Or perhaps you are one of the few who have subscribed to Vogue and have it delivered. You wait on your front porch anxiously until it arrives in the plastic sheet and you rip it open and start taking down the list of things to buy and study cautiously the way in which you will dress this month – more than the way you studied your HSC Physics textbook.

Or could you possibly be the sophisticated, feminist fashion addict? Smart, proud and fashionable and praise the magazine, admire the makers of it and consider it as a feminine necessity. These are just a few of the possibilities I’ve laid out, I’m most definitely not narrowing the parameters of what type of Vogue reader you may be.

Whichever reader you may be, it is the experience which is the overall effect that drives us to open our wallets each month, the experience of fantasies the magazine creates, influences in our fashion choices and the jealousy and admiration for the stylistic writing and personalities.

Many critics would claim that fashion magazines in general are a huge commodity, a money-making industry which utilises pretty pictures of unrealistic figures compiled in an over priced picture book. But as cliché as it may sound, there is so much more to fashion magazines, especially Vogue as Australia’s oldest.

Now in her 51^st year, Vogue Australia is Australia’s oldest sister among the fashion magazines and over these, has provided women with countless ‘experiences’ each month. Explicitly stated by editor in chief Kirstie Clements, it has recorded “the emerging role of women and the evolution of both fashion and style in Australia”. Thus, Vogue magazine has elegantly placed itself in society and the WORLD as a female cultural artefact – if a woman doesn’t know the name, it becomes highly unusual. I will be explicitly referring to the 50 year anniversary edition of Vogue, September issue 2009 as it is a distinctive issue of the magazine where “September issue itself concentrates on where we are now and hints at all the excitement of the future” as stated by Clements.

The tone of the magazine, visual and verbal together become the definitions of grace, beauty, perfection and women altogether. Here, the first female governor of Australia, Quentin Bryce describes one of her recent experiences as a Vogue magazine fan.

“Recently, I flipped through those early Vogues that were once beyond my reach and have since sat among my staples. I was mesmerised by their sensational women, their sharp and passionate eye for exquisite, seminal design, their cosmopolitanism, and their place at the frontier of their times. Half a century later I return to their styles for fresh inspiration and I am reminded of the sustaining power of making one’s own way”

Although highly subjective, she explicitly and directly asserts a positive perspective through emotion.

This is again noticed even when the subject is not that of the magazine but of shopping. Amanda Stevens argues that “Women will have a more emotional relationship with those items and it will be a much more complex relationship than for a man”

Again, although subjective, it is highly emotive and assertive. The magazine’s tone is constant throughout. It is direct, assertive, positive and highly emotive – and of course one would have to be especially when providing advice and influence on not only fashion choices but also lifestyle choices as a woman.

It is interesting to note though, Sheila Scotter says “The industry is in total confusion, but I predict that elegance and good taste will return eventually… In my day, models were not only elegant but also well educated and totally professional. They also looked as if they enjoyed their work. Today, catwalk models look bored and grumpy, but they are only doing what they are told to do… so a magazine such as Vogue Australia has a great responsibility”. Yes, there has been change, it has been inevitable, just like media itself but as she states, Vogue is still a major player in the game of media play and society.

[Direct scan of Vogue Australia September 2007]

Visually, the magazine sends out a message of perfection, each photograph is carefully taken and tediously edited to elucidate the product advertised or the style. On the front cover, there is never a model posed or a picture used which is random – there is always a meaning and a supportive notion to what is compiled under it. For example, the cover page of the 50 years anniversary edition with Cate Blachett was gracefully illustrated by artist David Downton. The message here is within the illustration, he says “illustrated covers were already a rarity; today they are more or less unheard of, so it’s really exciting and important that drawing is being supported in this way”. It is also within Cate, a humble, elegant actress and movie star – she gives off the same tone and aurora as the magazine aims.

[melkanie.info/vogue-aus]

Vogue also aims to build relationships with her readers, whoever they may be. Through the assertions and strong arguments of opinions over a number of topics, fashion, culture, politics and lifestyle, they ask for trust in their words. It is clearly for women, made by women (perspectively speaking). Easton Pearson asserts that “Before it’s in fashion, it’s in Vogue”. We see here that they take pride in believing that Vogue is really a guideline and haven for living. “There’s scarcely a better medium to document them than a fashion magazine, which covers every warp and every wrinkle of popular culture” states Time banks, “Collect 50 years of coverage of food, health, activism, travel, movies, music, art and books – not to mention the politicisation of women – and youv’e got a pretty comprehensive social history . And that’s even before you get to the coverage of colothing and accessories, which is after all, the spine of the fashion magazine”.

[http://forums.vogue.com.au/showthread.php?p=5736755]

Yet, it is also seen as common ground for those with the same interests. When speaking of a particular love for perfume, Jana Wendt exclaims, “I am prepared to mortgage the house for the right perfume. A scent can perform a regeneration more radical than any syringe or scalpel.. It is capable of transforming the mind”. She holds hands with the one who also shares a particular love for perfume and comforts her.

But of course, the most important factor as a woman is being a woman and living proud as one. As unfortunate as it is, realistically it is socially challenging for a woman and although it is much less than it used to be, being a feminist is not easy. Vogue supports this act 200% and gives advice for being one and provides influences from them. Quentin Bryce states in this edition, “There is some interest, perhaps not enough, in the health and shape of feminism in this country; its currency and usefulness to modern women and men. Feminism for me was a natural and necessary consequence of nascent days. What girl who was told she could do anything wouldn’t assume that she was entitled to participate wholly in life and society? …There are many ways to grow a feminist. Most often, she simply evolves through the unfolding of circumstances and the gathering of messages and values”.

