Sally Langford, Author at The Localist

Sally Langford is the founding editor of The Localist. She is also a freelance writer.

I was born in…..Brisbane, Australia, I have spent most of my life in….Australia, the UK and Brazil, and I now live in….Sydney. My favourite local films are….Lantana, Bran Nue Day, Shine and Rabbit-Proof Fence. When I’m away from home, and feeling nostalgic, I can’t resist the quintessentially ‘Sydney’ film, Looking for Alibrandi. When I need a reminder of home, I listen to…..Kung Foo Sing by Regurgitator. My favourite time of the year is……January! Sunshine, the Sydney Festival, picnics, ocean swims, reading in the park, outdoor music festivals – there is no better way to start the new year. My all time local hero is…..Aamer Rahman. Based in Melbourne, Aamer Rahman, in my opinion, is Australia’s very best stand-up comic. He says it how it is, he fights injustice through humour and he makes bigots feel really uncomfortable. He represents, I really hope, Australia’s future. My favourite local phrase is…..“She’ll be right”. No matter what happens, it’s all going to be ok. It’s all going to be alright. There is something uplifting and comforting in its simplicity – even when everyone knows it is not necessarily true. My favourite words of wisdom/words to live by are….“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away” – Henry David Thoreau. What I love most about my home (country) is……the wide expansive skies, the scent of gum and tea trees, the constant chatter of native birds and the boisterous thunder of a sudden summer storm.

I was born and raised in….Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. When I was 18 I left Mexico to go traveling and now I live in Sydney, Australia. My favourite local films are….any of Cantinflas’s films but if I had to choose one in particular I’d say it would be “Ahi esta el detalle”. When I need a reminder of home, I listen to…..La Rondalla Tapatia and Mariachi Vargas. My favourite time of the year is……June and July, because it’s the rainy season in Guadalajara and there is nothing more inspiring to me than rain. My all time local hero is…..as a Mexican I have to say that Emiliano Zapata is my ultimate hero. Pancho Villa follows behind him very closely. Neither of them where born in Guadalajara, so if I had to choose a local hero from my state, it would definitely be the muralist and revolutionary Jose Clemente Orozco. My favourite local phrase is…..”Mexico Magico” or “Magical Mexico”. My friends and I use this phrase to describe our experience of Mexico. We use it to describe everything from politics and corruption to social justice and the chaos of every day life. In Mexico, good or bad, anything is possible because we believe that every Mexican has got some kind of magic going on. My favourite words of wisdom/words to live by are….the EZLN’s (Indigenous rebel army) 4th declaration in its war against the Mexican Government. It happens to be a poem:

To the people of Mexico and the people and governments of the world:

Brothers, we were born from the night.

We live in it. We shall die in it.

But the light will be tomorrow for everyone else.

For all of those who today cry the night,

for those who day is denied to,

for those for whom death is their only gift,

for those that life is forbidden to.

For everyone the light. For everyone everything.

For us the pain and the anguish,

for us the joyful rebellion,

for us the denied future,

for us the dignified insurrection,

for us, nothing.

What I love most about my home (country) is….its artists, the muralist painters in particular, like Jose Clemente Orozco, Jorge Gonzalez Camarena and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Our history – so full of rebelliousness that it feels like it’s part of our DNA. Our indigenous heritage, for I am proud that Native American blood runs through my veins. THE FOOD! Especially the seafood – Mexicans know how to make the most of seafood, from ceviches to cocktails. And last but not least – tequila! I think it might actually run in my veins too.

Author: Sally Langford

Australia – Sally Langford

Mexico – Rommel Ceseña