Rate: Good coffee

It's no secret that I really like coffee. Like, really. In high school and for a bit of uni, I even worked as a barista. Yes, it was Gloria Jeans, but at least it wasn't Starbucks! While that stint did make me a bit of a coffee snob for a couple of years, living in England cured me of that and made me just appreciate a good cup from anywhere. I remember when I was living in Sheffield, I had left some of my assignments to the last minute and had taken advantage of the 24 hour library. After submitting my work at about 8am, I stumbled into a cafe on campus and ordered a cup of coffee. I don't know if it was because I expected the normal English standard of dishwater, but I still maintain that the cappucino I ordered was one of the best coffees I had in 2011.

A latte from Harvest, in Canberra. How pretty is that fern?

 I am pretty spoilt for choice, now that I am back in Canberra. I don't have any official stats, but we have an incredibly high amount of good cafes per capita. Thanks to the hipster invasion that started two or three years ago, the coffee has gotten better and boutique coffee shops have nosed Starbucks out of business completely (thank goodness). I have a choice of five excellent and four ok-ish cafes in walking distance from my work. One of them is staffed by an attractive bearded barista who makes a mean cappucino - so good that I generally pop in two or three times a week, minimum. Espresso is my favourite... don't give me any of this filter or plunger business.

Okay, you got me. I'm still a bit of a snob. I don't even take sugar in my coffee.

After having travelled a bit, I honestly think that Australia is one of the best places in the entire world for coffee. What I like about coffee is not the caffeine hit (at this point, I don't think I'm really susceptible to the effects of caffeine any longer, unfortunately). It is not just the flavour - although when it is fresh and made properly, there is not much that is better than that. I think it's the sense of craftsmanship, especially when you can tell that your barista loves the process as much as you enjoy drinking it. Good coffee is an experience, not just a beverage. How much of a wanker do I sound like right now? I wish I could marry coffee, because it fulfills me. I guess my best bet will be to marry someone who can at least make the perfect cup... and then exploit that skill for my own bean-related needs.

Hate: The notion of "Privilege"

I will admit openly that I spend a lot of time on the internet. I read blogs and peruse news and lifestyle pages like Daily Life. Recently, I have noticed the term "privilege" being bandied about with alarming frequency. As in, white privilege. Heterosexual privilege. Cis privilege. Male privilege. Educational privilege. It is being used as a weapon in arguments that should be trying to make the world a better place through striving for equality and the rejection of prejudice, but for whose side?

It has got to stop.

My biggest problem with this term is that it is so limiting and can be used in such hateful ways that it detracts from the power of a balanced conversation. I have noticed the term "Check your privilege" being used as a way of shutting down opposition - it's essentially the same as saying "You're wrong, so I am not going to listen to you." My problem is that it is a roadblock used by the people who have been oppressed because of their ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or income when everyone should be working together to try to make the world a better place.

I read an article yesterday about a speech Joss Whedon gave about feminism, in which he outlined his problems with the word "feminist". He was panned in the article for this, and because he's white and male, the notion of "privilege" reared its ugly head once again. My problem with this terminology is that it says "You were born lucky, therefore you don't understand and you don't get to have an opinion about this", which in itself is another form of oppression. It assumes that the privileged cannot possibly have researched into the treatment of women or the historical and current oppression of societal groups. It assumes that the privileged cannot have developed any sense of empathy or compassion over the course of their lives. It assumes that the privileged involve themselves in, or comment on issues for kicks - slumming it, if you will - because there is no way that they could actually care about this stuff from their pedestal view of the world. It blocks the opinions by fault of birth - no one gets to pick to whom they are born, the colour of their skin, their gender, but by god, can you be made to suffer for it.

Another example was one I found on Tumblr a while ago, where an African-American man told a white man to "check his privilege" because of the colour of his skin, and followed it up with a diagram of a slave ship from the 18th century. What followed was a spectacular rebuttal where the white guy shut down the notion of his own privilege, because his (white) family tree was descended from Lithuanian and Polish serfs who had emigrated to the USA in the 19th century in hopes for a better life. He resented the whitewashing of anyone with pale skin as being involved in the slave trade, because for a lot of people it was just not the case. The African-American man insinuating that he had historical blood on his hands was racist, but shutting down the argument because of skin colour privilege was his weapon. I particularly related to this, because I personally want a world that is colourblind, where people aren't judged for the colour of their skin no matter what shade it is. Skin colour shouldn't matter in schools, workplaces, universities, relationships, neighbourhoods. I have been accused of racism by proxy because I'm white and my ancestors have lived in Australia for nearly two centuries - throughout the time of the Stolen Generations and before Indigenous land rights and recognition. My family were shipped out from Ireland as convicts, but that doesn't really matter when my skin is pale. I am privileged, don't you see. I don't get to have a voice on issues like racism.

