of things, I suppose, and I've gotten much faster at processing whether something is OK to add to my current (somewhat restricted) diet. The diabetic nurse earnestly intoned to me that one should think about this as a 'lifestyle change' rather than a temporary diet, and I know what she's getting at, but...yeah. Another plus is that, with the ratcheting up of label-reading that I've been doing, trying to reduce our grocery-list 'food-mileage' is something that's floated up in priorities (yes, a tangential benefit but, what the hey). Found out that most of the 'homebrand' organic canned food comes from overseas - I was appalled, but maybe I shouldn't have been? We've also been making a lot more of our own things (esp baked stuff like bread, muffins, biscuits, cakes), and consuming way less than we were before. All Good Things, no?

NEW ISSUE of Peril now online!

NEW Issue #7 of Peril - "fashion/fetish" now online!

This issue's articles:

• "Nailed to the Family Tree" by James Laidler
• Interview with author of Look Who's Morphing, Tom Cho (by Hoa Pham)
• "Skin" by Komi Sellathurai
• "The Neon Witches of Shibuya" by Corey Wakeling
• Artwork and interview with Kelly Mollenido Robson (by Owen Leong)
• "Racial Consciousness = Fetish?" by Jen Kwok
• Artwork and interview with Shigeyuki Kihara (by Owen Leong)
• "You Can Love Hello Kitty but Why Can't I?" by Tiffany Loh
• Poetry by Qi Guo and Yi Sha (trans. Ouyang Yu)
• Poetry by Tammy Ho Lai Ming and Tass Holmes

Don't forget that this issue will be officially launched at the Sydney Writer's Festival by Annette Shun Wah:

Saturday, May 23 2009
11:30 - 12:30

==> Full details about the launch can be found HERE.

===================

You can also now follow Peril magazine on Twitter HERE.

===================

The Call for Submissions for issue #8 of Peril, "Why Are People So Unkind?," will be circulated shortly, so watch out for that!

Sydney - Feb 2009 - Near UniSyd

Near University of Sydney, Feb 2009
[Photo by Tseen]

Pimping - Tom Cho's Look Who's Morphing...but wait, there's more

I've been meaning to pimp this for a while now, not that Tom's fab new work needs any momentum from me, given it has already garnered a bunch of publicity in its first few weeks out in the real world.

I'm reproducing the blurb from the publisher's site below:


Look Who's Morphing.
Tom Cho
Giramondo Publishing, 2009.

Look Who's Morphing is a collection of bizarre, funny, often menacing fictions in which, along with his extended family, the central character undergoes a series of transformations, shape-shifting through figures drawn from film and television, music clips and video games, porn flicks and comics. He is Godzilla, a Muppet, and Whitney Houston's bodyguard; the Fonz, a robot, a Ford Bronco 4x4 - and, as a climax, a Gulliver-sized cock rock singer, played upon by an adoring troupe of sexy Lilliputians in short skirts and sailor suits and cheerleader outfits.

Within these fantasies there is a deep intellectual and emotional engagement, a fundamental questioning of the nature of identity, and the way it constructs itself in a world dominated by the images of popular culture. Influenced by the young adult book series Sweet Valley High, Tom Cho began writing fiction in his mid-teens. His stories have appeared in many publications in Australia and overseas, and he has performed at festivals around the country, including in the award-winning show Hello Kitty, which combined literature with power ballads. He is currently completing a doctorate at Deakin University. His work can be found at www.tomcho.com.

You can read a range of recent reviews HERE,
and find ways to get your hands on the book HERE.

===============

I've been a fan of Tom's work for a while now, and got to know him from his zine-ing days with Sweet Valley High (which I still miss, btw. No pressure, Tom, but now you have that PhD ousted...). I think we first 'met' online at the asian-australian_discuss group and only saw each other face-to-face when I moved to Melbourne in 2004. Since then, we've worked together on various things, including Peril. We've also braved ASAL (AustLit), ASAA (Asian Studies), and other stray academic conferences. Getting to know Tom has been super-fun, and he's one of those people who I always wish I saw more often.

Seeing his first book out and about, with the amazingly striking cover pic by Owen Leong, is truly satisfying. First, I can now point people to a hardcopy object rather than do the 'go see his website for excerpts'-patter and, second, it's just great to see Tom's hard, wonderful, uber-considered work in the public domain. As you'll see if you go to his website, Look Who's Morphing already has nationwide launches lined up (thus far: Melbourne, Sydney, Perth), and Tom is giving talks and readings around the ridges as well (including the Sydney Writers' Festival [SWF: 18-24 May 2009] - it's going to be tough hangin' with the likes of Kazuo, I'm sure).

So, public and resounding congrats on the new book, Tom! Remember the little people, eh?

===============

On a related note:

I was excited to see in one of Tom's site updates that Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre is holding several sessions during the SWF focused on Asian Australian writing and authors.

They include:

• Writing Asia (featuring Brian Castro, Tom Cho, Merlinda Bobis, Nick Jose + Adam Aitken)
  
• Triple Identities (featuring Subramani, Satendra Nandan, Devleena Ghosh + Seona Smiles)
• Love, Honour, Sacrifice (featuring Chi Vu, Hoa Pham, Khoa Do, Ivor Indyk + Nathalie Nguyen)

[Writers bolded are part of the AASRN, which I convene]

If you're in Sydney for SWF (or other nefarious reasons), scoot along and support some great talent! Wish I could be there, too!

ALSO - last bit of pimpage for this post:

Peril Issue #7 will be launched at SWF by Annette Shun Wah.
Check out the full details HERE.