A big thanks to Kris for providing the video content and, to everybody, for engaging with the whimsy of discourse and imagining: especially our panel of counsellors.
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Newcastle on the Couch
gee gosh ….
About a few thousand days ago I was in up-state New York USA. Not much happens there when the snow falls. In the olden days, was a centre for steel manufacturing and the “smarter folk” along with Thomas Edison created GEC … Ah, history; eh!
Now GE lives in Thailand and Florida. Better climate. My hosts’ home town upper NY State. They also used to make mattresses up there (when there was steel to make mattresses with).
What comment am “I” making? None really because to date the Newcastle mentality still works on a “cargo cult” or “buy-in” economic mentality. There’s a very vibrant artistic and marketing sub-culture …. No one along the Honeysuckle row seems to want to make Newcastle integral. Distinct. Special.
Some examples for ACHIEVING this are: Miami, Dresden, Kiama, Broken Hill, Philip Island, etc, etc, etc,
Today APPLE is now the world’s largest company. Used to be GE (from NY state) employed Americans. Now they appear to collect interest and reward folk in countries with no labour power.
Very entertaining look at the City of Newcastle, congrats to the participants, especially Roger Prior in a brilliantly well played role of presenting Newcastle in the persona of a middle-aged male having a change of live crisis. However from my own personal perspective as a Lake Macquarian I think that the “family relationships” may actually be different. The relationship Newy has with Syd is more akin to a child to parent (The NSW=Sydney=NSW and the father/mother knowns best attitude that prevails at State Government level ). Also the assumed middle age may be also be wrong with the recent behaviour of Newy being more consistent with that of a teenager on the cusp of adult-hood. That would make the surrounding LGA’s younger siblings, close in age, and themselves are experiencing the stresses and confusion of puberty too. During this phase Newy is having a battle for control, arguing with the “Syd” parents and looking to establish its own identity by looking to join a new peer group, “The Post-Industrial Cosmopolitan Middle City Europhiles”. Newy is also shunning its younger siblings by seeking to “close to transport door to Newy’s personal CBD Room” and redefine its relationship from the historical “band of brothers & sisters” to one of older adult sibling talking down to the younger LGA children. Perhaps when we all take a “Post-Adolescent Prescription Chill Pill” and get over ourselves, then we can renew the regional mutually supportive relationship that is still there but needs to be defined as “The Young Adults of The Hunter”, that’s when all these doubts that “NEWY HAS NOW” will subside.
Cheers.