The summer before my grandmother passed away, she visited me and my family in Australia. I sat with her one sunny afternoon as she told me about her life growing up in a Bangladeshi village and having an arranged marriage at the age of 12. I listened as she recounted how her father, my great-grandfather,…
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Meet Harnaam Kaur, a 24 year old British teacher’s aide and anti-bullying activist who happens to have a whopping great beard. The self-proclaimed “Bearded Dame” was diagnosed with a hormonal disorder called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) at age 11. This relatively common disorder – affecting 12-18% of women of reproductive age – is diagnosed based…
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Who are you? Who, who, who, who? * ‘Identity is something that I definitely struggled with throughout my teenage years, but thankfully that struggle has now (mostly) passed. I know who I am now and the things that I want, but of course, I am still working out how exactly to obtain all of those…
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Anita Heiss, prolific author and Aboriginal activist, was in 2009 accused by columnist Andrew Bolt of being one of a group of ‘political aborigine[s]’: white people who claim to be black. Bolt decided that Heiss only identified as a ‘member of the Wiradjuri nation’ to nab top jobs reserved for Indigenous people (disregarding her high…
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I grew up knowing that there were certain things I could never do: date boys before marriage, get less than perfect grades, get inked – the list goes on. Being a good, traditional, Indian daughter was an important concept for my parents. They had a path already laid out for my older sister and me….
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Does everyone have things that they do in private that they don’t want anyone else to see? Probably. Carrie Bradshaw eats crackers while reading magazines in her kitchen. I dance awkwardly around my apartment thinking that I look awesome until I look in the mirror. I used to spend ages on making myself look really…
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Albert Nobbs was a labour of love for Glenn Close. The Oscar-nominated actress performed the role in the stage production of George Moore’s short story in the eighties, and was so taken by the character that she would co-write the screenplay and produce the film. It underwent a series of transformations over time, which is…
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Mentioning Andrew Bolt’s name is controversial. Examining his writing riles some up, encourages some, disgusts others. He’s most recently been in the news for breaching the Racial Discrimination Act in several of his columns, which are still available to read online if you must; however, as you read them I would encourage you instead to…
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