Posts by ali bramwell
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
the grafitti removal art is really nice - a bit mondrian but less uptight
personally I enjoy the sense of the city as being continually overwritten, palimpsest style...and we might as well like it because change happens with or without an accompanying sense of irony and wry enjoyment that the view is new today, again. History is still there, it just has another layer added.
Im not a tagger myself, no street cred points to score, but I do walk everywhere and am often rewarded by the witty urban additions that appear, both official and unofficial. The delightful new The Warehouse and Mitre 10 Mega buildings in South Dunedin (bright red and orange respectively) are saucy little numbers that are recognised additions to the sense of community harmony and regularly make passersby chuckle fondly.
The University Branch of National Bank has also entered into a slapstick comedy routine by painting a wall overlooking their carpark pristinely white except for the block lettered sign in the center that says "please dont graffitti this wall". (I mean really...a girl might as well install a big red button in a kids playground with the sign "please do not under any circumstances push this button"). the local spray bunnies have shown commendable restraint and there are only ever one or two small (but everpresent) taggish embellishments placed insouciantly near to the politely worded request.
In my wanderings I have definitely noticed a rise in strategic buffing as a new street form..again Im including the accidental 'official' contributions in my story, the accidental Mondrian effect referred to already by others. I particularly like the technique that writes by removing dirt selectively...If I find a link to an online pic I'll post it. but, another day...enuf of the rambling circumnavigations.
-
we did that..not the save-a-huge-sum-of-money part (much more modest because of being one of '__actual__ average couples' )...but the get-the-smallest-you-can-tolerate part. We absolutely dont regret the extra breathing financial space, especially now the doom merchants and interest rises have arrived, and the house is great now that we are settled in. We apparently didnt need all that stuff that is still sitting untouched in storage. thinking seriously about a monster garage sale.
the bank wanted to loan a lot more than we borrowed. temptation was there...
-
erm... longer school day is a common solution in Asia and every man woman child raggedy cat and dog seems to work from 8am to 8pm and then some.
solves one problem ...but its not unusual to discover that Korean and Chinese kids are schooling here because their parents are worried about the high stress of the school environments at home. (not just english language education, but more balanced lifestyle).
much better for employers to get their head around some community vision... surely? many people actually want to be with their families, its only half of the story to talk about good childcare or extended supervision out of current school hours. A longer school day might also create a new expectation that everybody will work more.
In a high employment environment skills shortage surely employers will figure out being accommodating about hours is a win win situation? or do the (not-defined-by-biology) primary carer demographic just not have skills employers want?
in the same spirit why in hell should block leave over school holidays be so impossible for those parents that need/want it?
*pause for hands on hips Aretha Franklin moment*
-
Ali: If you can legislate against, or find a genetic marker for, callous stupidity I'll be very, very impressed. :)
heh
for sure Craig. you are quite right. By way of explanation my sarcastic little aside (about the lack of comment and condemnation about the 'respectable' murderer's actions) was mainly because I was reacting about a tide of well-meaning intention towards 'the problem'..in the form of educating or disciplining or therapising a specific group of kids. IMO that callous stupidity that cant be legislated against is the missing part of the picture. Its all very well pouring oil and applying social bandaids on the obvious symptoms so we can all feel that Something Has Been Done. Even better remove the problem from view so we dont have to think about it anymore. literally clean the unsightly social garbage from the streets. But nothing changes while people, no amend that, not just people -people with legislative power and Public voice in the Habermassian sense- feel free to express a opinion that that boys life was worth less than property value. Its a basic condition of disenfranchisement, far more complex than poverty and yet very goddamn simple.
I am so stinking mad Im not expressing myself very well.
no jokes today, or sweet stories. maybe tomorrow
-
I've got a solution - bit radical, although quite obvious considering how all the experts concur that a person's future behaviour and psyche is predicated and shaped by the time they are seven. How about compulsory early childhood education?
Yes the tag-em and bag-em Councillor may have been a more humane rounded individual if he had had access to quality pre-school education as a child.
But given that its probably too late to remedy the lapses in his education not electing him would also be good prevention.(yes I know your solution was intended for a different 'problem', sorry.)
Doesnt anyone else think that blaming home life and upbringing is too simplistic?
No speculation on how to fix the social development the 50 year old murderer and the people who think a clean fence is worth more than a life?
-
I note that Manukau District Council has a very strong view about getting yoof off the streets, what with all those teens running amok, baby prostitutes, despicable young Graffiti vandals and other 'unexploded human time bombs' (ref Key speech) .
kinda old-news but possibly relevant in the current conversation: I disliked the linking of two stories by National Radio, the stabbing of 15 year old fence tagger (by 50 year old businessman) and Manukau Councils campaign for their "Control of Graffiti Bill" because "graffiti leads to violent crime". yes. well. when they said Graffiti leads to violent crime I assumed they meant something else.
