the worker.

chews bread and butter
having earned the right to eat
whatever s/he wants.

ideology.

My heart is full of anger, then sadness.
Doing SCWK reading... came across:

"The Herald Sun strongly opposed any liberalisation of street prostitution laws, and favoured a narrow law-and-order solution. Street prostitution was defined as an immoral and illegal activity that should be eradicated, and the complex social and structural factors underlying street sex work were ignored.

This position was presented via the following themes:

- The state has no right to use taxpayer's money (allegedly $600,000 a year) to fund brothels. Prostitution is an immoral activity that undermines traditional family values, and should not be sanctioned by government.

- There are no suitable areas for street sex in the suburb of St Kilda. Tolerance zones will only lower property values, threaten the safety of children, and undermine local businesses.

- Tolerance zones are based on the same misplaced harm minimisation philosophy advocated by naive welfare workers and bureaucrats that has led to the endorsement of supervised injecting facilities for drug users, and supervised chroming for young people in care.

- Tolerance zones and street worker centres mean the legalisation of street prostitution, which will not help existing street workers, but only lead to an increase in the number of prostitutes. The policy solution is tougher policing. Street workers should be prosecuted, and male gutter crawlers publicly named and shamed."
(Mendes 2008: 228)

To use political rhetoric is to adapt to the language of how social change seems to happen in this world. I can throw around terms: cycles of poverty, substance abuse, lack of education and employment opportunities, sexual abuse, illicit drug use, mental illness in contrast to this neo-liberalist position... but really I just want a response that is more than emotional.

Prostitution told her she was worth only as much as the next man's payment of her. It told her this was the best option for an income, and what kills me, is that she will take years if not her whole life, to regain her sense of self-worth, dignity, and self-respect after God rescues her back into His arms.

Discipline.

I wanted to change

I didn't think it meant Your rebukes

I wanted all the riches You promised

I didn't think it meant hardest lessons

I wanted joy

I didn't think it meant fighting innerbattles

I wanted patience

I didn't think it meant the pain

I wanted clarity

I didn't realise

That to transform in You

It would cost me

less than it did You.

telephone

540am
a ringing phone shredding frets
darkness still
the slumber and
the right to stay unconscious

541am
the ringing phone chordal shrill
escaping I, shut eye,
supine.

"Mum?"
Your hand phone is switched off.

544am + + +
Speak to her?
She is gone, long gone

I am her breaking h____

549am
pitch black unsung
morning dew,
voice of broken english
message carrier....

... a car immobile?

I am her breaking he__

Perspectives from old clandestine
resurfacing anew,
I am her breaking hea__
and differentiation tool.

Clarity a must,
I am finally understanding.
I am not her hopelessness
Nor her breaking

constantheart.

bon iver !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDj44n5bjWU

soulful

emotionally charged
pure

untamed

beautiful

therapy's soundtrack

absolute genius...

I'm not one to become obsessed with bands or artists, which is odd as I'm a muso, but I would pay a ridiculous amount of money to see Justin Vernon and his brilliant pool of musos play anywhere, anytime, any day. I only just had the privilege to see Bon Iver play at City Recital Hall in January with my two best girls, who love them equally as much! He was breathtaking.

Please treat yourself to this video. You really owe it to yourself. The taste of this man is perfectly accurate to the yearnings of listeners who seek music to ease their bodies, minds, and souls. His vocal work gives you goosebumps and his arrangements are absolutely divine.

ah. twenty first reflections.

Surround yourself with love, so much that you become lost in it.

Everyone needs a place to be vulnerable in life. Without it, you are constantly living in a facade of strength. No one is strong all the time. Weakness is ok sometimes.
Life is allowed to be enjoyed.
Every word a person says to you has a context.
Crying is necessary. Laughing is even more so.


Guard your heart by giving all of it to God. He is the only one you can entrust it to.
Working hard is a witness to others. It shows you are passionate, committed and grateful.
Being beautiful is tough, worthy work on the heart. Being pretty takes a good twenty minutes in front of the mirror.
Only spend money on what you need. You will be so much happier that way.
Take time to explain things to people who really need an explanation.
Writing down your values, passions, ambitions and hopes is incredibly therapeutic and helps you find and re-find yourself.

Listening is an active activity. It is pretty difficult to master, too.
There is always time for a sit-down coffee.
Praying in your car out loud, using your hands, gives you more clarity than you bargained for.
Program yourself to love, as your default position.
Studying is fun when it's training you to become what you've always dreamed of.

Method to finding someone: Figure out who you are in God. Find someone who complements that.
Spiritual discernment is my number one coveted item. I want it so bad!
Wearing something nice makes you feel good about yourself. You smile at more people.
Some days you will feel like wearing stuff that isn't so nice. You're only human.

Delegation to capable people is the key to successful event planning.
I think songwriting may be like giving birth - painful but worth it.
A woman is to be pursued, but not to be obsessed with the story of his pursuit of her.
Never make public generalisations. Someone will get offended.
There is a time and a place to say and do everything. If it looks as though you have been looking for a long time to say or do this particular thing, perhaps it isn't worth it. That said, give it a few years at least.

I had the most amazing 21st birthday party. It was because God decided to bless me, and so did my amazing, diamond-like friends and unrelenting-in-love family.

welcome meetings

Student Life runs them at Syd Uni for the first week after O-Week. I love them because everyone is catching up or making new friends. I believe in first impressions but I also believe in cultivating relationships as an ongoing process.

There is something about Christian gatherings. I love playing for them and I especially love being asked because it's such a pleasure, joy and surprise. Often I feel a tinge of guilt when I play for too many of these events, because I think maybe God doesn't want my music to be there, it is to serve another set of people who don't know Him at all.

It is strange for me these days to get nervous before a performance. I do it so often it is my lifestyle and my element and sadly, I confess in hiding behind my guitar and singing to sometimes avoid talking to people whilst doing outreach missions. Awful! That said, I was nervous before playing for this welcome meeting. I was shaking whilst doing so.

The Spirit rescued me and another StudLifer shared his testimony afterwards. Being a brother in Christ, he referenced the lyrics to my original song (the chorus which is made up of 1 Cor 13:3) to back up a pivotal moment in his understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus in his life.

I ate it up. I prayed in my car that night and nutted it out with the Father -- why was this brother's referencing to my song lyrics so special to me? why could I not stop smiling about it? Then alas, it hit me --

finally, I figured it out. My role in music ministry, my convictions about serving others daily and the joy it would bring.. why I can't stop writing songs about every revelation the Spirit has given me... my gift is to encourage, my service to others is to encourage through song, through relationships. Oh! The joy it brings!

You know, I am a soul singer and heavily emotional songwriter. I am, and will work hard in being anchored in the word of God, so that my lyrics emerge from this foundation, run free, and fall gently into your ears,

jolting your heart...