Anyways, since returning to Vietnam, it’s been a bit of a circular run. First, my old company, where I’d planned to teach while seeking a job in the Vietpress, had taken a change of management who were apparently determined to find the worst of my employment record (I learned later they didn’t want to employ experienced teachers because of salary increment costs). Email reads “employment denied, no further review will be carried out, and additionally please concede making uninvited visits to centres to discuss your employment”. Typical.

So I had to go local for Vietnamese-sponsored language schools (which often means teaching classrooms full of sugar-powered, runny-nosed Vietnamese kids).

Meanwhile, my Vietnamese journo on-off girlfriend, Yen, was struggling to put me in touh with the Vietmedia. Unfortunately, because of the damnable press regulations in this country, the most I could do at the present time ws sub-editing, and permission from the media authorities will likely take a good long while.

My hopes weren’t high when we paid a visit to Viet Nam News, the national English-language tabloid, and I got a job at a local school in the meantime.

A royal shock when Viet Nam News got back to me to invite me for a five-day trial (incidentally, with the same working hours as my new signed-and-sealed teaching job – oops!)

So, of course at the beginning of my journo career, this was too good an opportunity to miss, so I stupidly cancelled my new job while neglecting to remember it ws just a trial at VNN with no guarantees (“sorry boss, only been two days but gotta go subediting – keep my salary.”)

Nothing compared to what awaited me in the Vietnamese newsroom. First trial day as rocky as they come. 2pm start, sat at empty workstation and walked through their computer network and software. Given a Vietnam style guide and introduced to other foreign sub-editors who generally welcome me warmly.

3pm to 6pm, given a Vietglish article so loosely-translated you could stick a bookmark in it and call it ‘How to murder the English language’. (No attribution either) Cut and subbed.

7pm-10pm. Subbing headlines and captions. Someone neglected to tell me the captions needed kickers. Incomplete pages given headlines because someone didn’t scribble on the far right whiteboard. Finally all done and given to last late-nite subber and off home.

Hope the trial gets a bit better. Even with all the hiccups, it’s still a prime position for us foreigners here in this country.

I thought it was about time to tell everyone what I’ve been up to for the past two weeks but before that I think you should all look at the Queensland Shakespeare’s Ensemble’s website. They seemed to have enjoyed my review so much they decided to put it up on their website. My first quote; Bu ya!

http://www.australianstage.com.au/component/option,com_events/Itemid,20/agid,6016/catids,76/day,31/month,10/task,view_detail/year,2009/

http://www.qldshakespeare.org/asyoulikeit.html

After recovering from graduation my dad and I hightailed it back to Melbourne Saturday night somewhat dazed and confused. Touching down I felt a stream of endorphins run through my body as the cool fresh wind blasted me and the thought of Home running though my head.

It wasn’t long before I was back in the usual haunts and needless to say Public Bar’s Monday night $1 pots was somewhere between epic and legendary. What followed for the rest of the week were days of trying to remember what I had done the night before and nights of forgetting what I had done that day.

This second week has been a bit more productive; chasing down jobs and sending out applications. Trying to get a hold of the Beat magazine editor has been a challenge but this Thusday I’m going to a Melbourne talent managers meet and greet where I should be able to corner him.

I’ve also applied for a volunteer position at the SYN youth radio station organising interviews for local bands. Good experience and I’ll get paid in free CD’s and tickets that I can review and hopefully sell to the street press.

As far as everything else goes life is just going on as usual. I just discovered The Wire which seems to be sucking away my time.

Stretching my arms back behind my head I breathed a sigh of glee and relief when the sports editor said to me, “How about you make your radio debut tomorrow morning, bigfoot?”

It was more of a statement than a question.

Every Thursday morning since I had started at the paper, I noticed the phone would go berserk at around 8.30am.

My colleague seemed to have the same casual chat, twice, maybe the second time a bit sterner but without fail every Thursday morning after the edition went to print.

A bloke named Ewan from Southern Cross radio was on the blower last week and this time he was after me.

