Katie Peirce has been found dead

WENDY Peirce, behind bars on an attempted murder charge, was told of her daughter’s death by telephone this morning

Wendy Peirce’s lawyer Victor Andreou confirmed this afternoon that he phoned her at the Phyllis Frost Centre at Deer Park to break the news   

What’s new in Australian education these days?  The good news/bad news is; at least in the State of Victoria, a new program,  Respectful Relationships Education which focuses on violence prevention is about to be piloted in four secondary schools. Are people happy about it? Nope, not mostly. What’s the problem you might ask? Well, over all the common response (most often from men, naturally) is, Victoria don’t need no stinkin’ feminism in their schools.

Australian Family Association spokesman John Morrissey states that boys are already getting “feminised education” due to the falling number of male teachers in schools”.  Having skimmed through the above linked report, the decision to use a feminist framework is both clearly articulated and explained [p.35-36] It is also explained that feminist research provides “the most comprehensive and credible account of the causes and consequences of relationship and family violence“. The report acknowledges that due to ‘ignorance and hostility’ of the general population about feminism, it was likely that there would be some ‘backlash’ in the community about the use of the program. “Strident feminist propaganda won’t wash with boys,” maintains Morrissey.

There’s a host of reasons why people appear to be opposed to this program being run in schools, and they had no problem letting Dr Michael Flood (one of the authors of the report) know them in an interactive forum session courtesy of the Herald Sun (see John Masanauskas’ article and all the responses HERE). Despite the fact that there is a complete and comprehensive 91 page report which is available at the click of a link, for people to peruse at their leisure it was readily apparent that most of the respondents had not bothered to read it or educate themselves before engaging mouths and keyboards. “Me and my wife will teach my son how to treat not only women but men to. This is nothing but sexist from a minority group .Women can violent moody and emotional too. I will drag my Son and Daughter out of whatever school tries to implement this program.” or how about “NO way would I let this lezbot man hating crap near my son. Yes kids need to be taught respect from second they can walk and talk, but I refuse to let anyone teach my son to be a fag.“

Call me feminist but … is this not part of the broader social problem; ignorance and hostility toward anything ‘feminine/feminist’ and the labeling of even the most considered and academic of current thought and research as ’strident’ if its been undertaken by a woman. Again, it sadly appears that the people who had the most to say also had the most amount of trouble clicking a link and educating themselves. The program is not targeted toward boys, the rationale for teaching the program in the schools is clearly articulated. There is no content which suggests that boys are solely responsible for violence, and in fact some considerable effort has been made to explain that; “healthy relationships programs address issues like the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, conflict resolution, communication, understandings of violence and non-violence etc.” It’s a program for both boys and girls and its well overdue.

I’ve been stumbling on a variety of men’s websites lately, which I am sure are deliberately provocative and inflammatory and attract the worst nut jobs, however I begin to worry that this demonstrated quagmire of conservatism and chauvinism will not only impact women and girls, but leave a nasty mark on boys and young men. Consider this small sampling of some recent ‘men’s rights websites and articles’: Mens’ News Daily ‘Facing the Reality of Domestic Violence‘; The Spearhead ‘Suffrage Succotash‘; Men Are better Than Women (this is considered ’satire’ *cough*). This isn’t all of it, just the easiest to accidentally stumble upon. Though I assure you the sites are full of hate talk, sexism and rubbish – I do think they are worth reading a bit of. Why? Because there are a lot of people reading, commenting and ‘thinking’ – I use the term ‘thinking’ loosely – about gender, sex roles and violence on these websites and knowledge is power. If we remain ignorant that there are people out there and they are thinking in this way, we have no chance of being able to prepare a considered response.

Oh, and while you are having a little read, you might want to have a peek at the Australian Family Association website as well.

For myself, after looking at the websites I linked above and considering the fall out comments around the Respectful Relationships Education launch I have to say, I have a teenage son and a daughter and it is my express hope that this program will be made available in QLD schools before they graduate. I don’t think that this program is a ‘nice idea’ – I think it is absolutely imperative.

*please click the links and interact with your reading.

