Busy and Proud

So let me give you a quick run down of what I have been up to over the last couple of months:

·     *   Working 3 jobs: Admin, Winery and Bistro

·     *   Clocking up 14 hours of simulated clinic and 2 hours of clinic per weeks

·     *   On top of the countless hours of lectures

·     *   Rehearsals every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday for The Wizard of OZ

·     *   Set-building every Tuesday and Saturday

·     *   Organizing Spectrum (Gay/Straight alliance) club fundraising and social events

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      But now I have time to breathe.

After a fantastic two weeks of Wizard of Oz performances (3 shows with a few seats empty and 4 full house) I can look back on my packed schedule and feel proud. I admit I still have a lot to achieve with exams coming up in a few weeks and the lead up to the Spectrum cellar door social in a few days, but time has drifted back into excess and I have no fears that I can handle what is to come. I personally find I get more done with more to do; I value time more the less I have to waste.

This year has been a process of things getting easier. As I reach and I complete more of my goals I have more time and effort to spend on those goals still remaining. I have gained skills, experiences and friendships that have made me a happier, more self-confident and more reliable person.

I am currently, in terms of my course, practicing my cavity preparations, studying materials and running through patient scenarios, getting ready for starting on patients next semester. The further I go with the course the more responsibility I am entrusted but I am sure I can handle whatever is thrown my way. I have the drive, the brains and now more than ever the support I need to not only go far in this course or my university experience, but most importantly in life.

By Nick Tarpey

You can do anything you want!

Hey everyone! 

How are you all? Sorry I haven't been blogging. Really busy lately, crunch time again :/. I miss all of you! So recently, I have decided to become a Highschool Biology, Science, Marine Studies teacher! I have come across this idea due to my breakdown I had in front of my biology teacher last term. I was so damn frustrated because I didn't know what the hell was being taught and I felt so vulnerable and inadequate. But she gave me a hug and told me that I can do it. That I can achieve anything I want. And with biology being my favourite subject, I really wanted to do well. 

So that afternoon I went home and went through all of my class notes and taught myself everything. 3 and 1/2 hours it took me. Then for the remaining two weeks before the 3 hr exam I studied about 13 and 1/2 hours, had tutoring with my teacher every morning, both lunch breaks and in the afternoon everyday for the last two weeks. I ended up passing the exam with a B+. I was ecstatic! Now this teacher helped me so much and I didn't have any friends last night because we all had a fall out. So I went to this teacher whenever I wanted. We chatted. She was now my friend. And I trusted her so much that one afternoon in tutoring I told her my whole life story. And nobody ever has heard that. 

So this teacher has made me want to become just like her. To help kids the way she has helped me. Now that it's mid-term, I'm struggling with our new assessment. I have to do a 10-15 minute speech on how biotechnology, such as stem cells, can cure my chosen topic which is Parkinson's Disease. But no. I'm not going to give up this time. I can do it. I will do it. I will pass with flying colours. Everyone. Don't ever give up. You can do whatever you stick your mind to. Stay happy. Keep doing what you do. 

Talk soon guys and girls.

Lots of love, 

Tish xoxo <3

By Tanisha Devene

Wear it PURPLE

If you ever read one of my blogs, I urge you to make it this. It is about an organisation that is doing great things for rainbow youth around Australia and the world.

Wear it purple (http://wearitpurple.org) is all about telling young people that they have the right to be proud of who they are. On their website it says "Wear it Purple exists in order to support sexuality and gender diverse (rainbow) young people at risk. Run by students, we aim to stop the ignorance, bullying and suicides." They are based in NSW however they are gaining popularity around the country and a number of people around the world have started to notice the group.

Wear It Purple came to existence in late 2010 as a tragic circumstance made it clear that things needed to change for LGBTIQ kids. In late September an 18 year old male in New Jersey took his life due to being 'outed' as being gay by his roommate who video streamed footage of his sexual encounter with another man on the internet without his knowledge. After this incident was highly reported on, numerous other stories of teenagers taking their lives due to bullying and homophobia were brought to light. Ellen Degeneres then made a public statement on her talk show about the incidents: 

"Something must be done. This month alone, there has been a shocking number of news stories about teens who have been teased and bullied and then committed suicide; like 13-year-old Seth Walsh in Tehachapi, California; Asher Brown, 13, of Cypress, Texas; and 15-year-old Billy Lucas in Greensberg, Indiana. This needs to be a wake-up call to everyone: teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death rate is climbing." 

