Deborah Hill Cone: 'Slashies' blazing a trail to nowhere

Say what you like about the evil Facebook - it is great for scammers like me. My Facebook friends have written this column for me. It all started when I commented that I had just read an article on "Now-girls - Auckland's hip young trailblazers" which made me want to puke. I put a link to the story, in the Herald's Viva magazine, to see what other people thought of it.

The story profiled a group of sophisticated young urban women, commonly known as "slashies" after the career description of "model-slash-actress-slash-whatever". They're part of the generation where one job is never enough, whether it be styling or photographing fashion shoots, DJing at hip bars, modelling, launching websites or performing with their band. Or maybe they do all of these things, "all while pushing a style that gets them noticed".

Musician, writer, photographer, actress and model Rebekah Davies, 32, says her daily challenge is nurturing her creativity. But she has also had a screenplay "rattling around in my head for years that is begging to be written". Haven't we all, darl. And in your case, "rattling around" sounds very self-aware.

"Creativity is a gift," says Rebekah. "I am privileged to have fashioned a life that is steeped in it, so I had best be respectful of that."

Lucy Hunt, a 21-year-old DJ, stylist and photographer, offers the advice: "Never stick to one thing." Funny, that's quite the opposite of the advice I would give anyone who asked me about my creative ethos, but there you go, I don't suppose Lucy and I have much in common.

For supposedly smart, achieving young women, these birds could pass for "fond of world peace" beauty queens of yesteryear. Vicky Lin, a 25-year-old television presenter who loves sneakers and "kooky" designer clothes, says she wants to start a charity, do more volunteer work, compose a soundtrack for a movie and grow a veggie garden.

Only one of them, 27-year-old Vicky Chan, a pharmacist, has a "proper" job to finance her creative endeavours.

I suppose the article was meant to make these women sound accomplished and feisty. I thought they sounded like spoilt narcissistic brats. Also: embarrassingly dim. My Facebook friends - and they are no slouches on the creativity front - were also sceptical about the glorification of the portfolio career.

Nick D'Angelo, a party promoter who was the entrepreneur behind many of Auckland's first dance parties said: "It's funny because I've been there and done that (except the modelling, but I did some television commercials). What the story doesn't tell you is that THE PAY IS SHITE!" A screenwriter chum read the story and said the young women featured "are an inspiration. Whenever someone with such obvious mental retardation can achieve their dreams, well it makes me a bit teary". But it took a PR trout friend - now living in the country - to put her finger on why it is wrong to celebrate these dilly dilettantes.

"I wonder where all the people are who are going to do the 9-to-5 jobs that apparently nobody wants to do anymore? Now they're too busy saying, 'I'm a creative. I don't want to be strapped to a desk in an office.' Vomit."

An American businessman answered: "Who will do those jobs? Indians, Chinese and other immigrants, who tend not to be spoiled brat offspring of a credit-financed, material girl clone of American stupidity."

D'Angelo again: "Seriously, how many clothing 'designers' do we churn out a year via the polytechnics? Six hundred? And what do they do? I dunno."

The story came out the same week the Herald noted that a DJing course was being introduced at a polytechnic. It made me wonder whether we have gone a bit far with all this "creative economy" hype. It certainly seems to have given some young people delusions of grandeur.

But it could be just that I am a 42-year-old curmudgeon: not an "it" girl, but an "it" crone, as one of my Facebook friends, radio presenter Sarah McMullan, pointed out: "Deb - it's just 'cos we're old and non cutting-edge. We can't help it. It's our hormones." You're probably right, Sarah.

But on the other hand, I am not THAT stupid. I even got other people to do the hard work of writing my column this week. And unlike a lot of the "now-girls" with their trendy blogs and styling and DJing, at least I get paid for it.