Shit!

He asked me whether I’d been given the run through and with this I agreed, yet being no less nervous for the occasion; within four minutes I went from Barfoot, to Bigfoot to Barefoot.

I’ll be sure to set him straight next week.

This week in the news I would tell him, right after the sports and the weather. I was on!

“Hi Ewan”, I probably blared down the receiver. This bastard has infected me I thought.

“Twenty-seven new government homes worth in total of $7.5 million will be built in Naracoorte in an attempt to address the current critical shortage of housing. It’s part of the Federal Government’s $42 billion nation building economic stimulus plan and is due to commence in April next year…..

“Primary school students from the area have lent their colourful and vibrant artworks to liven up the walls of the BankSA branch here in Naracoorte.

“Also a group of tennis players have returned from the Masters Games in Sydney with a number of medals, and hope their win influences others to take up the sport in the area.

“More than 1300 people in Naracoorte have had the H1N1 Swine Flu shots since the start of October..

“Also the Naracoorte Cricket Club’s goods and services auction was a great success making more than $30,000 to help rebuild their club, the top selling item was a 2009 autographed Geelong Football Club Sherrin.”

So it should be!

Tune in next week folks, for a less nervous and stagnated report of the local news.

Welcome to Jschool’s class of 2009 graduation ceremony. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the family and friends who have travelled from near and far to help us celebrate the closing of one magnificent chapter and the beginning and rebirth of eight eager and questioning young minds.

What a year! What a class! What an adventure! What a reawakening of knowledge and passion and yearning to learn!

I am honoured to stand here before you today and have shared with you times of absolute hilarity, absolute re-establishment of knowledge and absolute vodka.

I would like to welcome and thank Desley Bartlett and Professor John Henningham for their efforts and faith in us as students.

John has embarked on a mission to enrich us with a desire to learn, a lesson in history, a transformation of tech savvy high school leavers, endeared and disgruntled men of finance, a fashion designer from Finland, a Western Australian with a chip on his shoulder about the Geelong V Collingwood preliminary final, a Vietnamese teacher and karate expert and last but not least Astushi Wadamine who took on the challenge, through down the gauntlet and crossed cultural boundaries and new challenges to learn the writing craft in a first language English speaking country.

I hope now we are on our way to becoming renaissance men. Jack’s of all trades and open to the pursuit of knowledge and willingness to harness and use the resources and skills we have learnt as Journalism students in the ever-growing global village.

Special thanks to Desley whose patience, character, perseverance, encouragement and passion for journalism has influenced myself and all the graduates here today. She has taught us how to step back from an issue and critically analyse its newsworthiness and how to convey it to an audience. She has given us the bricks and the mortar to go into the media industry with a clear scope of what’s going on, how we can harness it to further our skills and abilities and most importantly to never give up, never give in, always persevere.

Thank-you also to the Tee line queen Julie Abell. Julie endured some of the toughest hours that teaching Jschool must deliver. When each Thursday would roll around and the classroom on Ann St. slowly filled with the sore heads from Wednesday night or the parched grins that 60wpm shorthand just could not restrain. The criterion always surpassed expectation.

In all my years as a student from high school through to Tertiary, I can confidently say I have never learnt more and been encouraged to learn and believe in my own ability until I commenced a diploma of journalism here at Jschool.

The doors of perception have been opened; the myth and ignorance of how to enter into the media industry and its current state have dissolved. We have all become wiser and aware; we now know how to do it. So get amongst it. 

Now is the time to neither meander, dawdle, falter nor depreciate what opportunity we have all been given, Carpe diem.

We never stop being students, we must never stop and walk from the gatekeeper’s door, and we must continue to harness the resources we have at hand to inform.

The keys to the ever-growing mediums exist within our own willingness to question and be always open and ready to put their newfound options to good use.

To each of you I thank-you for a brilliant year:

Adrian- You have the quick wit and vast knowledge of today’s world and all its gadgetry and awesomeness to go very far, use the force wisely young Jedi.

