Second Star On The Right

Resurrection... and sailing

2010-06-16T15:31:00.004+10:00

Well I haven't been very good with this blog but hopefully I'll get better. Usually when I neglect a blog long enough I leave it to die in internet wilderness while I start a new one with an entirely new format... this is not what I am going to do here.

Will hopefully continue writing in this, regardless of who's reading... because I just changed jobs which means I don't get to put my thoughts to paper as much and it is incredibly frustrating.

I've moved from newspapers to TV and have discovered the realities of the job that I just can't seem to get my head around. More on this in the future. I may be judging TV a bit too harshly as I am in a news role rather than the sort of current affairs one I would have liked.

Anyway, I was compelled to write about the two young teenage sailors who had a dream to sail around the world unassisted - one made it, and one had here hopes literally smashed by a freak wave that pounded her boat.

The first was Jessica Watson, a Gold Coast teen who achieved the feat after much public criticism earlier this year.

She was greeted with a heros welcome on arriving at Sydney harbour... and if you have any doubts of her "heroics", see what our dear Prime Minister had to say:

"Jess welcome back to dry land. Welcome back home to Australia. You know something, you may feel a little wobbly on your feet just now, but in the eyes of all Australians you now stand tall as our newest Australian hero," Mr Rudd said.

"At sixteen years old you are a hero to all young Australians. You are also a hero to all young Australian women. You do our nation proud."

To her credit, Watson rebuked her new hero status, saying she was just an ordinary girl.

But this had made her anything than ordinary. She had the world at her feet, and reportedly may never have to work again as she lives off her achievement through sponsorships, talks, products etc. She has made her own personal brand at the tender age of 16.

Another girl in the US was not so lucky. Abby Sunderland had the same dream, but was forced to retreat after her boat was damaged in heavy storms of the WA coast and Australia had to send a airbus to find her.

Abby is coming under a lot of criticism at the moment. Today she said that people did not understand she wasn't like your ordinary teenager.

Sunderland acknowledged that her adventure "can look pretty crazy. But the thing is, those people don't know me. And if they did, they wouldn't be criticising my age".

She spoke by phone from the remote Kerguelen Islands, near Antarctica, where her rescue boat stopped briefly en route to Reunion Island and a true reunion with her family.

"I think that a lot of people are judging me by the standards they have for their teens and other teens that they know ... and thinking 'she's exactly like them'," Sunderland said.

"They don't understand that I've sailed my whole life and I do know what I'm doing out there."

All power to this girls but really, why are we worshipping them?

They may have sailed around the world but they had amazing support unit and a family who pushed them all the way. Jessica had a lot of endorsements and the backing of a media contigent watching her every move.

Although I do find their achievements admirable, they are not courageous when taken into the context of the millions of teens around the world who face hardship... and overcome it even though they did not actively seek it.

They also do it alone.

It is not courageous when I think of the teenagers who will take boat trips to Australia, only to face public condemnation and a detention centre, simply to get away from the crisises in their homealnds.

It is not courageous when I think of the teenagers who are stuck in war zones and are dodging bullets and bombs.

It is not courageous when I think of the teenagers who are drowning under poverty... even those in our own country who come from unstable homes and yet still manage to get by.

These girls should not be revered as heroes. They are embarking on plights completely for their own personal gain. If that money sending them on irresponsible adventures was tunnelled into more important campaigns maybe the world would be a bit better.

I'm sure these girls have a determination many would only dream about. But why not direct that determination into helping the less fortunate, instead of pursuing the pathway to fame?

Judgmental crusaders

2009-09-08T13:42:00.002+10:00

Making top story on news.com.au today was an opinion piece by an author who asks "WHY are we suddenly lavishing love on the larger ladies given that half of all Australians are overweight, and one-fifth of us are morbidly obese?"

She rails against a new trend to have bigger girls on catwalks and in magazines, saying that although having bigger, yet healthier models is ok, if they tip the scales too much, it only adds to an acceptance of obesity.

"So it just doesn't make any sense to also be sending the message that it's not only OK to be fat, it's a sign of self-empowerment.

Let's face it, Australians - like Americans - do not need any encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on weight.

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight."

I absolutely hate stories like this. It’s an argument that constantly criticizes obese people, that treats them as anyone but human just because we can’t

Sure, it is not healthy to be obese. But I would think the majority of bigger people do not want to be in the situation they are in.

They should not be judged on it. They should not be made to feel as if they are hurting society somehow by being what some think is a blight on our international image (Australia is becoming the most obese nation etc etc).

We don’t judge people for their other unhealthy habits – the people who binge drink every weekend or smoke a pack a day. Occasionally we will warn that this isn’t healthy, but because it often doesn’t lead to such extreme changes in their body image (depending on how bad the habit), we refrain from the hurtful comments we direct towards bigger people.

When it comes to bigger people, suddenly its ok to judge them, calling them fatties, making them feel as if they were the scum of the earth. I detest it.

One of my best friends in high school used to make hurtful remarks about other people’s mothers, saying that they had put on weight, that they still looked pregnant.

I would always feel really embarrassed and ashamed that I didn’t have the conviction to actually stand up to her and disagree.

I was even more ashamed because my mother is bigger. I always loved her for it because she gives the best cuddles in the world. When I was little I told her I never wanted her to loose weight because I liked lying on her stomach.

It’s sad that adults don’t see these little rays of light that children do.

Another thing I hate is the disproportionate focus on women if they are bigger.

I was previously a size 12-14 in 2007 and after adopting a few lifestyle changes (going to gym because my close friend was doing it) dropped down to a size 10.

Immediately I saw the difference in how people perceived me, especially boys. It was as if I had developed some form of extra character trait that suddenly made people like me more. I was suddenly getting so many compliments, from many who didn’t seem to believe the “transformation”.

I felt more confident in my own skin, but that was only because I was finally fulfilling the societal conventions that were expected of me.

As a girl, I had to look a certain way and be a certain weight to be accepted (although I should note this is on university res, where girls tend to sleep in five beds a week and boys happily oblige).

In comparison, in 2006 I moved into a house that had no full-length mirrors. It was pretty much one of the happiest times of my life.

I ate what I wanted and I wore what I wanted.

When I went home, everyone called me fat. I was a size 14.

I was so distressed by the reaction I immediately went on a diet. I felt like everyone was looking at me and laughing at me. This doesn’t even come close to feeling how bigger people feel when they go out on the street.

Making them feel worse by opining against certain things that finally place them in a popular light in pop culture is despicable to me.

People shouldn’t be made to lose weight because of society’s poking and pestering, they should do it because they want to, out of cosmetic, health or any other reason.

It’s all about choice. We can spare the judgement.

Troubles in writer's land

2009-05-05T10:09:00.002+10:00

I wrote this in a diary a few months ago and thought it adequately sums up what I'm feeling...

My favourite time at school was not recess, but when the teachers would utter those words "short story". Creative writing sparked a light in me and I could sit for the rest of the afternoon delving over a story. If one line particularly delighted me, I would read the whole story again just for the sheer pleasure of that sentence. I would try and place more in, some came naturally, some were more tortured. My second favourite activity was library time, when one afternoon a week we were allowed to change our books. Most of the time I had swapped them prior, indulged in them over night under the covers of my blanket. I took sanctuary in the feelings the books gave me. They were not literary masterpieces, but they washed me in their words, caressed me in their printed embrace. A blank paper was like my television, except instead of seeping creativity from my brain, it nurtured it.

When I started high school, my writing faltered, twittering out like a bird being silenced. I became obsessed with the petty politics of my circle, which went round and round and provided no ending. Occasionally we would be given creative writing tasks, but the feeling had changed. It was replaced with dread and laziness. No longer could I string beautiful sentences together so easily. Maybe children are the best writers, they care less about perfection and delight in the process. I abandoned writing for fun and saw it as a chore.

It is only now that I am picking it up again and my words have become burdens. They hinder me. They are the same over and over again; my sentences are so common and cliched. I'm trying to break out of it but it's taking longer than I thought. I want my fingers to fly over keyboards, think of metaphors that describe what I'm saying, that aren't just planted there like a red rose amongst yellow. The thing I am having trouble with is this: I can't distinguish good writing from bad. Ok, maybe I can. Maybe it is the fact I can't distinguish mediocre writing from the magnificent. How can you judge that? And how do you turn the tap on to make it flow? To foster the creativity I know could brim out of me?

Where's our compassion?

2009-04-17T15:24:00.000+10:00

I was impressed by Australia's collective display of compassion in February, after bushfires swept through Victoria, devastating families.

Somewhere along the line this compassion has been lost. Sure, we would still show compassion to our fellow Australians. But when it comes to refugees, those who risk their lives to escape their plight back home, we turn a blind eye.

It makes my blood boil. Not all Australians are like this of course, but there are still many who can't seem to feel compassion or empathy for the plight of refugees.

I noticed after reading a story on an explosion on an asylum-seekers’ boat, which killed three people and injured dozens more.

According to media reports, the 31 boat people were from Afghanistan, a situation where Australian troops are currently involved.

Now I know taking blog comments as an indication of wider society is fraught with possible mistakes, but I just can't help but rebuke many of those who are saying, "why should we be treating them?" or those saying “Australia’s full”.

Here are just a few samples:

“They blew up the ship because they knew they would be taken onto another vessel, which increased there chances of being taken to the Australia mainland...This is going to be an increasing problem now due to Rudd's change in policy on Not using the detention centre on Xmas island..He's allowed the previous boaties access to housing on the island And paid them about $250 a Week to cover expenses!!!!!! Geeez, for some of these people thats about 3 months salary and they dont have to work for it... I can guarantee you that some of that money was spent calling home and booking their families on the next boat out!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the new age of ocean cruising for the poor....
Posted by: ashley of Bunbury

"I agree with Scott from Perth fix them and send them back, when it comes to our naval personal being harmed through the act of sabotage I don't have sympathy – Joann Ahmat of darwin

"Meanwhile the good citizens of Australia have to wait in line for treatment while these queue jumping fakes get immediate and first class medical attention. Fix them up and send them back. - Dennis of Sydney

“Asylum seekers? Call it as it is, they are illegal immigrants! We do not know who they are, what crimes may have committed, what illness or dreaded disease they have. Two of our navel personnel have been injured in what looks to be a deliberate act, thus a deliberate attack on two Australians. - Greg of Sydney

“These illegals should be held responsible! If they want to burn their own boat down they should swim their way back to the war riddin country they came from! It is time to get serious about the illegal situation as all we seem to do is stand on our foreshore and welcome these people into our country with open arms. If only we treated our homeless people in the same manner we treated the illegals. Tell me.. Why do we have the Navy protecting our waters if we just let these people in? Time to get serious Mr Rudd and stop wasting the tax payer dollar. - Ex - Jack Tar of Darwin

“I think they blew up their own boat to get free access to Australia. Fix them up and send them home. How dare they come over here when our Defence Force men and women are over there fighting and dying trying to fix their country.
- Emma of Glenelg

Then Crikey.com.au has compiled some more disgusting comments from callers to talk-back radio…you can read that here.

I mean really? These people are escaping from Afghanistan – where there is a war coming from. Do you think they came over here to steal their way into Australia’s health system?

I just hate the way these refugees are immediately lumped into “they”, as if they are less than human. Where did the compassion go Australia? Compassion should be everlasting – we couldn’t possibly have used it all up on the Victorian bushfire victims. We just choose not to direct it to those who are different from us

Orwell was rejected as well!

2009-04-08T14:27:00.004+10:00

This will be of interest to all of you, my dear writer friends, especially you Miss Melissa, who I know loves Animal Farm and George Orwell.

Even he was rejected, and by famous poet T.S. Elliot because of the politics of his classic "Animal Farm".

When Orwell submitted his novel, an allegory on Stalin's dictatorship, Eliot praised its "good writing" and "fundamental integrity".

However, the book's politics, at a time when Britain was allied with the Soviet Union against Hitler, were another matter.

"We have no conviction that this is the right point of view from which to criticise the political situation at the current time," wrote Eliot, adding that he thought its "view, which I take to be generally Trotskyite, is not convincing".

Eliot wrote: "After all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm -- in fact, there couldn't have been an Animal Farm at all without them: so that what was needed (someone might argue) was not more communism but more public-spirited pigs."

It shows that if you are rejected, don't give up. If you really believe in what you are doing, and are completely happy with the end product, keep trying.

I'll keep going back to this example when I finally get around to penning my own novel.

Coming back

2009-03-24T12:35:00.002+11:00

Well I feel bad to have neglected my blog - but I am well surrounded by other blog neglecters (Hint hint: Melissa... Chris...) so I don't feel quite as bad. The only one to have kept up with her wonderful blog, despite her troubles, is Princess Jo. Nevertheless, I hope all my friends are going well... and forgive me for my belated entry.

So this is just going to be an update on what is happening in my life etc etc. Basically I have started university full time and am trying to juggle it with full time work. So far it seems to be going ok, as I have a routine with my dino. (I call you-know-who Dino Morea). Basically it goes like this:

7 am - drag myself out of bed, wash, brush etc etc.

8 am - stumble into work.

3:50 pm: leave work

4:10 pm - arrive ten minutes late for my Hindi class (thankfully my tutor is really relaxed)

5 pm - drive home and go to the uni library, do basic research or procrastinate on facebook

7 pm - go home, rest for a bit

8:30 pm - go to gym

9:30 - go home, eat

11 pm - go to labs - study

1 am - fall asleep on the chairs while Taimoor surfs the net

3:30 am - make it to my own bed

7 am - do it all again

So as you can imagine - it's become a busy life but I'm enjoying it immensely. It should be noted, however, that I have yet to finish my 3000 word international studies essay.

The sad thing is, I have basically no time for any interesting things. It is usually regulated to the weekends. But this Sunday I slept all day - waking up at 5 pm in the afternoon. It felt like such a waste of a day, and yet it completely revitalised me for the rest of the week.

I am currently writing for a student magazine on campus. It's about social justice and is coming out monthly.

God... I am such a boring person.

That is why I don't usually blog on my own life. I am too damn boring.

Please blogger friends - wake up! I need something to read at work :-P

Twitter

2009-02-20T13:46:00.003+11:00

I have joined the ever-growing legions of "Twitterers"... or more accurately, I think they call them "Tweets". Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm still new to it.

Anyway, you can find me by clicking here.

Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull are both following me! It's a great tool for letting out small frustrations in the middle of the work day :-)

It makes me wonder...

2009-02-04T15:38:00.003+11:00

I often wonder what compels people to conduct horrific acts, especially on children, and especially when they themselves are so young. Did they suffer similar abuse as children? Are the mentally sound? Are they driven by the mob? Whatever it is, I don't think I could ever understand.

Today I was watching on Sky News the sentencing of the five who abused the New Zealand toddler Nia Glassie. It's one of the most horrific stories you'll ever hear (that's not true, which makes the fact even more sad)

This is the abuse suffered by little Nia before she died, as catalogued by Stuff.co.nz

A SHORT BUT TORTURED LIFE
Abuse suffered by Rotorua three-year-old Nia Glassie during her short but tortured life included:

* Kicked in the face, causing her nose to bleed;
* Hit, slapped, punched and jumped on;
* Objects such as shoes thrown at her;
* Verbal insults, for example continually being told she was ugly;
* Forced into a television cabinet drawer;
* Dragged through the sandpit half-naked;
* Shoved into piles of rubbish;
* Made to bathe in cold water in mid-winter;
* Folded into a sofa and sat on;
* Flung against the wall;
* Held high in the air and dropped to the floor;
* Used for adult wrestling moves copied from a Playstation game;
* Whirled rapidly on a rotary clothesline until flung off;
* Put into a tumble dryer and spun on high temperature;
* Had her head and feet dangled into the fireplace when the fire was lit;
* Kicked repeatedly in the head because she was crying;
* Left lying in a coma for 36 hours without medical attention.

Here's the story:

The four-week trial over the violent death of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie ended today with murder convictions for brothers Wiremu and Michael Curtis.

Wiremu Curtis, 19, and Michael Curtis, 22, were found guilty in Rotorua High Court this afternoon over what the Crown described as horrific ongoing abuse and beatings which equated to torture and eventually led to the three-year-old's death.

Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was found guilty on two manslaughter charges relating to a lack of protection and failure to seek medical help for her critically injured daughter.

Kuka was Wiremu Curtis's partner at the time of the abuse.

Nia died of brain injuries in Auckland's Starship Hospital on August 3 last year, two weeks after suffering what the Crown said were fatal kicks to the head by the brothers.

...Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20, and Michael Curtis' partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were found not guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death.

They were, however, found guilty along with the Curtis brothers on various other charges.

Here's the composite picture of the five that abused or neglected Nia from stuff.co.nz:

Looking at them, I just can't understand what was going through their brains while they watched Nia. It's hard for me to demonize them because you obviously have had to be seriously disturbed to have done this. And yet I am very angry, I just don't know who to direct it towards.

Random happenings in my life

2009-01-30T12:38:00.004+11:00

I'm feeling a bit jealous at the moment. All those grade 12 graduates who now have the world at their feet. And then there is me, who is utterly stuck it seems. Well, I'm not entirely jealous. I'm happy for them. My sister has just landed a brilliant job in an economic downturn where employers are slashing and employees are wallowing. She'll have a whole year to come to terms with what she wants to do. And I couldn't be more happier for her.

But now I feel like I am stilted. This year is going to bring a whole new lot of amazing opportunities for me journalism-wise - the opportunity to write more features, write for a television current affairs show and continue what I am doing. But I just keep backtracking and wondering. I guess you can't have your career all stitched up at 20. It doesn't work that way. I know one day I may change direction, and I have to prepare myself for that.

On a lighter note, my last blog post was my 69th :-P That one is for you Christopher!

So what has been happening with me? I have taken a significant break from the blogosphere of late. Some days I just couldn't be bothered and other days I want to keep writing and writing and writing :-) I'm in the waiting room right now - just biding my time, taking it slow, until university starts again. I can't wait to be busy, a bit worn out. Right now I feel abit lazy. All I do is go to work and come home and talk and laugh and eat.

Yesterday I started my gym for the year and I hope to keep going and getting in a routine. I'm going to Vanuatu in July and they have a bad habit of telling it like it is - if I put on weight they'll greet me and say "you've gotten fat!" So in order to salvage my self-esteem I am going to have to work a bit harder.

I have applied for cross-institutional studies to learn Hindi. Hopefully that works because this could be my second language. I love Hindi and Urdu and I hope I get to the point where I can speak it fluently. It'll be deadly awesome.

I plan to write more short stories this year and begin the draft for my debut novel. I have decided what it will be and it will give me the opportunity to stir up a bit of controversy, in a good way of course. I'm not out to win the Booker, but I want to produce something I am proud of.

I'm trying to figure out what makes a piece of writing great. I have been trying to read a host of award-winning literature, and to be honest, the award-winning stuff often makes me entirely bored. That's because I have been reading short story compilations. I don't know, I think short story writing is completely out of my arena of interest. It really bores me. But I've begun reading the pieces that make it into The New Yorker (my new favourite website) and trying to consider why they have been selected.

Am also now addicted to The Economist. Great magazine.

I can't wait to start Broadcast Journalism this semester. It's gonna be so good learning a different medium.

Anyway, I better go, this entry is getting more boring as it progresses!

Luv
Amy

Why Bollywood is so successful

2009-01-14T14:40:00.002+11:00

As a die-hard devotee to Bollywood, I have carefully constructed my arguments as to why the movies are filmed the way they are. They are superficial, they are full of cheap humour, they have singing and dancing and impossibly beautiful people.

- From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

They aren't "real" is the criticism I receive. But what is forgotten is the whole point of cinema and entertainment is to forget. To enjoy life for at least three hours before stepping out into the real world. In a country like India, where the extreme rich and the extreme poor live side by side, i believe movies act as a form of letting go. They also have to appeal to a broad cross-section, and be family friendly at the same time, thus the g-rated themes (although if you see some of the newer movies, they are not always g-rated ;-) )

Anyway, nothing more summed up my theory than this article about the new Indian movie Slumdog Millionaire:

LIFE in the alleyways of Mumbai's sprawling Juhu slum is revealed in the Golden Globe-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. But when Juhu locals were asked if they would like to watch the film, they were not very interested.

"We don't want to watch the film, we live the life it shows," 19-year-old Surajit Pal told The Times of India. He would prefer to see the Bollywood action blockbuster Ghajini, based on the western thriller Memento and doing big business in India.

Another Juhu resident, 21-year-old Vikas Mishra, said he could not understand why people would find a film of their slum interesting. "I don't like it here. It's not a nice place to stay," he said.

The hit movie about an impoverished orphan who wins the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? has not even been released here yet.

I can't play this game anymore

2008-12-09T15:46:00.003+11:00

Reasons why I hate journalism:

It is too ideological.

It is too shallow.

It forgets things and moves on, regardless of the wider issue. It basically has the attention span of a gold fish.

Journalists are very rarely experts at anything. And yet they are called upon to be experts on everything.

Regardless of how you hard you try, your work will always be biased towards your view. It could be as simple as putting a quote above another quote, or who you choose to quote.

It is dictated by trends.

It is dictated by corporations who control everything.

It is a commodity.

Reasons I like journalism

It puts things on the public record.

It helps hold power to account.

It has the ability to get news out to a large and varied audience.

It analyses events in an easy way to understand.

I'm torn between loving and hating the media at the same time. The problem I am facing now is, do I still want to be a part of this industry? Am I meant for something else?

A late bloomer

2008-12-03T15:57:00.004+11:00

I'm one of those dreamers who believe they can write a masterpiece by 25. At 14, I thought I would write it by 17. At 20, I've given myself 5 years to get it done. I don't know what it is. It's this perception that youth produces newness, something that never has been done before.

That was until I read this article in The New Yorker. It's about the Late Bloomers of the literary and art worlds. If you are getting frustrated with your writing, I really encourage you to read it by clicking here. It does put everything in perspective about how the greats produced their work.

Read how Mark Twain used to work:

"Galenson quotes the literary critic Franklin Rogers on Twain’s trial-and-error method: “His routine procedure seems to have been to start a novel with some structural plan which ordinarily soon proved defective, whereupon he would cast about for a new plot which would overcome the difficulty, rewrite what he had already written, and then push on until some new defect forced him to repeat the process once again.”

Twain fiddled and despaired and revised and gave up on “Huckleberry Finn” so many times that the book took him nearly a decade to complete. The Cézannes of the world bloom late not as a result of some defect in character, or distraction, or lack of ambition, but because the kind of creativity that proceeds through trial and error necessarily takes a long time to come to fruition.

