Day Four of 13 Days of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Governing the Drunken Commons
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Day Four of 13 Days of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Governing the Drunken Commons

ByJeff Rich

For 7 years between 2006 and 2013 I was directly responsible for alcohol and drug policy in Victoria (Australia). It is a contentious field, and it was a personally rewarding field. But it is a field in which many common problems of governing are revealed.

Day Three of Thirteen Days of Looking at a Bureaucrat
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Day Three of Thirteen Days of Looking at a Bureaucrat

ByJeff Rich

The third chapter of Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat is the title essay, ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat’. It plays with Wallace Stevens’ poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, and seeks to open up the reader’s mind to the many unexpected, even poetic ways you can look at this plain, humble, even despised personality, the bureaucrat.

NEW BOOK! Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat
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NEW BOOK! Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat

ByJeff Rich

My new book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat, is now out! Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Writing on Governing, is both memoir and essay collection. I think it breaks new ground because bureaucrats don’t publish memoirs. It will change how you see government, politics, working life, and bureaucrats.

The poet, the bureaucrat and the émigré
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The poet, the bureaucrat and the émigré

ByJeff Rich

During the week I have been finalising my next book, 13 Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat, and reading some essays and poems of Marina Tvetaeva (1892-1941), the great Russian poet, collected in Art and the Light of Conscience. A strange mix, true, but that is the life of my strange mind.

How I wrote and published my book while working full-time
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How I wrote and published my book while working full-time

ByJeff Rich

I have posted this evening on my podcast and on Youtube a special episode.

Here I talk openly for the first time about how I wrote my book, From the Burning Archive, which you can buy at the Amazon affiliate link or other online book retailers.

My new beginning as an independent author

My new beginning as an independent author

ByJeff Rich

This week was the beginning of the next stage in my new life, la vita nuova as an independent author. After a ritual week on the liminal beauty of the Bay of Lorne in South-Eastern Australia, I transformed from a government official, wounded and now retired, to become an independent author.

From the Burning Archive – essays on history and culture
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From the Burning Archive – essays on history and culture

ByJeff Rich

I have published From the Burning Archive: essays and fragments 2015-2022. You can buy it as print or e-book here at Amazon and also at other online retailers.

Here is an excerpt of the introductory essay of that collection. It tells how a dream image became a poem became a blog became a podcast and then an author platform.