Evening gathers. Summer is gone.
I walk the city streets lost
To – oh
The broken glass breeze rips past cloth, and skin
To bone. And deeper still.
You kiss this way.
Not tender but brutal
Desire a starved beast
Whose hunger gnaws night after night
Within you
Without me.
Here, there, our ghosts haunt the alleys
By a withering enclave – a back-office exit
By the low row of cypress
Dipping their tips to drink a river
By a city laid below
Twinkling lamps and lives
Lined up – straight and narrow
Wrapped in night and each other.
One and alone to the world.
The river, like the clouds in the sky
And the blowing wind and the ebbing tide
Flows on, goes on
Time is nowhere.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
September by Ted Hughes
A favourite and obscure poem.
September
We sit late, watching the dark slowly unfold:
No clock counts this.
When kisses are repeated and the arms hold
There is no telling where time is.
It is midsummer: the leaves hang big and still:
Behind the eye a star,
Under the silk of the wrist a sea, tell
Time is nowhere.
We stand; leaves have not timed the summer.
No clock now needs
Tell we have only what we remember:
Minutes uproaring with our heads
Like an unfortunate King's and his Queen's
When the senseless mob rules;
And quietly the trees casting their crowns
Into the pools.
September
We sit late, watching the dark slowly unfold:
No clock counts this.
When kisses are repeated and the arms hold
There is no telling where time is.
It is midsummer: the leaves hang big and still:
Behind the eye a star,
Under the silk of the wrist a sea, tell
Time is nowhere.
We stand; leaves have not timed the summer.
No clock now needs
Tell we have only what we remember:
Minutes uproaring with our heads
Like an unfortunate King's and his Queen's
When the senseless mob rules;
And quietly the trees casting their crowns
Into the pools.
Fall
For the last Friday we lost to a quirk of the Justinian calender and a long-winding drive to the moutains and down again. Home again. 'Time is nowhere.'
Fall
A secret
Can you keep it
To a whisper –
‘Here, sir’
Your warm breath
Climbs the window pane
As if a sudden mountain
Sprung from blizzard mist
You kiss as the breeze tugs the leaves
From the oak tree perched
Askew to the brokedown fence
Timber hollowed termite suburbs
Shrouded in red-yellow oak leaf
Teasing now. Oh it’s Autumn. March.
Fall.
Fall for me.
A secret
This private undoing and losing
Of ourselves
No explosions.
No forgettable blasts.
We shiver in deepening dusk
A suggestion of breeze
The first fall of leaves
In evening.
Friday, February 22, 2008
atonement - the two letters.
Atonement Letter #1 (p.85):
"You'd be forgiven for thinking me mad - wandering into your house barefoot, or snapping your antique vase. The truth is, I feel rather light-headed and foolish in your presence, Cee, and I don't think I can blame the heat. Will you forgive me? Robbie."
Atonement Letter #2 (p.86):
"In my dreams, I kiss your cunt, your sweet wet cunt. In my thoughts I make love to you all day long."
...
Definitely a letter worth spending a lifetime atoning for ;)
Look who's watching: Privacy Protection in Australia & the UK...
Story by: Wenee Yap
November 12, 2007
(For portfolio use only - original available here)
Celebrity weddings were never going to be a private affair. Call it our voyeuristic thirst to live vicariously the resplendent lifestyles of the cashed-up and well-publicized - but our hunger to know about the private lives of public figures has made the industry of fame a lucrative venture, particularly for paparazzi and trash magazines. So when Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones exchanged vows, in a Hollywood matrimonial quid pro quo to end all nuptial opulence, they sought to guard against paparazzi invasions of their wedding by signing a contract with OK! magazine, giving the tabloid exclusive photos of the Douglas's tying the knot. But the paparazzi are like sand - no matter what you do, some grains will slip through. OK!'s rival magazine, Hello! acquired unauthorised shots of the event and rushed them to publication ahead of OK!'s official and authorised photos. You know what's coming next - a lawsuit claiming, amongst other grievances, a wrongful invasion of privacy.
The case of Douglas v Hello! Ltd [2006] threw privacy law into the spotlight. Dr David Rolph of the University of Sydney observed its importance in a seminar on a comparative study of privacy protection in the United Kingdom and Australia, as part of the UTS:LAW's Lunchtime Seminar Series. Both jurisdictions, he noted, have been without a tort of privacy. Yet in this case, Dr Rolph highlighted a "fairly frank admission by the minority" that the equitable action for breach of confidence, traditionally confined to commercially-based breaches of confidence, had been expanded to include a second distinct action: "a form of personal privacy action separate from commercial confidence."
