ACIJ Conference: Back to the Source

A group of 14 Journalism students from the University of Canberra travelled four long hours on a bus to Sydney to attend the Australian Centre for Investigative Journalism Conference, held at ABC and UTS over two days.

One by one we wearily arrived at the bus terminal at 6am on Friday morning. Being journalists, the first comment from most was, “Did you hear about the chemical fire?!” The fire began in a factory and was causing a 10km exclusion zone in the northern suburbs, a breaking news story for Canberra.

As we boarded the bus we fell quietly into seats beside our UC companions, ready to begin the arduous journey.

The bus chokes and lurches up Northbourne Avenue, and when we finally hit the highway we all pull out our phones to tweet a picture of the chemical fire spewing black smoke into the otherwise clean Canberra air.

The Big Issue- Multimedia Slideshow

The Big Issue, as you will soon find out when you watch this multimedia slideshow, is an independent current affairs and entertainment magazine, sold throughout Australia by people experiencing homelessness and unemployment.

Ashley Leal, Sarah Carswell and myself decided on this topic for our slideshow to illustrate the personal stories of those who sold the magazine. We intially wanted to share the lives of The Big Issue vendors in order to increase awareness of what they experience.

We arrived at the Woden Community Centre, where The Big Issue hold their monthly launch for the magazine. All vendors, volunteers and staff are invited to have some nibblies, share some gossip and generally mingle. As we got to know, this means a lot to the vendors, as they are often lonely and just in need of a good conversation.

Golf Day and Gala Dinner for NPC

I am not one of those people who has a GPS- yet.

After yesterday, I am very much considering getting one.

I was trying to find the Royal Canberra Golf Course… Not that hard according to google maps. Except if you take one wrong turn and you have only got the directions for the right turns.

So I got out the paper map, lay it across the steering wheel and tried to drive whilst reading… dangerous I know but it worked.

I got to the RCGC eventually, and only about 15 minutes late, which really is pretty good for someone like me.

Anywho, arriving at the Golf Course in my 1985 Mazda, i got a few funny looks whilst trying to find a park. I carefully pulled in between two very new cars, and walked toward the building.

The National Press Club was holding a Corporate Golf Day, and Marietta from the NPC had asked if the UC Press Club would like to volunteer.

We happily agreed, thinking it would be a fantastic opportunity to network with the big wigs.

And it turned out that it was. We met alot of lovely people, who we got to put a helmet on their head whilst attempting the longest drive competition.

Later that evening, we were treated to dinner at the National Press Club. There we enjoyed a delicious meal, entertainment by the hilarious Phil Cass and we met Mark Riley, Ian McPhedran and alot of other VIP’s not only Journalists but also people like the CEO of TransACT.

I am very much looking forward to future events involving the UCPC and the NPC!

Happy Mardi Gras!

I went to Sydney on Saturday to participate in the ‘Equal Love Canberra’ parade for Mardi Gras.

We arrived in Sydney about 3, just before the road closures. Parked the car, trekked to the backpackers hostel, checked in, claimed our beds then started getting ready.

First go on the fishnets, then short shorts and then on goes the corset.  Makeup, eyeshadow, diamontes and glitter. Then the room fills with hairspray as the hair gets curled, straightened.  Next we bathe ourselves in perfume… and we are just about ready. On go the heels, and the final touches of lipgloss.

The Oscars 2011

Incredible how they decided to put the amazing Anne Hathaway together with James Franco to host the Oscars. Hathaway, in my opinion, stole the show, whilst Franco stood there watching. Anyhow…

The outfits were amazing, yet again. There were alot of high necks and sleeves- but also classic cuts- like always- and then there was Helena Bonham Carter, who looked amazing and flashed a union jack flag that was tied to her leg on the red carpet.

Picture from Getty Images

Getty Images

I loved Mila Kunis’ dress, it was stunning!

It was strange to compare Anne Hathaway and Sandra Bullock in their similar red dresses, however I think Hathaway definitely stole the show.

I am glad they had a time on the speeches this year, I mean, its about time. It only means they make their 10 minute speeches succint and makes me actually want to listen to what they say, because I know they wont go on for hours.

That’s about all I have to say about the Oscars- except Colin Firth was amazing in The Kings Speech, so good on him!

Facebook

Al-Ahram newspaper in Egypt has reported on the birth of a baby. The extraordinary feature to this article is that the baby was named ‘Facebook’.

Apparently, the parents decided on this name to show their appreciation for the youth of Egypt, after the uprising. During what is now known as The Facebook Revolution, the youth of Egypt created events advertising protests, and kept the outside world in touch with the happenings inside the country.

This got me thinking… What other strange names have people called their children?

In New Zealand, parents were forced to change the name of their child when they called her ‘Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii’.

New Zealand has also banned these names: Fish and Chips (for twins), Keenan got Lucy and Sex Fruit.

In Sweden, a couple tried to name their son, get ready… ‘Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116′.

Sweden has also banned these names: IKEA, Veranda and Metallica.

Malaysia banned parents from naming their child Chow Tow, which means smelly head.

In Japan, Akuna, which translates to Devil, was banned.

Back to the recent Egyptian revolution, the countries media was not encouraged (put lighty) to report on the protests by the Egyptian Government and state media outlets so the outside world would not see what was happening. Al Jazeera offices in Egypt  were raided and although no journalists were harmed in that, they had to create temporary spaces to keep reporting.

Photo by Ramy Raoof