This morning when I woke up, I immediately reached for my phone. An act that seems insignificant & natural most mornings. This morning this tiny action weighed heavily on my heart.
I'd slept restlessly. My head overcrowded with prayers & thoughts of those people trapped - in what must have been a seemingly endless day of terror.
I typed 'Syd' into my browser before auto complete had brought up the rest. A flood of news websites filling the page. After reading the first page I was flooded with relief.
Until I got to the end of the story.
Two innocent people had been killed. This morning as I awoke, there are two families waking to find that they have lost their son or daughter, their brother or sister, their husband or wife. Children who have lost their mother or father.
As tears welled in my eyes, the thoughts echoed though my head. Not here. Not us.Not Australia...
We pride ourselves in our multiculturalism. On our acceptance of everyone regardless of race, gender, colour, sexual preference or religion. We have always lived Terror free & most of us thought Australia to be untouchable by such abhorrent actions. A man interviewed on 'Sunrise' summarised:
"It's humanity which brings us together. That has been betrayed".
And we were. We, as a nation, were betrayed. A man - who came to our country seeking refuge & was willingly accepted into our community - spat in our faces & laughed about it.
But this is not the time for hate campaigns & fear mongering. Islam, at its core, is a peaceful & respectful religion. We cannot blame the religion as a whole for the actions of one man. That's like blaming Christians for the Klu Klux Klan, Jews for the Holocaust, gun manufacturers for Port Arthur...you see my point? It simply doesn't make sense. If we start fighting amongst ourselves - he - this awful, evil, psychotic human being, wins. Now is the time for Australia to stand together. Reject the actions of the individual - not our brothers & sisters who happen to follow a faith unfortunately tarnished by the extremist actions of a select minority.
Today, wherever you are, I urge you: stay true to the Australian way. Support your friends, family & coworkers - no matter what their race, sexual preference, gender, colour or religious belief. We have all been affected by the tragic events of the last 24 hours - ultimately ending in the passing of two comrades. Do not let the actions of one man divide us. We are better than that. We are Australians.
I’ll be completely honest: I’ve never understood men. Ask any man and they will happily tell you that it is actually us women who are the enigma. After 22 years on this planet, I am no naive child – I know I have a lot to learn. But why do I always have to learn my lessons about men the hard way?Is it that I am so blind to what is in front of me, that I’m impervious to what is going on around me?
What I don’t understand, is that things can be great for prolonged periods of time. Wonderful, even: so wonderful that you might not see the signs. A slight change in attitude here, an un-replied text message there – pretty soon there is no contact at all. You stare at your bloody phone all bloody day waiting for a message, or a phone call, or some kind of confirmation that they are still thinking about you. Some beacon of light cutting through the fog, assuring you that they are thinking about you as much as you are thinking about them (although being female there is no way guys think about things as much as we do).
Why do we wrap ourselves up in this little cocoon, assuming that we are not alone in our feelings? We know that we are only setting ourselves up for heartache, right? Right. We know this. We know this so well, that we have begun to block out that little voice in our head. That little voice that tells us he’s just not interested. And it doesn’t matter how many freaking times I watch He’s just not that into You, I still analyse every single thing that is said, done, or displayed. I was watching the movie the other day, and there is a scene when one of the main characters talks about seeing ‘signs’ that a particular boy liked me. Her friend rushed over stating ‘Oh! I love signs’ and the proceeded to decode them. I sat there and shook my head in disgust, realising that these two women were representing – not only me – but every other desperate single girl I know. It actually made me sick.
I blame men. And romantic comedies for raising a generation of women with unrealistic and ridiculous expectations. But mainly men.
Men push us around and manipulate us to the best of their abilities. When they are bored with us, they gradually break off contact until there is prolonged period of time in which silence is the norm. When they decide you are worthy of their time again, they will contact you again. And the ones who you think will be different, the men who you think you can count on – you know the ones who you were friends with for a long time first? – even they let you down eventually.
That’s it from me, folks: short and sweet. If you were looking for a purpose from this, I’m sorry. But sometimes, you need to just get things off your chest.