Katherine Hudson and Scott Williams came up with an idea: for one day, they would encourage people everywhere to “wear it purple” in order to raise awareness about homophobic bullying and youth suicide. They wished for WIP to be a world-wide student led movement that annually expresses support and awareness to potentially save thousands of lives and change countless minds. 

The Wear It Purple Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wearitpurple) is always posting inspirational photos and quotes that bring hope to all who follow the page's activity. However the biggest activity of the organisation is Wear It Purple Day where everyone in schools, workplaces and the community are encouraged to wear purple for a day to show their support for students all over the world. Wear It Purple has also had a stall at Fair Day (which I volunteered my time at this year) which is helping build its reputation. This year we sold t-shirts and water bottles, had a lolly guessing competition, handed out flyers about WIP and made a few new friends. They have also been able to secure a place in the annual Sydney Mardi Gras parade for the last three years. I have marched with them all three times and loved every single moment of it! Better than Christmas! 

From now on, Wear it Purple day will be the last Friday in August so this year - AUGUST 30! You can pop it in your diary for years to come.

Get your school, uni workplace and friends involved and let everyone know how proud you are to be who you are and WEAR IT PURPLE!

 Get planning your WEAR IT PURPLE DAY for 2013! 

By DIBS

The best part of getting a new job

If you have been reading my last few blog posts, you will know that I have been job hunting for the last five months or so. The uncertainty of my coming financial situation has been weighing down on me for a while, and as a result, I have been pretty stressed. Well, this week I finally got a new job. I am now the librarian at the Mental Health Law Centre WA, and have been charged with the task of turning a whole pile of boxed donations into a functional library. Not many librarians ever get the chance to start a library from scratch, so it is pretty huge that I have been given this task before I have even graduated. Sure it is only a six month contract, but that will bring me close to the end of the year, and by that time I will have the piece of paper that says I am qualified, and I will be able to start applying for all those lovely jobs only available to New Grads.

So you know how I celebrated my new employment? By shaving my head. Or rather, having my fiancée Sam shave it for me.

You see, I normally have a Number 3 buzz cut. It is part of my self-image, my identity. When Sam shaves me, it is a form of intimacy that we can only share together. I don’t go to a hairdresser, or to a barber. I strip down to my underwear, and have the woman I love shave me in the kitchen.

I am not ashamed of being gay, but I do know that having a buzz cut screams dyke, which is not always a good thing in a slightly conservative industry like Information Services. So I forgo the buzz cut, and grow my hair out for a couple of months into a basic schoolboy cut, that is still somewhat feminine. Personally, I hate it. But I know on an intellectual level that I don’t need to make my job hunting any harder than what it already is. There is just too much at stake. Centrelink payments are not enough to sustain us, even with the fact we don’t have to pay rent. It is hard enough for someone with a disability to find professional employment, without rocking up to the interview as super-butch.

But I have a job now, even if it is temporary. Plus, there is a significant pay rise compared to my current job. Maybe, for the first time in a good few months, I might actually be able to put aside some money for our wedding.

For a long time, I was only ever tolerated by my family. I shaved my head for the first time when I was sixteen, as part of World’s Greatest Shave, through my school, and since then, it has become very much part of who I am. Sure, once I started university I was able to brush it off as a cheaper alternative to a haircut, and my wallet certainly liked it, but the truth was, I liked how I looked. I grew up in a country mining town, where the girls were girls and the men were men. I liked blurring the lines, being different and marking myself as the individual that I was. But even though I am generally accepted within my extended family, my mother and grandmother always take every opportunity to comment on how nice I look with longer hair, how flattering it looks, and how feminine it makes me.

Either way, now I have secured employment, I am able to reclaim my identity, my self-image. Besides, you have no idea how good it is to feel the breeze on my scalp once more.

By Suzie Day
This post was originally published on CatalogueThis.com

Networking - to be or not to be?