]]> http://thetoydepartment.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/time-time-time-is-on-our-side-yes-it-is/ Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:22:06 +0000 thetoydepartment http://thetoydepartment.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/time-time-time-is-on-our-side-yes-it-is/

By ASHLEY BROWNE

“Footbrawl” is the breathless headline in today’s Herald Sun amid suggestions the MCG might be out of commission for virtually an entire AFL season should Australia host either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cups.

The AFL has tried to play the good corporate citizen, as it did in 2000 with the Olympics and 2006 with the Commonwealth Games. But the dislocation and inconvenience will be far greater this time around.

Public opinion doesn’t provide much of a guide as to what the AFL should do. The holier-than-thou ‘world game’ crowd are in their element, telling the AFL to crawl back into its provincial hole and to give FIFA and the FFA whatever they need.

Unfortunately for the footy crowd, they’re doing themselves few favours by resorting to the odious and patently untrue claims about soccer being a game for ’sheilas’ and ‘divers’.

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou hit the airwaves this morning and admitted to concerns as to how the league could stage a season without access to the MCG. Cancelling the season would appear to be an extreme measure, but he is charged with running the AFL and on behalf of its many and significant stakeholders and is entitled to be demanding more concrete answers than he appears to be getting from the FFA, who you can imagine are telling the powerbrokers at FIFA whatever it is they want to hear.

“The MCG for 16 weeks? Sure. And we can even chuck in some steak knives as well.”

In its defence, the AFL has never declared its opposition to Australia’s World Cup bid. Nor have the NRL and the ARU. The stance of Australia’s other three footballing codes is one of cautious support, but surely that support depends on the terms and conditions under which the World Cup would be staged. That’s just fair and reasonable.

And in any event, it’s all just speculation. The informed mail is that if we get the World Cup at all, it will be in 2022. Plenty of time for a Bex, a good lie down and to then come up with a workable plan.

Felt so bad about that last post I decided I’d stick this little number up. I’ve had it in reserve for a while. My last ever article I did for the Herald Sun. Before they dumped me to make the newspaper smaller. It’s about the summer holidays so it probably would’ve been more appropriate in a few weeks, and it essentially just rides on one weird metaphor. Ah well. Senseless re-hashing away!

———————————————————————————————————————

School is, to put it simply, like the Grand Canyon filled with popcorn.

At first, you think, ‘Yeah, that’s a lot of popcorn. Let’s go.’ You’re excited, you’re hungry, you want to start eating. Unfortunately, popcorn palls after the first six or seven months.

But you keep eating, because you have to. Even when the popcorn starts getting more difficult to eat, and you’re starting to wonder if this isn’t just some bottomless pit, you chew painfully downwards.

And then, one day, you hit bedrock. All is well, you sigh with relief.

Then you realize that you’re now stuck in a hole at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Wonderful.

School is a long-term, arduous institutionalized holding pen, and it never really ends.

Which is why I find the summer holidays amusing. They’re a lie; it’s as simple as that.

It’s like a landing in the side of the Grand Canyon. You hit it, and you get to sit there and imagine it’s all over. It never is.

And I’m not against that. Rest is valuable. But is it really all that restful?

A lot of us have holiday homework. I’ve got a booklet of year ten algebra lying at the bottom of my cupboard. Not to mention that Christmas letter I have to finish, the actual Christmas shopping, and those two novels I want to edit.

All in all, I’m booked out for the entire summer.

What gives?

I’m against holiday homework. Alright, maybe on the little two-week holidays, maybe that’s allowed. But it’s the end of the year! It’s the finale. I can’t feel like that if I’ve got work carrying over between school years. Where’s my closure?

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate the holidays. Nor do I really detest school. I just like playing devil’s advocate. Sue me.

That being said, I do know people who really do count the days until the start of term one. For one thing, the long holidays are perfect excuses for trips abroad, and for those who get left behind, things are rather dull.

Even when your friends are in the same country, you’re not going to see as much of them as you’re used to. Some people are fine with that, content to sit back and do nothing for six weeks. But for those of us who thrive off constant company and activity, the holidays are just a different, duller brand of popcorn.

