One journalists feral opinion

I have no doubt these teens are indeed feral but, I didn't think journalists were supposed to place their own opinions in news pieces like this?

Or is this just my old fashioned journalistic training at play again?

Feral teens abuse train passenger

I'm heading to Melbourne this weekend, lets hope I don't encounter any of these ferals.

Favourite writing quotes

Write drunk, edit sober.

Ernest Hemingway certainly had a way with words didn't he?

Words on writing, from PR Daily

I like this from Ray Bradbury: your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.

As I begin the first draft of a book that will be 'part memoir, part fiction' I feel these are fitting words. My intuition does know what to write, but my fear tells me not to write about what I really want because people I know will read it. People I write about will also read it.

Lauren

Seems there really is nothing going on in Perth

In the beginning, I broke....

How does one begin to write about one's mental breakdown? Particularly when one does not know at what point it really started. 

Am I even the best source? The eyes of mental anguish can see things a lot different to ones that are clear, focused and stable. 

I could guess of course. If I had to plot it out, for the purpose of a book, I could write about the events leading up to my demise but perhaps it had always been there. Laying dormant like an exotic virus until it all came bubbling to the surface. 

'It all' - in my mind I know what 'it all' is. I see it, feel it, taste it and know it. Maybe it just comes down to one word: depression. 

Sometimes I visualise depression. When I do, I see someone pushing a lever down. A bit like the coyote in the old Roadrunner cartoon, when he pushed the lever down on the explosive to try and kill the Roadrunner. 

Depression is something starting in my head that gets pushed down slowly, forcing the wind out and causing an explosion. Although many times, by the time my wind is gone I don't have the energy for an explosion. 

My video shop senses my joint

9.09pm, Thursday 14 March:

We would like to thank you for being one of our top performing members sense you joint our store.

YOU NEXT MOVIE OF YOUR CHOICE IS ON US.

Network Video (Location deleted)

No really, that's the text I received last night from my local video shop.


I replied.

Hi, if you are going to spam-text your customers you should check your spelling first.

And don't send them after 9pm. It's illegal to 'cold call' in any manner after that time.

Please cancel my membership and don't text me again.


Credibility lies in the ability to spell and observe basic spamming laws. I suspect they thought they were going to drum up so much business but I would be interested to see how many people are annoyed by this.

Or maybe it's just me. I am fickle when it comes to spelling errors.

Lauren

Peanut butter article is indeed a disaster for Jamie Oliver

I hope I can blame an over zealous sub editor for losing the context and meaning in this article.

(Because  I sure don't want to blame Rob Broadfield, he's one my favourite writers).

So let me get this straight - Jamie's new restaurant in Perth will be serving ice cream that has seven banned ingredients yet is all natural?

I feel as though there are many important paragraphs missing from the original version of this article. When I say original, I mean pre sub-editor. That's the danger when word count means more than the story.

Lauren

America's shame on Four Corners this week

The ABC Four Corners programme revealed America's shame this week with a heartbreaking documentary about the working class poor.

The show followed a 21 year old mum of two girls, a forty-something dad of six and a 52 year old father of two.

The mother lived in her car and drove around San Diego all day, trying to find menial work while two small children literally hung of her. The two dads lived in motel rooms with their whole families.

Yes at least the latter have roofs over their heads but.....a whole family in a motel room?

I found myself thinking: there are people in third world countries who have it tougher than this. Which is true, there are terrible levels of poverty in other places but there is something about watching America crumble that is heartbreaking.

It's like watching someone slowly destroy themselves on drugs or alcohol. They begin as respectable citizens: job, family, law abiding, pay taxes, brush their teeth.

Then slowly they fall from grace.

America was a powerhouse for as long as I have been on this planet. You weren't really famous if you hadn't made it in America, you hadn't really travelled or lived until you'd been to America.

But underneath all the glitz, there was a weak foundation. We all know that now so I won't go over it. After my own turn at the Royal Bank of Scotland during the Global Financial Crisis gosh knows I can't find the energy to analyse THAT disaster any more.

At the end of the programme, I found myself thinking: and yet all these 'people' like the Kardashians, Kendra, The Real Housewives of wherever....are getting paid millions for being ridiculous and honest Americans who just want a job, an income (even if its small) and a good meal are sleeping in designated parking lots for the 'half homeless'.

Now that's a disaster.

Lauren