The link was made mainly by juxtaposition, segueing the stories back to back, but can hardly have been accidental. http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/checkpoint/20080128/
[NB:National Radio also linked the recent reporting about arrests of underage prostitutes to Manukau City Councils "Control of Street Prostitution Bill" also pending. other publications did not make that link, Herald for example focussed on the police spokesperson, with a vague gang angle thrown in for spice]
in the context of MDC's proposed multi pronged approach to controlling Graffiti that includes a strategy for deterrence by harsher punishment:
ensuring that penalties make it clear that tagging will not be tolerated by the community
I particularly dislike an inference that in the case of the stabbed tagger the cause and effect was reasonable, or at least in some way justifiable. the boy has lost his 'innocent victim' status, and the other (murderous) party is representative of a community refusing to tolerate.
-
Also kept a tally of the Most Offensive t-shirt. Saw a lumpy girl. around 18 years, wearing the slogan "Jesus is a c**t". How do you begin to read that one??
you could start with young women's attitudes to their c**ts.
sometimes the word is not intended as a perjorative. one young woman I met wears a tattoo "niga c**t" on her arm, which for her doesnt imply a self esteem problem.
the shirt could just be a 'god is a woman' kind of thing.agree its a shade in your face either way, esp for the average godfearing non lesbian. agree the "Get a fuck bitch" example is a bit outside of the friendly advice category too.
...but there is something going on commercially with the pleasures of inane adolescent rebellions, these shirts or others like them are mainstream buying at big franchise outlets like Jay Jays and Hallensteins. proliferating self publishing also coming into play. every young revolutionary or would be comedian with a photoshop editor and an iron on print decal can have their say. plastering their defiantly un PC politics across their heaving bosoms for public delectation. so naughty and sooo brave.
-
The remainder table, hah, yes, not unlike the ignominy of the warehouse $1 bin. May be inevitable supply and demand economics but still bound to be hard on the creative ego.
On the other hand we found a marvellous CD featuring Pope John Paul intoning in Latin over trance music in the Warehouse $1 bin, complete with high cheese warning foldout photo-montage of mountaintop benedictions and smiling nuns. Incredible one off find because really what marketing boffin thought the Pope's Greatest Hits was a good idea? Bought for comedy reasons but unexpectedly good accompaniment for candlelit bathing, who knew that the late pontiff's rich basso voice praying actually goes very well with beats behind it? and I never would have known that if not for rummaging in the remainders.
Caveat insertion: of course my appreciation was aided by the fact I dont understand Latin so am not troubled by the meaning. (and, NB sincere apologies to any Catholics lurking)
Daleaway: It seemed like Clive James understood it would be his turn too soon enough...that quote is more about (standard issue) bitchy professional rivalry than publishing norms, surely? And those his and hers bookcases are arguably as old school Kiwi as the endangered tearooms are...completely charming nostalgia with the perspective of distance and the option of choice. who we (some of us) were, and all that.
-
it's not just about the origin of source - it's about consent
I agree that consent is relevant with privacy considerations, not just about perceived potential for harm, which is a subjective issue.
I checked out that facebook article linked, I was surprised to note that amid the hysterical disapproval the issue of consent around privacy issues was actually almost overlooked by the author, his only comment being "a facebook user doesnt have much privacy".
Personally I would argue that is the issue of most note.
The clauses I find most interesting in the Facebook privacy statement appear to state that any and all information from any source (ie on or off Facebook) can be collected and disseminated as facebook decides is beneficial to their 'interests', indefinately. When you sign on you apparently give unlimited consent to the use (or sale) of any information about you now and at any future time potentially from any source.
I should amend my emphasis from consent, to informed consent. most users dont appear to realise the potential extent of the contract they have entered into.
From the online policy statement:
We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook Platform developers and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile.
[...] Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.
[...] We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time.The stuff in there about IP tracking by platform applications, linked sites with "different privacy policies" and third party advertisers (working in partnership with Facebook) also gives pause if taken alongside the phrase "we may use information about you we collect from other sources."
With a privacy policy this loose, and given the sheer scale of membership, knowing who 'Facebook' is and what they consider beneficial to their interests is a relevant part of informed consent.
Paranoid? maybe. ( hopefully!)
Lets rely on the moral rectitude of business interests...thats always worked before, right? -
Its a slightly humbling thing for an author or artist to stumble across a signed copy of their work in a second hand bin somewhere. Thats happened to a couple of people I know. We all enjoy gentle illusion that the work is valued by someone and actually kept, not chucked in the clear out pile along with all the other unsuitable Christmas presents. But at least they didn't just bin it or burn it so its not all bad.
One potter friend was completely delighted when he found one of his early coffee cups in a Sally-Army pile ten years later, he instantly bought the thing and carried it home like a rare butterfly.