And it doesn’t help that our holidays are in the middle of the summer.  We’re bored, we have math homework, and now it’s 40 degrees. We’re having an amazingly cool summer so far, but I stand by my point.

Even indoors the world stops moving. TV Channels across the world realise in one shining moment that they can stick anything on the screen and people will be forced to watch.

Christmas and New Years equal house parties, and house parties equal cleaning and fretting and not enough wine glasses and I hope the dog doesn’t bite anyone and does this banner make the house look fat?

You want a quiet holiday?

Tough.

Holidays are those briefest times in which you can stop eating, sit down and look back on the whole you’ve dug with your teeth. The tunnel almost collapses on you and you have to clear it all back out. You realize you’re covered in salt and spend three days trying to bathe in the cleaner popcorns.

You realize, in the end, you haven’t come that far.

But it’s the best time of the year, when we can lie back and fall into a pool of sad delusions and broken dreams.

And the funny thing is, these are the best years of our lives, and I’ve done nothing but hate on them. Don’t worry, it was pure pessimistic conjecture. No matter how true it was, you needn’t fret.

Just sit back, enjoy your placebo happiness, and pass the popcorn.

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Actually no. If I felt bad about the last post why didn’t I just take it down?

Eh. Waste of the product of about all the work I feel up to right now, plus that’s just like erasing my mistakes. I will accept the trash I spew and move on. With re-runs.

Some see it as a bluff, or an attempt to cut a deal with Bing or some other search engine, others see it as the last gasps of a media mogul who just doesn’t get it and/or the desperate last throes of old media.  I heard that a year ago Rupert Murdoch had never done a Google search himself. That figures.

I love newspapers but some of them aren’t doing a great job of convincing me that I care. I loved reading the NY Times when I was there recently and bought it every morning and I’ve got a lot of time for the AGE but then I go there this week and find vitriolic opinion columns from sensationalists like Catherine Deveny or across town the same stuff from Andrew Bolt in the Herald-Sun.  It’s fun for language analysis practice for Year 12s, but you dont’ go there for insight, or even particularly good writing. Can a newspaper that has to be one thing to all people really work any more?

Truth is, when I wake up each morning I check my email and my Google Reader feeds before I check the newspaper online.  I follow 101 blog feeds daily, from people who are expert in their fields, who I respect, many of whom also write better than Bolt, Deveny and the rest. Try Scott McLeod, Derek Wenmoth, Don Tapscott or David Warlick on education, for a start. I could go on!

And I’m hopeful that a new era of open-ness has begun and that the genie is already out of the bottle in a democratisation of the media. We want access to the information that matters to us in exactly the format that works for us and I hope that Murdoch’s view of the world is fading.

I’m teaching the classic text Frankenstein to my literature class next year and have been trawling around for resources. One that struck me was a study guide on the text available as a web site you could visit, a PDF you could download or an Iphone App you could buy for $1.19. You can find it on Itunes.  It’s not anything particularly intuitive except that it understands the ubiquity around content now, and that we want choice in how we receive it.  The ABC seems to understand, they’ve been working hard at delivering their content in increasingly diverse ways, including on hand held devices.

I met with my publisher recently in planning a new text book for next year, maybe. We were talking about models of publishing and they’ve begun to move (slowly) toward a sort of print on demand model where you order a customised version of the book depending on the texts and contexts you’ve chosen to study. But what about making that same content available online? We’ve had a web site resource add-on for a while now, but I’m arguing for the book to be available in other ways too: to be read on the Kindle, downloaded and purchased in bits, even as an iphone app. It’s going to be interesting to see who catches us on quickest in all this; the slow ones aren’t likely to last.

I’ve been following the recent bluff and bluster from Rupert Murdoch with interest: ‘Google are ripping off my content’, ‘You can’t do this to me!’, ‘I’m taking my newspaper off the internet’, ‘Pay for view for news is the future’, stuff like that (I’m paraphrasing but you can do a Google News Search and get the exact quotes yourself; what am I, a journalist?)

