by Madison Stewart

It has become the first thing people associate with my nation when I’m overseas, and has become a source of shame for those once proud of being Australian: the shark cull.

The first question I usually hear is “how can people let this happen?” Or, “what is wrong with the Australian government?” It must seem crazy from the outside, watching a country defined by its wilderness going to great lengths to the kill off a vital part that wilderness. It’s not the general population pushing for a shark cull; only a small group actually supports the program. It is the government that sets the foundation for the disgusting environmental devastation in our waters. Even then, our government at large did not enact the policy that allowed the shark cull to take place; a few members snuck it past the usual policy approval routine. One man’s signature condemned…

My Kitchen clock/timer
© OK 2014/03/04

I sit at my laptop
ready to write
then I stop
reading blogs, tonight
I stop again,
to write a comment
and wishing she was up
but as I am turning in
she is getting up
and we cross paths
many times.
Luckily I am often up
most nights…all night
as I love to read/write
when dawn is imminent
she’s published a few stanzas
I stay up a longer moment
chattering a wee longer
live chat, makes it much stronger
and meaningful to me.
Pacific Time gives me occasion
night owl like me I’m always open
to chat their evenings
though tis late twilight
It’s nice to have such diversity
voices from all over the world.
there’s also down under
always a day ahead of me
I will never catch up with them
Stephanie and Jenn Brenn
old long time Canadian friends,
miss the…