Karen and I returned to the Brisbane Festival in 2021 as I was lucky enough to review two shows for Scenestr magazine.
The first one was called Love Stories, a series of video interviews with homeless people conceived by journalist Trent Dalton. The interviews played on a large screen were accompanied by musicians performing.
I was very moved by Love Stories, you can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/arts/love-stories-review-brisbane-festival-2021-20210913
It took place at the Suncorp Piazza at Southbank parklands on the edge the Brisbane River and CBD. I worked for many years across the river at the Queensland University of Technology and studied at QUT before that. I have roamed South Bank quite a bit over the years.
A couple of weeks earlier Karen and I had celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary at South Bank and roamed around after dinner. Again, on this night South Bank was lit up with all kinds of activities and displays for the Brisbane Festival and we found ourselves wandering through quite moved to be back there. It wasn’t the first time since the pandemic had begun but they just seemed to be something to savour more these days.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
-Lloyd Marken
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 
Happy Anniversary! Sounds like you and Karen had a lovely evening. Interesting how others view love. I liked the tree analogy.
I am glad to hear from you Cindy, that was our 10 year anniversary. I imagine you guys are coming up on 2 or 3 years now. 🙂 How are you?
5 in April!
We are in Virginia now. Doing well. Trying to blog more. Write more. The move and new job took a lot outta me. I hope you are happy.
I am trying to move up in the world, 40s are a time for that I feel. Is it colder in Virginia? Five years already, wow how time flies. I am trying to write more too, I wish you good luck. 🙂
Thank you Lloyd. Good luck climbing up that ladder.
Quite right Cindy, got to get as much purchase on the mountain before I have to slide back down. Just got to make sure I enjoy the view while I am doing it. 🙂
Good review, Lloyd. I had a lot of experience with homeless people when I was an EMT in London. Although some fitted the stereotype of alcoholism and/or drug use, many were former professionals and family people who had fallen on hard times due to unforseen circumstances. I soon realised that any of us could find ourselves in that situation.
Best wishes, Pete.
It reminds me of when I was doing a shift at the mental health ward. It was just a cleaning shift, I would go there in the wee hours and clean all the courtyards on multiple levels. Mopping down mostly, there was ash everywhere because that is where people smoked. Patients would come out with the rising sun by 5am when I was getting to the last level or two. It occurred to me on more than one ocassion particularly when I was feeling pretty down about one thing or another going on in my life. It was a very thin line between me working here and me being a patient here. A very thin line. To that point, I very much enjoyed Love Stories and hope it was thought provoking and illuminating for others. You require no such illumination. Best wishes Pete.