Closer to home, the High Court in the landmark case of Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd (2001) suggested "in some tantalising dicta, that there might be a tort of privacy recognised in Australian law," said Dr Rolph. Venturing one step further, Dr Rolph said that if a tort privacy was recognised, "it would be for the benefit of natural persons" not corporations - a view much in line with the notion of privacy as an individual human right.
Should Australia recognise a tort of privacy? If so, will it be by statute, developed by common law or a combination of the two? With the advent of intrusive and freely available surveillance technology like Google Earth, and the capacity for swift mass proliferation of personal information via internet sites such as Facebook, this is a vital issue. Both the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the Australian Law Reform Commission have thrown their resources into two major papers on the thorny subject of privacy law. Both, said Dr Rolph, have suggested a relatively "open textured" statutory protection of privacy, affording courts the flexibility of interpreting the proposed legislation in a way best suited to ensuring justice is delivered to all parties, depending on the facts of a given case.
Not to be outdone, district and county courts in Queensland and Victoria have recognised an actionable right to privacy, with the judgment in the 2003 Queensland case, which involved a pesky ex-lover turned stalker, offering four essential elements for a common law tort of privacy to be proved.
"The impetus of privacy protection in the UK is celebrities," observed Dr Rolph. By contrast, the push for a tort of privacy in Australia "is coming from genuinely private parties - people without a significant public profile," said Dr Rolph. "If you pop your head above the parapet and you court publicity, but claim to need your privacy protected, it raises the question: how do you balance freedom of expression against a right to privacy?"
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Cost of Law: VSU & Funding Crisis Forces Closure of Award-Winning UTS Community Law Centre
Story: Wenee Yap
Nov 2007
$218,000. This is about a third of the cost of a single-storey house in a moderately-priced Sydney suburb. It is the cost of two full-fee degrees in law or medicine. It is also, according to a UTS Faculty of Law brief, the projected cost of running the UTS Community Law Centre during 2007.
The commercial value of these services? Over $900,000 per year, in an estimate from the same UTS:Law report.
Over its 11 years of operation, dedicated staff and volunteers of the Community Law Centre have given free legal assistance to over 6,700 UTS students and staff; the Centre has also won prominent awards, including the UTS Human Rights Award (1999), the Combined Community Legal Centres Group Award (2005) presented by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, and the inaugural UTS Equity and Diversity Award (1999) for its seminal and groundbreaking community-based research and other initiatives. During its lifetime, the centre received grants for projects like the ental Health: Know Your Rights!?website, research into ambling and Crime?and publications such as the Young Peoples Rights Guide?
Despite its vital and valuable contribution to the UTS community, a critical funding crisis caused by voluntary student unionism will force the UTS Community Law Centre to close its doors at the end of this year.
"I think it's devastating. It's a tragedy of enormous proportions, and we can thank the current Federal Government and its policy of Voluntary Student Unionism, together with economic rationalism and bottom-line management, for the closure of the centre," said past director of the UTS Community Law Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. From 1997-2002, Dr Ellis-Jones chaired the Centre's management committee, led high-level research into social issues like problem gambling, drug law reform and the sex workers' industry, and also worked regularly as a volunteer solicitor at the Centre. "The work that I did at the centre was very gratifying, and I am very sad and angry about its closure," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "Community law centres help to ensure that there is some equity and social justice operating in our legal and justice systems so that the less fortunate can have access to legal services that might, and probably would be otherwise unavailable to them."
Current Director of the Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Jennifer Burn also expressed her sadness at the Centre's imminent closure. We made representations to the University Union and the Council, said Burn. Since the UTS Union withdrew funding in 2005 post-VSU, the UTS Faculty of Law has picked up the bill but can no longer do so. "We prepared funding submissions to external agencies," Burn said. "None of the applications were successful. We haven't been able to secure funding to continue our work."
Dr Ellis-Jones acknowledged the changing nature of legal practice in Australia, observing that the practice of law is becoming increasingly mercantile and commercial, and as a result more unaffordable. "Access to law, equity in the law, and social justice just don't seem to register on the radar these days."
Milton Das, a current fourth year Communications (Writing and Cultural Studies)/Laws student and volunteer at the Community Law Centre, agrees. "Somewhere along the line in your life, you're gonna need legal advice. The community law centre offered this for free and has helped heaps of students along the way. For me, volunteering was an opportunity to get exposure to the practical application of the law, for a meaningful cause."
"I only wish the so-called "big end of town" did more than it does to help in this area,"said Dr Ellis-Jones. "True, there are many fine firms, and practitioners in those firms, who are doing their bit for social justice and greater equity in the law, but, sadly, not enough do. The practice of law in this country and in most other Western nations has become, for the most part, a business rather than a profession, and a very mercantile business at that as well."
