NOH8 photo shoot in Perth

There's going to be a NOH8 photo shoot in Perth in August. Who wants to come with me???
Here's some info:

The shoot we’re planning will be shot on a Sunday from a home studio (Beckenham/Cannington area) in late August, we want to try and get as many people in as possible so we’re aiming for 1-2 people every fifteen minutes. After looking at the responses there will be a small cost involved of $25 which will need to be paid before your shoot BUT this includes:

- Professional photographer
- Food / drinks 
- MUA through the day for touch ups, if needed.
- Supplies for the shoot (duct tape and tattoos/paint)
- Email copies of your photo with light re-touching.

Any extra or left over money we receive will be donated to the WA AIDS foundation.

The shoot will require you to turn up within your delegated hour (shoot will run from 11am-4pm) wearing a white top of any sort, preferably denim bottoms and your hair and makeup ready to go! We will either temp tattoo or paint “NOH8” on you when you arrive, then you can enjoy some food and drink until your turn in front of the camera!

Now as we want as many people as possible, if you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, child, parent or friend who wants to come along then bring them! (Just be sure to let us know before hand!) No race, age or gender discrimination here! If you want to bring someone (with the exception of children) they’ll only be charged $5 on the day if they want a paired shot with you! If individual shots are wanted then it's still $25 each.

So if you're interested either email Mark at

noh8campaign_australia@hotmail.com

or email/fb message/call me and I'll add you to my application.

You can also 'like' them on fb


and check out examples of photos here.

I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all. —p.1299, Guru Granth Sahib

This made me cry; bright and brave youth singing from their hearts about pulling together to help those in need after the cyclone and floods in Queensland.

My favourite part -

"We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian."

I hope Australia can grow to really embrace this part of the song. We do come from all around the world. I am so tired of seeing bumper stickers that say "F... off we're full" (Um, have you seen how effin huge Australia is???) "We grew here, you flew here, f... off". This second one by the way would include me. I flew to Australia when I was 3 months old. Should I leave too?!

I like to think of my home as the starting place for celebrating diversity whilst striving for social cohesion. I need to practice this just as much in my own marriage as I do in my wider community!

Then could we write a global song that embraced the same ideas? - "I am, you are, we are earthlings" doesn't quite have the same ring to it but I'm sure there is some wonderful lyricist out there who could get something flowing. Could we also include the animals, the plants, the very earth itself. We are part of a wondrous cycle of life. The earth sustains us if we respect it. People respond with love when they are treated with love. It should be like some kind of Golden Rule or something.

Festivus for the rest of us?

Last year I was still a bit shell-shocked when Christmas came around. I kind of just went through the motions, oh and I still thought Jesus and God were real too, that's kind of significant I suppose. However, throughout the year I lost one and then the other, found one again, lost them again. You know how it goes. Now I find myself 3 days out from Christmas wondering W(hy)TF I am still buying into the Christmas season when I don't even believe in Christ?!

A friend of mine told me a couple of nights ago that they don't celebrate Christmas and it kind of triggered me into thinking "oh yeah, that's right I probably ought to re-assess what I'm doing here". Particularly because apathy/paralysis have conspired to lead me to this point -3days out!!!- with no friggin' clue of what I am doing!

Well I came across this article today which reminded me that Christmas (a force unto itself/an entity not unlike say a corporation) actually borrowed many of it's feel good traditions from paganism. Now I'm no expert so please pick me up on my incorrectness. My understanding is that after a long cold winter, people would celebrate the Winter Solstice with food, wine, dancing, tree decorating etc etc. Now when I realised/remembered this I was so happy because I love the tree, the snow, the cute little robins and twigs, the cake, the wreath, the food, the music... oh how do I love the music!!! and I don't have to toss it out along with my belief in the Jesus story. LOT's of it can stay, yay!

Oh, and my kids still love the Jesus story and it is kinda sweet so I'll keep the cutesy versions and just add some more myths of my own as I find them.

Now last night (why oh why didn't I bring my camera?!) Toby and I took the kids into town to have dinner with my brother and his girlfriend and son, my other brother and my dad. It was RAD. We went to Miss Maud . It is a Swedish restaurant all homely and snug. It was decorated with pine garlands and fake snow. There was a giant gingerbread house in the middle of the smorgasboard!! and the band played lovely Christmassy tunes all night. Everyone had a great time. This will have to become a tradition I think!

Then a friend reminded me of the fact that we live in Australia and our Solstice is of the summer variety at this time of year. Our festivities involve the beach and cold beer and food. She also reminded me of this song. Love it!

...and finally some sage advice from my most pagan of friends was a renaming of the day itself.

GIFTMAS!!!

Oh, how I love this new name! I certainly plan on using it in my newly atheist family. When religious types are around I may go easy on them for a while yet and just harp on about the solstice but giftmas is a keeper.

Oh and Bowie reminded me earlier today of how much fun it is to be able to write X-mas now with no fear of thunderbolts!!

So, I plan on spending some more energy looking into ways to merge a Winter/Summer Solstice celebration that will allow me to retain everything that I love about Christmas/Winter Solstice traditions whilst paying homage to my very hot homeland of Australia.