TIGblogs - Brent's TIGBlog http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us My New Blog URL http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/92823
Brent Hodgson Copywriter]]> Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:19:00 EST http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/92823 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 The Decline of Western Civilization http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1969

The Decline of Western Civilization
Rahoul Das
Australia



I've just always liked this work of Rahoul Das', which is on display in the Global Gallery
It's reminiscent of the work of Robert Rauschenberg, which is also very much well worth a look. My personal favourite is Retroactive I which, depending on how you interpret it, bears a lot of similarity to Rahoul's work.

]]> Mon, 10 Dec 2001 10:05:00 EST http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1969 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 How fortunate... http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1931




"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think."


~Adolf Hitler





]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2001 09:47:00 EST http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1931 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 For Rent - One World http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1482
If we had rented this world I don't think we'd get the bond back.... "oh c'mon god, I think that hole in the roof was there when we got here!

.....Rainforest? There was no rainforest when I moved in!"




If I were humanity's landlord, I would have kicked our butts out by now.]]> Wed, 07 Nov 2001 07:32:00 EST http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1482 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Update on "Rajah" http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1444 Anyway..

This article appeared in the Melbourne Herald-Sun (most popular Melbourne Newspaper) on Thursday. Again, I've removed and changed names to protect privacy.

fyi - VCE is the Victorian Certificate of Education


School bomb threat

A VCE student accused of planning to blow up the Wheelers Hill campus of Caulfield Grammar appeared in court yesterday. XXXXXXX XXXXXXX, 17, is charged with posessing an explosive substance with intent to injure. Several LPG cylanders were discovered in different locations around the school on October 11, Ringwood Magistrates' Court was told.
Sen-Constable "John Smith" said other students had alerted staff to the threat on October 11 when XXXXXXX was seen with the gas bottles.
Staff conducted a search of the capmus, which revealed a total of four gas bottles in three different locations. They also found 20 packets of unused matches amoun XXXXXXX's property.
The Caulfield Grammar student was initially sent for psychiatric treatment, where the court heart he made full admissions about his plans to blow up the school, citing mistreatment from other students as the reason.
Staff at the psychiatric centre notified police, telling them there was nothing they could do to treat the boy who was not psychotic.
Police charged XXXXXXX last Thursday.
Stn-Constable "Smith" said police executed a search warrant on the psychiatric centre and among the students' property located newspaper clippings from America reporting incidents where mass murder had been committed in schools.
Sen-Constable "Smith" said a homemade video was also found, filmed at the Wheelers Hill campus, indicating the spots chosen to plant the LPG cylanders.
Sen Constable "Smith" said police investigations revealed XXXXXXX had accessed Internet sites explaining the detonation of explosives, and had tested timing devices.
Psychiatric staff gave evidence to police alleging the student had said he was going to blow up the school canteen, where up to 200 students regularly congregated.
The student faces two charges relating to the explosive devices and one charge of being unlawfully on premises.
The explosive charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Magistrate "Joan Johnson" yesterday released XXXXXXX, of X street, y town on bail, on the strict condition he remain in the care of a psychiatric institution.
She ordered him to appear in the same court on X date.





"This watch.... this ring...."]]> Fri, 02 Nov 2001 09:34:00 EST http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1444 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 So, how was your day at School, Brent? http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1270
Pinch me if I'm dreaming, but suddenly, school is becoming surreal and... well, interesting! Yes, today there was a fire at school.

It was lunchtime - more or less a usual lunch-time. Hang around with my mates, joke about.
Anyway, Lunch is about to finish, and we go back to our common room - for some reason, I get distracted and start talking to someone just outside the Guys' Bathroom (just to one side of the common room). One of my mates (Lucas) decides he'll go to the bathroom just before classes start.