The author uses the example of celebrated author Ben Fountain throughout the piece, and looks at his experience of a "late bloomer".

A very interesting story that shows you shouldn't hurry things along. If it's meant to be it's meant to be. Be yourself and don't worry about others.

I just don't get it

2008-11-24T13:56:00.003+11:00

Today I was reading an editorial in the Age, applauding a local mufti on calling for desegregation in mosques.

IN MOSQUES across Australia Muslims are accustomed to men and women sitting separately. This physical division might change now that the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam, has taken the enlightened step of calling for desegregation in mosques. Although he does not have direct authority over other imams, his title allows him to wield considerable influence within the wider Muslim community.

But a more serious divide between the sexes that needs to be bridged has been recognised by a report that shows some imams simply do not consider women equal to men. The report, made public last week, shocked many with its findings that some imams in Victoria condoned rape within marriage, domestic violence, polygamy, welfare fraud and exploitation of women.

The editorial, which can be found here, says.

How can a ghost writer in a newspaper owned by a large media conglomerate actually claim they know what is "enlightened" and what is not?

I just find it amazing how there is often one rule for muslims when it comes to reportage, and another for christians.

The rest of the article goes onto discuss domestic violence and the report that was mentioned earlier.

But the whole thing reeks of cultural superiority and reminds me of the way Aboriginal men are treated.

In this piece, domestic violence is seen as entrenched within Muslim households and although it claims that "domestic violence may not be worse in Muslim communities" it further says "it is a problem that can sometimes exist because of entrenched cultural practice."

So why do Australians as a whole have high rates of domestic violence?

According to the Australian Parliament library website:

The best indicators available to date about the levels of violence against women in Australia are from the 1996 ABS publication Women's Safety Survey and the more recent ABS Personal Safety Survey 2005 that surveyed both men and women. The surveys asked women about their experiences of violence and found that:

5.8 per cent of women had experienced violence in the 12 month period preceding the survey in 2005 compared with 7.1 per cent in 1996

4.7 per cent of these women had experienced physical violence (this includes physical assault and threat of physical assault) in 2005 compared with 5.9 per cent in 1996, and 1.6 per cent had experienced sexual violence (this includes sexual assault and threat of sexual assault) compared to 1.5 per cent in 1996

Of the women who experienced sexual violence during the 12 months prior to the 2005 survey 21 per cent had experienced sexual assault by a previous partner in the most recent incident, and 39 per cent by a family member or friend

The 2005 survey also showed that of those women who were physically assaulted in the 12 months prior to the survey, 38 per cent were physically assaulted by their male current or previous partner. Of the women who had experienced violence by a current partner, 10 per cent had a violence order issued against their current partner and of those women who had violence orders issued, 20 per cent reported that violence still occurred.

So is it due to an entrenched cultural practice within Australia? Most media don't ever touch the subject of cultural practice and religion to explain rates of domestic violence within the general community.

The other thing that annoyed me about this piece was the fact that the Age was rather shallowly congratulating the desegregation of mosques, and therefore looking down their noses at those mosques that choose to separate men and women.

The way I interpreted the piece, this segregation seemed to be linked to inequality among muslim men and women.

This can be seen when they critize some Islamic leaders, or those arguing for cultural diversity, for rejecting the original report

"In response to the Islamic Women's Welfare Council report, there no doubt will be those who argue that cultural diversity is sacrosanct. Such views are a distortion of the value of diversity and are irrelevant in the face of core values that must be accepted by all who live in this society. These include the shared acceptance of the rule of law and the values on which Australian law is based, including equality of men and women.

As if Australian law preaches equality between men and women. We still have a long way to go - women are still paid lower rates and often do not get a voice in key decision making affecting them - an example highlighted in the abortion pill fiasco led by Tony Abbott.

I imagine there would be few muslims who would argue for rape and polygamy, those issues highlighted in the report.

So why are normal Muslim cultural or religious practices, maybe not in place within christian institutions, such as segregation, critized so heavily and linked to issues that they do not deserve to be linked to?

I just don't get it. I thought we were moving forward in the way we report Muslim Australia. It seems we aren't. It's the same with the way Indigenous affairs is reported. Occasionally you get the odd writer who gets it right, but most of the time it's just white journalists passing judgement.

Obama and Islam

2008-11-18T14:48:00.003+11:00

Religion and race were obviously going to be two sore points in Barack Obama's road to President. The fact he is black may have hindered his chances, and it was debated endlessly. His religion was also a cause for concern, maybe not for the media, but more for the ordinary US citizen, who took his name as evidence of him being a Muslim.

Newsweek says:

"For the past few months, not a day went by without the words "Muslim" and "Obama" being mentioned in the same sentence. From the divisive shouts and jeers at McCain rallies to the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times to an interview with Colin Powell on NBC's "Meet the Press," Muslims—or at least the mention of them—have been more prevalent this campaign year than "Joe the Plumber."

Of course, Obama has consistently said he is a Christian, and the media barrage over the comments of his pastor should have confirmed that.

Although Obama is not a muslim, I think what he has done is raise awareness about African-American muslims. In my view, African-Americans seem to be a very spiritual people. Their culture, or that which is transmitted through pop culture, is heavily revolved around church. But there have also been several pop culture references to black muslims. I can name several movies that present African-American muslims. In fact, some of the most famous African Americans were muslim. Think Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm X

But they are often forgotten in the grand scheme of things, even though they shouldn't be. If you can imagine the prejudice that has been wrought upon black Americans in the past and the prejudice that has been wrought upon Muslim Americans.... imagine what happens when you combine them.

Faheem Shuaibe from Altmuslim.com, a wonderful source for Muslim commentary, has done a piece highlighting the unique experience of African-American Muslims and the part they can play in defeating Islamophobia:

Ironically, the solution to Islamophobia in the United States could very well come from African American Muslims – those who converted to Islam beginning in the Civil Rights Era, rejected the character traits and cultural mores that American culture had imposed upon the "ex-slave", and are playing a significant role in American society.

What role can African American Muslims play?

First, in order to mine this group for the cure, there must be more interaction overall in order that we may get to know one another – as Americans and as Muslims.

Second, the key is to gain insight into the world-view that governs the African American Muslim disposition and actions. Namely, the fact that true African American Muslims hold sacred the absolute equality of all human beings and embrace the timeless, universal values of the Qur'an – values which disapprove of jealousy, vengeance and prejudice.

Highlighting the unique African American Muslim experience should lead the western world to ask, "If this is what Islam can produce, even from a people whose culture was so utterly decimated, then what in Islam do we really have to fear?"

The rights and entitlements afforded African American Muslims are unparalleled anywhere in the Muslim world today. African American Muslims, at one time arguably the most dehumanised population in history, are productive and patriotic American citizens who play a role, through their social and political participation, in shaping American society.

African American Muslims are therefore in a unique position to embrace such American symbols as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States while still striving to defeat Islamophobia.

African American Muslims are a sign of how Islam can take a vanquished people and turn them into productive and active participants who help to shape their political and social environment. They are a people that have faced discrimination and fear before and are equipped to play a significant role in pushing back against a new incarnation of cultural discrimination and misunderstanding – Islamophobia.

Can the election of a black president with a muslim name also have an effect?

Maybe many Muslims from all sects, countries and ethnicities think so. Read this Newsweek report about how Muslims overwhelmingly voted for Obama:

Many Muslim Americans also changed their party affiliations for this election. The country's Muslim population, estimated at between 7 to 8 million, has traditionally voted along conservative, Republican lines. Today, more than two thirds of American Muslims polled say they consider themselves to be Democrats, while only 4 percent see themselves as Republicans (29 percent identified themselves as Independents.)

The shift began in 2004—in part because of the GOP's mishandling of civil liberties, from wiretapping American citizens to detaining Muslims in the United States and Guantanamo without trial, and because of the war in Iraq.

This year, many more were drawn into the Democratic party by Obama himself. Muslims across the country were captivated by the senator's promise of unity and hope.

On the Muslim-Americans for Obama Web site (Mafo2008.com), their mission statement includes the following: "That we support Barack Obama because, among other reasons, he rejects the politics of fear, challenging our nation to embrace its collective identity, where each American has a stake in the success and well-being of every American."

The Beauty of Native America

2008-10-22T15:11:00.003+11:00

The song and all the pictures are absolutely beautiful. They give an insight into the beautiful culture of the American Indians, who suffered and continue to suffer for recognition in the "most powerful nation in the world".

It looks like the USA will finally have their first African-American president in less than two weeks, but will we ever see an Indigenous American president? It's unlikely. Why aren't American Indian issues talked about widely in the election? In his Senate campaign, John McCain has been heavily involved in Senate committees on Indian issues.

But American Indian issues do not win votes, just as championing Indigenous Australian issues don't win votes (actually, oppressing Indigenous Australians usually does the trick for politicians...eg. John Howard's election intervention into NT communities).

When I watch videos like the above it makes me so sad for all the lost cultures, languages and lives in the world.

A writer's tale

2008-10-21T12:44:00.004+11:00

Have you ever got the feeling that you have grown up too fast? I always knew I was aging in maturity and experience faster than my years, but I never actually thought of the downfalls of this fact.

Today I found one of my old blogs from when I was finishing grade 12 to just beginning university. Usually I would laugh at the immaturity of my old self, and I still display levels of immaturity in my old blog, but I never expected to feel a little cheated. I feel as if my writing has gone way down since I was in high school, and I think the reason is because of my new try-hard attempts to write more maturely.

My old blog attempts may have used too many adjectives and indulged in more than the fair share of hyperbole, but they were refreshing and funny and still managed to be well-written. Now my words feel old, dull and not unique. I think I've lost the touch. And at 20!

I just feel the need to show some of the old writings to my friends and ask them if they can see a difference. You don't have to read them all, i just feel the need to document them again for my own sake. I'm surprisingly proud of my 17-year-old self.

21 September
91 DAYS TO GO!

There are officially 91 days until I will be soaking my pale skin under the glorious golden rays of paradise! How beautiful will it be to experience the sheer pleasure of possessing no prior knowledge of the events of the next day, and instead only having an unclear vision of the events of the present hour! I think the latter is what really constitutes to living life to the fullest!

I tell you with no doubt in my mind that I am more excited about going to Vanuatu than actually graduating from school!! I think it's because when I think of graduation I unintentionally have to think of all the long yards I still have to put in to make this dream achievable. I also have to force myself to think of the FORMAL which is way to much work and puts a strain on my slightly reclusive brain. Seriously, I don't understand why anyone, who has labored for five years under a strict high school regime and actually come out alive, would want to submit themselves to the further torture of having to spray copious amounts of suffocating Elizabeth Arden onto a plucked and preened teenage body, squeeze into disgustingly high twelve inch heels and parade around in a ballooned and streamered setting while still managing to look graceful and excited. Wooo....after that long sentence I had to take ten breaths in order to allow more oxygen to circulate around what's left of my brain.

But anyway, I'm sure graduation will be nice for those who want to go and I'm sure I'll regret it if I keep putting it further down on my list of priorities. However, life is about adventure and adventure does not involve Sunnygirl dresses and 5 kg of mascara on one's eyelids.

Yesterday I took my brothers for a walk to the salad bowl to get ice cream and I went the All Blacks way. I also forgot to wear shoes and so I had a patch of prickles in my stinken foot!! It hurt so much and then these dogs attack us and my brother has the nerve to come up to me today and ask if I wanted to go again!! I admit, I was extremely stupid for not wearing shoes but I really love to feel the tarmac of a road well traveled under my bare feet.....I can also run from predators faster if I don't wear any shoes.

I have spent this morning lying in my room reading Charles Dickens, listening to Inner Circle's "sweat" and watching these dumb boys get chased by a magpie on their bikes. I swear boys are the dumbest creatures on the face of this planet cause as soon as they got attacked, they'd come back for another go!! Even monkeys learn from experience so maybe boys are lower down in the whole evolution chain than monkeys...or these particular boys might just be the missing link (not that I believe in evolution anyway, really I couldn't care less about how God made us, all I know is He did and I'm glad he did it)

Another one.

25 January

The Fiji Files - A trip journal
Bula, Namaste and Hello!!

Last night I made it home with an earache and a sore tummy. But these things are utterly and completely forgotten when I remember the wonderful five days I just spent in Fiji!! Fiji turned my world upside down. It counteracted my expectations, opened my eyes and awoke a sense of adventure inside me! But I want to put behind me all the words and just say what I thought of the country!!

My first glimpse of this country was of course, from the airplane. The Air Pacific flight over was excellent and I tasted Fijian humour and hospitality for the first time in the form of an air host who kept calling me Hindu after learning of my fondness for Indians. The island of Viti Levu, the main one in the nation, is extremely mountainous and this sets the backdrop for the rest of the country. You tend to feel that Fijian has a rugged natural beauty, hidden previously, but now being discovered in your view. When my feet hit the tarmac I couldn't help comparing it to Vanuatu and Samoa, but that is inevitable isn't it??

The first thing I was amazed at was just the amount of Indians there were in Fiji. I knew that Fiji was multicultural, but I never expected to see so many Indians alongside the indigenous Fijians. Of course, this shock soon amounted into happiness as everyone knows I love Indian culture! We met Abdul, a young Indian who operates the shuttle bus to Horizons Backpacker hotel and proceeded to make our way to the hotel.

But I do not want to chronicle the exact events of the trip. So I'll try and stick to my feelings. To me, Fiji was like a little taste of India in the Pacific. 90 % of the businesses are owned and run by Fijian-Indians. Fijian-Indians have their own Fijian-Hindi language, they have their own temples, they have their own food industry set up. Buses blast exciting bollywood songs and colourful saris are seen amoung the whir of western clothing. In the city of Nadi, Suva and Saratoga, they seem to outnumber the Indigenous Fijians. Much to my dismay, because of my excitement over a little slice of India at my fingertips, I did not learn much about traditional Fijian culture. This makes me want to go back because 5 days is definitely not long enough to spend in this exceedingly intriguing society.

Fiji and Vanuatu, despite their geographical closeness, are as different as apples from oranges. The City of Suva completely blasted my expectations to smitherines. I was expecting a laid back town similar to my beloved Port Vila!! Was I wrong!! Suva is a bustling city, characterized by its blaring local buses, complicated traffic rules and dirty streets. Still, it is such an enigma, you yearn to get beyond its skin, to dig deep and extract a feeling for the place that kills the shallowness of the package tourism culture. It's interesting.

The people amazed me a lot. Generally, as a whole, I did not find them as friendly as Ni Vans or Samoans. I placed this down to the fact that they get a lot of tourists and that they just want to get on with their life. Still, when you go out of the way to talk to them, you discover the pure gorgeousness of the south pacific...it's a trait that no westernized force can quench!!

Anyway, this blog entry is getting too long and I've barely even touched the surface!! But defiantly go to Fiji one day, it's gorgeous but be aware that you have to go with a true backpacker/adventurous spirit otherwise you will only be seeking refuge in the resorts!!

About my love for Vanuatu:

02 January
Tanned but not so Terrific
Anyone who has set foot off Australian soil would be able to identify with the unquenchable joy that being in a foreign country creates. The excitement of the unknown coupled with the nomadic adventurer inside us takes over resulting in a degree of happiness that could never be measured by scales and numbers. Then when you get back, you feel as if your heart has plummeted, as if your life has become that boring mass of nothingness you have always wanted to avoid.

For me, the pure unwavering love I hold for Vanuatu and the prospect that one day I may return is the only thing holding my heart together!! Life is never as rich, as beautiful, as colourful as the days spent in this generous hospitable country. It is the latter fact that I love most about it!! It's colour. Stepping off the plane, even at 2 am, you feel embraced by the very essence of colour, and the light only improves it. Walking along the street you are overwhelmed by greenness, the shade of a colour so prominent in the landscape and so vacant from our own. The green touches the edges of the dusty pale yellow ground, it reaches and gently meets the crystal blue of summer. The rainbow changes against the backdrop with a delightful catastrophic whir of reds, yellows and whites as the gorgeous ni vans compliment their land. Even the people are not restricted by colour as we Australians. They do not fall victim to the uniformity of fashion, the arrogance of the fashion conscious. Colour, colour, colour. No dullness and even the brown is a rich smooth flavour of God's wonderful creation!

Stepping into that custom area, after leaving a tearful family behind is one of the most depressing moments. I have found a place which accepts me as I am a place which loves me and cares for me to the point of inclusion and giving it away confuses and strains my most hidden emotions. At the airport I found myself sacrificing my inhibitions and letting the tears stroll down as I hugged all of my newly found loved ones. You know you have found something special when two weeks of being with a person is not enough. You know you have been included when every eye is wet and every spoken word gives a hint to the heartbreak of a situation.

I want Vanuatu to be in my future, not a mere holiday destination.

This writing to me seems passionate and fresh. Now my writing seems the exact opposite. Have I fallen in a rut? How do I claim back what I have lost?

Can you ever go back to the writer you once where? I want to be a maverick when it comes to words - throwing them in out of natural instinct. Now my writing seems laboured and without feeling, a consequence of my training as a journo.

How about you? Do you feel as if your writing has suffered because you are growing up?

What religion are you?

2008-10-07T14:00:00.002+11:00

On visiting Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, I was given advice that if asked what religion I followed, it would be better to say Christianity than to say I didn’t believe in anything.

I made the mistake of not heeding this advice in Australia the other day, and made an unfavourable impression on a Muslim lady of importance to me.

“I respect religion for cultural heritage, but I don’t believe in it,” I said without even thinking.

“So you don’t believe in anything?” she asked bewildered.

“Not really…”

And thus came the awkward silence.

In a secular world, are we actually turning towards religion again? Or did we ever really turn our backs on it in the first place?

Two years ago, it would have been unthinkable for me to imagine a life without God, or without some sort of spiritual guidance. But on my search to find just what form this spiritual guidance should take, I have been continually doubting everything.

Religion to me is intrinsically tied to the cultural identity of a person. It is not so easy for someone who grows up in a Christian society to embrace Christianity and it is not so easy for a person who has not grown up in a Buddhist society to embrace Buddhism. You can do it of course, but you always sacrifice a little bit of the identity you have grown with in favour of a new one.

That’s not a bad thing. I could think of worse. But to me, in order to embrace a religion, you must fully immerse yourself in the thinking of the culture of the religion.

For example, it is hard for me to understand Islam’s reverence of the Koran. Christians also revere the Bible, but not to the same extent. Muslims will not drop the Koran, they will not place it in the way of physical harm. If I was a Christian converting to Islam, this reverence would not be inbuilt in me and I would find it hard to manufacture it within myself even if I love and respect how Muslims treat their holy book.

It is becoming more apparent to me that I should respect all religions and cultural heritage whether I believe in it or not.

I was gradually being swayed by the thinking of evangelical atheist Richard Dawkins, who is on a crusade to convert people away from religion.

In his book, The God Delusion, he paints religion as being a childish exercise.

There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else ... has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point. The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it (p.360).

But I think this sort of thinking is wrong.

I don’t believe that religion is child like. In fact, I think it is beautiful and provides a mechanism for us to embrace and preserve dying cultural traditions.

I note that some cultural traditions should not be preserved, such as honour killings, but these are not necessarily endorsed by religions such as Islam.

If man didn’t have religion, there would be even more wrong. Religion can act as a catalyst for horrific acts, such as terrorism, but I find it is usually a cover for political agendas.

If people who use religion for the wrong purposes didn’t have religion, they would find some other excuse to commit their crimes.

Thus, although I don’t practice Christianity, and I don’t really believe in it, I can’t deny it has shaped and moulded me into who I am today. Therefore, next time I am asked I will say I am a Christian and I will continue to respect it and all other religions.

Keeping Us Down

2008-10-01T10:52:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I had a long chat with one of my closest male friends, one who I haven't talked to in a while. Naturally, the subject turned to girls and his insistence that "he just wants to find a sweet, cute, girl". He began talking about how he didn't really want a "hot" girl, because they often do not have the little weaknesses and eccentricities that other girls do. I don't know how you really define what is "hot", but I think it is not so much in the eye of the beholder, as in the eye of what's fashionable at the time.

Anyway, as the conversation shifted he started talking about how as summer comes in, girls start to dress more skimpily, wearing short pants and low cut shirts. He started going on about hot girls etc etc.... considering the fact that boys are very one-dimensional on this topic, it's easy to imagine what it sounded like.

Usually I don't mind talking about this stuff with him. I actually find it quite an insight into the thinking of the opposite sex. But this time, it struck a sour note with me. Suddenly I began judging myself up against other girls who I find to be beautiful and these stupid thoughts kept running in my head - you should lose weight, you should wear tighter clothes, you should act like all those other girls.

It kept running through my mind and I actually dreamt about it. I have no idea why this particular conversation reduced my self-esteem to record lows, but I can't deny that it did. Even the protestations of Dino, who kept saying he liked me just the way I am, couldn't ease my troubled mind.

Then while I was eating lunch and feeling as if I better go and spew it all up again in an hour, I realized how stupid I have been. Why must we girls constantly let boys get us down? Why do we increasingly let them judge us by such superficial standards?

Do I go around to other guys and wolf whistle if they have muscles? It happened to me on Saturday afternoon from this sleazy random guy who also commented on my chest. It's not a compliment, it's a symbol of ongoing oppression. Imagine if girls started doing it! I know there are people out there who very likely do, but somehow it doesn't seem to be as widespread as when boys do it.

I guess men are always going to be that way, they're always going to judge a girl's worth by what she presents on the outside.

From a Wikipedia entry on Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch:

"Greer argued that women do not realize how much men hate them, and how much they are taught to hate themselves."

I think this is very true, even if I think it may be a bit extreme to say men hate us. I don't think we realize how much we are coerced into hating our true selves which in turn forces us to change our true selves. When we so often see beauty equated with success, such as our idol worship of movie stars and models, we immediately believe we are failures. When a female politician advances in the ranks, she is condemned for her new hair style or her dress.

Take the case of Rudd's wife Therese Rein, who was plastered by fashion critics while accompanying Rudd on his world tour.

IT'S time for Therese Rein to put style ahead of substance, according to some of Australia's leading fashion designers.

After a week on the world stage, accompanying her Prime Minister husband Kevin Rudd on his 17-day tour, Ms Rein has been in the media spotlight more than at any time since last year's federal election victory.

And her fashion statements during stops in Washington, New York, Brussels and London have left some of the country's top style experts asking questions about her choices, given the public focus now placed on leaders' wives.

No one seemed to care that Therese Rein is a millionaire businesswoman who is probably one of the smartest of Australia's first ladies in a long time.

Compare that to the adoration directed to the French President's wife Carla Bruni, a model and singer, on her trip to the UK.

