Reality Check

A Child.1 Kilometer from a feeding station in Sudan.Stops to rest while a Vulture waits

This photo was taken by Kevin Carter in 1993
It was published by The New York Times on March 26 1993
It won The Pulitzer prize for feature photography on May 23 1994

While this photo brought much needed awareness and in turn aid to the situation in Sudan, Kevin Carter never assisted the child to the feeding station

"The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering, might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene."
-The st Petersburg Times

Kevin Carter killed himself on July 27 1994

At what point do you stop being a Journalist and start being a Human?

Yesterday I got mad because the line at sizzler was to long for my liking
I make myself sick

Smile often
Beth

A walk to rememeber

I live in a street that Kind of see's the extremes of Perth. You see at one end there is "The castle" and at the other end there is the Brisbane.. Enough said. Im joking.. Settle down.
The real difference is the full spectrum of wealth, As I walk to the bus stop, on my left there is an apartment block being built, a sign out the front is promising "New York Style Living" all for the starting price of $950,000.00. As a uni student who grew up in Thornlie, this is another world from the one I've known. Though to my right, not even 200 meters away is an even more foreign world. Sitting in the car park is a van with maybe 100 people swarmed around it, Their clothing is torn and dirty, their hair completely unkempt. Its a food van, you can see it any given Thursday giving out hot food to the most un pretty of Perth. Now I don't want to be to dramatic about the epiphany I had on the way to the bus stop and I do realise the many social and economical reasons for why us, as humans go in such different directions, Childhoods, Education, Substance abuse, Just plain bad luck.
But I wondered to myself if I was to approach them and ask them for their stories, take a moment from my busy little life to give a shit about someone else, I wonder if the stories wouldn't be to unlike my own, If maybe they too grew up in the suburbs, went to school, had friends, maybe even went to uni, but something, somewhere happened and they ended up here. Everybody likes to hear the stories of success, but what about the stories with the less then happy ending, we don't like to hear about those do we, it makes us uncomfortable, it questions the security of our own existence, we don't want to know that someone just like us could end up homeless because then that means it could happen to us to, so we push it under the rug, leave it to the religious people and the social workers to deal with, we shut our eyes and hope it will go away, but it wont.
And I just couldn't help being completely thrown, at one point we were all babies, We all had a good 80 years ahead of us, we had hopes and dreams and passions and some of us got lucky, we got the dream job, we made the big bucks and we bought "New york style living" apartments for a million dollars. But some of us never made it to the goal, shit happened, we found ourselves homeless and we ended up standing around a van waiting for maybe the only hot meal we will get that week. And some of us were just walking to the bus stop on the way to uni and receiving a bigger education in that walk then I did in a whole day of classes.

Ill leave you with that thought.

Smile often
Beth

nobody cares what your doing...

OK so I don't want to completely abandon my generation or anything because we have produced some good things like, ghd's and Lily Allen...
But seriously guys we have some issues.
At what point did we trade in quality time for a macbook and friendship for an iPhone?(id like to thank Apple Macintosh for sponsoring this blog) We have become master keyboard warriors, every person standing on their own soap boxes pushing their points of view. We have become islands. Constantly connected to one another through twitter, facebook and text messages but never really connecting with each other in real or genuine ways.

We have to be contactable 24/7 and if were not we freak out, when I lose my phone (which happens more then I care to admit) I seriously fear I may actually die if I don't get a new one stat! The art of face to face socialising is going out the window and we are suffering because of it. We have more acquaintances and less friends. We network, we don't build relationships, its all about quantity over quality. A hundred people might text you for your birthday, or send you a facebook "wall post" but how many of them will show up if you needed them at 2am?

And beyond friendships, what is this doing to relationships? Once upon a time men showed up at the girls house with flowers, threw pebbles at windows and found time to write letter while being shot at in trenches. These days a boy (I say boy not man) sends a text and were supposed to swoon because prince charming could spare 12 seconds to press some buttons? and then after its all over you can press some more buttons and end the whole thing without having to deal with the awkward social interactions of breaking up. I hate to break it to all the deluded girls who get butterflies when their phone vibrates but "hey bby, ur hot wna catch up" is probably a group message...

I hate to think what my children will end up doing, they'll probably find a way to reproduce while not having to get off there xbox. I just think that maybe if we could make some time in our lives from all trying to have our own little empires, to actually engage with people, to switch off our phones, to actually listen to the person your talking to, to take note of the people around you instead of wondering who's going to sms you next, there would be a lot less depression, and a lot more joy. Like kids who are living so in the moment, engrossed in there conversations, captured by the butterfly flying past, blissfully unaware of what their friend from Sydney's status is at any given moment.

Im not bitter, I swear, Just painfully observant.

Smile Often
Beth

friends first

This is a lil tribute to the people I hold dear

because I dont know many people who will let you cry your eyes out on their bed, pick you up off said bed, take your phone off you and take you for sushi and waffles to cheer you up after you break up with a boy (that they told you not to go back to in the first) FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 8 MONTHS and not once say

"i told you so."

I knew I had great friends but today
when I thought I couldnt smile.They made me laugh

and when I thought I couldnt be strong anymore they were for me

Theres nobody I'd rather do life with

Smile often

even when you cant do it on your own

Beth x

Breaking up 2.0

So being that I'm your average 20yr old female, ive watched my friends and myself fall in and out of love, have flings, drop losers, give people second chances they never should have and the toughest of all, Break up. You watch as the city becomes a land mine, whole suburbs well up emotions and memories, suddenly your hiding photos that used to bring you comfort and getting mad that your favorite perfume reminds you of them.
Now I'm sure that breaking up has never been easy, people have been crying over lost love since the dawn of time but has anybody noticed how much cyber space has changed the entire social landscape of breaking up? You can do all the groundwork for success, delete their number, avoid obvious hangouts, ignore their phone calls or put your friends on phone watch the moment you have a sniff of alcohol, whichever the case may be.
But thanks to myspace, facebook and twitter, with the press of a button you can be bam smack in the middle of their social lives. Checking out the photos from the weekend, cross examining anyone of the opposite sex that writes on their wall, praying their twitter updates wont tell you they've just won lotto and whatever sucker lost them must be kicking themselves. Its like running into them in a club DAILY! How the hell are you expected to get over someone when your phone beeps you to update you on their lives? Why do we need that? society lasted centuries without being instantly contactable, without everyone having to know what everyone else is doing on a bi hourly basis.
Maybe a new part of the breakup rule book, along with staying away from sharp objects and excessive amounts of high calorie foods should be avoiding those sights for a little while, people can still ring you, we used to do that you know? Get another sex and the city box set to fill the time you would have spent with them, hibernate for a while with a bottle of wine, let the nights become mornings and your friends become family and then, when your ready get up, never look back and make a new social network, maybe even one where poking and following people is still considered offensive.

Smile often
Beth x