Vogue teaches women that purchasing expensive products and applying powder to your face is not all about the looks. According to the magazine, the looks are a bonus and what you are really trying to do here is add value to yourself as a woman. Vogue helps readers feel good about them, even if you don’t particularly look like those models in the ads. Page 343 of the edition include a half page sized ad for cosmetic surgery, this tells us it’s okay to want to be pretty, we’re here for you. Sound too extreme? But isn’t this reality? Vogue keeps us up to date. Image and style, as superficial it may sound, are crucial factors in being a woman. Clements stresses “Vogue stands for fashion, this is true, but the magazine has always been infused with the viewpoints of strong and intelligent women”.

When hearing, reading or watching something on the clichéd topic of ‘there is much more to a fashion magazine than pretty pictures and overpriced items’ it is almost always about the industry itself. Who contributes and how hard they work ‘behind the scenes’. Through this article, I just wanted to give a slightly different insight to the magazine itself, the effect, tone, values and aims. Of course being a big fan of Vogue myself, has led my writing to portray bright facades, does this not sound appealing to you? If you’re reading this right now, in front of the computer, casually sipping on some tea, try being the one of many who walk into their local newsagent and randomly purchase that heavy compilation of bright, colourful glossed pages. It might entertain you, interest you or maybe even benefit or influence you in the most unexpected, minute way.

New publishing technologies improve on the publishing technology that preceded it. As a result of this technological evolution, society has increasingly demanded that a new advancement in technology occurs. This is a cyclical relationship and it is evident that the idea of democracy is at the core of each change. On top of this, new publishing technologies aim to allow the most amounts of people to access and participate in a form of publishing. This is particularly evident in the publishing technology of the printing press from the 15^th Century, which encouraged social interaction through the establishment of coffeehouses. The social advancements that this printing technology allowed for, can today be seen in the media platform of the internet, more specifically through society’s use of blogs. As a result the public sphere has increased on a spatial level, which has allowed for relationships in today’s society to expand across the globe. According to media and publishing theorists Donald Shaw and Bradley Hamm, “Communication is central to human development. Many societies have contributed developments that coalesced into the mass media of the late twentieth century” (1998: 631), which has continued into publishing mediums today.

The Printing Press

The printing press was developed in Germany in 1436 by Johann Gutenberg and was a revolutionary advancement in publishing, as it laid the foundations for the spread of knowledge, encouraging opinion and debate throughout fifteenth century European society (McNeill & McNeill, 2003). The printing press was a successful advancement on the most common publishing method during this time period, which involved publishing on woodblocks; a task that proved tedious and inaccessible by many people. Gutenberg’s printing press involved moveable and reusable metal type, which increased the amount of published books throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, creating “an explosion of printed works” (McNeill & McNeill, 2003:180). As a result of this printing technology by the year 1500, 236 European towns had employed Gutenberg’s style of press into their publishing houses through which 20 million books in a vast range of languages were published. As a result of this, intellectual debate was encouraged across Europe and a monopoly of knowledge ensued. (McNeill & McNeill, 2003:180-181).

The establishment of the printing press in Europe saw an increased development of coffeehouse institutions across the continent. New media theorist Andrew Murphie argues that printing “externalises our thinking” (Murphie, 2010), which was able to occur as a result of the printing press and popularisation of the coffeehouse. The coffeehouse was a place which fostered social relationships on a deeper level, as intellectual debate was encouraged and was open to all forms of discussion. The first coffeehouse in London was established in 1652 and served as a democratic space whereby knowledge and social relationships were fostered. Historian Markam Ellis states that coffee houses were distinctive in that they centred on egalitarianism, congeniality and conversation (2008: 157). Ellis furthers this notion, stating, “The individuals who assembled in the coffeehouse came to form a new public culture” (2008: 162). Interestingly early coffee houses in Europe and United Kingdom were key areas for social interaction and most importantly, coffeehouses employed an “erasure of hierarchy” (Ellis, 2008: 160). As a result of this egalitarian aspect, coffeehouses embraced social interaction and debate among citizens regardless of their status, power, employment and age. However, women were prohibited from entering coffeehouses despite most of these social institutions being primarily owned and staffed by women (Ellis, 2008:162). It is evident that while the printing press impacted greatly on society in terms of the spread of knowledge it created, society did not value women as highly as men in the formation of knowledge and social relationships. However, the printing press allowed for literary works to be accessible to citizens of all social and financial classes. As a result of this, printed publications were able to have an extended reach throughout society as it was formalised, standardised and popularised.

Coffee houses were alcohol free, which was key to their success in fostering relationships on a social basis, as all types of topics and viewpoints were able to be put forward. According to Murphie, the “public sphere was brought together by publication and coffee houses” (2010), which lead to organisational shifts within society. Social philosopher Habermas’s concept of the “bourgeois public sphere” (1991: 14) can be applied to the social construction of coffeehouses during the seventeenth century as they served as a social archive, showcasing the intellectual needs of society. The concept of aggregation can also be applied to those who frequented coffeehouses. New media theorist Gillian Fuller argues that the aggregation of individual experiences is key to understanding social relationships. Thus coffeehouses were “life aggregating” (Fuller, 2010) in a sense as patrons who visited coffeehouses could archive the experiences, relationships and knowledge that coffeehouses afforded them.

