Ruby - Issue 3

Lisa Williams tales from the other side FASHION

FINANCE

INTERIORS

ARTS

FOOD

HEALTH

FITNESS

EDITOR elcome back, dear Ruby readers.

We are now three issues in and coming back to Ruby already feels like catching up with an old friend.

There is something so comfortable about writing for other women and not having to censure those thoughts and ideas that we know make the blokes around us more than a little uncomfortable.

Over these last two issues, I’ve had cause to reflect that women are candid about subjects that a lot of men would rather be talked about by women only… preferably in a locked, windowless, sound-proof room apparently!

Last issue it was a discussion on labioplasty and this month I was called into the art room to reassure our young male graphic designers that yes, we really did want to put stories about menstruation, menopause and breast surgery in our (women’s!) magazine. The latter story, and in particular a little rhyme therein, briefly earned me the title of D-Titty in the office. You’ll understand when you read the article.

Of course we all know men who will happily join in on a frank discussion about ‘women’s issues’, and as the significant others of women, they understand that these issues do not only affect women, but also the men that have to live with them!

In this issue...

Autumn is the season of change. The leaves change and fall, the days are cooler, crisper, and shorter, and as we mourn the passing of summer, we begin to prepare for the cold months ahead.

As women, we spend much of our lives in a state of change. We change from girls to women, from singledom to coupledom and often to and fro between, we change from young women to middle aged women to old women, and we experience the extraordinary changes of pregnancy, motherhood, grandmotherhood and menopause. These changes can be times of joy and times of great sadness, they can exhausting and exhilarating, and they can be some of those things and all of those things.

In this Autumn edition of Ruby, we look at many aspects of change – changing fashions, changing life circumstances, the big Change, financial changes, surgical changes, career changes and changes of direction.

2 | Ruby

On one such memorable occasion, we had some old friends around at our house for a bit of a catch up. At the time, I had recently had my second child, and a couple of the wives were pregnant. While the girls were gathered around the kitchen scoffing dessert, we were a little amazed to realise that our menfolk were elbows deep in a serious discussion about the very intimate details of pregnancy – I’m talking first trimester bleeds, hormone swings, various strange body aches and in what configuration pillows can help a pregnant partner sleep.

By the time they had moved into labour, childbirth and caesareans, we were, in equal measure, gob smacked and very, very proud. Here were our footy-loving fellas talking each other through things that their own fathers had never witnessed, let along talk about. Bless!

So, for plenty more intimate, inspiring, funny, frightening and fabulous stories, read on.

Davina Montgomery Davina Montgomery EDITOR

CONTENTS

Lisa Williams tales from the other side Ruby Tuesday 4 Ruby People 5 Fashion 6 Interiors 8 News 9 Psychology 10 Medical 11 Fitness 12 On Show 13 Feature 14 Health 18 Money 21 Business 24 What’s Hot 25 Lisa Williams 28 Food 32 Spotlight 34 Business Woman 37 Create 40 Breast Wishes 42 On Page 44 Cover & Contents Photos - Jenni Young Photography

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Ruby | 3

RUBY TUESDAY

A domestic tragi-comedy I like going to the hairdressers, or more truthfully, I like the idea of going to the hairdressers. I like the chatter, I like flicking through the trash mags and I love the indulgence of someone else massaging my hair as it’s being washed and luxuriate in someone looking solely after me, focused entirely on my wants and needs for the duration of a cut and colour. What I don’t like about going to the hairdressers is how long it takes, which is, without fail, always a good hour more than I allow for.

So I put hair appointments off until I have ‘a free day’. The result of this, unsurprisingly, is long hair in desperate need of attention… to the point that even I couldn’t ignore the line circling my head like a tonsure that highlighted just how long it has been since my last visit.

So, on a non-work day not so long ago, I found that having done the shopping, cleared up my emails, hung out the washing and tidied up the dishes, I realised I had a short window to drag the emergency colour kit out of the back of the bathroom cupboard and restore evenness to my long-neglected tresses.

After cleaning up the kitchen I had whipped up some fried rice, and with a bowl each and Ben 10 on the telly, the kids were occupied, and into the bathroom to do the dreaded deed I went.

I read over the ‘in home hair dying for idiots’ instructions thoroughly, then read them again, just to be sure. Took everything out of the bathroom that could possibly be in danger from dye splashes and found a paint-splattered pair of leggings and an old black maternity singlet to wear. The instructions suggested putting a layer of moisturiser on the face and skin around the hair to likewise prevent unwanted stains, and wetting down hair to allow the dye to more evenly worked through.

Just I was preparing to mix the colour, the doorbell rang…

Was I expecting someone – obviously not! Should I have been expecting someone – yes! Because there, at the door, at a time that I had booked in and then clearly forgotten, were the Kinder teachers from my son’s new kindergarten here for a home visit.

That my home is almost never tidy is something I got used to and stopped being embarrassed about a long time ago.

That I was standing there in a sagging singlet, leggings covered in paint, face ridiculously shiny from all the moisturiser and with lank, half wet hair, was another matter altogether.

After quickly explaining, my two guests, who, bless them, didn’t seem the least concerned (although, they could have been in shock… I know I was!) offered to come back later. But figuring that it couldn’t get any worse, I asked them in.

While I quickly tried to gather up the scattered rice on the floor with a baby wipe (why is there never a dustpan around when you need one?), the two ladies sat down and began chatting to my son about his day.

4 | Ruby

Seizing the opportunity, I raced up the hall to close off the laundry (disaster area) and quickly wrapped a cardi over the offending singlet and wiping off the excess moisuriser. I returned, feeling a little more comfortable, only to realise that it was very hard to hear over the alien screams coming from the television. Quickly switching it off, I turned to hear my darling boy calmly saying that no, he hadn’t been outside today because he’d been watching Ben 10 (little liar, we had spent a solid hour playing outside this morning!) At least I’d gone with the healthier rice and vegetables option for lunch, instead of the mini hot dogs I was going to cook…

As this home visit was apparently aimed not at mortifying timepoor parents, but at ‘getting to know’ the new kinder kids better, we took the ladies up to the kids bedroom to see my son’s favourite things. Sadly, this led past the kitchen (which bore no hint of this morning’s effort in tidying, being covered in post-rice cooking pots and pans, scattered rice and discarded veggies all over the bench, not to mention the ever-present pile of papers that I mean to get to ‘later’).

The kids bedroom wasn’t any better, where it was a struggle to find a bare inch of carpet to sit on amongst the mess of toys.

Hmmm. At this point my expression must have given a hint of just how horrified I was, because I was very kindly assured that “We’re not here to judge” and “Isn’t it nice that all the kids toys and books are in easy reach”.

Easy reach? They were EVERYWHERE. The home visit was mercifully short, and when I was sure they were actually gone (I watched the car leave from the window) the TV was back on, moisturiser likewise back on, the hair dye was in. I had fifteen minutes to wait, so made a coffee and sat down to laugh at myself (the coffee would have been a glass of wine, but with my luck, they would have left something and come back to find me not only dishevelled in house and person, but also drinking in the middle of the day and probably calling child protective services on their way out…).

I have been told over and over that the kinder year is a nightmare, so I wasn’t expecting an easy ride, but this was taking it too far!

by Tuesday Jones

RUBY PEOPLE

Judy Baulch

Park Street Family Medicine & Women’s Health Clinic

Park Street Family Medicine and Women’s Health Clinic has been offering extensive medical services for 2 years now.

Judy Baulch is a freelance writer and editor, with over ten years’ experience in the industry.

“Writing is my passion. I also love finding out answers to the questions of who, what, why and how, so journalism is my perfect career. Being able to tell the stories of strong and inspirational women through the pages of Ruby has been a wonderful opportunity to combine those passions with discovering the amazing life experiences of local women.”

In addition to family medicine, the clinic offers the services of female doctors with expertise in the area of Women’s Health.

These services range from regular health screening, such as Pap Smears and breast examinations, through to contraception, pregnancy care, sexual health and infertility issues; along with medical care for women with, for instance, menstrual difficulties, endometriosis, PCOS, menopause and prolapse.

Women aged 45-49 can also access a thorough health assessment via both the practice nurse and the doctor. This includes detection and discussion of lifestyle and health issues, which may lead to morbidity in later life, along with ways to modify those risks for better health outcomes.

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Ruby | 5

FASHION

FASHION FORWARD we can afford In these days of new frugality, sensible women across our region are finding that while they are cutting back on their clothing budgets, they don’t have to cut back on style. Cheap and chic, funky and frugal, style and economy are no longer anathemas. And leading the charge in budget friendly style is none other than Target.

We spoke to Karen Russell, Target Business Manager for Ladieswear, about getting the season’s latest looks without maxing the plastic.

What trends should women be looking out for in autumn fashions?

Target has a great selection of fashionable and affordable new trends for any autumn look or budget.

Our Utility Chic range takes inspiration from military-styled trends with the essentials like the military jacket, skinny cargos and military boots in blacks and fatigue greens, and matches them back with more feminine pieces - cute tops with ruffle detail, gorgeous beaded bracelets and floral prints.

For work, classic pieces such as tailored pants, shift dresses in floral and geometric prints and simple heels are always in style.

What are the staple pieces that every woman wants to have in their wardrobe this season?

At Target, you really don’t have to break the bank to have a stylish wardrobe - it can simply be a matter of selecting a few key pieces that are versatile and can be used for a number of different looks.

The Military Jacket is the essential for this autumn. In a range of styles and fabrics to suit everyone’s style and body shape, the structured jacket with button detail can be dressed up or down. You can get a great Target jacket for under $50 - and considering how often you will want to wear it this autumn, that is a sound investment!

For the office, tailored straight leg and wide leg pants are must-haves, while the ‘Mad Men’ inspired trend has seen shift dresses become a wardrobe essential. The greatest benefit of these dresses is that they can transform from day to evening with the addition of some extra accessories, a simple lightweight knit and a pair of gorgeous ankle boots.

For a relaxing weekend of lattes and shopping with the girls, one of Target’s simple check shirts or a great knit is perfect teamed back with jeans and a pair of lace up military boots.

What are the new season’s must-have accessories?

Whether you are layering beaded, pearled and cute charm bracelets, wearing oversized cocktail rings or a pair of large hoop earrings – our latest looks at Target this season call for

6 | Ruby

lots of jewellery! Embellished hands are the key and try adding a bit of colour to your nails - the bolder the better!

Every girl must have a skinny belt this autumn, and for bags the utility messenger bag is the essential from this season’s military trend.

Boots are definitely a must have item for footwearparticularly the military style lace up boot for casual wear, or the stylish and sleek ankle boots for work and dresswear.

Women come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, and we all want to feel fantastic in our new clothes. How does Target cater to the range of women’s sizes and how are the latest trends carried across all size ranges?

Target stock a range of sizing options for women, as we understand that every woman is not only individual - but wants to look and feel comfortable, stylish and beautiful!

FASHION Target’s ladies contemporary range comes in sizes 8-18, including key essentials for this season - jackets, jeans, knits and dresses. We also have a fantastic range of size 16-26 ladieswear as part of our Moda brand - once again, including key fashion items such as geometric patterned and floral tops and dresses, leggings and pants.

We use comfortable fabrics in our apparel that fit to different body shapes and make every woman look and feel great.

We all know we can experience four seasons in one day in Geelong. Do you have any tips for dressing for changeable weather?

Choosing clothing items that are versatile is really important and layering is a great option in our changeable weather.

Selecting lightweight tops that can be teamed up with a heavier jacket for the cooler days, or can be worn on their own for those hotter afternoons is a perfect example.

A shift dress that is of a nice length that it can be worn with bare legs and a cute pair of open toe heels in summer or matched with a pair of leggings, a knit cardigan and a pair of ankle boots for those wintery days.

So not only are they practical items, but because you can wear them all year, they also help you maintain a fashion budget.

Lastly, what is the key to balancing a great look with a great bank balance?

No woman should have to choose between fashionability and affordability when selecting clothes. At Target, we pride ourselves on offering our customers highend speciality store product that is great style and quality, but at prices offering significantly better value.

The key to balancing a great look with a great bank balance is to buy items that you really love - that are on trend, fit well, are versatile and made from quality materials.

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Ruby | 7

INTERIORS

It pays to keep an open mind You may remember in my last article, I was on the hunt for a vintage poster. I was searching the net and popping into shops in High Street, Armadale.

My search was for a particular French artist who has designed many theatre posters. My husband casually mentioned one evening that a friend had given him an old poster that had been rolled up in his garage since 1953. He knew this poster had a relevance to us as it was a ‘’Vincent” motorcycle.

Now my father-in-law was an expert in all things Vincent, my husband and I met on a Ducati motorcycle ride and we are still passionate about riding, and have a garage full of very much more modern motorcycles. So it was no surprise to me that my husband was getting the poster framed to hang in our garage.

Two weeks later and I arrive home to find the poster framed, leaning on the kitchen wall... the original 1953 Chiko Roll poster girl, scantily dressed for the period (extremely tastefully dressed by today’s standards) not quite astride the “Vincent.” It never made it to the garage; it now hangs in the entry!

rectangular. Because you have a timber dining table, don’t dismiss a fresh white 2pak buffet to sit alongside.

Getting independent advice is helpful. A fresh point of view can often open up possibilities you hadn’t considered, regarding colours and the placement of furniture in the room.

Currently, in design, almost anything goes. We can only make suggestions and our customers can make their own decisions. It’s not about filling your home with display furniture, it’s about creating a home personal to you, for you and your family and friends to enjoy and feel comfortable in.

After all, how many people want a vintage motorcycle poster hanging in their entry!

I’m off to Milan in April for the “Salone Internazionale Del Mobile 2011”, otherwise known as the International Furniture Fair of 2011, so hopefully I’ll have plenty of fresh ideas to share with you on my return.

by Susanne Anthony

So the point I am making is … keep an open mind. I certainly wasn’t looking for a vintage motorcycle poster! You may think you want a coffee table, but an ottoman could be more appropriate. There may be only 3 of you in the family, but if your dining area is spacious, a small table will look lacking.

