[D-G] hello

Chris Jones ccjones56 at bigpond.com
Sat May 22 05:19:03 PDT 2010


I just joined this list, again, after a longish break

Following is a sort of bio intro of sorts...

Hello, Chris Jones here. I am a 54 year old gay male poet and media
artist with Aspergers and the most painful sub-type of Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome. Current I am fighting for my right to be treated with
morphine, known to send cfs into remission, and to which my govt refuses
access, here in freedom loving NSW, Australia. I live in Narrabri, a
country town in north west NSW.

I fear I need to write too much but will attempt to keep it short.

I came out in my late teens by joining Sydney University Gay Liberation
and dropping out of my degree in electrical engineering, gays not being
welcome here. The next two years were spent at two different art schools
where again staff and students made it known that gays were not welcome.

In 1978 I joined the gay solidarity group and we set about organising a
series of riots, now known as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. At
this time you would lose your job if it became known you were gay or
lesbian and walking down the street looking gay meant being stopped and
searched by the police who rapidly and forcefully would brings their
hands up between your legs, so you doubled over in pain.

After these events ongoing police harassment forced me leave Sydney and
I went and got a job at the steelworks where I worked in the raw
materials section as an openly gay man. When my previous gay rights
activities became known to my fellow workers I was forced to become the
union delegate.

I later worked as a photojournalist and trained in-house as a graphic
designer and small offset printer. In 1988 I was given a part-time place
at what is now UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) where as an openly
gay man I was taught by openly gay men and lesbian feminist lecturers.
You could say my degrees were the result of 12 years political struggle
for gay rights, along with many other lesbians and gays.

I was taught poetry writing by the lesbian feminist poet, Dorothy
Porter, virtually doing a writing major in poetry. I was taught cultural
studies by Noel Sanders, also a New Zealand composer, textual studies by
Michael Hurley, an openly gay activist and supporter of ACT-UP and
philosophy of Culture by the lesbian feminist philosopher, Marie
Curnick. I also did a graduate honours year in media arts, supervised by
Noel Sanders and scored high distinctions across the board and a fist
class honours. (As I said, I am a fighter.)

I then worked in the HIV/AIDS area as editor of Users News for NUAA, as
an openly gay heroin user, heroin being easier to get then legal
narcotic pain relief, since I am a Coeliac. I later got a post-graduate
place, MA (Hons) in writing at UWS (University of Western Sydney)
supervised by Anna Gibbs and Maria Angel, but ill health slowed my
writing down more then I had wished.  I did, however,  get the first
draft of a Ficto-critical novel onto my computer. Also, my mother became
severely ill and I was her sole full-time carer for the last three years
of her life. 

Some two years later, here I am. I am a fighter, not against people but
the relations of forces making systems and structures, and if I win the
fight for adequate pain treatment for cfs, I may even fight for my book
and blog, not as a MA(Hons) but a PhD.

-- 
have chronic fatigue syndrome so may be delayed in reply or brain fog weird

just to let you know that's all, Chris Jones.

Blog: http://abdevpoetics.blogspot.com/



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