Holy shit I found the blog again

And I’m posting. For gloritude.

“It doesn’t matter how tough we are, trauma leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up, but maybe that’s the point. All the pain & the fear, maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It’s what … pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up before we can step up.”

Rain Rain Go Away…

…come back and keep the English at bay! Well played Mr Curator Man.

Fuck it..

….4chan still rules the internet.

The most amazing find of all time…

…today. And it comes from Sempiternal Esoterica, a blog setup to help internetians gain access to long saught after demotapes and EPs that generally do not make their way outside the circles of close knit tape traders. Of course, as usual, SE has come up with the goods, this time by releasing the much wanted “Visceral Evisceration” rehearsal tapes from 1991. Long has the existance of these tapes been questioned, finally, after 18 long years have they made their way onto the internet for the first time.

This not only constitutes the culmination of an absolute fucktonne of searching and hardwork by many to get this material, but also a victory for the masses of the highest order. Adam, you sir deserve a medal.

Obamicon

Clearly the latest and greatest internet meme since the invention of lolcats, is the Obamicon, where you yourself get to Obamise yourself in immortality. Yes,that’s right, using this site with make you LIVE FOREVER. Anyways, going through some of the “Top Rated” Obamicons that have been made, I stumbled across possibly the best thing I have ever seen on the internet (except One Night in Paris, clearly).

That’s right children, we are still piling shit on GWB even though he has faded into obscurity and no one gives a shit about him. Stand up and fight against the war in Iraq by using Obamicon. DOET. RIGHT NOW.

Internet 1

GWB 0

God to Blame

Cityrail, my favourite of all transport companies across the board, has decided that instead of accepting the fact that the organisation is a complete andutter failure, it would be an excellent idea to blame the one entity that has ‘control over all’ – GOD. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, the almighty power is more concerned with Cityfail than it is with poverty, war, hunger and the envirment (combined) and as a result has decided that it will use all it’s powers to halt trains at every available opportunity.

Channel Nine News Report

Thank you CityRail, you have again proven yourself to be worth of a 5 Star Failure award.

A Discussion on “isolation”

A big issue before I decided to leave the YA community (and part of the reason why I left) has reared it’s head again of late, the idea that several YAs have begun to feel isolated from the other members in the YA community or from RO itself. Now, before I go any further, I’m going to through in a definition, because the idea of “isolation” has seen me recieve negative responses in the past.

Dictionary defines isolation as “noun the state of being isolated”, and of course, isolated as “separated from other persons or things; alone; solitary.”

Regardless of whether you take the stance that isolation is merely about geographic location, or you are taking a less narrow minded approach and looking at the bigger picture, isolation within the YA community is becoming more prevelant, and seems to be driving YAs away from the organisation.

First up, I want to point out that geographically speaking, yes, I was lucky in being a Sydney based YA not having the trouble of traveling distances to go to workshops etc, and having access to celebrations such as the Inspire Xmas Party and post-AI Summit celebration. But the isolation I felt was not about not being able to attend meetings/celebrations (although I rarely did, as a result of the difficulty in getting there) it’s about out of contact with many YAs in the area for long periods of time and not being able to complete activities that have a seemingly higher value than others (presentations rather than vandalism stickering everything).

Really, I’m not standing out and saying that people who are geographically isolated have it easier nor am I saying they have it harder. To me, both situations present a valuable set of opportunities.

Isolated YA

• The ability to operate control over your activities
• Ability to undertake more activies rather than “sharing” amongst others
• Controling how RO is promoted. You decide whether it’s vandalism stickering you want to do or organising speechs at schools etc

Non-Isolated YA

• Access to more activities
• Access to a wide range of marketing opportunities
• More people in the area to work with

It seems people on both sides miss the negatives though. Whilst an isolated YA has more power over what they do, big movements require more than one person, and Sydney/Melbourne YAs who have access to more speeches/presentations/etc have more competition, meaning that people frequently miss out.

Under the new youth participation system, the current issues can swing two ways. It is either going to be solved, with more people from “isolated areas” becoming participants, meaning that people near eachother can band together to work as a team and create events (kind of like what the WAYAs group is doing) or it could see more issues occuring, more distain and less interest in participating in the program.

I’m sure there is more to be added to this, so when I think about the stuff, I’ll either edit the post or throw it in the comments section, but I’m desperate to hear from others (and alledgely so are staff, and this is an informal means of venting frustrations) about their experience, their views or potential solutions. So just comment away. As usual, if you haven’t commented before, I have to validate, so don’t stress if your post doesn’t appear straight away. The next (in theory) post will be about trying to address issues and trying to help find ways to get over the ‘isolated’ feel that people are reporting.

YA Isolation II: Suggestions for the Reduction on “Isolation”

This one is open for comments that (well all comments, but geared towards) both explore ways to to overcome the isolation and to comment on a constructive set of ideas to address the issue. Regardless, if you’re having issues talk to Nikki (nikki@inspire.org.au) or Janice or Kerry, whose emails I don’t have on hand. In an attempt to be constructivist, I’m throwing out this idea for the masses, and frankly, it’s up to you goes whether or not it goes anywhere. It’s on YAs to find a solution, so if you’re in a situation where you feel isolated, you should be working out ways that YOU THINK isolation could be averted (atleast somewhat), because as I said in the previous post, it’s likely to worsen with the influx of YAs.

Here goes (it’s a bit disjointed and needs more work obviously, but that’s where you guys come in).

1. Staff ties with YAs: If I remember correctly there was talk a while back when discussing (in the early phases) the new YP program, of having “isolated” (geographically, as discussed at the time) YAs linked with staff to get support when they need it. This would be an excellent system to impliment, even though staff will be faced with (in theory) more work

2. YA ties: Setting up a “team” system, where small groups (2-4) of YAs from varying areas (not necessarily completely workable due to the way the YAs are split across the nation) that will remain in place until people leave. Like the ROYL system, it will be about supporting eachother, but instead of a mentor system, it’s more to do with, helping eachother find resources, finding the “courage” to approach places for activities etc.

3. Overhaul of YL Setup: ROYLs need to be looked at, and there needs to be further incentives to ensure that they (if they are to still be used under the new system) remain active in the 6 weeks that they are tied to new YAs. There have been varying reports about the effectiveness and committment of YLs and whilst it’s never going to be perfect, it’s a valuable system, and without it, new participants may struggle even moreso.

4. Fostering an open forum: It’s difficult to do this, but currently, there seems to be a mob mentality, where if a person doesn’t agree with the outlined proposals, they are looked down upon, ideas are overlooked and questions are raised about the constructive nature of their posts. It’s important to create a safe forum (ie discussion) where people feel comfortable expressing their opinions. This was a buzz topic a while back (early 08) but it was seemingly overlooked after that short period. Whilst there is never going to be 100% cohesion, it needs to be addressed becaused without this being reduced/stopped, disenchantment is going to worsen.

5. Assistance to setup projects: Staff being able to help YAs setup school presentations, ties with companies etc in areas relevant to that of the YA requesting (or in the general vicinity, ie potentially Perth for WA) so being able to do “something major” is easier for all YAs to do

I’m sure there are more, but they are the 5 that come to mind currently. Post ideas/comments/whatever. I’m really keen to here from as many YAs as possible, so tell yo franz.