In the words of Alan Jay Lerner, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." At the risk of sounding over-sentimental the UTS Community Law Centre was our Camelot."
----Case Study----
Who needs the services of the UTS Community Law Centre?
Students and staff seeking advice about issues ranging from domestic violence, motor vehicle accidents, consumer debt problems, family law, tenancy disputes.
"Perhaps the most personally satisfying case I was ever involved in was when a UTS student from China came to see me one morning back in the late 1990s when I was working at the centre as a volunteer solicitor," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "While driving, the student had collided with an elderly pedestrian and faced a number of serious criminal charges, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. "
"It was one of the freak occurrences which can happen to any of us when we lose our concentration for less than a second," explained Dr Ellis-Jones. He took on the case despite having little background in criminal law.
"I really grew to see the inner goodness in this young man, and to appreciate the significance of those immortal words of Omar Khayyam, namely: "The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,/ Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/ Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it." I quoted those lines to the magistrate in my plea in mitigation for the guy. He lost his licence for 6 months, which was a most exceptional result in all the circumstances, and it was perhaps the most satisfying thing I have ever done in the law, in my 30 years of being a practising lawyer."
----Achievements & Initiatives of the UTS Community Law Centre----
Public Space: The Journal of Law & Social Justice inaugural edition, 'Sex and Mercy' published in April 2007 with UTS Faculty of Law
Launch of new subject, Community Justice Studies, an opportunity for law students to undertake placements & research, develop and deliver plain language presentations or short courses about community legal issues, with organisations like the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), NSW Law Reform Commission, Women Legal Service and Law and Justice Foundation.
The Anti-Slavery Project - sponsored by the UTS Community Law Centre, dedicated to eliminating slavery and helping enslaved and trafficked persons
Research partnerships with Harvard Law School, the University of Sydney and Student Associations for the University of Western Sydney and Southern Cross University
Also provides free, confidential legal service to staff and students of the Sydney Institute of Tafe (SIT)
Professional links with solicitors from Clayton UTZ, Blake Dawson Waldron, Allens Arthur Robinson, Legal Aid Commission of NSW and prominent silks including Peter Bodor QC and Malcolm Ramage QC
Practical Legal Training and valuable legal industry exposure for student volunteers
Range of research grants and community legal publications
-----------
With thanks to UTS:Law Senior Lecturers Dr Ian Ellis-Jones & Jennifer Burn for their assistance in researching this article. Your commitment to social justice is inspiring. Thanks also to Milton Das, Communications (Writing)/Law student & UTS: Community Law Centre volunteer (2006-2007)
Nov 2007
$218,000. This is about a third of the cost of a single-storey house in a moderately-priced Sydney suburb. It is the cost of two full-fee degrees in law or medicine. It is also, according to a UTS Faculty of Law brief, the projected cost of running the UTS Community Law Centre during 2007.
The commercial value of these services? Over $900,000 per year, in an estimate from the same UTS:Law report.
Over its 11 years of operation, dedicated staff and volunteers of the Community Law Centre have given free legal assistance to over 6,700 UTS students and staff; the Centre has also won prominent awards, including the UTS Human Rights Award (1999), the Combined Community Legal Centres Group Award (2005) presented by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, and the inaugural UTS Equity and Diversity Award (1999) for its seminal and groundbreaking community-based research and other initiatives. During its lifetime, the centre received grants for projects like the ental Health: Know Your Rights!?website, research into ambling and Crime?and publications such as the Young Peoples Rights Guide?
Despite its vital and valuable contribution to the UTS community, a critical funding crisis caused by voluntary student unionism will force the UTS Community Law Centre to close its doors at the end of this year.
"I think it's devastating. It's a tragedy of enormous proportions, and we can thank the current Federal Government and its policy of Voluntary Student Unionism, together with economic rationalism and bottom-line management, for the closure of the centre," said past director of the UTS Community Law Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. From 1997-2002, Dr Ellis-Jones chaired the Centre's management committee, led high-level research into social issues like problem gambling, drug law reform and the sex workers' industry, and also worked regularly as a volunteer solicitor at the Centre. "The work that I did at the centre was very gratifying, and I am very sad and angry about its closure," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "Community law centres help to ensure that there is some equity and social justice operating in our legal and justice systems so that the less fortunate can have access to legal services that might, and probably would be otherwise unavailable to them."