Earlier this week, Universities all across the country handed out free two minute noodles to students. This was done in a bid to draw the nation’s attention to the appalling wage students are given by the government. Two minute noodles were chosen, as it is the stereotypical food university students live on whilst they are studying. There were posters stationed near the noodles, claiming that the average Youth Allowance payment is 48 per cent below the poverty line. Even people on the Dole can claim more money, and they generally don not have a direction in life.
Students were outraged that the government holds their plight in so little regard. There were many discussions around my campus, as to how abysmal the lack of government funding is for students – especially considering they claim to want more of our children to complete a tertiary education. What the government fails to consider, however, is that many of these students will not be able to attend universities and other institutions due to a lack of funding. The average wage for a student on Youth Allowance is $248 a fortnight. Yes, a fortnight.
I am relatively lucky, as I still live at home and do not have to pay rent or utilities, or buy my own food. Many students do not have this luxury, which means they would generally only be able to afford the basics. There are some weeks when I struggle to get by, and this is someone who does not have to pay for much. By the time I put petrol in my car – to get me to and from Uni – and put a bit of credit on my phone, I am broke again. I have not been able to afford text books for the past two years, which makes me feel as though my education has suffered, and studying at a small Uni with no library to speak of, I can not access the books there either: Simply because we do not have them. But if I were working, I would feel as though my education were still under sufferance, as I would not have as much time or energy to put into producing the quality assignments I need in order to get by. Uni students do not actually want to work. They only work because they do not have any other choice.
One of my good friends and I were talking, and she is always joking with me about how my car is falling apart. When we had a discussion about how much the average student earns, she asked me what I got from the government. When I responded, her reaction was nothing short of shock. She sat quiet for a while before replying with “Well no bloody wonder you can’t afford to service your car!”. I dread to think what some of these other students have to go through in order to have a functioning vehicle. Her partner had joined the conversation by this point, and he informed me that he pays four times the amount I earn, in tax each fortnight.
The point of the matter is that the government needs to look at their student funding. If they gave students adequate assistance to complete their tertiary education, then more students would be able to complete their education. It is too late for people like me (and believe me, there are many more who are a lot worse off than I am), but there needs to be something done to ensure the future of our students. I understand the government can not just pull a couple of million dollars from their arse, but they should look at re-financing to provide students with the assistance they need and deserve.
The hit American television show, Supernatural, is a cult collection of stories featuring the ghoulish and the unbelievable.Stories cover a vast range of material; from ghosts, witches, shape-shifters and wendigos; to psychics, magic coins, angels and demons.Even the odd human being makes an appearance as a less-than-human monster of sorts. Millions of people lap up these tales, and become immensely engrossed in the plot-lines of our favourite pseudo-superheros. Hundreds of fan clubs the world over are dedicated to Supernatural and to proving that we really do have a reason to be afraid of the dark.
Supernatural is, of course, not the first television show to devote their narratives to all things paranormal. The X-Files was a hit television series in the 1990s, and continues to have a cult-like following the world over. With a catchy punch-line of; ‘The Truth is out There...’ - it’s a hard show to ignore.Countless movies, books, magazines, websites and documentaries have also been dedicated to the exploration of the supernatural and paranormal: but why? Do these numerous print and viewing mediums hold truth in the accounts they publish?
Every year thousands upon thousands of ghost, werewolf, poltergeist, alien and UFO experiences are reported across the globe. Even if we take into account that the entire population has an overactive imagination, where did these first stories derive from?There is some historical evidence to support the stories of several fictional tales circulating of Vampires and Werewolves; but even these details remain a little sketchy, and numerous other theories have been whittled from the wood work, which contradict the historical evidence. For example; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is said to be based on the 15th Century Romanian tyrant ‘Vlad Dracula’, or ‘Vlad the Impaler’ as he came to be known. Dracula is a Romanian word which, when translated, literally means ‘Son of the Devil’. Vlad ruled during the mid 1400s and earned his nickname ‘The Impaler’, by his preferred method of executing people; which was to impale his victims on wooden stakes and leave them on display outside his castle. It is told, that at one stage during Dracula’s reign, the Turks decided to invade Romania and capture Vlad Dracula’s flailing country. Rather than send out soldiers to meet the Turks in battle, Dracula had his men impale an entire village – of his own people – on the outskirts of the country.This served as an effective psychological weapon against the Turks, and when they saw what he had done to his own people, they turned on their heels and retreated home. It was Dracula’s love of blood, and his obsession with impaling that is said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s classic novel. But is this the only story that came to influence Mr. Stoker and his take on the vampire?
