{"id":3579,"date":"2016-04-05T21:22:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T11:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=3579"},"modified":"2016-04-05T21:26:49","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T11:26:49","slug":"the-dragonfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=3579","title":{"rendered":"THE DRAGONFLY"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I helped a friend called Michael Uniacke to launch his book, Deafness Down<\/em>. Here’s the short speech I gave.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many years ago, I had a phone call from a total stranger called Michael Uniacke. He\u2019d heard that I was a writer and writing teacher, and he wondered if I\u2019d like to meet up with him and talk about the possibility of editing a book he was writing.<\/p>\n

I must have asked him what kind of book: he must have told me it was an autobiography – and I\u2019m pretty sure I told him that I was absolutely and utterly a fiction writer. Nevertheless, we did meet, at a cafe, and we sat talking for a long time. The upshot of the conversation was that, though I was a fiction writer, I agreed to have a go at being an editor as well. I am not an editor\u2019s toenail, but it was with an unskilled but enthusiastic can-do spirit I entered into the project. And with great shame that I remember the many pages scribbled with red marks and the subtle-as-a brick comments. But Michael bore with it all very patiently; he wanted to learn; he wanted to communicate, and he wanted to tell his own unique story.<\/p>\n

There \u2013 I\u2019ve used the word – \u2018story\u2019. We humans love a story. Story is how our brains work, it\u2019s how we understand our lives, it\u2019s how we understand others and ourselves. Michael\u2019s story centred his experience of deafness, and to me that subject was fascinating and utterly new. Not only did it do what good fiction and biography and memoir can do \u2013 which is to open a window into another person\u2019s inner life \u2013 but it was genuinely educative. Like most people not personally touched by deafness, I\u2019d never come across the concept of \u2018deaf culture\u2019. Michael talked to me about the 1880 Congress of Milan, where educators of deaf people made a decision that signing was to be more or less banned. I encouraged him in his interest and exploration, and he came back with the most extraordinary stand-alone piece of writing. It was so dramatic, so imaginative that I was astonished. Who would have thought that this kind of story-teller was sitting there inside?<\/p>\n

My work on the project ceased \u2013 I had a baby. Now, that baby has just started University! – So this was all a long time ago. However, there\u2019s nothing wrong with a long period of gestation for a work such as this. Autobiography is about life seen and understood backwards \u2013 how can it be anything else? And the long view brings a greater perspective.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to the original title of the book. It was \u2018The Dragonfly\u2019. This last week, in the very hot weather, I spent many hours in my neighbour\u2019s pool. I rescued quite a few drowning bees, and watched the dragonflies skimming the surface. As I understood it, back then, the dragonfly symbol related to deafness in this way \u2013 the dragonfly, with its 360 degree vision aligned to its hovering, skimming flight, is able to sensitively and almost invisibly extract from the air what it needs to survive. The metaphor is the superbly attuned senses; the toughness; the survival. I wondered what else the dragonfly might symbolise, so of course I Googled.<\/p>\n

And found that to the Japanese, it represents power, agility and victory. To the Chinese, prosperity, harmony and good luck. That\u2019s very nice, I thought. But it was the Native Americans, to me, who said it all. They believe that, because it can fly in all directions \u2013 that means up and down and backwards as well \u2013 looking though those amazing eyes , it can represent a being who sees the world through many perspectives. And seeing the world like that, is emotional maturity. And that is a very lovely and very appropriate meaning for Michael\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

So that is the story of my involvement, over 20 years ago, with that part of Michael\u2019s writing career. His passion to communicate hasn\u2019t abated.I\u2019m happy and honoured that he\u2019s asked me to help celebrate.<\/p>\n

Deafness Down<\/em> and its sequel, Deafness Gain<\/em>, are available in print from online book retailers, at Stonemans Bookroom in Castlemaine and as an eBook from www.tuq.pub\/book\/deafness-gain\/<\/p>\n

\"deaf1_20160405_0001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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A few weeks ago, I helped a friend called Michael Uniacke to launch his book, Deafness Down. Here’s the short speech I gave. Many years ago, I had a phone call from a total stranger called Michael Uniacke. He\u2019d heard … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3579"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3587,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions\/3587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}