The light and shade of life is reflected in many of the current ABC Open Who Shaped Me contributions.
Not everyone is happy with the person who shaped them. They have moulded themselves into an opposite.
For instance read Just Jane’s initially bleak Driving Away from Darkness , a damning portrait of a relative which has me thinking of Patrick White’s bleak characters or Denis Murphy’s ambiguous take on his father’s good and challenging qualities Beware the 17th of March
There are a number of pieces exploring the ambiguous relationship many have with the church and these pieces see a character shaped by rebelling against dangerous authority.
Janet Cameron’s Thou Shalt Not Be Free
Emma Brook Mahr’s Thanks Be to Nuns
Denis Murphy’s A Strange Gratitude
There are a number of more celebratory pieces exploring the role of religion/philosophy and spirituality in moving people into positive learning spaces. Buddhism, Christianity, and philosophers and self- help artists make it in here.
Petrus Spronk’s The Real Stuff
Janet Hoppe’s The Prophet
Kit Rowley’s I am Someone
Jacqueline Jaffrey’s The Face of Hell
Denis Phale’s My Mate Col
And we meet the philosophy of Frank Robinson in Kate Campbell Lloyd’s The Aquarian Age.
Somewhat related to this explorations of philosophy is a piece where patriarchy is unpacked in:
Then there are pieces where grief for those lost is central and it has different outcomes for those shaped, both negative as in: Vaidhi Kahout’s Father
And positive as in: Tiger Greentongue’s Live Forever and Angelfires’s Just Like Mother
For others it is partly a person that shaped them but also a place and object:
University in Storytellers of My Life (Liz Martin)
The Railways in A Model Life (CK)
And for a few distant heroes have shaped them for the better: Anna Macgowan’s The Man in the Moon
Meeow Girl’s Love of a Child Star Role Model
Every now and then are distinctly country themes like in Erica Stewart’s ‘The Naturally Resourceful Women who Shaped Me.’ and Ann Green’s ‘Old Bob’
So why not head over and read some of the above posts and leave your responses to the stories for the many contributors to Who Shaped Me.
Next Month’s Theme, Family Rituals is just around the corner.
Gumboootspearlz 