Posts by Jackie Clark
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All this talk reminded me of something I experienced at varsity. I worked in the AUSA cafe for a year fulltime - mostly on the tills (it was a very smart blue polyester smock that we wore, certainly). And most people didn't know I was a student by that stage (it was my 4th year and most of the people I'd started with had gone into the nonacademic world). So there I would be, after the lunch rush, sitting at the till, writing or reading my attempt at a thesis ( I was trying to decide whether I wanted to do a masters in SEA history so I was writing a test thesis for Andaya) for editing purposes. And someone would come along, usually a student of lesser years than myself - bear in mind, I would have only been 20 or 21 at the time which seemed really old back then - and ask what I was reading. I would tell them, and they would look shocked. You, a lowly caff worker, writing a thesis? And my claim to fame for that year, and many years after? I was the chick that worked in the Caff. I don't know why all this reminded me of that lonely year in my life, but it is what it is, I guess.
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I loved history, Stephen. As well as majoring in SEA Hist, did a double in Art History. Now there's your double do-nothing degree right there. Having said that, I really don't think in an arts degree it's about the content - although it does come in useful sometimes - it's really all about how engaged you are with the joyousness of learning. That says alot about someone, I always think. It strikes me that people who are doing career oriented degrees these days are in for a very sad time. How lucky we were not to have to worry about huge student loans, and expensive rent, and would we get a job out of it all. Sitting in the quad - indeed, in my case, rallying the troops in the quad - seems a very long time ago, but it was such a valuable time in my life. I met alot of very interesting people and did alot of interesting people, I mean things. And it was all without care or thought, really. How marvellous that was.
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Oh George, my degree is in South East Asian History. What a shame you didn't do it 20 odd years ago, when Leonard Andaya was the resident AU expert. Supreme man.
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Oh Sofie. The headbanging parrot is delicious.
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One of the things that has appalled me, Hilary, recently is that businesses charge charities for their services. For example, the companies that are the middlemen for the phone companies , and who took what seems like a considerable cut for donations that were texted through for the Telethon. Why do more businesses not give their services for free, I wonder? Is it a sign of the times? Are we unrealistic to expect that when we give to charity, the money will get to those whom it's meant for? I find it all very distressing. I work for a charitable trust - ostensibly - and I know how much funding goes to covering our Head Office. On the other hand, all the money that our parents give to us goes directly to us, to buy educational resources. Through our employer, we have access to discounted rates for several services, but that's more about that there's 110 kindergartens using the same providers. We are charged as businesses for our phone and power and such. What a scam if charities, who provide for the "needy" are in the same position.
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Oh good point, Gio. Hadn't thought of that particular, um, angle. And Emma, many thanks for the link to the absurd. I didn't explode but there was a lot of head shaking and FFS action.
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Italian disco? Oh no, you di'n't.......
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I find these double standards infuriating. Really. The printers find erect cocks offensive but they're perfectly happy to print magazines which serve double duty as porn and educating their readers about the anatomy of the vagina, at close range? Please.
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Oh the life of a stay at home Dad and auteur. C'est si dur, n'est - ce pas?
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Oh Sacha. Bless.