Current Director of the Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Jennifer Burn also expressed her sadness at the Centre's imminent closure. We made representations to the University Union and the Council, said Burn. Since the UTS Union withdrew funding in 2005 post-VSU, the UTS Faculty of Law has picked up the bill but can no longer do so. "We prepared funding submissions to external agencies," Burn said. "None of the applications were successful. We haven't been able to secure funding to continue our work."
Dr Ellis-Jones acknowledged the changing nature of legal practice in Australia, observing that the practice of law is becoming increasingly mercantile and commercial, and as a result more unaffordable. "Access to law, equity in the law, and social justice just don't seem to register on the radar these days."
Milton Das, a current fourth year Communications (Writing and Cultural Studies)/Laws student and volunteer at the Community Law Centre, agrees. "Somewhere along the line in your life, you're gonna need legal advice. The community law centre offered this for free and has helped heaps of students along the way. For me, volunteering was an opportunity to get exposure to the practical application of the law, for a meaningful cause."
"I only wish the so-called "big end of town" did more than it does to help in this area,"said Dr Ellis-Jones. "True, there are many fine firms, and practitioners in those firms, who are doing their bit for social justice and greater equity in the law, but, sadly, not enough do. The practice of law in this country and in most other Western nations has become, for the most part, a business rather than a profession, and a very mercantile business at that as well."
In the words of Alan Jay Lerner, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." At the risk of sounding over-sentimental the UTS Community Law Centre was our Camelot."
----Case Study----
Who needs the services of the UTS Community Law Centre?
Students and staff seeking advice about issues ranging from domestic violence, motor vehicle accidents, consumer debt problems, family law, tenancy disputes.
"Perhaps the most personally satisfying case I was ever involved in was when a UTS student from China came to see me one morning back in the late 1990s when I was working at the centre as a volunteer solicitor," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "While driving, the student had collided with an elderly pedestrian and faced a number of serious criminal charges, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. "
"It was one of the freak occurrences which can happen to any of us when we lose our concentration for less than a second," explained Dr Ellis-Jones. He took on the case despite having little background in criminal law.
"I really grew to see the inner goodness in this young man, and to appreciate the significance of those immortal words of Omar Khayyam, namely: "The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,/ Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/ Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it." I quoted those lines to the magistrate in my plea in mitigation for the guy. He lost his licence for 6 months, which was a most exceptional result in all the circumstances, and it was perhaps the most satisfying thing I have ever done in the law, in my 30 years of being a practising lawyer."
----Achievements & Initiatives of the UTS Community Law Centre----
Public Space: The Journal of Law & Social Justice inaugural edition, 'Sex and Mercy' published in April 2007 with UTS Faculty of Law
Launch of new subject, Community Justice Studies, an opportunity for law students to undertake placements & research, develop and deliver plain language presentations or short courses about community legal issues, with organisations like the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), NSW Law Reform Commission, Women Legal Service and Law and Justice Foundation.
The Anti-Slavery Project - sponsored by the UTS Community Law Centre, dedicated to eliminating slavery and helping enslaved and trafficked persons
Research partnerships with Harvard Law School, the University of Sydney and Student Associations for the University of Western Sydney and Southern Cross University
Also provides free, confidential legal service to staff and students of the Sydney Institute of Tafe (SIT)
Professional links with solicitors from Clayton UTZ, Blake Dawson Waldron, Allens Arthur Robinson, Legal Aid Commission of NSW and prominent silks including Peter Bodor QC and Malcolm Ramage QC
Practical Legal Training and valuable legal industry exposure for student volunteers
Range of research grants and community legal publications
-----------
With thanks to UTS:Law Senior Lecturers Dr Ian Ellis-Jones & Jennifer Burn for their assistance in researching this article. Your commitment to social justice is inspiring. Thanks also to Milton Das, Communications (Writing)/Law student & UTS: Community Law Centre volunteer (2006-2007)
perfume
'I was always attracted not by some quantifiable, external beauty, but by something deep down, something absolute. Just as some people have a secret love for rainstorms, earthquakes or blackouts. I liked that certain undefinable something directed at me by members of the opposite sex. For want of a better word, call it magnetism. Like it or not, it's a power that ensnares people and reels them in.'The closest comparison might be the power of perfume. Perhaps even the master blender himself can't explain how a fragrance that has a special magnetism is created. Science certainly can't explain it. Still, the fact remains that a certain kind of fragrance can captivate the opposite sex like the scent of an animal in heat. One kind of fragrance might attract 50 out of 100 people. And another scent will attract the other 50. But there are also scents that only one or two people will find wildly exciting. And I have the ability, from far away to sniff out those special scents. When I do, I want to go up to the girl who radiates this aura and say, 'Look, I picked it up. No one else gets it, but I do.'
- South of the Border, West of the Sun. Haruki Murakami.
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