New interviews are coming…I swear. It was gratifying to receive a note from a reader telling me that they enjoyed my interviews and wanted to see more on the site. I’ve been working on a long-term project not related to this blog, and so most of my time for interviews has been devoted to speaking to people for that project. However, new conversations will be posted here, if not by the end of this year, then in a flurry for you to enjoy over the holidays. Make sure you hold me accountable to this promise!
Speaking of holidays, I wanted to share with you a photo (you can click on it to see the larger image) I took back in January when we were on holiday in Tasmania. The beautiful flower caught my eye while Bob and I meandered around the suburb of Battery Point one Saturday morning. Hydrangeas may be my favourite flowering plant. I’ve been trying to grow them in our garden with varying success, but am heartened by my friend Alida who tells me that she grows potted hydrangea plants in her terrace in Manhattan. As she says, “Happiness is a hydrangea!” And I agree!
Tonight, I’m sitting outside with my dog Lucy and I can spy one of my heartier hydrangeas from my chair. I’m reading Rebekah Robertson’s book, About a Girl. I started reading it last month in Brisbane. I was there to speak at a conference on compassion. You might say my research area, empathy, is compassion’s groovy cousin. Anyway, I was taking in some of the city streets before heading to the airport. I happened upon Rebekah’s book in the memoir section of a bookstore. I’d recently seen her daughter, Georgie Stone, make her acting debut on the Australian TV series Neighbours, and so I was interested in reading more about her and her mother’s story.
Georgie and Rebekah advocated for removing the requirement in Australia that the Family Court hear applications by transgender children and their families for the child to be able to access puberty-blocking medication and, subsequently, hormone treatments. This came about through the family’s struggles to get Georgie timely access to treatment when she was 10 years old, and their subsequent challenge to the Full Court that such decisions should rest with parents rather be heard in the court system. Usually I’m more of a deliberate than voracious reader (a library copy of Catch-22 followed me through a house move), but I’m making quick progress with this book because I want to know more about their story. I’m learning a lot about gender identity and the legal processes to which Georgie and children and families like her and hers, respectively, were subjected. I hope to write more about this book once I finish reading. Hold me to this promise, too!
Now, what’s your happiness flower?