Stories of Vampires date back as far as time itself. It is said that the first Vampire was the eldest son of Adam and Eve, Cain, who killed his own brother in a fit of jealous rage, and was thenceforth ‘marked’ by God. He wandered the land until he came to the Red Sea, where Lilith – claimed to be the first female made for Adam – was residing.She was banished there after her and Adam had a disagreement and she uttered the Lord’s name in vain.When Cain stumbled upon her, they...er...fornicated. The consummation resulted in several illegitimate offspring said to be ‘a race of fiends, accursed like their father’.*
It has also been speculated that the betrayer, Judas, became the first vampire after hanging himself. This is where the notion of vampires being weakened by silver originates from. Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and when he was not able to give them away, he threw them away in disgust. Whatever the origins of vampire tales, it is obvious that vampire stories have been around long before the 15th Century.
Vampires are not the only supernatural creatures to have historical roots.Werewolves date back to the times of Ancient Greeks and Romans, but the first documented story comes in the form of a pamphlet from 16th Century Germany. It details the story of a villager, Peter Stubbe, who is said to have taken on the form of a wolf, and ravage his victims before brutally dismembering them.After Peter had murdered his own son, the villagers discovered the ‘beast’ was, in fact, him and put him to death. The saddest part of this story; is that his young adolescent daughter – whom all the villagers loved – was burned at the stake for her father’s crimes.Medieval Germans were a vastly superstitious group of people, who believed, that if they allowed Peter’s daughter to live, she too would turn into a wolf, or eventually rear a child who would. Her blood was considered tainted and she became a condemned woman.
These historical accounts demonstrate how these particular creatures came to be feared en masse by the European public during their respective eras, but there is no real explanation as to how the stories came to be. There is much speculation, but no evidence. Evidence is possibly the hardest thing to gather when discussing all things supernatural – especially on the topic of ghosts, poltergeists and ghouls.
Ghosts and spirits seem to be the most difficult apparition to gain evidence on. Television shows such as Most Haunted – a program devoted entirely to the filming of ghosts, orbs, manifestation of voices and other paranormal activity – have attempted to catch a ghost or apparition on film for several seasons, without much success.Generally there are a lot of scared night vision shots of the hosts and other members of the crew, with maybe a few recorded footsteps and a voice or two. Although it is enough to certainly scare the viewer, even the most avid believer can have a hard time trying to accept that much of what you see is factual. Ghosts are possibly the most documented and reported supernatural occurrence on the planet. Non believers have quickly turned into believers when they spotted a ghost.
Although I have never come into ‘personal’ contact with a ghost, I know of several people who have. A girl I know is a scientist. Smart, logical – ‘there are no such things as ghosts’. She took a job over the summer a few years back, doing ghost tours at the Port Arthur settlement on the very southern tip of Tasmania. One day, she was opening up the old prison cells getting ready for a tour. It was broad daylight, so she ventured down there by herself. Half-way along the passage, she heard a set of footsteps following her. She turned, but there was no one there. Several moments later as she approached a cell to open it, two large male hands planted themselves firmly on her shoulders. So firmly, in fact, that she buckled over on the spot. There was still no one there. She has since refused to go into that corridor alone and will no longer unlock the cell doors.
Ghosts come in different forms and represent different periods in time.Sometimes the spirit or ghost is attempting to make contact with the human; oftentimes they are unaware there is a human present. Sightings have been reported as watching a scene from history being played out over and over; others have said that the spirit they encountered was violent and evil. One of the most interesting spirit phenomena is the poltergeist.There have been hundreds of cases around the world; several of which have even made headlines.The most bizarre of these cases perhaps, is the Enfield Poltergeist case from London in the 1970s. The reason this case is strange, is because there are so many reliable eye witnesses who are able to explain in detail what they saw. The fact that so many witnesses saw, and accurately reported back the same thing, makes the story more credible. The children in the house, their mother, policemen and policewomen, journalists, photographers, radio announcers, a lawyer, a shop assistant, a postman, paranormal investigators and para-psychic investigators all saw events that could not possibly be explained by science or natural occurrences.Even the most die-hard of sceptics were turned into believers when this story came to press in the late 1970s. The case was investigated, but nothing has ever been proven as what was going on in the house during this time. It remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of our time.
