Find out more about four interesting community members who invited us into their homes this month.
The career of Terri-Ann White has been a triple-threat in books: author, seller and publisher.
She published her first story in the Curtin University journal as a 19-year-old student in the late ’70s. An Island in the Sun was a first-hand account of East Timor through the eyes of a 10-year-old Australian girl, White visited East Timor at the same age. Since then, her passion for books and publishing has flourished; her career, a journey through the book industry.
White studied literature at Curtin University; after graduating and experiencing the great bookshops of London and New York, she opened her own bookstore in Perth. With some financial support from her father, White opened Arcane Bookshop in 1982; people still remember Arcane as a hub for questioning, somewhere to wile away the day.
‘It wasn’t just a gay and lesbian bookshop,’ she said ‘it was a bookshop of ideas’.
More than a decade later, during the ’90’s White sold Arcane Books. The bookstore closed in 2005 having enjoyed over two decades of Perth patronage.
White has published two books, Night and Day in 1994 and Finding Theodore and Brina in 2001 as well as numerous chapters, articles and other written pieces. From author to publisher, White is now the director of UWA Publishing; she says one of her greatest career achievements was renewing the esteemed printing house and taking it global.
‘Books have been the central part of my life,’ White said.
The key to publishing was quality, according to White who felt no anxiety over the future of publishing, what with the rise of the e-book. ‘It’s a bit like hardback and paperback books, it’s just another form,’ she said.
‘It doesn’t threaten the book; it threatens the bookshop, though.’
‘[Literacy is] as important as anything else, as important as nutrition as freshwater,’ she said.
In January this year, White stepped down from her role as the director of Institute of Advanced Studies at UWA; she established the institute in 1999 to promote a more holistic approach to research. She described the institute as a dialogue between disciplines; it encouraged people from different study disciplines who wouldn’t have formerly worked together, to collaborate.
‘[It’s like] running a singles’ bar for ideas.’
On her home, White said her favourite space was in her living room, surrounded by her paintings.
‘It’s my one place for solitude,’ she said.
Upon moving to Australia from England when he was twelve years old Jamison Parker found a new sense of freedom. Parker describes the dramatic change, outlining that in the UK he grew up in his back garden, where any trips outside were in the accompaniment of adults. Once settled in Bunbury his Mum was happy for him to head off down the street on his own.
‘When I first started school I was ‘the English kid’, but moving to Australia was not as hard as if I was to say, moving to Asia, I didn’t have to learn a language, that would have been harder.’
Parker lives in Perth peaceful southern suburbs with his family in a home with a pool surrounded by palm trees, a stark contrast to his inner city workplace that is filled with flashing lights and endless dance music.
At Connections Night Club, Parker handles promotions putting up all the posters, working with sponsors of events and being at the forefront of interaction with the club’s clients. Since joining the Connections team two years ago Parker has only missed four nights in the club.
‘It can be very repetitive, the same people and generally the same issues. I’ve seen every show that has been at The Court and Connections since I was 18, the choreography and the songs’, he laughs, ‘certain songs have been ruined for me, when they come on the radio all I can think about is the show.’
‘I love the Shameless events because they’re really different, I like the themed events, I don’t like going to a club and it being the same as everything else. That’s what me and Toni are trying to introduce, I’m always looking at what clubs overseas are doing.’
Parker has ambitions outside the nightclub industry. Last year with a friend he launched a new business in lifestyle consulting. Parker explained it’s a service for busy people that provides services in the style of a personal assistant. While overseas having services such as a dog walker, personal shopper or clothes arranger are common place, this type of service is a new concept for suburban Perth. Parker explains that the service aims to be more than a personal concierge, building up a relationship with clients where they feel comfortable to have an additional person walking in to their home.
While he’s at the club whenever it is open, Parker notes that this time really is work. Outside of this he finds his own social life is at odds with everyone else’s. Waking late in the day he spends his down time at the movies or checking out restaurants and late night cafes, where he indulges a habit of always ordering the same meal, guaranteeing that he can tell you where the best steak and mash with mushroom sauce in town is located.
