Like Silent Birds of Prey

Selected Observations from Adelaide - 18-22 June, 2010.

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Letting the right one in is like a process of lying to the brain so one can salve a bleeding heart. More mechanically, its like abstraction from the point of entry and acting blissfully unaware of its process. Lips taste sweet without any flavor. The sun pierces through the blades of my eyelids without mercy. The cold rattles the bones within my fingers as smoke billows to the top of the room, hazing the glow of yet more horrible television.

At the end of the longest night comes day. With the rising of the sun, laments for miseries past and cheers for enjoyment yet to come can be heard. If we cannot compromise with time, we remain its enemy. We put up arms but we are always overcome.

If there's one thing I've learned during my travels here and elsewhere, its that people are as unknowable to me as they are to themselves. Probing, demolishing and intimating - all general theories; conjectures just itching to be refuted at some later point. Maps are never territories and are in constant need of rewriting. I cannot watch and report for you - the feelings I encounter flow deep within are everpresent like the lightness of our being. A process of my own assisted design from Mother Nature. Nevertheless, I do care in my own way. All ways and none; unique in their expression. For what it's worth, at the end of the world, it's a small step in the right direction.

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.

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