CLOUDS

I have just been reading about Aboriginal health issues and it made me think of the late great Australian Indigenous artist Michael Riley who died in 2004 from complications of type II diabetes mellitus. Research into diabetes susceptibility in indigenous populations suggests that Aboriginal people have a ‘thrifty genotype’, which helped to support their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle. That they are genetically programmed for glucose intolerance and high blood cholesterol levels, so that their body weight can be maintained during lean times. However, the current diet of modern day Aboriginals, introduced by Western culture in which food is always at the ready, makes obesity; diabetes; and cardiovascular disease more likely.

We lost a great Australian artist in Michael Riley, his cloud series is one of the most beautiful works of art that I have ever seen. I, like many people I know, love clouds & I also love the absence of clouds - days where it is just a vast blue expanse above my head.

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

Ive looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really dont know clouds at all

-
JONI MITCHELL from "both sides now"