KONY 2012

"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything"- Peter Marshall

Ladies and Gentlemen, my heart is sad and my brain is angry. After viewing the video for KONY 2012 
http://vimeo.com/37119711 seen here, I was really inspired by the group Invisible Children. I'm not going to really explain the video, because I hope you all watch it for the information.


I am a mediocre activist. I like peoples pages on facebook, I sign up for petitions and give my email, and I always sponsor my friends in their runs and races and fundraisers against cancer, or anything else that plagues the world, $20 here and there to help. It matters to them, so it matters to me. But now I am sad that not everyone can get behind me and this cause that I think is so important. Friends that I've supported want to be cynical, want to be experts. They post videos and blogs and articles about holes in the plan of Invisible Children. They want to be right, they don't want to act, don't want to change and I think that is taking the easy way out.


I think that Invisible Children did a really great thing. They have worked up to the goal of getting noticed and their issue getting noticed. It has also undergone changes over the years it took to get a following and get action from the government. However, all this attention has seemed to place more responsibility on the group than they really have. The group wants to motivate the U.S. government, informed leaders and experts, to help people in need. How they help is up to them, as it always has been. People are having to dig so deep to shit on this campaign- criticising the financials of the organisation, saying that the Ugandan people are safe, that the information is out of date, that Kony isn't a big deal anymore, that they have EXAGGERATED his crimes.


 I think it's great to bring awareness to an issue that hasn't got a lot of attention, maybe then more educated people will come up with a plan. Maybe then Kony and others can be stopped. What's wrong with that idea? People who are supporting them and their video aren't claiming to be experts on Uganda; they are not claiming that they've always cared- because we didn't know before. We are more aware now and hopefully will become increasingly aware. Cynics in your cozy little bubble, you don't have to change, but maybe butt out of criticising those who do. No plan is perfect. I REPEAT, NO PLAN IS PERFECT. All the money and all the resources in the world cannot come to a perfect conclusion because human beings have a choice on how to act, but the point is, they can act.


I don't think that everyone has to agree with the STOP KONY campaign, hell, they don't even have to like it. But I don't think that it's simply good journalism to promote both perspectives. I don't think that that kind of "balance" is necessary in the reporting. These people are trying to do something good, to make a change about an issue THEY care about. If you don't care about it, and if you don't have a better plan, then please, I'm begging you- shut the f&^% up.


I want to believe in the good, and the possible, and maybe even the naive. I want to believe in the kids, and change and safety. When I go to sleep I have my own bed, I have a door that locks. Appreciate the simple things you have; and there is nothing wrong with trying to help others to get the same.


This is not my eloquent arguement against the criticisms, although I do have some of those too. This is my call for people to think positive, take the hard road, because it's easy to fight for the status quo- after all, it's take Invisible Children 8 years to change it.
You don't have to stand for this, but for God's sake stand for something.


If you read to the end of this I'm impressed.

Canadian Charm

I decorated my res room this week. I used old postcards and birthday cards as well as the flag I bought for the rugby world cup in New Zealand last semester. Then I went to target and got a bedspread and matching pillow case for $15. It made my bland room a lot more cozy and a bit closer to home.

They are always looking for ways to keep us busy here on residence. Each Thursday night is the local campus pub, Eagle Bar, night. This week was particularily rowdy because of a blow up fight ring they had in the beer garden. Here is a picture of two of my Aussie friends going to battle!

This was my outfit on Thursday night

Finally, this friday night we had a family dinner taco night. Out of the 6 people that came no two people were from the same country- pretty cool!

First day of Classes

UGH! What a long day!


Classes for me began today after the bar night last night. I was a good girl and in bed by 1:30 to get up for my 10am class, however, living in residence finally took it's toll.
A few of my floormates who did not have an early class crashed in giggling around 4am. It's a good thing I love them dearly or my floor would be short a few students haha. Needless to say I was dragging my bum to class at 10am. I also got up way too early at 8:30 for fear that the shower would be occupied. Evidently I'm the only one stupid enough to have a class the morning after the regular Tuesday pub night, and was ready a full 40 minutes early for class. 


My class is Journalism Internship which begins at 10am and finishes at 1pm. However, this class only runs for 4 or 5 weeks before we are set off on our own, meaning after that time I won't have anymore lecture, great! Unfortunately, my prof, making the most of his free time, has TRIPLE booked our class time. Meaning he teaches from 9:30-10:30, shows up to our class half an hour late, and then leaves another house early at noon for his other class. It was very frustrating and you could tell he was a flustered as we were about the whole situation. Not to mention my classroom is a little bit like this:

There was room for 20 of us, and 45 showed up! People we sitting on desks and the floor practically on top of one another. I guess it was a good unintentional ice breaker. The final cherry on top was that the prof proceeded to hand out 5 different sheets of instructions and then read them aloud to us. I find it so funny that we are assumed to be master's students that haven't yet learned to read. Sigh- the first week is always like this, hopefully next week will be better.

My last class was really enjoyable though, it's called The Working Journalist. All of our assignments (if they are good enough) will be published here: http://www.upstart.net.au/

I'll let you know if anything I do gets there. We get to interview several journalists (which we have to hunt down ourselves) and write about them. We have to turn in a piece of writing almost every week, but I'm up for the challenge and am looking forward to doing less academic and more practical writing.

