Isn't She Lovely

The federal government cannot deport asylum seekers unless it proves their country of origin is safe, the Federal Court has ruled. The ruling means more than 1,000 asylum seekers facing deportation may be able to stay in Australia.

Chen Yonglin

The Department of History presents: A Forum on Political Asylum in Australia

Guest speaker: Chen Yonglin, formerly of the Chinese consulate in Sydney, recently granted a permanent protection visa by the Australian government.
With introductory comments by Dr Klaus Neumann, Research Fellow, Swinburne University; author of Refuge Australia, Sydney: UNSW Press,2004.
Chaired by Dr Antonia Finnane, Senior Lecturer in Chinese History.

Time: 12.30 - 2.00 p.m., Friday, 5 August.
Place: Prince Phillip Theatre, Architecture Building.

News

Ok, so I had the accident, that was shit... Other news this week... I went to my first lecture back at uni this semester and was totally disillusioned. I had enrolled in Art Since 1990. My reasoning was that, I wanna know more about contemporary art, and this is my last subject of my degree, so I should do something fun, but I think it'll be more of a drag... I don't know anything about art and a third year Art History class is not the place to start! Grr so I'm thinking maybe I'll do Teacher's class Australia Now.

Also, Enso's friend Amin was released from Maribyrnong on Tuesday. AZADI! It was similar to when the Iraqis were released, I didn't understand what was going on when I saw him out the front of the gates. The Department never tell the detainees what's going on until the last moment. It was very emotional... So happy for Amin, so shit to still have to inside and see Enso still in detention. Today Amanda Vanstone is visiting the centre, who knows what the purpose is, Enso has tried to request a meeting with her so we'll see.

Saw Ryan Adams in concert last night. Teach had a spare ticket so it was last-minute. I'm not really a fan so it was strange to be there, not singing along. He rambled and sooked and talked about cocaine. Lots of what he crapped on about makes sense now that I've looked him up on Wikipedia and read 'Ryan was nominated for a Grammy Award for his cover of Oasis's "Wonderwall" from Love is Hell but did not win.
Ryan has a reputation for his appalling temperament. Notable incidents:
include ejecting a fan who jokingly requested the song "Summer of 69" (written and performed by the near-namesake Bryan Adams) at a Nashville concert on October 14, 2002.
leaving a drunken message on Jim Derogatis' answering machine in response to the critic's review of his concert. This has subsequently been leaked onto the Internet.'

Other news was a bit of fan mail from a lovely German guy called Christian who complimented me on my photo album. He's ace. You can check out his photo album and his (German language) blog.

Car Accident

A good weekend... Until my car accident at 3.30am on Sunday. No-one hurt... Except my car :( We only had 9 weeks togetheer... But they were beautiful, important weeks. Now the little mushroom is convalescing at a compound in East Brunswick while I decide it's fate. Tragic.

Live8 Has Huge Impact

News from today::

The United Nations has appealed for millions of dollars in aid from donors to tackle an "acute humanitarian crisis" in the West African state of Niger where 2.5 million people, including 800,000 children, are facing famine. "We are having now an acute humanitarian crisis in Niger in which children are dying as we speak," said UN relief coordinator Jan Egeland. He said no statistics were available on the number of deaths so far but noted that 150,000 of the 800,000 children affected were suffering from acute malnutrition and were likely to die soon if untreated. "We could have prevented this and the world community didn't," Mr Egeland, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said. Malnutrition has hit 3.6 million people over the past year, a third of Niger's 11.5 million population.

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=116294&region=5

Detainees Released

Yesterday when I went to visit Enso at 5pm, there were some media around... I wondered why but then I remembered that Enso told me the Iraqi couple from Nauru were to be released. They left while I was visiting. This photo was taken by the front gates of Maribyrnong. It was really strange becuase there was a lot of elation, they are a really sweet couple and everyone is very pleased that they are no longer detained... But at the same time, what does this change? I sat with Enso, as usual, for a couple of hours and went through the same emotional difficulties... Same conversations and upsets... Ugh.

Olympic Terror

Back From Tassie

Phew! Can't believe I survived! It was totally cock-tastic. Can't wait to get my photos back...
I reckon we went to every single op-shop on the island and most of the pubs. It was a bit of a magical mystery tour... Starting in Hofart, then onto Deloraine, Cradle Mountain, Coles Bay and then back to the bustling capital before home. We hired a sexy lemon magna sedan and shared the driving from dim sim outlet to op-shop to pub all the way around the island.

Unearthing

June 28, 2005---------------------------------------------------------------------LIETUVOS RYTAS - According to an article, children will not have a chance to play inthe stadium of the Juozas Balcikonis Gymnasium in Panevezys because thearea is being researched by archaeologists from Vilnius. The gym of the school will not be available for any activities, either,since the researchers are using it as a storage place for theirfindings. It is believed that a total of about 580 German soldiers killed duringthe First World War were buried on the current territory of the school. The daily states that the tombstones on the graves of the soldiers weredestroyed at the beginning of the Soviet occupation. The area was turnedinto a park and later a sports area for students of the gymnasium. The scientists, in cooperation with a group of Lithuanian soldiers andstudents from the school, have already unearthed 150 bodies. Rimantas Jankauskas, an anthropologist who is a part of the team workingon the project, said that there is little information on the health ofsoldiers during the First World War and therefore any pathologydiscovered was fascinating. "Confrontation with war in gymnasium in Panevezys," the headline of thestory states.

Rules?

"Rules? There are no rules! We are trying to accomplish something here..."--Albert Einstein

Who is the drunkest?