For Carla Bruni, the new wife of France's president Nicolas Sarkozy, the state visit to London has been a metamorphosis of leaving her past behind and emerging as the first lady of fashion.

So in order to finish this entry, because I have no more to say, I will simply leave you with a quote from a very astute anonymous commentator:

Life, Dino and Writing

2008-09-19T21:18:00.002+10:00

I've just been reading a couple of my friend's blogs.... and I've come to the conclusion that I am a horribly boring person. I think I've grown up too fast, or at least forgotten how to be spontaneous. It is clear that I need a holiday, or at least a week spent sleeping.

I meant to work on my uni assignments all today but so far I have procrastinated on YouTube and Facebook and other peoples' blogs. Mainly I've been reading back entries of The Bamboozle Planetarium and laughing my head off. Love the entry where you write random sayings and put them all around the house Melissa!

So this is basically going to be my "ME" entry. An update of my life, what's happening blah blah blah.

Recently, the green eyed monster has been coming out in me, thanks in part to a certain Pakistani, I'm going to call him Dino Morea for the sake of anonymity ;-)

It's not as if I am an intricately jealous person to begin with, but now the feeling creeps up on me all the time. It's stupid and silly and ridiculous but I think it must be justified. Surely other people must go through it as well?

Dino comes back in about half and hour from his aunty's place and then he'll leave again to go to his job as a security officer. It's a pretty easy job - he just stands there and watches people for eight hours (pretty tiring!), altogether an easy way to earn money.

I'm trying to learn Chinese but I keep questioning myself as to whether it's the right road I should take. To be honest, I've never really held an interest in China, and only picked the language because of it's importance in the world. But will it be important for me? Will I need Chinese in my day to day life? I wish I had picked Hindi - but I was too lazy to work it out because my uni doesn't offer it. Hindi is still a hard language, and I probably wouldn't concentrate so much on the script, but at least there's a high chance I would speak it and listen to it, if only when I watch Bollywood movies.

Would it be a waste switching now? Will I actually stick to Chinese? And will I remember it after my four years studying it are up? I just find it hard to believe that i'll be able to speak it fluently. With Hindi I am often surrounded by it, and I've long harboured a love for the language and the people who speak it. The only thing that is really holding me back is the time, money and energy i have put into Chinese. My HECs debt is going to be huge :-( And I'm confused by HECs... can you use up all your allowance by picking subjects you don't need?

Uni is confusing. I'm never doing a Masters. It is going to kill me just getting a Bachelor's Degree.

I've also been thinking about saving up for a house. It will take me ages but if I start now I'll be able to obtain an asset and then I can have an income wherever I am in the world. I am thinking I would like to buy real estate in Rocky, because at least then I'll have someone to check up on it for me. It's just the security thing of having an asset that is always going to increase.

I currently have a five year plan to tie up all my loose ends and move on with my life. I'm not sure where I will be in five years, but I want to be in the position to choose where I want to go, and I don't want anythiing to stop me. So basically, the plan is to finish my uni degree, keep increasing my work experience and contacts, save around $20,000 and consider all options. I'd like to just write for a year. I want to publish a book. Not sure how that will go and I know I'm going to be torn between commercial success and my own wants but it is something I have to consider.

I must admit, I was abit scared by something I read in a blog for The Australian newspaper:

A mate of mine, who had his first novel published two years ago, experienced at first hand the horror and crushing indignity of discovering that the fruit of his literary loins had been consigned to retail oblivion.

Walking past a bookstore one day, he noticed copies of his book sitting outside in the bargain bins. He picked up a copy and his heart sank as he glanced at the price, slashed to below half its retail value. More ominously, he noticed the anti-theft device had been removed.

It was if the bookshop was saying, “We don’t care if you pay four bucks for this or not. Just take one. In fact, take more than one – they’re just taking up valuable space here. Use both hands. Why not grab a wheelbarrow? We promise to turn a blind eye. Help yourself.”

My writer friend described it as the most depressing and humiliating moment of his life.

It's something every writer must face. You put all your energy and love into a work and it isn't even read. That would be horrible. I couldn't even imagine it. As a writer, you have to be ready to accept rejection and move on from it. My idea is to first write a non-fiction novel and then move onto fiction (possibly). Anyway, they are just dreams and probably won't eventuate.

That's enough of my ramble. I'm going to wait for Dino!

YouTube Brilliance

2008-09-19T21:18:00.001+10:00

This is better than the original Barack Roll!!

I want to vote in the American Presidential elections

2008-09-14T12:35:00.002+10:00

I've heard it said several times that the whole world should be allowed to vote in the American presidential elections, such is the impact a new President will have on the globe. The 2008 elections must be considered historic in several senses. There is a high possibility that America may have a black President... and there is also a chance that before the next Presidential term is over, America could also have a woman in the highest office in the country. Thus a female could end up being the most powerful person in the world. This would be awesome (although I would prefer a black President), but of course, gender shouldn't even be taken into consideration if that person is not right for the job.

That woman is of course Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, who before that was the mayor of a small town. With Senator John McCain being so old and with known health problems, there is a possibility that his running mate could take over before his first term is even up. So you would think you need a Vice-President who is experienced and knowledgable on all subjects, especially in the area of foreign policy. Sure, Barack Obama has been heavily criticised for his lack of experience... but at least he knows what the Bush Doctrine is. I read somewhere that the Bush Doctrine has been considered one of the central elements in foreign policy for the past five or six years (don't have a link, just read it, so not sure how accurate it is).

Thus it scares me that this woman couldn't give a proper answer on a subject that is currently a hot button issue in Pakistan, a country America desperately needs good relations with due to it's proximity to Afghanistan.

In early September, there was outrage after US forces attacked Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. The New York Times reports:

Until now, allied forces in Afghanistan have occasionally carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks in the border region of Pakistan against militants hiding there, and American forces in “hot pursuit” of militants have had some latitude to chase them across the border.

But the commando raid by the American forces signaled what top American officials said could be the opening salvo in a much broader campaign by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistan, a secret plan that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has been advocating for months within President Bush’s war council.

It also seemed likely to complicate relations with Pakistan, where the already unstable political situation worsened after the resignation last month of President Pervez Musharraf, a longtime American ally.

Pakistani officials were as expected, not happy. In my opinion, America seems to have no respect for the sovereignty of nations. Opposition MPs actually projected that Pakistan may pull out of the war on terror because of the American attacks.

From the Dawn newspaper,

Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the US has to be careful not to dismiss the help it is getting from Pakistan.

He called the raid by ground forces a ‘risky maneuver’ and said that ‘too many of these operations will make the Pakistani army less willing to work with us,’ which could negatively affect future US leadership.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has vowed to protect the country's sovereignty 'at all cost.'

But Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, talking with reporters late Friday, said Pakistan would prefer to resolve any issue with Washington through diplomatic channels, adding that the issue will be discussed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.

'Due to this American policy, the tribal people will join militants and our work will be damaged,’ he said hours after the latest missile strike killed at least 12 people. ‘We will not allow anyone to interfere inside our country.

‘It is not that we will launch any attack. We will try to convince America, we will try to convince Britain that they should respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, and God willing, we will be able to convince them.’

So to have a woman, who could be the next President of America, giving such an ambiguous answer on such a vital question, should raise alarm bells amongst the American populace.

But sadly, I don't believe elections are ever won on foreign policy. They're won on domestic issues, on what the candidate can offer the average person. On tax cuts, welfare and social issues. Americans will be much more likely to critique Sarah Palin on the illegitimacy of her soon-to-be-born grandchild than her ability to execute proper foreign policy decisions.

That is where democracy stuffs up. But we would be in a worse place without it.

P.S. For those who haven't realized because of the indulgance of media coverage into the US elections, there is actually a federal election brewing in Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and called an early election. He is trying to get more support for the conservatives in the minority government. I read that it is not projected that his Conservative party will win enough seats to get the majority.

UPDATE: Even Presidential candidates are prone to gaffs. Here's Senator John McCain talking about an "Iraq-Pakistan" border. Simple mistake I guess. Senator Barack Obama apparently signalled that he would consider intervening in Pakistan if the government could not properly handle Al Qaeda militants in the hills between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Would you ever live in another country?

2008-09-11T16:35:00.001+10:00

One of my best friend’s, Melissa, just went back to her home country after living in Australia for two years. Canada and Australia aren’t that different, but they are still different enough to wake you up to culture shock and require you to set a side more than a while to adjust, judging from Melissa’s experience.

So what does it feel like to live in another country that is not particularly western? How does it feel to take up halfway across the world, immerse yourself in a vastly different culture which may be dependent on a religion you know little about, and even learn a language? I have always wanted to do it, but my choice of destination has left some questioning my authenticity.

I know I’m being really ambiguous, so I might as well say it. I would love to live in Pakistan for a year. I’ve been told time and time again that I will hate it, that I’ll be excited now but when I’m faced with all the daily problems such as unreliable electricity and water I will be running first thing back to my homeland. According to some, Australia is a paradise, a “civilized” country (what makes one civilized I have no idea) and one that people die on boats struggling to get to.

But when I’m on my deathbed I’m not going to say that I’m glad I stayed in Australia, living the same monotonous culture, all my life. I would regret the fact I never experienced being a foreigner and will hate myself if I die not knowing the reality of hardship. That sounds really stupid but it’s true. I know I will regret so many things in my life. I may regret losing a year to a country that is not my own. But I know I’ll regret not taste testing it more so.

So this was a very random entry, but really I just wanted to know where you would consider living? Would you ever just pick up and live overseas for a year?

The greatest way to learn about a religion

2008-09-06T17:28:00.002+10:00

Sorry I haven't been updating for so long. I've been busy trying to juggling a life with university and work. It's not fun. It's just not. But one of the great things that has developed since I've begun university again is that I have meant someone that has been teaching me an awful lot about Islam, particularly Shia Islam.

It has really reiterated in my mind that the best way to learn about a religion is to hang around people who actually practice, or have been bought up in it.

So needless to say my interest in Islam has been increasing with the introduction of this person in my life. This and the fact I visited the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, in July.

The one thing I have noticed about hanging around with this person though, is how prejudiced Australia still is towards Muslims. It really is ridiculous, and it comes from people who you would never expect it. On telling my family for instance, the first words out of their mouths was "terrorist". I was so surprised because I literally thought targeting all muslims as terrorists was a thing of the past, or only the thinking of white rednecks. Not so. It can come from every corner of society in Australia - black and white. This is surprising because I would have thought oppressed peoples would understand how the media can totally misrepresent everything a certain societal group does.

And the other thing I have noticed his how prejudiced muslims can be towards each other, and the different sects. It's kind of like the Protestant-Catholic thing, well very much like that in fact. Sunnis don't like shias and shias don't like wahabis. But most of the time I understand that underlying the conflict is political or cultural, rather than religious factors. That's how I see it. Religion is so often used as a cover for political agendas or as justification for other acts.

This just reinforces the fact that Islam is not one homogenous religion. There is debate, their is conflict, there is similarity. This is like every other religion in the world, like every other belief system in the world. There is always going to be disagreement. So why is it that when a Muslim leader comes out and makes a comment, such as the infamous comparison of girls to uncovered meat, we take our outrage on the entire community? We use our outrage at the comments of one Muslim leader to lump in together Indonesians, Pakistanis, Lebanese, Afghans etc etc... people who come from completely different countries and who may have completely different interpretations of the holy texts.

But anyway, I will try and update more regularly now...

For now... a beautiful song from the movie Umrao Jaan. There is no reason, I just was watching it today and think the dancing is absolutely gorgeous.

The universal draw of Bollywood

2008-09-05T14:07:00.004+10:00

Earlier this year I was in Kupung, in West Timor. It’s a barren place, beautiful but sparse. A land of contradictions - Timorese but Indonesian. We were riding in a mini van, on the way to the East Timor border when out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar poster. Immediately the beat started to replay in my head, the vision of Aamir Khan and Kajol canoodling in the middle of beautiful Kashmir. It was a poster for Faana.

Excitedly I asked my guide – is Bollywood big over here? I just saw a Fanaa poster! He replied that he had never seen the movie, but that a lot of people watched Bollywood and his favourite was Dil Chahta Hai. I hadn’t seen one Indian since being in Indonesia and here I was confronted with the greatness of Bollywood?

I was surprised, but not at the same time. The universal draw of Bollywood has become apparent with western audiences quickly picking up the genre after the success of semi-Bolly films like Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham.

So it was with interest that I also read of a report from ABC’s Australia channel, talking about the rise of Bollywood in the South Pacific country of Samoa.

I still remember the day a few years ago when my journalist friend Tamani Nair returned to Fiji from Samoa and told me about their famous chilli sauce and something else just as hot - Bollywood cinema.

My first reaction was disbelief. After all, even in Fiji it took a long time for non-Fijians to even consider spending three hours watching romantic drama and scantily clad Indian heroines running around trees with besotted lads in tow. But after a few decades it caught on, especially in rural Fiji where Fijian farmers worked alongside Indo-Fijians in the fields. It kinda made sense.  But in Samoa ?

Well Bollywood certainly fired things up a few years ago. In fact television stations had no choice but to schedule back to back Hindi film and drama so they could meet the demand. And the fans were not Indians, but full-on Samoans.
Sure, Bollywood has been flavour of the moment across Europe, the US and Australia for a few years. But that’s been largely due to the success of art house films including Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham. Oh, and a few achievements and scandals involving Indian stars.

Now I’d missed out on investigating this the last time I was in Samoa. So naturally, this time, it had to be explored. What else is an Indian supposed to do when he has a cab driver in Apia telling you he “only watches Bollywood for the song and dance”.

Well, it all seems to have started with my lot. Yep, Indo Fijians and their predilection for Bollywood resulted in Samoan university students returning from Fiji with DVDs in their bags.

In no time the phenomenon caught on, TV stations started running shows and video store owners like Oscar started stocking Bollywood DVDs. Oscar reckons the dramas are popular because Samoans feel comfortable with clean family drama, comedy and music. “

To read more click here.

Ode to a Friend

2008-07-10T16:00:00.004+10:00

Yes I have been slack at my blog lately.

To tell you just how much, here is a quote directly from my dear friend Melissa's blog:

Long time no write. Chris made that point to me extra clear when he said to Amy and I on Monday morning in Shopping Fair that her and I are becoming a bit slack with blog entries.

“I keep checking your blogs and I keep seeing ‘Creature of Habit’ and ‘Goodbye Democrats’.

Joan remarked how she is updating more regularly.

Then Chris demanded once more.

“DATE UP! DATE UP! DATE UP! NOW! NOW! NOW!”

So here is your update dear Chris. Please note I just read your Yoko Ono piece and found it really interesting, but I can't really comment because I know absolutely nothing about music :-( I must say your writing style is getting better everytime I read it!

Anyway...onto the subject of this post, and one I admit I did steal from Princess Jo.

MELISSA

I had the misfortune of having to say good bye to this wonderful and beautiful girl last week. She is going back home to the land of maple syrup, ice hockey fans and Celine Dion.

It still hasn't sunk in frankly. Melissa has been one of my best friends since I first met her. I always remember the first day I really met her, she came up to me as we were waiting for a university orientation class and started talking about Bollywood. I am OBSESSED with Bollywood. Things led to another and we ended up having an excellent conversation!

That first term of university was one of the best times of my life. We soon made friends with Chris and Antonia and our little group was cemented. We would then go on to expand our friendship group to include people such as Kinwai, Raj and Yogi, Jo, Ana and Kat. Sadly, alot of these people I do not live anywhere near.

Most of the best memories from this time involve Melissa.

She recounts one in her blog that I couldn't have described better:

Like on of my favourite memories of when I went to Great Keppel Island with Amy. She and I were swimming in the ocean and then all of a sudden we saw our Indian friend Raj out on the beach. He looked as if he were naked. Amy and I began to freak out and plan our escape which appeared to be futile anyways because he was getting closer and closer. Luckily moments later it was discovered he was wearing flesh toned underwear. I still remember Amy’s exact words on Raj’s apparent nakedness. “The only man I want to see naked is my future husband!” I think I had the exact same sentiments. The rest of the day turned out to be awesome fun. In which I went camera happy, got sunburnt badly, (Amy apparently still feels bad about that one) and developed lasting memories and friendship.

Another great memory was when I came back from Canberra for the first time and spent basically every day at Melissa's house talking and having fun. During this time I always remember a very hilarious conversation my sister witnessed and never stopped laughing about.

MELISSA: I don't like Kirstie Alley. She has a fat vagina!

Then there were times like when we sat down in the middle of the shopping fair. For no reason at all.

We stayed out until 2 am with Ram on New Years and I remember thinking how grown up we were - staying out so late! Then the next year Melissa and I danced til 5 am and walked out to daylight! I don't think i'll be doing that anytime soon, but it was awesome fun at the time!

I remember my dreadful crush on a certain Gujarati, and Melissa's crush on Multimedia Guy.

I remember reading Melissa's stories to ease my own homesickness, because reading her stories (particularly Superheros), was like a direct link to home.

I remember travelling to Sydney and seeing her and Chris from the bus. I remember waving frantically at them and marveling at how great they looked before the Indian girl beside me told me they couldn't actually see me because the windows were tinted.

I remember our Sydney adventure, and my first ever club - Stonewall on Oxford St!

I remember random text messages and phone calls and excited hugs when I hadn't seen her for a while.

It is going to be sad that I can't see Melissa at least twice a year, but I know she is going to have an amazing future! I would never try to hold her back!

Melissa I wish you all the best in the future! We all love you to death and you are going to be badly missed!

I'll see you in Canada!

Goodbye Democrats

2008-06-21T23:01:00.004+10:00

- Queensland Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett leaves the Senate this week.

This week in Parliament marks the end of a political party that many thought would be Australia's third major party - the Democrats.

All four of the remaining Democrats Senators - Lyn Allison, Andrew Bartlett, Natasha Despoja-Scott and Andrew Murray, are conducting their last speeches in the upper house this week, with my favourite of the four, Andrew Bartlett, due to do his on Wednesday.

Here is what he writes in his blog:

I’m giving my final Valedictory speech in the Senate this coming Wednesday evening, around 6pm. News Radio should be broadcasting the Senate at that time, or you can listen in online through www.aph.gov.au. There’s another story in today’s SMH exploring where the Democrats went wrong. I might write some stuff here on that topic later, but I’d rather the final week of the Democrats’ 30+ years in the Senate focused on the many achievements rather than why it has ended.

The Sydney Morning Herald article he links to is extremely interesting, giving an insight into the sad demise of my favourite political party.

Who killed Don's party? Was it a crime of passion committed by the blonde in the enemy camp with the coffee plunger? Or perhaps the deal-maker from Adelaide armed with a frozen chicken in the cabinet room. Some hold responsible the young star in Doc Martens, while others see more suspects than would Miss Marple going on a quiet holiday.

The Democrats once owned a significant chunk of the Senate. At their peak, barely a decade ago, there were nine in the national Parliament. They had influence and power. But in little more than a week, the party will be over.

Started by Don Chipp and fashioned as a check on the government of the day, the Democrats leave a substantial footprint on the nation. They secured World Heritage listings, negotiated native title legislation, boosted environmental protection, championed human rights and almost always improved bills to save governments from themselves.

They were such a part of the political landscape that one courtyard of the inner sanctum of the Parliament was known to everybody as the Democrats Courtyard.

Not any more.

When the new Senate, elected last November, takes shape on July 1 there will be no Democrat senator for the first time in 31 years.

The last four federal Democrats - Natasha Stott Despoja, Lyn Allison, Andrew Murray and Andrew Bartlett - will sit on the red leather seats for one more emotional week.

But they are not going quietly. The quartet is rushing to have its say at committee hearings and trying to shape parliamentary reports in the dying days of a Coalition-controlled Senate. They like to think of themselves as legislators and are savouring their last gasp of Parliament.

One of these last says has been the Stolen Generations Compensation bill, which although extremely flawed, is at least reminiscent of the fact that the Democrats have been one of the only political parties to have consistantly championed the cause of the rights of Aboriginal people.

Although it is unlikely to ever be passed, at least it is a start. I don't agree with the arbitary payments part, but at least it shows that we could be a few steps closer to giving Aboriginal people compensation for instances that only disadvantaged them, and added to their already existing disadvantage.

Good luck to Senator Bartlett in all he does, and I hope he still exercises influence over public debate and opinion in the coming years.

How refreshing....

2008-06-19T11:06:00.000+10:00

Cross Dressing Students In Thai High School Get Their Own Bathroom

Amy Beeman - AHN
Bangkok, Thailand (AHN) -- In Thailand, where males dressing and acting like females is relatively accepted by society, one high-school has given cross dressers their own bathroom.

The Associated Press reported that Kampang School in northeastern Thailand decided to create a transgender bathroom for the 200 students at the school who said they considered themselves to be transgender, or Kathoey, as it is called in Thailand. The 2,600 students at the school were surveyed last year in regards to what sex they viewed themselves as.

Traditionally, in Thai culture there has been the idea of a third sex, the male-female, which is seen in indigenous cultural tradition and has been accepted as the norm up until about a century ago. According to a University of Hong Kong report by faculty member Sam Winter, even Buddhist texts allude to the allowance of being something that isn't quite male and isn't quite female. Winter said that informal estimates point to there being around 300,000 Kathoey in Thailand, working in various fields and being accepted as a third gender.

With so many Kathoey students at the high school, The Associated Press reported that the school director said it would be better for all students if they had their own bathrooms to avoid being teased bullied, or laughed at. Students told the AP it is embarrassing to go into a boy's restroom dressed as a girl.

The bathroom is distinguished by a depiction of half man in blue and half woman in red. It is marked "Transvestite Toilet."

According to the AP, it is the first bathroom of its kind in a high school.

From here.

Good on you Jon Stanhope

2008-06-03T14:06:00.004+10:00

This was on the website of The Canberra Times today:

Kevin Boreham and Edwin Ho made an official commitment to each other at Canberra’s first ceremony for a same-sex civil partnership at the carillon yesterday. Picture: KATE LEITH

It's not a marriage. It's a "commitment ceremony".

But although a legal marriage is still not recognised in the ACT, I commend the Stanhope government for their dogged position on the issue.

"The ACT’s first same-sex civil partnerships were registered in May after the ACT Government, under pressure from federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland, gave up on its bid to enshrine gay civil unions into law.

Mr McClelland had argued the ACT Bill mimicked marriage.

Threatened with the overturning by the Federal Government of the ACT legislation, Mr Corbell reluctantly accepted a compromise that would allow same-sex couples to register their relationship and have a ceremony paid for by taxpayers, but without any legal recognition.

