I worked on this new walking trail and blog post for the Fremantle Story team in time for the Fremantle heritage festival 2017. Inspired by last years bus tour this is an awesome way to hunt for fantastic vintage finds all year around.
Photo: fremantlestory.com.au
Photo: fremantlestory.com.au
I lived in hospital for 5 weeks. I wasn’t confined to bed but I mostly hung out in my room, I was allowed to walk to the downstairs café each day and could go on outings if someone took me in a wheelchair. After a week I realised I was in for the long haul so I came up with a plan to embrace my new life. Follow the links below for more details.
In the end, I was extremely lucky and in an amazing turn of events I was home earlier than I expected. It was actually hard to leave…… so here’s to you Ward 4.
Dear Ward 4
Well this is it …..the last night. I feel weird packing my room up. I think I’m going to miss the quiet nights and the city lights.
I don’t really know how to say thank you. You’ve seen me desperately in tears, completely freaked out and pepped up on a mission with some ridiculous project. I’m completely useless at remembering names but at one time or another each of you have come to the rescue and shared a stupid story, explained something to me at just the right time or shown me unbelievable amounts of compassion.
So to the one who watches airplane crash shows to relax, the lady who I never realised I tower over, the ones that matched me in crazy discussions in the logistics of going clubbing and sneaking a one night stand past the nurses desk or starting a placenta encapsulating business from my room, the vampire ladies who got needles in and out without me even realising, through the make up discussions, the hotel style cleaning service, the room service mail deliveries, and the ones that could creep in at night with the softest touch and escape unnoticed. Thank you so much! I can’t believe I get to leave here with something I never fully believed was possible… a live baby.
One regret though….
I never got a hot drink.
From Room 15
(12 May – 16 June 2017)
Gifts and visits. What do you really want when you’re stuck in a micro environment for months? How much do your friends really like you? I rated them, introduced requested tasks and graphed the outcome. After all the energy to collect this stuff and when I had to move out I made up gift bags to share with the other inmates.
gifts
Surviving the food for 5 weeks! I’m vegetarian and I love cooking. It was so hard to eat hospital food all the time. After praying Jamie Oliver was going to come and save me, I got a fridge, knife and chopping board. Soon I was ordering off the menu, requesting essentials from friends and creating a revised menu. But thank god for uber eats!
Here’s a sample of the delicacies offered on the hospital menu.
Before
After
You can style anything. Double J was playing 90’s music all month so hanging out in my room, decorating it and listening to 90’s music was a bizarre flashback to my teenage years. But I didn’t have my dad to help me move the furniture around. I was learning Canva and found a real estate flyer template so it was time for a photoshoot and a fake ad.
hospital room panorama
fake real estate ad
Mission was to learn new hair and make up techniques and try not to walk around in pyjamas for the rest of my life. I watched many a video, created a Pinterest board, spent an hour or two every day getting ready and taking selfies of my progress. Now I’ve been released into the outside world people are impressed how good I look. That’s what a month of intensive study does!
hospital style
So it took two years for me to realise what mums really want for mother’s day…….to be left alone. Luckily the Fremantle Story team let me write a blog post about this
photo: fremantlestory.com.au
Working with the Fremantle Story team I got the chance to plan, write, and photograph a walking trail around the city centre about Fremantle’s Street art collection. Even got an article published in their Autumn magazine!
Try out the Explore Fremantle street art trail next time you’re in town.
Too many interesting conversation with people in my neighbourhood inspired me to start a podcast with Tania. It launched as part of the Fremantle Heritage Festival in May. Download now on iTunes and SoundCloud. Follow us on Facebook for updates and to see photos connected to each story.
How to make a youth forum more interesting? Put it in a Ferris wheel!
Working with Miles Openshaw from the Globe Town Project, the Fremantle SWITCH ( Youth Advisory Council) ran a series of workshops with other YACs in the lead up to the forum, to explore issues affecting young people. The themes developed in the workshops were used to create the Ferris Forum which was run as part of the SWITCH it up event which closed National youth week.
On the day, mixed groups of five people entered the ferris wheel for a rapid fire, seven minute long discussion about the most pressing issues for youth today. It’s hoped the short amount of time riders will have in the wheel will produce genuine and candid responses that other mediums fail to uncover.
Above Photo: Minister for Youth Hon Peter C Tinley and Mayor of Fremantle Dr Brad Pettitt participating with young people in the Ferris Forum.
Photo credit facebook.com/freoyouth
After discussions in the wheel, the results were collected via video and survey with a long term vision that a report will be developed and made available to state government, youth agencies and other local governments to inform programs policies.
Regional centres, including The Shire of Broome, The City of Karratha, The Town of Port Hedland, City of Greater Geraldton and the City of Albany, will take part in the youth forum as well, ensuring that the voices of young people in the region are heard.
The day ran from 12 – 4pm and included skateboarding competition run in association with Skateboarding WA, Parkour, Game Vault, Silent Disco, Open Mic, roving performers and chill out zones
Partners include: City of Fremantle, Propel Youth Arts, Department of Local Government and Communities, Globe Town Project
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