The Free-range Optimist

I like the title of this post; I hope you do too. I have my husband, Peter, to thank for it. He is great at coming up with titles. 'The Crowded Nest', 'Women of Substance', 'Running on Empty' are all his brain childs (?children).
I was reminded all over again of the importance of titles when earlier this week I listened to a podcast Luke recommended (http://www.pointofinquiry.org/joe_romm_language_intelligence/). The speaker, Joe Romm, was analysing effective communication skills, particularly because his fellow environmental scientists are notoriously bad at convincing the public to take climate change seriously. Romm stressed how crucial it is to use short words, repetition and metaphor if you want to be listened to or read. And arresting titles are a crucial 'hook'. I found what he said fascinating and I recommend the podcast to you.

I had the daunting task this week of making a profile of myself readable; I just wish I had listened to that podcast first. It was for a new community newspaper in Melbourne called The Sweeney Flats Post. And even more daunting was the fact that the editor required a high res head shot to accompany the piece.
I now realise that for obvious reasons I have been avoiding close-ups for years. As my 25-year-old daughter, Emma, kindly put it: 'None of us looks great close up.' But as my conscripted photographer, she gave it her best shot. In the end we were laughing so much at how appalling the results were that at least I came out looking relaxed - as you can see above. I've decided next time I'll pay a a professional, who has photo shop capabilities and can capture me in good light (or probably, more importantly, artfully arranged shadows).
But back to Peter's title for this post: I think 'The Free-range Optimist' captures well my diverse interests in therapy, writing, photography and environmentalism and also the fact that I strive to be hopeful. I don't think Peter was inferring that I like digging up the dirt and poking my beak into places I don't belong.

I will finish by including the photo The Big Issue (#413) selected as the feature image for 'Running on Empty'. I was thrilled with how the article came up and feel so lucky to have discovered this new passion for photography.