My goal for the journalist interviews is to hunt down the big players that no one thinks will give an interview, hoping that they will throw me a bone- I am thinking of making my first target Rick Mercer- go big or go home! Plus I want to add some Canadian stars to the list of Aussies and Americans that have already been interviewed. Last semester someone interviewed a guy from RollingStone- highly impressive.

Well the days of sleeping in are officially over and I'll be sitting my over achiever bum in the library tomorrow morning! Wish me luck!

Hot and complaining

Good morning Canada!
it's still Saturday night here- well technically sunday morning at 12:45am and it's SUPER HOT!
Check out my new youtube video that was made in a deliriously hot state. Enjoy the cold, and send me some snow!
http://youtu.be/ugEwEz0h_o4

Bars and Beaches

Orientation week finally comes to a close tomorrow. Classes start on monday and I think everyone will be glad and find that relaxing compared to all the daily activities we've been doing lately.
The most recent activities involved a "city tour" - also known as a pub crawl- last night in Brunswick, which is a trendy bar area just outside the downtown core of Melbourne. We packed up into buses and dressed our best. It was a great night out and nice to see everyone cleaned up instead of dirty or scribbled on.

Me and my Aussie friend :)

The best dressed guys in the bar (and two of my buddies) from Mexico and Brazil

If you went to pee first in the the bar you had to get the toilet seat around your head! I held it all night!

The main group I hang out with- Latvia, Sydney, Saskatchewan, Kiwi, Melbourne and me!

The bars we went to were more pub style and the last two had a band, then we all packed up on the bus and went back home, with smiles and sore feet.
The next morning we were up early to take public transit to the beach (with walking and waiting it takes over an hour and a half) but in 40 degree heat we were happy to be on air conditioned (AirCon, if you're an Aussie) public transit.
St. Kilda beach was packed and the water felt amazing and cool. However the sand was so hot you had to run across it!

Me and my friend who lives close to where I grew up- we both swam in Lake Erie at Port Burwell beach as kids and are now swimming in the Ocean in Australia together!

Me and my friend from Russia, shows how clear the water is in Port Phillip

Russia really wanted a coconut because she thought that there were be vendors selling them like in Thailand, simply because we were on a beach and she saw palm trees. When we came back with one we bought from the super market she was very surprised!! We used a friends cork screw to open it and drink from it. It was a pretty creative move and the milk was delicious!

Wish me luck on classes this week! 

Orientation Week- my poor liver!

Hey everybody!


So I haven't been blogging because I'm been in the middle of a very busy Orientation Week in my residence. I'm living in Chisholm College at La Trobe University. It's known for having a mixture of international, second year, and first year students. I've met some amazing people and participated in some really fun activities.
Here is my most recent Vlog after our scribble party:
http://youtu.be/35jVlfaVeLQ


On Friday I arrived and got all moved into my tiny res room. Fighting jet lag my goods friend Detroit took me to the mall to buy food, toiletries and cooking supplies that I couldn't be bothered to bring from Canada.
Since then I've been to a Toga Party, a Scribble Party, and a Moat Party. Which has been really fun and a geat way to get to know people.


The people on my floor are really great, we have a few aussies, a guy from Latvia, a girl from Russia, a girl from California, a girl from Amsterdam, and me!

my Korean friend and i at the scribble party

Sneaking into the other college party in my toga

Feeling short at the carnival

The moat party- basically a party down by the moat on campus

Classes start on Monday!

Up in the Air

Hey everyone!


Wow, I can't believe I only wrote one post in January, sorry about that. It was a relaxing and mostly uneventful month. To catch you up a bit, the last little while I've been spending time with family, babysitting my adorable neighbours, and most recently spent 10 days in Mississauga helping my bff move himself into a new apartment.
Now it's time to get packing again! I figure by now my suitcase should be able to pack itself, but alas, here we go.
The goal for this time around is to bring less junk. I'm sticking to clothes, accessories and electronics this time around as I left my pictures, jewlery and toiletries in Australia for the past few months.


A few changes this time around for my second and final semester, the most important being that I will now be living in Chisholm College residence. I'm hoping this will give me the opportunity to meet some more people as a lot of my friends last semester were only on exchange and have therefore returned to their respective countries. It's going to be weird going back without them. Some of us are still there though and living in res will allow me to be closer to them, campus, hopefully a student job, the library and of course, the parties. Not to mention what I'll save on cab fare and public transit every week (probably about $50 AUS).


Another thing I'm going to be doing is creating Vlogs to go along with my Blogs. For those of you who don't know what Vlogging is, it's creating videos about what you're doing and stuff. I'll be writing and posting links to Youtube where you can see me have probably a 30 second chat about what's going on and give you a tour of the area and stuff like that. So if you go to www.youtube.com and look up Land of Aus 2012 that is my channel! Here is my first short video: 
http://youtu.be/TCpEzTPRGBI


Also here is the Youtube channel I'll be posting on that you can subscribe to:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LandofAus2012/videos

So tomorrow (technically today) is the day! I fly out of Toronto's Pearson airport at 6:50pm and land in LA 5 hours later, then I head off to Melbourne, where I will arrive the morning of Friday, February 17th. I can't exactly say I'm looking forward to this terribly long flight again, but I am pretty excited about new releases for in flight movies! I'll try to update the blog as I go along and let you all know when I arrive.


Thanks for reading, and I promise there will be many more posts to come!