I went to boarding school in years 7 and 8. If I’d stayed longer (my parents moved and I didn’t like not knowing anyone in my new home town) I’d have done deportment with June Dally-Watkins. It’s not surprising that this anachronism was still being taught to the girls – once a fortnight we had a free afternoon where we could leave school grounds to go shopping, but we had to wear full uniform of tartan dress, white shirt, tie, granny stockings, shiny shoes (checked before we could leave), blazer and tam o’shanter. Even in summer.

As far as I know, the boys were not taught how to be gentlemen. I guess it was just assumed that they already knew. But girls, well, they’re too daft to know how to be ladies. It seemed strange that their parents were spending so much money on their education, yet they were being taught to to be seen and not heard on their future husband’s arm.

Anyway, back to June Dally-Watkins. She’s having a very ladylike rant in the Herald Sun today, about how young people will ruin your business.

“Young people these days are the ‘me’ generation and are totally involved in themselves,” she said.

“They have no right to refer to people by their first name, ever. There is a lack of respect to other people on the other end of the phone. Those values of the past are ones that must be maintained.”

How quaint her manners are. Young people don’t have rights. Even when they’re adults and working full time, they’re still young people and don’t deserve any rights.

Ms Dally-Watkins also advised people to avoid asking “how are you?” when they greet someone on the phone.

“I think ‘how are you?’ is absolutely terrible … What do people say if they are terribly sick and dying?”

They usually don’t say anything. Or, they tell you. But Dally-Watkins would prefer we all lived in a time when no one discussed anything personal, people were locked up for having a mental illness, and women had no rights – which would be a blow for Dally-Watkins who was a candidate for Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party in the 2007 NSW election.

She also said you should only employ good-looking peole on the front desk:

“If you are sincere about running a worthwhile business, the very first thing you do is employ someone on the front desk who not only looks attractive but who answers the phone in the correct and caring way,” she said.

What do you want from me? I have to make fun of these people.

Evidently in Australia, they haven’t realized that wrestling is fake. I hope I didn’t dash anyone’s dreams with that statement. If I did, please visit a site that gives a shit. According to this story (by way of Prowrestling.net) from the Herald Sun, they reported about an attack on Hulk Hogan by Ric Flair at a press conference in Sydney. This line got me rolling:

“This reporter narrowly missed being struck with the table and photographers ducked and weaved as Ric Flair took off his trouser belt and began to whip anyone within range.”

This sentence, along with the article itself, never actually says that Flair hit Hogan with the belt.  Golly, I sure am glad the reporter missed being struck by that table. I’m also glad the reporter used my grandmother’s lingo and called Flair’s pants “trousers”. Hulk Hogan was helped to his feet to help keep this gag going. One positive is that Hogan does know his fans and they’ll eat this stuff up and want to see him get revenge on the tour through out Australia.

The fact that this incident is being covered in a major newspaper just shows you the sad state of media, even outside of this fine country. It’s also more proof that dumb people are out there but somehow, no one knows them. -Kevin

Day 11 of Movember - absolutely no 'mo' to shout about. Pathetic.

So I’ve been growing my ‘mo’ since November 1.

This, in spite of incessant pleas by Michele to shave them as I’ll look horrible in them. Apparently, she’s wrong.

When we went out for lunch with Sandeep over the weekend, I asked him for his unequivocal opinion on what I thought was quite a charming addition to my facial features. Hello, Asian with facial hair here. Certified Herald Sun front page news. Frames my face, no?

To Michele’s dismay, Sandeep quite positively liked it! He went on to say it’s not something he had pictured me doing, but it suits me as long as it stays that length. He couldn’t resist a jab at the pathetic state of my growth, and said what took me a week to grow, takes him three days.

Hey, thanks mate. Your reassuring vote of confidence inspires me.

The Age and Sun are attempting to stretch out the girls in frocks shots as far as they can. And for dyslexic speed readers the Australian and Fin Review have something about super hero swans and stink remuses.

Are both these headlines overtly sexual today? Or am I misunderstanding the photo of the girl on the Sun?

