Patriot Realm

"Don’t Tell Me I Can’t" by Kevin Cooper (aka Cole Summers) deserves a place in the alternative education canon.

Kevin Cooper, known to the internet as Cole Summers, was taken from this world far too soon—he tragically died on June 11 in a kayaking accident. But in his 14 years of life, he accomplished more than most of us do in a lifetime.

I belong to the group known as baby boomers – the ones that lived through the “ burn the bra “ and early feminist days of the pill, the equality of the sexes and the general liberation of women from the kitchen.  At the time, I did not realize that this was the beginning of women's lives going from one of comfortable domesticity to one of 5 am starts, 10 pm finishes and a pay cheque that now largely goes to the mortgage and childcare providers.

As a woman, I was proud of what we achieved back then. But now, I am not so sure we did anything other than destroying our futures and those of our husbands and children. In fact, we cheered and celebrated what, in retrospect, was the death of the family unit. In fact, it concerns me deeply that we have been inadvertent masters of our own demise. And, more importantly, the demise of our civilization.

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade on 24th of June 2022, it is interesting to reflect on the history of abortion law through history.

There are basically two systems of law in the world, the common law and civil law.

The common law arose in England following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It was so known because it was “common" to the King's courts and was based upon the precedence of previous judicial decisions, known as the Latin doctrine of“stare decisis"(to stand by that which is decided).

Over three years ago, the great Barry Humphries was punished for speaking his mind. The “ Barry Award “, given to the outstanding comedian of the year at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, was given a name change. It is now known as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award.

Apparently, Barry Humphries is too offensive these days. Like Ricky Gervais.

A friend of mine was looking after her grandson for three weeks while his Mum and Dad were away overseas.

She retrieved the slow cooker from the back of the pantry and started cooking hearty one-pot wonders for her growing 10-year-old grandson.  Every couple of days, we would get an email with a photo of the young chap sitting at the kitchen table with a rather ample plate of food in front of him.