Please click on an image to enlarge
Please click on image to enlarge
OPEN LETTER TO WWS GOVERNORS
Dear Mr Stubby and whoever this may concern,
Again, I am bound to remind you that if this communication can in any way be characterised as a missive from a rather angry old man that would be because it is. Moreover, I make no apologies for it being so. In the course of my life, I’ve come to know that, like Woody Allen, there is something out there watching us. All too often it is the government. Thus, one must be mindful of ‘the three truths’ … The Sun … The Moon … The Truth … and the fact that none of them have a secure place to hide.
As you should already understand for whatever reason I regard myself as a member of the “Sturt Community” and I have been in communication with not only the Sturt Review Committee, and yourself based on that premise. However, this letter to “Sturt Community Members” came to me via a third party who knew all that. So, for whatever reason this letter is not actually addressed to me and as likely as not to the many others also who might well figure in the 340 and 70 souls referred to in your letter.
It is what it is, and the letter is what it is too.
In fact, your letter is more conspicuous for what it doesn’t say than anything that it does. Moreover, what it does say comes with concerning undertones of Machiavellian manoeuvring. If anyone has spent any time engaged in the corporatisation of public institutions where ‘confidentiality’ is front and centre, sirens sound if accountability and transparency are not unambiguously evident.
It turns out serially and somewhat surreally that time in the hands of the malevolent is a dastardly tool.
Clearly, your letter to your intended and select audience attempts to put fears to rest. However, far from doing so its language compounds many of the fears those among us have for ‘ideas’ that have seemingly gone astray for a purpose that defies credulity.
What is at stake here are ideas, ideas that have burgeoned in time, ideas that are quintessentially at the core of cultural landscapes across cultural realities.
Our aspirations become clearer when we are prompted to look deeply into just what we have invested in what. Looking outside ourselves, we might harbour dreams, however when we look inward, we engage with our realities.
For the many ‘Sturt supporters’ locally, nationally, and internationally it has been an exasperating wait for news and here we are still on the drip feed and pain killers – and conceivably in palliative care.
So, will anything of moment happen in 2025 that is the question hanging? While the construction and implementation of a refurbished entity dedicated to making, and making matter more, might well seem to be a possibility – is it really?
Clearly, the devil is in the detail. It is an imperative that there is a devilish amount of detail to get sorted if there is any Machiavellian manoeuvring to be thwarted.
Without question, the Sturt Review Committee did what was asked of them and in the most professional way possible. Moreover, they adhered to their brief with utmost integrity. Nonetheless, there is a question hanging … what was the brief’s unspoken, unwritten subtext? Everybody should know that the perfect joke is the one where the setup and punch line are identical.
Shakespeare tells us that a fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
The clear message coming to me, and others thus far comes as a question. “Is Sturt being set up to fail?” Thinking on it, we might well ask questions like,
• Where is the security of tenure to be found for a standalone independent entity?
• With what fiscal security can it rely upon?
• And just what inheritance is bankable and freely available to Sturt as a standalone independent entity?
These and other questions are ever likely to be dodged and characterised as untenable, audacious, rude even, as the main game gets played out with the prospect of a stacked deck of cards ever present. Not to put too fine a point on it, the Sturt Community of Ownership and Interest is being invited to gamble in a TWOup game in a ring with a spinner who has Taswegian Pennies – coins with two heads – on his kip.
There are those among us who question what has been reported as coming from the Extraordinary General Meeting of Winifred West Schools Ltd. (WWS Ltd) That meeting held great promise, and it is said to have delivered.
Nonetheless, it now seems that was/is an illusion. For instance, did that meeting actually empower the WWS Governors to assert that Sturt would remain under the continued control and ownership of WWS Ltd. Apparently, some in attendance seem to think not.
Likewise, it is concerning that this might be advocated away from the meeting especially when you assert that Frensham Schools is the WWS Ltd’s core business and additionally that Frensham Schools will continue to utilise Sturt as a facility.
Some time ago I came to an understanding regarding 21st C cultural institutions. The need for them to have ‘a’ geography is debatable if they are to do with cultural production in contemporaneous context in an increasingly interconnected world.
For instance, universities and musingplaces sometime in the mid 1980s cease to be ‘the keepers of knowledge’. It was the Nobel Laureate Prof. Brian Smidt who made that observation. Some assert that this function moved to the likes of Wikipedia but not so. Wikipedia has become a quintessential DATAstore and data is not knowledge – knowledge is to do with understanding. Similarly, musingplaces no longer have a teaching purpose albeit that they are places for learning. Quite simply it is not their purpose to teach anything. That is best done elsewhere.
