Lismore Zine Fair- A first for Lismore as Artists come together

By Kate Coxall

It’s ‘Leemo Cat’ back. Following my recent unwellness, ‘Mum Jane’ now puts me inside our house when she goes out in our car. According to her, this is for my own well being. I am only allowed go outside when she is at home. (I personally think this is all a great load of malarkey.) I KNOW I have to be inside every night and I most certainly am. I am not, however, joyous about Mum’s plan of making me stay inside during the day time just ‘cos she’s not here. It’s winter a er all, and I used to, in ‘pre-illness’ times, be able to go outside and lie on the grass in the warm sun just whenever I felt like it. Oh, well, not to worry. I admittedly do nd diversions in these times of con nement which keep me entertained. One was answering our landline phone if it rang and Mum wasn’t here. (I’m not allowed do it any more?!) I would answer politely pretending to be Mum. Ooooh, the people I spoke to were so interesting and had so much ni y stu to tell me. ings like ‘You’re in the draw for a free holiday to Antarctica’s Polar Plateau.’ ‘You are owed heaps of money by the Government.’

‘I am an investigator from the Government and have questions for you regarding your Tax Return in 1970.’ e one that truly sparked an instant reaction in me was the nice person telling me they were from our Electricity Provider and that we owed them $932.31 and we had to pay it by 5pm or our house would be ‘cut o ’. ey told me this would mean no lights, no fridge, radio, stove, NO HEATING, no phone or computer, hot water & so on. BUT, the words that hit me were ‘NO TV.’ Crikey, how would I watch my permitted number of episodes of ‘Bluey’ I ask you? Hmmm. I had to give this urgent contemplation. I knew it meant having to ‘fess up to Mum that I’d been answering our phone and chatting to nice people. OMG! Ponder!! ( e nice person said I could pay it by telling them our bank details and all would be good!) I made the wise decision to talk to Mum as soon as she got home. ‘Mumsie, I wish to talk to you about a serious matter.’ She looked at me fondly, patted & kissed me, and told me to go right ahead. I kept it brief and told her a nice person would be calling back on our phone asking for our bank acct. details and to have them ready or we would be very cold tonight. I really can’t explain the look on her face but it was akin to, hmmm, ALARM with a titch of fright. A countenance awful to behold! She spoke in a tight shaky erce tone. ‘Leemo, could you kindly extrapolate on what you have just told me about this phone call.’ SO I DID. I told her if we didn’t pay the money to the nice person when they called our power supply would be stopped. BUT that all she had to do was give them our bank info. Easy Peasy Mum!! I felt rather pleased with my calm informed response. Well, su ce to say, I am in rather deep stu and was told that if I EVER answer our phone again, all watching of ‘Bluey’ will be cancelled forthwith. I ‘spose I didn’t really want to go to Antarctica’s Polar Plateau anyhow ‘cos it gets to 40 to 94 °F. Brrrrrr, even with my thick glossy feline coat. Mum is coming with me now to sit on the sunny warm grass. Purrsies, Leemo.

Held on the same day as Lismore’s Lantern Parade Festival, this Saturday June 24th, Lismore will host it’s first ever Zine Fair, where artists from the region come together with Zine’s they have written and designed, and prints they have developed (screen, limo etc).

A Zine is often a piece of “old-school, DIY, A4 paper, folded into a booklet, which can be informative, creative, artistic and use both words and images.”

“Whatever you are passionate about, whether it’s cats, poetry, how to make your own Banjo or Underground Music, you can write about it and make more art and perspective around your passion to share with others”.

The Zine Fair will be held at the collective art space Elevator ARI, 3 Rural St from 11-6pm.

Event Organiser, Chris Lego from the Make-Do Collective says “we are a group of 8 or 9 Queer Lismore folk, who put on events, and this will be another, where artists in the community can come together, with music on the day, supporting what is being created in our rich and diverse community”

“I have been creating Zines for almost 30 years, and was one of the first reasons I came to Lismore as a teenager, and have covered everything from Indie Rock, Punk Rock, to Queer Art, Politics and Writing and interviewing different people from counter culture.”

“Lismore has such a strong, creative community, I’m hoping people who have written things in the past, or are willing to do so now, will come together and create opportunities for new collaborations, and friendships.”

Casino forum to discuss inclusive emergency planning

RICHMOND Valley residents living with a disability are invited to participate in a Disability Inclusive Emergency Planning Forum in the Casino Community Centre on Monday 26 June.

Getting underway at 9.30am, the forum is being hosted by Richmond Valley Council in partnership with St Vincent de Paul Society, Bushfire Recovery and Community Development Program NSW and the University of Sydney.

Emergency services personnel are also invited to attend and develop an understanding of how the community needs to be supported during times of emergency.

At the forum participants will learn about:

• People-centred approaches to emergency management.

• Factors that increase risk for people with disability in emergencies.

• Strategies to reduce risk and increase the resilience of people with disability to disaster.

• Local community resources which can be shared before, during and after an emergency to keep people safe.

Council’s Director Community Service Delivery and Local what worked, where the gaps were and how to successfully plan for emergencies.

She said the forum was a great opportunity for Council and the community to work collaboratively to ensure disability inclusive emergency planning

“Council is pleased to host this forum to give people living with a disability a voice on their preparation and recovery from disaster.”

St Vincent de Paul Society, Bushfire Recovery and Community Development Program NSW spokeswoman Tracey Doherty congratulated Richmond Valley Council for bringing the first of many discussions together to formulate a united plan for diverse emergency preparedness.

Emergency Management Officer Angela Jones said some people needed additional support, resources or advocacy to prepare, respond and recover from disasters.

Ms Jones said the aim of the forum was to bring people of all abilities, carers, emergency responders and Council together to identify was present in Council planning, as well as the Local Emergency Management Committee Emergency Plan.

“The fires, floods and pandemic of recent years have shown us that disasters happen fast and can have longlasting impacts on our communities,” Ms Jones said.

“Hosting this forum in partnership with Council and the University of Sydney means support can be provided for everyone in our community, regardless of age or ability and can assist in equipping them with the skills we all need to better prepare, respond and recover from disaster,” Ms Doherty said.

Numbers will be limited for this event, so people are encouraged to register via bit. ly/3JaAQeF or using the below QR code.