My Non-time of Running for Office.

I’ve run for office once. It was a local government election, and I thought, hey, I could do that, I’m clever, I care. I should be elected as a councillor for the Mallala local government elections. I lost.

And while there may have been a little bit of disappointment there, about losing, mostly I was glad. Well maybe not at the time, but afterwards, yes, for sure. I am interested in my community, and I like to help my community, but I’m interested in so many things that don’t have a lot to do with the community, but more to do with my other communities.

Because I’m a writer. Words, books, other writers, other places where words are celebrated, read from, written. These are also my community. And I write for the community of Mallala, as it was then, Adelaide Plains Council, as it is now, from the side. I don’t live in the town of Mallala, i just live near the town of Mallala. It’s a different thing.

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I drink coffee there, I dine in there, I get takeaway there. My son went to school there. I edit a newsletter for the people there. but I do it about Mallala, not from within Mallala. I love the place, many people there appreciate what I do for them, but … I wasn’t born there, I moved there, and while I have family ties to Mallala, they are faintly tied fragile ribbons tying me to the place.

And then, another local government election came, and I know I would have had a much better chance of being elected this time. Many more people know who I am, and being the Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, and many people in Mallala and surrounds knowing me in that role, that would have brought in votes. Probably easily enough votes.

But my community is so much broader than just Mallala, my hopes and dreams broader than just Mallala, just Adelaide Plains Council. Instead of running for office, I’m running for the hearts and minds of readers, poets, writers, I’m running for a place in the canon of valuable words.

And it feels like I’m almost there, no need to count votes, my place there is solid, I’m in!