Ben- The duke, “There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.” Ben your character, wisdom and time for everyone will see you travel down many rich roads of truth and justice on your path through Journalism. You have been a rich asset to the class of 2009, steadying the ship and bringing a communal atmosphere to the group. Now as your attorney, I advise you to drive at top speed through the streets and on the beat.

Jim- The storyteller. Jim the karate tour de force, Jim the Casanova, Jim the original prankster. Jim, you have an incredible ability to tell a good yarn. From your many experiences in Vietnam and your interesting perception of life. I hope you enjoyed this year living abroad yet again and I read of your adventures someday soon in a novel at my local bookstore.

Reija- Your keen eye for detail and knowledge of what’s hot and what’s not will be sure to fulfil your sense of adventure as either a dynamite fashion reporter or designer. Keep the faith.

Rhys- “It’s 1500 kilometres to Footscray, we got a full tanks of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses.” Rhys your vast knowledge of everything cool from Ray Manterik to the public bar on Elizabeth St is sure to see you crack this journalism bizzo in a big way. You took this year on and put your nose to the grindstone and it will all pay off in ace of spades. Best of luck in Victoria and I look forward to reading one of your succinct and fresh reviews soon.

Tim- The perfectionist. Tim you are the great socialiser and I’m sure your love of people and communicating will see you end up behind a television news desk one-day, broadcasting to the world how Collingwood finally sought their vengeance on the team from the cattery. One day.

Atstushi- Your courage, perseverance and determination to succeed this year is truly a reflection of your brilliance. I wish you the best of luck in your journalism pursuits in Japan and commend you on the hard work you have put in. I hope you return and teach your Japanese mates some of the Australian colloquialism I have told you through the year.

This year we have gone through the halls of council, parliament, newsrooms, a radio station, a police station, art galleries, theatres and courts. We have been introduced to the institutions of Australian Society and the history of the world. We have learnt of the movers and shakers, the revolutionaries, the geniuses, the warriors and the academics.

We have learnt how to write and express to an audience of break neck speed-readers, not interested in our fancy words or riveting plots. They want to see structure and facts right from the top.

However, it is here where we can use all the creative geniuses and desire to kick back against the fray and become revolutionaries ourselves.

The institutions we have toured through this year may be what govern us and dictate the pecking order but they cannot defeat our courage and imagination.

Our courage to use our imagination and to make an institution of it in ourselves. My mother always told there was more than one way to skin a cat.

These reigns true through all avenues in the industry, we are embarking upon; we should count ourselves very fortunate that history has found us with so many tools at hand to enhance it and to create what seems fathomable into reality.

Newspaper journalism needs it. With whispers of its uncertainty as the world-wide-web bounces the news around the globe, for it to survive it needs an injection of imagination.