Supernatural narratives can be used as a tool to scare ourselves, but I always think: where did they come from? Even if creatures such as vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, witches, ghosts and hell hounds are fictional, they have to have existed at some point in time.Yes, there is the old ‘Chinese Whispers’ effect – stories being passed on down the generations – is certainly applicable here.However, that people, to this day, continue to report sightings of unusual phenomena, convinces me that we are not alone, and that the truth, in fact, really is out there.
Television shows watched in research for this blog. All these are available for viewing on YouTube.
·True Horror
·Interview with a Poltergeist
·Arthur C Clark’s world of Strange Powers
·Extraordinary People: The Boy Who Lived Before
·The Real Amityville Horror
·The Real Exorcist
·Strange but True?
·Most Haunted
If you have a ghost story, or any sort of supernatural experience, I would love to hear from you. Pop a comment in the box. If you are really keen, leave me your email. Cheers, E.
* Taken from the poem Beowulf; written by an anonymous author sometime between the 8th and 11th Centuries.
Today the musical world was shocked by the news that five piece Aussie rock sensation, Closure in Moscow, had been unceremoniously dumped from the Soundwave line-up just one day before they were due to start touring. The news has upset festival-goers; with discussions and debates being held in forums, on social networking sites, and blogs. Even youth radio station, Triple J, devoted this evening’s Hack segment to a spin-off topic surrounding the Soundwave mediastorm. The controversy continued to fire up, when a member of the Soundwave management team, publicly slandered the band on the official Soundwave forum early this morning.
‘It is amazing how the one band you book on the festival only as a favour to their manager; whom you are paying 10 times what they are worth as a gesture of goodwill; and you bill way above their station, turn out to be the only demanding and rude people amongst a star-studded line up.’
The band has hit back, posting their version of the story on the band’s blog and Myspace page.
‘We have been absolutely devastated since being told that we couldn't perform at Soundwave this year,’ The post reads, ‘It's impossible to entertain the thought that we offended someone so deeply by asking logistical touring questions... Obviously we were and still are confused over what happened.’So is everyone else.
The devastation felt by fans is apparent on the band’s social networking sites. Facebook and Myspace have been outlets for fans to voice their disappointment.
‘it absolutely [sic] SUCKS what happened to you guys with all that Soundwave business’ Writes a fan on the band’s Myspace page, ‘one of the main reasons I am going [to Soundwave] was to see you play. i'm devastated.’
From recent memory, no other band has been so ludicrously dropped from a festival line-up, mere days before they set to play. Yes, some musicians can be complete idiots – A prime example of this would be the Gallagher brothers of Oasis fame – but organisers have retained their integrity and professionalism by continuing to work with them. Why? Because it has to be done. Take – for example – the Gallagher brothers. Elton John, Michael Jackson, Lady GaGa – All complete douche bags, but all phenomenal entertainers in their own right. Even IF the lads from Closure in Moscow are a pentuplet of arse holes there is absolutely NO reason why they should have been ‘relieved’ of their Soundwave duties. A musician’s personality does NOT reflet his ability to entertain. Further still; no organiser, member of a management team, or public figure of a festival team, has ever made a comment to the detriment of the performer/s and their reputation. It is both unprofessional and childish. Closure in Moscow have been wronged, as have their fans, by being robbed of an opportunity to see their beloved band play.
‘All we ever wanted from day one is to play our music for people... We're grateful to have so many supportive friends and fans that know how absolutely childish and absurd this is. It's sad that this type of behavior exists and is tolerated in an industry designed to promote positivity, creativity and artistic expression through music. Let's not allow one person's negativity keep us from remembering that music is meant to be a catalyst for good; to uplift and encourage. If there's ever a time to remember that, it's now.’
To read the festival management’s side of the story:
