Wednesday, September 27, 2006

cry baby cry


I'm pretty sure a lot of people reading this would have already seen one or more of Jill Greenberg's 'End Times' photographs. If not, you can see more of them and what they're about here.

This exhibition has hit the news big time recently. Jill Greenberg used photographs of crying and distraught children to illustrate her point of view on the current political and social climate in the US - 'As a parent I have to reckon with the knowledge that our children will suffer for the mistakes our government is making. Their pain is a precursor of what is to come.'

When I first saw the photographs and read this I came to an instant conclusion: cool idea and excellent photographs. Children cry all the time and the fact that lollypops were taken away from them in order to make them cry meant nothing to me because obviously it's not going to harm them at all. Crying is just a tool that babies and young toddlers use to get what they want or need...it's pretty instinctual and almost meaningless a lot of the time, and anyone that's witnessed little kids having toys taken away from them in a shop can see that.

After doing a fair amount of reading on the subject and thinking deep down I've come to the conclusion that it's just not that simple. Jill Greenberg sat these children down and photographed them in a very intimate, and a little bit distressing situation. My problem isn't children crying, or the nakedness. It's just the fact that the photographer and parent stuck them in front of the camera and made them stay there, even if they didn't want to. There's just something a little bit wrong in that...like creating child beauty queens and all that sort of stuff. It makes me feel queasy like Anne Geddes does. Anyway, I've found this debate fascinating.

However despite my opinion or any others on the topic of children crying, I find it disappointing that the desired meaning of the photographs is being lost. If you look at these photos individually without thinking about how they were made, they are very effective in their message. Unfortunately the meaning of the photographs is completely overwhelmed by the controversy of this 'child abuse' debate. The Paul Kopeikin Gallery says that 'She utilizes this uncomfortable image as a way to break through to the pop mainstream and begin a national dialogue.' But surely Jill Greenberg must have been aware of what controversy this would cause, surely she would have been aware that her methods would overtake the meaning her project? She certainly has begun a national and international dialogue; however the dialogue is about a completely different issue. Maybe she could have achieved this without such controversial methods...but then would they have been so successful?

Wow...very very eerie - I just noticed that I'm listening to 'Cry Baby Cry' by The Beatles. Apt.

Now, to end my Jill Greenberg rant, I do think something very positive has come out of all of this in the end - relatively apathetic people are now discussing photography, art and politics more passionately than I've ever seen.

And now, in other news....I finally got a bloody job!

The last two weeks for me have consisted of signing up with temp agency after temp agency and waiting by the telephone. After quite a lot of screwing around and a tiny bit of self pity I was finally offered a reasonable position this afternoon. I'm set to start next week in an Events/Marketing role for the University of South Australia, helping to organise an Expo coming up in a few months. Should be fun hopefully... but basically I'm just so happy to be working in a role in town with decent pay!

Went out for (one of my oldest friends from school) Adelle's birthday last week. A whole bunch of us had Chinese food then went to The Gov to see a local funk band called New White Sneakers. After much funky dancing we also checked out a little bar on Waymouth Street called the Lizard Lounge. I'm still very much realising that there's a little bit more to Adelaide than I thought... there are still a lot of places I have never visited and people that I haven't met!

What else have I been up to?

I attended my first Balboa class last week. It's a partnered dance from around the same era as Lindyhop, but it's much more closed in and formal than the type of dancing you'd know as swing. It's almost like dancing to swing music with mamba(?) steps. (Please correct me if that is a terrible description). At first I didn't want to learn Balboa but I realised that it's pretty important as it quite often gets incorporated into normal swing dancing...and once I tried it I found out it's also a lot of fun! Plus, I can wear heels! Woo hoo! If anyone's reading this and is not getting sick of my excessive enthusiasm for links in this post, you can check out the site for my swing dance classes here.

I visited my buddy Jaan who has cystic fibrosis yesterday. He's in hospital after a nasty operation on his nasal system. He looked fantastic; as healthy as I've seen him in the last year and that's 4 days after a huge operation. I'm hoping to go the the annual 65 Roses cystic fibrosis Ball at the end of this month but finances may stop me unfortunately :(

I think I'm out of things to discuss for now. I hope to have some photos of my trip through North America developed soon... it will have to wait for my first paycheque however, so we'll see how that goes.

Thank you for reading : )

Becky

What I'm listening to at the moment: Beck, Seachange
Really cool documentary I saw last night that you should 'czech' out: Czech Dream

Monday, September 18, 2006

i'm home!

I've been home in Adelaide for a week now but didn't post on here because I was planning on surprising old friends by arriving early.

I came home early as I was a little too poor to stick around...North America was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be! Plus by the time I got to Montreal I realised that I was on my way home and just wanted to hurry up and get here. I had a nightmare series of flights on the way home...I think I missed around 3 flight connections and had 6 different flight numbers...I eventually got home after around 30 hours in planes and airports.

It was cool to see my Mum and Nigel of course, but it was especially nice to see my doggy Scottie and some friends that I haven't seen for a year and a half. Scottie's getting older so he's not quite as much of a pain in the behind as he used to be. That's him down there. Isn't he cute??
So...as everyone already told me, not much has changed in Adelaide in the year and a half that I've been gone. There is now a Starbucks in Rundell Mall and the new police headquarters is finally finished...my Mum & Nigel have torn down half of the house and put a very nice & sunny extension on the back of the house. These are pretty much the most drastic changes I've noted. One thing's for sure though...I've realised how high our standard of living is in Australia and especially in Adelaide. We have fresh air, beautiful gum trees, fine foods, clean streets, huge houses and back yards, a relaxing lifestyle and pretty darn good weather. The biggest bad point is that the price of everything has risen dramatically while I've been gone. I need a job fast!

I'd been pretty worried that on arriving back in Adelaide I would want to leave again. I wasn't the happiest 18 month ago and I was worried I would fall into the old habits and let my old demons take over now that I'm back. That feeling did hit me a little bit along with the jetlag...but I think I've handled it pretty well so far. I figure I am going to have to be here for at least 6 months so I'd better make the most of it. Even though I think I know everyone and everything about Adelaide, I don't, and I'm going to tackle it head on just like I did when I arrived in London and Edinburgh. I actually feel a bit like a guest here anyway so it should be fun getting to know Adelaide from a new angle.

I'm going to call up all the temp agencies today so I can jump back into the working world (yay!). I'm catching up with some old friends from Adelaide Uni for lunch which will be fantastic. I've been into uni to see about taking up my Landscape Architecture degree again...good news is I won't have to repeat anything so I'd only have a year and a half of study left...bad news is I wouldn't be able to start until July next year. I've found a job that I'd love to try out until then though- it's as a intellectual disability support worker within an outdoor adventure program...at the moment I'm questioning if I would rather do this than design. I've looked up Adelaide swing dance and it seems I have 3 nights of classes to choose from which is excellent...also 'Church City Blues' is a dance weekend coming up here in October which I'm looking forward to. Shell will be here from Edinburgh and it'll be cool to catch up as I miss her already!

For now though I'd better get off this blog and get ready for job interviews. Hope everyone's well who's reading this from the other side of the world!

Becky xxx

What I'm listening to at the moment: Kraftwerk, Computer Love

Friday, September 08, 2006

back in the big apple

I've been back in New York since Wednesday. I'm currently staying with friends of Rose's, Tracey and Ben. They have an amazing apartment in Queens, only around 20 minute's tube ride from Manhattan. This area of Queens is really nice, if I moved to NYC I would definitely consider Astoria.

At the moment my feet are killing me cos I've spent the last two days walking Manhattan...and I've only covered around a fifth of it! Yesterday I saw Tiffany's & Co and lots of other shops on 5th Ave, the Seagram Building, the beautiful Crystler Building, Grand Central Station, Trump Tower, the city library, and the original GE Building. I'm sure I've missed something there but don't know what. I also went into the UN Building and even saw a little of a meeting. To top the day off I went the hole hog and went up the Empire State Building where I hung out for a couple of hours photographing the sunset (not so brilliant) and then saw a full orange moon rise over Brooklyn (pretty cool).

Today Krista and I went on an adventure through the lower east side of Manhattan, and since our plan was to not have a plan, we pretty quickly lost in the general area of Greenwich Village. We saw the Flat Iron Building on Broadway and came across a pretty cool street market on the edge of a park. We had a picnic next to the river in a very dodgy park, walked through Chinatown trying to find comfortable footware, then headed over to Brooklyn Bridge for a well earned beer and some nice photos. By this time we'd been wandering the streets of Manhattan for over 4 hours were desperate to find the subway, which we caught back up to the upper east side. Here we saw the Guggenheim Museum in a state you don't often see (photos to come) and then walked across Central Park to the Dakota Building where John Lennon used to live and was sadly shot, and finally to Strawberry Fields, a slightly dodgy part of the park that is now dedicated to him. Sorry Mum - I didn't see Yoko Ono but I did take a photo for you.

