I have just reread EM Forster's 'Maurice', and it has been quite a good discovery to find it is still interesting and even relevant in some strange way.
Above is an old photograph of two men of the era of EM Forster, and no doubt Forster would have been happy to have been the one on the left as he was unfortunately a product of the Edwardian age of sexual repression in Great Britain in the early twentieth century. It is the cover of 'Maurice', Forster's first and only really gay novel, and not allowed to be published until after his death, in 1970. A story of two Cambridge undergrads who cannot accept they are born 'different', it strangely has a happy ending with the possibility -very small- of a male couple running away and living happy ever after. It is the class barriers and the pernicious existence of homosexuality, a word never mentioned, which are the basis of conflict in the book, and philosophically, male love had to be Platonic, never reduced to the physical. Here is an ideal which has rarely been lived. It is still well written for a novel achieved when he was only 21, and is a work which augured well for his future masterpiece, 'A Passage to India', which I don't think I will ever read. His 'Longest Journey' is the next offering I will attempt.
The police are trying to combat sexist behaviour wearing high heels...
Christmas Foyer of Jimmy's
Is this a sport?
...the real Kiwi sport, and its king, Richie,with mates
A Kiwi wealthy export, living in London.
New Zealand has many success stories, but most of them seem to live overseas, like this one who still owns a Kiwi footy team. Came from nowhere and built a business empire and is the absolute success story, but not particularly popular in his home country. Perhaps NZ is gullty like Oz of the Tall Poppy syndrome.
Last night at the Newtown community centre the Interfaith concert was an example of how things just get together and work out when the spirit is right. It was very successful for Eckankar as V pulled off the best gig of the evening in my humble opinion, with her excellently sung 'Blue HU' and also the great video clip from the US. Well done Viva!
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