scope [skohp] noun, verb, scoped, scoping extent or range of view, outlook, operation, effectiveness, etc. space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation: to give one’s fancy full scope. extent in space, a tract or area. aim or purpose Liguisitics, logic, the range or words or elements of an expression over which DPRGLÀHURURSHUDWRUKDVFRQWURO (used as a short form of PLFURVFRSHRVFLORVFRSHSHULVFRSHUDGDUVFRSHULÁHVFRSH telescopic sight etc.) Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to appreciate or evaluate. scope out, slang. to look at or over; examine; check out. the range of one’s perceptions, thoughts, or actions. SCOPE 2007 Hi there... Meet Scope ‘07 . d f He’s ha an interesting li e... Born in war-torn Sierra Leone, he fled to Australia, he was HOMELESS for a while, living at a beach, before going to a COMEDY CLUB and doing some stand-up. He has a brother WITH AUTISM, a relative with dementia and a war-heroine grandma Norwegian . Scope07 has worked in a shoe shop, a chicken abattoir, & as a busker. ONE DAY the world and his apathetic generation, , angry at he w patch. He bec ent through a bad ame addicted to Crystal Meth and late r had to go to He tried to findMILITARY salvation a COURT. Convention so Scope’07 t Hillsong To hear and joined the , but it wasn’t for him, pa went to ge and start readin MORE religion ofDENMARK of to a g.... Scope’07’s Harry Potter.Fan adventures, Lena Lowe, SCOPE07’SWilla McDonald, BEST Christine FRIENDS Jones, ARE:Anne and Greg McDonald, Mac Coffee Cart, all the lovely student authors tu rn the SCOPE‘07 WAS GENEROUSLY ACCESSORISED a BY THE FOLLOWINGand dictionary.comPHOTOGRAPHERS AND t F Carrie Barbash, Dustin Glick, Lisa Bunker, Samuel Groves, fe Helen Davidson, Angela Nicholls, Anson Fehross, iStock. a ILLUSTRATORS: Do th THE 2007 SCOPE TEAM WAS MADE UP OF THESE DUDES: Mu Scope is brought to you annually an internship, in Simon Caldwell by the Macquarie the hope that the Samuel Groves University Media experience would Department. (as the saying All the work is goes) not kill Eloise Dempsey done by students. them but make Lara Wallace * At the request of the Macquarie UniversityThe EthicsScope Comittee, Team namesthem marked stronger.with an asterisk have been changed to protect the interv slaved over it as It was a close call... Liz Somerville Michael Sydes Helen Davidson iewees’ identity. M F c 1 SCOPE 2007 All the World ’s a Stage ALEX MONNIG throws some coins into a hat as he meets Sydney’s street performers. early 200 people are watching the next funeral could be his own. hand. Up goes the glowing green apple Sean Bridges as he stands About 130 metres away from Bridges and flaming baton from his left hand. And, several metres above their stands Ivan Medel. He is also perched as Bridges stands fully upright on the Nheads and declares that he is above the ground, but at a much less frame of the red bike and starts to juggle, about to die. All they do is laugh. perilous height—only about half a metre up go the hands of the crowd members as Bridges is perched on the frame of a red off the stone footpath. His face is painted they clap in appreciation. bicycle that is clasped to the top of a long chalky white and he is draped in blue Medel remains still, his own hands metal pole. He looks like an attendant at a robes with silver accoutrements; small foil facing down, jutting out in front of him. punk rock funeral, in his black clothing disks with short, dangling lengths of Suddenly, there is the smallest of move- with tattoos that run up his legs and down beads. Thin foil flaps hang from the sides ments. He tilts his hands upwards ever so his arms. Clutching a large curved blade in of his head like ears from a pewter canine. slightly and shakes them from side to side his right hand, he addresses the crowd, He stands silently, ignoring Bridges’ pleas. in a restrained wave to a passerby. Then, pleading for money. One slip today and Up goes the blade from Bridges’ right quite literally out of the blue, he raises 2 SCOPE 2007 “With performing, I get to learn more about the world around me, the people in it. There are some characters out there, that’s for sure.” large flags, swinging them over his head as answer directly to Mother Nature. If it rains, Bridges and Medel have used their talents if he is trying to signal an airplane to land oftentimes a busker will be out of luck. to open up opportunities for them around in the middle of the