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i love you.

Jessica

An extract from an old e-mail from an old friend. I once again found it particularly relevant to a time where our leaders look confused and bombs seem to have the answers.

"The night of September 11, I walked into my family room and saw my mum watching television, seeing the plane crash into the tower on television in the early hours of morning. But it never happened. My mum didn't know until the next day. I'd dreamt it all. I had felt so detached from the world. I was at a point in my life where I hated myself, if I were threatened with death, I wasn't not sure I would feel fear, wasn't sure if I could. And I didn't. Not fear, nor agony, not pain, or empathy, just a slow, internal twisting of the future, a barbed wire rope of premonition, clawing me apart from the inside out. Reality broke free of the shadows of deliverence we'd been living in. There would be no deliverence. The world would gradually crumble to reveal a burning, wall of hell around us. Deliverence was forsaken. We did this to ourselves. And we would suffer for it."

Could I take your seat?

For once in my life, other than the implementation of tram conductors, I have finally witnessed what I believe is an effective method of ticket evasion deterrence. I like to call this method, 'Communication'.

In MetLink's latest idea to fight evaders (sounds like something out of Star Wars) they have decided to directly talk to evaders who are riding free on their trams. Large black signs with thick red type on them, direct evaders to how they should act if they are to continue fare evading.

"ATTENTION FARE EVADERS
Please huddle together at the back of the vehicle to avoid inconveniencing paying passengers."

"ATTENTION FARE EVADERS
If you're not paying for your ride then someone else is. Maybe you should find them, apologise and take them out for a nice dinner."
















"ATTENTION FARE EVADERS
Please thank the paying passenger next to you. They have covered the cost of your journey. Maybe you should offer to mow their lawn."

Personally, they truely instill a feeling a guilt, large enough to force me to validate my already-validated ticket on the basis that 'maybe it didn't work last time I did it'... They're going to create a generation of passengers that not only pay for their ticket, but sit as close as they can to the validating machine, constantly re-validating their ticket, as they won't be able to cope with the guilt of not having it validated at least 30 seconds beforehand.


OnAir with BlackPunk: Missy Elliott - The CookBook [LP]

....this is your life

So last Thursday my partner and I settled into watching another episode of the Australian loved series of "Lost", a show which I haven't been all that interested in since the start, but one that has gradually took more and more of my interest. During the commercials, my partner and I started flicking the channels, immediately arriving at Channel 9, where I was shocked to see this weeks special guest of "This Is Your Life". At first, I didn't know what to make of Pauline Hanson being the subject of their glorification of Australian celebrity. Was it her 'performance' on Channel 7's "Dancing With The Stars"?

To be honest, I felt a little annoyed and insulted that her life was being congratulated and promoted. Fair enough, her contributions to the Australian Government and her views on immigration have educated the education system and awoken people to the fact that many people are very ignorant about different ethnic cultures, the impact of immigration and the world around them. I just wasn't able to get over the pain and aggravation she caused so many 'ethnic' citizens of Australia; the people who suffered workplace harassment from colleagues because of their ethnicity; the children and students who experienced racism from fellow classmates. Granted, she did shed light on many issues such the unfair treatment of Aboriginals, but considering how much frustration she caused for minority groups, many would think that it wouldn't make her deserving of a 'This Is Your Life....' accolade.

It just didn't seem right watching Pauline Hanson shrugging off her jail sentence as if she was assuming we too all thought that it was unnecessary and unfounded. Perhaps she wasn't there long enough if she didn't realise the gravity of what she did. Lucky for her, she's one of those people some love to hate, and some hate to love.

OnAir with BlackPunk: Missy Elliot - Meltdown