Mr Corbell and Chief Minister Jon Stanhope were scathing in their criticism of federal Labor for reversing assurances it would allow state and territory governments to decide their own position on same sex unions.

Couples have four options for registering their partnership under the amended legislation, from simply handing in the paperwork, to the commitment ceremony.

A spokeswoman for gay lobby group Good Process, Heidi Yates, said while she was still disappointed in the Federal Government’s turnaround on same-sex unions, she welcomed the provisions the ACT Government had made for a ceremony in the registration process.

"Providing for an administrative official to be present is significant because it confirms the fact that all relationships, regardless of gender, are recognised at ACT law, and that we value loving, committed relationships of all couples, regardless of gender," she said.

The National Indigenous Times ran an opinion piece by Dr Paul Vout on the matter:

When interviewed by Kerry O'Brien on The 7:30 Report, McClelland was asked why maintaining the prohibition on marriage for same-sex couples (available in Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa and New York State) was not discrimination.

Despite the spilling of much verbiage, noted by O'Brien at the time, McClelland simply did not answer.

Yet the answer was simple: 'It is discrimination, but we're going to keep that discrimination anyway.'

That is regrettable, but probably a political reality for the moment. What was perhaps more disappointing, however, was the Attorney's statement that the Rudd Government was opposed to not just same-sex marriage, but also anything which "mimicked" marriage.

Besides the pejorative use of the word "mimicked", the sentiment expressed amounts to a declaration that same-sex couples should not expect Labor to introduce civil unions, as has happened in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

They should not expect to have their relationships recognized at the highest level, even though they are not called a 'marriage'.

Once again, this sentiment fails to recognise the fact that marriage is not just a religious and social institution. It is a legal - even a constitutional - institution.

To deprive that institution, or an equivalent 'civil union', to a substantial group of Australians because some find the notion of gay couples repugnant, is indefensible.

I find the bigoted comments of many religious and social conservatives repugnant, but I would not deprive them of the institution of freedom of speech or the right to practice their religion.

One group of Australians should never be permitted to deny fundamental legal rights and institutions to any other group on the basis of prejudice, tradition or even religion.

That is called 'oppression'.

At least it's a start. Although it is still outrageous that gay marriage is still so opposed, I know Australia must walk before it can crawl.

We must take the small steps before we do a California. Click here for background.

This makes me physically sick...

2008-05-30T13:38:00.003+10:00

Today I was reading about one of those infamous bashing videos, where young teenagers go wild and then post their escapades on YouTube in bids to become "internet celebrities".

But what made me physically sick was because this particular video was shot at a shopping centre I often frequent and features three teenage girls bashing a middle-aged mother.

Here is the link to the story, which includes a link to the video.

HORRIFIC footage of a group of teenage girls bashing a mother at a shopping centre is being examined by police.

Graphic footage of the fight, which appeared to have been filmed on a mobile phone by a teenage bystander outside of a Westfield shopping centre, has been viewed more than 140,000 times since it was uploaded onto the internet last week.

From news.com.au

When I look at videos like this I often wonder what goes through the minds of these kids. How can you be so malicious and so incredibly stupid? I just can't help but think these girls are the most moronic creatures on the planet. They demonstrate no self-control and their evolution at human beings seems stunted. They don't even look like human beings. I know that is harsh, but the disgusting lack of respect shown towards really sickens me.

It also makes me despair at the state of society. Since when was it OK to bash one of your elders? Regardless of what she did, there is no excuse for such a disgusting display. These girls don't have brains, they don't have the capability to walk away or deal with their issues in a civilised manner. They live in a country where they have second, third and fourth opportunities to better their lives and the best they can do is bash people outside shopping centers.

That was just a bit of an outlet for me because this sort of thing always distresses me.

This is really great

2008-05-03T11:21:00.000+10:00

SIEVX tragedy

2008-04-22T17:00:00.002+10:00

I was down at Weston Park in Yarralumla, Canberra on the weekend with a friend when we spotted a series of uprised poles snaking across the ground next to Lake Burley Griffith. Because I am almost blind without my glasses, I naturally assumed that they were Aboriginal ceremonial poles, although I must admit they appeared nothing like they did in the art galleries.

Nevertheless, we decided to check it out and came across several Shia Muslim names written along with pictures drawn by children.

- picture from Sievx National Memorial Project

It was a memorial for the victims of SIEVX – the name used to describe the “Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X” that sunk under tragic circumstances in 2001.

I knew vaguely about SIEVX, but of course, I never paid attention to it considering I was only 13 and more preoccupied with clothes and petty girl “bitching” than the lives of more than 350 asylum seekers.

But today I decided to check it out and the two words that kept coming up was – Australian complicity. These two words make me both mad and incredibly depressed simultaneously. I’m not in love with my country and I don’t particularly espouse it’s integrity on human rights on a daily basis, but sometimes I still like to believe that they would not be so complacent concerning the lives of fellow human beings.

Here is an explanation in a nutshell, from Marg Hutton on her excellent website Sievx.com

In October 2001 353 asylum seekers drowned trying to get to Australia in an area of ocean that was patrolled daily by Australian border protection surveillance aircraft. Those who lost their lives were mostly women and children, many of whom were desperate to reunite with husbands and fathers already here.

“There has been no official inquiry into this horrific tragedy other than the limited examination by the Senate Select Committee on A Certain Maritime Incident (CMI).

The Howard government took no action on the first recommendation of the CMI report for a judicial inquiry into people smuggling disruption activities undertaken in Indonesia by Australian and Indonesian police. It also ignored the subsequent Senate motions which specifically called for a broad ranging judicial inquiry into disruption activities and the sinking of SIEVX.

“The lack of a comprehensive inquiry has allowed for the proliferation of theories that go well beyond the evidence – that the Australian navy watched people drowning in the water but failed to rescue them or that the boat was deliberately sabotaged.

“The sinking of the SIEVX will always remain clouded in suspicion with the truth lost in a fog of contested claims, obfuscation and denial unless and until there is a full powers independent judicial inquiry into this matter.

Ms Hutton said that the new government could mean that the tragedy will finally receive the attention needed.

- SIEVX victims

In an article for Fairfax newspapers, and archived on Ms Hutton’s site, La Trobe University Professor Robert Manne concluded with the two paragraphs that have made me wish several bad things on Prime Minister John Howard (I’m too nice to say them here…)

The case concerning SIEV-X can be summarised, with precision, like this. It is now clear that no Australian aircraft or naval vessels spotted SIEV-X before it sank.

It is highly unlikely, although not impossible, that if aircraft had been sent to survey the waters south of Java on the morning of October 20, any lives could have been saved.

Yet it is also clear that on the morning of October 20, at a time when the government had learnt from an entirely reliable Australian source that 400 asylum seekers were in deadly peril, and at a time when no one knew whether or not they were still alive, no decision was taken to issue a warning or to mount a search and rescue operation of any kind.

In the history of our callous indifference to Middle Eastern asylum seekers, no single fact is more disturbing than the passivity of the Australian Defence Force to the dangers facing 400 fellow human beings in the three days between the morning of October 20 and the morning of October 23, when the anticipated news of 353 deaths finally arrived.

This to me seems to be one of the most disgusting acts by the Howard government. The fact that there was such a reluctance to investigate it made me even madder.

How can anyone possibly look to the Howard government and not turn away in disgust at their human rights abuses in relation to asylum seekers, refugees and Aboriginal people?

How could we have voted Howard in for ten years? Why wasn’t he given the boot? Are we too obsessed with the economic prosperity of our own selves to care about the well being of others?

I agree – Australia is the lucky country. I always hated to say that because it is very unlucky for Aboriginal people, but compared to other nations we are so incredibly fortunate.

Just looking at the current food crisis throughout Asia and Caribbean countries and the riots that are expected points to this latter.

When I hear the whinging that goes on in Australia I just want to close my eyes and scream. I’m really sick of the rife consumerism, the want for more stuff and the disregard for the plight of our neighbours, mainly the West Papuan struggle under Indonesia.

And of course, I’m mad at myself because I am also a consumer and a receiver of Australia’s prosperity. How on earth do you change?

Fight legal oppression

2008-04-13T15:18:00.003+10:00

I found this in Brisbane's Courier Mail today. Click Here for link.

The reason I support gay rights is because I believe that their experiences have a lot in common with Aboriginal experiences. I still can't understand the arguments against granting a minority, who are only different because of who they are attracted to, equal rights.

In cases like these, I do blame religion. Religion is a key offender in the hammering in of so called "social norms".

To support online activist group Getup's equal rights campaign, click here.

Robyn Ironside

April 13, 2008 11:19am

ANGLICAN Church Grammar School students have been urged to confront the administration over a ban on boys taking gay partners to the senior formal.
A Year 12 student, who said he was not gay but that he took up the issue on behalf of his gay friends, told The Courier-Mail: "Let's take this to the administration on the first day back next term.

"Demand an end to this oppression of the only remaining minority that is still legal to oppress."

The student said when he first raised the subject with a senior Churchie teacher, he was told the rules would quietly be changed provided he did not make a big deal about it.

Several students at Churchie have made it known they want to escort boyfriends to the June 19 formal, but the school is insisting they take a member of the opposite sex.

Your say: What do you think of the school's stance on this issue?

Churchie headmaster Jonathan Hensman said none of the students had approached him directly, but a staff member had raised the issue on their behalf.

"The senior dinner dance is an opportunity for our young men to escort a young woman in a formal school environment," Mr Hensman said.

"We don't intend to change our practice. As well as being a social occasion, it's an education forum and to that end the school decides what is appropriate behaviour and what is not."

Mr Hensman said the issue had not "formally" arisen in the past, that he could recall, but the question was not unexpected given "the changing times".

"Not all students take their girlfriends. Some take a female friend. It's about protocols and decorums," he said. But Mr Hensman said if any of Churchie's seniors approached him formally, he would consider taking the request to the school council.

State schools made their own decisions on guidelines for school formals, a Queensland Education spokesman said.

Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Susan Booth said sexuality discrimination was unlawful, and that applied to private and public schools as well as other organisations.

However, Churchie is not alone in its stand against same-sex couples attending school formals, with Queensland Catholic Education Executive Director Mike Byrne saying their schools would not allow it either.

Mr Byrne said Catholic schools were committed to modelling behaviours in keeping with the values and principles of a Catholic institution.

"As such we would not see it as appropriate for couples in a same-sex relationship to attend an event such as a school formal," he said.

"Where young people are concerned, there are often matters associated with sexuality and relationships – both heterosexual and homosexual – where schools provide a range of support services for students."

Although Ms Booth could not comment specifically on the Churchie case because it was "a potential complaint", the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner said schools should not treat students differently on the basis of their sexuality.

"What we hope is that there can be a discussion about the issue, that's what happens in the commission, and that's where we hope the matter can be sorted out."

The Queensland Education spokesman said schools "consider the Inclusive Education policy when planning a range of activities, including school formals . . . and that requires schools to foster learning environments where all students are valued for their diverse backgrounds".

Queensland University of Technology School of Justice lecturer Dr Angela Dwyer said Churchie's stand on the issue of same-sex formal partners would be "devastating" to those involved.

"We're talking about someone's identity here. The way that they feel and the way that they express themselves is basically being squashed by the school," said Dr Dwyer, who is writing a research paper on "How queer young people are policed".

Another expert on sexuality and education, Iain Hay from the University of Canberra, said it would be very stressful for gay students prepared to come out in front of their peers, to then be told it was "inappropriate".

Selling a life...

2008-04-02T11:53:00.001+11:00

Today I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald, and I came across this story
about a man who is literally selling his life on Ebay. This includes his house, all his possessions, even his friends!

Ian Usher, who announced his auction plans two weeks ago, said he was "blown away" by the phenomenal response to his plight, but he was reluctant to close any deals before the auction commenced on June 22.
But, as he said in a phone interview, "everything has a price".
Usher, 44, whose marriage failed six years after he emigrated from Britain in 2001, will put his whole life under the hammer at a starting price of $1, including his $420,000 house just south of Perth's city centre, motorbike, car, job as a shop assistant in a rug store, friends and all of his material possessions.
After the auction Usher plans to leave with only the clothes on his back and catch the next flight to a yet-to-be-determined destination, where he will attempt to build a new life.

Apparently he has become quite famous because of it and even if he wanted to, I doubt he'd be able to get out of it now given the huge publicity he has garnered.

Although he has been congratulated, and even been asked for photographs, he also has had his fair share of negative publicity, with some saying he is just attention seeking.

But I can't help admiring him. He does have a very good life (materially at least). He lives in Perth, WA and owns a beautiful house with a great deal of creature comforts. And yet he is willing to give it all up to start a new life.

Here is a pic of the inside of his house, to show he's quite well off:

He is even offering for someone to buy his old job - with his previous employers offering a two-week trial period for "the new owner of my life".

His friends are also offering to take the winner of the auction under their wing.

Yes, somehow, Ian's got us to agree to this. But then again, we're quite used to his unusual ideas so, why not this one! Who are we? A bunch of people from all walks of life and living in various suburbs in Perth. Some of us are born in Australia, some of us migrated to Perth a few years ago. Some of us have children, some have followed a different path. And I suppose, this is where we come in. Rightly or not, we expect the buyer(s) to come from oversea or over East and likely to know very little of Perth. And we know how it is. We've either been thru the same process or know someone who did. It's Australia!

...Of course, we're sure the person or family who buy this life will make friends of their own, the West Australians are a very relaxed and friendly bunch.

And who knows, we might not get along at all but the offer is there...

We're not about to loose a friend, we're looking forward to making new ones.

Essentially, the winner of the auction will take over this guy’s life.

It’s an interesting concept, and one I give him all the praise for doing.

But it has made me realize how much we are bound by stuff, just by looking at his pictures on his website A life 4 sale

This man has a lot of stuff, and good stuff, but it hasn’t made him happy. He’s ready to give it all up to start again.

I guess I never want to be bound by stuff in my life. I don’t want to be burdened by wanting a nice house or a great surround sound system or a spa. All I want to do is live my life with no regrets, laugh every day and learn about the world.

Why should we be bound by the great “dreams” society says we should work towards? Home ownership, a nuclear family, a dog and two cars? Sure, it’s comfortable, but is it the right life to lead for everybody?

Maybe I’m young and too ideological but I just don’t want that. I know it’s stupid not to want to buy a house or not wanting a traditional family but I can’t help feeling I want something more from life. Of course, I’m not looking down on people who will end up doing this, I’m just saying it’s not for me.

I just can’t justify working my whole life just so I can acquire more stuff.

The nightowl

2008-03-30T15:49:00.003+11:00

It has occured to me that I am slowly (or quickly) becoming a bit of a night owl. It has also occured to me that I am becoming more of a workaholic. It is something I definately did not think I would end up being. But funnily enough, although I love going into work (I currently work about six days a week, my choice of course), I still fall into the arms of procrastination (yes, guess what I'm doing now). So while I put in the hours, I think my productivity is actually the exact same from when I was only working five days. Is that confusing?

I also never thought I would ever become a night owl. I've always been one of those people who had to go to sleep early and wake up early. I think it is the uni lifestyle rubbing off on me.

Anyway, the reason I am writing is because I am becoming increasingly fascinated by Islam. It's not so much that I want to convert to it, I'm still pretty hung up on Buddhism, but I'm intrigued by the politics of it and how people use religion to justify their other agendas. Because that's what I believe is happening within the Islamic world right now. I've been talking to a few Muslim friends about it and from what they have told me is making me more interested. I don't think Islam justifies alot of the things that are happening right now, I think people cover up their agendas, especially political, using the shroud of religion. Of course, I really am not sure on my opinion yet. As well as talking to muslims, I am also reading about dissenting opinions within the Muslim community.

I'm reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman's Cry For Reason. She is of course a very controversial figure but I find it really hard to judge her because she has had such a tough life. From what I have interpreted from the first few chapters, she is not saying that Islam is a bad religion, it just influences certain behaviour. I don't know - it's something I'll have to look in further.

So what else is happening with me? I decided that next year I want to go to Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. I don't know whether I'll get there but I'm definately going to try! This year I'm going to Vanuatu with my sister and cousin so I suspect I will fall in love with that place yet again. I miss it, I haven't been there for so long that I'm beginning to pine for it. For some strange reason I also want to go to Saudi Arabia, but I think I'll have to leave this country for when I'm more experienced!

Anyway, I don't really have anything else interesting to say!

Luv
Me

I wish I could speak Spanish...

2008-03-15T12:26:00.002+11:00

I was listening to the Itunes podcast, this great world music magazine based out of the UK, and this was one of the first songs that was playing:
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

His name is Silvio Rodríguez and he's a famous Cuban musician.

From Wikipedia:

He is known for his highly eloquent and symbolic lyrics. Many of his songs have become classics in Latin American music, such as Ojalá, Playa Girón, Unicornio and La maza. Rodríguez, musically and politically, is a symbol of the Latin American left. Several of his songs praise the revolutionary figure Che Guevara (and he is also currently a deputy in the Cuban parliament). His lyrics, however, are unusual on the left for being notably introspective. His songs combine romanticism, love (even eroticism), revolutionary politics, and idealism.

I saw Irfan Pathan :P

2008-03-11T13:02:00.008+11:00

Yes I did. No I'm not kidding. Yes it was weird and the largest coincidence of my life to date.

I was having coffee with an Nepalese-Indian friend in Civic (Canberra city) last night and the talk turned to cricket. Of course, I had to bring up my favourite cricketer and current celebrity crush - Irfan Pathan. So we talked about him for a while and then the conversation drifted to other important things such as hinduism and how Ganesh got his elephant head.

Anyway, my friend, who's name is Rahul, looked up bewildered at these two Indian men and an Indian girl who walked past. I thought he was looking at the girl and thought it was a bit rude to openly stare in public (she was very pretty :P) but he just kept looking and kept going "Thats...Thats..." I thought..."that's who?" And he goes "That's Irfan Pathan!"

I looked at the corner and sure enough it was him! I'm not mistaken! Either that or there was an Indian in Canberra who has the good fortune of looking like India's most eligible bachelor!

He stood on the corner for a good five minutes and I didn't even get his autograph! I was very disappointed in myself.

I rang my mum and dad the next morning and they said...are you sure? They're argument was that I must have been mistaken because the whole Indian cricket team had gone back to a parade of cricket mad fans.

But I googled him today and low and behold look what I found:

From The Times of India

Yes, I am positive that was the girl he was with last night :P Apparently Miss Shivangi Dev is the daughter of a Canberra diplomat and currently a very high search topic in India. She was very pretty and I only joined the legions of jealous girls!

Because I had literally been talking about him ten minutes before he rounded the corner I am seriously considering taking up a psychic career! That's the only way I can explain such an amazing coincidence.

And no I am not joking! I am true blue...

An update for update's sake

2008-02-27T13:48:00.005+11:00

This is probably a very stupid thing to be writing about, especially by me (a heterosexual girl who is often accused of being a "feminist") but I was reading a very interesting opinion piece by Allan Tieu at the Sydney Morning Herald today.

He was basically writing about men and make up - considered almost provocative for most of the male population - but for which the market is slowly opening up to.

I first rocked the black eyeliner when I was intrigued by the "emo" subculture. I saw and admired those solidly framed eyes as a form of rebellion that not all contingents of society were comfortable with. Such an attitude of defiance was satisfying to declare, but at the end of the day was still an excuse.

Due to post-acne scarring, I also had an excuse for covering my skin with foundation. But looking back, it intrigued me that after my skin cleared I chose not to stop wearing product. The need had gone - the excuse had gone - but the benefits of having even skin-tone remained.

I felt like I was in on a secret. I thought the rest of society couldn't possibly let me cheat so easily. This is why I have observed that both gay and straight men are slowly starting to realise that they can also benefit by simply asking the question: "Why not?"

- Society Grooms Men Who Blush by Allan Tieu

I don't think there is anything wrong with a man in make up. I actually have argued for the right for men to wear skirts ( I actually think they look quite dashing in them :P)

Tieu went on to say:

Metrosexuality emerged when people started to disregard "hegemonic" standards. The underlying benefit took precedence over how these men would be regarded by cynical peers. It follows the feminist view that neither men nor women should be denied access to social behaviours that are acceptable for the opposing sex - which is why today women are at liberty to play cricket, and men at liberty to wear pink.

It just really made me think again about how gender is really a social construction and made me mad at all those close minded individuals who look down at men who like to wear dresses or women who like to wear mens clothes.

Why is it such a big deal? I think it really aids in oppressing both sexes. For women, we are pressured to always be beautiful and feminine in order to get ahead in life. True success still seems to be measured by whether we look good while we are achieving things. If we don't lose our baby weight, we are frowned upon and made to feel like failures, even if we have just given birth to a miracle.

For men, if you aren't sporty or at least into typical boyish things like cars, you are almost considered abnormal or not worthy. My brother is not into typically boyish things, and even now at a very young age, he is being teased. Why does it matter? When did it become ok to make fun of people because of personal preferences?

I find that women everywhere I pushing for equality. The right to do everything a man does. But I think, in our pursuit of this, we also have to keep pushing for the rights for men to do everything women do. That includes being allowed to wear make up and dresses without being persecuted.

And now back onto my old campaign for men to always wear skirts....

While visiting Samoa about three or four years ago, my friends and I ran into a Maori man who had a shirt with three burly Polynesians in lava lavas on the front. It said "Real Men Wear Skirts".

I have to agree.

Although sometimes I have to admit that there are some exceptions:

And in other news I do have a spectacular new crush:

Mr Irfan Pathan:

Please be advised that I know nothing about cricket. I just like him because he's gorgeous :P Did that last sentence completely contradict the rest of my post?

Took the children away

2008-02-17T16:18:00.006+11:00

Here is a great song by Archie Roach. I thought it was timely considering the whirl wind of a week for Indigenous Australia:

And now I have another question - is it possible to be with someone you have absolutely nothing in common with? Especially when it comes to political leanings?

I have a friend who's mother is Aboriginal and naturally a lefty but is married to a white righty. Lovely people, both of them and they seem to get a long fine but they do clash on a lot of things, especially on Indigenous issues. They seem to work. But I've just been thinking that I wouldn't be able to do it.

I think if two people in a relationship are so obviously in opposition to each other in regards to issues that are close to the heart, then there really is no point continuing.

I didn't really want to come to that conclusion but it is only logical.

But anyway, that's enough badly veiled ambiguity for today's entry!

