Controversy.

Today is Thursday. Unlike most dreary Thursdays, that can be equated to the uneventful stepping stone just out of reach of the weekend, today did not go on without a hitch. I won't give a complete recount, but just enough for you to understand how my quiet day turned into an adrenaline surge of racial stereotyping. I'd say it's safe to assume that this post wasn't going the way you thought. The way I thought.

With this being written, let's begin.

11 am. University. Thursday's consisted of only a single 2 hour lesson, plotted perfectly in the middle of my day; just to ensure that I didn't plan on ever using the full 12 hours effectively. But I digress. 'Introduction to Journalism' is my haven in which I can learn about how to take the first steps into the world were my aspirations reside. Today on the other hand it was anything but. The class carried on about the importance of the principles of interviewing a subject; Don't be rude, Ask questions, etc... I'm not a tutor so I wont give the lesson, but the final presumably monotonous activity that was required of myself and my studious peers was surprising to say the least. The class of 15 or so students were required to go out and prowl the university for unsuspecting interviewees, with a catch. This catch being that the students were segregated into groups, then given a topic, and in some cases demographic to pry information out of. The information being related to campus events, the local Commonwealth Games preparation, or in my case "What news has [the students] country of origin had in the media?" By now you're probably thinking "but Josh, this doesn't sound so bad? You're just asking about where they come from right?" Well yes. Yes I am. But think about the volatile nature of the 'University Student' we pride ourselves in our individuality, and if you dare to try assume where our origins lie, well you're in for a bumpy ride... To answer the aforementioned questions, essentially my group was tasked with attempting to assume who was a 'foreigner' and who was not.

Before I delve too deep into this obviously controversial subject of stereotyping, let me write that I respect and admire all cultures, religions, ethnicities and genders.

Now if you will, I'll begin. While other groups nonchalantly confronted unsuspecting uni-goers, my group buddy and I tip-toed through a complex social dynamic where even the possibility of angering a single student could lead us down a path of failure. In essence at face value our task was minute, but when the time came to seek out the 'exchange students' all of our senses needed to be heightened. From eavesdropping on conversations to attempt to pickup an accent, to brute-force surveying; asking every student we passed if they were from overseas. The latter of the two methods came to a sudden halt when a particular student had questioned what made us think they were a foreigner, the exact scenario my group feared would happen. This student was a man in his early 20's, with a fit build and a decidedly non-unique Australian accent, after our brief question of whether or not he was an 'exchange student' and his simple reply of "no", we thought he'd casually walk off this brief interruption on his inter-class stroll. We were wrong. As we began down the path once more, almost stomping-like steps approached my friend and I from behind, the entire confrontation consisted of no less than 15 seconds, but stopped our brute-force researching nonetheless. The confrontation included a nice little concoction of menacing my group and then spitting a slurred sentence at our faces "What? do I look foreign to you?!" he obviously assumed we must think of him odd, or to some extent lesser than what his expectations of an Australian are? Either way I had to explain to this now obviously offended person that we simply were asking all who passed us on our path. Looking back on it now he seemed to have checked his surrounds to gauge the possibility of whether he could get away with a quick punch to the face. But in the end people were around and he grunted in forced acception of my groups reasons, leaving us be. Needless to say this little event didn't help us find a foreign interviewee. We swallowed our predisposition to choosing a student to talk to by there features, but it worked. We met a nice young woman named Hao, she was more than understanding, and my friend and I could not have been happier. Finally completing our interview activity and resulting in becoming the black sheep of the class when we mentioned that our specific topic was quite racially discriminating. But such is life.

Despite todays rather awkward and almost dangerous proceedings, it ended like any other. Life goes on and another day brings another lesson learned, that university is and forever will be hard, whilst journalism is a controversial subject no matter what angle you try to take.

On a side note, I've realised intertwining my thoughts into the recount of my life can be a little confusing. I'm sure you're all a smart bunch, but for future reference my thoughts will be written in italics.

I hope to begin collecting photo's to go along with my posts soon, so that I can properly convey my life to you all.

Enjoy.

A word from the writer,

Josh.