What kind of Arts person are you?
This question kind of struck me as I was walking to school this morning.. I mean, there are so many types of "Arts" people around here.. so I thought I'll try to make some sense out of it (or to use the more sophiscated word, to elucidate the different meanings)... :)
Firstly, there'd be the strict (or rather, ignorant) definition of arts. This is particularly inherent in my chinese-educated aunties, and the PRC ppl i meet around here. Like, at church two weeks ago.. the guys introduced me to this PRC guy who was at church for the first time. So he asked me, "what course I you doing?".. I said, "I'm doing arts.." - To which he recoiled in shock and exclaimed that "it was terribly rare to see a guy who could paint and draw at the Uni level." For the record, the only decent thing I can draw is a stickman.
Secondly, there is the "typical" Asian Arts student definition. That somewhere in his units, there'll be a psychology unit. I get weird questions like "why aren't you doing psychology?" from people around here...
Thirdly, there is the "pragmatic" Arts student.. people like that would probably be doing anthropology, political science, economics, and geography (which btw, in uwa, isn't in the arts/ss faculty, but a separate faculty called geology and earth sciences). As in, to a certain extent, it is grounded on "reality" (if that's the right word)... or to be more correct, contemporary events = social sciences.
If there's the reality, then obviously there must be the "dreamlike" Arts student, I think.. such people (including me) would believe in some form of utopia, a kind of reminiscing for the past, good ol' days when people could live happy lives w/o the internet. Such subjects might include history, english literature, philosophy and theatre studies - subjects which act as a mirror in which we see our reflections. Of cos, "dreamlike" subjects are of important relevance to today's society.. I guess, it makes people more "human".
Oz federal elections - 9 Oct 04
So yeah, we are currently being bombarded with lots of advertisments on TV, live debates between John Howard (Liberal - conservative) and Mark Latham (Labour).. and uwa, being the state university for WA, has been seening lots of WA "big-shot" politicians come and debate against one another about their policies and all. Yesterday, Kim Beazley (Labour) and Rachel Siewert (Greens candidate for WA Senate) had a forum at the SSLT.. and the turnout was electrifying, to say the least. I kind of thought the Greens are too altruistic.. like of cos' it is good to save the environment, reduce poverty, and so on.. but, *shrugs* nowadays, I wonder if there is any room for idealism?
Issues that has been dominating the campaign: education, the welfare of the aged (there's actually a ministry called "Ministy of Ageing" in Oz), East Timor, interest rates, and the war on Iraq (duh). Labour is proposing to bring back Oz troops from Iraq by Xmas if Labour wins. I'm not actually very interested in the issues, or who is contesting. But it is interesting to see the role of media in this election campaign. And how advertisments try to discredit the other party through media techniques. Like for example, Liberal portrays Labour as this sinister party (the ads against Labour are always in black colour).. their advertisments against Labour interests rates go like, "Mark Latham and Labour. Good Luck!" and Labour retaliates by going "John Howard will do anything to get re-elected. He is UNBELIEVABLE!"
Then on the sidelines of the election campaign is the presence of political satire programmes. One of the more interesting ones is "The Chaser Decides" (Thursday, ABC Channel, 9pm).. it is like totally funny. While it predominantly focuses on the Oz elections, there is some satire on Iraq too..
e.g. (quoted from http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/txt/s1206633.htm) - sorry, it is probably this whole obsession with referencing and intellectual property in Uni - so much so that I also have a tendency to do it in blogs.
On matters of trust and security, we should just have a look at the seat of Iraq?
1979–2003: S. HUSSEIN
2003: COALITION OF THE WILLING
An interesting one, Iraq, held strongly for over two decades by the former member, who of course was retired last year.
It's now held by the Coalition, but only just.
PM John Howard made a lot of promises about this seat, but so far hasn't delivered. What the constituents want is better housing, less immigration, and not being tied to electrodes.