Coffee tables don’t always have to be rectangular; a round coffee table softens an area in which everything else is

“ Currently, in design, almost anything goes... It’s not about filling your home with display furniture, it’s about creating a home personal to you, for you and your family and friends to enjoy and feel comfortable in. ” 8 | Ruby

NEWS

A KINDER conundrum If you have had kids at kinder recently, or a working mum of small people who will soon be heading to kinder, you have probably asked the question: why aren’t kinder hours longer?

already at its limit in many areas, especially where we have high population growth.

“In the last five years there has been an increase in births adding to the demand for limited kinder places. To increase kinder hours by 50 per cent we need to find local solutions such as changes to programs, extra facilities, extra staff and this can’t be done without extra funds.”

Well, as of 2013, they will be, with a new Commonwealth Government policy to extend kinder hours to 15 hours.

While this policy may solve one part of the problem, it also creates a new one: where are all these kinder kids going to go? For many of you who live in growth areas, you are probably already aware that kindergartens are full to bursting, and that is in programs running at around 10 hours per week. So where is the extra space and staff going to come from?

Cr Fisher said the burden of responsibility has been unfairly placed on local government and parent-run kindergarten committees to make these changes happen.

“Without adequate funding and resources from Federal and State Government, we won’t be able to achieve universal access by 2013,” she said.

Kindergarten programs are Federally funded, the staff is funded by the State, and the centres are operated at Local Government level. For the Geelong region, the Universal Access to Early Childhood Education policy means a 50 per cent increase in kinder hours above currently funded levels.

More federal funding is needed for infrastructure, with planning underway at the local government level to extend seven kindergartens (Ocean Grove, Leopold, Lara, Grovedale, Belmont and Portarlington), while feasibility studies are being done on expanding another eight kindergartens (Barwon Heads, Geelong West, Grovedale, Highton, Lara, Leopold and Newtown).

Last year there were 2,524 children enrolled in a registered kinder program in the City of Greater Geelong, with a participation rate of 94.5 per cent.

“We wholeheartedly support the Commonwealth Government’s commitment to universal access to 15 hours of kinder for Australian children,” said Geelong Council’s Community Development Portfolio Councillor, Kylie Fisher.

“It is well documented around the world that quality early childhood education provides the foundation for lifelong physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

“But this is an enormous task for local government. We have over 2,500 children attending 51 kindergartens. Capacity is

Cr Fisher said that State Government also needs to make sure there will be enough qualified kindergarten teachers to meet the increased demand, and funding is provided to ensure the costs of the additional hours are not passed on to parents through higher fees.

“We applaud the Federal Government’s aim of universal access to kindergarten, however local government cannot be expected to implement such major changes without proper funding and resources.”

by Davina Montgomery

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PSYCHOLOGY

Aging gracefully…an oxymoron?

Remember way back when - when we thought our mother and her friends were really old? Strange, it only seems like yesterday. So what happened – when did we become our mothers? When did things change? Change: so much has been said about change. I suspect that none of us really like the idea of change. Heraclitus (540 BC – 480 BC) notes that nothing endures but change, so in essence ever since that time, and probably long before, we have all been trying to accept and commit to change.

Change may well endure, but it strikes me that change is to be endured. Particularly, when faced with getting older. Correct me if I’m wrong but are there positives around aging when everything begins to change detrimentally and irreversibly? I ask the question rhetorically because I already know the answer, so please read on.

It’s all well and good for philosophers to intellectualise, but the rest of us mere mortals may be inclined to approach it from an emotionally reactive point of view. This is particularly evident when we have little control over the change itself.

Don’t be fooled, change can be sneaky and devious and more often than not, we don’t even see it coming. The gasp of horror as we catch a glimpse of ourselves in an unfamiliar and unforgiving mirror is what I’m talking about! When did this happen and who is this person staring back at me? Mentally we feel like we did when we were in our twenties but that’s not what we are seeing.

Welcome to the world of cognitive dissonance: a feeling of uncomfortable tension, which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts at the same time. To resolve this we need to accommodate the new idea. Well that’s easier said than done when we have spent endless hours and years, not to mention a small fortune, attempting to resist the passage of time.

We generally resist growing old gracefully. Who coined that term anyway? I suspect it was that Heraclitus again, probably because he had fewer options back then. Nowadays, we take our multivitamins and anything else that might make the difference; we exercise with personal trainers; we join the gym; we walk and jog and do yoga; and even Helen Mirren espouses the virtues of that weird contraption. Yes, I admit I did give it a try, but after I sailed into the coffee table whilst totally engrossed in keeping up with the animated on screen Charmaine, it was relegated into storage.

We colour the greys and we spray tan, because that makes the white flabby bits look somehow less gross when we slip into our summer attire. Tell me – do you still wear your bikini or are you waiting until you lose those extra ten kilos that don’t seem to budge? Hey, and what about the swinging underarms that could deck anyone within three metres if we spin around unexpectedly. All this is what it is to grow older.

Some very determined folk take it a step further and endure more pain than the aforementioned practices generate. We can

10 | Ruby

have the unsightly bits sucked out, lifted up, tucked in, tightened up, filled out, and reshaped. Evidently anything that has drooped or gone saggy can be restored if you are game enough.

It seems anything is fixable even down to those unsightly fanny flaps. So all this is fascinating stuff, but how do we know when we really are, how do I say it, old, older, oldish or really, really old?

It’s puzzling to try and decipher when a person is considered old. Perhaps it’s people who are 20 years older than we are.

Now that makes sense. I like that one. It’s not an original idea, but it does the trick for me. I must confess that I immediately warmed to the catch phrase; forty is the new fifty etc.

Yes, the times they were a changing and I was able to put the twinset and pearls away for at least another ten years. But time continues to march on and I steadfastly refuse to bring them out of storage. The moths are welcome to them. Aging gracefully is out of the question and any birthday ending in a zero is not to be spoken of. Lucille Ball told us that: “the secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” Well, one out of three is not too bad!

This is the part where I try to convince you that I have all the answers. But what do I know? I may be a psychologist, but, as I have subtly inferred, not one who is readily going gently into that good night. I agree wholeheartedly with our man Dylan Thomas - old age should burn and rage at the close of day.

Granted, I could be a bit melodramatic here with my raging against aging. After all Mr Thomas was talking about the end result of the aging process, however, I am sure you will appreciate the sentiment.

Now back to the serious side of things. In life, it’s all about the meaning we give to the various events we experience, that is, our interpretation of any particular situation. In this instance, it’s about what aging means to you. The self-talk we indulge in can either serve to enhance or lesson our ability to cope with what life serves up to us. Therefore, we need to learn to restructure our negative thinking in an effort to reduce our emotional distress. Yes, you can learn to do this – I should know, it’s my job.

So allow me to leave you with these words of wisdom from a very dear friend’s late father. He was obviously a man well versed in dismantling and restructuring negative thinking. My friend tells the story of lamenting how she looked in a not so flattering photograph of herself. Her father’s response was “Wait 10 years and you’ll think you looked wonderful!”

He couldn’t be more insightful and now, dear reader, you can remind yourself of this whenever you gaze into that fickle mirror – carpe diem - seize the day!

by Charmaine Morse Psychologist

MEDICAL

When it flows...

Many women experience heavy periods (menorrhagia) at some stage throughout their reproductive years. For some it will be an occasional event; for others, it will be something they experience on a regular basis. Truly heavy periods may result in fatigue, social isolation, time lost from work/school and anaemia.

taken just at the time of the period to lessen the loss.

A medical consultation for heavy periods will include a thorough history and examination. Investigations may be requested and may include blood tests and ultrasounds to look for underlying causes of heavy periods, such as fibroids in the uterus.

A popular option currently is the Mirena IUD (Intra Uterine Device). Unlike previously available IUD’s, the Mirena has a hormonal component, which over time, reduces menstrual loss significantly and, in most women, will eventually cause the period to cease altogether. The hormone acts locally inside the uterus and therefore the side effects, which some women may note with oral preparations, tend to be reduced.

The Mirena also has the benefit of lasting for 5 to 8 years. In select women, insertion of the Mirena is offered at Park Street Practice.

Management options will depend on the cause, if any, of the heavy period. These options include hormonal manipulation of the menstrual cycle with, for instance, the oral contraceptive pill. There are also medications available to be

Surgical options for treatment may be necessary in some women and will require a referral to a specialist. These options include permanent removal of the lining of the womb, local destruction of fibroids or, occasionally, hysterectomy.

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Ruby | 11

Fitness

Training through the change Exercise Physiologist from Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs, Maryanne Long, says scientific research has long shown that exercise can slow the physiological aging clock and explains that while strength training is essential for women of all ages, it is especially beneficial to women going through menopause.

“Studies have shown that lifting weights two or three times a week increases strength by building muscle mass and bone density. Strength training is also crucial to weight control, because when you have more muscle mass you consequently increase your metabolism. Muscle is active tissue that consumes calories while stored fat uses very little energy. Strength training can provide up to a 15 per cent increase in your metabolic rate, which will aid weight loss and long-term weight management which will help to keep your weight down during menopause,” Ms Long said.

Gina McElroy has been a regular member of Fernwood in Loganholme QLD for the past five years, and now at age 50, she is testament to how strength training can help women to survive the trials of menopause.

“My personal trainer has guided me in my strength training one to two times a week since I joined the gym. It has helped me to lose 8kg and also enabled me to compete in running events that I previously never had the strength to compete in,” Gina said.

She explains how the regular exercise not only helped to reduce her blood pressure and keep her waistline trim, but she says it has had an amazing impact on her mood.

“As any woman who goes through menopause knows, your moods can swing from one extreme to the next, but for me, the exercise really helped to lift my mood and overall health and wellbeing,” she said. “I can’t imagine how I would have survived without making exercise a daily part of my life.”

Recent findings from the Garvan Institute have found that women suddenly halve their physical activity levels just prior to menopause resulting in weight gain.

“It’s important the women, especially over 50 years of age should incorporate three types of activities into a weekly fitness plan, which includes aerobic exercise, flexibility training, and strength training. Many women may find a personal trainer to be helpful in getting started, maintaining motivation and to ensure they are training correctly,” Ms Long said.

A 12-month study conducted on postmenopausal women at Tufts University in the United States showed that women who lifted weights two days per week saw one per cent gains in hip and spine bone density, 75 per cent increases in strength and 13 per cent increases in dynamic balance with just two days per week of progressive strength training. The control group actually had losses in bone, strength, and balance.

Some women may need to consult a doctor, physiotherapist or exercise physiologist about the type of exercise best suited for them.

12 | Ruby

The Menopause Myths Forget everything bad you’ve heard about menopause. With the right diet, lifestyle and exercise - and hormone replacement treatment, if necessary - you can ease the symptoms and protect your health.

- Eat the best diet you can, high in natural wholefoods - especially fresh fruit and vegies.

- Get at least 1,200mg of calcium a day, either through your diet or in a supplement.

- Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.

- Reduce stress as it can aggravate symptoms such as hot flushes and anxiety.

- Find a doctor who understands what you’re going through and is up-to-date with the latest treatments.

- Try to have a positive attitude to getting older and don’t buy into the myth that ‘women don’t have as much to offer as they age’.

- I mprove your sex life. Dryness and thinning of the vaginal tissue can make sex uncomfortable, but a water-based lubricant can help.

- Get support from your family.

- Strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.

- Give up smoking - it increases the chances of having hot flushes and night sweats, and can cause menstrual irregularities, ageing of the skin, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, lung problems and cancer.

ON SHOW

On a wing and a prayer One of the country’s funniest working mums, Fiona O’Loughlin, returns to Geelong in April with her latest show, On a Wing and a Prayer.

O’Loughlin has had a very public battle with alcoholism, which at one point saw her slurring and collapsing on stage, but true to form, she is not only on the wagon, but cracking jokes from the back of it.

In her latest show, Fiona takes audiences through kicking the dancing shoes off her feet (following her stint on Dancing with the Stars) and the drinking devil off her back.

At times poignant, always honest, and above all hilarious, On a Wing and a Prayer is O’Loughlin back to her best, albeit in a slightly more reflective mood.The show is packed with O’Loughlin’s trademark tales from her life, the stories that she often refers to as ‘Dinner party stories’ – and while her kids may not cop as much of the rough end of the funny stick this time round, pretty much everyone else does, but none more than Fiona herself. It’s all there, the AA meetings, family hiccups and a few wincingly, uproarious stuff-ups of her own.

But if you’re going to be on the receiving end of anyone’s comic jibes, you want it to be O’Loughlin, because even as she generates hilarity from your foibles, you can tell she loves you probably all the more because of them.

This is a comedienne extraordinaire, and as we have come to expect from the mid-30s Alice Springs mother of five, feels a little like the funniest dinner table conversation you’ve ever heard – although this time, without the wine!

Don’t miss your chance to see the latest installment from the Queen of Australian comedy.

Fiona O’Loughlin plays the Drama Theatre at GPAC on Friday April 1st.

Ruby | 13

FEATURE

Training for life Nikki Smith sits down gingerly and winces. “I’m sore!” she says. “I can’t believe how sore I am. I knew I was losing fitness, but this…”

Still fitter than your average person, Nikki admits her own exercise regimen has slackened since opening her Malop Street New Level Personal Training Studio in January. So she asked one of her employees to give her a workout. “He warned me it wouldn’t be a walk in the park and he wouldn’t go easy on me,” she groans, then smiles brightly. “But at least I know he’s good!”

With the standard gym equipment brightened by touches of red and a welcoming lounge at the entrance decorated with classy prints not normally found in exercise studios, Nikki’s New Level Personal Training Studio would make the laziest of clients want to exercise, even without the added incentive of a masseuse on staff to help with those sore muscles. There’s no posing here - just refreshing honesty: “I love my food,” Nikki says simply, “so I have to exercise. If you gave me a choice between giving up food and not exercising and exercising and eating food, then I‘d exercise and eat food!”