Smelling something burning, I turn around to see Lucas leaving the bathroom quickly with a look of disbelief on his face. Someone opens the door, and I get my first look at what's going on. It's as if all the usually well-lit room is in complete darkness - you couldn't even see the lights on the roof the smoke was that thick.
I race over to get a fire extinguisher while Mark gets another. Toddy, a Country Fire Authority trained Fireman (fights the big Australian bushfires every year) grabs the fire extinguisher from Mark and tells him to run around the back of the building and knock out the back windows on the other side of the bathroom. We get someone to hold the door open for us while we arm the extinguishers, duck under the thick black smoke and take aim. Toddy's fire extinguisher starts fine, but then splutters and fails. Mine has steady pressure, so Toddy steps out of the way. It was impossible to see where the water was going, at first we were just spraying and listening for the violent hiss of water on fire. As the smoke started to lift and leave slowly, we began to see the flames on the other side of the room. The fire had probably started at around waist height, because flaming pieces of...something kept falling.
I kept low, and walked towards the fire to try and put it out at the source, but the room was filled with dizzying carbon monoxide, it was hard to see, and there was a banging noise coming from somewhere near the fire (it later turned out to be Mark trying to break the window) so I got the hell out!

Last I saw, the fire was still burning - but someone must have finished putting it out just before they sealted the room.

Apparently, what happened was someone decided it was a good end-of-year prank to set fire to a roll of toilet paper in one of those big plastic toilet roll dispensers in a cubicle. When I saw the flaming bits of "something" falling from waist level, it turned out that it was the plastic toilet roll dispenser melting off the wall. The fire must have been going a while to fill the room with smoke, and to melt the toilet dispenser off the wall.

Interesting day.
The check-up for smoke inhalation was fun. But I'm still black and sooty, have crud up my nose and in all over my face.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow... Life is making dreaming redundant. Compared to life, imagination is starting to seem bland and mundane.

*Note to Self; find a copy of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" to play in the year-level common room tomorrow at lunchtime :)*]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2001 05:31:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1270 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Barbeque Brent? http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1208 It's something which I need to put down, so for the sake of protecting the parties involved, identities have been changed.


Rajah (non-muslim!!, indian ex-pat) has always been a social outcast at Winston High. I'm not sure why.
He's a very intelligent person, but he skips classes more than I do, and you can find him reading alone in the library at any given time.
I speak to him whenever I see him. Very rarely will I get any sort of conversation out of him. Originally, he never spoke back, but now he just gives me the shortest answer to my questions he can.

Being a small in stature, and seeing as exams are on, a number of people were surprised to see him struggling to school with a number of heavy bags. Apparently he was struggling with them (I don't know, I came much later to school) and looking edgy - glancing around to see who was watching.
He went to his locker and was about to put the bags in when a teacher (who was talking to Phil and Robert) called him over. The two talked, while everyone else wondered what was in the bags. Phil decided he was going to check, and asked Robert to tap him on the shoulder if Rajah started coming back.
He opened up one of the bags and saw a barbeque gas cylinder - at which point, he tapped Robert on the shoulder and out of the year 12 locker room/common room the two ran, in search of Mrs Johnson (Vice Principal of the school)
Rajah disappeared, and was found much later on the street outside the school, carrying two more gas cylinders.

This is how I was told the story, just after I arrived to school. John, the person who told me, is known to have a master key to the Year 12 locker room/common room, and said that a number of weeks earlier, Rajah had asked for the key.
In John's own words "He [Rajah] was either planning to blow something up (perhaps the common room, perhaps us) or he was planning to throw one helluva barbeque" (I don't know why, but I couldn't help laughing here)

Rajah's been in counselling all day.
I hope, for his sake, he was planning a barbeque. I can't help but feel sorry for him.]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2001 06:36:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1208 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1132
....Both, equally untravelled. Each with its own bounty to share.

One, plentiful with the fruits of a thousand springtimes. The other traces a wonderous trail of discovery and munificence.

Where shall summer take me? And will the paths meet again?]]> Fri, 05 Oct 2001 11:10:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1132 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Local Update #1 http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1126 Just e-mail myself (bhodgson@takingitglobal.org) or Jarra (jarra@takingitglobal.org) and we'll help you out.