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) — Had this custody drama played out in the United States, Christopher Savoie might be considered a hero — snatching his two little children back from an ex-wife who defied the law and ran off with them.
But this story unfolds 7,000 miles away in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, where the U.S. legal system holds no sway.
And here, Savoie sits in jail, charged with the abduction of minors. And his Japanese ex-wife — a fugitive in the United States for taking his children from Tennessee — is considered the victim.
“Japan is an important partner and friend of the U.S., but on this issue, our points of view differ,” the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Tuesday. “Our two nations approach divorce and child-rearing differently. Parental child abduction is not considered a crime in Japan.”
The story begins in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tennessee, with the January divorce of Savoie from his first wife, Noriko, a Japanese native. The ex-wife had agreed to live in Franklin to be close to the children, taking them to Japan for summer vacations.
Savoie in March requested a restraining order to prevent his ex-wife from taking the children to Japan, saying she had threatened to do so, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate WTVF and posted on the station’s Web site. A temporary order was issued, but then lifted following a hearing.
“If Mother fails to return to Tennessee [after summer vacation] with the children following her visitation period, she could lose her alimony, child support and education fund, which is added assurance to Father that she is going to return with the children,” Circuit Court Judge James G. Martin III noted in his order on the matter.
After that ruling, Christopher Savoie tried to have Martin recuse himself, as he was a mediator in the case prior to becoming a judge, said Marlene Eskind Moses, Noriko Savoie’s attorney. But that request was denied, as Savoie earlier said he had no concerns about Martin hearing the matter.
Following the summer trip, Noriko Savoie did return to the United States, and Christopher Savoie then took the children on a vacation, returning them to his ex-wife, his attorney, Paul Bruno, told CNN.
But days later, on the first day of classes for 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca, the school called Savoie to say his children hadn’t arrived, Bruno said. Police checked Noriko Savoie’s home and did not find the children.
Concerned, Savoie called his ex-wife’s father in Japan, who told him not to worry.
“I said, ‘What do you mean — don’t worry? They weren’t at school.’ ‘Oh, don’t worry, they are here,’ ” Savoie recounted the conversation to CNN affiliate WTVF earlier this month. “I said, ‘They are what, they are what, they are in Japan?’ ”
The very thing that Savoie had predicted in court papers had happened — his wife had taken their children to Japan and showed no signs of returning, Bruno said.
After Noriko Savoie took the children to Japan, Savoie filed for and received full custody of the children, Bruno said. And Franklin police issued an arrest warrant for his ex-wife, the television station reported.
But there was a major hitch: Japan is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction. The international agreement standardizes laws, but only among participating countries.
So while Japanese civil law stresses that courts resolve custody issues based on the best interest of the children without regard to either parent’s nationality, foreign parents have had little success in regaining custody.
Japanese family law follows a tradition of sole custody divorces. When a couple splits, one parent typically makes a complete and lifelong break from the children.
In court documents filed in May, Noriko Savoie denied that she was failing to abide by the terms of the couple’s court-approved parenting plan or ignoring court-appointed parent coordinators. She added she was “concerned about the stability of Father, his extreme antagonism towards Mother and the effect of this on the children.”
Noriko Savoie could not be reached by CNN for comment.
Bruno said he helped Christopher Savoie pursue legal remedies to recover the children, working with police, the FBI and the State Department.
“We tried to do what we could to get the kids back,” Bruno said. “There was not a whole lot we can do.”
“Our court system failed him,” said Diane Marshall, a court-appointed parent coordinator who helped Savoie make decisions about the children. “It’s just a mess.”
But Moses, Noriko Savoie’s attorney, told CNN that the children’s father had other legal options.
The International Association for Parent-Child Reunion, formed in Japan this year, claims to know of more than 100 cases of children abducted by non-custodial Japanese parents.
And the U.S. State Department says it is not aware of a single case in which a child taken from the United States to Japan has been ordered returned by Japanese courts — even when the left-behind parent has a U.S. custody decree.
Facing such statistics and the possibility of never seeing his kids again, Savoie took matters into his own hands.
He flew to Fukuoka. And as his ex-wife walked the two children to school Monday morning, Savoie drove alongside them.
He grabbed the kids, forced them into his car, and drove off, said police in Fukuoka.
He headed for the U.S. consulate in that city to try to obtain passports for Isaac and Rebecca.
But Japanese police, alerted by Savoie’s ex-wife, were waiting.
Consulate spokeswoman Tracy Taylor said she heard a scuffle outside the doors of the consulate. She ran up and saw a little girl and a man, whom police were trying to talk to.
Eventually, police took Savoie away, charging him with the abduction of minors — a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Bruno said if the situation were reversed and a Japanese parent had abducted a Japanese child and fled to America, U.S. courts would “correct that problem, because it’s a crime.”
He said he has “concerns about Japan … providing a place for people to abduct children and go to. The parent left behind does not have recourse.” He added, “the president and his administration should do something to correct this.”
The consulate met with Savoie on Monday and Tuesday, Taylor said. It has provided him with a list of local lawyers and said it will continue to assist.
Meanwhile, the international diplomacy continues. During the first official talks between the United States and Japan’s new government, the issue of parental abductions was raised.
But it is anybody’s guess what happens next to Savoie, who sits in a jail cell.

