Playing tug with with Nadia

Maggie gets super excited when Nadia and I get home from anywhere, and she has different ways of expressing this excitement. Usually she’ll tear out the front door when we open it, run into the yard, grab her rope toy, and want us to play tug with her, like, right, right now. If we’re not too tired, one of us usually will.

Puuuuull!

Celebrating Nadia's numerous 2019 achievements

Nadia does a lot of cool stuff, but she’s not the best at telling the world about it or at celebrating her successes. That’s where I come in :) Going forward, I’m going to write about all the fantastic stuff she gets up to.

To kick things off, here’s some of the fabulousness she’s been up to this year…

Writing

Nadia has had two publications so far this year — one creative, one academic.

August in Lahore

On 13 March ‘August in Lahore’ was published in Issue 4: Performing gender of Not Very Quiet (“a twice yearly online journal for women's poetry”).

Poetic encounters

On 1 May ‘Poetic encounters: Language, sound and poetry’ was published in Issue 9.1: Inhabiting language of Axon (“an international peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the characteristics of creativity and the creative process.”) .

Abstract

Sound is essential to poetry and poetry is an essential element of human language. As a simultaneous trilingual engaged in the study of multilingual poetic expression, I will use the development of my own plurilingual poetic ‘instinct’ to map the location of poetry within and between languages. I argue that poetry does not grow out of language so much as inhabits the basic aural building blocks of language, the potential for it existing always just beneath the surface of speech. This is tested by examining multilingual poetry as well as translations of poetry across languages to see what is lost and what emerges.

Publishing

Nadia isn’t just a publishee, she’s also a publisher.

Australian Multilingual Writing Project

On 6 May Nadia published Issue 2 of the fantastic Australia Multilingual Writing Project (AMWP).

AMWP is the first ever journal of multilingual writing that includes both the text and audio of the pieces published.

This project aims to provide a space to showcase some of the linguistic complexity that resists and persists in Australia today. Multilingual people often engage in what is referred to as ‘code-switching’, which means using two or more languages at the same time in the same piece of communication. Most of the time, this multilingualism is discouraged, seen as demonstrating a lack of proficiency, considered a ‘pollution’ of the dominant language (English), and so on.

This space is different.

Here, multilingual writers can mix their languages with English to their hearts’ content. The work we publish demonstrates the linguistic, aesthetic and creative reach of multilingual writing and seeks to interrupt, enhance, challenge, and generally complicate, the flow of English.

Events

Nadia participated in two events at this year’s Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF).

Future of Language

‘Future of Language’ was a “special mini-series collaboration with EWF” in which “four poets explore multilingualism in the many forms it takes”.

Since this was part of EWF’s digital festival, the output wasn’t the usual text and audio publication, but a video. This video was included in a poetry installation launched on 24 June and is also available online.

Multilingual Writing

‘Multilingual Writing’ was a conversation with Gabriella Munoz in which they discussed “the art and challenges of writing across languages”.

This was part of the National Writers' Conference (“Australia’s largest gathering of emerging writers”) on 22 June.

Poetry performances

Nadia performed her poetry at five events this year.

Black and White

On 23 January she performed at ‘Black and White (Clichés & Expectations: A Rebellion)’, a spoken word event organised as part of ‘Lisa Skye’s Harehole Takeover!’.

We're here, we're queer, and we're not simple caricatures of a lifestyle. We're a diverse group of disparate voices with unique stories and experiences. Screw the boxes seeking to contain us, this is a night to challenge the norm: hetero, homo, gender and anything else binary and boring.

Rapid Fire

On 29 January she was invited to perform at ‘Rapid Fire’.

With over 35 past incarnations under its belt, Rapid Fire is both the longest running spoken word event at the Hare Hole, and its most popular.

[…]

Rapid Fire's recipe for success is simple: give 12 writers 6 minutes each, draw the order from a hat and ensure that nobody goes over time. This formula provides the perfect platform for writers to refine, condense and edit a story, while providing ample time to display their literary brilliance. It is a win for writers and audiences alike.

Love Letters to Feminisms

On 9 March she performed at the Closing Performances of the ‘Love Letters to Feminisms’ series for International Women’s Day 2019.

Love Letters to Feminisms sees Footscray play host to an exciting series of events exploring feminism in its many complicated dimensions. The group exhibition presents selected works from twenty female-identifying artists – all based in Melbourne. They include artists from First Nations backgrounds, refugee and culturally diverse backgrounds, as well as current asylum seekers, newly arrived migrants, LGBTIQ artists and others.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an afternoon of talks, a special session on feminist life drawing, and will culminate in a live performance event at an accessible venue on Saturday 9 March to mark International Women’s Day.

Synthetic Heat

On 17 April she was invited to do a reading at ‘Synthetic Heat Reading Series 2.1’.

Synthetic Heat is an evening of performed poetry, prose, and graphic storytelling. The series centres on nonfiction, which can be understood as writing that is tied closely and referentially to the flesh-world our limbs are entangled in. Or, as Maggie Nelson’s describes it: ‘interesting prose that bears witness to fact, life, and the problematics of having a body in spacetime.’

Co-curated by Melbourne writers and artists Eloise Grills and Ellena Savage, Synthetic Heat throws into relief some of the most invigorating ideas-based lyric storytelling that is emerging from the outside the usual literary establishments.

‘these words’

On 31 May she was commissions to write for ‘these words’, an art exhibition at KINGS.

'these words' considers how artists incorporate language into their practices, challenging the dominance of English in a linguistically diverse country such as Australia. The exhibition explores how language acts as both a unifying force and a barrier; an integral tool for understanding our own culture as well as the culture of others.