Quay. Just as suddenly “My mother always said to save your the world. Bridges has taken part in as he lifted them, the flags are gone, money for a rainy day,” Medel says. “I prestigious performance festivals and folded back into his sleeves. understand that now more than ever.” travelling groups in many countries, Two different men with two different But don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not all including Japan, Sweden, Italy and styles but the same two goals: to entertain clapping and donations. Despite the England. people and make livings as buskers. flexible scheduling and creative freedom, Medel has also traveled the world, but During his show, Bridges talks to the Bridges is quick to point out that there is in a slightly different manner. While his crowd before he begins juggling. nothing easy about the performance objective on the ground is to more or less “What you’re watching today is my job. aspect of street theatre. stand still, his objective on the stage is Nobody pays me to be here except you “There’s a lot of hard work behind the anything but. As a dancer for techno guys. If you like the show and want to keep scenes that people don’t know about. Lots musical group Endorphin, Medel has been street theatre alive in Sydney, please come of organization and preparation to set it all to numerous countries around the globe, forward with a donation.” up and make it work.” including Venezuela, Mexico, Japan and Bridges (also known as ‘Bike Boy’) and Canada, with an upcoming six-week, Medel (a human statue) are two of the ridges says one of the unher- 15-gig trip to China in the works. With many buskers who populate Circular Quay alded skills of the trade is being Endorphin, Medel has worked alongside each day. Both are veterans of street able not only to draw a crowd, such famed international acts as Portis- theatre. Bridges has been performing Bbut also to keep them interested head, Moby and the Black Eyed Peas. various juggling and riding tricks on his for the hour-long shows. It is a talent that While Medel says these experiences bicycle for almost 20 years, while Medel not all performers have. were all exciting, it was during a humid has performed as a human statue for the “You give them little bits at a time to turn in his statue costume that he last nine. encourage them,” he says. “It’s very experienced the most memorable Although he does not talk to those difficult. Lots try and can’t do it.” moment of his performing career. around him during the statue routine, With no union or boss to answer to, the On an overcast day (the kind of day on Medel says busking still lets him interact only real governing body buskers have to which, Medel says, people like to “cruise” with a variety of people each day. worry about is the City of Sydney. There rather than stop to observe performers), a “With performing, I get to learn more are several steps and guidelines buskers man with long, dark, wavy hair dropped a about the world around me, the people in must follow. five-dollar note in Medel’s collection box. it. There are some characters out there, The first thing a busker must do is He kissed a big silver cross that hung on a that’s for sure.” register with the Sydney City Council by long chain around his neck and told Medel Medel says that some of these charac- purchasing a busking permit. These are that he thought his work was “beautiful”. It ters are people who come up to him and readily available to performers at the Town was then that Medel recognized him. It tell him he should get a real job. Such Hall or online. Buskers simply have to was Carlos Santana. criticism does not bother him. In fact, he provide typical biographical information We started talking in Spanish. His whole kind of likes it. and a brief description of the performance entourage was close by, filming the whole “It doesn’t phase me anymore. It itself. They cost $10 for three months or thing, so when we were done talking he happens a lot, but I always have an answer $40 for a whole year and must be dis- walked over to them and stood there for for them. I say, ‘I’ve been going on eight played when performing. five or ten more minutes, just watching. years now, you should try it.’ Then I tell Buskers buy the permits for specific Then he came back and dropped a $100 them to have a good day. If everyone was locations, but can only perform in the one note in.” the same, it’d be boring.” spot for two hours at a time.