The rights of women

2008-02-14T15:29:00.003+11:00

Maxine McKew, the political legend who ousted former Prime Minister John Howard from his long time seat of Bennelong, delivered her maiden speech in Parliament today:

The former journalist who ended John Howard's political career used her first speech to federal parliament to champion wage equality for women.

Maxine McKew, who is parliamentary secretary for early childhood education and child care, claimed the northern-Sydney seat of Bennelong from the former prime minister at November 24 poll.

She paid tribute to Mr Howard during her speech to the House of Representatives today.

"His service to the community and representation in the federal parliament for 33 years is a great record and a fine achievement," Ms McKew said.

"Mr Howard was a hardy warrior for his beliefs and that too should be acknowledged."

Ms McKew said she was particularly thrilled to be one of 40 female MPs and pointed out it took 40 years after federation before the first two women - Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons - were elected to parliament.

"One could say that things have moved at a glacial pace.

"Part of the explanation could be that in Australia, never an easy country for women, it's still too hard."

At the beginning of the 20th century the basic female wage was 54 per cent of the male rate.

It took until the 1970s and after three landmark pay equality cases before gender classifications were removed from job descriptions.

"It remains a continuing disgrace that 30 years on from these cases we still cannot say that pay justice for women has been achieved," Ms McKew said.

"Women's workforce participation now stands at 58 per cent and the educational achievements of women have never been higher.

"Yet whether you're behind the counter of a cafeteria or in the executive suite, if you're female wage parity is not guaranteed."

Ms McKew said Australia remained one of the few developed countries to have no national maternity leave system and negotiating flexibility in the workplace was still difficult for mothers.

"Is it any wonder that women find themselves in mid-life agonising about their limited retirement savings following a life of interrupted work?" she said.

"It's time for this country to jump its historic ambivalence towards female workers and embrace, once and for all, a set of policies that recognises the real worth of everyone's labour."
AAP

In this day and age, it's easy to forget that there is still gender discrimination out there. I have experienced it in the professional arena, and I think it is so entrenched in the male psyche that a lot of the time they don't realize they are doing it.

Equal pay is just one area where it amazes me women rights aren't guaranteed. I mean, pretty much half the population are women.

But obviously, Australian voters aren't as shallow when it comes to choosing their local members. Our federal deputy leader and opposition deputy leader are both female. The Queensland Premier is female and the NT deputy chief minister is female. There is a larger amount of women in Parliaments throughout Oz.

But I guess there is a long way to go.

UPDATE: This from the AAP wire service today...it just shows the kind of sexism that is still in Parliament today:

Labor senator retracts 'bloke' slur on female MP

CANBERRA, February 14, 2008: Labor senator Steve Hutchins was forced to withdraw an unparliamentary remark today after he described a female state Nationals MP as a "bloke".

The offending comment came as the parties clashed during debate a coalition motion that attacked Labor's record on rural and regional Australia.

Senator Hutchins was describing the poor representation of the Nationals in state parliaments, and came to South Australia - where the sole Nationals MP, Karlene Maywald, is actually a minister in the Rann Labor government.

"They don't exist, I don't think they're represented in parliament except for a bloke who sits with the Labor Party in cabinet in South Australia. That's the National Party," Senator Hutchins said.

Queensland Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce was quickly on his feet to call his Labor opposite out of order.

"I think it would be fair to say that the person he's referring to is not a bloke, it's a woman," Senator Joyce said.

Senator Hutchins immediately retracted the slur.

"If I've offended the lady I do withdraw my comment," he said.

AAP

Compromise or confront?

2008-02-07T17:13:00.000+11:00

There are some careers that are just not meant to go hand and hand with each other. According to someone I know, journalism and Christianity are an example of this.

The reasoning is that journalism involves questioning everything. Christianity involves questioning nothing. In fact, when you begin to question Christianity, the flaws just become too obvious to ignore.

So even if I did stay a Christian, would I have been a good journalist? If I stay a journalist, would I have been a good Christian?

It makes a lot of sense that you can only take one over the other. Every journalist is biased in some way, and although the goal is always to report a balanced story, it never happens purely. For example, the angle of your story will always push a certain agenda.

Take an example. Here is the first paragraph for a wire story from NZPA about the recent Tuhoe protest on Waitangi Day:

“A stand off with police by a handful of Tuhoe activists near the flagpole on the historic treaty grounds today, proved a minor confrontation in an otherwise peaceful day at Waitangi.”

Click here for full story

See how the journalist excels in terming the Tuhoe deviant by being one of the only protestors on New Zealand’s national day? This is only the first paragraph! The Tuhoe, by the way, are the only tribe not to have signed the Treaty of Waitangi.

I imagine a Maori journalist would not have written it from the police perspective. They wouldn’t have written it from the perspective of “just another group of Maori’s disturbing the peace”. Their protest to me was legitimate – they were protesting against the anti-terror raids that had occurred in October last year and had resulted in the arrest of prominent Tuhoe activist Tame Iti.

Anyway…my point is that, regardless of what they say, there is a great deal of bias in the media. That is why there needs to be a great diversity of media in this country so people can forge their own opinion.

So a lot of the ideals I believe in are in direct opposition to Christianity. So the choice was – should I be illogical and decide to compromise these beliefs with the religion, or would I have confronted my religion for the sake of my beliefs?

I chose to confront it. And I’m glad I did.

There is no point not being true to myself. If I am to be logical in all areas of my life, I can’t exempt anything.

Christians will tell me what I lack is “Faith”. That is a shallow way to fill in the gaps.

I love many Christians, but I wish some would stop worrying so much. This is my decision.

The Jatakamala

2008-02-06T10:05:00.000+11:00

I went to my very first Buddhism class last night. I thought that even if I read everything I can, it is very unlikely that I actually LEARN anything without help from others.

It was a really interesting experience. As soon as I walked into the centre I felt very comfortable. I don’t know whether it was explained by the fact that I want to believe Buddhism is a very peaceful, accepting religion, but I can’t deny that I did feel a certain happiness and peacefulness in the place. This is very different from most churches I go into, where I usually feel like a sore thumb, even in the one my dad goes to. The lesson went for three hours. By the end of it, I was very tired, but surprised at how much I learnt. I guess when you are really interested in something, you try and absorb as much as you can even if your legs are killing you and you’re about to drift off into sleep!

The course is currently following the Jatakamala – which is basically translated to mean a garland of birth stories. They are the stories of the past lives of the Buddha, who was later enlightened. The Buddha, on the first watch of the night he achieved enlightenment, remembered thousands of his past lives. The Lama (Tibetan religion teacher) was talking about just how important the Jatakamala stories can be in living. He said that if we can learn lessons from people in biographies, even fictionalised ones, imagine how much we can learn from the stories of the Buddha?

He said there were many Jatakamalas, written throughout different cultures, but he said although some writers had taken poetic license with many stories, they were essentially identical.

For example:

The Pali Jatakas record 357 past lives as a human, 66 as a god, and 123 as an animal.

From - Buddha: Proof of Reincarnation

I can’t remember from which version we were learning, I wrote it down somewhere, but I think the Lama was translating it from Tibetan as he was reading it. Apparently it was a very famous version we were learning.

The Lama read out two stories of the Buddha’s past lives. One was when he was a young boy – I don’t remember his name but it sounded something like “Rimeli”. Anyway, I was surprised how close the story seemed with the story of Jesus in Luke, where as a boy he goes to the Temple by himself while his parents are searching for him everywhere.

The story of the little boy, Rimeli, is very much the same….

The other story was about the Buddha as a king’s son, who decides that he wants to give his whole wealth to the poor. He went out for a walk one day and saw all the suffering in the world, and decided that since his family had a lot of wealth, he would give it all away. Then because his wealth was exhausted he went out to find more so he could give it away again. It was really interesting. And his father, mother, and people who helped him on his travels ended up being reincarnations of his future disciples as the Buddha.

The Lama used this as an example of how nothing in our lives are according to chance, but instead based on our karma. This means that the people in our lives who we love, for example our mother and father, are reincarnations of people we have dealt with in the past. Our karma kind of determines our relationship with these people. That is how I understood what he was saying anyway.

Another important thing about the Jatakamala stories, is that it shows you how to live and what things you should be doing to help your fellow beings. The Lama talked a lot about generosity, and about giving as much as you can to other people.

So overall, it was a very interesting class and I’m definitely going to go back next week!

Here is one of the most famous stories in the Jatakamala:

The Story of the Tigress
During the time prior to his becoming Lord Buddha, the Bodhisattva was born into a most eminent and mighty family of Brahmans. Achieving purity through the religious sacraments, and owing to the innate quickness of his understanding, he eventually obtained mastery over the eighteen branches of science as well as all arts that were compatible with the customs of his family.   The Brahmans regarded him to be the Holy Word, while those of royal blood venerated him like a king. To the masses he appeared as the embodiment of the thousand-eyed Lord of the Devas; to those who thirsted for knowledge he was a helpful father.  In consequence of prosperous destiny and as a result of merit earned during previous births, he had inherited a storehouse full of wealth, distinction and fame. However, the Bodhisattva took no delight in such things.  With a clear mind he perceived the many kinds of sin which can come from indulging in worldly pleasures. Shaking off the worldly life as if it were a sickness, he retired to a plateau from where his wisdom-brightened tranquillity and friendliness radiated outward. It penetrated the hearts of ferocious animals, thereby causing them to cease all injurious activities and live like ascetics in the forest.  Having abandoned all desire for gain, glory and pleasure and therefore wanting little, the Bodhisattva knew not the art of hypocrisy. For this reason even the Devas were worshipful.   Upon hearing of the Bodhisattva's new life as an ascetic, those whose affections he had previously gained left their families and, embracing the Bodhisattva as the embodiment of salvation, became his disciples. He taught them all as best as he could, through his good conduct, chastity, purification of the sense organs, constant attentiveness, and detachment from the world. By means of mind concentration, meditation on friendliness and the rest, the holy road to salvation was revealed so that the disciples could attain perfection.

Story continued at this link....

Religious Guilt

2008-02-01T16:34:00.000+11:00

"Guilt is regret for what we've done.
Regret is guilt for what we didn't do."

I don't know who said the above quote, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

You see, right now I have a serious case of that thing called "religious guilt". You know, where you want desperately to believe something for the sake of someone else but in reality you can't bring yourself to do so?

My trip back home really made me realize how much some people care about my eternal salvation. I know it is a reminder of how much they love me, and that's why I love them for it, but I can't help but feel a sense of unease.

First, I began questioning whether I was doing the right thing by abandoning Christianity. Will I go to Hell? Will Jesus come back soon and leave me to deal with the anti Christ? As I am thrown into the lake of fire, will the regret overwhelm me more than the flames?

So I thought about it. I looked at my Bibles. I remembered the concern in the eyes of Christian close ones. I even stayed awake at night worrying.

And I decided that I still don't believe in it. While I looked through the Bible, it didn't occur to me to think of it as the divine word of God. When I lay awake in the pitch darkness I never thought an angel or demon or Satan or the Holy Ghost was there waging a spiritual battle alongside of me. I believed I was alone. I believe we are probably alone.

But the guilt overwhelmed me. God forbid I ever become an atheist (although, Buddhism was first essentially atheistic).

I mean, wouldn't I be lying if I converted back to Christianity right now? Wouldn't I be sent straight to Hell if I give my life to Jesus, but still thought it's a load of you know what? Isn't that worse?

Can I help it if I don't believe it? That I have problems with some of the moral conclusions Christianity provides?

I think I would rather live with the guilt than live with the regret of wasted years where I could have found and practiced what I truly believe in.

For some reason, Christians seem to portray Buddhism as a very deviant religion. I don't know whether it's the bastardisation of Eastern beliefs by Westerners, but when I tell people I'm interested in Buddhism, I see their eyes kind of pop in their heads.

Right now I am not a Buddhist. I don't know if I do believe it. But I want to try and understand it. I admire Buddhist leaders such as the Dalai Lama. That's not sufficient enough reason to believe in anything though, given I also admire some Christian leaders (although the only person I can think at present is Martin Luther King jr., and I don't solely admire him because of what he said about religion).

So yes, confusion still abounds…

In other news, this week I lost a day. I don’t know where I lost it but all day today I sincerely believed it was Thursday. Turns out it is Friday. I seriously can’t believe that I have thought it was Thursday all today.

Some Soul for Wednesday

2008-01-09T17:06:00.000+11:00

My friend Chris has an obsession with female singers such as Yoko Ono and Patti Smith.

I have come to the conclusion I have an obsession with African American men singers. So because I have been connected to YouTube for the past hour, here are some soul picks for your afternoon listening pleasure:

Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama with "Give A Man A Home"

The Temptations with "My Girl"

Marvin Gaye with "Come Get To This"

And Finally....

Jackson 5 with "Who's Loving You?"

God

2008-01-09T15:25:00.000+11:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in about a month....

As you can guess, I am on holidays right now and I guess I can't get in the mood for writing, despite the fact my brain has been going overload in the past few weeks due to so many events on the world stage.

Benazir Bhutto, the American election race, Kenyan violence plus a bit of partying thrown in on the side....

So I guess I shall get back into it when I get back home.

It should be noted that I must have been the only person on Christmas opening up packages on Buddhism. Despite not many people sharing my enthusiasm for the religion, my sister still got me a book written by the Dalai Lama and my brothers got me a little Buddha statue - bless their precious hearts!

So that is all. Sorry this sucks.

A sweet story

2007-12-10T16:34:00.001+11:00

Today I was just surfing the web and came across the sweetest story of this boy who was looking for his Japanese father.

The boy has a Filipina mother and used to live in Japan - where she met his father. But Asuka Toyoshima, who is 17, has never met his father and currently resides in the Philippines.

He spends hours surfing the internet in an attempt to track down his father. But in the interests of accuracy, here is the article from the Inquirer.net.

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines--Seventeen-year-old Asuka Toyoshima stays in cybercafés for hours surfing the Internet for sites or links that could lead him to his Japanese father, Yoshihito.

Toyoshima was just three years old when his mother took him back to the Philippines, leaving his father in Nagoya, Japan. The boy has not heard from him since.

"I just want him to know he has a son. And it's not that I'm bragging, but I think he would be proud of me," he said.

Toyoshima is every parent's pride. Just this month, he was chosen one of the 10 Most Outstanding Boy Scouts of the Philippines, the second Dagupeño to receive the award since 1980.

His feat earned him a two-year college scholarship in a government-run university in the Philippines. Toyoshima is president of the student council of the Dagupan City National High School and news editor of the school paper, Dagupeña Sparks. He is also a consistent honor student.

"I was thinking: What if he was here supporting everything that I do? Maybe, I'd be happier," Toyoshima said.

Although it was not clear to him why his parents separated, he said it was not necessary for him to know.

Based on his mother's stories, Toyoshima said his parents met in Japan where his mother worked for a few months.

"I was told that he courted my mother in Dagupan and she was eventually brought to Japan where I was born," he said.

When he was growing up, Toyoshima said he wondered why his name sounded different from the other kids.

"I thought it was pretty odd since my name was not common. It was then that I was told about my father," he said.

Toyoshima started searching for his father on the Internet when he was 10. He was then a Grade 3 pupil in a private school here.

"We were already using computers in school and every opportunity I had, I searched for my father on the World Wide Web," he said.

He said he used most of the popular search engines and visited "countless" sites, including People Search, and social networking sites like Friendster and even MySpace.

Sometimes, he would surf the Internet until dawn just looking for his father. "But I still haven't found him," Toyoshima said.

He said his grandmother and guardian, Epifania Tello, would often scold him when he arrived home late. His mother, Ma. Cristina Tello, works in an engineering firm in Metro Manila.

He said his mother earlier asked the Japanese Embassy in Metro Manila to look for his father, but they were told that the staff could not find him.

"I am still hoping my search would bring me any information about my father," Toyoshima said.

An opportunity presented itself when he was chosen an outstanding scout.

On Tuesday, just before he received a plaque of commendation for "bringing honor" to this city, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., a former commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, offered to help Toyoshima.

Fernandez contacted officials in his former office and asked that Toyoshima be included in the Japanese government's program of reuniting families with Japanese parents.

Being an outstanding scout also increased Toyoshima's chances to be sent as one of the country's representatives to an international scouting conference in Tokyo in 2008.

"I look forward to being there," he said.

Toyoshima said he would not know how to react if his father's name would pop up on his computer screen or if his father would appear at their doorstep.

"In any case, I'm ready because our motto in scouting is 'Be Prepared'," he said.

I really hope he finds his father.....

This was very random but I thought it was the sweetest story and I just had to share.

Luv
Me

The Magic of Disney

2007-12-08T15:41:00.000+11:00

Last year at university I did a Cultural Industries class that ended up completely ruining Disney for me.

My good friend Melissa also did the same class:

I used to adore Mickey Mouse, I even had hundreds of pictures on my walls and Mickey Mouse paraphernalia. This was until I attended the Class Cultural Industries last year. Some how it just ruined the magic of Disney for me. I still like Mickey, but it’s more about the a fondness of the memories I had about him. Maybe this is just a sign that I am growing up.

Basically we learnt about the corporate evil side of the happy we felt as kids.

But for some reason last night, I started watching old Disney songs on YouTube, and I realized how much I still love the music in those movies. I'm not one of those people who feel obligated to like certain music because it is either "cool" or "indy". Call me shallow, but I usually only listen to music if it brings out some kind of emotional side effect in me - basically stuff that makes me feel very good ;)

I started to think about the Disney movies I absolutely loved as a kid and I seem to have an obvious top 4.

1. Pocahontas
2. The Lion King
3. Aladdin
4. Hunchback of Notre Dame

No other kids movies, besides maybe Finding Nemo, have topped these four. Oh, maybe Road to El Dorado...no not even that!

And you know how you always had your favourite female characters who you really really wanted to be? I always wanted to be the three more "exotic" heroines - first, Pocahontas, then Jasmine, then Esmeralda. Haha - I used to imagine I was Esmeralda cause she had green eyes and tanned skin as well!

So as I was watching the old songs (my favourite by far is "God save the outcasts" - the song Esmeralda sings in the church...it is so beautiful and I think spoke volumes about religious hypocrisy!) and I realized just how much I still liked Disney... I guess the things you love as a child never really go away.

But then again, as you do grow up and begin to learn more and look at the world in a new light, you really can't ignore the stupid things Disney put in their movies.

The big bad one on my list has to be Pocahontas - ironically my childhood favourite. I wanted to be Pocahontas and I still remember seeing the movie in the cinema. I think it was her who made me grow my hair long...

Anyway, I knew that Native Americans were very unsure about the movie, but I just can't believe the offensiveness of the whole production. If Disney had made a feature based on Aboriginal culture in the same way, I would never have forgiven them.

Not only did they make Pocahontas into this sexual, sensual creature with a big chest (she was only 12 at the time in real life and obviously looked Native American...not like the Disney Pocahontas), they also had to put in that love story, while all the time using stereotypes as to paint Native Americans. It was also highly historically inaccurate. Pocahontas never had a relationship with John Smith, and in the sequal to the first movie, she was not invited to England - she was taken as hostage. She married another John - but had to by force. I can imagine it wouldn't have been exactly reassuring for Native Americans, who have suffered greatly in the past from Hollywood's portrayal of them.

In the essay "The Indians in the Movies" in Handbook of North American Indians, Michael T. Marsden and Jack Nachbar described the cultural context of captivity narratives, dime novels, stage melodramas, and Wild West shows, all of which contributed to the film industry's rendition of the Native American. They also offer a three-part model of American Indian characterizations on film, in which men compose the first two stereotypes, as either "noble anachronisms" or "savage reactionaries," and women are presented as "Indian princesses" in the third, if they are presented on-screen at all.

- From Redesigning Pocahontas: Disney, the "white man's Indian," and the marketing of dreams.

The Lion King also raised controversy because the hyenas, the bad, easily impressionable hyenas, all had hispanic or black accents, while the proud and ruling lions all had mainstream American voices.

Then there was Aladdin - which was set in a fictional Arabian city despite in the original being set in a fictional Muslim Chinese city. And the main characters - Aladdin and Jasmine - were like tanned Europeans while the evil guys had Middle Eastern features.

Then there was the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which I loved dearly. Until I read the book by Victor Hugo. You can't beat the book. Disney completely dumbed down the whole thing - which was a shame. The book was never intended to be about Quasimodo. It was about the acutal Notre Dame and Quasimodo is definately different to the book!

But knowing full well all these things, when I listen to the songs - like "A Whole New World" and "Colours of the Wind" I just fall in love with these movies again. They market and package magic well....I give them credit for that.

I still adore this song:

And thus, my top ten favourite Disney songs:

1. A Whole New World - Aladdin
2. God save the outcasts - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
3. Can you feel the love tonight? - The Lion King
4. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride - Lilo And Sitch
5. Colours of the Wind - Pocahontas
6. Around the Riverbend - Pocahontas
7. On My Way - Brother Bear
8. Hakuna Matata - The Lion King
9. The Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book
10. Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid

Luv
Me

Head and shoulders knees and toes....

2007-12-06T18:56:00.000+11:00

Ok, the title doesn't really make sense. And neither was my excitement at seeing a Head and Shoulders shampoo commercial on Wednesday night.

I wasn't even really watching TV. I was working on my federal election scrapbook and waiting for Greys Anatomy (I know, it is sad that I watch that show :P)

Suddenly, an ad for Heads and Shoulders comes on and something about it caught my eye.

A girl with long dark hair and pale skin...

Kareena Kapoor!

I literally jumped off my bed in delight!! Before you start calling me an idiot for getting so excited, you have to realize that I am in Australia. The only bollywood, or Indian, girl we usually see on TV endorsing a brand or being portrayed in a normal light (by normal I mean, not stereotypically) is Aishwarya Rai.

And then when I thought about it, I realized just how weird it is to see different races of women endorsing brands. The times have changed a little bit - Eva Longoria, Halle Berry and Beyonce all have a go, but our tv screens are still incredibly white washed.

It's such a shame considering how diverse Australia is. I will never understand how the media and advertising companies can believe we are so dumb or so shallow.

But anyway, back to Kareena. She's had a lot of success this year with Jab We Met, a film she made with boyfriend Shahid Kapoor (no relation :P) So does a deal like this mean she is close to doing a Shilpa Shetty, and becoming more popular in the West?

I don't think she's the most marketable Bollywood star, not for the Western audiences anyway. She was awesome in Yuva, I absolutely loved her in that, but she often overacts and I don't think she is incredibly talented. Even her pretty blue eyes can't make up for that (are they blue or green??) Anyway, the point is, her sister Karisma was way better!

So onto non-Bollywood related ponderings, OH MY GOD! TONY ABBOTT HAS INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS!!!!