My mentor, Khai, recently invited me to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Association’s mentoring programme launch. I’ve had to navigate in networking contexts before. Last year I was one of the delegates from Sydney Law School to the Australian Law Students Associate (ALSA) annual conference. In many ways the two events felt similar. In many ways the two events felt different.

At ALSA we were all subject to a 20 minute lecture by a managing partner of a large city law firm about the importance of networking. His speech reminded me of a scene from Confessions of a Shopaholic. Asked to write one thousand words on APRs, Rebecca proceeds to do some research. A few moments later her boss appears behind her and exclaims, “Rebecca… did you just type ‘good angles on APRs into Google?” Either that or he just copy and pasted the Wikipedia page on networking. His delivery then reminded me of a scene from the Simpsons.

Mr Burns: Did you get that report on the accounting department?

Homer: Yes sir, I did. "The accounting department is located on the 3rd floor. Its hours are 9am to 5pm. The head of this department is a Mr. Johnson or Johnstone."

Given his enthusiasm I do not think I could be faulted for not seizing the opportunity to market myself to my fellow peers. Bring together a few hundred law students there will be natural diversity of course. Some, like myself and fellow Pinnacle Scholar Veronica Mason, will devote our attention to the mooting and skills competitions. Others will be there for a week of revelry. But at the end of the day you could naturally begin with questions like “which law school are you from” and remark about the differences between their curriculum and yours. You take out your phone and you say, “hey we should add each other on Facebook!” Then you go off to use the bathroom or get another drink and you avoid that person for the rest of the night because you don’t want to talk to them again. That would be awkward. If you bump into them in the hotel lobby the next day, you nod your head in acknowledgement, smile, wave, say hi, but you do not slow down (in fact, quicken your pace in case there was any doubt in their mind about your intentions) and hope you’re not catching the same tram as them. 

Among the company of Sydney’s gay and lesbian business community my enthusiasm for networking was not exactly rekindled. I remember asking Khai at the beginning of the evening, “Do I just go up to people and ask them ‘so, what do you do’? That seems a little rude”. There is a modesty I am accustomed to, both with asking about another person’s private affairs and volunteering information about my own. So without Khai to tell everyone about my clerkship and my judge’s associateship I do not think I could have represented myself in the best light. But because Khai did, everyone was really nice and genuinely engaged me in my life and my achievements. My opinion of networking has recovered.

Society demands networking apparently. It is, at least in business, a fact. An aversion to social interaction with strangers is seen as something shameful by most people. All of my close friends have confessed to me that they feel similarly while admiring my ability to engage strangers in conversation. I don’t feel the need to resolve the question whether my friends and I are in the minority with our anxiety. But I am confident enough to admit it and try my best to overcome it.

By Nathan Li

Finding My Feet

Starting at a new University is a lot like starting at a new school. For most kids, this happens when they move from Primary to High School at a time where they are just discovering their own personal identity. During my move to Sydney and my subsequent arrival at a new University campus, the only benefit I had over a pre-pubescent teenager was that I already new who I was and who I wanted to be. Aside from this, my first day at my new Campus was just as terrifying as my first day at High School. I had no idea where to go, where to eat, where the bathroom was or who could potentially be a new friend.
Like my first day at High School, I was terrified that I would receive no help in getting my bearings and that the friends and guidance I longed to find would only be discovered after a lot of work and a lot of time. This fear proved to be completely unfounded! Not only were my new classmates helpful but they were downright friendly and caring! They showed me around, walked me to my classes and reassured me that my new campus would feel like home in no time at all. 
How right they were. In what seemed like no time at all, I had an amazingly strong and supportive group of friends who seemed not only happy to both guide me in my last year of Primary Education but also support me in finding my feet in both a new city and a new education system. To my surprise, this support has not faded since the first few weeks of my first semester at my new campus but has continued despite me well and truly finding my feet in Sydney. 

Thanks to the new friends I’ve made at ACU, this last semester at Uni has not only been the most enjoyable but also the most academically successful year of my degree so far. My success isn’t just because of my renewed drive and passion for my career but because of all the new friends I have made since my move to Sydney and all the support, time and care they have given me since my first day at ACU Strathfield.
To all these wonderful new friends I offer these words. 
“Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left your side”.

By Matt Russo