Poor Forever

I ventured to university yesterday to do some research and collect my essays, dreading the results. When I was finally handed them back, the worst had happened - I was awarded High Distinctions (the highest mark one can get in Australia) for both.

Of course, the mark is something I'm proud of - it adds to my current HD average which pleases me greatly as it is the product of hard work. However, the constant achievement means that Drs Tony Moore and John Arnold of the National Center for Australia Studies have offered me the chance to complete a year long dissertation as my final subject instead of coursework.

My dissertation is called "The Media Ecology of Rock Journalism in Australia" and will explore several issues regarding rock n' roll journalism such as the influence of advertising on independence and the rise of the internet and amateur/citizen journalism on the scene as a whole. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to established bands and writers as well as do some work experience/fieldwork at magazines and labels. I lamented at the time that I'd be poor forever, extending my studies for another semester. But then I figured when would I ever get another chance to research something I truly loved that I could even turn into a PhD some day? The choice won't be as hard as I think.

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http://twitter.com/crushtor

We are not all journalists now

Now that the internet is promulgated with myriad options to self-publish, its becoming plainly apparent that self-styled bloggers - or glorified and over-opinionated people with a platform to air their views - consider themselves journalists. Here's something you can publish on your next blog: If you never went to some form of school in publishing, journalism or media and communication, you are not a journalist.

"But Tom," they'll whine, "I get press releases in my email! I am invited to industry events! I'm an insider god damn it!" Perhaps - maybe I'm disinclined to believe you if you're able to string a sentence together and work in the industry that the events are aimed at. If you're an IT professional - yeah, you do get invited to trade shows. If you work in retail - sure, product launches are a place to be. That doesn't make you a journalist, it makes you a wanker with access.

Wankers with access are just dudes who are privileged enough to "know a guy" or are invited to exclusive events due to the nature of their primary occupation. If that is the case, then you are not a journalist. Just like how my knowledge of CPR does not make me a doctor or my ability to trade foreign currency does not make me a stock broker. If your definition of verifying sources is "waiting for the next press release" then you are not a journalist. Becoming a journalist is hard work. You are just a dude with a website. Please cease and desist on debasing my profession.

Yours sincerely,

Crushtor

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http://twitter.com/crushtor

The Particle Waves Goodbye

"Man kann nicht nicht kommunizieren."

- Dr. Paul Watzlawick

The above quote when translated means One cannot not communicate. I was thinking today as I almost drifted towards sleep and was startled by a thought involving one of my childhood friends who is now moving away to start his career elsewhere. What piqued my interest especially was thinking of his communication as behavior and vice-versa - the dual function that language wields - as a means of communication and as a behavior. Of course language is not limited to our verbal modality, it extends to visual and kinesthetic behaviors; body language and touch and the like.

Recently, though a partial transformation of attitude - whether self-created or assisted - he has changed the nature of the communication "ritual" as Dr. Eric Berne would call it. The metacommunicative "ritual" was structured on a friendly game of masculine competitiveness - a verbal game of oneupmanship through put downs or "bagging" in the parlance of our times. Recently, this friend has refused to "take the bait" i.e., reciprocated the insults in a manner befitting the well established ritual. This non-communication as a behavior has in fact communicated to me that this friend perhaps has become annoyed with me or no longer wishes to continue the relationship. This behavior validates the axiom of "looking at what [one] does instead of what [one] says." According to some scholars, the choice of words comprise only 7-10% of total communication with the remainder divided equally between voice tonality and body language.

To outsiders, our communication seems scornful and vindictive when in fact the parameters for our friendship has been established in such a fashion that provides us with the maximum amount of pleasure; while we disparage the fidelity of our mothers, we are actually enjoying these little games as an adjunct of the total relationship. The dual function abounds everywhere and reveals itself differently to the partners in the cycle of communication and outside observers. If we remind ourselves of the wave/particle duality of light we can apply it just as easily to human interaction. What we do is what we say and what we say is something we do. Both are inseparable but distinct; both and neither, all at the same time.

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http://twitter.com/crushtor