WTF????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

This is the man who called for a "new paternalism"!

I knew the good news would end fast.

Luv
Me

P.S. This post sucks.

A tribute to where the heart is

2007-12-01T19:18:00.001+11:00

WARNING: This post probably contains nothing of interest to anyone but me. You are welcome to skip to the below post, on Buddhism and homosexuality.

Isn't it pretty?

So whenever it comes close to going home, I have a weird habit of becoming obsessed with my home town. I tried to make this blog as anonymous as possible, but obviously I am not a very anonymous person so I might as well say where it is: Rock Vegas. aka. Rockhampton. (On a side note, did anyone realize that Brisbane locals have started calling their town Bris Vegas? It's completely ridiculous and doesn't even make sense. Stupid South East Queenslanders...now you shall not get our water...)

Anyway, to feed my obsession, I become equally obsessed with googling my town in Google Blogsearch.

Of course, most of the blog entries mentioning Rocky come up as travel memoirs from tourists or visitors. And most often, they say things like "not much in Rocky, passed on to Townsville", or "this is plastic bull city!"

When I read these comments, I begin to think, why on earth do I ache to go back there once a year around Christmas? Why do I bother even thinking of the place that I yearned to leave for much of my pre-teen - teenage years?

In one of my other blogs, I was overwhelmingly excited about going home:

I can almost smell the strong scent of the meatworks, can almost see the rich brownness of the Fitzroy, can almost feel the sizzling sensation of the Queensland sun on my skin.

I am such a nerd for being so excited to go home!

I've figured out that it's little things that make me think of home. And they're weird, silly, irrelevant things. Like India makes me think of home. My friend Melissa's stories make me think of home. Fish and chips makes me think of home. And the beach makes me think of home. Why? I wouldn't have a clue!

To the outside eye, Rockhampton is termed as a 'hole', a 'dive', or a 's***y place'.

To an extent i agree. As a tourist, i would never visit. I would bypass it for Cairns or Townsville or Brissy.

So if you are ever silly enough to go, here are my list of essential places to see.

1. Sit on the banks of the Fitzroy river and pretend not to notice that you can't see the bottom. You can also try your hand at crocodile spotting or try and make up what illegal activity people are up to on their houseboats.

2. Go to the Dreaming Centre. Apparently it's one of the largest Aboriginal museums in Queensland. Then drive down the road and go to the heritage village.

3. Check out the Botanical gardens and zoo - which have been there way before my dad was born, and believe me, that was a long time ago.

4. Leave Rockhampton...i am officially including this list to Central Queensland...and go up to Emu Park and eat fish and chips by the beach. Also go and see the singing ship.

*ahem* Excuse the fact that I am a complete nerd. It's not genetic, I developed the disorder all by myself and am constantly reminded of it when I dream of Mal Brough at night (not in that way you sickos!)

But back to the question - why do I bother getting excited to go home?

It could only be the people and my long ancestral history with the land.

I was reminded of just why I love the place when I recieved a completely unexpected call from my good friend Lisa, who is quite possibly the nicest person who ever lived (I'm not exaggerating either, she is seriously amazing!)

I don't know if she reads my blog, but speaking to her just completely brought me back down to earth. It was like I just became myself again, I wasn't trying to be anyone important, or to prove myself, or to criticise and condemn other people.

Then I realized that's exactly how I feel when I step off that plane and hit the hot tarmac and see my little brothers practically ready to bash down the sliding doors of the arrivals entrance. I feel it when I recieve hugs from my parents, real ones, not gammon little polite things that don't mean anything.

I feel it when I drive down to my grandma's place and sit and talk to her for ages. My grandma is one of those people who has that youthfulness about her, regardless of how old she is (she's not even that old either! :P)

I feel it when I go down and see Melissa or Chris and realize that we must have some sort of karmic connection, because it is just ridiculous that we can be such close friends. I have never had a fight with them or been annoyed and when I'm around them I feel at peace with myself. If I could marry both I would (Melissa, it's impossible with this government. Chris, you never know :P) And I also feel it when I become closer to new friends who I didn't hang out with as much when I lived in Rocky - such as Princess Jo ;), who I count as a close friend now!

I feel it when I go out for late night coffee with Elizabeth or go around and see Lisa and Becky or sit by the banks of the Fitzroy and talk with whichever person I have gone with that day!

I feel it when I visit my cousins and when my cousins visit me. When my aunties and uncles give me hugs and I suddenly retreat into this shy, childlike state just because that is how I've always been around them. But I love it anyway.

I feel it when I visit THAT soccer club, the one I really hated just because of principle, but now absolutely adore.

I feel it when I can come home to the house I grew up in for my whole life, with the horse paddock and the iconic mango tree in the middle of the road. And after spending a whole day out, I feel it when I can immediately hug my little boys and match their faces to their voices. It's so much better than having to pretend to see them on our once a week Saturday phone calls ;) According to one of them, he has already forgotten what I look like! :P

I realize then that my home will always be in this place, regardless of where I live. Even though I will never live there again, I feel very blessed to have resided there for so long, with some of the most beautiful people in the world.

Two weeks to go ;)

Luv
Me

P.S. That concludes my emo post for the day. Am putting away my black eyeliner now :P

P.P.S And as a reward for sitting through my ramblings, and because I have realized that I have been neglecting the great love of my life (Bollywood), here is Salaam-e-ishq. I adore Akshay! When this movie came out I was obsessed with this song....but the weird thing is, I haven't yet seen the movie! Christmas present *hint hint* IT stars the gorgeous Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, deadliest dancer Govinda, John Abraham and many many more. Oh! And Akshay Khanna (CHRIS: SYD!!!). Also to Chris: You would recall that Priyanka is one of the girls on the first cover of India Vogue.

Buddhism and Homosexuality Part One

2007-11-30T21:27:00.000+11:00

So this is going to be very quick, and probably not as detailed as I would have liked but I have felt in the mood to write this week. What can I say? My creative juices are flowing and my mind is so clear it's crazy. I feel as if I could pen a whole thesis in three days...

But anyway, considering that it was my strong views on homosexuality and equal rights for everyone that first led me away from Christianity, it seemed only logical that I put Buddhism up to the test before I get too excited with my new found love of the religion. (On a side note. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I seriously believe everyone should read it, even if you are not a religious person)

So I began to look into what Buddhism teaches on homosexuality.

Although I am so far not even close to touching the tip of the iceberg, the stuff that I have read so far seems to point to the fact that homosexual love should be viewed in the same way as heterosexual love. Buddha never condemned homosexuality and his instructions regarding sex were to stay away from "sexual misconduct", which basically has been taken to mean things such as adultury, child molestation etc, applied in the same way to homosexuals as heterosexuals.

In fact, there has been a long recorded history of homosexuality among the monks of Japan - where it was considered perfectly acceptable for men to love other men and have sexual relationships with each other. Apparently the recorded history of Japanese Buddhist homosexuality is incredibly large and complex and was not frowned upon in society!

I found this great article in the Western Buddhist Review about it that I highly reccomend you read. I could quote so many paragraphs but the article is very long and really deserves to be read in full. This passage however kind of sums up a little bit of what I was interested in - the differences in perception of homosexuality between Buddhism and Christianity.

Japanese Buddhism responded to the homoerotic environment created by a large number of monks living together with youths and boys in a very different way to Christianity which tended to respond to expressions of homoeroticism within monastic communities with vehement paranoia, characterising sodomy as the worst of sexual sins, even worse than incest[13]. Consider, for example, the tone of this passage from Peter Damian’s Book of Gomorrah, written in 1049:

In our region a certain abominable and most shameful vice has developed...The befouling cancer of sodomy is, in fact, spreading so through the clergy or rather like a savage beast, is raging with such shameless abandon through the flock of Christ that for many of them it would be more salutary to be burdened with service to the world, than, under the pretext of religion, to be enslaved so easily under the iron rule of satanic tyranny .[14]

Buddhism’s flexibility with regard to sexuality, as in other aspects of human nature, derives from the doctrine of hooben (Sanskrit upaaya) or ‘skilful means’ wherein actions are not judged in and of themselves but in terms of their motivation and outcome.

Hence, even sexual attraction, which in early Buddhism is considered a defilement, can be used as a means to communicate the Buddhist truth or Dharma. Given Buddhism’s prioritisation of intention and consequence over the act itself it was possible for monks (for whom sexual engagement with women was forbidden) to justify (or perhaps rationalize) their sexual engagement with youths in terms of creating a deeper or more lasting spiritual bond.

Another great article from Buddhanet Magazine showed a little more the Buddhist stance on homosexuality.

Basically, there are four considerations, as detailed here:

Lay Buddhists (those who live outside the monastery) are expected to adhere to Five Precepts, the third of which is a vow "not to engage in sexual misconduct." But what is sexual misconduct? Right and wrong behavior in Buddhism is generally determined by considerations such as the following:

Universalibility principle - "How would I like it if someone did this to me?"
Consequences - Does the act causes harm and regret (in oneself or others) or benefit and joy?
Utilitarian principle - Will the act help or harm the attainment of goals (ultimately spiritual liberation)?
Intention - Is the act motivated by love, generosity and understanding?

So the Buddhanet article i mentioned previously goes on to say:

Having briefly examined the rational foundations of Buddhist ethics we are now in a better position to understand what sort of sexual behaviour Buddhism would consider to be wrong or unskillful and why. The Buddha specifically mentions several types of unskillful sexual behaviour, the most common of which is adultery. This is unskillful because it requires subterfuge and deceit, it means that solemn promises made at the time of marriage are broken, and it amounts to a betrayal of trust. In another passage, the Buddha says that someone practicing the third Precept "avoids intercourse with girls still under the ward of their parents, brothers, sisters or relatives, with married women, with female prisoners or with those already engaged to another." Girls still under the protection of others are presumably too young to make a responsible decision about sex, prisoners are not in a position to make a free choice, while an engaged woman has already made a commitment to another. Although only females are mentioned here no doubt the same would apply to males in the same position.

As homosexuality is not explicitly mentioned in any of the Buddha's discourses (more than 20 volumes in the Pali Text Society's English translation), we can only assume that it is meant to be evaluated in the same way that heterosexuality is. And indeed it seems that this is why it is not specifically mentioned. In the case of the lay man and woman where there is mutual consent, where adultery is not involved and where the sexual act is an expression of love, respect, loyalty and warmth, it would not be breaking the third Precept. And it is the same when the two people are of the same gender. Likewise promiscuity, license and the disregard for the feelings of others would make a sexual act unskillful whether it be heterosexual or homosexual.

Of course, in Buddhism, there is still alot of discontent surrounding the issue.

Take the Dalai Lama, who still has not given a proper answer, although he has said gay sex is generally considered a "form of misconduct", but then stated that homosexual relationships could be "of mutual benefit, enjoyable, and harmless."

And the Dalai Lama advocates for human rights and this includes the rights of gay people.

From a Tibet government spokesperson:

"His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. He urges respect, tolerance, compassion, and the full recognition of human rights for all."

More to come....this is only the tip of the iceberg and is probably not anywhere near coherant.

The greatest week ever

2007-11-27T22:00:00.001+11:00

So if you are one of my three good friends who read this blog, or my mother, you are probably wondering why I haven't updated this blog for a little while.

The answer lies in two little words: Federal election.

It has been an amazing, whirl-wind of a week in Australian politics and to tell you the truth, I didn't want to miss a second of it.

If that meant not updating one of my latest obsessions, then so be it.

First, I had the privilage of being in attendence at the National Tally Room at Exhibition Park Canberra on Saturday night. Armed with a Mac and access to the Virtual Tally Room, I was in political junkie paradise.

Kerry O'Brien was behind me with Antony Green, Julia Gillard and Nick Minchin. To their right was Ray Martin, Laurie Oakes and Wayne Swan. To their left was Mel and Kochie, Peter Beattie, Joe Hockey and Tanya Pilbersek. Alan Jones and Bill Heffernan were in my view.

It was the night of nights, topped off by a hundred screaming Kevin07 fans(i think Joe Hockey called them Labor rent-a-crowds) and a few appearances by the Chaser boys, who were attracted to Heffernan like moths to a flame.

Watching those booths come in was simply awesome. We were predicting Liberal seats falling to the ALP every few minutes it seemed. Congamite (i spelt it wrong) came first, then Bass, then Dobell looked likely. They were all expected but it was still awesome to see them fall.

When the Queensland booths were coming in I was beyond happy. From the very start, Leichhardt was in trouble, we knew the LIberal stronghold was in jeapody because of the retirement of longtime member Warren Entsche, but to see it fall to Labor with an original margin of something like 10 percent was just great.

When Longman started to come in and it showed Brough struggling to retain his seat I almost jumped up on the table. I should have, I may have made the Chaser.

When Maxine McKew had the lead over John Howard, the euphoric feeling just would not fade.

When Howard conceded defeat it was even better. You can imagine how great i felt when Brough was interviewed! He looked like he was going to cry.

We left around 11, after surveying the damage, and as I was driving through Civic and I saw all those twenty somethings lining up outside night clubs, I couldn't help but think - do these people actually know that we have just got a new Prime Minister-elect?

The next day I woke at about ten after a bit of a night out celebrating ;) I can't remember when I learned that Costello would not contest the leadership - i think it was in the afternoon. I remember feeling very sorry for the man.

I have never really hated Costello that much. I don't see how anyone could hate him more than Howard. I would rather have Costello as PM anyday over Howard. I thought it just showed what a complete imbecile, power grabbing political point scoring man Howard was. He should have handed over the leadership and saved himself the humiliation of losing his seat to a former ABC journo.

It's a shame that Costello never got his day. It will be a minimim two-term Labor government and he would have never been able to hold onto leadership long enough to become PM.

Now the leadership battle is on between Brenden Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott. I don't think Abbott could be serious about contesting - that asbestos victim died today. Surely it just again reiterates how insensitive the "mad monk" is? Female MPs hate him over his R2e2 debacle. It's the woman's right to choose Tony.

I don't like Nelson and I don't particularly like Turnbull. I think Turnbull will be the next opposition leader, although i would rather Nelson (he's a former Leftie you know, not a former journo....which is way more untrustworthy).

One of the only things that has dampened my spirits has been the Senate outcome.

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle in NSW lost her seat and so did Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett in Queensland.

Pauline Hanson even polled better than the Dems, so because her preferences will flow to Labor, the six places will go equally to Labor and Liberal. How is that representative of the state?

ALthough Labor will have to consult with the Greens to get bills passed in the upper house now, it also saddens me that the control of the Senate will ultimately lie with Family First Senator Steve Fielding.

Can't stand the bloke and can't stand the party. Politics and religion should not mix. Especially not in a multicultural country where other religious democraphics are growing. Apparently Buddhism is one of the highest growing religions in Australia.

But the thing I hate is that Senator Fielding wasn't even really democratically elected. He only won a Victorian seat because of a clever preference deal - he only secured 2 percent of the vote. How is that a healthy democracy? And now look at his power? It shows the importance of voting below the line in the Senate.

I was just looking at all the propaganda i was handed at the ballot boxes (yes, i did keep it - i am making a scrapbook of my first federal election and I am well aware I am a nerd) and I have one from the Christian Democratic Party who actually say in big letters "DO NOT VOTE BELOW THE LINE". Threats to democracy they are, the idiots.

But anyway, this is getting too long and ranty so I am going to wrap it up...

I can't wait for Christmas and to come home. I'm getting very excited.

That's all i have to say.

Luv
Me

Buddhism, Tibet and having a baby

2007-11-16T20:15:00.000+11:00

When I was a little girl, the Wizard of Oz was basically my favourite movie EVER. And it's not as if I have heard many variations on the song "Somewhere over the rainbow". But this is my favourite so far.

I love him so don't you dare criticise :P (His name is David Choi by the way, and his Youtube channel is here.)

Anyway, onto the important part of my post.

I just started re-reading one of my favorite travel memoirs, Mantras and Misdemeanors: An Accidental Love Story by New Zealand journalist Vanessa Walker. The reason that this book is my favourite of the genre is basically because Ms Walker seems to forgo the air of cynicism and sense of superiority that so often travel writers seem prone to fall into (case in point: Holy Cow! by Sarah MacDonald). It's especially weird since she was a journalist for The Australian, a newspaper not known for it's cultural sensitivity.

Basically, the story is this. Ms Walker has been a Buddhist for quite a while when she decides to give up her job in Sydney to spend a year writing a book about Tibet and the government-in-exile in McLeod Ganj, in the far north of India. So she sets out and barely a few chapters in she meets the love of her life, former monk Choying, who has escaped from Tibet and in the course of his travels derobed. As she interviews people she also tells the story of her interracial love story with this handsome Tibetan and in the course of the tale, has his baby. :P

I've always felt slightly drawn to Buddhism. It seems such a peaceful religion and the Dalai Lama is more influential to me than people like Benny Hinn or whichever Chrisitan leader you happen to look up to. In fact, the current Tibetan government-in-exile (the Central Tibetan Administration) has adopted a Middle Way approach to the illegal Chinese operation of Tibet, which promotes peaceful reconciliation. There is of course, people who would rather violent means to end the struggle (and frankly, I don't blame them. With independence still a while away, why would you simply settle for autonomy within China?) But of course, I still am not that well read on the Tibet situtation, but I suspect I am pro-Tibetan independence.

Anyway, hearing Ms Walker write about Buddhism, from an easy to understand Westerner perspective (and she is very genuine as well, you can just tell that she is not one of those people who practices religion because it is trendy), I went out and bought a book of Buddhist scriptures. There is no one book of Buddhist teachings, so there have been many people who have collaborated information into an easy source. I started reading the scriptures today and am feeling even more drawn to the religion. Actually, they often say that Christianity has a lot in common with Buddhism.

I've decided that I am not going to completely write Christianity off. Sure, I don't particularly believe in it, but reading the Koran has really awakened my appreciation for Jesus and what he did. He was a great man and I truly believe he lived. The contention is whether he actually was the Son of God. I don't know if my heart has been hardened but I find it hard to believe there is only one way to God. I read Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion and I felt overwhelmed by athiesm. But it is also not something I am going to discount. Right now, the thing I am fearful of is whether I"ll have the time to find the right belief system for me before I die.

Maybe it was because I was a Christian for so long, but I feel as if I need to believe in something. But I don't want to beleive in something just for the sake of believing in something. I want to actually BELIEVE it. Does that make sense?

I told my sister today that I was starting to look more into Buddhism and she said "No! Don't! It's Crazy!" My sister is still young so she is not at the point where she is questioning what she believes in. I'm never going to try to convert her either. It will be up to her to decide what road she wants to travel when she gets there. But the thing that really got me was she said "You know, I've studied all those religions". I had done the same thing in my school but the study was so biased - it was basically putting all these religions up to Christianity and convieniently forgetting the negative aspects of Christianity. It saddens me about the school I went to and made me realize how quickly I conformed to fit in. I can't say I never did believe in Christianity, I did, but I always had more doubts than my friends. I was always more cynical, but kept quiet cause I wasn't prepared to argue and put myself up against the majority who believed.

So I've decided to keep studying and buying more literature and I'm going to try to either get to Tibet or McLeod Ganj next year. I really want to go to India so hopefully I can get there. India is amazing, I think I will wake up to so many things over there.

The other thing that has been bothering me recently has been the fact that I haven't even hit my 20s and I already want a baby. Is this wrong? I know it isn't unusual but it is for me because I've never really thought I wanted a baby.

I think it is because my brothers are nearly ten and for so long I have babied them. I imagine they are getting sick of me always wanting hugs and baby-talking them. They are grown boys now.

Lucky my head is stronger than my heart. I know I am not emotionally or financially ready to have a baby right now.

So I guess it will have to wait!

Luv
Me

WTF?

2007-11-12T17:12:00.000+11:00

How can Family First defend giving Senate preferences to Pauline Hanson when their leader in the last federal election was Aboriginal woman Andrea Mason?

From the ABC:

Family First has defended its decision to hand its Senate preferences to Pauline Hanson over the Greens and the Democrats in Queensland at this month's federal election.

The Democrats have attacked the decision, saying it means Ms Hanson could be back in Federal Parliament wreaking havoc with what they say are her outrageous statements and discriminatory remarks.

But Family First Senator Steve Fielding has told Channel Nine parties do not have to have things in common to preference each other.

"I think that this election is going to be more about who's going to hold the balance of power, and I think shifting it from the Coalition into the Greens is like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire," he said.

"Most Australians would be very shocked to know that the Greens could hold the balance of power in Australia, and that's not what people want."

They're a joke I tell you! I hope Senator Fielding loses his Senate seat. To call the Greens too radical and then give preferences to everyone's favourite black-basher?

Luckily Democrats Senator Lyn Allison has some common sense:

"We can only assume that Family First are like-minded towards the far right and Pauline Hanson," Senator Allison said.

Ms Hanson has said that African immigrants were spreading HIV in Australia and called for a moratorium on Muslim immigration.

Senator Allison argued that if Family First's preferences were not needed to gain a Coalition quota for Senate seats then its preferences could help elect Ms Hanson.

"It is highly likely that all of Family First's preferences could go to Pauline Hanson, and they're (Family First) not going to win a seat in the Senate but Pauline Hanson is polling 7.5 per cent.

"It could certainly deliver a seat for Pauline Hanson. So she'd be back in our Parliament, wreaking havoc with her outrageous statements and discriminatory remarks," Senator Allison said.

-The Age

Your Jesus said you're supposed to give the oppressed a better deal Senator Fielding!

On another note, does anyone find the King of Spain telling Venezualen President Hugo Chavez to shut up seriously disturbing?

For those who take little notice of the growing Socialist movement in Latin America, here is what happenned, as told by the Guardian:

When Hugo Chávez is in full flow, politicians and diplomats know better than to try and cut him dead. But not kings. As the Venezuelan president was in mid-harangue, excoriating his "fascist" foes at a summit of leaders from the Latin world, Juan Carlos, the Spanish monarch, could take no more. He flashed a withering look at the president and uttered five words likely to go down in diplomatic history: "Why don't you shut up?"

The stunning breach of protocol, did shut up the socialist revolutionary. For about two seconds. Then he regained his voice. However brief, it was a moment Chávez's detractors have dreamed of: the comeuppance, as they see it, of a motormouth autocrat who regularly obliges all of Venezuela's television stations to broadcast his marathon speeches.

Hugo is not my favourite leftist president. After all, I am the one who is going to marry Bolivia's first Indigenous President Evo Morales (the former Cocoa farmer and 40-something bachelor). The reason I like Chavez is because he is a champion of the poor and a Socialist. But the reason I am scared by Chavez is my belief he has many dictatoral qualities. But still, he's great for a quote and he's better than Bush.

