It is rare that I find a piece in a newspaper written by a journalist that is well researched and illustrates a sound and critical analysis of the issue being addressed. Opinion pieces and guest editorials (usually by academics, some activists and some pundits—as they are called in North Amercai) often provide this. In recent days i found such a piece by Peter Hartcher, the 'political editor' for Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, titled Japan's fading appetite for a fight.

The term ‘post race’ has been increasingly bandied about in the lead up to todays Presidential election in the USA—a google search currently produces 126k hits. Much of the commentary refers to Obama as post race and thus someone white Americans are not afraid of—they are reassured by him as a non-angry black man. For me, whilst a number of the pieces reflect on the challenges of growing up black in America and express a level of awareness, much of it seems more like a means for getting white America settled and comfortable with racism...

For the last several years I have researched the transformative impacts of First Peoples expressions of significance of place on white supporters. My research loosely falls under many categories including action-research and participant-observation. What it enabled me to do was to live amongst a different community and immerse myself in learning about their lived experiences and struggles—as expressed through their actions. The notion of sense of place is something I was first exposed to by a friend over 10 years ago who was studying in a Social Ecology program, and something I have come to reflect on many times.