Whatever, there are gaps to be filled if 'making' is to continue to matter and contribute to our cultural realities in meaningful ways as cultural landscapes reconfigure themselves.
If Sturt in its new reality is to do all you say and imply, just where is the entity's independence? True freedom is the capacity to act according to one's own true character, to be altogether oneself, to be self-aware and self-determined and not subject to any kind of outside coercion or pre-set agendas.
To be plain, what I see before me is a Machiavellian mirage masquerading as utopia albeit that an Orwellian dystopia seems to hover just over the horizon on the ready and ever alert to manifest itself. .
Well might we be anxious if we imagine that we might have skin in the game. As Machiavelli tells us … It is a sign of intelligence to be aware of one’s own ignorance.
We, that is those yet to be acknowledged as members of THE STURT COMMUNITY, await further information in order that we can invest whatever in the enterprise that has apparently been embarked upon.
Yours sincerely,
Ray Norman
Sturt Alumni, Cultural Producer,
Cultural Geographer & Researcher
Please click on image to enlarge
MY RESPONSE
To whoever,
For whatever reason I regard myself as a member of the “Sturt Community” and I have been in communication with not only the Sturt Review Committee and the Governors based on that premise. However, this letter came to me from a third party who knew all that. So, for whatever reason this letter is not actually addressed to me and as likely as not to the many others also who might well figure in the 340and 70 souls referred to in it. It is what it is, and the letter is what it is too.
Indeed, this letter is more conspicuous for what it doesn’t say than anything that it does. Moreover, what it does say comes with undertones of Machiavellian manoeuvring if you have spent any time engaged in the corporatisation of public institutions where ‘confidentiality’ is front and centre when and where transparent accountability might well be found in the hands of honest brokers.
Clearly, this letter attempts to put fears to rest but far from doing so its language compounds many of the fears those among us have for ‘ideas’ that have seemingly gone astray.
Our aspirations become clear only when we can and when we are prompted to look deeply into just what we have invested in what. Looking outside ourselves, we might harbour dreams, however when we look inward, we engage with our realities.
For the many ‘Sturt supporters’ locally, nationally, and internationally it has been exasperating wait for news and here we are still on the drip feed and pain killers. So will anything of moment happen in 2025 that is the question? While the construction and implementation of a refurbished entity dedicated to making, and making matter more, seems a possibility, the devil is in the detail.
It is an imperative that there is a devilish amount of detail to get sorted if there is any Machiavellian manoeuvring to be thwarted.
The Sturt Review Committee did what was asked of them in the most professional way possible and they adhered to their brief with utmost integrity. Nonetheless, the question hanging … what was the brief’s unspoken, unwritten subtext? Everybody should know that the perfect joke is the one where the setup and punch line are identical.
The clear message coming to me thus far comes as a question. “Is Sturt being set up to fail?” Thinking on it, we might well ask! Like, where is the security of tenure to be found along with the fiscal security; and just what inheritance is bankable. These and other questions are ever likely to be dodged and characterized as untenable, rude even, as the main game gets played out with a stacked deck of cards quite probably.
Well might we be anxious if we imagine that we have skin in the game. As Machiavelli tells us … It is a sign of intelligence to be aware of one’s own ignorance.
Regards,
Ray
Ray Norman
Sturt Alumni, Cultural Producer, Cultural Geographer & Researcher
<zingHOUSEunlimited>
The lifestyle design enterprise and research network
PH: 03-6334 2176 … 0431 070 450
eMAIL: raynorman7250@gmail.com
40 Delamere Crescent Trevally TAS 7250
WEBsites:http://www.raynorman7250.blogspot.com
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” Thomas Paine
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept” David Morrison
Postscript ... To another respondent
Albeit being at the end of my piece of string I have no problem at all with optimism just so long as it comes with a goodly dose of realism.
Yes, yes there are some serious negotiations to be had and the news coming to me today suggest a yawning gap or two between what transpired at THE WWS COMPANY MEETING and the missive I got to get in the end. Be alert if not alarmed.
Whatever, be circumspect about the Machiavellian manoeuvring that needs to be thwarted. Yes, there is a pathway forward but be aware that TIME is the hammer that Machiavellians play/work with. Knowing what is in the toolbox and just what is at stake is all important.
I look forward to a chat soonish!?
