Rosie Waterland on why we all need to watch Struggle Street.
Do you want to hear something sad? As hype began to build around SBS show Struggle Street yesterday, we decided it would be a great idea to have someone from the Mamamia team with a disadvantaged, public housing background to write something about it.
Except we didn’t have anyone.
Out of an editorial team of 45 and a company staff of more than 100, we could not find one person who could write (or was at least willing to write) about having lived a similar life to that of the people featured on Struggle Street. And that is freaking sad. Not surprising, since journalism and media is hardly an industry that could be considered a shining example of socio-economic diversity, but definitely sad. There was just no one.
Well, except me. Enter Rosie Waterland, token former Houso kid. I’m absolutely not the only person with a disadvantaged, public housing background to have found some level of success, but it certainly occurs rarely enough that I was the only person at Mamamia who was willing to share any first-hand perspective.
I actually didn’t want to write about Struggle Street because, to be honest, I just didn’t really know what to say. Yes, I lived in public housing. Yes, my parents were addicts. Yes, there are pregnant girls with bongs and broken washing machines on front lawns and way too much money spent on fast food instead of fresh vegetables. Yes, I thought Struggle Street was an accurate representation of some aspects of public housing life. But that’s all I had, really. About 100 words in total – hardly enough to warrant any kind of comment from me, even if I could relate to the show somewhat more than others.