TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Friday, September 9, 2005

12:11 PM
Posted by jodi rose

what a wild week in a crazy world.
the hurricane and those people dying and surviving in new orleans - how do you even start to make sense of that? reading about those two photos of people carrying stuff - the white family captioned as searching for food, the black family as looting - I haven't seen either of them, but guess it's another example of how perception of events is shaped through and by the media, to manipulate and reinforce existing prejudices and beliefs.
Like in the last election here, there are a few moments when that perception can be shaped and then it sets in place and becomes reality for the majority of people who are happy not to ask questions... and we all have to live with the consequences. years later we're seeing the results of choices made on misinformation or flawed assumptions - decimation of the welfare state, public health and workers rights, anyone? it's obviously working so well for american society.

ok rant almost over. am feeling incredibly shattered and grumpy today - that sense of being so focused and intent on something, and once it's finished you snap - all the energy drained out of me, can barely walk or speak. and of course another ten deadlines and major projects are looming up at me, feel sick with anxiety about the writing I haven't done, and stretched beyond my capacity by various technical questions and performance expectations.
oh well. its like editing sound for this program - you make a series of choices, and at some point you have to stop choosing, decide to accept what you've chosen and work with the material you have in front of you. Some lovely quotes in there, about anarchy and resistance, to social structures, the desire for industry to make us swallow their perfect world and constant 'progress', the idea of taking an instrument to the limits of its resistance, working with and against technology, and that emotion arrives because there is a certain resistance.
what doesn't kill you makes you stranger. (intentional mis-quote alert)

reading umpteenth review of little fish and interview with cate blanchett for the week in todays metro - talking about the idea of making a story universal, she says:
'in order to strike a universal chord, a story needs to be profoundly personal and specific. The observation needs to be true... you cannot set out with a charter to be all things to all people. So you can't measure the journey compared to all the ocean liners that are out there'.

indeed. I feel like I'm in a rickety old aluminium rowboat trying to navigate my way across this immense ocean and all these people keep trying to climb on board, thinking it's some kind of glamorous fully appointed luxury yacht. all I'm doing is staying afloat right now, the if you're on board with me then grab a bucket and help bail out water.