CNN’s Kyung Lah in Tokyo, Japan, and Aaron Cooper, Saeed Ahmed and Carolina Sanchez in Atlanta, Georgia, contributed to this report.

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/japan.father.abduction/index.html

This story drew attention of the US public and the other US media picked it up.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/29/crimesider/entry5351308.shtml

Kyung posted his comment on this case in the blog at CNN’s website.

September 30, 2009
Family man’s plight not news in Japan
Posted: 806 GMT
Christopher Savoie’s case is playing out dramatically over the airwaves and in the blogosphere — an American man with sole legal custody of his young children, jailed in Japan for trying to bring his abducted children back to the U.S.
But if you’re Japanese, you’ve never heard of Savoie, because the story hasn’t been on a newscast or in the newspapers.
Based in Tokyo, among our first calls was to the local press in Fukuoka. The newspaper told us “This isn’t news.” When we asked if they would cover it because of the growing international interest, the paper flatly said, “No.”
That response is a window into the Japanese mindset of the privacy of the home, and helps explain the cultural and legal clash in which Savoie is trapped.
Invading into the domicile is considered taboo, where issues like domestic violence and child abuse still culturally remain private matters.
Japanese family law follows suit, hesitant to order families to recognize joint custody. It prefers to obey the cultural norm of the woman having primary custody, which often means the father never has any contact with the children. That would be unthinkable in a U.S. court, which sees joint custody as a matter of course in divorce.
The Americans I’ve interviewed in this story say they’re flabbergasted by Japan’s archaic and rigid laws. But in this culture, there’s no discussion about it. They don’t even consider it news.
Posted by: Kyung Lah

source: http://inthefield.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/30/family-mans-plight-not-news-in-japan/

She focused on an American father who could not exercise his right as a father, his Japanese ex-wife who neglected legitimate proceedings and heartless Japanese police office tore a father and his children apart under “archaic and rigid laws”.
Kyung sympathized with this poor father.
Also, she found the Japanese media were indifferent to international issues and Japanese laws were archaic with the Americans’ voices.
As long as I referred to her coverage of this story, Japan was unconcerned about the issues related to other countries and Japanese justice system was lagging behind, compared with that of Western nations.
She reported the details of Christopher Savoie’s comments when she talked to him in jail.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/01/japan.savoie.custody/index.html

Although this topic attracted the US public attention at early stage, American citizens lost their interest in this story soon after CNN released on updated information that Christopher was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

“The father, Christopher Savoie, apparently became a naturalized Japanese citizen four years ago, listing a permanent address in Tokyo, they said.
“And while he and Noriko Savoie, a Japanese native, divorced in Tennessee, the two never annulled their marriage in Japan, Japanese officials said.
“Also, the two children at the center of the case hold Japanese passports, they said.”
source:http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/japan.savoie.children/index.html?ere

That means he is Japanese as well.
He became naturalized and retained his dual citizenships in the United States and Japan.
Even though the US court ruling made any decision, he could meet his children freely in Japan because he held a Japanese passport and citizenship, unless he violates Japanese laws during his stay in Japan.
Still, in case his ex-wife should not admit him meeting his children in Japan, he had the right to file a lawsuit against it.
Listening to his ex-wife’s complaints to be balanced, Christopher had an affair with an American woman and decided to get married to the woman, Amy, soon after his divorce from Noriko. But he paid US$ 700,000 for compensation money.
Christopher divorced Noriko in Tennessee, but he kept bigamy because they did not divorce in Japan.

“The couple, citizens of the United States and Japan, were married for 14 years and lived in Japan.”
“Noriko Savoie told a judge the words in her e-mail were in the heat of the moment; she was angry that her ex-husband had just married the woman who caused their marriage to end.”
“’I was very, very — at the peak of my frustration …’ Noriko Savoie told a judge, according to court transcripts. ‘He actually married three days before that e-mail. He remarried the person — a woman whom he was having affair [with], so I was very depressed and — but also angry.’”
“He said he’d have a hard time paying expensive legal fees because most of his money was tied up in his house, car and 401(k) after he gave Noriko Savoie more than $700,000 as part of the divorce settlement. With that money, he feared she’d be able to move and hide the children from him.”