Cheers

~Brent]]> Fri, 05 Oct 2001 00:49:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/1126 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Back to the 'gees and various ho-hum http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/853 It has ordered the Tampa boat-people be brought back to Australian Territory.. But not just that - the Government has until Friday 5pm (AEST) to bring the Asylum Seekers INTO MAINLAND AUSTRALIA!!
Sorry Nairu, I was happy you'd be getting the aid money to look after them, but this whole farce was trampling human rights and paying no regard to Australia's legal system.

Biggest achievement today;
Managed to be granted a "stay of excecution" against my Art teacher who wants to see me fail this year.

Biggest gain;
I made a friend who I hope I will know for a long time yet.

Biggest surprise;
Recieved a major school award for my community service.

F***!
Watching CNN - News just in!

A PLANE HAS CRASHED INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE in NEW YORK


It is believed to be a 737 twin engine passenger jet.
There is speculation about this being some sort of protest - especially since this is a low air-traffic area.
However, in my opinion this is unlikely. I don't know.
I think I'll end this update now, and go watch it..

Plenty more to say about my day, but hey.. this is history.]]> Tue, 11 Sep 2001 08:54:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/853 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Final bit on Refugees http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/776
As of today, this update page will revert back to being a reflection of my thoughts as opposed to being a soapbox for voicing political messages.
I will still hold the strong belief that Australia has the ability and obligation to accept more of the world's 35,000,000+ people seeking asylum and refuge. But in being active in promoting this belief, my activism will be more of a long term process - part of which will be to engage people to think through the implications of their opinions and justify them. After this, if they can still hold their beliefs without holding a sense of doubt about them, I am more than happy to simply live and let live. (For the moment at least :)



Was having a terrible day. Stressed, late, overdue work, had a song in my head which reminds me of someone dear. Then a friend reached into his bag and pulled out a CD and told me to listen to it. I don't think he meant it that way, he just knows I like Swing (and the Brian Setzler Orchestra) but really cheered me up.

It's funny how even the smallest act of kindness can sometimes really make a difference.

Now I'm in the Year 12 Common Room with a whole group of people around who I never knew liked swing.
Still stressed, late, overdue and missing "special person" (thanks for the SMS :), but I'm much happier now :)

Just "a case of the Mondays" I guess :P

The moral of today;
Never underestimate the power of a good backbeat and some syncopation. Oh, and even your smallest act counts. :)

~Brent]]> Sun, 02 Sep 2001 23:18:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/776 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 The Australian Assylum Seekers -the Facts and Issues http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/756 I decided to throw this out to the Discussion Pages to bring more people into the debate.
(For those of you who are unfarmiliar with what has been happening, check out my last few updates at http://updates.takingitglobal.org/read/brenthodgson )

So, what have we got so far?

Facts:

  • A number of Assylum Seekers recently set off from southern Indonesia for Australia

  • When the leaky ferry (only fit to carry 40 people) started sinking midway between Australia and Indonesia, the closest ship in the area was called in to give assistance.

  • In compliance with International Shipping Laws, the Norwegian Freighter "Tampa" picked up the refugees, believing they would simply take them to the nearest port (Christmas Island)

  • Neither Australia nor Indonesia are/were allowing the "Tampa" to dock at any of their ports, or enter their Territorial Waters

  • With thanks to the defiant Captain, the Tampa is currently in Australian Waters. A number of Queens Counsels (Top Lawyers) from Melbourne, Australia, are currently in court applying Australian laws to these Assylum Seekers in an attempt to "end the inhumane treatment, and allow these people to be properly detained within a fully equipped Australian detention centre" (where the refugees would then need to be processed, as opposed to sending them back)
  • There are somewhere between 400 and 500 refugees currently on the "Tampa"

  • The majority of these people are Muslim (believed to be from Afganistan and Iraq)




The Politics




Other Tid-bits



Anything you disagree with? Any points you want to make? Anything you want to add?

I guess I'll start this one off..
I was on the Prime Minister's web-site yesterday, and even after this stand on immigration, I saw this;

"For those who’ve come across the seas,
we’ve boundless plains to share"

It then goes on to say;

"With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair."
(the Australia's National Anthem)

I believe it's a pity Australians sing about this principle daily, yet they are unwilling to stand by it.

