The healing power of art, sort of

If you’re new to hot water and the fractured psyche of its creator, here’s a summary of recent-ish events:

Back in February, Your Correspondent lost her marbles. She burnt out, had what amounts to a breakdown, left her job and spent a couple of months hanging out in her living room, gibbering.

Since then, assisted by amazing and supportive husband, The Incredible Dreamboat, she’s been working hard to win back her mental and emotional stability. Her progress towards this has been marked by a series of milestones, which she has chronicled on her blog. She is now rushing to finish off the last few milestones because she’s fucking sick of the whole subject. So, to continue …

Milestone #8 came in the form of an invitation from the Shire of Roebourne (local government) to MC the 2009 Cossack Art Awards — Australia’s richest regional art award and the most isolated art exhibition in the world.

The Shire knew I was no longer working in radio — not a “media personality” anymore — but wanted me anyway. I can’t tell you how much this meant to me.

I had the MC job over two nights: the Sponsors’ evening and the Awards night itself. I worked so hard on my prep and scripts … had my hair styled two days running (ah! the extravagance!) … the Dreamboat bought me a new dress … and when I stood on that stage each night and asked people to take their seats, it was one of the happiest and proudest moments of my life.

I guess because of the abrupt way I’d left my job, I thought of the Awards gig as my “swan song” — my farewell to any kind of public life. On both nights, people walked up to me and said, “Come back to the radio. We miss you!”, which was nice. But what made the Awards job different and special for me was that it was quite obviously all my own work. No-one else could claim it or take credit for it. So when a young woman approached me on the second night, took my hand, squeezed it and said, “Of all the people who got up and spoke tonight, you were my favourite”, I walked on air for days afterward.

You know that revelation thing I mentioned a couple of days ago? That’s next.

Popularity: 51% [?]