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/02/japan.savoie.custody.battle/index.html

I think this story was just a domestic battle in two countries.
The US State Department treated this issue as an internal problem and announced they did not develop it as a diplomatic issue.
On the other hand, Japanese Foreign Ministry did not seem to make a fuss about it despite its concerns about a more serious situation.
It was a fact that Christopher’s ex-wife breached court rulings of Tennessee. I think she should be punished under the law.
However, what I would like to point out is that it was the case where a Japanese father took his children away from their Japanese mother.
They were still a married couple under Japanese law.
So, in Japan, even a divorced parent is allowed to take his/her children to somewhere with the children consent.
Despite the complaints by the counterpart, the parent is not involved in a police matter or gets criminal charges unless the parent has some serious problems such as domestic violence, alcoholism, or drug abuse.
Rather, for that reason, I wondered why CNN investigated the reason Christopher was arrested and, if Kyung doubted the police announcement that Christopher “grabbed the kids, forced them into his car, and drove off”, what exactly happened when he picked his kids up.
No media reported this question.
CNN and other US media reported one viewpoint and made light of the other, and developed a battle between divorced Japanese couples into a serious diplomatic issue.
Their coverage of this story almost damaged US-Japan relationships and violated the children’s privacy with their photos published.
What on earth would Kyung like to report?
She would like to report the issue of Japanese civil law not admitting joint custody?
If that is the case, she should have had interviews with more people who worried about it.
Or, she would like to report Japanese government was not a signatory country of Hague Convention and that caused some problems?
If that is the case, she should have got comments from Japanese lawmakers and asked them why Japan had not ratified the treaty.
Or, she would like to criticize the police office, which arrested and detained Christopher?
Or, she would like to cover the story which straddled both countries because of her international broadcaster?
However, if she would like to report the irrational Japanese law and Japanese media coverage despite the visionary rights of an American father being violated, I reckon Kyung’s report must be out of focus.
I don’t think CNN needed to report a private issue between a Japanese couple because they were not celebrities.
It was enough that Japanese Christopher would have appealed a family court in Japan.
If CNN had investigated more details of his nationality, it could have reported a better story.
I think Kyung neglected the “fair and balanced” principle of journalism and detailed check on backgrounds of a news source.
The further story on this issue released on 12th and reported by Mallory Simon, not by Kyung Lah, in my opinion, was more based on facts without any conceived idea.
I have no idea of Mallory’s perspective on the issue, but anyway I think the reporter stuck to the “fair and balanced” journalism principle, compared with Kyung’s reporting.
Kyung reported the story in biased manners.
And it was so dangerous that the her reckless reports on a private strife between divorced Japanese couple could have been likely to evolved into a US-Japan diplomatic issue.

Grand Final day on the Tiwi Islands and the mercury is above 35. The locals are out in force displaying mostly red, white and black colours but there’s a few with blue and white. Passionate about their football the Tiwi islanders became a little famous this year after an ABC documentary on their local team the Bombers being accepted into the Northern Territory’s football league.

So where are the Tiwi Islands? Just on top of Darwin a 20 minute plane trip or a two-hour ferry ride from will get you there. The islands are made up of Melville and Bathurst Island, the latter of which we were staying on. The islands look perfect from the sky with their ideal beaches and dense scrubland but you’ll never see anyone swimming at those beaches unless they want to go toe-to-toe with a four-metre-long saltwater crocodile.

The islands are made up predominately of Indigenous people and being there was like being in a completely different country. We were there to visit my brother who teaches sports and English at the Xavier Catholic High School. As he was showing us around the island I could hear 10CC’s ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ pumping out of someone’s speaker and just then I was struck by the island’s familiarity and distance to my world.

