My second semester has officially begun and I am finally beginning to come out of a bit of a head spin. I think it took me a while to get off my travel high, especially since so much happened during my travels, and when I got back to Australia nothing was the same as when I left it. However, I'm continuing to stay focused on looking forward, because no doubt if I look back I will probably trip and fall (that is supposed to be taken metaphorically but it also applies to me literally because I'm a very clumsy person).
Anyway, I kinda came back to a mess in Australia and spent my first week picking up some pieces here and there. Luckily Lina, Kate, and I booked a trip to Sydney a long while back for the LGBT Mardi Gras Festival. It was my opportunity to get away and seek some comfort and normalcy. Yes, drag queens and gay people dressed in very little clothing are my sense of normalcy (I am from L.A. don't forget). Not only that, but if you know me at all you know I am a huge advocate for the overturning of Prop 8. The festival's theme this year was "Say Anything" which of course was a ginormous platform for the gay community to voice their rights to marriage equality. Kate and I proudly represented NO H8 logos on ourselves, even though it missed with the general population since they don't know California Propositions, it was what we wanted to say and stand for. Other than that we had some great beach time at Bondi beach, which apparently you can be topless at and not get arrested, and then enjoyed the "drag races" on the beach later on that day. How to describe the drag races: exhilarating, exciting, highly competitive, a little scary at times... those bitches can really run in heels on the sand, let me tell you! When I say drag races I do mean of the Queen variety. It was incredibly fun. The main drag queen announcer had the entire audience in stitches for an hour and a half, and the drag queens themselves should have seriously won Olympic gold medals for being able to haul ass in the sand in stilettos, that takes some serious skill that very few women (or Olympians for that matter) possess. Michael Phelps can win a bajillion gold medals in swimming, but can he run in stilettos in the sand? I don't think so. Other than the epic drag races and really fun mardi gras parade, we went out for a night of dancing at the gay bars. I love me a bar full of men that proudly dance and sing their asses off and get crazy and sexy to the sounds of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Good times!!!
I'm going into my 2nd week and realize that this is going to be a really rough semester. So far I don't have an interest in my classes, and am relying on my human rights and ethics class to be so fulfilling that it makes up for all the other classes. However, I have a major interest in my potential thesis on social networking sites/ modern technology and its affects on international relations, a subject I've been mulling about in my head ever since the people led uprising following Iran's 2009 elections. It was a moment where the legitimate news sources became the people, and news was only able to be documented through Twitter and few other technological devices and networks, which was then broadcast to the world through other mediums to create an international awareness, dialogue, and transparency that even one of the most authoritative regimes could not suppress. While it's not the first time modern technology had been used in that way, I would argue it is the first time modern technology was able to relay information in real time creating an irrefutable transparency and urgency for immediate international response. The world has given me a lot to go off of since then, especially with the recent revolutions in the middle east, and I've been following all of it very closely. So, more to come on that front as I learn more. Hopefully a professor will be willing to work with me on this thesis idea that needs a lot of polishing up and fine tuning - we'll see.
My last thought, and sorry to not end this post on a pleasant note, but after the awesome weekend I had I'm having a hard time letting this incident go. Kate and I went out to dinner last night with two of her friends visiting from out of town. We went to a small restaurant where only a few tables were occupied. One table consisted of 2 guys and 2 girls in their early 20's, the other table consisted of a group of 4 transsexuals. When the transsexuals left the restaurant, one of the girls sitting at the other table knocked on the glass wall to get the transsexuals attention and proceeded to flip them off. The guy sitting next to her asked, "why did you just do that?" and she said, "because they're trannys!" One of the transsexual woman saw this and came storming back into the restaurant, got up in the girls face, towered over her and said, "was that directed at me?!" and the girl replied in all her cowardice, "No, it was meant for someone else." The woman replied, "That's what I thought" and left the restaurant. I was secretly hoping the transsexual would have punched this piece of trash girl in the face, but she had far more restraint and class than I would have had if that were me. Kate and I were fuming over this blatant act of intolerance, and we both wanted to bitch this girl out so bad, but we didn't. We didn't say anything. Maybe I was afraid of getting my ass kicked for standing up and saying something, or just not wanting to get involved in someone elses fight. But I'm more angry at myself for doing nothing, than I am at that girl for being ignorant. She might not have known any better, but I did. I'm still unsure of what the appropriate response would have been in that situation, but I know it's not watching something bad happen to someone else and not do anything about it. I'm not going to get up on my soapbox and lecture, you know where I'm going with this one.
Say something, say anything,
Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes
