Mauritians step into a new era
Interesting what you lose in context between the paper world of the newspaper and the online. This morning’s Melbourne Age newspaper reported on yesterday’s Mauritian and Rodriguan La Faya Festival, held at the Immigration Museum - Mauritians step into a new era. (Last Monday, 12 March, was Mauritius’s national day, celebrating independence from Britain.)
In the paper version (home delivered, what a luxury) the article (on page 2) bears the headline ‘As Mauritians step into a new era…’ and is purposefully juxtaposed with the article ‘…Sri Lankans are left in Nauru limbo’. These are shortened and changed to ‘Mauritians step into a new era’ and Sri Lanka asylum seekers left in limbo online, and the two don’t appear together.
Is the juxtaposition justified? A question I’m not going to ponder today. I note only the question of context.
Anyway, Mike thoroughly enjoyed the festival. I was tired and retreated to the Immigration Discovery Centre, where I know one of the staff, Helen Sartinas, from our co-tenancy on the National Archives of Australia Consultative Committee. They had a lovely display of all sorts of books relating to Mauritius history, including Blue Mauritius, which naturally I signed. I spent an hour reading Megan Vaughan’s Creating the Creole Island: Slavery in Eighteenth Century Mauritius (2005) and it was so good that I’m going to get my own copy.
Hey Helen, congratulations on your museum display - great stuff! I will try to get down tot eh exhibition. We saw the Bollywood exhibition at the Immigration Museum and thought it was fabulous. I also enjoyed reading over the comments on your flickr site about the ring test for the baby. As you mentioned, my test suggested a boy. But when I was pregnant, though the first ring test suggested a girl, subsequent ones suggested a boy. Of course, I had a girl, after spending my entire pregnancy convinced I was having a boy. Having a baby must be one of life’s great surprises–not knowing the gender in advance is only a small part of it. For me the great surprise (and delight) is getting to know the kind of person you end up living with! I have no doubt that whatever you and Mike do have, s/he will be beautiful and loved. And that’s what matters.
Don’t rush down to the Museum Angela, because the exhibition closed yesterday. Speaking of Bollywood though, I must drag myself in to the Bollywood exhibition current at the NGV. That sounds fabulous and has been recommended to me.
It must give you no end of delight when you read reviews of your book and see it showcased like this. When you first began the research and writing, did you ever think that you would be standing in the Immigration Discovery Centre peering in at your own work?
No, not at all Barb! And I must remember how good that feels when I start becoming dejected about how unrewarding financially the whole exercise was.
Hi Helen,
Good to see you at the festival, but sorry that I couldn’t talk to you for very long.
All the best with the rest of your pregnancy.
Thanks Orietta, we heard the feedback about the festival on 3ZZZ on Saturday, and sounds like everybody was pleased with how it turned out. Hope next year is as good.