The Five Question Meme

[crypticgirl]

Details:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on...

I'm still waiting on another set of questions, but I thought I'd answer mynxii's:



1. Who is your favourite muppet and why?

Kermit. I love that he's a bit of a Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG), but he also does the best freak out I've ever seen. I think he may have even been my first crush on a fictional character - it was either Kermit or Mendoza from 'Cities of Gold'.

2. Which of Melbourne's chocolate cafes is your favourite and why?

*goes into a foetal position and whimpers*

This question is so hard! I'm ashamed to admit I haven't been to all of them, just Max Brenner, Koko Black and Chocolateria San Churros. Oh, and Brunetti's, which is more of a patisserie than a hot chocolate place. For the best hot chocolate my choice would be Brunetti's, hands down. Their Italian hot chocolate is a shot of warm liquid chocolate with fresh cream on top. It sounds good, but there's no way to describe the velvety richness of it, just how hard it is to get through one little glass.

For overall quality, atmosphere and range of chocolatey sides, Koko Black wins.

Having said all of that I haven't yet made it to Coco Loco. I suspect it will rock my socks. Not just because it looks good: it looks ethical too - they do organic, fair trade and vegan stuff.

3. What kind of texture is your favourite?

I had to really think about this one. At first pass, I would have said 'soft textures'. Things like velvet, freshly washed and dried hair and turtle necks (I felt one once at AQWA - it was the neatest thing!) really appeal to me.

But the far better answer is something like 'textures of intimacy'. I love being touched by other people. I love a hand in my hand. I love hugging someone and understanding how they hold their body. I love scritching a beard, or playing with hair. I love other people playing with my hair. I've loved all of these things all of my life, but I especially came to value them when I lost my hearing. When you can't 'talk' the normal way to people so easily, touch becomes another language all its own and very important one at that.

4. If you could meet a still living inspirational/famous person and ask them one question... who would you pick and what would you ask them?

I'm not sure I can think of anyone famous who fits this category. That's because I'm most inspired by the people around me. I'm inspired by my mother, who fought for me to have an education and choices in life. I'm inspired by the people I know who find themselves in any kind of adversity who dust themselves off and move forward anyway. I'm inspired by people who search for meaning and passion.

Also, I'm not sure that asking someone who inspires me questions is how I'd best like to learn from them. Watching other people try their best to live lives of integrity, strength and love is the best way I can think of to learn how to do that myself. I'd much rather ask myself a question about how I want to be and then watch how the people who inspire me do that thing.

5. If you could make one significant change to Australian society... what would it be, what would it involve and why is it important?

I nearly said "Give us a Bill of Rights!" but there are moves afoot to make that happen, so I'll pick something else. I believe that's really important though.

I'd take a long look at how we're teaching Australian kids about Australian society at school. I'm not quite sure what needs changing here, but I have a strong feeling that something needs to shift. What state you live in dictates how much of an understanding you'll have of Australian political processes when you leave school. Nearly nobody teaches kids to be conversant in human rights laws and issues. We tell kids that Australian values include a fair go, mateship and multiculturalism, but my personal experience is that Aussie kids are not taught to question if those values are actually lived, and how we might live them better. What other values do they need to know about? How much are we telling our kids about care for the environment or encouraging them to volunteer?

I think the end result I'm after is more adults who are engaged in making Australia a better place. Not being 'neutral' forces, or only contributing to our society through paying taxes and having kids. We need people who think about who they vote for rather than just voting the way their parents did. Even if that means we end up with more people voting in ways I disagree with, I think the important thing is that our society is politically engaged. We need people who understand why human rights laws are important and why it's an awful thing when we break them, and how we live them everyday. We need people who think that being Australian is more than just having beetroot on a burger.

Like it says above, I'm happy to give questions to anyone who comments asking for them. :)