~Brent]]> Fri, 31 Aug 2001 21:46:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/756 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Had an Amazing day! http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/737 P***ED about what's happening with the boat-people at the moment, but I'm really happy that the Captain of the Norwegian Freighter got the ship inside Australian Waters before it could be stormed by Australian Special Forces.
WooHoo! :D
Why is this so good? Because the boat-people are in AUSTRALIAN WATERS, so AUSTRALIA needs to take responsibility for what happens to them (or so far as my interpretation of the law goes, they need to).
Whether "Responsibility" can be defined as the inhumane action of sending them back into International Waters is another question.

Had a big debate about it in Politics, which I loved. It was Me, Jon, Brent Mc and Amy onto everyone else (including the teacher)... The facist action does have majority support, but judging by this and the un-screened callers of a 3LO Radio Call-in segment, the action has majority (but not 90%) support.

So much energy today. So many good things are happening.
I helped friends hang their photographical works up in the Arts Centre at school
I got to spend time with the friend who I was looking through the school diary with. He went to the ReachOut.com.au web-site which I recommended he go to a while back and found it really useful. (Ahh, god bless ReachOut! Did some fundraising for them two weeks ago at school, so everyone has ReachOut! stickers :) )
Plenty of other great things have happened today too.

But best of all I saved a possum today!
As I was walking home, I nearly stepped on what I thought was a rat. I bent over to see why it wasn't scurrying away and saw it was a female ringtail possum - smaller than the palm of my hand.
She was squealing in pain, obviously having fallen from the Eucalypt she lay at the base of. Barely covered with fur, too young to be without the security of her mother's pouch, she had instinctively wrapped her tail around the branch she had fallen from. She was cold, hungry and dehydrated, (and so cute that I can't understand why anyone would walk past her). I gently wrestled her into a small cloth and ran her to the local Wildlife Reserve (just down the street).
She fell asleep in my hands, weighing less than the cloth she wrapped up in.

Lucky I ran to the Reserve. I caught the Park Ranger just as he was about to leave.
He couldn't tell if she would live or not, but he's taking her to a "Wildlife Carer" to nurse her back to health.
I really hope she lives. Ringtail possums are becoming endangered with the introduction of cats to Australia's fragile eco-system.

If you want to see a picture of a Ringtail Possum a little older than the one I helped, have a look at this site. It describes pretty well what "my" possum was like.
http://www.linknet.com.au/chrisy/media/media.htm#lumley]]> Thu, 30 Aug 2001 03:45:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/737 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Advance Australia Fair http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/733
"We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come."

Every person who inhabits our Great Land has come from across the seas at one stage in their ancestory.
We are a multicultural nation. A peaceful and tollerant nation of countless races, religions and histories.
It's something which Australians declare with great pride...

...But today, I have never been more ashamed of being Australian.
Today, as I was watching the news, eating my Meat Pie, I felt sick to be Australian.

As I write this, I am outraged at the events currently unfolding just offshore Australia's Christmas Island.
The pawns in this International game of "Chicken" are 400 people who are looking to seek refuge and a better life in Australia.
Maybe I haven't made myself clear. 400 people, who were desperate enough to come to Australia to climb into a sinking ferry and have to be rescued by a Norwegian Container-ship in the Indian Ocean.

Well, why these 400? Why not any of the thousands of other people who gamble their way towards Australia in leaky fishing boats?
Because Australians think that sending 400 of them back will deter the rest of them from trying to live a better life - one of freedom, democracy and lifestyle.

Anyway, they couldn't be REAL REFUGEES if they have enough money to pay the "people-smuggling" fee of up to $10,000!

What a crock of shit!!!
When did the ability to obtain up to $10,000 immediately mean there is no chance that you could be one of the Thirty-Five Million Refugees worldwide??

It is purely and simply a vote-grabbing opportunity for the governing (and ironically named) "Liberal Party" during the lead up to the Federal Election this year.
A return to the days of the facist "White Australia" policy - and the dark days of zenophobia, racism and hatred, and fear of invasion by a non-white army.
And do you know what the thing which scares me most is?
It's the support this action is getting!!