 Blogging

Since the print revolution of the fifteenth century, publication changes have occurred, which has resulted in an increased amount of people embracing greater technological uses of publishing. As a result of this evolution within society and publishing, different types of social relationships are continuously being established. This is particular evident within the internet, which has provided a public domain for people from across the world to communicate. As a result of the destabilisation of power that is mirrored in the internet, an increased amount of people are now able to access and participate in information sharing, especially through the publishing technology of blogs.

The contemporary mediascape has experienced many changes recently, which has resulted from the internet’s ability to reach a much larger audience compared to the way in which print journalism and communications once did. Similarly to the printing press, blogging has played a pivotal role in the transmission of information across a digital medium (McNeill & McNeill, 2003: 145). Blogging is the result of an evolution of literature over time, following the establishment of the printing press and novels, the 4^th Estate and the New Journalism movement. In 1997, John Barger coined the term web log and as of 2008, search engine Technorati had tracked more than 184 million blogs in cyberspace. Along with this, Technorati asserts that there are an astounding 346 million readers of blogs globally (Flamig, 2009), which demonstrates the capacity the World Wide Web has in connecting people on a global scale.

The practice of blogging has decentralized power and has led to the democratization of the media, resulting in a participatory media culture. Blogging is a form of technological convergence and blurs the line separating the public and private spheres of our society. Perhaps the most controversial and widely discussed issue in relation to blogging is the fact that it provides an ordinary citizen with a voice and enables us to produce our own media. Blogging has given us an increased capacity to produce and distribute media that has led to implications such as defamation cases, censorship issues, copyright infringements and privacy rights, all of which impact negatively on social relationships.

According to Fuller (2010) Web 2.0 is now responsible for mediating our social relationships, placing much power in the medium of the internet compared to coffeehouses mediating social relationships. As a result, there is an apparent need for the governance of blogging, as freedom of the press is a key issue in our society at the moment. This aspect of blogging has undergone major debate in print and online news institutions recently, with Google being forced to name publicly the blogger who insulted and defamed model Liskula Cohen. During the defamation trial Cohen stated, “I’m a human being. I bleed. I have feelings. When I saw that blog, it was awful” (Cratchley, 2009). However, the lawyer defending the publicly named blogger believes that outcomes such as this “would open the floodgates for anyone who has been the subject of a nasty comment online to take legal action” (Cratchley, 2009).  This case reiterates the ever evolving issue of the Internet and blogs turning in to a free-for-all platform allowing anyone to voice an opinion; both good and bad, which can impact negatively on social relationships that are forged on the internet through blogs.

Cleo Glyde’s article Venomous Nobodies, discusses the negative aspects of blogging after being personally attacked on multiple “bitchy” blog sites (Glyde, 2009: 60-61). Glyde states, “The curtain between intimate, private reflection and public profile has been ripped down and anyone with a computer can spontaneously zoom their innermost thought out into the blogosphere” (Glyde, 2009: 60-61). This brings to the fore the notion that the relationships formed through blogs on the internet generate challenges, because bloggers and their audience are rarely ever in the same physical place, rather they can only meet in the same space. This aspect of blogging contrasts greatly to the friendly nature that was expected between coffeehouse guests whilst participating in debate or sharing their opinion with others.

As a result of the many radical changes that are currently facing media practitioners and institutions, many businesses and institutions around the world are changing the way in which they communicate with their publics, thus they are using blogs to sustain positive social relationships. Publishing company Oxford University Press has established a blog, which has successfully promoted Oxford University Press authors. The blog also serves to “provide readers with original material to make them feel like they are reading something educational and interesting rather than reading a press release” (Penenberg, 2009). Through an aggregation of blogs, Oxford Press has been enabled to reach out to a wider audience, as well as having people interact and become aware of their products and blog in a more effective manner than they would have been able to through traditional print media. Oxford University’s blog’s main concern is “creating a viral message and having links to our posts reposted far and wide throughout the internet” (Penenberg, 2009). As a result of the success that the university has experienced through their blog, they believe that the “blogosphere could be a platform to influence the future of digital publishing” (Penenberg, 2009) and develop connections with a vast amount of people. 

It is evident that the printing press was imperative in shaping the publication technologies that are present in our society today, specifically the use of blogs. The printing press allowed for the spread of knowledge and encouraged social interaction through the establishment of coffeehouses in Europe and the United Kingdom. Similarly, blogging also encourages social participation on a wider level. However, it seems that the internet is used as a mask of identity for many users, which can have negative impacts on society. Coffeehouses offered a more personalised social and analytical experience as they had an increased transparent element attached to them.

Reference List

Boureau, A., Chartier, R., Ducreux, M., Jouhad, C., Saenger, P., Velay-Vallantin, C. (1989) The culture of print. Princeton: Polity Press.

Bruns, A., and Jacobs, J. (2006) Uses of blogs. New York: Peter Lang

Cratchley, D 2009, ‘Publisher: Time to pay up Google’, The Daily Telegraph, September 10, accessed 26 October 2009, < http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/publisher-time-to-pay-up-google/story-e6frez7r-1225771567481> [Accessed 5 June 2010]

Einstein, E.L. (1983). The printing revolution in early modern Europe. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, M. (2008). An introduction to the coffee house: A discursive model. Language and Communication (28): pp.156-164

Flamig, B 2009, ‘Welcome to the blogosphere’, Smart Computing, V. 20 No. 10, pp. 47-9, accessed June 3 from Sirius Full Text Database, ISSN: 1093-4170.

