The New School

I got published in The West today. I'm doing a placement there one day a week through uni and yesterday I went off to cover the 'road-testing' of this year's show bags for the Perth Royal Show. I interviewed some kids, got some quotes from the Premier and the Commerce Minister and hey-presto, today there was my article in all it's glory, page 16. Bam.

I got a massive kick this morning, stealing the paper from my friend in my favourite cafe to race to the page my article was on (which was listed on the front page! Show bags are a big deal) and grinned hugely as I showed him. I'd already rung my mum and dad last night to tell them to read the paper and my pride grew and grew as the picture of my by-line I loaded to Facebook got more and more "likes".

I'd consider myself fairly old school I suppose in my approach to how I want to go about becoming a journalist. I'm finishing my degree, I'm applying for cadetships and I'm happy working my way up from the bottom. My heart lies in print journalism and I'm still passionate about print news and the institution that is 'the newspaper'. But I'm not naive enough to realise that I am very much in the minority when it comes these attitudes among my peers.

I read a lot of blogs from around Perth and sometimes a little further off, but the ones from Perth often get me quite frustrated. Not because of the content or anything like that, but because its dawning on me that blogging has become such an important information-sharing tool for my peers. People get their information from blogs, social networking sites, all that garbage that has become part and parcel of the Gen-Y online existence. My frustration doesn't stem from the fact that people use these avenues to get information, it stems from the fact that I'm absolutely terrible at using these avenues myself.

I call myself a journalist (albeit an unpaid, unqualified and dangerously unemployed one) and yes I have a blog, yes I have Twitter/Facebook/Google+ and yes I know how to put together a news piece, but I'm beginning to wonder if I might be getting left behind, even as a member of Gen-Y, in the fast-paced world of information sharing.

Generally speaking, I think for a journo who still wants to report the news I don't know that blogs are going to take over from institutions like the BBC or AAP or any large news organisation. It costs money to report the news and although blogging is free, one person or one blog can't tell it all. Blogs are specific and tailored and that's why people like them, which is another reason my blog frustrates me because there's no theme. It's the ramblings of an idiot! Well maybe not an idiot, but you catch my drift.

Unfortunately its now late at night and the class I have tomorrow morning is particularly nasty so I'll leave this here. Expect more though. This, I fear, is a Pandora's box I've just opened.

Story To Come

Dowerin Field Day

J.L.H. Communist Babushka

Claremont Vs Peel Thunder Sat 28th Aug

Claremont clawed their way to the top of the ladder with a 92-point demolition of Peel Thunder at Claremont Oval today and sets the Tigers up strongly heading into the finals.

A shaky start from both teams saw some silly errors, with turnovers in both attacking 50s rampant. Claremont dominated possession early and although it waned slightly towards the middle of the quarter, their accuracy in front of goal gifted them a 10 point lead at quarter time with the score finishing on 4.1(25) for Claremont against Peel 2.3(15).

Peel’s second quarter was littered with wasted opportunities as they struggled to shake free in their attacking half. Strong positioning on field from Claremont defenders and mid-fielders left Peel struggling when the ball entered their attacking 50 and they were kept to a mere three goals for the quarter with score going into half time favouring Claremont 10.3(63) to Peel 5.5(35).

Reliable Claremont midfielder Kane Mitchell kicked-off a strong third term for Claremont however silly mistakes were still being made by both sides. Three out-on-the-fulls were chalked up in the third alone term and Peel gave away two 50 metre penalties within the first 20 minutes of the term. A slick passage of play through the centre field from Alroy Gilligan rounded out the quarter with Claremont leading 14.6(90) to Peel 7.8(50).

Claremont consolidated their authority in the final term kicking a massive 11 majors. A dynamic defensive display from ex-Eagle Beau Wilkes in the back-half, along with Brett Jones kept Peel’s major scores to just three for the term and gave Claremont a decisive victory with a final score 25.10 (160) over Peel 10.8 (68).

Mitchell, who has played a major role in many of Claremont’s victories this season, said after the game that Claremont’s win was indicative of their ability to outrun other teams.

“We always play pretty tight games and we’re an endurance based team. We’re very hard running so we’re able to finish out games strong,” he said.

