Since I have completed my Masters about... three weeks ago now proabably, I've been on the job search. And again, since I an perpetually reading about how there are no jobs out there, I thought it might be prudent, perfect and provocative and pleasing to preserve the thoughts, experiences and angst of someone applying for a job in "THE WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION" etc. It serves as a creative outlet for me and as an act of outreach to people who are going through similar trials and want to rant, commeriserate and cry along with me. To quote HSM because, well why the hell wouldn't I, "We're all in this together".
The thing is though, we're not. I'm surprised at what a lonely desert of rejection this actually is, desolate, despairing and depressing. They told me as I applied for postgraduate study that was a lonely year, happily they were wrong, and I travelled or rather skipped in the merry way that mild wine intoxication inevitably result in, along the postgraduate path of dreams with likeminded friends. Now I feel very alone; applying for jobs in the evening, working in the day packing socks in my parent's warehouse (a job i'm lucky to have, don't get me wrong, and Rex the Samoan Bird King knows I need the dinero) but at the same time it is dull, monetoneous and mind numbing, and I have to listen to Mansfield 103.2 all day- but that is another rant. (I've taken to cataloguing everything that annoys me about said radio station on my twitter http://twitter.com/gemmalouiselowe .)
So I thought, whilst applying, it would be good to gain some more experience, so I applied to some local newspapers to beg some experience, offering my eyes, brain, reading skills and self for free. I was told today however, that because neither of my degrees are accredited by the society for trainee journalists or something, that I couldn't be considered for any work experience. Which felt like a massive kick in the teeth, what harm could I do as unpaid work experience, it is hardly like I have an inappropriate degree, with English Literature... and it is hardly like I've not got a brain or proven I can work hard, all I requested was the consideration for some experience. Offering myself as someone who makes tea if that's all they had, so I could experience... something. But no, I prostituted my brain and my self for free and was rejected. Damning.
I can't help feeling now that if I'm not even wanted for an unpaid piece of work experience, what chance do I have against the competition for an actual paid job...? First response as this may be, it seems the universe might be damning me slightly here...
My rants about the little annoyances and the amazing wonders of life.
About Me
- Gemma Louise
- I am going to use this blog as a creative outlet, since I finished my Masters, I've been craving something. Plus I do love to write, and above all I love to get annoyed about the little things. Often I find these terribly amusing (perhaps literally!), so I'd like to think I might share a little joy as well. Born and bred in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and no, I am not a northerner, I am from the midlands. If there were three food substances to describe me, they would be Tea, Gin and Baked Beans. I do not credit crunch on any of these things. I like to wear flowers, animal hats with ears and clothes that don't match. I like to voice my opinions, I like to learn things and then insert my facts seamlessly into conversation. I like to compare soap opera senarios to classic literature. Usually whilst shouting at the TV.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Jade Goody; The Musical. Enough said.
Before I start my rant on this; I'd just like to point out that the illness and death of Jade Goody was incredibly sad. It is sad that any young mother should die and leave behind her young children. Also, there is something to be said for the increased awareness the media frenzy has given to Cevical Cancer in young women & Jade raised money to support her children, as any mother would.
But.
Jade Goody the Musical? What on earth is that about? What is it going to be about? In the article on BBC News it said that the play was going to reflect Jade as an 'ordinary' girl and the actress that plays her also needs to be ordinary. For a start, there has never been a character in any play, film or novel that has been ordinary. Nobody wants to go and see an oridinary story, people get ordinary in their everyday lives. What else is this musical going to be about? Because as far as I can tell, Jade Goody was basically the victim or product of the bizarre and quite frankly morally corrupt media (but I suppose dues must be given to her for taking advantage of this), who before she got cancer branded her as a talentless, waste of space, common, stupid racist bigot. It seemed that as soon as she was diagnosed with cancer, the press suddenly changed tact; hailing her as the hero of the 'ordinary folk'; or as I think someone called her (loosely) Princess Diana from Essex.
For starters, Princess Diana did a lot of good things for the world and society, where as Jade shows society all of its worse flaws. Even though both women were wrongly treated by the media, I think the similarity ends here. The fact is that noone thought about Jade Goody in any sort of positive light before there was a potential tragic angle and a sadness; should we look back so fondly on a person who was so racist, so awful in both depictions of her in Big Brother, who was just famous because the press hounded her... Did she have to live out her struggle with cancer so relentlessly in the public eye? I know it was to raise money for her boys and that she was exploiting a system for this purpose and I suppose although I could never understand how she could have undergone all that publicity during the lowest and most disabilitating weeks of her life, I can understand she was just milking the system she found herself in.
But I think this whole thing has gone beyond this. Jade Goody books in pictures now? Jade's last wish articles? Jade Goody reality TV shows documenting her last days? Jade Goody the musical? Do we need all this? Surely the first thing that should be done is to set up a charity for cervical cancer in her name? Perhaps it has and I just don't know about it, and if a charity has been set up, why hasn't this been publised more than books and ridiculous documentaries and MUSICALS? Surely for a woman that noone liked before she was diagnosed with cancer (to put it bluntly) then cancer awareness is something good that Jade contributed to society surely this should be what is being focused on, rather than the view of Jade through the rose tinted view of death? At the moment, all the Jade Goody memorabilia seems to be amounted to is a media cash cow, and everyone is getting their stools in place ready to milk it.
Why didn't Jane Tomlinson get this much publicity? She spent her last year doing marathons, raising money for cancer research, she too had children but didn't use her publicity solely to raise money for her children, but to raise money to help find a cure for the disease that killed her. Surely this is a better legacy to leave and a better use of article space in newspapers...
But.
Jade Goody the Musical? What on earth is that about? What is it going to be about? In the article on BBC News it said that the play was going to reflect Jade as an 'ordinary' girl and the actress that plays her also needs to be ordinary. For a start, there has never been a character in any play, film or novel that has been ordinary. Nobody wants to go and see an oridinary story, people get ordinary in their everyday lives. What else is this musical going to be about? Because as far as I can tell, Jade Goody was basically the victim or product of the bizarre and quite frankly morally corrupt media (but I suppose dues must be given to her for taking advantage of this), who before she got cancer branded her as a talentless, waste of space, common, stupid racist bigot. It seemed that as soon as she was diagnosed with cancer, the press suddenly changed tact; hailing her as the hero of the 'ordinary folk'; or as I think someone called her (loosely) Princess Diana from Essex.
For starters, Princess Diana did a lot of good things for the world and society, where as Jade shows society all of its worse flaws. Even though both women were wrongly treated by the media, I think the similarity ends here. The fact is that noone thought about Jade Goody in any sort of positive light before there was a potential tragic angle and a sadness; should we look back so fondly on a person who was so racist, so awful in both depictions of her in Big Brother, who was just famous because the press hounded her... Did she have to live out her struggle with cancer so relentlessly in the public eye? I know it was to raise money for her boys and that she was exploiting a system for this purpose and I suppose although I could never understand how she could have undergone all that publicity during the lowest and most disabilitating weeks of her life, I can understand she was just milking the system she found herself in.
But I think this whole thing has gone beyond this. Jade Goody books in pictures now? Jade's last wish articles? Jade Goody reality TV shows documenting her last days? Jade Goody the musical? Do we need all this? Surely the first thing that should be done is to set up a charity for cervical cancer in her name? Perhaps it has and I just don't know about it, and if a charity has been set up, why hasn't this been publised more than books and ridiculous documentaries and MUSICALS? Surely for a woman that noone liked before she was diagnosed with cancer (to put it bluntly) then cancer awareness is something good that Jade contributed to society surely this should be what is being focused on, rather than the view of Jade through the rose tinted view of death? At the moment, all the Jade Goody memorabilia seems to be amounted to is a media cash cow, and everyone is getting their stools in place ready to milk it.
Why didn't Jane Tomlinson get this much publicity? She spent her last year doing marathons, raising money for cancer research, she too had children but didn't use her publicity solely to raise money for her children, but to raise money to help find a cure for the disease that killed her. Surely this is a better legacy to leave and a better use of article space in newspapers...
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Presidents should not interfere with TV Shows.
There are many reasons why I believe I have created this blog. All these reasons are procrastination and I believe I am very good at finding ways through which I can convince myself that I am valuably wasting my time, as John Lennon once said "Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted." I do enjoy writing....
I have been writing my dissertation, which I enjoyed initially but now I know how the Ancient Mariner felt with the albatross hanging around his neck. It has become my life and may be the cause of my death. I am on a break, watching House, just before I edit the final chapter of my dissertation. I want to get it bound before Friday. Anyway, a few weeks ago I joined Twitter (because a friend mentioned it on his Facebook status), which is simular to blogging I suppose but only with 120 characters. I am not a woman of few words. I love words, why use one when you can use a hundred? Twitter is still a bonus though, because it is another socially acceptable way that I can stalk Stephen Fry. When that wasn't enough for my polysyallbic ways, that same friend's facebook led me here.
On a note about House. I do like Barack Obama, for many important reasons, his rhetoric, the fact that he isn't George W, the fact that he was 'Torso of the Week' in Heat magazine. I don't like him right now because he has directly interfered with my favourite TV show. I loved Kutner and to me it makes no sense that his character would kill himself, although in reality, a job in the White House for Kal Penn makes sense... Presidents should not interfere with TV shows. No no no.
I have been writing my dissertation, which I enjoyed initially but now I know how the Ancient Mariner felt with the albatross hanging around his neck. It has become my life and may be the cause of my death. I am on a break, watching House, just before I edit the final chapter of my dissertation. I want to get it bound before Friday. Anyway, a few weeks ago I joined Twitter (because a friend mentioned it on his Facebook status), which is simular to blogging I suppose but only with 120 characters. I am not a woman of few words. I love words, why use one when you can use a hundred? Twitter is still a bonus though, because it is another socially acceptable way that I can stalk Stephen Fry. When that wasn't enough for my polysyallbic ways, that same friend's facebook led me here.
On a note about House. I do like Barack Obama, for many important reasons, his rhetoric, the fact that he isn't George W, the fact that he was 'Torso of the Week' in Heat magazine. I don't like him right now because he has directly interfered with my favourite TV show. I loved Kutner and to me it makes no sense that his character would kill himself, although in reality, a job in the White House for Kal Penn makes sense... Presidents should not interfere with TV shows. No no no.
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