But anyway, I think the fact that a Spanish monarch told the Venezualen head of state to "shut up" was a bit rich. Why the colonialist attitude? Hadn't Spain done enough in 1499 when Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda named the place and the SPanish began settling in the country in 1567? Unlike King Juan, Chavez was DEMOCRATICALLY elected, and therefore has more than a right to speak on behalf of his country. What does a monarch have beside a crown and a good looking daughter in law? I mean Chavez was overwhelmingly elected in 2006, gaining about 70 percent of the vote.

And Chavez made such a good point about the 2002 coup that sought to overthrow him:

"The debate is now under way, Mr King," Mr Chavez told journalists.

"Were you aware [in advance] of the coup... against the legitimate, elected, democratic Government of Venezuela in 2002?" he said, the latest development in an increasingly bitter spat between Spain and Venezuela.

Why, in this day and age, do we even bother having kings and queens and princesses and princes? There sole purpose seems to be filling the gossip columns. I tell you- Chavez is gonna do a lot more for the world than an old Spanish King.

And look what the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emerites was getting up to two years ago! Just for the sake of hunting, he was gonna push an estimated 400 Hadzabe from their traditional land in Tanzania!

One of Africa's last hunter-gatherer tribes has won a “great victory” after an Arab royal family dropped plans to use the people's ancestral land for commercial hunting.

A company acting on behalf of Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed of the United Arab Emirates has pulled out of a deal made two years ago with the Tanzania government to hunt wildlife in 2,267 square kms of remote bush in the Yaeda Chini region of Tanzania, east Africa.

Campaigners feared if a hunting concession was granted to the company then the 400-estimated Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Yaeda Chini would have been criminalised as poachers and driven off land their ancestors have lived on for 10,000 years.

To the Crown Prince's credit, the company pulled out.

And this entry has been long and pointless but I was in a ranting mood after reading about Family First. Blame Fielding, not me.

Race and Love

2007-11-09T22:08:00.000+11:00

WARNING: This is an EXTREMELY long entry.

- How could you deny this guy isn't gorgeous? Korean superstar Rain.

So I've been incredibly interested in the whole interracial/intercultural dating debate recently and why it still remains such a huge issue to some people.

My interest was peaked while reading a really good blog, UltraBrown, who had summerized the study briefly.

Check out the full entry here and an excerpt of the findings is below:

Familiarity breeds contempt: The more members of a particular minority there are in your home town, the less likely you are to date them. And the more blacks in your neighborhood, the more prejudiced you are. Fremont and Edison, take heed.
Black women and Asians are perceived as the least attractive, including by Asians themselves
The group least willing to date out of its race, and the pickiest group in general, is white women
Racial solidarity: If there are only one black woman and man at a speed-dating event, the woman’s affinity for the man rises; the effect vanishes if there are two black men

This from the horses mouth, from a researcher writing in Slate magazine:

Another clear gender divide, this one less expected, emerged in our findings on racial preferences, reported in a forthcoming article in the Review of Economic Studies. Women of all the races we studied revealed a strong preference for men of their own race: White women were more likely to choose white men; black women preferred black men; East Asian women preferred East Asian men; Hispanic women preferred Hispanic men. But men don't seem to discriminate based on race when it comes to dating. A woman's race had no effect on the men's choices.

Two wrinkles on this: We found no evidence of the stereotype of a white male preference for East Asian women. However, we also found that East Asian women did not discriminate against white men (only against black and Hispanic men). As a result, the white man-Asian woman pairing was the most common form of interracial dating—but because of the women's neutrality, not the men's pronounced preference. We also found that regional differences mattered. Daters of both sexes from south of the Mason-Dixon Line revealed much stronger same-race preferences than Northern daters.

I find it funny how women are the pickier gender when it comes to dating outside of race, and I guess that really does fall to the fact that men will date anyone they consider "hot".

It is definately the opposite with me - although I don't want to date people just because I think they are "hot".

I always thought I was weird because I have never really found white men attractive. Maybe it's the fact that I don't have a white father and I've heard that people are more likely to be attracted to people who have the same kind of features as their opposite sex parent. Whatever the reason, I've just never been attracted to caucasians - sure, I find some cute, but overall they just don't do it for me!

I figured this out when I was in grade 9 and went to Samoa. On route to this absolutely beautiful country we stopped over in Auckland in New Zealand, which to my regional Queenslander eyes was an awakening. I had never up to that point been in a place with so many Asian guys ;) I remember writing in my journal (which I know my mum embarressingly read accidentally) that I thought the "Japs were the cutest". I still have that entry buried somewhere!

Then when in Sydney last weekend one of the guys asked me who I thought was good looking and I pointed to this Asian guy, at which he replied "ewww!!!" And I said, I think Asians are nice! At which he kissed my hand rather gentemanly and commended me for not being so shallow. Apparently he had never really met other non-Asian girls who thought Asian guys were alright.

Weird? I think so. I was talking to my sister today and she was joking about how she just loved Maori boys, to the point where she "wanted one"! (My sister can be very straightfoward sometimes :P) I asked her if she similarly thought Asians were good-looking, because I have always thought Polynesians looked similar to many Asians (and I've heard somewhere that Maori had originally come from Taiwan). Of course, she replied "NO! They look completely different!"

I don't think they do look different. There are just as many beautiful Asian men as there are beautiful Polynesian men. And I don't think that one race is specifically more beautiful than the others. But we look at them differently and form our own judgements.

The other thing that came to mind when reading the findings of the study, was that black women, like Asian men, were also not held in high esteem. I found this ridiculous, but looking at society, it almost holds true. I've said it before, but the people we aim to be like, and look up to, all have kind of white features.

I remember a line from "Rolling Stone" when describing Beyonce saying something like she was "not so overwhelmingly Nubian that a white person couldn't appreciate her beauty".

- from Chris's blog

Growing up as a "half-caste" (the better word is bi-racial, but i feel weird calling myself this for some reason!), I was always the lighter of me and my sister. And it seemed that I was always complimented alot more on my looks than my sister was. While my sister had beautiful black eyes, I had green ones, and people would compliment them and me moreso than my sister. I don't think it was because I was prettier than my sis, I think it was because I was whiter.

In fact, one of the "black" traits I have - my big islander nose (which I have grown to love :)) - was the one feature that people would tease me about. But what would I be if I had a "perfect" little European nose?

SO while dwelling on why Asian men aren't considered "hot" (even though they definately are. Case in point: Bi!) and why black women aren't as sought after as other races (which is ridiculous, some of the most beautiful women in the world are black), I came to the conclusion that it is really society that drives us to think this way.

I found this amazing analysis on it on this one blog - What They Don't Want You To Know...I just had to share it.

In it, the author looks at why there is a 70 percent single rate among young black american women (I have no idea if this is a real statistic). Basically the author comes to the conclusion that it all depends on the "social value" of the woman - and "Simply stated, it seems that black men in the U.S are systematically being over-valued while black women are being under-valued."

The average black man is now considered "more of a catch" and thus has higher social value than the black woman. As a result, black men have much more relative power and influence in relationships with black women. Black men can afford to be pickier and choosier, and often feel that they are too good to be tied down to just one woman. Black women as a result have to set their sites lower, and even feel "lucky" when they catch a man who would otherwise be beneath them.

So what has caused this over-valuation of black men and undervaluation of black women? The inter-racial dating disparity between black men and black women is one of the primary reasons for this warped dynamic.

But in order to understand how this is happening, one must first understand the fundamentals of supply and demand. Generally speaking, the demand for something has a direct impact on that something's value, while the supply of something has an inverse impact on that something's value. For example, if the demand for oranges goes up, the value of oranges goes up. If the supply of oranges goes up, the value of oranges goes down.

As applied to the situation of inter-racial dating in the black community, it is easy to see that when black men date inter-racially they are in effect reducing the supply of available black men from the pool of single men, thus increasing their own social value. Furthermore, by dating inter-racially they are perpetuating the already popular belief that black men are "masculine" and African features on men are attractive to women of all races, thus increasing the demand for themselves which also increases their own social value.

On the flip side, when black women refuse to date anyone but a black man, they are increasing their own supply in the pool of single women, thus decreasing their own social value. In addition to this effect of increased supply, they are also perpetuating the belief that black women are not available or attractive to men of other races which decreases the demand for black women which further decreases their own social value.

I also loved this other quote from the same blog, different entry:

It is human nature to look out for and protect the best interest of those whom we love. Keep this in mind when addressing the issue of black men dating out and disrespecting black women. Whose best interest are they looking out for? I think the answer goes without saying. And with this in mind it seems quite obvious to me the one thing that black men and black women have most in common. Black men and black women both love black men.

I think this can also be applied to Asian men as well - I mean, it seems that every race of man is absolutely in love with the Asian woman - apparently the stereotype of the submissive, beautiful woman is still inherently there! So because Asian women are held so high in society, and Asian men are not, there creates an imbalance and interracial dating becomes frowned upon.

When it comes to interracial dating, people often can't believe that there is still so much debate around it. I mean, surely, in the 21st century we have gotten past such pettiness?

My mum wanted to marry a black man when she was young, and low and behold, that's who she married. Apparently her father wasn't too happy until I popped out - now my dad knows more about my grandfather and his wartime and family history than my mum does!

When it comes to white/Asian couplings, it is different. Whether you are a white man dating an Asian woman (mail-order bride stereotype) or a white girl dating an Asian man (he's such a nerd! stereotype) - I think the debate is now more predominate.

My mother used to always say that if I marry a Vietnamese I will be disowned! From that day on it made me even more adamant to marry a Vietnamese man. An interesting thing is my mum used to love in a place in Sydney that had a big Vietnamese population and she is now living in a regional place that has just had a huge population increase of Vietnamese people - maybe that whole "familiarity breeds contempt" is true! Please note, my mum is not racist and I still don't know if she was just teasing me!

So what am I trying to say?

I think bi-racial or mixed kids (I still don't know which category I fall into!) obviously are less likely to be weired out by interracial dating. And I think they are more likely to date outside of race. I could marry a black man and not be dating out of my race. I could marry a white man and not be dating out of my race. I could marry an Asian man, and who would care because it has come to the point where I don't even have a race, I only have an identity and a nationality. I am too mixed to say that I am one race. But this doesn't make me any less of what I am. For example. This would not make my children any less South Sea, any less Aboriginal, any less European. I would allow them their own identities, regardless of their looks, because that is what I have had to deal with in the past.

The solution is, don't look down on someone just because of who they happen to fall in love with. If you see a white girl and a black guy, don't assume the guy is disrespecting you just because he happenned to fall in love with that girl. If you see an Asian man with a white girl don't just assume the girl has "yellow fever" and will grow out of her silly phase.

And now to sign off, I leave you with the very handsome Gary Valenciano a Filipino musician superstar and absolutely AMAZING dancer!

UPDATE! I also had to share this other video I found of this great Filipino-American singer. His name is Jeremy Manongdo and here is his myspace. He's Christian and he's gorgeous and he can sing :) Gotta love the Filipinos!

Me? Blunt?

2007-11-08T18:12:00.000+11:00

BLUNT: characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion; "blunt talking and straight shooting"; "a blunt New England farmer"; "I gave them my candid opinion"; "forthright criticism"; "a forthright approach to the problem"; "tell me what you think--and you may just as well be ...

Am I too blunt??

The reason I am asking is because I recently recieved opinion from three people who say that my bluntness may actually affect my journalism.

I actually think it will work in my journalism, and to be honest, I kind of took it as a compliment! I think it helps in asking hard questions and in getting to the bottom of the issue. The thing I was worried about was I never realized it was even a character trait of mine.

I always thought I was a people-pleaser, someone who sometimes skirts around the truth so as not to hurt people's feelings. But am I the exact opposite of what I thought I was?

The reason I am worried is because, even though I like the idea of being blunt, I have judged myself so wrongly.

I am not a good judge of character anyway - I always seem to trust the wrong people.

But how could I have completely misjudged such a big aspect of my character, which is so obvious to other people? There was no argument when we were discussing it, there was no denying among the three that I was blunt.

What are your opinions? Am I too blunt?

Again, to be honest, I really take it as a compliment. I hate lying and being fake so the idea of being so straightforward really appeals to me. But I just want another opinion.

I am soon going to try and write a Sydney Trip Report...but it will probably take me a while!!!

I was a gay man in my last life.

2007-11-05T20:10:00.001+11:00

I have just spent an amazing weekend with my friend Chris in Sydney. And yes, that did mean going to Oxford St. And yes, that also did mean meeting (and dancing) with the most amazing (and handsome) boys I have met for a very long time. Of course, by the time the weekend was over and Chris and I were on the monorail looking around Sydney, we did surcumb to a huge bout of sleepiness. Right now as I am writing this (7:16 pm) I am sure he is still asleep dreaming of dancing and Yoko Ono :P

Not only did I fall in love with Sydney, I also fell in love with gay men. I am not embarressed to admit it, I find them so awesome to talk to. Of course, Chris tops the list but Jeremy is also simply wonderful. I don't know if his gayness is a component in his wonderfulness but he certainly impresses me. He's incredibly smart and easy-going - when you talk to him you are very quick to label him a "genious".

Just from spending a lot of time over the past few years with gay people and experiencing small parts of their culture, I just can't believe that there is still so much discrimination and homophobia in the world. I can only explain the continual disregard for equal rights as a symptom of ignorance.

Case in point a few christian friends I know. I got in such a debate with them over it (in which I was definately outnumbered) when I was last home and it left me almost in tears to see their close mindedness. There is nothing in the bible that explains why homosexuality as a sin - it just is. It is billed as unnatural and an abomination of God's original plan. This in itself is religion's greatest weakness. Why is it wrong to love someone? How is it wrong to be attracted to someone? I see more sinful things from those in the past and present (and sadly, the future) who have continually discriminated against gay people solely on the basis of their sexual orienation.

And the people who do discriminate are usually the ones who have never met a gay person. One of my christian friends claimed that she was friends with many, but the fact that she was strenously arguing against giving them basic legal rights such as the right to marry pointed to the contrary.

Gay culture is not perfect. But every culture is not perfect. The fact is we have to stop this madness of inequality. As long as we continue to tease gay people, make derogatory comments towards gay people, treat them as jokes or comical instruments for our entertainment, we will remain stuck in the rut of societal primativeness (made up that word but i love putting "ness" on the end of everything :P).

I'm aware I'm obsessed with GetUp! But I think they provide a great tool for protest and are good at pulling people together to campaign collectively.

If you believe in equality for all, please click on this link and sign the Equal Before The Law petition.

Racism and the land down under

2007-11-02T13:12:00.000+11:00

This is quite an old story now – It was filed by the ABC about a week ago. But I don’t think it received the media interest that it deserved.

Rockhampton man jailed over Aboriginal shootings
A 19-year-old Rockhampton man has been sentenced to two years' jail for his role in a racially motivated shooting last year.
On Australia Day last year, Hayden John Nitz and his four co-accused drove around Rockhampton, in central Queensland, shooting at members of the Aboriginal community with a slug gun.
The court heard Nitz shot at three people in separate locations, striking a 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. Both needed medical attention.
Judge David Serle said the event was reminiscent of Alabama in the 1960s and not Australia in 2007, and a general deterrent needed to be set.
Nitz pleaded guilty to numerous offences and was sentenced to two years imprisonment with a parole date of June next year.
His four co-accused were sentenced to between six and nine months jail, to be served as an intensive correction order.

And the case still seriously disturbs me. This is my home town and I am the same age as this guy. To deliberately go on an old fashioned “nigger” shoot, deliberately searching for Aboriginal people (the local newspaper reported this) is so disgusting to me and for it to happen on Australia Day just makes it even more disturbing.

Australia Day is seriously a day of mourning for Indigenous people. It represents the beginning of European settlement in this country, therefore pointing to the start of more than two centuries of human rights abuses against Aboriginal people. I still don’t know why people continue to celebrate it. White Australians try and make it into a day of patriotism, going around wearing Australian flags and painting their faces blue red and white. They don’t realize that they are segregating themselves and alienating the many ethnic groups who now make up Australia, not just Indigenous people.

Last Australia Day, or Invasion Day, did contain a light at the end of the tunnel. On the same day, an independent report by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street was released, finding enough evidence to charge Senior Seargent Chris Hurley over the death in custody of Aboriginal Palm Islander Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died on a watchhouse floor in November 2004.

But the Australia Day before, this racially motivated shoot occurred in my home town. It really is unbelievable- the inherent racism that still exists in Australian society. And it is equally amazing that Australians still continue to ignore that it even exists – just because you yourself can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

This is John Howard in December 2005, about the Cronulla Riots:

"Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," he said. "Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics."
But he said the riots were primarily a "law and order issue".
"I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist."

Sorry, I nearly died from a coughing fit.

Here is a recent report by ABC's Media Watch:

But take a look at Adelaide Now - the online site for News Limited's Adelaide Advertiser and Sunday Mail - that allowed these comments in response to a story about an alleged crime by a group of Aboriginal men?

Of course, not all Australians are racist. But there is an inherent racist undertone in Australian society. When I hear cases such as this, it just amazes me that people would say otherwise.

Save Our Senate

2007-10-31T09:45:00.000+11:00

So GetUp! has got a new campaign to put the above ad onto the airwaves.

Don't underestimate the power of the Senate. When the Coalition won control of the Upper House in 2004, they promised they would use it "very carefully, very wisely and not provocatively".

If this means rubber stamping every piece of legislation from House of Reps, then yes, they have kept their promise.

With the Australian Greens swapping preferences in the House with Labor, who will then give preferences to them in the Senate, the chances of getting a more balanced Senate may just be there.

The only problem is - where will that leave the Democrats?

The Australian Democrats are on the brink of extinction, which is a shame, because I believe they are the one party who continually gives it to the government. I am also surprised because i don't consider them to be as radical as the Greens, and I always thought this would have given them an advantage in the central swinging voters. Obviously not.

Michelle Grattan explained the power of the Senate and the minor parties in a column in the Age on Monday.

The Senate battle is being fought at two levels. There is a united message from the minors that the upper house should return to the checks-and-balances role that had seemed permanently entrenched until the surprise of the 2004 election. Then there is the battle between them. Yesterday we saw this co-operative/competitive combination in the minor parties' messages.

Grattan says that the Greens/Labor preference deal has cultivated some sparks:

[The preference deal] prompted Government Senate leader Nick Minchin to a dire warning about the danger of the Senate becoming "mired in chaos". "This is the first time in Australian history that a radical left-wing party like the Greens have been poised to gain such an unprecedented level of power in the Senate," Minchin said.

Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell chimed in yesterday, saying the joint ad showed Labor, Greens and Democrats closely shared political philosophies and calling for Labor to "come clean" on deals it had done with minor parties. "This handcuffs Labor and the radical Greens into a coalition," he said, making "coalition" suddenly sound a dirty word.

The Greens/Labor preference deal is hardly a surprise, but has drawn howls of outrage from Family First. Family First and the Government will be cuddling up on preferences, leaving the Democrats, who can't take a trick, out in the cold.

I'm gonna go 1 for the Dems and try and get Lyn Shumack in. There is only one NSW minority party Senator currently - which is Kerry Nettle from the Greens.

Because most of my friends live in Queensland, I wholeheartedly reccomend you give your top preference to the Democrats in the Senate - where Andrew Bartlett is the lead candidate. They have recently swapped preferences with the Greens (who's candidate is Larissa Waters) in a bid to stop Liberal and Labor and challenge Pauline Hanson's bid.

YouTube celebrity of the moment

2007-10-29T18:35:00.000+11:00

YouTube is addictive. And it is the way of the future. Just look at our adoration of YouTube celebrities. The phenomenon is incredibly weird because really they are just ordinary people who show a natural aptitude to the camera and have the convenience of an internet connection.

But i think that is part of their appeal. With the exception of lonelygirl15, they are just so real. And most of them do have talent. You know the class clown or the troubled genius? With YouTube, they can let their true selves shine and if they are really charismatic, they will attract a large and devoted following. I admit, I don't spend every waking moment on YouTube so i really don't know all the YouTube celebs that you are supposed to know. I've watched a few videos of Chris Crocker (for obvious reasons) and am absolutely in love with William Sledd (check them out!) But although there are a great deal of interesting people broadcasting themselves, I have come to the conclusion that this guy is my YouTube celeb of the moment.

The Wine Kone.

This is what his wikipedia (yes, he has a wikipedia entry!) says about him:

Tony Huynh (thewinekone or TWK) is a Canadian YouTube comedian from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is known for posting his thoughts on different subjects to YouTube with his own style of comedy and farce.

As of September 2007, Huynh is the eleventh most subscribed user on YouTube with over 60,000 subscribers. In March 2007, he won YouTube's first ever YouTube Video Awards in the Best Commentary category[3]. His video submission to the 2007 CNN-YouTube Democratic presidential debate was the entry most viewed by YouTube users.

He is seriously, the funniest person I have ever watched. All his videos make me laugh. Some of them are very rude though but I find since I am good friends with Chris, the excessive use of the word "vagina" just doesn't bother me anymore!

Anyway, this isn't the funniest video of his, but it is still hilarious. I picked it because he talks about being a "YouTube celebrity" and having to give an autograph to a skater.

Enjoy!

Thou Shalt Not Kill

2007-10-28T11:00:00.000+11:00

I have a local music shop which I am absolutely obsessed with. In fact, I have to restrict myself from going to this particular shopping centre because if I go, I know I will be drawn to this CD store and therefore will be seduced by the CD covers and will end up spending another $30 I can’t afford to spend.

But anyway, I couldn’t stop my fingers turning the keys in the ignition yesterday and proceeded to go to the shops just for the sake of this music shop. For the past few weeks I have been debating as to whether I should buy this one album that for some reason keeps drawing me to it. But I have always put it back in favour of other things – last week it was The Supremes, the other week it was Marvin Gaye, the other time it was Tracy Chapman…and so on and so on.

But this time I didn’t spend hardly any time in the $5 bin like I usually do. I went straight to this section and before I knew it my hands had picked up Michael Franti and Spearhead’s third album “Stay Human”.

Boy, I’m glad I did. For one of the first times in my life, I sat down and actually listened to the album right way through. Usually I always stop on a few songs and listen to them over and over again until I get sick of it. But this album basically cries for you to listen to it.

It really is like a storytelling album. Michael Franti is a social activist and his work on “Stay Human” is like a digitally eternal protest against the death penalty. Interspersed throughout the songs are radio segments from a fictional radio show where Franti plays DJ Soulshine and with his female counterpart they broadcast the fictional story of Sister Fatima.