Writing accompanying this exhibition is by Nadia Niaz, creator of The Australian Multilingual Writing Project. Nadia is a writer and academic whose work investigates multilingual creative expression, particularly in poetry, the practicalities and politics of translation, and language use among third culture kids and other globally mobile cohorts.

Narrator

One thing most people don’t know about Nadia is that she is also a narrator. She narrates short stories for EscapePod (“the premier science fiction podcast magazine”); PodCastle (“audio performances of fantasy short fiction and all its subgenres, including urban fantasy, slipstream, high fantasy, and dark fantasy”); and Cast of Wonders (“the leading voice in young adult speculative short fiction”).

This year so far two of her narrations have been published (another is in production):

Editor

Finally, Nadia is also an editor. Her biggest editing project this year has been on a major report for a local non-profit.

Lots more to come

But wait, there’s more! We’re only half way through 2019 so stay tuned for more of Nadia’s awesomeness to be featured here :)

Selfie with Nadia from June 2019.

Sunny Saturday

We’re heading into a rainy work week in Melbourne, but at least Saturday was nice and sunny.

Sunny Saturday selfie (with dog).

Maggie was not amused with all my photo taking, though. She wanted me to play tug with her.

What? Oh. You’re taking another photo of me. You could, of course, be playing tug with me. Right now. With this very toy. You know that, right? Right? But no. You’re going to be boring. Again. *sigh*

She did keep chewing on that rope toy quite happily, though — with only the occasional distraction.

And she followed me indoors afterwards.

Oh, hello. You’re at my level for a change.

Successful Sunday saalan spectacular

I’ve been really good these last couple of months: I’ve spent Sunday afternoons cooking things that Nadia and I can have for dinner over the following week.

Today I made three things! From left to right: machhi saalan (masala fish curry), tamatar saalan (tomato curry), and ginger chicken.

I’m super happy with how they turned out and I’m looking forward to eating all this during what’s going to be a super busy week for both of us.

Cooled and ready to be put in the fridge.

Alert, but not concerned

Maggie heard a noise on the street that might warrant further investigation (and a potential alert bark) but she doesn’t want to stop playing with her rope toy yet :)

Possessive paw.

Speaking of said rope toy…

Maggie chewing her rope toy on a lazy, sunny, Sunday afternoon.

Dental implant FTW!

Last week I paid a man a lot of money to screw a bolt into my skull. Which is a fun way of saying that I got a dental implant.

This is me in the waiting room at Melbourne Periodontal on Friday morning. I'd taken the day off from work. (For obvious reasons.)

Happy to get this done. Will be happier when it’s over.

90 minutes later…

This is me immediately after the dental implant procedure.

It went well :)

And this is me in the lift on my way out. I am now the proud owner (implantee?) of a shiny new titanium dental implant :)

My jaw is only a little bit numb and I’ve just had a dose of Panadol Osteo :)

FYI: Dr Victor Kiven is a fantastic periodontist with an excellent chairside manner. 10/10 would recommend.

Update

This might be TMI, but here’s what my implant looks like in an x-ray :)

If we’re really going down the TMI rabbit hole, what you’re seeing on this x-ray is an 8mm long, 4.8mm diameter Wide Neck Standard Plus Straumann SLActive® Roxolid® implant. The Roxolid® bit means it’s made out of a titanium zirconium alloy. The SLA…

If we’re really going down the TMI rabbit hole, what you’re seeing on this x-ray is an 8mm long, 4.8mm diameter Wide Neck Standard Plus Straumann SLActive® Roxolid® implant.

The Roxolid® bit means it’s made out of a titanium zirconium alloy.

The SLActive® bit means the surface of the implant is “high performance” with “extensive healing potential” — meaning it has nano structures on its surface so that, when the bone around it grows, it has more of the implant surface to grow into and grip onto.

Unexpected cat

Me: *opens blinds on patio door*
Neighbour’s cat:
Me:
Cat:

Pause the paws.

Me: *a few second later* Hello!
Cat: Meow?

Maggie (curled up on the sofa): *finally notices the cat, glares accusingly at it*
Me: *starts to unlock door*
Cat: *runs off back to its house*
Maggie (belatedly): *growls*

Puffer jacket Saturday

It was a grey, dreary, six degrees on our walk this morning — complete with intermittent drizzles. On the bright side we both to go wear or puffer jackets :)

Hers is fancier and more expensive than mine, of course. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Yes, it’s cold and wet. Yes, it’s drizzling. But I need to eat my greens.” Bonus fluffy butt in a stylish doggy puffer jacket.

Amateur backyard astronomy

I’ve been wanting one for years, but a few weeks ago I finally went out and bought myself a telescope :)

Some assembly required. (This is a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ, by the way.)

Sadly, I haven’t had the chance to do much star gazing these last few weeks — partly because I’ve been busy and partly because it’s been cloudy on almost Every. Single. Night. that I’ve been free.

To look at the stars your best bet is to go to a place with minimal light pollution (ie away from a big city) on a dark night (ie when there’s no moon). So far the most I’ve been able to do is the exact opposite: set the telescope up in my front yard on a full moon night. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Photo taken with my Google Pixel phone’s ‘night sight’ feature.

That might be worst set-up for looking at stars and nebulae, but it’s excellent if you want to look closely at the moon :)

Photo taken with my smartphone placed over the telescope’s eyepiece.

So while I haven’t yet made the most of my intermediate-level telescope, at least I’ve been able to a good look at the moon.

It’s a start.

Selfie Sunday

Selfies at a Sunday afternoon birthday with, respectively, Dr Nadia Niaz, Dr Nuzhat Lotia, and Dr Asha Bedar.

Plus one bonus ‘golden light’ selfie at sunset with Nadia :)

Blocking the sun so we can see ourselves in the phone camera.