Busy busy busy

So it's been a while since I last posted. I'd be more apologetic if it hadn't been for the massive amounts of fun I've been having (interspersed with some pretty traumatic moments as well) and how I'm not going to let you rain on my proverbial.

I've been seeing some interesting, entertaining and downright beautiful things at the Sydney Opera House lately, and I plan to continue this new trend when the Festival of Dangerous Ideas comes out this October. Most recently I was lucky enough to acquire tickets to see Stephen Fry give an entertaining talk and to see Neil Gaiman read his story, 'The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains' accompanied by FourPlay string quartet and images by Eddie Campbell. Prior to that there was the Australian Youth Orchestra, though I admit that I was fairly exhausted throughout that one and may have had a small kip in the third movement of the final piece (don't tell anyone).

I've also been working hard at the new job. I've been gaming, beading, cutting, pasting, reading, catering, planning and purchasing my way to being the best darn youth librarian I can be, hence the exhaustion during the AYO concert). Even as I type I'm supervising some HSC students studying noisily for their exams during one of the HSC lock-ins that my library has started to hold recently, and on the inside I'm panicking about not having gone to pick up the paraphernalia I need for my youth project tomorrow afternoon.

This fanservice for the Sydney Opera House has been brought to you by that feeling after business-hours when you have all that stuff to do but no-one else is at work and you can't get it done.

Royal National Park

Picture 319
Originally uploaded by Asaryu
Here's the photos I took from my wonderful walk with my house mate and a mutual friend at the Royal National Park.

Caught the ferry to Bundeena from Cronulla and walked for a long time. The views were pretty spectacular so I thought I would share them. :)

The rest of the photos are in my flickr set here

Libpunk

So, I'm not really up there with blog etiquette at this stage, and I'm not sure how useful it is for a blog with all of 3 readers to link to this stuff, but I'm pretty darn excited and that's what matters, and it's my blog quite frankly and I'll do what I bloody-well like.

Lib punk. It's like someone saw me coming and made up a movement just because they knew I'd have a pretty low supply of hope and it'd cheer me up. Or I'm just that much of a narcissist.
Before you enthusiastically jump off to the Libpunk website, read this little history from Librarians Matter to get you started and decide if it's something that'll trigger all your OCD buttons, or if it'll rock your proverbial socks off.

Have fun!

Progress...or not

So...I went to the postgraduate info evening last night. I was expecting to answer questions, but my supervisor stuck me right in it when he said that I could give a short talk about my "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll approach to information research"...I wasn't about to start rattling off Chapman's information poverty and theories of small worlds, or Wilson's 2001 model of information behaviour, or Dervin's ever-evolving theories of sense-making to explain why I like to research the people that society doesn't like to acknowledge.

So I told them about my pilot project from 2008, and I told them that I was given the opportunity to present the research at RAILS, and that the support you're given in your coursework is better than any work placement, and that I was working full time as a librarian without even having graduated yet and that the staff are supportive and understanding, and that you are given everything you need to get a High Distinction (A+...actually requires your work being marked and verified as outstanding by 2 seperate senior professors, for you Americans) and all you need to do is the work.

I dont think my supervisor realised that after the terrible time I had in my undergraduate at Macquarie that I was a UTS evangelist.

I also talked privately to my supervisor, and I may be able to withdraw from this semester without penalty. Since stalker boy has been on the scene for most of this semester, and I'm 7 weeks behind and suffering the physical manifestations of stress (bad skin, not eating, not sleeping enough, sudden weight loss, the desire not to go to work etcetera) that all I have to do is talk to the counciller and I can just fill out a form and withdraw from this semester without financial or academic penalty. It's a weight off my mind, and now that I have a steady full time permenant job the need to finish the Masters ASAP is a lot less significant, so I can take my time with it and do it properly instead of rushing through things and doing them half-assed cos I don't have the money or an idea of my schedule from week to week...not to mention that next semester I'll be doing it with a different 2nd academic supervisor who might be more stable and available when it comes to helping out with the project. I might also, with the scope of the new job, be able to work my project into my workplace and be able to work on it during my work time instead of only doing it at the times when I am not at my peak...whcih means that I'll have the same advantages as my Masters colleagues instead of being disadvantaged by doing a research-based project instead of a practice-based one.

Even if I can't, at least I'll be getting useful contacts in the surrounding industries, which will be useful for project as well as for work and life.

the victim

It's almost 7am, I got plenty of sleep and I'm getting ready for work at a job I love with people I get along really well with at a place that is both convenient and beautiful. So why don't I want to go to work?

Because I am a victim.

There is a young man at work who has decided I am his friend and is either utterly misreading or thoroughly taking advantage of the fact that I am trapped in a service position and I am a naturally friendly and gregarious person. He has sent me inappropriate materials, he has been attempting to make personal contact with me for about 6 weeks, 2 of which I was on holidays where he would ask other staff where I was, and has been positioning himself in the library to either watch me at the desk or to monitor my comings and goings from the workroom.

The other day he was observed packing up and leaving the library immediately after I went home and it was suspicious enough that I was informed by my colleagues. This is the point that I decided to talk to the manager. She informed the three college managers (including the manager for security) and measures have been taken to make sure I'm safe. I now have my housemate (who has been a gem) picking me up from work, and on the late shift I call security so that they can keep an eye out for the over-enthusiastic guy. I have been offered a security escort to and from my vehicle (the bus)... and most of all: I have become a victim.

I became a victim at the point where I was no longer free to move about during my day without assistance and accountability. I have a series of people who need to be informed when I go home, and I have to report all contact with this guy - even contact made when he is borrowing and returning materials - so that other people may monitor the situation. I have a series of people monitoring my situation. I keep records of all email correspondence from him and I try not to go to the main floor when he is there unless I am working on the front desk. I no longer do desk shifts upstairs alone.

I understand and appreciate that my concerns have been taken seriously and that my safety at work is of such importance - even though I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks to work in another library - and that the administrators of the college would rather put the expense into playing it safe than wait for me to report to being followed home or accosted. I know that I am not being punished, and I know that I am not at fault. But I also know that the reporting of the experiences has meant a lack of freedom and an understanding that I am not able to deal with this issue on my own. In this place and at this time I am powerless to affect my situation and I am no longer solely responsible for my safety.

I think I understand now why, when I was younger and I was more easily taken advantage of, I did not report my co-worker who would make me uncomfortable at work, follow me home and try to grope me. My job was my freedom and my family's sole source of non-government income and I must have known that being a victim would cause me more problems than having a creep for a co-worker.

I understand why I never reported the guy who would send me inappropriate images he had made with my head attached to them demonstrating what he would like to do to (definitely not with) me.

I understand why I never reported the guy who I was dating who forced himself on me without giving me the chance to say no. And who later tried to strangle me when I told him unpleasant truths about the nature of his mental and emotional abuse in the relationship.

I understand why I never made a fuss about the guy who would follow me around work trying to talk to me and make contact with me.

I understand why so many abuses that women go through are not reported and why they will never factor in to the statistics we use to determine how safe women are at work.

These women don't want to be victims.

I honestly don't know how my situation could be dealt with without the punishing of the socially awkward nerd who comes into the library and will do anything to be your friend and who may not realise that he's being inappropriate or that you're simply a nice person and that the connection is all in his head. But I wish there was a way for women to report fear and abuse without having to become victims.