Do you follow your head or your heart
Greetings Worryors,
Do you follow your head or your heart or flip a coin and leave it to chance? Of course it is the big questions I refer to here: do you, for instance, lather salted butter on your bread with peanut butter (organic, naturally ) or go it alone, completely naked under the sun, with the peanut spread on its ownsome?
Are we hard-wired into making the decisions we make or socialised into particular ways of behaviour? Or, is it a mix and, if so, which process governs which?
Confession: an image of the D Trump floated through my mind during the writing of the second to last sentence but the decision-making process Donald Trump utilises is really just too hard for a normal brain to contemplate. If you have had the same thought, for your own health delete it!
However, back to the head/heart matter, the principal question does relate to Gallery One. All together, we are a broad church. Your committee is also quite a broad church and always keen to become broader – especially when there is the opportunity to sample Sanya’s cooking. Seriously, participation in the committee process is encouraged/welcomed and the AGM is very soon. Have you ever considered joining the committee? The AGM is your opportunity to follow your head, or your heart, and contribute to the Gallery One community and environment in a different way. Contact Sanya in the office if the idea appeals to you. She will shanghai you and prevent you from leaving the room until you have signed the relevant forms in triplicate!
Speaking of the Committee recently, inadvertently I came across a discarded and scrumpled diary page in the Sanitizer Queen’s office bin (it was there on the top, for all eyes to see! I could never, ever rummage through a drawer looking for incriminating documents! The deep indigo ink colour attracted me. It begged me to pick it up, check it out.)
Revealed in full by that very diary page, many moons ago, it seems your 2019-2020 Chair, David Milne, was faced with the same dilemma: head or heart? What to be or what not to be? Written(apparently) after seeing and being entranced by the film musical, Carousel, the diary entry admits to the compelling attraction of fair-ground roustabout as a life profession (heart) for David as opposed to lawyer (head & $$$) and suburban safety. I could see it: gold tooth or perhaps a diamond studded front incisor, silk neck tie and ruby ear-ring stud. David at the fairground leaping ride to ride, heart afire, swinging round and round on the carousel ride!
Lights, noise, smells, kewpie dolls and baby animals: the laughs and screams of thrill-seeking girls on dare-devil rides sounding their presence loud and high to bare-chested boys with pimples and sparkling night eyes, who have perhaps only just grown into those long and tight pants. Flashy fire-works after dark; cheap junk show-bags; the chip chop, whack of honed and gleaming axes biting sharp into the spicy, waxy sap of new-cut timber, then strong tea with scones and home-made strawberry jam during your break in the refreshment tent. Sawdust in the barns, there is a certain attraction there and torn, David felt the powerful pull of sequins, glitzy rides and being the hand that helped everyone to have a good and safe time at the fairground.
However, we know the end of the story: brown-wood boardrooms, yellow writing pads and black-ink fountain pens, muted spotlights, powdered wigs, discreet ties and soft-soled shoes and a nod at the Bench in a court room where every smile is loaded. What we don’t know is the middle, the making of the decision and ultimately the making of man as a Legal Practitioner Registrar. It’s possible David was far-thinking. Maybe he had a career in mind as on-going Chair of Gallery One right back at the beginning and certainly lawyering is a better and more productive option for the running of Gallery One. But David, you could have been a roustabout – we would all have ridden on your rides at the fair!!
Video of the Week
David Milne, Chair, Gallery One
Gallery News: as mentioned, the AGM is soon. It will be a sedate affair this year: no speaker, no after-meeting snacks, limited mingling. The Agenda is also quiet this year with very few proposals in play due to the COVID19 issue. Decisions will be made once the new Committee is confident of what government/s will require of us. Of course the Committee hopes 2020-2021 will be frantic with activity for Gallery One but at this point, only time will tell.
The Pop-Up Shop is doing well although the weekend ‘crowds’ are not exactly thronging! There was only the ghost near the ladies loo for company on one day! October is on its way so get in and buy up big before September and the shop is over for the year!
The Book Worm
“American Gods” by Neil Gaiman
I don’t know quite what to say about this week’s read: it is the Chinese version of interesting. “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman is to say the very least, a different work. The main protagonist is Shadow, a black man who is due to be released from prison. Such a statement on its own paints quite the wrong picture for this is actually a book about old gods and the new gods on American soil, and as the fantasies weave and extend to extraordinary realms, it is sometimes worth pausing during the narrative to think upon the book title and so, to regain some perspective.
There is a bonus once the end is realised. As an appendix Gaiman has written a rather good short story utilising some of the characters and events from the main book. However, you do need to read the main novel first or the short story won’t make as much sense – don’t cheat! This is a work that I will place in the ‘read again pile’. There’s a lot in it to think about.
ps – all your good thoughts are working for the Victorians as their infection numbers are dropping so we will keep the vibe-rate high!
pps – the knitted sheep out the front of the Gallery is called Banjo.
ppps – chasing a rolling knitted sheep-head down the Gallery steps compromised the sweet innocence of young, pink-clad ballerina girls in tutus.
Photos
provided by David Milne
DC 3 photo by Bill Larkins
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