Kelly Shay’s upbringing in a single parent house-hold had a big effect on her career choices. Shay’s mother worked four jobs while raising her and her three brothers. In their household they never spoke of politics or unions, they just made the best of what they had. Shay says she instinctively found her calling to make life better for working women.
Upon commencing her studies at Murdoch University she joined the student union and has been involved in the union movement ever since.
Today Shay is the Assistant Secretary of the WA branch of United Voice, which was until recently known as the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union. Shay argues that unions are more important now than ever, especially here in Western Australia.
‘We have a conservative government running a very aggressive privatisation agenda in our schools and hospitals. They have raised fees and charges like electricity by 51% in just 2 years. They are ruthlessly rewarding individualism over collective good.’
Asked to highlight the challenges in our workplaces Shay focuses on three different areas, highlighting the right be part of a union is under threat in Western Australia, the need to fight for appropriate pay rates and the threat of privatisation of services.
Shay is worried about the state government’s review of the Industrial Relations Act describing the possible changes as ‘Work Choices all over again’, but notes that the opponents of these changes are ready for the battle.
Real value for people’s work in another area where Shay sees there is more work to be done, noting, ‘Childcare workers, aged care workers, disability direct care workers all earn less than a barista making your coffee. Now, I love coffee, but I passionately believe that direct care workers caring for our most vulnerable members of society, like the elderly and the disabled, deserve to be paid a wage that reflects the enormous value of what they do.’
Speaking with Shay there is no doubting her passion and enthusiasm in fighting for the causes she supports.
Home for Kelly Shay is a beautiful character house in the inner city which she shares with her partner Frances and their three year old daughter Tilda. When they’re not at the beach the family love to hang out on the deck overlooking their back garden which has heaps of room to play, entertain and grow their own veggies.
The first thing you notice when entering the home of drag legend Strykermeyer isn’t the lack of hair. Or the beard. It’s the BAFTA propping open the front door, which Stryker won for the make-up of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Stryker is experiencing a resurgence in his career of late. After 30 years in the business, he’s just recently appeared as God for eastern state show Legends at Nevermind’s Disgraceland, featuring alongside Dallas Dellaforce and Courtney Act. Then there’s a Brisbane fashion show coming, still tightly under wraps.
‘Huge revival at the moment!’ Stryker said of his new found popularity.
‘I think it’s the same reason why it took Yoko Ono so long to be understood. This new generation get what I do very quickly. I just feel like my subject matter is received much better now because the numbers I choose speak about malfunction, and that’s so much more prevalent these days. There’s a new abstract it seems.’
Tretcheikoff prints adorn his walls while taking centre stage in the lounge room is a wig – part Japanese, part fashion, part futuristic, all black – under construction on a makeshift workbench. It is surrounded by Glo mesh, beads and glitter mixed up amid spray cans, a curling wand and reams of wire.
The wig is for Brief Encounters at which he is performing a Karen Finley number. In a spooky moment of synchronicity, Sydney based queer artist John Douglas had only just posted a copy of Karen Finley’s Shock Treatment to Stryker, knowing nothing of the spot number (incidentally, Stryker is also writing the soundtrack to Douglas’ upcoming exhibition SexClub).
‘I like it when it all comes together like that,’ Stryker mused.
Stryker cites Laurie Anderson, Diamanda Galas, The String Quartet and Nina Simone as current influences.
‘Basically I started where I was going to stay. My subject matter has never changed. My first number was Iggy Pop’s I’m Bored. I’ve never done pop imitation, I think it’s too easy. And I think it shows a lack of creativity. Therefore, no growth. I think it’s important to have integrity. You have to believe in what you are doing.’
And believe he does: how else could an award winning drag legend still keep performing while inspiring a whole new generation to push the boundaries of self expression.
Compiled by Scott-Patrick Mitchell, Graeme Watson & Benn Dorrington