In a TV survey of 122,000 Australians, 90% of them were in favour of leaving these people to their fate - whatever their fate may hold.
And why is this so? Because Australia thinks there's no chance that at least some of these people could be legitimate refugees. That they're all looking for a "free lunch" out of our taxpayer dollars.

At the very least, these people have a right to a fair proceedings to determine whether they can be granted refugee status in Australia.
It is a basic human right to which Australia was a key signatory.

But hey, lets make it nice and legal. The Australian government is rushing back to Canberra to pass new laws to make what they did legal.
Maybe they should change our national anthem at the same time.

"Our land abounds with natures gifts,
which we don't wanna share.
We'll pack you're non-white asses back
to god knows; We don't care!!
In joyful strains and let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair."

NB - The Norwegian Container ship who had been generously feeding these refugees, and tending to their medical needs attempted to cross into Australian waters today. This is after the alleged non-refugees had gone on a hunger strike for a number of days, threatened to commit mass suicide, and refused medical assistance.
The Government's response to this "unauthorised invasion into Australian waters" was to send in the Australian Special Forces to take over the ship. To make this all legal, they are quickly enacting a retrospective law which will cover their internationally tarnished asses.


Find out more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2001/08/item20010829201722_1.htm]]> Wed, 29 Aug 2001 09:56:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/733 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 Today's dream today. http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/716 After yesterday's post, I've set myself a hard precedent to follow. :-)
I thought I'd write something about what I was thinking about today, then later introduce myself so that people don't think I'm some sort self-proclaimed Ghandi.


A close friend of mine and I were sitting in english talking, and flipping through the back pages of his school diary - the pages where your friends write their phone numbers.
The whole class was getting a bit rowdy, and we were no exception - pointing out the wierd school regulations in the diary. Stupid things like "girls' hair ribbons must be exactly 1.5cm wide", but with a turn of the page, that all stopped.
Suddenly, as if stepping onto a sacred relic of the past, both of us were silenced.

At the top of the page was a name which nobody had uttered a word of for 6 months. Its bold, deliberate lettering left us almost breathless - as if an invisible hand had struck out and knocked the air out of us. It was a profound shock to both of us.

After about a minute, my friend turned to me and said "I got his number first this year"

A much loved friend had died earlier this year of Meningitis. It was his handwriting which was so neatly and carefully printed at the top of the page.
The shock of seeing his name made us both remember how sudden it was, and how mortal we felt at the time.
He was not unhealthy, devoted a lot of his time to sport. But the disease caught him, and in only a few weeks, our whole class was silenced in grief.
For me, the hardest part of all was seeing someone with so many plans for the future unable to see them come into fruition.

I can't profess to know what other people have learned through times of grief, but for me - the death of someone so much like me made me appreciate the present more, and procrastinate less.

The way I see it, the world doesn't belong to the rich, to the meek, to the kings or the beggars. It belongs to the living, because it's only while you're living that you have the opportunity to take advantage of the world and its bounties.
Whatever you want to do, do it now. You're only too young if you say you're too young. If you say you can't, then you definately won't be able to find a way.

What is your dream?
Shout it to the rooftops. Tell all your friends. Put it in here.
Make your committment to your dream so public that every second you sit without having achieved your goal makes you feel as if you're letting yourself and your friends down.
This is a call to action - and one where everyone can help one-another to each achieve something amazing in their own lifetime - starting this very second.

So;

What Is Your dream?

- because you only get so long to reach for it.




~To all those we have lost, and how much richer we are for having had you.~]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2001 11:18:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/716 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 This is the true joy in life; http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/704 "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Everything starts with helping someone else. Providing someone else with something, of which they would not have otherwise had. But somewhere, in the midst of a cause, something equally as great takes you and gives you something more. Raises you above. Sends you soaring.

Creation is its own secret. Building, bridging, exploring. We've all experienced these.
But life's secrets are much more simple.


Do not look for what is missing in your own life; Find what you can give to others.


]]> Sun, 26 Aug 2001 07:27:00 EDT http://BrentHodgson.tigblog.org/post/704 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667