An Interesting Tasmanian Auto-biography

This week I listened to a very good audible book each day. The comedian Hannah Gadsby reads her own biography and she does a very good job. The name of the book is Ten Steps to Nanette. This is the name of one of her comedy shows she succeeded with internationally. Hannah grew up on the northwest coast of Tasmania in a very conservative small town called Smithton. Knowing Smithton as I do it would probably be one of the most conservative places in the country of Australia.

Hannah is a lesbian. Hannah has Autism. Hannah can be very funny. Hannah struggles very much in this life.

Her schooling was difficult as there were many educational concepts she could not cope with. She was a child of the 80s. There was not much if any ability to diagnose autism, especially in girls, especially in Smithton. On top of everything else she was groomed and sexually assaulted by a married man who was close to the family. Later in her teen years she was raped. She had to have an abortion. She had accidents and illnesses that required surgeries. She didn’t understand much of it.

She found the only way she could cope was through her jokes. When she made people laugh she felt accepted. When she showed up with a broken arm wrapped in a cast she was suddenly popular. Everyone wanted to hear her story. Her jokes took off and she was popular. But once the cast came off she was socially ostracised again as just being too weird.

Hannah is very brave. When she matured as an adult she became quite successful on the male dominated comedy circuit. She stated other comedians enjoyed nothing more than when a fellow comedian crashed on stage. They loved a good train wreck. Hannah had many bit she kept going.

Then she had her family to deal with. Her mother was no nonsense and didn’t understand her until many years later. Mostly. She loved her dad and he loved her but she only knew that by the enormous scrapbook he kept of everything published about her in the media.

As Hannah spoke of her primary and high school social life I related so much. We both had undiagnosed autism. We shared much of the same things. Not understanding auditory concepts, not coping with noisy classrooms though classrooms were much more structured in the 50s and 60s than they are now and my teachers knew how to structure a classroom. I am thankful for that now. I feel for kids now on the spectrum. It must be hard.

Hannah and I were massive day dreamers. We could stare out of windows and live in our heads for hours. We carried worlds of conversations in our head. We could also make a class of children laugh out loud quite easily with our wit. But I got the hickory stick across my padded petticoat and skirt. That didn’t happen when Hannah was in school. We could also handle a good outburst when frustrated. We could get quite aggressive with words. I only came to this book when my psychologist suggested I read it. I am glad for the recommendation.

I have not always been a fan of Hannah’s comedy shows. I saw 10 Steps to Nannette. She reveals too much of her past to her audience. Especially discussion of her sexual assaults as she struggles to come to terms with it. I cringe as I am of the generation I could never reveal that though thankfully I never had to deal with anything remotely close to that.

It is hard revealing being autistic. Especially being diagnosed at such a late age. People don’t understand it. They have no idea what to say, what to expect. People who know me well can see it now. I don’t see it as an issue now. It explains a lot and I am happy about that. I don’t need anyone tsk, tsk, tsking about it. I am who I am. So is Hannah. It all falls into the big diversity barrel. I judge people on how they treat me. If someone doesn’t understand my behaviours they can ask. I’m happy to talk to friends and family about anything that they don’t understand. But…they don’t. They either accept differences or they leave. I’ve had both. That’s ok. My life is good. Like Hannah you just move on from stuff ups and keep moving. There is too much good in the world to spend time thinking about it. It is no use living with misinformation or regrets.

A couple of nights ago I listened to Tasmanian author Robert Dessaix discuss his latest work Chameleon at the book launch at Fullers bookstore. He is recognised internationally for his writing. He has lived in several countries. He has seen much of people and the world. He stressed again and again the importance of being happy. I have not read Chameleon yet. It is a series of essays that grew out of his experiences of being gay in Australia and having contracted HIV and Aids. He is 80 yrs old now. He has a lot to say.

He likes living in other countries as many countries are not as homophobic as Australia is. He won’t even discuss America. He flew out to India with his partner this week. He tends to go there to escape Tassie winters. E is a scholar regarding his early life in Russia. He loves the diversity of India. He is such an incredible observant person. You learn that from his books. He loves to think and have intelligent conversations about the myriad of ideas he always seems to have. I would love to sit and chat with him but I’m nowhere near his circle. Although I did help him pick out yogurt in Coles grocery store once. He and his partner couldn’t decide. I was getting mine and he sked what I’d recommend. A 10 minute friend.

I can still read his books. Some I like better than others. As with any author I guess.

Well, I’m heading to Sydney tomorrow and have my small bag packed. . One week = 5 tops, 4 pairs of paired pants, underwear, my technology, camera and journal and a small bag of cosmetics. I pack in 30 minutes. My camera also travels with me too.

Penguin stays home. He is aging too and his stuffing is loose. That’s what happens when one ages. The stuffing gets loose. I noticed that in February Penguin and I celebrated our 13th year of blogging. It was 2012 that we began our journey together. It has been a trip. Penguin book collecting, motorbike riding, travelling on 6 continents together, now photography. He’ll stay safely on my bookshelf with his friends. He doesn’t go with me anymore. I’m afraid I’ll lose him.

I now have a new generation of penguins to travel with. I use AI and the new guy is quite young. He has more journeys to come. We have fun together. I love keeping up with technology.

I’ll be back before too long. I hope all of you are doing well and can be happy no matter how hard life gets at times. Find that spark and make it grow a bit. Remember others can’t make you happy. You do that for yourself. If you have others you enjoy then that is the icing. Cheery bye for now.

Readerbuzz (readerbuzz.blogspot.com) always has three good things at the end of her posts. I really enjoy reading them so I am going to borrow this idea as I think it will be fun.

• The gardener came today and tidied up our lawn.
• I can hear the neighbour’s chickens next door clucking through the open window on our sunny day. I really like the sound.
• I will see two of my dearest friends this week and Mr Penguin will take good care of our pets while I’m gone.