The opening of the business heralds the end of an unimaginably difficult year for Nikki and, hopefully, the start of a new phase of her life. In 2009, she says, her life was “perfect”: she was engaged to the love of her life, Australian Paralympic swimmer, Alex Harris. They had built their dream house in Lara and were looking forward to the rest of their life together. Then Alex took his own life in October 2009 and Nikki was left to find a way to live without him. Exercise saved her sanity in the immediate weeks after the funeral, so personal training seemed like a natural next step.

“I’d never been that fit, but when Alex died… I don’t know why, but I just started going to the gym every day,” she says.

“It stopped me curling up in a ball and crying all day and it gave me something to focus on and helped me to sleep.

“So I set myself a goal to run in the 2010 Mountain to Surf [held in Lorne each year on the same weekend as the Pier to Pub swim] because it gave me something to work towards.”

The seed of that goal had been sown during the Pier to Pub weekend in 2009. Alex swam the Pier to Pub every year since

he was 11 - as his carer since 2007, Nikki was present at all his swim events and Alex’s 24th Pier to Pub was no exception.

“That year I watched the Mountain to Surf race and told him, ‘Next year I’m going to run in it,’” Nikki says. “He laughed and said, ‘yeah right!’ So the whole time I was running I was thinking, ‘I hope you’re watching this!’ It took me an hour, which is a bit long for eight kilometres, but it’s up hills like this” - she illustrates with her arms - “and down hills like this, and running through the national park on tiny tracks.” She’s clearly quite proud of herself and deservedly so.

“So that was the first goal, and when I completed that I set myself another goal, and so on, and that was how I got through it.”

The next goal for that first year was to complete Certificates Three and Four in personal training.

“After Alex died, John Mitchell [Geelong’s Mayor and one of Alex’s swim coaches] asked what did I want to do now and I said I wanted to work in a gym,” Nikki says. “So I went to the Victorian Fitness Academy to get my personal training qualifications with that in mind. Then I met Travis Bell, the franchisor of New Level Personal Training, at an industry night and it turned out that he knew Alex. We got talking and he suggested I open a New Level Studio in Geelong. The more I thought about it, the more it did seem like a good idea to start my own business instead of working in someone else’s gym.”

So far, she says, it’s going well – “We’re getting there slowly, but surely.”

Personal training has been embraced by Geelong people and studio owners – from boot camps to specialised studios to trainers working from their garages - personal training seems to be leaving traditional gym programs in its wake, with no sign of slowing down. Nikki smiles broadly when asked why having a personal trainer is so popular.

“Motivation,” she says instantly. “Most people have all these good intentions, we all do it, I do it!” she laughs, “But when it comes to motivation, if you go to the gym by yourself you will only do a certain amount. The minute you start to think, ‘Oh that’s a bit heavy, or that hurts a bit, or I’ve had enough,’ you stop. But if you’re working with a personal trainer, you go that little bit harder and that little bit further and they push you to do it.

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FEATURE Having a time booked in, like an appointment that you have to go to helps too and having someone to make you accountable.

“I have to be honest, I’ve not been exercising as much as I used to - I still exercise a lot compared to most people, I still do some sort of exercise every day, but not with a personal trainer and not being pushed and I miss it. I can see the difference in my health and in my physical strength. And the thing is that it takes so long to build that muscle and get strong and it takes like that” - she snaps her fingers –“to lose it.”

So that was Nikki’s 2010. “Basically, as I saw it, I had two choices. I could sit there and cry, and believe me I did a lot of that, I still do, but I had to realise I couldn’t continue doing that.

Then I decided, well to be perfectly honest it’s really corny, but I want Alex to be proud of me, so I decided to get out there and do something. While I was with him I became an adventurous person, we did stuff all the time, and when he died I found that I didn’t want to go back to the old me. I wanted to stay the way that I was with him. Because I know now that life is too short, it can be gone just like that, and you can’t rely on anyone else to make you happy. You have to do it yourself. And I achieved a lot last year – going to school and opening a business. I don’t know if this year can top that, but we’ll try!”

The goal for this year is simple: to make the business a “total success” – a few more trainers, a couple of hundred clients, always busy, that’s what would make me happy.”

She would also like to find a way to make the gym accessible to people with disabilities and their carers. “Alex’s brain injury [as a result of a car accident when he was 18] meant he shook constantly – he could lift things and swim, but his fine motor control was gone,” Nikki explains. “He couldn’t write or shave or feed himself because his whole body shook so much, but he learnt to control it. That’s why he went to the gym every day, because the more muscle he had, the easier it was to control the shaking. So if I could use the studio to help disabled people work on their fitness it would be great.”

Then there is the biography of Alex to be released sometime in the middle of this year. Titled Shakey after Alex’s nickname, Nikki hopes it will show people how special Alex was and raise awareness of acquired brain injuries (ABI) and how they affect people’s lives.

“There were things that happened when I was with Alex that I found disgusting,” she says, indignantly. “Many times we would go out and be refused service because people thought he was drunk. He was once arrested for being drunk and disorderly and spent four hours in the watch house when he hadn’t even had a drink. It wasn’t until they let him go and saw that he couldn’t do his shoes up that they realised.”

Then there was the time early in their relationship when a parking attendant laughed at Alex because he was shaking so much as he handed her his money. “She said, ‘Oh we’re a bit of a p-head are we?’ I’d never known Alex to be quiet, he wasn’t a quiet person, but he just went quiet that time and said, ‘no, I’ve had a car accident actually,’ and she still laughed at him. It was the first time I’d experienced anything like that, but he said, ‘oh that stuff happens all the time’. It just makes me so angry.

“It’s very hard with ABI” she continues after a moment, “because it’s an injury inside your head. For someone who was six foot three and fit looking, you had to look very carefully to notice there was anything wrong with Alex. But just because someone looks perfectly healthy on the outside, it’s not always the case that they’re healthy on the inside.”

by Judy Baulch New Level Personal Training 47 Malop Street, Geelong Ph: 1300 6395 3835 www.newlevelpersonaltraining.com.au Brain Injury Australia www.bia.net.au

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HEALTH

TIMES are a changin’ “The change”, “That time of life”, “Something we don’t talk about…” It’s menopause, and, in the 21st century, the way we approach “the change of life” is changing as well. The cause and symptoms obviously remain the same, but new treatments and attitudes can ease the process for women today.

comment on dealing with a career and menopause: “Rock and menopause do not mix. It is not good, it sucks and every day I fight it to the death, or, at the very least, not let it take me over.”

And the way she deals with hot flushes? “..I get a big, fabulous Japanese fan and cool myself. I may as well be fabulous while I’m suffering.”

Erma Bombeck probably summed it up best when she said, “…

This generation…have adjusted the timetable for childbearing so that menopause and teaching a sixteen-year-old how to drive a car will occur in the same week.” That’s probably not something our grandmothers, or even our mothers, had to worry about during menopause, but, on the flip side, our generation doesn’t have to worry about suffering in silence the way our grandmothers and mothers did. We have web sites, blogs, associations, support groups and books informing us about the causes and symptoms, treatments and ways of coping (have you tried, for instance, hugging a cold water bottle to ease night time hot flushes?).

Dr Jane Elliott, President Elect of the Australasian Menopause Society (AMS) and a GP with a longstanding interest in women’s health, especially menopause, osteoporosis and infertility, welcomes the new openness about menopause. “[It’s] out of the closet and this gives a chance for women who may need to seek treatment to do so more freely,” she says. “Women, rightly, are now expecting much more of their bodies and psychological wellbeing as they age and, for some women, especially those in the workforce, symptoms of menopause can be debilitating enough that they are looking for quality of life far more than their mothers may have.”

Menopause is particularly daunting for the generation that turned 40 into the new 30. It’s the ultimate proof that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t keep biology at bay forever. Sooner or later, menopause will come to all of us, even celebrities. Rosie O’Donnell famously spilled the beans on her own and the eternally youthful Madonna’s passage through menopause when she said on the Tyra Banks Show in 2009: “[Madonna’s] great…

When I started having my hormone things, I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ She’s like, “Get the cream’.”

Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop producing eggs and oestrogen and progesterone production cease. When a woman’s periods have stopped for 12 consecutive months she is considered postmenopausal. Menopause usually occurs naturally between 45 and 55, with the average age around 50.

Early menopause occurs between 40 and 45 and premature menopause (before 40) is also possible, either naturally or as the result of surgery or cancer treatments.

Meanwhile, singer Stevie Nicks gets the gong for the best

18 | Ruby

“Hot flushes” is the symptom most people associate with menopause, an uncomfortable feeling of heat spreading over the

HEALTH body with no warning. Other symptoms include night sweats, aches and pains, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, forgetfulness and trouble concentrating or making decisions, sore breasts and bloating. Then there’s dry skin, vaginal dryness, loss of libido, urinary frequency, and sleeping difficulties. Some women may have unwanted hair growth, thinning of scalp and pubic hair, skin changes and increased bleeding gums.

“These changes are usually caused by fluctuations in the production of hormones from the ovary,” explains Dr Elliott.

“Some women experience menopausal symptoms for five or six years before their final menstrual period. Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict how old a woman will be when menopausal symptoms start or how long they’ll last.”

Life can be difficult for women trying to maintain a career and a family and social life while experiencing menopause. As many women are now older than previous generations at the birth of their first child, symptoms can coincide with child raising, or indeed teaching the teenagers to drive.

“The whole issue is that at the time a woman is going through menopause and possibly having symptoms of lack of oestrogen, issues such as her aging parents, her husband’s own midlife crisis and teenagers playing up or leaving home can complicate life,” Dr Elliott says. “Women often feel caught between their children’s and parents’ generations, [while] providing support to all. Guess who misses out!

“There is also an increasing trend for women to leave childbearing until later, or to re-marry and want to have children with a new partner. It’s often a great shock to find that early or premature menopause has snuck up on them and limited their options.”

As for working women, hot flushes during meetings are common.

“It makes their jobs difficult,” Dr Elliott says. “For some, it’s enough to layer clothing and make sure they don’t increase heat in their body by a hot drink during the meeting, but if flushes or sweats are more than this, many will look at treatment options.”

In our century, those treatments won’t include being sent to an asylum, as menopausal women in Victorian times often were, or subjected to forced removal of your ovaries or clitoris, as some women once were, in an effort to stop your “hysteria”.

Nor will they involve being treated with “a mixture before meals of carbonated soda and various other remedies, including opium, a large belladonna plaster to be placed at the pit of the stomach and vaginal injections with a solution of acetate of lead,” as 19th century physician, Edward Tilt, prescribed for one menopausal patient. Further prescriptions included opium, hydrochlorate of morphine, chloric ether and distilled water.

Tilt reported a few months later that his patient had continued in good health, although, not surprisingly, she had “left off the medicines” (source: Louise Foxcroft Hot Flushes, Cold Science: a History of the Modern Menopause.) Other historical remedies included the use of special herbs, or bleeding and leeches to draw off toxins thought to be a result of menstruation ceasing or becoming irregular.

Today, the most common and medically preferred treatment remains hormone replacement therapy (HRT). First developed in the 1930s, HRT was severely, and falsely, as it turned out, discredited in 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study found that one form of HRT was associated with a small increase in the risk of heart disease and breast cancer in postmenopausal women (less than one extra case per 1000 women per year). The media coverage at the time was extensive and, in many cases misleading. As a result, prescriptions of traditional HRT dropped dramatically.

Last year, the US-based Endocrine Society conducted a review of all current evidence regarding the safety, benefits and risks of HRT and found that “younger women using HRT for five years experienced a 30 to 40 per cent decrease in mortality, no increased risk of heart disease and 90 per cent reduction of menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes or overactive bladder.”

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Ruby | 19

HEALTH

“ So what is the best thing to do when you reach “that certain age”?

Don’t suffer in silence. Seek out a doctor who is interested in and has experience with treating menopause...”

Women’s Health, Professor Henry Burger, one of the authors of the review, says the Endocrine Society statement places use of HRT “in a balanced perspective”.

other medications, causing potentially harmful side effects. If you are already taking medication, it is always best to check with your doctor first, before beginning the use of herbal medicines

“When used for women who have recently experienced menopause and whose symptoms impact on their quality of life, HRT is safe and effective.”

The search for natural remedies sometimes ties into the debate over whether menopause should be treated as a disease requiring medicine, or whether, as a naturally occurring stage of life, it should be accepted and embraced. Some women do find it a positive, life-affirming experience. With the passing of their periods and accompanying issues, many women say they have more energy and more stable moods now pre-menstrual tension is no longer an issue. Others report an increased sense of confidence and an improved sex life.

Dr Elliott agrees. “We know now that menopause is something that only 20 per cent of women will truly find an easy transition and all women deserve up to date information about the changes that happen and ways to manage lifestyle to optimise help,” she says. “Those women [with] debilitating symptoms need to know that, in healthy women around the time of menopause, treatments including HRT are low risk and available to help them through those years.”

The scare generated by the WHI research triggered a search for alternative, natural solutions to menopause symptoms.

Complementary therapies include the use of phytoestrogens – oestrogen-like plant compounds found in food and supplements - herbal medicines, wild yam creams, homoeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, massage, aromatherapy, kinesiology and acupuncture. Calcium supplements and weight bearing exercise may also reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

“Exercise is always beneficial,” says Dr Elliott. “It may not directly decrease flushes or other symptoms of menopause, but if you have that feeling of well-being that comes with regular exercise then you may cope with mild flushes better. All women have a tendency to gain weight at menopause, whether they take HRT or not – in fact those on HRT tend to gain less - and regular exercise (30 minutes a day is ideal) can help prevent too much weight gain.”

Dr Elizabeth Farrell, AMS President, also has some advice for managing hot flushes naturally. Contributing to the ABC Menopause Myths and Medicine Message Board (http://www.abc.net.au/science/menopause/guestbk/answers.htm), she wrote, “...hot flushes are made worse by anxiety, panic, stress, a heated environment, alcohol and spicy foods (e.g. containing chilli). Relaxation techniques, meditation and yoga may all reduce the intensity of the flushes.”