THE day of her brother-in-law’s death had been “stressful” and a walk in the cold night air was just the remedy

That was how Judy Moran explained herself after police arrested her on June 15 – minutes after allegedly dumping the getaway car used in his murder.

read  the full story

It’s the day after a public holiday and our brains can’t handle words in the morning. So photos it is! The Fin Review shows us some thumbnails. The Age pushes an arty disgruntled tram patron portrait. The Sun promises us pictures inside! The Australian breaks the trend with the Christmas spirit and red ink. And the Weekly Times promises not one but two glossy mags to flick through to avoid words.

David Penberthy's article

I wonder if David Penberthy has read one word of research on alcohol? Or is he relying solely on the ultimate anecdotal evidence of all – his own drinking?
We have an epidemic of binge drinking including  a spike in children receiving brain damage from alcohol, out of control rates of alcohol related violence, and we see Penberthy stating that ‘a boozy day at the races’ is a ‘truly excellent feature of life in Australia’.
He then falls into ostracising ‘hardcore halfwits’ for the crime of being out of control whilst consuming a disinhibiting drug designed just to do that – put you out of control.

Ostracising the victims of alcohol is a well trodden path for the spruikers of binge drinking. In fact the British Medical Association latest report on alcohol marketing notes this technique as being one of the many marketing methods used in Big Liquor’s 600 million pound Under the Line marketing program. That is, the marketing efforts not visible to the public.

Our Victorian Government has failed to adopt sensible harm minimisation measures such as a ban on alcohol marketing, a min age of 21 for alcohol purchase and consumption or a maximum drink walking limit of 08.They cannot explain in one phrase at what point responsible drinking ends. Millions of dollars spent, no knowledge transferred.
Our government, media and community leaders need to stop getting into bed with Big Liquor and start thinking of them as the enemy. They are not a harmless bunch of business people going about a harmless, fun activity. Their stuff indiscriminately kills, maims and injures.

In the context of this environment, how many negative, unconsciously destructive attitudes can one writer pump into an article about controlling the booze? To find out click here.

Jason Wilson has written an excellent New Matilda article about the rise of newspaper ‘trollumnists’. Read it here.

It’s a development that’s becoming ever more prevalent. The Herald Sun, for example, doesn’t even bother hiding the fact their highest profile trollumnist Andrew Bolt writes articles to make readers angry (to get lots of ‘hits’ on their website), as highlighted by MediaMook back in December last year (read about it here).

It’d be funny if they weren’t so serious. Also at The Herald Sun, Susie O’Brien appears to suffer from the delusion that she has the power to shape public opinion.

By CHARLES HAPPELL

It’s Cup Eve and we’re studying the form, ready to bolt down to the TAB first thing tomorrow to beat the rush. But the big question: which of these primped, pampered and skittish mustangs do we outlay our hard-earned on?

Who better to ask than the army of newspaper racing pundits who make their living from following the nags full-time – 24/7, rain, hail or shine. They’re trackside in the full heat of summer, they drag themselves up to Sydney for the autumn carnival and down to Warrnambool for the jumps racing, and then they saddle up again each week through the depths of winter.

Surely, if anyone knows how to unlock the mystery of the great race, it’s this noble, clean-living band of Temperance Society members.

So, let’s see, over at The Age we’ve got a platoon of these pundits willing to share their hard-earned knowledge. And they start with:

Peter Ellis - who likes Viewed, from Master O’Reilly second

Andrew Eddy – Viewed, from Leica Ding

Shelley Hancox – Viewed, from Leica Ding (c’mon, Shelley, no copying; get your own tips.)

Patrick Bartley – Alcopop, from Roman Emperor

Andrew Garvey – C’est La Guerre, from Viewed

Michael Sharkie – Alcopop, from Basaltico

John Locking – Viewed, from Shocking

Glenn Lester – Mourilyan, from Viewed.

Mmm, not much help there, although sounds like you could do worse than have a flutter on Viewed with perhaps a saver on Alcopop.

Over to the Herald-Sun, where we hope their team of high-flying, multimedia megastars can shed a bit more light on the two-mile classic.