Fuller, J. (2010). Week 10 Arts2090 Lecture: i-publishing- aggregating- navigating. [Online]. Sydney: UNSW. Available at http://arts2090.newsouthblogs.org/lecture-notes/ [Accessed 5 June 2010]

Glyde, C 2009, ‘Venomous nobodies’, Vogue Australia, August, pp. 60-61. 

Habermas, J.(1991) The structural transformation of the public sphere: an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Hamm, B. and Shaw, D. (1998) History of the Mass Media in the United States: Technology. Oxfordshire: Taylor and Francis Books.                                                                

McNeill, J.R and McNeill, W.H. (2003) The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York: Norton and Co.

Murphie, A. (2010). Week 2 Arts2090 Lecture: An Overview of History and Social Impacts. [Online]. Sydney: UNSW. Available at: http://arts2090.newsouthblogs.org/files/2010/03/lec2_arts2090_2010_overview_history.pdf [Accessed 3 June 2010]

Pavlik, J. (2008) Media in the digital age. New York: Columbia University Press.

Penenberg, A 2009, ‘Blogging as a multiplier effect’, Publishers Weekly, V.256, No. 4o, p.28, accessed June 4 2010 from Sirius Full Text Database. 

The number 2 is a female.

Tuesday is light green, but Wednesday is blue.

Her bed tastes like chocolate, and her computer tastes like strawberries.

It’s not uncommon to associate days of the week with certain colours, or to have different things remind you of different tastes; but Odette Coulris doesn’t have a choice.

She is also temporarily blinded on a regular basis by moving shapes and colours, pulsating in time with the rhythm of any classical music she may happen to hear.

Odette has synaesthesia, a neurological condition where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway can lead to involuntary experiences in other pathways of the brain. When I asked Odette to describe it to me, she put it much simpler.

“Basically, your senses cross over, especially when it comes to something that your brain thinks about often, like days of the week.”

Odette has three separate kinds of synaesthesia; more than most other documented cases. The strongest of her synaesthesia traits is Sound to Colour synaesthesia, where the sounds that she hears are immediately converted to abstract colours and shapes, moving in time to the music, that are projected in her brain as if she is seeing them physically.

She also has very distinct signs of Lexical to Gustatory synaesthesia, where certain words produce completely unrelated tastes in her mouth; as well as Grapheme to Colour synaesthesia where different words and numbers have set colours and even genders.

I asked Odette to talk about her Sound to Colour experiences; to try to describe what she sees when she listens to certain pieces of music. She told me that most people usually explain that it looks like fireworks being set off in time to the music. Whilst she feels that this is pretty accurate, she also sees other ridiculously abstract objects, such as furry green tubes, with coloured objects squeezing through them, or shards of rain when she hears particularly high pitched instruments playing Staccato.

This is a phenomenon far beyond anything I have ever experienced, and so I wanted to know how Odette goes about her everyday tasks, such as the retail job where I visited her first a few weeks ago, with the loud pop music blasting out into the store.

“Each song evokes different visualisations”, she explains. “I can listen to pop songs over and over again and not really notice or remember what my brain is doing, but when it comes to classical music, which is more diverse in it’s tone colour; more richly layered; I am kind of blinded by the synaesthesia… Luckily classical music doesn’t really play a large part in my daily routine.”

“I guess pop songs also contain lyrics, which distract me”, she added.

Odette recalls when she first learnt that her ability to ‘see’ music was different to everyone else, when she was 11.

“I was auditioning for the ‘Conservatorium of Music High School’ and the examiner instructed us to draw… exactly what we saw in our heads when he played certain excerpts of classical music.”

“Myself and two other people in the class thought that this was a perfectly natural request, and began drawing as soon as he pressed play. The only thing I found hard was keeping up with the pace of the music while trying to draw what I saw in my head, in time”, muses Odette.

“The rest of the class were confused. Totally lost. They had no idea what he was talking about. One kid even asked if he wanted us to completely score and notate the excerpt by ear. Even when the examiner explained in the simplest of terms they still didn’t understand the concept. By that stage, I had already finished my pictures.”

“My mum is a music teacher, and she experiences a similar phenomenon, to a lesser degree. When I first described how the music looked to her, she completely understood, and encouraged me to explore it. I guess that is why I always thought that everyone had the ability to do it.” she says thoughtfully. “When I tried to explain it to others, and they couldn’t understand what I meant, I thought that they just needed to try harder”, Odette chuckles lightly.

Of course I have to ask her to repeat the drawing exercise in front of my own eyes. So I put on Tchaikovsky’s ‘Theme from Swan Lake’, the ballet Odette’s name is taken from, and give her a box of coloured pencils. Straight away she starts scrawling across the paper, huge blue squares, long lines of pink, dots hitting her canvas as she keeps swiping for the next piece of blank paper. It is surreal, watching her draw the most absurd shapes as quickly as she can – but to my amazement, I begin to relate certain objects to certain sounds. It is an incredibly sensation.

I ask if the same notes or sounds are always drawn the same.

“It’s like a dream, even though some of the same elements are recurring through every dream, it is never really the same two times in a row.”

As our interview comes to a close, I have just a couple more questions I need to ask… The tastes that she experiences when she thinks of certain things, do they have an effect on the way she leads her life?

“Absolutely. When I was a lot younger, I found it hard to be friends with names that didn’t taste nice”, she laughs contagiously. “And I still cannot stand my Dad’s full name, Gregory. I much prefer Greg, which tastes like Apple and Cranberry Juice!”

Edward Mazurek takes the time to have a chat about life, work and the importance of family.

Sitting in his Blacktown office, Edward Anthony Mazurek has come a long way. From humble beginnings he’s gone from the son of immigrants escaping war-torn Europe to a self-made millionaire.

Edward Mazurek was born on the 19^th of July 1958 to Jan and Telka. Edward’s parents were both refugees who were children when the Second World War broke out in Europe. Their education was abruptly cut short through invasion and subsequent occupation by the Nazis and Soviet Russia. Years of occupation and even internment in concentration camps led to the desire to start afresh. Like thousands of others, Australia was a beacon of hope for those seeking to find a better life. The notion of the ‘Australian Dream’ was

The first years in Australia were hard. Lack of higher education affected their chances of better employment and income. After years of hard work and saving Jan and Telka were able to build their first house on a property in Blacktown.

“This is the land we’re on now, my parents’ first house was here” Edward explains as he takes the opportunity to ponder his own family’s journey.

“For me, I saw how my father worked seven days a week. Just with his hands, labouring and I thought I’m not doing that.” Growing up in a family that was financially unable to take a holiday or eat at a restaurant left an impression on Edward in his adulthood. “I thought when I started a family I’d like to have a bit more than that.” Edward married his high-school sweetheart Maria in 1981.

From a young age, Edward had always been keen on creating and designing. Finishing his high school education, technical college was next but the years to come were tough.

After becoming an accredited architectural draughtsman finding a job proved difficult. “It was the building bust of the 80s and no one had any work.” Forced to hop through several jobs that did not stimulate or challenge him mentally, a break seemed come in the form of a business proposition.

“I was approached by a man looking to start a construction business. I designed buildings on a royalties basis.” What happened instead was his business partner running without paying anyone. It was this unfortunate turn of events that eventually led him to where he is today.

Edward’s passion for his work is obvious as we chat at length about the changes to the building industry and his experiences over the years. “When I was in school I always liked problem-solving” “My father always wanted to build but he didn’t have the education.”

By this time in the late 80s Edward and Maria had their first child, a son named Andrew in 1987. The birth of their daughter Sally followed the following year. Being unpaid and unemployed with a family was a difficult position. Fortunately his wife was a teacher and her income offered a chance for Edward to move into business for himself.

Edward and another abandoned partner by the name of Lambeth started their own company in 1993. Mazurek & Lambeth Pty Ltd was created and immediately began designing and building homes. The partnership and friendship was a ten-year success story that ended with the loss of Lambeth through illness in 2003.

Dissolving that company, Edward created ‘Concept Design’, the company he runs today. With his wife Maria looking after administration and his son Andrew working towards a Masters in Architecture, ‘Concept Design’ is a successful family-run business.

Edward Mazurek, from beginnings so familiar to many of us has built a successful business and a loving family. Through hard work and a sense of adventure, Edward is epitomises the Australian dream and our ideals of a ‘fair go.’

Claudia preparing her children's lunches in the morning

Mother by day, receptionist by night, getting back into the workforce has been a difficult journey for Sydney’s 45- year- old Claudia Salanitro.

The mother of three has recently started to work again, after successfully raising her children at home for the last 20 years. However the working world hasn’t exactly made it easy for Mrs. Salanitro to rejoin. With her previous qualifications meaning little to nothing today, and a lack of experience in a world where it is considered essential, Mrs. Salanitro only has to say, “I always thought the transition back into the workforce would be easier”.

Mrs. Salanitro’s story is not uncommon as many mothers see themselves returning into the workplace when their children are of age. However the analogy of a PC is a good one; with the world advancing technologically at an increasing rate, PC’s find themselves quickly outdated.

When asked as to what her biggest challenge was, in terms of getting a job, IT skills came to the foreground, “My Excel knowledge was naught, and as for typing, well let’s just say that ‘one touch’ is my best friend”.

Although she had been in the workforce for many years prior to raising her children at home, the reply she received to all of her applications, both in person and online followed a similar trend, in Mrs. Salanitro’s words, “I don’t have enough experience and my qualifications are considered outdated and irrelevant”.

Although Mrs. Salanitro holds a degree in Biochemistry, a Certificate II in Computing, and a diploma in creative design, she was unsuccessful at even gaining an interview for a medical receptionist position in Leichardt. “You would think I am applying for a job at Area 51! I’m not after a career; I’m just looking for a way out of the house; to regain my social life, and to find my place back in the working world”, she states.

The constant setbacks have taken their toll, to the point where Mrs. Salanitro has just about given up hope. When asked how she’s feeling about her situation, “It has been an extremely demeaning experience. I’ve managed to raise my three kids well, and yet the irony is that many prospective employees’ think I can’t answer a phone.”

Mrs. Salanitro wants to shift the current stereotype of the ‘lazy stay at home mother’. “I think it is unacceptable that we are given this title, just because we made the decision to stay home and raise our children”. It is her belief that women are given no other choice than to send their children to child-care, or with nannies, due to the fear of not being able to regain their place in the workforce; and in turn, mothers are missing out on beautiful and crucial stages of their child’s development.

Programs for return to work mums are not readily available, and perhaps it is time that the government realised that there is a great resource in the form of stay at home mums that can assist the economy. Perhaps the government should allocate a larger percentage of its training funds towards assisting stay at home mums to regain their place in the workforce. When asked about her feelings on government actions towards this issue Mrs. Salanitro stated, “ I am angered that the government doesn’t realise that it would be a more cost effective way of using tax payers dollars to up-skill a stay at home mum, as opposed to other socioeconomic groups that find themselves unemployed.”

For now Mrs. Salanitro will remain as a casual receptionist for a limousine company based at Sydney International Airport; however she states, “I won’t stop looking for a more permanent position”.

‘Sydney Airport not as welcoming as it appears to be’

Many travellers arrive at Sydney’s International Airport wide-eyed, filled with excitement and great expectations of the journey they are about to embark upon. Others arrive weary- eyed from a painfully long flight, only to sit tight until their next transfer. The last thing this commuter wants to do is search for their baggage, check- in and find their next gate in unknown territory, with a language barrier.

Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport is not a simple place to explore nor is it user friendly. In recent times it has been criticised for its lack of facilities, and clear instructions both written and spoken for international travelers to follow.

Finally after many complaints these issues have been harvested, and 500 million dollars has been invested to upgrade this clearly outdated airport. New areas include passenger and security screening, a greater variety of shops and restaurants, waiting space and additional seating, re-development of the pre-existing 30,000 square metres of departures, and its expansion a further 7,300 square metres. The Terminal will remain fully functional throughout its refurbishment to minimise disruption and to avoid inconveniencing passengers and staff.

Though costly, this long overdue makeover will benefit the increasing number of international passengers flying to and from Sydney, and will hopefully provide visitors with a positive travel experience to this great city.

South Korean student Hanyoup Cho soaking up the sunshine of his new land of liberity, in our very own city of Sydney

South Korea was believed to have of escaped the horrors of cultish dictatorship back in 1945 when North and South Korea were divided along the 38^th Parallel, signifying the surrender of Japan. However, today, South Korean Hanyoup Cho attests that he will never return to his home country as he believes that their still exists deep foundations of autonomous rule within the new South Korean government.

Hanyoup Cho came to Australia five years ago chasing a dream of a world that celebrated people from all walks of life; a dream where the people were not blatantly told who or what to believe in by the country’s government controlled mass media and big business corporate leaders. Quite fittingly he went on to study a bachelor of philosophy and psychology at Macquarie University and is fluent in five languages ranging from Japanese to French, which he believes has further opened his mind to the strange reality of his home country.

Specifically Hanyoup tells how the climate of democracy has drastically changed under the rule of the new president Lee Myung Bak; also nicknamed “the bulldozer” by the Korean people, who has got full control of the country’s popular news press and distorts the truth in order to tell his people what to believe and behave.

“It makes me very angry when I read the ridiculous stories in the newspaper which I know have been conjured up by the government to block the eyes and ears of our people and to direct the way they want us to behave and or perform,” Hanyoup muses.

Most recently, Hanyoup recalls observing the coverage of the boat tragedy, where 46 sailors died in an unknown explosion just off the coast of North Korea, as it gave rise to a multiplicity of strange stories and theories which were perpetuated by the government in the media and consequently made him and many others very suspicious of what they were actually trying to cover up.

“President Lee Myung Bak made various public announcements proclaiming that he will endeavor to do everything to help those affected and mourning for the sailors and there will be no mystery this time”, said Hanyoup “[It] was so frustrating when you look at the ridiculously strange reporting that actually came out he would have to believe we were totally ignorant in order to think we would go along with most of these elaborate fictionalizations.”

Accordingly the Government of South Korea, did not realise the actual footage of the sinking ship, until many weeks later which was widely known to exist , and had been noticeably edited and manipulated from the original 2 hours to a short and unrevealing 5 minutes, right before its public release.

“It’s so scary to think of what they are actually trying to cover up, I know now I cant live in a place where I am made aware of my government so blatantly lying to me and my people. It’s not only wrong but also a complete contradiction of what South Korea is supposed to stand for being an established democratic country. What ever happen to freedom of information? It’s insane.”

Consequently, Hannyoup says he has a profound appreciation for the level of freedom and respect the Australian government gives to its citizens in their celebration of cultural diversity and differences of opinions and ideals.

“Australia is so very good for my ears as I love to hear all the differences of opinions of each individual, as now I am able to learn more and be more open minded. This is vastly different to South Korean as conversation ultimately, I find, revolves around what the media tells them to talk about.”

Another pertinent concern he has for his country is the way in which Lee Myung Bak has no sense of obligation when it comes to promoting the creative arts in the country’s newly amended education system. This arises as the new president came into notability, initially with his success’ in the technological and corporate worlds, and hence believes that engineering and technological advances are the key to the country’s continued prominence and advancement. The way in which he is enforcing this however is that he wishes to combine both music and art into one more restricted elective subject as a means of phasing it out all together.

This troubles Mr. Cho as he comes from a creative background; where his sister is a professional violinist and his father has a business in the construction and distribution of pianos and various other musical instruments. Needless to say, the phasing out of the creative arts would be a complete compromise and destruction of what Hanyoup Cho has grew up knowing and celebrating in every aspect of his life.

“I really could never imagine going back there as I cannot stand the new slide into oppression and control that my country is taking… Furthermore after living in Australia I’ve become too accustomed to the freedom to pursue my own dreams and the wonderful level of cultural diversity in Sydney.”

Today, in Hanyoup Cho’s new country where he just recently gained citizenship he looks forward to pursuing a wedding documentarian career which he hopes to incorporate a more cinematic approach to its recording as a means of best facilitating his creative talents; a career that would never have even entered his mind in South Korea, where he thinks if he had stayed would have been shoved into the corporate spiral of suppression educed by the repressive societal control.

***end****

WORD COUNT 788

reported by Jemma Cole- z3288897 tut monday 430

Sylvia Enjoys Freedom In Sydney After Experiencing A Rigid Life In Egypt.

Living in 2010, in a very liberal society, it’s hard for anyone to imagine being punished for showing affection when we are constantly bombarded by sexual images. Sylvia Cardosa had a very different experience of life.

In 1932, when Sylvia was just a young girl growing up in Egypt, she was jailed with her boyfriend, Jeffrey, for holding hands in public. “The time I lived in”, Sylvia explained to me, “was a frightening one. The streets were dangerous and the laws were rigid and extremely strict.” Can you imagine being jailed for holding your boyfriend’s hand? You wouldn’t even get a second glance for that in today’s society!

This is just one of many examples of discipline experienced by Sylvia in Alexandria. However, it doesn’t end there, as Sylvia puts it “this was my life – endless opportunities to learn restraint, and to be regulated and corrected to make me a ‘proper’ woman.” In the home, Sylvia was brought up to never speak out of line or be late to lunch – which was the holiest meal of the day. If you disobeyed these two commands you were “given a look of pure disdain”.

Sylvia states that this was “something that frightened you to the core…that made you step back into line because you knew the streets were harsher and once shunned there was nowhere to go, especially while Egypt was under the rule of King Farouk.” Sylvia goes on to say that due to her experiences ‘The Slap’ by Christos Tsiolkas made a powerful impression on her.

Discipline in 1932 was very different to discipline in 2010. Over time large cultural barriers have been broken down, only to be replaced by a list of legal restrictions available for families in parenting their children. Today, Generation Y has little or no respect for their elders, or for rules and regulations. “This lack of respect that children have today”, Sylvia tells me, “would have been heavily punished in my time, yet they get sent to a ‘naughty corner’ and that’s meant to do the work of the parents.” How can children learn the lessons they are meant to if their parents won’t tell them where the line is? With the removal of the threat of actual consequences or physical punishment, the sting has largely been removed from discipline. How else do they learn how to respect their elders? Do they learn right from wrong?

“When I was growing up”, Sylvia says, “discipline was a way of life, it was a way to structure your day-to-day activities and a way to keep a person regimented.” She goes on to say how you could get kicked out of class for not opening your school bag fast enough. “You went to morality lessons and you were removed from social interaction until you had learnt your lesson.” It seems that this sort of discipline grounded Sylvia, giving her values of respect for people older than her. She tells me with confidence “I’m a better person because of my upbringing. I was never violently treated and I never punished my children violently because it achieves nothing it doesn’t instill the right values.”

Sylvia talks about discipline and respect as if they’re interchangeable words. She uses them to describe what family life was like at home – respectful and disciplined. Sylvia’s personal experiences with the parenting standards of today gave her much cause for alarm. She witnessed an incident of a child misbehaving in a toy store and describes how “a little girl was screaming, crying and throwing things around. The father refused to deal with the situation and walked out. While he refused to give in to the child’s demands, he also refused to get involved in disciplining her. Once the father left, the mother sought to appease the child, buying her a toy.” At this point in her narration Sylvia leans towards me, as if to whisper a secret, “in my family one parent never undermined the other.”

King Farouk was the very strict and rigid ruler of Egypt at the time Sylvia was growing up. Sylvia believes that without the cultural context of the country, perhaps the strict sense of discipline would not have been so prevalent. Sylvia explains that “discipline was something learned at every level of our society – from the politicians and those in power right down to the people at home.”

Even more importantly, she claims that without the discipline she received at home she wouldn’t have been able to negotiate the difficult and complex cultural maze that defined social relations in Egypt in the 1930s. It is because of her morals, values and groundings she found a way to live as long as she did in Egypt. Once King Farouk had been overthrown Sylvia immediately left the country coming to live in Australia. Australia, however, was different to Egypt – more laidback, and free from political indictment.

Once in Australia, Sylvia states “we were able to use our discipline and grounding to get jobs – being of a well mannered nature placed us above the other candidates and migrants for jobs – our ethics, values, and standards made us more desirable and trustworthy.” Being brought up in a regimented way changed Sylvia’s life – people wanted to know her, employers wanted to employ her and her children respected and admired her. “I think”, Sylvia states “having your own children respect you makes you feel like you’ve done something right. It makes you feel proud. I now know the feeling of satisfaction that my parents got out of me and my siblings and I only hope that my children’s children can have the same grounding, morals and values of discipline.”

Born and raised in Hong Kong, 19-year-old Kwun-Hei’s early experience in Australia is similar to that of other international students. Basing his expectations of Australia prior arrival on mainstream cultural impressions that it was a primarily white country, the actual multicultural environment of Sydney was quite an eye-opener for him.

“When I first came here in early 2008, the most shocking discovery was a lot of white Australians could hold chopsticks better than I did. Another was retail and services staff initiating small talk, as well as neighbours having friendly chats with one another, regardless of cultural or ethnic background – this would nearly never happen in Hong Kong.”

Despite his overall positive experience in Australia, Kwun-Hei soon felt how multiculturalism had its limitations against his episode as an international student.

“I think because of Australia’s multicultural nature, I became overly comfortable within my social circle of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese friends. For me, it points to a wider problem in Australia, or at least in Sydney from what I see. This place is made up of many smaller co-existing ethnic migrant communities that bring in a lot of foreign culture, which helps in creating a ‘global’ appeal for cultural acceptance and open-mindedness; but the trade-off is there isn’t a strong, unique Australian culture that stands out.”

Consequently, Kwun-Hei decided he wanted a fuller international study experience in a foreign culture and going on exchange was the solution for him. His friends were in disbelief when he told them about his first preference for the University of Iceland.

“They asked me why I picked such a random place to go on exchange, and not choose the United States, the United Kingdom, or more popular destinations in Europe like France or Germany instead. Well, I love outdoor sports, beautiful breathtaking scenery and taking photos a lot, and Iceland is a perfect combination of the three,” he explained.

Another reason was to branch out and maximise his learning during his three-year at the University of New South Wales in Bachelor of Social Science, a program he enrolled mainly out of interest.

“Social Science is about exploring aspects of human society. But the years of living in ‘global’ metropolitan cities hasn’t allowed me a chance of really assimilating into a completely different culture and lifestyle. I really wanted to pick a place different from where I’ve been so far in my life.”

After being notified by the UNSW Exchange Office that he was accepted for his application, Kwun-Hei has been doing much more than sitting on his toes every day.

“I try to engage in something about Iceland every day with my laptop. Whether it be looking up Iceland scenery photography, watching Icelandic films on DVD, learning the Icelandic language through YouTube user-submitted tutorials, or simply reading recent news articles related Iceland,” he says, flipping through his Iceland travel guide book while sitting in front of his Apple MacBook Pro.

“A globalised and interconnected world shouldn’t mean the end of cultures. It signifies the importance for people to celebrate and maintain unique, differentiated cultures.”

The photograph shown on Kwun-Hei's laptop is of Hallgrímskirkja, the Church of Hallgrímur in Reykjavík, Iceland.

The poster girl for health: Katey Payne glowing with the benefits of a vegan diet

With a glass of her signature spirulina concoction in hand, Katey sits down at her computer to reveal the next chapter of her journey to her impatient readers. No, Katey is not backpacking around the world or embarking on a solo sailing voyage, she is in fact on a journey to learn how to live the healthiest life possible. In search of healthier alternatives for everything from food to make up, the 21 year old UTS student shares her discoveries, successes, and failures with a growing online community through her blog “Bonne Santé”.

As her blog reaches over 70 hits a day, it is clear that Katey is onto something.

“There is definitely a growing demand for healthier lifestyle choices to be available to consumers, but what I found on my own search was that there was a severe lack of information out there. I didn’t know where to start”.

Struggling to lose those extra couple of kilos, Katey did what we all would think is the best way to shape up; more exercise and less calories. When the weight wouldn’t budge and Katey just ended up feeling more hungry and tired than before, she turned to the internet to find an alternative.

“The internet opened up a whole world of information to me. It wasn’t online books or websites that helped me, but blogs by real people on the same journey as me. It was through these blogs that I discovered how toxic the way we live can really be for our bodies, even if we think we are being healthy.”

As a result Katey has taken on a vegan lifestyle, and swears she is never going back.

“At times I think it’s easy to become a little disillusioned with maintaining a healthy life-style, especially at my age where people typically ‘abuse’ their bodies and suffer few adverse effects beyond a hangover or fatigue, but the results I’ve had through the continual improvement of my diet serve to quell those thoughts fairly quickly – I rarely suffer allergies anymore, no more stomach upsets, no fatigue, better athletic performance and an overall feeling of my body working as it should”.

Katey’s choice of a vegan diet was not only for health reasons, but also to raise awareness of the inhuman processes by which animals are slaughtered or farmed.

“A main reason I tell people for my choice is that ‘if I don’t have enough respect for the animal to raise and kill it myself, then I shouldn’t be eating it’. I feel that most people are dissociated from what’s in front of them on the plate, and tend to avoid thinking of meat as an ‘animal’, rather, see it as a non-descript portion of food that was never alive and in a lot of cases, raised and killed inhumanely.”

Glowing with health, it is easy to see the benefits that Katey’s new vegan lifestyle has had on her body. However, living by her philosophy of “Bonne Santé”, meaning good health, hasn’t proven to always be easiest choice of lifestyle in today’s society.

“Veganism is still seen by many as being kind of “hippy” and abnormal because it goes against the mainstream culture, and I think this makes people unsure of how to react to a vegan. This is really down to the lack of education for society about alternative diets”. 

Although there are no statistics yet for Australia, a 2002 Time/CNN poll found that 4% of American adults identify as vegetarian, and 5% of vegetarians identify as vegans, which implies that 2% of American adults are vegans.

This low percentage of vegans means that people like Katey have a difficult time eating at restaurants and cafes.

“It’s difficult mainly in that we don’t cater for this choice too well in Sydney/Australia. Restaurants will maybe have one token vegetarian dish and certainly no vegan, and I’m not up to the stage of ringing ahead and asking for a special menu just yet!”

Katey’s change of diet has proven as a catalyst for change in another important area of her life. Halfway through her degree in International Studies and Film, Katey has taken her veganism to another level of seriousness and decided to leave university to study Naturopathy.

“It’s definitely hard to admit to yourself though that something essential is missing from the path you are on, and for some reason people in general tend to have an aversion to change. But when I sat down and asked myself what it was that really drove me, and I considered something like naturopathy, I could see so clearly, an awesome future and felt this intense excitement about what I might be able to do in life.”

Katey now hopes in the future to set up her own business in Naturopathy, or even write a book on her health journey. Whatever she decides to do, it is clear that this girl has the passion and determination to positively change our way of thinking about good health.

Go to Katey’s blog Bonne Santé to learn more:

 http://bonnesante.wordpress.com/

Natalia Miller