Homeless man

Months ago, on our street a man walked up with a little blood on his forehead like he had fallen over or been in a fight. When he asked for money a memory of this same quick thinking story teller popped up. Months before that in Glebe he had told us a story of needing money to call the NRMA for some insurance issue with his car. He was very convincing, gave him $1 or so.

On our street, those months later he told an ever longer story of recently being released from prison, having bank account difficulties and a plan to return to Adelaide, where his son lived, to start a new life. When he realised we were receptive he said what he really needed was $20 to get a room at a shelter for the night before his flight in the next few days. So we gave him the money and wished him well.

Today when he approached me, the first time I've seen him since, I gave my usual response to beggars. "Sorry". He said, "I just need 20c". I repeated my answer. He said "No you're fucking not". I shouted "I am" after him in some sort of futile effort. I felt crappy.

And...

The other little enterprise is Fashion at Orble, just a little paid blog (believe it or not) for Alice's fashion observations.

It's a strange online community of bloggers who take on egos of gigantic proportions in the virtual realm. I think I may have accidentally offended someone on there and might be a spot of stalker trouble... we shall see.

Exciting new developments

Now the VF sphere is expanding into new and exciting project which include

www.sydneyfashionhouse.com.au
Fashionista hits the streets for some interviews, fashion and general frivolity.

www.myspace.com/vigilantefashionista
That's right, she is now always and everywhere, ever expanding.

Bandit

A sign on the counter at the bank reads “DO NOT LEAN OVER COUNTER. ANTI BANDIT SCREENS IN OPERATION”. Aside from being annoyed at their forgetting the hyphen, I like the idea of being a bandit. Thieves are dull, who’d want to be a thief, but a bandit, I could do that.

This bit of writing fell out last night before I went to sleep

An old man walking with two dogs and a can of kerosene. When they reach the park he squats over his dogs, opens the can, pours it over them then reaches into his pocket. Pulls out a disposable blue lighter – the shopgirl asked which colour, he said it didn’t matter, she chose blue. He lends the flame to each dog’s coat and quickly steps back. Dogs yap, roll and are generally disturbed. The old man watches. A youngish girl watches the watching from the other side of the park resigned to her inaction, attempting to trace the scale. Perhaps it had been that time the two junkies were pushing each other at 9am in an alley with all sorts of people seeing the violence and walking quickly on. The aggressor backed off and at the time she said internally, if it had continued I would do something. Or the time someone’s bag was stolen twenty or so paces in front of her. When the woman turned round and said that her bag had been stolen she kept walking, had to get home, make dinner, go to bed, etcetera. The scale, or just life events in succession led to the man whom she knew for some reason or other was going to do bad and her unmoved on a bench.

My Secret

Allow me to introduce my closest friend. This is Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, aka Sirin, aka my necrophilic secret and the prospective subject of my English honours thesis.

Justification

Is everyone essentially arguing to justify what they consider the purpose of their existence? There’s got to be some comfort in ensuring others not only approve of but also join in your life project. Hence the preaching of academics, religious individuals, fitness fanatics etcetera.

Polarity

Strange that humans have a predilection to polarising debates and then investing themselves so completely in one extreme that they find any criticism shattering. How counterproductive.
In today’s English lecture I was educated about the Culture/Theory Wars between the 1970s and the 1980s. As with any seriously contested ideological debate, positions were assumed at the farthest remove from the other. Those who think texts should be examined linguistically, and those who think the reading of texts should only be concerned with context, the author and symbolism.
Preferencing one side over another can be rationalised, but why should one approach preclude the other? This is not equivalent to philosophical argument, where some of the questions asked in a particular school completely deny the validity of other questions. Since literature is constituted by both language and context, literary theory should be studied according to both.

Flies

Wittgenstein said he wanted to show the fly out of the fly bottle by resolving the philosophic puzzles and thereby 'freeing' people. I am less ambitious as I want just want to show the fly how to get through the wide open door. Although for anyone who has ever observed a fly inside they will recognise that this is not a facile task. But ideas later; I'll start with guidance on their shoes.

Bubble Wrap

Welcome to the inaugural Vigilante Fashionista comic. Written by Alice Grundy, Illustrated by Jesse Stein.
These comics are inspired by a life revolving around coffee, cafes and books, intended to be witty and fun although occasionally they have educational purposes as the next installment will demonstrate.