Tuesday, March 2, 2010

61. A thing or two


I gave up “telling” long ago, now I want to share thoughts that are getting the bees in my bonnet buzzing. As much as the crazies were set off by these young men, I am not going to have a go at them specifically. Not like get a haircut and get a real job – not that sort of tirade.

Maybe these lads have jobs: night shift in a bar, perhaps. The thing that gets my goat is that they don’t seem to be stressed enough – at all, really. Nowadays, youngsters work part-time and deliberately eschew possessions, other than e-gadgets to stuff in an ear or thumb-punch. Their income is calculated to fall over the line of next payday. There is neither yesterday, nor tomorrow. Today is everything. Where is struggle street? Where is saving for a rainy day?

Boarding through the city on a slow Monday doesn’t cut it for me.

7 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

Go to a shopping centre any day of the week and it is full. All of those people can't be living on welfare. So what we are seeing is a change in our society. There is much more part-time, casual and odd hours work for people of all ages. The young choose it while they are studying. People like me get it foisted on us through redundancy. Young parents choose flexible work options. Retirees choose to "transition" into retirment. Enlighted workplaces are bending over backwards to accomodate these social changes. We should not jump to conclusions based on how the world used to be.

And when was tomorrow ever important to the young (those not yet married with kids)?

Julie said...

Ah, now, see here. You responded to the CONTENT, not the writing.

Julie said...

That I suspect is some sort of aim, to have any comments that might be made, be as much about the content as about the style.

I read many blogs that have a "writing" purpose, but they are not constrained by the rules of my Riffs. However, I think these rules are still beneficial as my writing is still in the early stages of developing a range of styles.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Another interesting observation. When you write fact I am generally reading for the content and respond because we are both very opinionated -- I actually don't even think much about the writing. Perhaps the writing seems less crafted or else I just let the opinions blur my vision. When you write fiction I read for the story and how you get it across with your deliciously rich use of words so I consider the writing.

Once upon a quite long time ago I enrolled in a Master of Professional Writing at UTS. I only managed two semesters before work and business travel swallowed me and I had to pull out. However, it was a marvelous experience -- feedback from so many talented writers. But the real reason I mention it is that I did a subject on writing history which was run by the history department not the writing department and had historians in the class as well as wannabe writers. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of creative non-fiction.

Julie said...

I am just learning this with all the reading that I am doing. Two semesters ... you were halfway there! I have not enrolled in my Research Masters this year. I am nowhere near ready to narrow down my theses topic to one that is "unique" and acceptable to a supervisor. However, by the end of 2010 I will be there.

Re writing history, I am chagrined that I am missing this
http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=678&nav_cat_id=335&nav_top_id=57

as I have a film from the FFF on at 2pm that day.

I am working right now on today's RIFF which is trying to write history in a way that "engages".

Julie said...

Both very opinionated ... *chuckle*

Joan Elizabeth said...

What a shame you can't attend the history writing day ... it looks is if it would be interesting.