Tomorrow I think I might go down to the World Trade Centre site?

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

spencer, me, krista and riley



Photo taken by Mrs Asadorian : )

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

new jersey

I'm safe and sound staying with Krista's all American family in her all American house on her all American street in Washington Township, New Jersey. You would not believe this place...it really really is like the movies. Huge two story houses on giant lawns with no fences, American flags in every single front yard and 4 cars in every driveway. Krista's town is around half an hour's drive from Manhattan, deep in the suburbs. Her family have been so so nice to me...had a delicious dinner last night and they've been so kind to me, looking after me lots and even picking me up from Manhattan!

So obviously I did get in touch with Krista after much screwing around trying to find an ATM, then coins for the public phone...which turns out had to be quarters which of course no one would give me. Once that was sorted I wasn't going to be meeting Krista for several hours and there are no lockers at all in the city of New York so I wandered around with all of my belongings on my shoulders for a few hours. Worked out that Central Park was only 10 blocks north so I wandered up there, on the way stumbling on Time Square and Broadway. Found the park after a few stops and for around the 10th day in a row settled down for a read followed by a snooze in the sun. On the way back to meet Krista I stumbled on a street market celebrating Brazil that didn't seem to be selling Brazilian stuff at all. When Krista's parents (the Asadorians) picked me up they took me on a tour of the New Jersey coast looking over Manhattan which was fantastic! Oh yeah I forgot to mention, the Asadorians don't have an American flag hanging in their front yard because there's a flag with one black and one white scottish dog on it! Why??? Because they have a West Higland White Terrior (same as my dog Scottie) called Spencer, and a black Scottish Terrior called Riley. They actually own the same dogs as on the Black & White whisky bottles! So yeah, I've been spending a lot of time hugging Spencer cos he reminds me of Scottie. Krista and I made the whole family dinner tonight and I made my first pavlova ever...and it worked! It's so nice to be staying in an actual real family house...I haven't been in one for around a year and a half.

What I am listening to at the moment: Nothing. But I do have 'New York New York' in my head a lot.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

new york, new york

OH MY GOSH I'm in New York! Wow! Bus ride was pretty comfy as it was pretty empty, but I didn't sleep very well after my run in with the immigration officer at the border...I was SO CLOSE to not getting in...he called me a 'risk taker' and seemed to think it strange and quite criminal to go through a country without everything planned and hotels booked. He thought I was a danger to American society because I stay at people's houses when I can and don't spend a lot of money. He ooozed the sort of arrogant authority that I severly dislike about the United States. Man this country is friggin paranoid. What the hell am I gonna do...damage their reputation by sleeping on a bench if I can't get accomodation...? I'm pretty sure there are so many bums in this city that one more wouldn't hurt. I wish I could have had a go at this guy but that was exacly what he wanted...he was just waiting for me to say something stupid or angry and then I would have been kicked out back into Canada with a very bad mark on my immigration record...but mum you would be proud, I stuck up for myself well and kept complete composure...quite proud of myself :)

Well anyway, I was the first person from the bus to go through immigration and the last to get out...they could have left me at the border but thank goodness they waited. The view coming through New Jersey towards Manhattan was stunning...one of those 'wow' life moments that all the immigrants must have experienced as they saw the buildings rising up out of the water and looked forward to their new lives. Now I'm on 42nd Street in a Burger King trying to think of what the heck I'm gonna do with myself. There are real New York yellow cabs outside! And everyone has such an obvious accent! Will try to call Krista in an hour or so...wasn't able to get hold of her from Montreal. Here's hoping the immigration officer wasn't correct and my ignorance of the United States of America and it's customs doesn't make me a risk to society.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

leaving quebec

I`ve been in Montreal for over a week and have met some cool people but I`ve really keen to check out New York. I`m catching a bus tonight...getting very excited about seeing Manhattan but am dreading the bus ride, especially since I`m hung over : (

Went to a bar in the Latin Quarter last night and saw a live blues/rock n roll band which was fantastic. Stayed at a friend`s house as I`m getting sick of hostels...i`ve been to 3 of them in Montreal.

Anyway that`s my quick update. If anyone has any suggestions of things to see & do in New York please let me know!