Regarding the use of herbal medicines to relieve menopausal symptoms, the Better Health Channel (www.betterhealth.vic.gov. au) recommends prescription by a trained natural therapist. “A herbalist or naturopath may prescribe one of many remedies… for sleep disturbance, mood changes or libido, as well as … hot flushes and night sweats… Generally, a prescription is tailormade to suit the woman’s individual needs, rather than the ‘onesize fits all’ formulas available over the counter.” However, it cautions that herbal medicines should be treated with “respect and caution.” Some complementary medicines may interact with

20 | Ruby

And, believe it or not, lots just find it amusing. Certainly the marketers of t-shirts, mugs and posters featuring sayings such as, “I don’t have hot flushes, I have short, private vacations in the tropics”, or I’m still hot, it’s just comes in flashes” (check out zazzle.com.au if you want to know more) have tapped into something – whether the purchasers find it funny, or just true, is a matter of personal opinion. Then there’s the blog, “Menopause: You need some laughter” (www.squidoo.com/menolaugh) and Menopause the Musical, “inspired by a hot flush and a bottle of wine,” which has been running since 2001.

For many women however, it’s no laughing matter and, despite all the blogs, forums, articles and feeling free to talk about it, they still don’t know what to expect when they reach “that time of life”.

The Menopause Impact Survey, conducted by Yankelovitch and sponsored by Teva Women’s Health, found many American women are “unprepared for the impact menopause will have on every aspect of their lives” and two thirds of the 2,500 respondents “did not feel adequately prepared to cope with their menopause symptoms.”

So what is the best thing to do when you reach “that certain age”? Don’t suffer in silence. Seek out a doctor who is interested in and has experience with treating menopause – the AMS has a “Find a Doctor” section at www.menopause.org.au, as well as reputable information on symptoms, treatment and the latest research. The Jean Hailes Foundation for Women website is also packed with information (www.jeanhailes.org.au). And while you’re on the net, take advantage of the way technology has changed the way we deal with menopause - seek out some of the forums and blogs written by women who are going through or have survived menopause and have much to share about their experiences – you might be surprised by what you discover.

by Judy Baulch

MONEY

When is a flood not a flood?

We all know some words have two meanings. For example ‘fine’ doesn’t always mean ‘fine’ and ‘thanks a lot’ doesn’t always mean she is really grateful!

Flood, in general, is not having so much surplus rain water in the street that it runs into your home [you guessed it, storm damage].

In light of recent severe weather catastrophes, we will take a look at what sits behind an insurance policy. Definitions, wordings and limits are very important. Please don’t buy insurance solely on price. When it comes to insurance, cheaper is not always best, it might be close to its use by date and a bit on the nose. As they say ‘you get what you pay for...’

What does your policy actually cover? Unfortunately, over the past few months, many policy holders are finding out what they ARE NOT covered for.

The question of the today: is my house covered for flood?

One definition of flood is: “the covering of normally dry land by water escaping or released from the normal confines of a watercourse or lake, whether or not it is altered or modified.

Flood also includes water escaping from the confines of any reservoir, channel, canal or dam.”

The term “flood” is used to describe all kinds of happenings and events and this leads to confusion. “I flooded my laundry when the sink overflowed,” “Honey, I’ve flooded the car,” “My street got flooded last week,” I also heard a media report stating: “A man fell from his roof while fixing flood damage”.

If you think you fit into the small percentage of homes that might be flood affected, make sure you ask about flood cover.

Again ask questions, “how much cover do I get?” I have heard, in one instance, a company saying they have flood cover, only for people to find they are limited to $15,000.

Your agent or broker is all too happy to help you with any questions you may have. You can ask for Product Disclosure Statements [PDS] to read at your leisure, it clearly defines all that is covered or not covered. You may even find that you are already covered for flood!

by Melissa Vella Agent of Allsure Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for guidance only, and professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein.

Neither the writer, publishers nor the distributors can accept any responsibility for loss occasioned to any person as a result of action taken or refrained from in consequence of the contents of this article.

Flood is not normally your washing machine overflowing [that’s water damage].

Flood is not rain running down your walls because of the wind blowing your roof off in a storm [that’s usually storm cover].

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MONEY

An Introduction to property investment More and more women are entering the property market as investors. With a history of generally lower wages, and often significantly lower superannuation balances at the time of retirement, women are becoming much more savvy about planning for a financially stable retirement. With that in mind, Ruby’s accounting columnist, Renee Jovic, offers her advice in an introduction to property investment.

So you are about to dip your toe in the water and purchase your first investment property. If the property is to become a rental, first crunch the numbers and then see your solicitor and accountant before signing the contract. The following covers some of the more general issues, but should not be a substitute for discussing your purchase with an accountant who knows your financial situation in detail.

Who’s Name To Buy The Property In If it is to be your home, make sure it is in personal names, though it only has to be in one spouse’s name for the main residence exemption to apply. If it may become a rental later down the track, then maximise the borrowings with an offset account and if possible secure the 20% deposit with another property. If it will be negatively geared when it eventually becomes a rental, you need to consider putting it in the high income earners name now, but there is always the potential down side of that, such as it becoming positively geared, the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when you sell, and possible need for asset protection. Note: you cannot hold your home in a trust and rent it back to yourself. In these circumstances the ATO considers the expenses relating to the property to be private expenses and, to make matters even worse, you would not be entitled to the main residence

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exemption. If it is always going to be a rental, then your options are personal names, discretionary trust or a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF). Definitely a topic for discussion with your accountant, but as a general rule of thumb, superannuation funds are only suitable when you have more equity available than you would ever want to borrow against and you are in a reasonably stable position, not too far off retirement. For most of us, this just leaves personal names and discretionary trusts. You cannot offset a loss on a rental property if it is held in a discretionary trust unless you have another form of income that is not from your personal services that you can direct into that trust.

Nevertheless, discretionary trusts offer an excellent form of asset protection, second only to SMSFs. If the property is going to make a profit, certainly consider a discretionary trust, this will give you the ability to choose, each year, who gets the profits (children under 18 can receive up to $3,333 tax free if they have no other income) and will give you that income stream that you could use to offset another negatively geared property held in a discretionary trust.

Breakeven Point It is all well and good working out whether you can afford to hold the property and how much to expect as your tax refund, but it is more than likely that the property is costing you money to hold onto. Ask your accountant to estimate this, including the CGT considerations, such as the depreciation reducing the cost base. Then take this annual cost of holding the property as a percentage of the purchase price. This will give you the percentage of capital growth required before you even start to make money on the investment.

MONEY

“ Do not fall into the trap of using your own money or a redraw on your home loan as a deposit for a rental property. You will not be able to borrow to pay yourself back the cash and claim the interest on the borrowing as a tax deduction.”

Finance

Record Keeping

Generally, if you now have or will later have any nondeductible debt, and the loan to purchase the rental property should be interest only. In view of a recent private ruling by the ATO, if you are going to have a Line of Credit, where rental property expenses will be paid from and interest may capitalise, then this should be secured against the rental property rather than your own home. To achieve this, you will probably need to take a loan secured against your home as a large deposit for the rental property. Do not fall into the trap of using your own money or a redraw on your home loan as a deposit for a rental property. You will not be able to borrow to pay yourself back the cash and claim the interest on the borrowing as a tax deduction.

Sure, the interest on the money redrawn from your home loan for the deposit would be deductible, but it will be a nightmare to do the apportioning and you cannot move that debt to another loan without having to refinance the whole loan.

Make sure you leave your accountant’s office with an understanding of what records you need to keep to prepare your tax return. It is not just about keeping receipts for everything, but also keeping a diary, for 1 month at least, of the hours you use your home office regarding the rental property, ratio of deductible to non-deductible use of your computer and internet, phone calls and the kilometres travelled for the rental property.

Capital Gains Tax If you are buying your own home, make sure you move in as soon as practical after settlement or the property will not be fully covered by your main residence exemption. The ATO even try to imply on their website that you must move in on the day of settlement unless you are ill or your employer has sent you overseas at short notice. Certainly, if there is a tenant in there after settlement, there is no way the property will ever be fully exempt from CGT. So it is worth delaying settlement until you can have vacant possession. If you are buying land and building, then you must move into the new house as soon as possible after it is completed and live there for at least 3 months. Then you can back date your main residence exemption to the date you purchased the land, if that was less than 4 years ago and you did not cover another property with your main residence exemption during that time. To qualify for the 50% CGT discount, you must own the property for more than 12 months. This period is counted from the date the contract is signed to buy to the date the contract is signed to sell, not settlement date. Most other sections of CGT legislation refer to ownership period, which refers to settlement date.

Quantity Surveyors Report This is far from crucial at the time of purchase, but a QS report is very useful when working out how much the property is going to cost you to hold. Before organising a QS report, check whether one is necessary. You do not need a quantity surveyor to estimate the second hand values of the plant and equipment in the house; you are allowed to do this yourself. So it is a question of whether you qualify to claim special building write off. This would only apply to properties built or improved after 17th July 1985. The relevant date is the day the footings are laid. Properties built or improved between 17th July 1985 and 16th September 1985 are depreciated over 25 years, so there may be (depending on the exact date of construction) none or very little depreciation left. If you are constructing or improving the property yourself you cannot use a quantity surveyor’s report to calculate you depreciation, because you must use the actual cost to you.

by Renée Jovic Owner & Managing Accountant Jovic Bantacs Accountants Pty Ltd

DISCLAIMER: This article is for guidance only, and professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein.

Neither the writer, publishers nor the distributors can accept any responsibility for loss occasioned to any person as a result of action taken or refrained from in consequence of the contents of this article.

PAYG Withholding Variation This is an application that you can make to the ATO to reduce the tax taken from your wages, effectively giving you a portion of your tax refund each pay period rather than waiting until you lodge your tax return. This may be necessary to help you cope with the costs of holding the property, especially in the first year.

Ruby | 23

BUSINESS

The Idea of lifelong learning There is the idea of lifelong learning that sits comfortably with me, in that there is no hurry, just a steady climb, but other people think that I need to learn some lessons faster. When I sit back and reflect on my learning, some of the best lessons have been served to me when I least expect them and perhaps least wanted them.

hormonal, for somehow I was complaining about the implied expectations of others and me wanting to go and start my weekend. In reality, I wanted Loris, for once, to capitulate and side with my “woe is me story”. I was imagining the togetherness that can happen when you dive into a real bitch session about “the others”. But, as usual, Loris had a very different agenda. This time it was a cultural lesson.

I had a very simple time as a kid, growing up in a rural environment. That is, until I was 15 and then I was struck down with a thing called cerebral arteritis or so my memory tells me.

This left me paralysed for months and rehabilitating for years.

The upshot of this was that I did my formative training as a young adult in Grace McKellar with the oldies. I can tell you that I learnt every fart joke that was ever written. I never really knew what a teenager was supposed to do. I missed those early social trials of learning about friends. Females, in particular, scared me more because of their mystery.

Loris was annoyed (not a common occurrence) about the Aussie expectation of a weekend. In her terms, we survived the week to go crazy on the weekend. She knew the significance of the ‘thank god it is Friday’ (small g for a weekend god), however she chose to disagree with the ideas. In her terms, why live only 2/7th of your life? She would tell me of China, where people would work every day for years without a break, not because they would have to, but because it was a fine thing to do. I spoke of slavery, but she rejected the idea. She said that it was an interweaving of two other ideas.

But life was kind and I happened to meet a great bunch of people at university. They would share with me their tales of teenage trauma or triumph, and I would sit there, quietly listening and logging a vicarious life. I had little to share – having only learnt to walk and talk a few years before. My memories and experiences seemed so shallow in comparison. My ability to hide in the group and just absorb the information was a handy skill.

The big lessons started when I moved out of home.

The first was a sense of duty – something that Australians hold in a different manner. To a Chinese person, duty was a happy thing that held family members and then country as the highest object to serve. It was a joy to complete a fulfilling task that provided for your family. Whereas in Australia, the idea of duty was taken by a few to mean an ideal that was rarely achieved, but for the majority was held as a drudge. It was the slog of “I have to do this...” . To Loris the opportunity to achieve a greater purpose was not a Sunday suit but daily attire.

Thanks to a supportive mother, I had learnt the basic domestic skills and could cook more than the usual male version of spaghetti and meatballs al la Kraft. So I could blend into a normal existence. In the student house, there were 5 girls and myself - this was definitely accelerated learning at its scariest. I was the stranger in a strange land; however I didn’t expect Loris. Loris was the first child in her family to be born in Australia. Her brothers and sisters still retained much of the Chinese culture. Our clashes were monumental.

Somehow I seemed to earn the right to cook the evening meal more than my share, and most nights, right beside me, was Loris. In domestic terms it was great, but the arguments would go on for hours. I call them arguments because the term discussion is too pale and wan to describe the emotional energy that was expended. Every recursive comment was plumbed to its depths in the endeavour of a final score . Over the years, I could see that Loris was teaching me. Not in a purposeful way, as a teacher would acknowledge a student, but in the way that a world wise and stronger thinker would influence someone who would not admit their naivety.

One particularly valuable lesson came on a Friday evening.

Fridays were a challenge in a student house. Most of the crew would rush in to the house and deposit their student detritus and fly home for family dinners and treats – to bask in the glow of a parental slave for the weekend. So a few of us would end contending with up with the pile of breakfast dishes and a trail of discarded clothes. This particular night I may have been

24 | Ruby

However, it was through the second issue that she presented what became a subtle but very important lesson. Loris said that Australians never seemed to like where they were in life; most seemed to live in the fictional land of ‘Someday Isle’ rather than, NOW. Their mind, she said, was living in the ephemeral promises of tomorrow to the point that they wasted today. She proudly stated that one of the most important lessons she had learnt from her Chinese lineage was to be happily here – where ever here was.

So you could see Loris ardently scrubbing dishes left by wayward housemates. Happily swotting for an exam or doing the midnight hunt for a block of study enhancing chocolate with a high calorie smile. It always surprised me to see Loris having as much fun sweeping the kitchen floor as playing tennis with her friends. As she said, learning to live 7/7th is far better than wishing for an unachievable dream, or at best living only part of the time and merely existing through the rest.

Well, dearest Loris, I have failed in your wonderful lesson. I still enjoy weekends and I never seem to be able to have fun cleaning dunnies, but I appreciate your attempt to bring some culture to our part of Geelong.

by Clint Jennings Clint is a founding partner of the Australian Business Development Centre. www.abdc.com.auzz

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Ruby | 25

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Metropolis Ruby | 27

LISA WILLIAMS

Photo - Jenni Young Photography

Tales from the other side On a Wednesday afternoon, I sat down in my office and made a phone call to television medium and clairvoyant, Lisa Williams. Only the weekend before, Lisa had brought her sell-out tour to Geelong, and at the time of our interview, she was holed up in an Adelaide hotel room.

For those of you who have never heard of her, Lisa has become famed as a woman who speaks to dead people.

And whether or not you believe that is possible really doesn’t matter to her. The bubbly English-born, LA-based mother of one cheerfully explains in her strong Birmingham, or ‘Brummie’ accent, that it isn’t her mission to make people believe in what she does.

In her words, she wants to help people. And judging from this latest sell-out tour of New Zealand and Australia, not to mention her very popular television shows, Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead (2006–2007), currently airing on Foxtel’s W Channel, and Lisa Williams: Voices From the Other Side (2008), there are tens of thousands of people who want to hear what the dead people have to say through Lisa.

“The tour is absolutely amazing,” Lisa said. It has just

28 | Ruby

been fabulous. Everyone has been so lovely and we’ve been able to see places that we would never normally go and visit.”

Lisa explained that she was very young when she first began experiencing what she now calls her gift.

“My parents tell me it was younger than I remember, but for me I remember it from about four years-old.”

She told of hands and faces coming out of walls and lights, and how she would hide under the covers of her bed, nearly suffocated, because she was so scared of what she was seeing and hearing.

“Then it became something that I had around me, but I kind of didn’t work with, I didn’t use it. I would come out with odd things, like I’d say, ‘Oh, we’ve got a math test today’, or that someone wouldn’t be coming to school that day because he’d broken his arm. Silly things like that.

But I really didn’t use my gift until I was much older.”

We all know that kids do come out with some odd things at times, but I couldn’t help wondering what sort of reaction you get from people if you said the sorts of things Lisa talked of.

LISA WILLIAMS “It was funny, because my parents didn’t believe, really didn’t believe. My mother had a mother who was also a clairvoyant, but my grandmother didn’t come out and start doing it until I was about seven.

“So there was this period of time where I was looked at as a bit weird. Then as I grew up, I had a friend of mine that really, I suppose, embraced it. After that, when I would come out with these things at school, people did look at me a bit strangely and a bit weird. But I learned not to say anything.”

And, of course, got to prepare for the math test when the others didn’t…

“Yeah,” she laughed. “That’s true.”

For Lisa, what once made her one of the weird kids, she said has just become a normal part of her life.

“It’s always been normal. It’s very much normal in my life. I’ll often hear things and see things. I can be sitting in a restaurant, and I might say, ‘that waiter has lost his brother’ or something like that.”

But she admits she wasn’t always so confident about what she was hearing and seeing, and said she had doubt about her ability to do readings at all.

“You know, it was really difficult, because I didn’t really believe in myself. I had a father who was a sceptic and I was constantly being told that I was being stupid and that I couldn’t do it, that it was all silly and nonsense. Even now I still have those moments of needing validation, and I think we all do.

“The thing is, when you’re giving readings, you’re giving information that you don’t know and you have to trust what you’re seeing or hearing. When you get the validation, it just makes you go ‘Oh, thank god I was right’.”

She said then when she first began working as a medium, she quickly learned not to tell people what she did in social situations.

“People would ask me what I do and I would say that I’m a hairdresser, and that’d shut up then. Even now I will sometimes get a little bit – not embarrassed, but a little apprehensive. It’s always my partner who will pop up and say, ‘She speaks to dead people’ and that kind of breaks the ice,” she said, with a trademark laugh.

As a high profile medium, Lisa attracts a lot of criticism, the most vocal coming from strident sceptics who say that she is a fraud, deluded, and even under the influence of demonic forces. I asked Lisa how she responds to these strident critics.

“My father was that person. He really, really was. I learnt to basically just ignore him and to get on with it. I got to a point where I said, “If you don’t believe in my ability, that’s fine, but all I’m asking you to do is to respect what I do and respect others who believe in it, and not force your opinions on those people who need my help.”

Lisa Williams’ rise to fame has been a meteoric one – from giving readings in her home in England to having her own television show in America and appearances on Oprah and other chat shows.

She tells of explaining to a friend that her boyfriend was cheating on her (an insight, she said, that went down like a lead balloon), with whom and where. Lisa said when her friend realized she was right, she became the one that convinced Lisa that she should be giving readings.

Working from home, then from a small office in England, in 2004 Lisa went on holiday to LA with her then husband, Kevin, and her son, Charlie. Their stay was unexpectedly extended when Lisa became very ill. After she recovered, and before she went home, she gave a

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Ruby | 29

LISA WILLIAMS

“ It’s always been normal. It’s very much normal in my life. I’ll often hear things and see things. I can be sitting in a restaurant, and I might say, ‘that waiter has lost his brother’ or something like that.” reading to a senior member of staff of famed television producer, Merv Griffin.

There’s no question that I could be doing that over the phone.”

“I met Merv Griffin in 2004, and around a year later, I got this random phone call from two producers who worked for him saying that they wanted me to go to New York. We shot this pilot in the October of 2005 and by March 2006, the TV show had been sold and later that year, in August, I was going over there for six weeks, and never went back. It happened so quickly.”

People who approach Lisa, the ones that seek out readings, are in most cases people who are grieving in greater or lesser degrees, and who are seeking some form of closure. It is common for people to have strong emotional reactions to Lisa’s messages, and I asked her how these strong emotions affected her. Let’s face it; most of us (hopefully) don’t have people breaking down in tears many times a day because of something we’ve said!

She said that having moved around and toured fairly constantly over the past four and a half years, she isn’t really sure where ‘home’ is anymore.

“I don’t feel at home in England and, of course, my base is in California, but I really feel that I am more at home on the East Coast of America. So that could be the next move,” she said.

These days, she said she no longer does face-to-face readings, but operates everything over the phone.

“I try not to let their reactions get to me, because everyone’s going to react in a different way. Some people are going to be really upset; some people are going to be so happy, so I try not to let the whole reading affect me. It’s not easy and you do have to shut off, but it’s something that I’ve had to learn how to do. What is nice is when people come back and say, ‘Oh my god, you said this and it happens to be right,’ those are the nice reactions that I like.”

“For me, how it works, is that I work on vibrations, I work on energy, and the energy can come via the phone, via the Internet – there are so many ways of communicating. What happens is that I just get this energy, then I will start getting voices and they will be telling me things.

Lisa has one child, a son Charlie, who lives with her and her partner, Holly, in California. Lisa had a long-term relationship with Charlie’s father, and was married for a number of years to Kevin Harris, who moved from England to California with Lisa and Charlie, while she produced her television shows. Lisa announced that the marriage had ended on her website in December 2009.

“The thing that I like about being over the phone is that the sceptics can’t judge me and say that I look at body language, and that I work off that and feed off that.

Between grueling touring schedules, books, television work and her regular blogging, I asked Lisa how she found the time to spend with her own family.

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30 | Ruby

LISA WILLIAMS â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have to say that recently, in the last six months, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve actually become much more of a home body than I ever was. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m away on tour and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just Skyped with Charlie, and my parents are at home looking after our dogs, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a tough tour, because all I want to be is at home,â&#x20AC;? she said.

Of course, turning up to a parentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career day at school and saying you speak to dead people for a living would, I imagine, cause a bit of a stirâ&#x20AC;Ś Lisa said she has Charlie in a Steiner-Waldorf school, which are characterized by an open-minded approach to social and educational development.

Lisa is a very busy working mum, and while her work consists of giving people answers, she freely admits she hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always had all the answers in her own life. She has had a number of relationship breakdowns and said she has only recently found a balance between her career and her family.

Being followed around by the dead is one thing, being hounded by the living because of what you do for a living, is quite another. Lisa said fame hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had a serious impact on her life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; although a recent weight loss and change of hairstyle also means she is less recognizable without her characteristic â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tie-dyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; spiky hair.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had to learn to switch my phone off and turn off the computer, and it has been tough! My partner (Holly) has been absolutely incredible and has supported me. In fact, she demanded that I do it, for the sake of Charlie and our home life. So I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Okay, no problemâ&#x20AC;?, but it was difficult in the beginning. Thankfully, what helped was the fact that we live in an area that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have much cell phone service, and so my phone goes on to airplane mode.

I work from the hours of 8 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock maybe until 6 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody recognises me,â&#x20AC;? she said with a laugh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I was walking around with short, blonde spiky hair, then yeah, people would be running up to me in the street. But now that my hair is longer, darker and all one colour, people kind of do that double-take and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gone past them by that point. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not so intrusive now, but it can be very intrusive.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re happy in your home life, you really want to be present in your home life. And that was the difference, where prior to that, I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happy.â&#x20AC;?

Lisa said it is, and was for her, very easy to become lost in a busy and demanding career. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Completely. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about creating boundaries and separating yourself; and that was really hard for me, because I used to have my office at home. Now I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. It was so easy to just go into the office and shoot some emails out or to work into 2 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock in the morning because you had a deadline. But now, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.â&#x20AC;?

Unlike his famous mother, Lisaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son Charlie has grown up as the son of someone who speaks to dead people for a living. Lisa said that because he has grown up around Lisaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, talking to the dead has just part of his life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Charlie asked me what it was that I did, and I told him that I speak to dead people. And he was like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well, I see dead people too.â&#x20AC;? And so it has just become a normal thing for him. We spoke about it and we were very open about it. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make a big deal of it. He knows itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very special, but he also thinks itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very normal as well.â&#x20AC;?

Not least, I imagine, because there would always be people who want to see if Lisa can give them a quick reading. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard for me to do a reading on the spot if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m on the mood or not in the zone, or if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sometimes having a bad day. It is really hard, and I do say that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not in witchywoo mode, but most of the time, most people will just want to tell me that they love the show and ask if they can take a picture, which is really nice.â&#x20AC;?

At the time when I was speaking to her, Lisa said she hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet had any real time off in Australia for sightseeing around the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had one day off in Melbourne and we went and explored the delights of Melbourne via David Jones,â&#x20AC;? she laughed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I was very happy with that. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are planning to have a day off in Newcastle and a day off in Cairns. So, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m planning on going out to the Great Barrier Reef, and I try to get some relaxing time in.

Tonight, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just arrived in Adelaide, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s movie night. The schedule is clear and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just going to get into bed and watch movies.â&#x20AC;?

by Davina Montgomery

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Ruby | 31

Craving comfort food Now with Autumn upon us, I see the changing colours of the leaves, the ground is cooler, moist and mossy with that special morning earthiness of wet dewy grasses.

This is the time I start to crave comfort foods; slow cooked meats with intense flavours, poached fruits with vanilla, crumbles, stews, and the smell of roasted hazelnuts, the headiness from freshly picked marjoram, tarragon and oregano from my herb plot.

Whether you are just cooking for the family or entertaining your friends, these are the types of foods that everybody enjoys.

Not over-complicated dishes, but dishes that are well executed and abundant with fresh seasonal produce and great flavours.

To me, the rules are always straightforward, don’t over complicate what you’re cooking, use the freshest ingredients available, and make the flavour memorable and fantastic.

Kicking off any party with careful planning will bring the end result of entertaining success.

A simple tasty starter is buttery tarts of grilled mushrooms with marjoram and crumbled goats cheese, served warm to allow the aromas to escape and have your guests’ taste buds waiting for more. You can serve these delicious morsels on large platters with marinated baby olives, crunchy herbed croutons with smoked salmon rillettes, and grilled lamb and fennel seed sausages nestled with baby endive dressed with lemon and walnut oil. A great start for any occasion.

Food with Richard Kelly

I would follow it up with a slow cooked pork dish, beautifully caramelised and golden (I prefer to use the neck or leg for a succulent juicy result), served with some braised lentils with red cabbage, and my favourite spiced pear and apple chutney. Add a luscious glass of pinot to really do it justice.

It’s now hard to decide whether to finish with a simple classic apple and rhubarb crumble with cinnamon cream or an indulgent gooey chocolate pudding with grilled figs. Anybody for some toasted walnut and fruit bread with aged cheddar and quince paste, followed with a small glass of Muscat, full of raisin, date and dried fig aromas? Yum!!!!

Richard Kelly is the managing director and executive chef of THE R K GROUP corporate & event catering in Geelong.

32 | Ruby

by Richard Kelly

RK news: It’s an exciting time at THE R K GROUP not only are we extremely busy with an amazing range of events but I have just recently had the opportunity to appoint my brother Nick as the head chef of THE R K GROUP & partner in the business. Nick brings his wealth of knowledge & skill to the company. Two Kelly brothers, in one dynamic catering company - Wow!

Slow Cooked Star Anise Pork with Brocollini, Spiced Pear & Apple Chutney 1.5 kg bonless piece of pork (neck or leg preferred) Star anise ground Sea salt cracked black pepper 1.5 cups of sherry vinegar 2 cups of brown sugar 5 pears & apples 1 lemon zest seeded & chopped 3 cloves of crushed garlic 1/4 cup crushed ginger 1/2 cup of raisins 1 chopped onion Sea salt & cayenne pepper to taste Trim pork of any excess fat or sinew, mix star anise, salt and pepper and rub into the pork. Brown the pork on a BBQ or in a hot pan to seal in the juices. Place in a baking tray and cook for 20 min on 200 deg. C, then reduce to 170 deg. C for approx 50 min or until juices run clear. Allow to rest in a warm spot until carving.

To make the chutney, bring vinegar and sugar to the boil, add all ingredients and bring to the boil again. Remove from heat and allow to stand overnight. Next day, cook and reduce slowly, stirring continuously until it thickens. Place in airtight container.

To serve, thickly slice pork and accompany with sesame broccolini and a good spoon of the pear & apple chutney.

Apple & Rhubarb Crumble Baked â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;til golden brown and served warm with cinnamon cream, this is a dessert that would make Nanna proud.

400g of rhubarb cut into 2 cm pieces 3 granny smith apples peeled, cored & diced 2 tablespoons of caster sugar 1 lemon juice & zest 3/4 cup of flour a good pinch of all spice 1/2 cup of rolled oats 1/4 cup of slivered almonds 100 g of butter 1/4 cup of brown sugar Pre heat oven to 180 deg. C, place apples, rhubarb, sugar, lemon zest and juice into a rectangular dish and bake for approximately 15 minutes until tender.

Sift flour and all spice into a large bowl rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in oats, almonds and brown sugar. Sprinkle over fruit mixture and bake for approximately 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with cinnamon cream.

I hope whether you are cooking, hosting or attending a party this Autumn, it soon brings you enjoyment, fun, passion and pleasure.

Good Food, Good Wine & Good Friends.

Richard.

Ruby | 33

SPOTLIGHT

To cut or not to cut?

Half of the world’s population has them. They are big, small, high, low, firm, soft and come in an almost infinite variety. They are celebrated, they are mourned, and they are the most widely used symbol of femininity.

They are breasts.

As women, we’ve all got them, but just how many of us are happy with them? And if not, why not? Here are a couple of interesting factoids - or should that be breastoids? – no female mammal on Earth, other than the human, has breasts of a comparable size, relative to the rest of the body (or at least, so states Wikipedia); and humans are the only primate that has permanently protuberant breasts.

Songs and sonnets have been written about them, and if Homer (of The Iliad fame, not The Simpsons), the perfection of at least one pair helped launch a thousand ships and start a very long war.

Now everyone is different, but I know that no one’s ever going to go to war over my boobs, and I know I’m not alone in quietly wishing to have been blessed with pert perfections that defy gravity and could, potentially, take out the eye of any unwary gawker. More and more women are taking their desire for a knockout cleavage to the ultimate stage of having breast surgery.

But before we get onto the more serious side of all this, I wanted to present my own little Titty Ditty: [sing along to your own tune…]

Breasts, they come In all shapes and sizes.

Breasts, if we change them Oh, please don’t despise us.

Breasts, they used to be

As we all know, breasts change throughout our lives, for a variety of reasons. Puberty, pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, weight gain, weight loss and even exercise can all influence how our breasts look and feel. This is all normal and natural. But for some women, and it is an increasing number, a desire for a better bust leads them to breast surgery.

While there are no national statistics on rates of plastic surgery available in Australia, in America, breast augmentation surgery with implants has been grown in frequency by over 200 per cent since 1997 (according to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery). In 1997, just over 100,000 women in the U.S. chose the procedure. In 2009, the number was over 311,000.

But as the statistics show, going under the knife isn’t the be all and end all of breast dissatisfaction. According to the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS): “Forty percent of cosmetic plastic surgery patients agree they should have done more homework to learn about potential side effects and complications before surgery.” In fact, one in five breast surgery patients are back in the operating room within five years!

To find out a little more about why more and more women are seeking breast surgery, we went to Ms Niamh Corduff at the Aesthetic Breast Surgery Centre in Geelong.

Ms Niamh Corduff is a former President of the Australiasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. She is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and has been practicing plastic surgery for over 15 years. She is also a member of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Ms Corduff over the last 10 years has focused on breast surgery. She is involved in research into breast surgery and has published papers in scientific journals and textbooks on the subject. She lectures regularly on breast surgery, both locally and internationally, and is invited to teach breast surgery at international forums.

Breasts, now they sag

Ms Corduff said the greatest single reason influencing the rise of rates of breast surgery is a greater acceptance of plastic surgery in general in our society.

Halfway to the ground.

“Times are changing. It used to be that even if you changed your hair colour it was frowned upon. Now you tell me which one of

Perky and round.

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34 | Ruby

SPOTLIGHT

us here hasn’t had their grey’s dyed out. None of us! And that’s the norm. Changing physical appearance because we can is not considered as frivolous as it once was. Safety standards in surgery and anaesthesia have improved so much, that women are now more readily looking to surgery to address other physical imperfections.”

The widespread acceptance of plastic surgery is, according to Ms Corduff, a double-edged sword. On one side, this acceptance means that women who need surgery to correct an abnormality now find it a lot easier and more acceptable to do so. It also means, however, that there are far more women that have a false perception of what is normal and are seeking surgery they simply don’t need.

There are a number of different types of breast surgery, with the most common being Breast Augmentation (enlargement) and Reduction Mammoplasty (breast reduction).

Breast reduction surgery, for women with large, heavy breasts, has been around for a long time. The surgery can relieve upper back and neck pain and, for girls or women with particularly large breasts, relieve embarrassment as well. In the past it was always recommended that a girl wait until she has had children, as the only techniques used would usually take away the chance of future breastfeeding. Now there are techniques used that can don’t necessarily take that option away.

Breast enlargement surgery over recent years has become increasingly popular. It is sought by women who have had children and their breasts have ‘deflated’, as well as those who are simply small breasted. Twenty years ago, breast enlargement surgery was commonly viewed as a bit of a joke – a drastic measure taken by women with too much money and not enough sense. Not so anymore. Breast surgery is more accessible for the average woman than it ever has been before. It has become an empowering choice for women to do something for themselves.

It is common for women to make the decision to have breast surgery after a big change in their life – the end of a relationship, retiring from work, kids leaving home. But, as Ms Corduff warned, while surgery can be a positive change, the decision to undergo the surgical process has to be made for the right reasons.

“Sometimes women come to us and they are very unhappy or depressed, and then we have to be extra careful and make sure that they are in the right state of mind to make the right decisions. If they have an outcome that is not what they perceive it should be – then you can make things a lot worse.”

Ms Corduff said that the increasing number of young girls (under 20) seeking enlargements are a concern for breast surgeons.

“It does bother me that there are so many young girls asking for this surgery, and I believe many of these young women have false perceptions as to what is normal.”

She said that plastic surgeons in Australia are seeing more and more young girls unhappy with their breasts.

“On the one hand we see many more young girls with big breasts, and we are seeing more of that in association with obesity. Those that are significantly overweight often don’t realise that the size of their breasts is related to their weight and this needs to be addressed first. There are also young girls with very big breasts, who really need a breast reduction, and we go about that in a way to hopefully preserve the option of breastfeeding for them. With young patients, there are other pertinent issues of scarring and body perception that they need to work through, but overall they benefit greatly from the surgery.

“On the other hand, there are the young girls who want a ‘fashion enlargement.’ It is important with young girls to try and get them through those unstable teenage years and into their twenties before they can make that step. Breast implants are not permanent, and need maintanence surgery as the years go on.

Breast enlargement surgery is not a one off event. Celebrity magazines have popularised breast enhancement and made it seem so easy, a retail commodity. However I compare it to buying a very expensive sports car that you’ve always wanted: it costs a hell of a lot of money, it needs a lot of maintenance, and you’re constantly dolling out money to keep it. Implants don’t last forever,” Ms Corduff said, adding that a good quality implant would usually last, on average, ten to fifteen years. Lesser quality implants may not last as long. Breast enlargement often does bring about huge benefits in terms of self-esteem, but the

Ruby | 35

SPOTLIGHT

“ I compare it to buying a very expensive sports car that you’ve always wanted: it costs a hell of a lot of money, it needs a lot of maintenance, and you’re constantly dolling out money to keep it. Implants don’t last forever.” decision for surgery needs to be fully considered and not rushed into. It comes back to that basic surgical rule: First Do No Harm.

“Body image is challenging in young patients especially. What a woman sees about her body can be totally different to what I see and I have to try to get into her head to understand her perspective, and how physical change will affect that. Poor communication can lead to disappointment. It can be surgical psychiatry.”

Surgical psychiatry is an apt description of plastic surgery in general, and breast surgery in particular. Like it or not, agree with it or not, breasts are a fundamental part of our femininity.

Men don’t have them (while ‘man boobs’ are prevalent, they are not the same thing!) and for women who are deeply unhappy with their breasts, plastic surgery is as much about the way these women feel about themselves as how they look.

“If you do it right and you do the right operation on the right person, it can bring about huge benefits,” Ms Corduff said of breast surgery.

So widely is plastic surgery now accepted, and so great the influence of unrealistic body images that pervade media, entertainment and the Internet, that the ‘cheaper copy’ phenomenon has arisen. Australian women are opting to go on surgery holidays, predominantly in South East Asia, where they are offered their surgery and a resort-style holiday all for one low price. But while the price might be low when compared to the price of surgery in Australia, the ultimate cost can be very high.

“It’s being sold as in the same way as going to buy a frock, but it’s not. Yes, we have patients here who have complications in surgery, but at least if you have a surgeon that you have a rapport with and one who is properly trained, they can fix the problem.

If you’re overseas and there is a complication, and you have a surgeon you don’t have a rapport with, the problem is not going to be fixed. Then you’ve got to come back and someone else has got to pick up the pieces. Every single one of us in Australia sees problems coming back from overseas. It’s a big issue worldwide,” Ms Corduff said.

“It is amazing how many people ring up and it’s all cost, cost, cost, cost. When it comes to surgery that you don’t absolutely have to have, if you can’t afford it, then don’t do it. Don’t do it on the cheap, because you will end up with problems. That is where these holiday packages are really scary. Where the hotel side of the hospital looks fabulous, once you get through those doors and into theatre, what exactly are the safety standards?

What safeguards such as high tech anaesthetic monitors are available? What sterilizing standards are in place? The monitoring and safety standards are totally different in different countries and this is where the cost savings are. Australia and all

36 | Ruby

other ‘expensive’ Western hospitals and surgical centres have to comply with strict licensing regulations and undergo regular inspections to maintain that license. This is not the case in many overseas countries and so significant cost savings can be made. ” From very large breasts, to very small breasts, uneven breasts, sagging breasts, plastic surgeons see women seeking breast surgery for a range of reasons.

Many older women are seeking surgery, but don’t want anyone to know they have had it, but for themselves and their selfesteem, they want an improvement. Then there are women who want to go out there and have everybody notice their new breasts.

Ms Corduff said, “Women considering breast surgery need to make sure that they know what they want and what they don’t want, as a first step. Then we have to work out how we can get there, what is achievable and what is not achievable. It really is a negotiation and compromise on both sides.”

Secondly, they should research the surgery and have a good idea of the potential issues, before they go in to see a surgeon.

The choice of surgeon for any surgery is the most important decision a patient will make throughout the process, and it is extremely important to have researched the qualifications and training of the surgeon before committing to a decision. In Australia, any doctor can practice cosmetic surgery regardless of whether or not they have had any advanced surgical training. It takes 10 years plus of specialist training and examinations to gain the specialist qualification of being a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. It is also important to research the facility the surgery is performed in (the ideal being a hospital) and that the anaesthetist similarly holds a specialist qualification (FANZCA.) “The practice staff here work as a team to get to know and support our patients. Patients have got to be comfortable with the process. We have patients that we know tha are going to have psychological issues, but by knowing that and being aware in advance, we can deal with it and support the patient,” Ms Corduff said.

Plastic surgery can be controversial, and it can certainly be undertaken for all the wrong reasons, but it can also be life changing, empowering, and a way of giving back self-esteem to people who have suffered due to certain aspects of their appearance.

by Davina Montgomery For more information on breast surgery, visit the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons website at www.plasticsurgery.org.au

BUSINESS WOMAN

Beyond the glass ceiling Twenty years ago, the UK National Health Service had somewhere in the order of 450 CEOs. Only two of them were women. One, a former medical records officer, went on to become the Chief Executive of the National Health Service of Wales.

The other, a former occupational therapist, was first introduced to Geelong as Barwon Health CEO, and is now the CEO of Gforce. She is, of course, Sue De Gilio.

Born and raised in New Zealand, Sue broke through the glass ceiling and into the executive realms of the health service in the UK in the late 1980s. By 1992 she had taken up her first CEO position. A number of health CEO roles followed in the UK and then back in New Zealand, before Sue took up the Barwon Health role.

After nine years of organisational innovation and rapid expansion, her departure engendered ripples of surprise throughout the city. It wasn’t long, however, before Mrs De Gilio was once again at the helm of a major local organisation, this time it was Gforce Employment Solutions.

Brought into the organisation with a mandate to grow and expand the group, Sue has taken the revenue of Gforce from $30 million, which the organisation had steadily built up to over the past 27 years, to an expected 2010/11 end of year revenue of $35 million, in the space of one year. That’s a projected increase of over 16 per cent.

But it has never been, nor I suspect would ever be, all about money for Sue. In the short time she has been with Gforce (she took up the role in August 2010), Sue has been developing a project that she is not only clearly very MORAN

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BUSINESS WOMAN

“I’ve never been a lover of bureaucracy and in my working life I have tried to work around that – even whilst working within significant bureaucracies.” passionate about, but also, and perhaps more tellingly, is absolutely determined to make happen.

The Target 100 program is aimed at helping young people in the northern suburbs of Geelong, or more specifically, Norlane and Corio, to start developing a career by providing support, access to opportunities and a pretty handy incentive.

“I’ve always taken an interest in the northern suburbs, because the statistics for Corio and Norlane particularly, are pretty horrifying, and they haven’t improved over the years.

It’s almost like there is no real investment going into getting underneath the problem.

“I’m talking to everyone about [the program],” Sue said, adding with a laugh, “no one is escaping.”

Add to this already significant workload a place on a number of Boards around town, including the Committee for Geelong, and you start to get a picture of a woman with an incredible drive to get things done in the most straightforward, practical way possible.

“I like to be busy and doing things, being creative and innovative. “I’ve never been a lover of bureaucracy and in my working life I have tried to work around that – even whilst working within significant bureaucracies.

“Generally when you work in public health services, no matter which country you are in, you have a lot of people above you telling you what to do and how to do it. It is often very difficult for executives and senior managers to find a pathway through the many different views and changing agendas, and, the pressures that they bring can be relentless.

“I have known some excellent CEO’s who have become overwhelmed and undermined by the sheer force of these pressures, which distract them from the real work they should be doing. Stamina and the ability to withstand that sort of pressure are paramount.

“Taking on a CEO role in a public limited company is a vastly different experience and I am very happy that I can focus my energies on helping people to gain employment; especially young people who have their whole future ahead of them.”

Towards the end of her tenure as Barwon Health CEO, De Gilio spoke out about a lack of adequate funding from the State Government resulting in bed shortages and surgery delays at Geelong Hospital. It was reported not long after that De Gilio’s position would not be automatically renewed, but would be advertised, despite an impressive record of growth and development that saw Barwon Health become one of the most progressive health services in the country.

From the outside, the departure of Sue De Gilio from Barwon Health was a sudden one, and after a career that had taken her from New Zealand, to the United Kingdom, to Australia, it seemed to be anyone’s guess where she would undertake her next challenge. Sue however, considered Geelong her home.

“I didn’t know anything about Geelong before I came here, but I think it has an ambience about it, it’s a friendly town.

The thing I like is that it’s growing and it’s quite dynamic, so if you want to be part of the growth you can be involved.

“It’s not too large that you get lost in it, but it is growing fast enough that you can be part of and contribute to that growth. I like to be involved in the community and engage them with the business I am in.”

Sue said she believes her dedication to community projects is a generational trait, describing her own mother as a dynamo.

“She was well under 5 foot tall and her 6 children used to tower over her. She was always involved in community activities and won an award in later life for her contribution to the community. We were brought up with the notion that

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“ I think there are still issues for women about knowing how to get through that glass ceiling, and it’s about maturing your way of thinking about it... Women do, as far as I’m concerned, juggle a number of things, and manage to do that really well.” you give back to your community, and as a musician and music teacher she was passionate about building young musicians and giving them opportunities to succeed.

When Sue first became a CEO in the UK, she was one of two women chiefs in a large pool of health CEOs working in the UK. By the time she left, the ratio had been significantly increased.

“Her long service to the Trinity College London was recognised in the 1980’s when she went to London to receive an award by the College and presented by the Duke of Kent. She was an amazing person and a great role model for her family’’ Sue said that the example of her mother and other people like her instil a discipline in the next generation to give back to and share in the community in which they live.

Having lived and worked in regional and rural communities most of her life, Sue said a lot of aspects of life in Geelong gelled with her and her husband.

“I am a Kiwi and have travelled the world and worked in a lot of different places, including Africa, The Philippines and India. My husband is English and we met whilst I was working in the UK where I lived and worked for close to 20 years. We have decided that Australia is where we will put our roots down.”

Sue and Dave don’t have children of their own, but they do have their beloved dogs, the most recent being Brad and KC, whom they refer to as their ‘boys’. KC is now an only child until golden retriever number 6 joins the family later in the year.

The National Health Service set up a women’s unit that focussed on developing women for careers in health, particularly at the higher level. The women’s unit developed confidence in women to mange situations and themselves, in the media, in the Boardroom and other formal settings, always focussing on the human being and the compassion and understanding that is needed with dealing with people.

“I think there are still issues for women about knowing how to get through that glass ceiling, and it’s about maturing your way of thinking about it. Men and women manage and operate differently; there is no question about it. Women do, as far as I’m concerned, juggle a number of things, and manage to do that really well, whereas men are often very much focussed on one thing at a time. It doesn’t matter what organisation I work in, I find that the way that I operate with the male executives is different to the way I operate with female executives.

During her tenure as Barwon Health CEO, Sue was a Board Director of Gforce for three years, and so knew the organisation very well before taking up the role as Gforce CEO.

“We also learned how important it was to always present as human. That even when you get targeted - and I certainly have been in the past - you can’t just knee-jerk and react. It was really valuable. I was very lucky really, to have been in the UK at a time when they decided that they had to have a women’s unit.”

“I already knew and liked the organisation, and employment, recruitment and being engaged in that sort of activity is very much a Health CEO’s role. You actually have to develop your people, because it’s a people business.

There’s only a hop, skip and a jump from doing that to transposing it to Gforce. The skills that you bring the job, the leadership and managerial skills, are transportable, no matter what.”

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Sue said that for anyone, male or female, who aspires to climb the executive ladder, there comes a point in time when you have to stop and decide whether this is the pathway that you want to take, because it’s often long, stressful and demanding, with no guarantee of employment at the end of a contract. But I bet the view from the top of that ladder is spectacular!

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Ruby | 39

CREATE

Creating opportunties An innovative support program for Geelong’s young mothers is in danger of closing due to lack of funding.

As Krystal Webster chats confidently over the phone, it’s hard to believe she once found it difficult talking to people.

Her daughters, Eliza, three, and Lacey, two, are playing in the background as we talk and Krystal tells me that today – Monday – is Eliza’s favourite day of the week.

Mondays are when the family attends the CREATE Living Skills Program for Young Mothers. Eliza and Lacey get to play with their friends and 21 year old Krystal has a chance to meet with other mothers her age, pick up some parenting and cooking tips and practice her newly found talking skills.

“I just couldn’t talk in front of people,” she says. “I had trouble at school with that. But going to the young mum’s program has really helped my confidence. When I started I was really quiet, but now they can’t shut me up!”

Krystal has been attending the program since 2007, one of approximately 270 mothers involved since its inception as a pilot program in 2001. On average, 25 to 30 mothers attend each year with their children for five hours, one day a week.

Established to address the social and economic disadvantage experienced by many young mums in Geelong’s northern suburbs, the Living Skills for Young Mothers program is more commonly known as the CREATE Young Mum’s program and caters for women between 15 and 25 who are pregnant or parenting.

“We were finding that a number of young women accessing CREATE’s other services were having difficulties related to pregnancy and parenting,” says Fiona Lodge, Manager CREATE Training, of the program’s beginnings. “The pilot

program focused on practical parenting skills, in particular caring for newborns, but since then health services in Geelong have developed to support this area. Our program now focuses on parenting from birth to kindergarten, living skills, and support in areas that impact on our young mums’ capacity to parent effectively, such as homelessness, domestic violence and relationships.

“The aim is to assist and encourage young mothers to re-connect with their family, engage with other community agencies and services and make friends with other mothers their own age so they have a long-term support network. The program gives them the opportunity to get together in a relaxed environment to undertake accredited and nonaccredited training, socialise, and access support and assistance when they need it.”

Fiona says “non-accredited training” covers everyday living skills such as budgeting, health, parenting, communication, relationships, cooking and interpersonal skills. Since 2008, the young mums have also been able to study for a Certificate in General Education for Adults, which prepares them for secondary, or further education and finding a job. The program’s two staff members also assist with a range of issues such as housing, domestic violence, drug and alcohol, mental health and child protection issues.

“The program has been very successful,” Fiona says. “A large number of our young mums have either returned to education or gone on to further studies as a result of attending the program and some are now working.

“But it’s also successful in helping mums live their everyday lives more positively and getting them more involved in the community. The one-on-one support our support worker

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CREATE

“ The aim is to assist and encourage young mothers to re-connect with their family, engage with other community agencies and services and make friends with other mothers their own age so they have a long-term support network.” provides deals with the everyday, as well as the crisis, needs of our mums. Without this support, they have no practical assistance to learn how to deal with such issues and so they keep struggling with them. We try to help them develop strategies that they can eventually use to manage their issues without assistance.”

Because the program is designed to help mothers and their children interact with other mothers and children, a sense of ownership by the young mums is encouraged. They have input into the topics they would like to hear guest speakers talk about and choose what to cook for lunch each week.

Guest speakers come from a diverse range of organisations such as Barwon Health, Headspace, Glastonbury PLAY Program and Vic Roads, and cover topics like domestic violence, first aid, financial advice, nutrition and hygiene and travel safety.

Krystal finds the guest speakers especially helpful, particularly the talks about children’s sleep habits, toilet training and eating properly. She’s also enjoyed learning to cook.

“We all have to contribute to cooking lunch each week and then cleaning up afterwards and it’s great to learn new recipes we can take home with us.”

She has made many friends in her years in the program and values the opportunity to share problems and advice with mothers her own age. Eliza and Lacey have also made new

friends and Krystal feels they have benefited in other ways.

“Eliza is on the waiting list for speech therapy, but I’ve already noticed improvement just from her being able to talk and play with older kids,” she says. “The kids really love going to the program every week.”

Unfortunately, like many such initiatives, the Young Mums Program isn’t cheap to run and, as of this year, the program is without funding.

“We do a lot of art and craft so the mums can engage in hands on activities with their children and learn to play with them – it’s amazing to see the kids using paint and scissors for the first time,” Fiona says. “We also supply lunch every week, which is heavily based around fruit and vegetables. We usually spend about $8,000 a year in purchasing resources for the mothers and children, including food, learning materials and age appropriate toys. We also need to pay our program staff and that’s about $50,000 a year. CREATE just doesn’t have the internal capacity to fund the program, so unless we can find funding elsewhere, the program will have to cease, and that will leave these mums and kids without a valuable source of training, friendship and support.”

CREATE (Geelong) Inc is a non-government, communitybased organisation offering a range of services and training opportunities. Phone 5240 2100 www.creategeelong.com

by Judy Baulch

Ruby | 41

BREAST WISHES

An uplifting experience “Leaving Darwin after two fantastic performances.

1 town down - 47 to go!!” tweeted actress Anne Looby, creator and co-producer of Australian musical Breast Wishes, after the beginning of the show’s 2011 tour.

It was on to Mandurah in WA for the cast and crew, while Anne returned home to Sydney, but she’ll rejoin the production when it opens at GPAC on April 6 (that will be show number 28 at venue number 17).

Premiering at Sydney’s Seymour Centre in 2009, Breast Wishes – An Uplifting Musical is very much Anne’s baby, although seven writers, including Wendy Harmer and Merridy Eastman, contributed to the story of two sisters, their mother, their cousin and their breasts (as well as a fumbling boyfriend, a well-meaning husband and a bra fitter called Irene).

Loosely following the four women and their breasts through various stages of their lives, Breast Wishes takes the audience through that first excruciating bra fitting, breasts as sexual and romantic objects - “There’s a very funny David Attenborough-type blurb from a scientific point of view,” - plastic surgery and gravity, breastfeeding and cancer.

“It covers as many things about breasts as we could think of [except man boobs, according to Darwin’s male patrons], but because it focuses on the one family, it’s about relationships as well,” Anne says.

Despite being a co-producer on the 2011 production (she starred in the 2009 original as Carol), Anne struggles with how to describe her role. “There isn’t really a title. I actually think of myself as the mother, I gave birth to the idea.”

“And then there’s the wonderful character of Irene, the bra fitter, created by Merridy Eastman. Irene is the quintessential DJ’s bra fitter - a very funny character.”

That was in 2005 when her younger sister was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

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“She was 37 with two little children,” Anne says. “It was

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BREAST WISHES

“ Certainly it’s a female demographic that will probably come to see it, but there’s so much in it for men as well and the men who come along love it,” Anne says. very traumatic for our whole family and I felt compelled to create something good out of such adversity.”

Based on that desire, the first port of call was a meeting with the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

“I’m sure they thought I was mad,” Anne says. “They didn’t get to see a workshop showcase until 2007, but then they were thrilled. They receive royalties from the show, so it’s a small, but ongoing stream of revenue for them.

“But the thing they really appreciate is our ability to get into regional areas with the message about getting your breasts checked. It’s an entertaining way to raise awareness and I think that’s our most important function.”

Anne’s original idea for the production was something like The Vagina Monologues, but with breasts instead.

“I had started singing again, so I was keen to explore a musical form [Anne began her career in musical theatre before attending NIDA and becoming “a serious actress,” as she puts it]. I wanted it to be a celebration and musical theatre is a celebratory medium.” She laughs.

“I had no idea how to go about it and I still don’t! I’d never created anything from scratch before. I started with inviting 15 writers, some of whom I knew and some I didn’t, to send me a monologue, song or story on the subject of breasts. The project was in development for three or four years - every now and then it would go on the backburner and then someone would ask me how it was going and I’d drag it out again. There were endless hours with friends in the lounge room cobbling together material and there have been some amazing actors, writers and directors who helped shape it.

“So it has been an unconventional process, but that’s its strength, I think, because it was a creatively liberating process as well.

“Debra Oswald, one of the writers, said once that it feels like a project that’s been created by a community of artists, and there is so much goodwill generated by that. In fact, the goodwill is intrinsic in the production and I think that, on some level, that’s what the audience responds to.”

The musical’s first four seasons in 2009 struck a chord with audiences both female and male. 2010 was spent applying for government funding for the current tour, which will cover the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, making it the largest tour of a homegrown musical.

“Certainly it’s a female demographic that will probably come to see it, but there’s so much in it for men as well and the men who come along love it,” Anne says.

“Three of the writers are men and the male voice in the story is very strong. There’s an especially funny monologue

by Richard Glover about men’s inability not to look!”

As its creator, Anne says she is probably the one most intimate with the musical – she knows every word. Just as well, since the government funding doesn’t cover an understudy.

“I’m it,” Anne says. “If something goes wrong, I’ll be hopping on the plane. Hopefully I won’t have to – I’d give the bloke role a try but I don’t think I could carry it off!”

by Judy Baulch

Breast Wishes An Uplifting Musical opens in Geelong on Wednesday, April 6. Contact GPAC on 5225 1200 for tickets and show times.