Adam Hamilton – Viewed, from Alcopop

Adrian Dunn – Alcopop, from Viewed

Matthew Stewart – Viewed, from Alcopop (fair go, boys, aren’t there 22 other horses in the race?)

Michael Manley – Alcopop, from Shocking

Tim Habel – Viewed, from Roman Emperor

Not terribly imaginative. But clearly there’s a theme developing here: Viewed and Alcopop are clearly the best supported chances up in the press box. That view is reinforced when we turn to The Australian and discover that veteran racecaller and sporting allrounder Bruce McAvaney has gone for Alcopop, from (you guessed it) Viewed.

Apart from Messrs Garvey and Lester, seems few other punters are prepared to stick their neck out and try for something different. Viewed, of course, won the race for Bart Cummings last year and is the topweight and favourite, while Alcopop - the second favourite at $5.50 – is trained by a relative battler from South Australia, Jake Stephens, whose profile – and total career winnings – might be roughly one-thousandth the size of Bart’s.

Elsewhere around Australia, we start to get a bit more variety. Up at Parliament House, we have a certain K Rudd going for Shocking. On the Sunshine Coast, Caloundra bookie Con Searle fancies New Zealand mare Daffodil. And at Toy Department headquarters, and only because you asked, we like Roman Emperor, from Mourilyan and Shocking.

But that tip comes with a health warning: of all the inexact sciences we know about – economics, weather forecasting, panda breeding and truffle growing – picking a Melbourne Cup winner ranks high up there. And that applies 10-fold to picking a Melbourne Cup quinella. The last time a favourite and second-favourite took out the first two placings, Bart was a small boy, so we’ll be looking elsewhere for a bit of value with our exotics.

And we say that with the greatest of respect to our learned colleagues gathered around the free sausage rolls in the press box pie-warmer.

POSTSCRIPT – WEDNESDAY am

As we suspected, the much-trumpeted and much-tipped quinella of Viewed and Alcopop – chosen by many of our equine experts in the media - fell flat on its face. Viewed finished sixth and Alcopop seventh, confirming the notion that there is no such thing as a dead cert in the Melbourne Cup, and the other notion that a roughie or two always seem to creep in among the placegetters. 

Congrats to the Prime Minister, though, for picking the winner – Shocking – and giving lie to the old furphy about wide barrier draws. For those brave enough to take the Toy Department tips, and taken our three horses each-way, you’d have collected on Shocking and Mourilyan. Which is better than a slap on the flanks with a wildy-brandished riding crop.

Today’s news is polarised by the big five. The most important news today is ; a positive financial outlook, the government’s stance on industry and the environment, the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s commitment to refugees and your dog’s photo.

So the leftist rag of communist propaganda is luring you into their labor loving agenda with their 2010 “footy” insight. And the mouthpiece for zenophobic right wing fundamentalism are running with the opposite aproach, telling you to purchace their paper and they’ll give you a free “wall chart”.

Both papers today are offering advice and information to aid all your financial worries. Maybe.

The Age has decided news is so slow today you shouldn’t even bother, just wait till tomorrow and get a free glossy mag! The Sun knows how happy victims of rape are when their torment is thrust into the headlines.

Today The Age are reporting on the passionate opinion-rousing asylum seeker issues, avoiding the loaded term ‘boat people’ by merely implying it. The Herald Sun has a front page article and headline on the pack rape by drunken footballers and advertise this by claiming they are ‘first for sport’. A sad implication for the two teenage girls who were raped.

Well I guess the Age are running with the same business story as yesterday to point out that the Herald Sun are running with the same week old story they pushed yesterday too. Nothing happened of importance in the world.

The Herald Sun is running strong with an exclusive interview with a passerby from last weeks most you tube worthy story. The Age has decided that even after the GFC business is the new black. And then a game changer for the afternoon finally giving people a reason not to give money to charity.

The Age understand how much we Aussies love gambling. So being a newspaper they have a feature article and exclusive book extract on Bart Cummings. The Herald Sun know selling papers has got nothing to do with journalisim.

Today we celebrate two Australians known for their Randi outbursts.