By Lynette Hayhurst
40 excited women and men have flocked to Miller’s Homestead in Boronia to hear Jacinta Parsons speak about her new book ‘A Question of Age’.
Jacinta is a radio broadcaster and writer who is currently hosting Afternoons, a three-hour magazine show on ABC Radio Melbourne. Her first book was ‘Unseen: The Secret World of Chronic Illness’ released in 2020. Jacinta herself is an inspiration as she herself has overcome the raw challenges of this chronic condition and lives a successful and meaningful life.
She is an ambassador of the Crohn’s and Colitis Association Australia and is also an active member of the arts and music community and is a board member for Melbourne disability theatre company Rollercoaster.
The audience was not disappointed as Jacinta developed an intimate bond with them as she shared her own experiences in facing the question of ageing from a woman’s perspective with all its challenges and opportunities for growth, change and understanding. On the back cover of her book it says, this work is “incendiary, raging and raw, but also compassionate, insightful and powerfully energizing; It is a book for every woman looking in the mirror thinking she is no longer recognising herself. It is a book for our times.” She gives thanks in the book to, “all the people who contributed to this book with their ideas, research, stories, hearts and lives. I hope this is the beginning of a conversation that will honour you.”
Michelle Kemp presented penetrating and insightful questions and Jacinta responded by sharing her own experiences of ageing and the joy of the writing process. Jacinta’s research in the book demonstrated the powerful reasons why women in this generation have strong grounds to feel the way they do about ageing. She covered the structure of the book which contained memoirs, research, anecdotes and personal experiences. Jacinta also weaved into the fibre of the book the creative use of metaphors of the elements, fire, air, water and earth as well as the Ash Wednesday bushfires.
In Jacinta’s delightful and engaging style she departed from the script and walked around the room engaging the audience who shared their experiences of ageing and she answered all their questions with humility, a combination of deep insight and hilarious wit, the audience was often in stitches.
Michelle Kemp summed up the whole experience at the end of the book launch by saying, “Reading ‘A Question of Age’ feels like you’re having one of those gorgeous, long, deep conversations with a close, wise girlfriend, where you share experiences, solve the problems of the world and come away with a mission statement!”
She then made her way to the podium to speak and the event came alive with her passion, intelligence, wit and the profound messages she had to share with the small group assembled. Present was the Knox City Council CEO Bruce Dobson, Mayor Susan Laukens and Deputy Mayor Nicole Seymour along with an inspiring group of local women invited to share this occasion. All those specially invited were selected because they have served tirelessly and with passion in their local communities in a wide variety of fields.
At the end of the speeches, it was a special delight to see every one of those women asked to come forward and receive a personally signed copy of Jacinta Parson’s book. Their service often unseen in the community was celebrated openly and honoured, they are pillars in our society.