“Peel are a young side so they get tired faster and we just grind games down to outrun the opposition and that’s what we did today.”

Mitchell also said that today’s win had strengthened the team’s conviction to finish on top and to follow that up with a grand final appearance.

“Going into the final we’ve got one game left against East Perth who can’t make the finals now so they’re playing for pride, so we’re just trying to keep the momentum up and trying to keep winning,” he said.

“I think we’ve got as good a chance as anyone to make the final. We haven’t beaten West Perth all year and we’ve got them in the first round of finals so that’s going to be a big one.”

“I’m confident we can make the finals, but not arrogant. We have hard work to do but I feel confident about it.”

A little bit of a warning...

It’s Saturday night, 2 young men have hopped in a cab and are on their way to Northbridge. One (let’s call him Johnny) is an absolute piss-tank and is going to smash Jaeger bombs all night until he can’t walk straight, the other (his name is David), is going to have a couple of drinks but he’s more interested in buying a stick off his friend and heading home early to smoke a few cones and watch Space Jam.

4 hours later our 2 friends leave the bar. Johnny is absolutely written off, he’s been kicked out of the bar for yelling at the bar staff and on his way out he tries to hit a bouncer but he’s too drunk to make contact. David walks behind, wishing his friend didn’t get this drunk every weekend but he doesn’t mind too much because he’s bought his pot and he’s going to meet his other friends at their house to watch movies and eat Doritos. Johnny wants a kebab first so they line up; get their kebabs and then move outside to look for a cab. As they move outside David tries to slide his wallet into his pocket but it slips and drops onto the concrete, open. He panics as his bag of weed is inside and has fallen onto the ground. He quickly stoops down to pick it up but as he does a shadow falls across him, he looks up and there stand two police officers looking smugly at both the boys.

Johnny cops a move on notice and gets sheepishly in a cab. David on the other hand gets a court summons and has to phone his mum explaining that he’s been charged with drug possession.

This is not a lament on why cannabis should be legalised, or at the very least decriminalised, in Western Australia. This is a warming to the young people, my peers, who may not be aware of the seriousness of the new cannabis laws in WA.

Think about 10 grams of something. Imagine it, there in your hand. Now imagine 10 grams of cannabis in your hand. Doesn’t seem like much. You could probably roll a few joints with ten grams. Not a big deal right? Well actually it is a big deal. It’s now enough of a deal to send you to jail for 2 years or to face a $2000 fine.

On August 1 2011 the new cannabis laws in WA came into effect. They reduced the amount of cannabis found on a person to a mere 10 grams in order for them to be charged and to face penalties of 2 years imprisonment or a $2000 fine. 100 grams on a person is now enough to be considered a quantity to supply or sell which could result in 2 years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine. It is also now against the law to display or sell any smoking paraphernalia in shows, i.e. - you can’t buy bongs in shops anymore.

The new laws have also introduced an alternative to going to court if you’re caught with cannabis with the Cannabis Intervention Requirement (CIR). A CIR can be issued to someone who’s found with LESS than 10 grams (let’s hope the WA police force carry around a set of weights with them) or who is found with a smoking implement which has detectable traces of cannabis in it.

If the police officer who has apprehended you should so decide they can issue you with a CIR which requires you to book and attend a Cannabis Intervention Session (CIS) within 28 days of the CIR being issued. A CIS is basically a counselling session. An adult can be issued one CIR and then if they’re caught again they have to go to court, and young person between 14 and 17 can have 2 before they’re due in court. A police officer is not obliged to issue a CIR however, it is completely at their discretion whether they issue one or not.

Now it would be easy at this point to begin an uppity uni student rant on the “realities” that smoking pot does less damage to a person than drinking alcohol, no violent crimes are ever committed by people who are high on cannabis, yet alcohol is the reason for a considerable amount of the patrons visiting Charlie Gairdner’s on a Saturday night, but I don’t want to go down that path. Not because I don’t think that path is valid, but because the stark reality of the situation in WA is that these laws are real. These laws affect everyone in WA and these laws can now have a serious affect on you, should you choose to carry cannabis.