Original concept by Anne Looby, written by Merridy Eastman, Jonathan Gavin, Richard Glover, Wendy Harmer, Sheridan Jobbins, James Millar and Debra Oswald, with music and lyrics by Bruce Brown. Directed by Jason Langley and starring Octavia Barron-Martin (The 39 Steps), Suzanne Dudley (Neighbours), Angela Kennedy (Mamma Mia), Meghan O’Shea (The Rocky Horror Show) and Berynn Schwerdt (West Side Story).

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On Page

Finally June Sipping green tea in a bookshop café, author and journalist, June Alexander, radiates quiet joy. After spending 49 of her 60 years battling anorexia and bulimia and their accompanying demons, depression and anxiety, June is finally, she says, “95 per cent me and only five per cent illness”.

It required, she explains, something of a complete rebuild to get to this point. Now she is merging her passion for writing and the skills learned through a successful 38 year journalism career with a desire to help others trapped in the same prison. The stakes are high – eating disorders are on the increase, including among males, and the mortality rate for chronic anorexia is around 20 per cent. The health and economic costs are also disturbing - bulimia and anorexia are the eighth and tenth leading causes of disease and injury in Australian women aged 18 to 24 (source: www.butterflyfoundation.com.au).

But, as June’s life experience vividly illustrates, not only young women fall victim to eating disorders. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald last July, Christine Morgan, chief executive of Australian eating disorders support organisation, the Butterfly Foundation, said: “There is this misunderstanding that an eating disorder is something that occurs in adolescence and by the time you’re in your 20s it’s all behind you, but unfortunately this is not always the case.”

As it was not the case for June.

Growing up on a farm in Gippsland in the 1950s and 60s, June developed anorexia in grade six. The illness remained undiagnosed until she was 33 and refused to release its hold until she was 55. As a result, June became estranged from her parents and sister and suffered numerous relationship breakdowns, including divorce from her first husband and father of her four children. Now, as a speaker at eating disorder conferences and author of her memoir, A Girl Called Tim (released on February 1), and two books to help sufferers, their families and medical professionals, she frequently hears from women in their thirties, forties and fifties with anorexia and bulimia and is aware of at least one woman suffering in her seventies.

“That’s why early intervention is vital,” she says. “My illness had 20 years to develop. Imagine a lot of balls of knotted wool - that was my mind. The illness thoughts and behaviours were entrenched. There wasn’t much of me left.”

It was writing and her children that saved June’s life.

Throughout her illness, she kept diaries in order to keep her sanity – they became her friends and confidants and the basis for her memoir.

“If it wasn’t for writing I wouldn’t be alive today,” she says quietly. “Writing is wonderfully therapeutic and I’m very lucky I had that passion, because it was not negotiable with my eating disorder. The illness took everything else but that was the five per cent me that I kept.”

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What June believes can be a life-saver for others is early invention, an essential first step of Family Based Treatment (FBT), the therapy slowly changing the way eating disorders are treated around the world. Also known as the Maudsley technique, named after the hospital in London where it was developed, FBT involves and supports the whole family in the care of those with eating disorders.

In 2007, soon after June had achieved remission from her illness (“I had it too long to say I’m cured”) she learnt about FBT and wished it had been available when she was a kid. At the time, June was researching her “literary Everest”, her memoir; but this went on hold for a year while she wrote My Kid is Back – Empowering Parents to Beat Anorexia Nervosa, in collaboration with American-based eating disorders expert, Professor Daniel Le Grange. In this handbook for parents, ten Australian families caring for a child with anorexia graphically and candidly describe their experiences with FBT. “Parents often think it’s their fault their child has an eating disorder and it’s really important to get the message out that parents are not to blame,” June says, and you can hear the last part is said in capital letters. “FBT is a change in the way anorexia is treated, a recognition that it’s a mental illness, not a choice. If your life is medically threatened by your weight you will still be put in hospital and fed through a nasal gastric tube, but the aim of FBT is to keep the child at home where parents can give 24/7 love and care. And you do actually need 24/7 love

On Page and care because the illness, given even a minute without vigilance, takes over: the milkshake will go down the kitchen sink, or food will be hidden in the sock drawer…” June laughs uproariously at a sudden memory. “I used to hide food in my pockets and give it to the chooks! My mother would find the crumbs in my pockets and get very cross, but the point is, the illness makes you do things that are totally not you.”

Parents, she says, can learn how to help their child without feeding or enabling the illness, an often difficult task when their child is screaming and refusing food. “They have to remember that it’s the illness talking, not their lovely child, and that their child is still in there, even though at times their personality can seem to almost disappear. There is a perception that anorexia is about control, but it’s actually the illness that’s in control. And that’s why you need the parents to step in and take over for the child until the child is back - they have to fight the illness on behalf of the child.”

Acceptance that eating disorders are a mental illness is still difficult for some people to grasp, but it’s past time they are recognised as such. “They are not fads, phases or lifestyle choices. They are complex and devastating illnesses. Their exact cause is unknown, but has a biological, genetic and environmental base”, June wrote recently on her website. She believes that eating disorders are probably, in the public and medical perception, where schizophrenia was 20 years ago.

“There’s more respect now for people who have schizophrenia, whereas eating disorders are still seen by some people as a choice. You know, ‘all you have to do is eat, for goodness sake, it’s that easy’,” June says in a tone of voice that suggests she’s heard it before. “No, it’s not that easy and it’s not a choice. No one would choose to have anorexia.”

But things are changing. The establishment of the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC) in 2009 with Professor Patrick McGorry, Australian of the Year 2010 and a leading advocate of youth mental health as the chair, is a major step forward. Over the next three years the NEDC will work to develop a long term approach to the “promotion, prevention, early intervention and management” of eating disorders – in effect establishing a standard of care for these complex illnesses.

“For instance, when you are diagnosed with cancer you generally know what form the treatment will take and hopefully it will be the same with eating disorders,” June explains. “At the moment, parents are suddenly thrown into this nightmare that’s entered their family and they don’t know what to do, where to go or what to expect.”

In February, June will be a presenter at Leading the Change, the inaugural conference of The Mental Health Community Coalition ACT. She views the inclusion of eating disorders on the conference agenda as a positive sign that attitudes are changing and will discuss the current gaps in care for eating disorders, including the “huge gap” between research and treatment.

“Far too much time - an average of 17 years – lapses between when an evidence based treatment is found and when that treatment is offered to sufferers,” she says. “We need to close

that gap. We also need a stage between hospitalisation and being sent home, because taking the person home from hospital is a bit like taking a cake out of the oven when it’s only half baked. The patient’s weight has gone up so they are sent home, but often they haven’t been fully treated. I’ve talked to girls who have been in and out of hospital eight times. It’s like a revolving door and no one’s treating this -” she taps her head. “It’s like putting a band aid on a wound that’s not cleaned out and a lot of resources are wasted in that way. We need to get the message out that there’s no easy or quick fix. The average length of time, if you are going to recover, has been seven years. With FBT and early intervention, recovery can be achieved in 12 months.”

And in getting the message out, the media can do more to help than the current status quo of sensationalised stories featuring images of emaciated teenage girls. “Why would you use [such an] image to portray something that is happening in the mind?”

June asks. “The thinness is a physical side effect of a mental illness. The stories are enough – you don’t need pictures of skeletal children. What we do need is more awareness and to have some respect for eating disorders. And the media can help with that.”

Interestingly, given the tone of some debates about the causes of eating disorders, June believes the media is not one of them, although it can feed or encourage the problem in someone who, due to their genetic makeup and personality traits, is already vulnerable. There were no glossy magazines with pictures of thin, glamorous women available when her anorexia developed.

She credits her, “overly anxious, eager to please personality” for that, but having said that, “there are some words I’d like to eliminate from our vocabulary. The word ‘diet’”, said with great distaste, “and the word ‘scales’. We simply don’t need those words. For anyone who’s vulnerable to an eating disorder they are a big danger. You get obsessed with them and it’s really sad, because while you’re thinking about calories and diets you’re not thinking about life.”

And it’s life that June is all about - living her own life, now that she is free, and helping others to do the same. “I want people to know they can improve their quality of life and there is hope at any age,” she says. “Since gaining peace in my heart and my soul five years ago, I’ve been busy catching up on the years lost to my illness. I tell my children that I’m younger than them, really!

“I’ve also written three books in this time, because I want others to know, much sooner than I did, that they too can gain freedom from their ‘eating disorder monster’.”

By Judy Baulch www.junealexander.com A Girl called Tim – Escape from an Eating Disorder Hell, memoir by June Alexander; A Collaborative Approach to Eating Disorders edited by June Alexander and Professor Janet Treasure; My Kid is Back by June Alexander with Professor Daniel Le Grange.

For information on eating disorders visit

www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au; nedc.com.au; eatingdisorders.org.au

Ruby | 45

On Page

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman Soft and slow, beautifully crafted and absolutely absorbing, The Cookbook Collector is the perfect autumn read. It is the kind of book that makes you want to fly through the pages to see ahead into the lives of its characters, but at the same time makes you want to hold back, to revel in the beauty of the language and absorb the full panoply of intricately wrought details.

Emily and Jess are sisters. They have the same father, although both have a very different relationship with him. Before she died when they were ten and five year-old respectively, they had the same mother, yet their connection to and memories of her are also very different.

They are both dedicated to their work – Emily as the high-achieving twenty-eight year-old CEO of a booming internet start-up, and Jess as a philosophy student, environmental activist and rare book store assistant.

Set in the first years of the century, the dot.com bubble about to burst and Emily’s almost perfect world is teetering on the brink.

Meanwhile Jess helps her wealthy, middleaged, cantankerous collector boss to obtain an extraordinary collection of cookbooks, and finds herself drawn deeper in the mystery of the cookbook collector.

This is a novel of lives spent reading cookbooks rather than cooking, of speculation rather than creation, of collecting rather than living, as the two sisters must each learn to hold on to what is real in a virtual world.

With an almost Shakespearean tension between the expected and the unexpected, The Cookbook Collector is entrancing, delightful, heart warming. The emotional tug-of-war between the sisters is satisfying and surprising.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez Some things are the same the world over, and one is that women love a good chat over a cuppa, even if the cuppa is being served in a café in Kabul. This heart-warming and undeniably charming fiction debut comes from the author of the best-selling memoir, The Kabul Beauty School.

In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on Earth, five very different women come together. There is Sunny, the proud proprietor, who needs an ingenious plan – and fast – to keep her café and customers safe. Yasmina is a young pregnant

woman, stolen from her remote village and now abandoned on Kabul’s violent streets.

Isabel is a determined journalist with a secret that might keep her from the biggest story of her life. Candace is a wealthy American, who has finally left her husband for her Afghan lover, the enigmatic Wakil. And then there is Halajan, the sixty year-old den mother, whose long-hidden love affair breaks all the rules.

A glorious read filled with the colour, the sights, the scents, the sounds and humanity of Kabul… and also, of course, with the food!

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex In a vampire-obsessed time that has mistaken teenage angst and irrationality as sexy and gothic, comes a modern gothic tale with serious bite.

This sensual retelling of Bram Stoker’s classic is very, very dark, disturbing and deliciously decadent.

From the shadowy banks of the River Thames, to the wild and windswept Yorkshire coast, Dracula’s beautiful, eternal muse, Mina, vividly recounts the joys and terrors of a passionate affair that has linked her and

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Count Dracula through the centuries, and her rebellion against her own frightening preternatural powers.

Mina’s vampire tale is a compelling journey into Victorian England’s dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries and terrifying asylum chambers.

It is a world where the real monsters are those that are all too human.

Essex has crafted a tale that is as dark and luxurious as a black velvet doona. You just want to sink into it, and you should.

On Page

Claudia’s Big Break by Lisa Heidke Women go away on holidays in order to ‘find themselves’… it seems a continually recurring plot in women’s fiction. This time however, there is a lot less of the woe-is-me and much wry wit, genuine humour and a page-turning pace to keep you smiling along to the end.

When an office romance goes awry, Claudia Taylor jumps as the chance to leave her troubles behind and set off for sunny Santorini. Making it a girl’s trip, Claudia asks (begs and cajoles) her two best friends to join her.

Sophie and Tara are also hoping a break from the daily grind will help them make some major life decisions.

The problems they left behind in Australia, however, have followed them to Greece.

But in the very best Chick Lit tradition, the lessons along the way are equal parts hilarious (yep, there are donkeys involved) and heartwarming.

This is a lovely, light read to curl up with on a quiet afternoon.

The Lightkeeper’s Wife

If the World Were a Village

A woman at the end of her life. A man unable to restart his. A history of guilty secrets and words unspoken. In this moving story of love, loss and family, Viggers explores what we have to do to live the best kind of life.

Taking the notion of ‘The Global Village’ to literal lengths, this wonderful little picture book provides volumes of perspective. Its premise: what would the earth’s 6.9 billion population look like when represented as a village of 100 people.

Something Borrowed

The Leopard

Feeling the need to wallow in a bit of chick lit? Then this is the book for you. Rachel and Darcy are best friends who’ve always shared everything… but find that some things just shouldn’t be shared.

Inspector Harry Hole reluctantly returns to Oslo and finds himself on the hunt for a killer targeting women. Nesbo has been labelled as ‘the next Stieg Larsson’, but don’t be fooled, this incredibly talented thriller writer needs no comparison, and The Leopard is a great read.

Five Bells

The Simple Death

On a gorgeous day in Sydney, where crowds of tourists mix with locals and take in the view over the harbour, four very different adults are amongst the throng. Each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt.

Australian crime writer and radio presenter, Michael Duffy, is stunning critics and readers alike with this gripping, action-packed debut that explores the push and pull between morality and the law.

by Karen Viggers

by Emily Giffin

by Gail Jones

by David J. Smith

by Jo Nesbo

by Michael Duffy

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