Here is Franti explaining the story in the inner sleeve of the album:

For those of you who do not know, Sister Fatima was accused and convicted of the 1991 slaying of prominent business couple James and Ellen Buchanan. There was very little physical evidence submitted in the trial, as their bodies have yet to be located and no murder weapon was found. The evidence used to condemn Sister Fatima was the testimony of “eyewitnesses” who claimed to have seen Sister Fatima having an argument with the Buchanan’s the week of the murder. According to witnesses the nature of the argument was over the lease agreement of the medical marijuana office Sister Fatima ran, which was housed in a building owned by the Buchanan’s.

…Many now believe Sister Fatima, who had been a police target since the late Sixties because of her outspoken views on racial equality, police violence, environmental issues, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender rights, and the compassionate use of medical marijuana, was framed as a means of silencing her.”

The segments include interviews with the Governor, who is running an election campaign based around the execution of Sister Fatima, who is due to take the lethal injection the night of the election.

The story is really well-developed and I really thing the radio segments make the album. Although I don’t believe that there would ever be a governor as heartless and stupid as the one portrayed on the album (but there probably is, I mean, look at our Prime Minister who used Children Overboard in an election).

The songs are quite simply, amazing. I’m not a music whiz so I don’t know where he gets his influences from but I’ve been reading a few reviews and they seem to refer to him as Marvin Gaye in his “What’s Going On” (love that song!) phase and Gil Scott-Heron.

I really love hip hop but I think I am more a lover of spoken word poetry, which is why I adore Mos Def, and I think this is why I enjoy Michael Franti so much. His lyrics could be poetry and each line seems to mean something. A lot of the reviews on the net point to Stay Human (all the freaky people), Soulshine and Sometimes as the best songs on the album, but I was drawn to the first one “Oh My God”.

Here is the song, and below are the lyrics:

P.S. This version doesn’t sound the same as on the actual album, but it sounds like him :P

(chorus)
Oh-my, oh-my God!
Out here mama they got us livin’ suicide
Singin’ oh-my, oh-my God!
Out here mama they got us livin’ genocide

Slam bam I come unseen
But like gasoline you can tell I’m in the tank
Like money in the bank
I smell appealing, but I’m toxic, can send ya reeling
Without an inklin’, keep a thinkin’
‘cause you gave cash to the feds, left your school district for dead
Fucked you up in the head, but still they sayin’ nothins wrong
Sellin’ firewater but outlawing the bong
Still believing the system is workin’
While half of my people are still outta workin’
Anonymous notes left in the pockets and coats
Of judges and juries from ‘Frisco to Jersey
Threats and protests politicians mob debts
Trumped up charges and phony arrests
Stage a lethal injection, the night before the lection
‘cause he got donations from the prison guard’s union

(chorus)

Listen in to my stethoscope on a rope
Internal lullabies, human cries
Thumps and silence, the language of violence
Algorithmic, cataclysmic, seismic, biorhythmic
You can make a life longer, but you can’t save it
You can make a clone and then you try to enslave it?
Stealin’ DNA samples from the unborn
And then you comin’ after us
‘cause we sampled a James Brown horn?
Scientists who’s God is progress
A four-headed sheep is their latest project
The CIA runnin’ like their Jones from Indiana
But they still won’t talk about that (Jim) Jones
(People’s Temple mass suicide) in Guyana.
This ain’t no cartoon
No one slips on bananas
Do you really think that car killed Diana
Hell I shot Ronald Reagan, I shot JFK
I slept with Marilyn she sung me happy birthday
Singin’

(chorus)

Well politicians got lipstick on the collar
The whole media started to holler
But I don’t give a fuck who they screwin’ in private
I wanna know who they screwin’ in public
Robbin’, cheatin’, stealin’
White collar criminal
McDonald eatin’, you deserve a beatin’
Send you home a weepin’, with a fat bill for your Caribbean weekend
For just about anything they can bust us
False advertising sayin’ “Halls of Justice”
You tellin’ the youth don’t be so violent
They you drop bombs on every single continent
Mandatory minimum sentencin’
‘cause he got caught with a pocket fulla medicine
Do that again another ten up in the pen
I feel so mad I wanna bomb an institution.

(chorus)

But what I really wanted to talk about was my views on the death penalty. It is an issue that has been in the media of late and ironically, one that I had a huge argument with my Christian friend about.

I am totally against the death penalty. To me, it makes no sense to kill someone in exchange for a crime. The common mantra “Two wrongs don’t make a right” never seems to apply to the death penalty.

I thought Kevin Rudd was entirely hypocritical when he condemned the Shadow Foreign Minister Robert McClelland on his comments that Labor would campaign against the death penalty for bali bombers:

PETA DONALD: Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, made a speech to a human rights forum in Sydney last night, with the title: Time for Australia to Stand up for International Human Rights.

He made the point that 80 per cent of known executions are happening in Asia, in 14 states with the death penalty.

In government, he said, Labor would initiate a regional coalition, joining with the countries in Asia that have abolished capital punishment, to encourage others to do the same.

Robert McClelland also criticised the mixed messages coming from Australia, citing the Prime Minister's support for the execution of the Bali bombers, while at the same time saying Australia is against the death penalty.

The speech did not please the former foreign affairs spokesman, now leader, Kevin Rudd, particularly the reference to the politically sensitive issue of the Bali bombers.

KEVIN RUDD: I believe that terrorists should rot in jail for the term of their natural lives, and then one day be removed in a pine box.

Beyond that, when it comes to the question of the death penalty, no diplomatic intervention will ever be made by any government that I lead in support of any individual terrorist's life.

We have only indicated in the past, and will maintain a policy in the future, of intervening diplomatically in support of Australian nationals who face capital sentences abroad.

On the wider question of the death penalty, the Liberal Party's policy, like Labor's policy, is identical, and that is our global opposition to the death penalty.

In terms of the prosecution of that matter, that is best done multilaterally through the United Nations.

Fair enough, what the Bali Bombers did no was despicable. But that doesn’t mean that they deserve the death penalty. And I don’t believe McClelland was saying that Labor would intervene to save a terrorist’s life – he said Labor would intervene to stop the death penalty in Asia altogether. It was obvious Rudd was just playing politics on an issue that very likely could have cost Labor some votes – especially in the crucial area of national security, which is what the conservative government seems to view as their strength.

The idea that terrorists should somehow be exempt from debate on the death penalty seems illogical to me. But it was a point that my friend tried to argue to me recently. She said that in cases such as Saddaam Hussein, the death penalty was more than justified. This coming from a Christian who says no to abortion because it is murder and thus “Thou Shalt Not Kill”.

I think “Thou Shalt Not Kill” extends even to the lives of terrorists. I am so glad that Australia doesn’t legalize murder in terms of a capital punishment system but it saddens me that there are countries around the world that still think it is necessary. And then it saddens me even more when our own opposition leader and Government seem to want to turn a blind eye to it just because the victims of the system happen to be terrorists.

I like this quote in the pages of Michael Franti’s album:

Questions about capital punishment often tend to revolve around tangential issues – whether, for example, death should be painful or not. So that now, death by lethal injection is represented as the best, least painful, and thus more human death. AThis doesn’t confront the real issue, which is whether there is not something profoundly wrong with giving the state the right to kill. No method of state death can eradicate the fact that capital punishment is racist and class-baised.”

-Angela Davis – prison industrial complex activist.

So often the debate on capital punishment does revolve on the little details. But the debate forgets the main point – you are killing another human being. You are taking part in the murder of another human being.

But back to the album, I recommend everyone buy it! I’m going to devote myself to buying Michael Franti’s back catalogue now even though Stay Human will most likely be on my rotate for a very long time to come.

Who is the beholder of the eye?

2007-10-27T10:53:00.000+10:00

MAN1: I like girls with that light complexion look
MAN2: Your a moron
MAN1:I can't help it
MAN2:What being a moron?
MAN1:...I'm a victim
MAN3:Nigger you'r so brainwashed
MAN1:I'm a victim brother!
MAN2:Your a victim? Shut up!
MAN1: I'm a victim of 400 years of conditioning.
The man has programmed my conditioning.
Even my conditioning has been conditioned

- Brown-Skinned Lady by Black Star

Yesterday I recieved an email from an extremely good friend, drawing my attention to the controversy surrounding the cover of the first ever Indian Vogue.

Spot the odd one out?

In between the voluptuous beauty Bipasha Basu and the absolutely gorgeous former pageant queen Priyanka Chopra stands the waif-like Australian Gemma Ward.

Apparently there is has been controversy on whether a white, thin, blue eyed model should have been placed on the first ever issue of a magazine that will no doubt be bought by millions of Indian women. Placing a white girl in the middle, front and centre was obviously going to conjure up some serious talkback.

My favourite analysis of it came from a fashion forum and by a member named NYfashionista:

This is quite an interesting issue to debate. I am of Indian origin. Needless to say I know the types of beauty standards Indian women are constantly putting themselves up to (and being put up to): fair skin, small noses, light (sometimes BLONDE) hair, blue eyes...There have been countless times I've seen Indians (both male and female) both in America and India who have dyed their hair blonde and have sported blue/grey contacts.

As much as I would love to believe and think that putting Gemma on the cover is not a "racial" issue, that mindset is naive. You won't understand unless you understand India's culture and beauty standards. This cover is another way to perpetuate these stereotypes/"rules" that 15 and 16 year olds will be abiding by. I only hope one day more of us will be able to embrace our black hair brown eyes and brown skin!!

Something to take into consideration- Naomi Campbell was just very recently quoted saying: "I've never been on the cover of British Vogue and I've asked a million times and they've always refused me. They'll put the same white model for half the year - I swear like six times, but wouldn't put me on once in my own country. But I still want my British Vogue cover!" - not a fan of her personality at all but she IS a top model after all...

It has been well-documented that some cultures have glorified lighter skin as ideal. I used to have a Hong Kong friend who had the most beautiful skin I have ever seen but would be adamant about using an umbrella in the sun so she wouldn't get too dark.

In Western countries, the same attitudes abound. Check out A Girl Like Me, a documentry by an African American teenager who conducted the infamous "doll test" and found that young black children still would rather play with white dolls because they "look nicer".

In Australia, I think the subconscious belief that white girls, or girls with white features, are more beautiful is emedded deep in society.

We see it through pop culture and through the women society glorifies.

Our long-running TV shows like Home and Away and Neighbours showcase few ethnicities other than white, despite being set in multicultural places.

Our magazines barely have any black or asian actresses on the covers. Our music industry is overrun by caucasians. Ads on television occasionally show other races, but they are almost always in the "other" category.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what happens when the beholder controls the industries that perpetrate the beauty myth?

It's obvious that we are being conditioned to believe certain things.

Colonialism is the human race's greatest crime

2007-10-25T14:29:00.000+10:00

I believe one of the greatest crimes in modern history have been the effects colonialism and imperialism have had on Indigenous populations around the world.

These acts, sometimes partly driven by the white "civilising" mission of Christianity, continue to place Indigenous peoples at risk generations after first contact.

World War One and World War Two were horrendous. The Holocaust was absolutely disgusting. But when placed against the atrocities committed everywhere against First Peoples - well, they almost pale in comparison.

I know. I am biased. I am the product of colonialism, as are many other Australians. We would not have the country we have today if it weren't for the First Fleet. But we would also not have the crippling crisis affecting our Indigenous population if Captain Cook had stayed the hell away.

People who's ancestors were the perpetrators tell people who's ancestors were the victims to get over it, failing to realize that it is hard to forget when there has been no apologies, when there is continual racism, when you and your brothers and sisters continue to be disadvantaged in a country that hypocritically advocates for the "fair go".

But it isn't just Australia.

My reasoning for this post is primarily because I have been reading a lot about Uncontacted Tribes, who strenuously avoid the outside world. And with good reason.

A recent report by Survival International, Progress Can Kill found that "current notions of progress date from the colonial era, when the taking of resources and labour was supposedly justified by the giving of 'civilization'.”

Basically they say that even now, when the word 'progress' is strenuously separated from the word 'colonialisation', the measures wrought upon Indigenous peoples is just as life threatening.

Forcing 'progress' on them never brings a longer, happier life, but a shorter, bleaker existence only escaped in death. It has destroyed many peoples and threatens many more. There are tribes who are aware of this and choose to remain isolated. Others have a closer relationship with outsiders - some of these receive healthcare intended to mitigate the devastation they face.

But in a dangerous catch-22, the 'modern' healthcare available to tribal peoples - even in the richest nations - is never enough to counter the effects of introduced diseases and the devastation caused by losing their land.

The report goes on to further link progress with things that are crippling Indigenous societies today, things such as: HIV AIDS, obesity, starvation, suicide, addiction and general health problems.

It's easy for people to advocate for assimilation, sugar coating it as a way to integrate Indigenous Peoples into the world.

But for Indigenous Peoples, who have their own separate believes and ways of living forged over thousands of years, it is simply not that simple.

Can you imagine if an alien population came to our shores believing the human race and our technologies were inferior and then tried to exert their ways of life on us, despite being on Earth for a total of five minutes?

We would, quite simply speaking, be up in arms.

But this is what is happening on a daily basis, especially for uncontacted tribes, who are continually being threatened by large corporations bent on making money out of the resources.

There are many examples of Indigenous people, contacted and non-contacted, who are victims of this: The Penans in Malaysia, Nukak Indians in Colombia, Papuans in West Papua, the Jummus in Pakistan, the Mbororo of West Africa....the list goes on and on.

Then you've got the Indigenous peoples who live as second class citizens in supposed "first world" nations.

Aboriginal people in Australia, First Nations in Canada, American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians in America, Maori in New Zealand....God it's like the list never ends!

I think it would have just been so easier if we had all gone our separate ways - if colonialism had never happened.

Here is a video of possibly the most isolated tribe on earth - the Sentinelese
of the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.

As Survival International says:

Perhaps no people on Earth remain more genuinely isolated than the Sentinelese. They are thought to be directly descended from the first human populations to emerge from Africa, and have probably lived in the Andaman Islands for up to 60,000 years. The fact that their language is so different even from other Andaman islanders suggests that they have had little contact with other people for thousands of years.

Here is the video, forget the fact that the people throwing coconuts are arguably acting like idiots and that the person who posted the video describe them as “Stone Age”. They are not stone age- they live in the same bloody age we are in. People are still so ignorant.

Have you been misled?

2007-10-21T15:07:00.000+10:00

Facebook is not as good as myspace in my opinion, but I can understand how one can get similarly obsessed with either.

Anyway, I was going through the facebook groups today and I was searching for bollywood (naturally). These similar topics kept coming up; groups like Bollywood gave me unrealistic expectations about desi men (with a grand total of over 10,000 members) and Bollywood Gave Me Unrealistic Expectations About Love ♥ (with over 5000 members). So there are a number of bollywood-loving brothers and sisters out there who have had their hopes quashed by real life after a life time (or whenever you began watching Indian films) of Shahrukh Khan or Madhuri Dixit.

And it's not only Bollywood. I have realized that whatever popular culture you choose to emmerse yourself in, there is always a degree of letdown when you learn from experience the reality of life.

For example, songs. Songs make us feel beautiful and all fuzzy inside. Especially love songs. It reminds me of a quote from one of my all-time favourite movies: Waiting To Exhale. Whitney Houston's character is lying on a couch listening to pretty rnb songs and she says something along the lines of: Why do people write these damn songs? To make you think, to make you feel, that anyone could actually feel like this. Someone must have gone through this s*** to write it. (NOTE: That was a BIG paraphrase on my behalf!)

I would be the first to admit that popular culture has been the store stocking my particular brand of rose coloured glasses. Bollywood movies and rnb love songs are mainly my drug of choice - the things that give me a high and help me hallucinate the bad bits of life out.

But I am also beginning to realize that love and falling in love is not formulaic. I have only really been out with two guys but both times I have understood that it doesn't run like it's supposed to: boy meets girl, boy asks girl out blah blah blah blah marriage blah blah blah babies blah blah blah old age and rocking chairs.

But wouldn't it be great if it did? There would be no complications and no time lost.

The reason I have breached this subject today is because I kind of like the most complicated person ever. He is no Shahrukh Khan in Chalte Chalte at all.

The thing is - I think I only like him because I know he likes me. Shame job. But apparantly that is one of the characteristics of falling in love - you begin to like someone more if you know they like you. And apparently, there is always someone in a relationship who likes the other more. I know this from the great storeroom of knowledge former flatmate Arika had in her head.

So which side is it better to be on? I think both times, I have been on "the other person likes me more than I like him" side. I don't like it - you feel out of control and obligated and unsure of yourself. But oh well, I'm only 19 and am bound to have more experiences!

Wouldn't it be great if every boy was like John Donne in Love Infiniteness:

If yet I have not all thy love,
Deare, shall never have it all,
I cannot breath one other sigh, to move,
Nor can intreat one other teare to fall,
And all my treasure, which should purchase thee,
Sighs,teares,and oathes, and letters I have spent.
Yet no more can be due to mee,
Than at the bargaine made was ment,
If then thy gift of love were partiall,
That some to mee, some should to others fall,
Deare, I shall never have Thee All.

And, as I mentioned earlier, it would be great if, in the courting stages, every boy was like Shahrukh Khan in Chalte Chalte - who would buy a plane ticket to Greece just to woo Rani Mukerji.

This boy who I am kind of involved with right now, was apparently so upset when I left, but then hasn't even sent me a simple text!!

So I guess, even if pop culture leads us on, at least we can always refer back to it to make us feel a tiny bit better about our lives. At least screen-writers get it.

Check out this song called "Suno Na" from Chalte Chalte - it is one of the sweetest songs ever. Shahrukh is so charasmatic and Rani is seriously the most beautiful girl in the world (i'm not exaggerating!). In it, he is trying to convince her to listen to the story of his heart, which is urging her to "choose me as your companion".

Had to post it!

2007-10-20T17:37:00.000+10:00

So I was just cruising YouTube today and I came across the song that made me absolutel fall in love with Salman Khan.

It is called Jeene ke ishare mil gaye and is from the excellent film Phir Milenge which stars Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and of course, Salman.

This clip is seriously the most beautiful love song I have seen so far in Bollywood. There are many other gorgeous ones, but this song just puts me in a whole other realm.

The film itself is a standout Bollywood film which I would reccomend to anyone as their first taste of Indian cinema. It deals with AIDS and the social stigma attached to it, especially in India.

I don't know that much about AIDS beside a general understanding but it is definately something I want to post on more in the future. I had the opportunity to meet this amazing South African lady in the Torres Straits who was very passionate about AIDS awareness.

She runs a festival over in South Africa but when she had such a different insight into the matter.

She was telling me how it is so widespread over in Africa that people were raping babies, believing that was a cure to AIDS. But she was telling me that there was so much awareness now that people were actually turning off - so there needs now to be other measures put in place.

But anyway, I'll do a more in detail post later on. I just really wanted to show you all this magical song!

Luv me

Finally!

2007-10-20T14:59:00.000+10:00

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

Seriously. In the quest for my perfect blog, I have gone through about three different domain names, seven different layouts and about three different themes. This is why, after writing this, I will have three different first blog posts. But oh well. As Winston Churchill said above, at least I never lost my enthusiasm!

So basically, this blog is going to be about my journey to finding what I believe in. I intend to read a few more books and write a bit more in detail about my feelings and my life, something I have not done before in an attempt to escape the label Emo.

But I guess now that I am approaching my 20s, I am almost past being called emo. At the least, I am not a very emotional person anyway. I would rather smile and laugh and talk things through than cry into my pillow.

These days I don't have much to cry about, except for the inane sense of boredom that has crept into my life. Well, not so much boredom. More so, sameness. Last year was my year of change. This year seems to be my year of coping with this change while staying in the same rut. I've barely travelled this year, I've barely learnt any new things. I've barely had any new experiences.

The only new thing has been that I have pretty much renounced a great portion of my religion, and yet I am still not ready to give it up entirely. When you have believed in something for so long, it is very hard not to fear the hell fire.

So I've bought the Koran but I have also bought some athiest literature. I look forward to reading some more christian literature such as C.S. Lewis and am also hoping to dabble in a bit of the Dalai Lama's work this year. Hopefully I will have time to chronicle it in a way that won't be too boring.

I'm just beginning to realize that life is simply too short to waste it on a lifestyle of nothingness.

Please feel free to leave comments in the "tag" section of the blog! This is mostly for my friends but anyone is welcome to contribute to the debate!

Luv me

You Know You're Addicted When....

2007-10-19T20:53:00.000+10:00

No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness. ~Sheik Abd-al-Kadir

Coffee. Just below chocolate on the ladder of importance :P I just realize today that I am totally, utterly addicted to coffee. I guess it's better than being addicted to other things!

And you know how I know I am addicted?

From just a few sips, I can tell who has made it! For example - there are five main people who make my morning coffee:

Tattoo Guy.

Vietnamese man.

Vietnamese lady.

Fish and Chip Shop Lady.

Boyish-girlish Lady.

Of all of these tattoo guy wins hands down, followed closely by fish and chip shop lady.

I was thinking about this today and realized that I really have no life.

And then I was thinking. I can't wait to go home and see all my friends! And thus! This blog was born!

So basically, I'm going to just write secrets and feelings and stuff like that for my friends back home. I feel really bad because my friends are such good bloggers and usually update on at least a monthly basis. I go through trials and I think it is because I try to impress everyone with my writing (the great curse of the writer!)

But I'm just going to do my thing and hope for the best. At least it'll be cathartic, even if no one reads!

Feel free to leave a comment on my tagboard - i have yet to figure out how to put a proper comment function in because I haven't ever used a skin over a template before. I'll probably change this template ten million times so bare with me!

Why oh Why?

2007-10-19T18:54:00.001+10:00

"One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts--just mere thoughts--are as powerful as electric batteries--as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison." - Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.

I know what you are thinking. Why do you have yet another blog? Why oh why?

I get tired of things easily. And I am yet to find my true home on the World Wide Web. My first blog was full of rubbish. My second blog was ok enough for the recycle bin. My third blog was fine but I began to get sick of updating it. My fourth blog...well...what will my fourth blog be about?

Basically, this is a blog for my neurotic and self-centred thoughts. Blogs are for expression, but I don't necessarially want an audience. Actually - the only audience I really want is from the curly haired one, the straight haired one and the blonde haired one.

Yes. This is my SECRET garden. For my friends and for me. I'm not particularly obsessed with the actual book by the same name, but when I do read it, it somehow makes me feel content and happy. So hopefully this is what my blog will make me feel.

Please leave comments my dears :)

Luv
Me