No matter what happens to you, you can maintain your own control about what you believe and who you are. - Alexis Wright

In every neck of the woods people walked in the imagination of doomsayers and talked the language of extinction. (p5)

I've seen that harshness in policies handed out to Aboriginal people over decades, and it doesn't seem to get any better. That's how the politics are played out: not doing the best you can do for someone, but working out how you can beat your opponent. So the swans are a different way of pausing and reflecting on what's happening in the world, and doing it in a light way.

We are going to need the greatest creativity we can find to work on the ever-increasing complex problems facing our combined humanity. We cannot afford a government censoring education and knowledge.