October Sunshine

Yesterday it was my birthday. And because the sun almost never shines on my birthday (on that day it usually starts to rain - the same November Rain that Guns N' Roses sang about ), I tried to stay outside as much as possible. Jernej and I went for walks, had coffee with friends and enjoyed the nice weather. It is therefore understable that my interest in literary journalism is on a side track now.
Besides, I still need to work out how this blogging technology works. Today a friend of mine helped me with this RSS feed thing. Yesterday I tried to post something to Manca's blog and I did know how to do it. And my roommate from Columbia, MO, also mentioned that she couldn't post any comments on my blog. Please, Xiaoqing, keep trying.
But nevertheless I do have some news that are somehow connected with literary journalism. A friend of mine created the illustrated magazine JAZ which wants to offer its readers good stories - just like it is typical of literary journalism. And the magazines website became alive today.
JAZ is about enjoying life; about passions that people have. One of my passions is writing good stories, the other is reading them. JAZ helps me realize both.
Finally, everyday there is an interesting post on Media watch dog blog (see sidebar). I think that it is terrible that after Miro Petek case people with power think they can intimidate journalists. Some do it in front of the camera, the others wait until the taperecorder stops.
It is also terrible to see how easily we got accustomed to hate speech in this country. We simply do not notice it anymore. Things that are unacceptable in other countries seem normal here. Diversity in newsrooms is a must in Great Britain and USA. Here we aren't even aware of our minorities; no wonder it doesn't occur to us they should be represented in our newsrooms. We simply say there is room for everyone there who is good enough. And we don't stop to think if the underprivileged have the opportunity to become good enough.
It takes people like Brankica Petkovic from the Peace Institute to remind us that words like 'podivjani' (wild) should not be used in a news report on the national television in relation to anyone and even less to a minority.