Before the walk my brother pointed out a stick at his front door telling us if we ever walked around at night we would have to take it with us. When I asked why he explained if we were ever attacked by the packs of stray dogs roaming the island we could use it to defend ourselves. Thankfully we never had to use it.

Walking down the street my brother also pointed spikes on the telephone poles and asked us what we thought they were there for. Innocently I said to keep animals from frying themselves and casually my brother replied, “Nahh, it’s to stop people hanging themselves.” A little shocking to say the least but still a bit more shocked and how casual he was about it. I guess it goes to show how a person can adapt to anything.

The Tiwi people were kind, easygoing and friendly, just like anybody else. I guess you grow up with preconceptions of different cultures and I’m always stunned to find that inherently all people are the same. Although my brother told me it’s near to impossible to organise anything with because they all just live in the moment. Without a care in the world they just go through life seemingly content to stay where they are and just do whatever they do.

We watched Blood Diamond one night; the Leonardo DiCaprio film about the illegal diamond trade in Africa. In one scene DiCaprio goes through all the horrible things happening over and over again in Africa and at the end of his speech brushes it off and when asked why just replies “TIA, This is Africa.” My brother remarked TIT pretty much sums up the other worldly nature of islands as well.

The western culture clash could be pretty amusing at times as well. One of the highlights of my trip was seeing a teenage islander in an Exploited singlet with ‘Punk’s Not Dead’ on the back. How any subculture could exist on this remote island amazed me but just goes to show how music has no boundaries.

On the morning of the Grand Final through some miracle my brother had organised the groundskeeper Hadley to take us out fishing on his boat. Before the trip we had to take namely getting a fuel tank, getting fuel and getting ice. These tasks required us driving around the town stopping at numerous houses and with almost every stop gaining a new member. By the time we were in the boat our group of four had grown to seven including a small girl who I was told was the niece of his sister’s cousin… Or cousin’s sister… Or sister of his niece…

The trip was a success and we decided to leave and get ready for the Grand Final after feeling an esky with fish. I put the success down to the Tiwi Island fishing method of leaving a spot if you don’t get a bite in a minute. It sure beats the whitefella way of just sitting there for two hours waiting for your first bite and drinking yourself stupid.

There is a fair bit more to the place but I thought I might placate John with this and get down to all the other things that need doing.

My tasks, besides taking copies, was to do research for the few stories they actually did themselves in the magazine. Most of the feature stories they buy from freelancers. I was told to Google the subject they gave me, like overeating and detox diets (hopefully they don’t publish those in same issue..), and to print out what I found. Now, that was something that shocked me. I don’t know if I’m an old fashioned kind of journalist but if   People magazine has published a story, that doesn’t mean it is true. I also rewrote one article from the UK edition they bought to be published in the Australian edition, that’s how they work. And that was it. I honestly wish I had   exciting stories to tell about the magazine, but sadly that’s all folks. Or at least I left the internship with that impression.

But I did get some great story ideas just looking at the people who worked there, so the week wasn’t a complete waste. And I now have a more clear idea of how I want to be involved in fashion journalism. I know the week goes to my ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ box but at least I know what it is like to work in a mainstream fashion magazine.

I read the latest issue of Marie Claire and it wasn’t the same anymore. The illusion and glamour were gone.

What else, getting on with everyone well now. Have made my pocket of cronies but unfortunately I have to move desks every day and have to try and charm a new bunch.
Hmm, what else, oh yes, my last vox pop in the next couple of hours! Sweet Deliverance! I won’t be missing the sixteen-year-old toothless mummies smoking crack in the Swich Mall.
Oh I have labelled Goodna Stab City after 2 murders by stab in the last 2 weeks. Nothing like a good old fashion stab for a headline.

So I’m still waiting for two comments for my last two stories for the Tiser due at 5pm. All under control, everything going be all right.

So summing up, it has been a positive experience, once I managed to get my reeling ego under control from the slug-in-the-face concept of working for free, and I have learnt a lot. I’ve learnt on a regional paper, you are required to cover community news and this has to written in a much more colourful way than the hard news writing we have been practising. Although the tasks are sometimes uninspiring and menial on the surface if you dig a little deeper there is always an interesting angle to take or character to interview.

I’ve also learnt the Journo’s are a hugely different job from stockbrokers,,, but similar in some respects. The similarities would be, they both thrive under pressure, work well to deadlines and tend to be outgoing. Similarities end there. Stockbrokers tend to be a much more homogenous and aggressive bunch where the diversity in personalities in the office here (including the greater staff –photographers, subs etc) is much greater, and dare I say it more interesting and less one dimensional.
 
 What else.. oh yes, Localize, Localize, Localize… that’s the ticket.

All right that’s a wrap.

Raul Duke

What I have learnt is that vox popping is the equivalent of making coffee… And I can now make any type of coffee in the world. I find the best method is to physically block people’s path so they have to stop for you, and then have them understand that it will be quicker for them to get on their way if they answer the question and smile for the camera!

No, I am being facetious, it has been an interesting week. I’ll admit I have been a little ill at ease, as its so weird being at work and not having anything to do except what you can find for yourself. I would agree with Adrian’s roundup being an intern is very different to being an actual employed journo. I would much prefer to be told off at the news conference for not having any ideas than sitting there like a rookie!

Given all that, it has been quite an eventful week and quite busy and exhilarating (if sporadically). I think I will quiet like being a journo in a rural setting as it’s great to get out of the office and meet some characters. I’ve quiet enjoyed it.

Monday we had a robbery, that we billed Bonnie and Clyde, Tuesday was at the courts for a granny bashing trial, which I must say to his credit the editor managed to beat up even more than the convicted granny basher! Wednesday was the dust storm where I managed to get a couple of photos in. Thursday I was covering a bunch of mentally impaired children learning CPR (I love public service initiatives). Today I did a shameless advertorial which would make the Proff and Desley wince! Yes down to the local pokies club to ramp up their $4 steak special!

In between that I got a good by-line for a Fuel pricing story that I managed to get stats for using some complicated mining algorithms in excel and took a photo for it, so that was good. I’ve got three in the weekly next week, deadline is in 10 minutes but I’ve already finished.. That’s they way I roll!

Many of my ideas have been done to death and I guess the only way to avoid that is to trawl through the back issues. I got approval to follow up a piece on returned veterans from Afghanistan living in Ipswich and their experiences re-integrating back into society… Sounds awesome and pitched it well, but now the god-dam privacy act has come and bit me on the ass…. I’m getting the run around massively by the defence media team, and my one source I was counting on refuses to put his name to it… So I have doomed myself a bit, but I will take no mercy on Monday and potentially could get a nice spread for it.

Ok stay tuned,,, who knows what will happen next…..

DR Gonzo

So because that is all I’ve experienced so far from my internships I want to tell you how the rest of my week went ’cause now it’s getting interesting. I fell in love… with a pair of shoes. This is a really tragic story with a happy ending. I first saw them when my dear friend needed help picking up some presents from a mall. It was love at first sight! They fit perfectly and looked like they were born to be on my feet. But I couldn’t dare to buy them. (I just had spent way too much money for my new clothes to be worn at my Marie Claire internship next week.) So I put them back on the shelf and left. I felt horrible, I needed to cheer myself up so I went to my favorite jewel shop and bought this absolutely gorgeous bracelet. But that night I could not sleep, the shoes were haunting me.

The next morning I got up really early, around eight, because I had received an email about a 90 percent off fashion sale that was happening on Elizabeth street that day. (I’ve registered myself  to get info about those kind of important events in Brisbane.) But that particular sale was a disappointment. So I went to that same shoe shop to try on my new love for one more time. And this time I bought them. They go really good with my new bracelet… And of course they had a very nice offer when you buy one pair you get the next half price, I don’t even need to tell you how that ended… Let’s just say my shoe collections is looking much better now.