Maybe I'm just a hippy, because I truly believe that the only way that equality will be reached will be for members of all areas of our society to talk to each other and work together despite the longstanding oppressions and irregardless of where everyone has come from. I believe that men who want equality for people of all genders can consider themselves feminist, or have issues with the word feminism because they want the same thing for everyone. I have issues with the word feminism, but because I am an educated woman, this is ok.

We need to stop shutting down arguments with this word. It is counterproductive and ignorant. We need to be able to have arguments and disagree from all sides of the table because that is the only way that we are going to be able to make any progress. And I say that from my position as so done who has been very lucky in where and when I was born, but who recognises that this is not the case for everyone.

Rate: Ball Park Music

I swear that I began this blog with the best intentions. What can I say? It's been a big year (and my tumblr is much more active), and this new blog has fallen by the wayside. That being said, I think it's time to commit to a project. Here goes!

Music is one of my biggest vices. If I didn't feel the need to buy CDs - and I do still buy real CDs - I suspect I would have a lot more money in my account. I am a big fan of live music, and try to attend festivals, concerts and gigs as often as I can. Earlier this year, the national youth radio station Triple J hosted their annual One Night Stand, where a bunch of Australian bands head to a remote town and put on a free all-ages concert. This year, it was held in Dubbo, which is only about a five hour drive from where I live. The lineup had Dubbo natives People's Palace along with Flume, The Rubens, Seth Sentry and Ball Park Music, so my friends and I thought it was well worth the trek (plus, there is little chance of it being held near us again for the next few years, so we would have regretted it if we hadn't gone!). 

A good bit of cussing goes a long way. 

It was a stellar night. Dusty and packed with random people, most of the concert goers had travelled long distances - our trip paled in comparison when we met people from Melbourne and the Gold Coast. The only downside was that we couldn't get accommodation so had to drive all the way back at night, dodging kangaroos. It was definitely worth it, with the four bands being different enough that there was something for everyone. Seth Sentry even found a hoverboard. Flume was in his element. The Rubens' drummer has amazing biceps. My personal highlight was Ball Park Music - I was totally smitten from the moment the lead singer burst out of a mystery box on stage and pulled on an "I Love Dubbo" tshirt.  

BPM are a really happy, offbeat band from Queensland (Brisbane? I might be mistaken) who play the best pop music I have heard in a long time. They surfaced through Triple J a few years ago and were named as a New Crop artist (a list of 20 up and coming Australian music acts to keep an eye on) and released their first album in 2011, Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs that included brilliant songs like Sad rude future dude, It's nice to be alive and Rich people are stupid. The album is a compendium of catchy beats and lyrics that beg to be sung aloud during summer road trips with the windows rolled down. Some of my favourites include "Boring as bat shit / You people make me feel so / Curious and I don't know why" and "Everybody wake up / Welcome to the future / There's nothing going on here / Just me and my personal computer." Two of their songs came in at #31 and #38 in the Hottest 100 for that year. 

I do love a bare bottom on an album cover.

(At the One Night Stand, when they were playing Sad rude future dude - an awesome song that includes the lyrics "Haven't had a friend in years / Only have sex with myself" a guy walked past me and said "I only have sex with my hand," which made me laugh. He then offered me a high-5 that I almost committed to before deciding that on the basis of what he'd just told me, that was probably not the best decision. That made him laugh, and he patted me on the bum and walked away). 

Only a year after Happiness was released, all of a sudden BPM released their second album, Museum. The lead single off the album was the anthem Surrender, which I still think was one of the best songs of 2012. It's a bit more mature, I guess, than their first album, but with all of their energy and catchy attitudes still present. I can't rave about this album enough - anything I say will sell it short. Just please, check them out. 

Please do yourself a favour, and watch this video.

Australia has a lot of good music and we are so lucky to have a national radio station like Triple J that is invested in looking for and promoting new bands. The debt that the ARIA charts owe to Triple J can't be underestimated. I think that Ball Park Music are one of the best bands out at the moment, and I hope they're around for a long time to come. 

Rate/Hate in a nutshell.

There is a premise behind this blog. Thanks to the internet, everyone (including myself) has platforms for being able to express opinions on pretty much everything. Websites like Goodreads and IMDB allow for people to review and discuss books and movies all day, every day. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook allow for people to talk and argue about politics, world issues, the news, television haircuts, celebrities and each other. Blogging sites like Tumblr, Wordpress and Blogspot have widened the scope of the average person's circle of influence.

Opinions are no longer just shared over the drinks machine at 9.30am. They're not just for school lunchtimes. Letters to the Editor and talkback radio programmes are not the only way to be heard.

All that being said, this is going to be quite a simple blog. I think that these days, it is getting to be really easy to focus on and express negative views on everything from the global economy to the dinner you had last night. These views are valid, because very little is actually perfect. However, I want to focus on the good things as well. So, for every negative view on the world that I have, I will also express a positive one. Let's call it an exercise in mental health, and see how it goes.