Today marks my two year vegan anniversary. I have not eaten meat, eggs or milk for 730 days. My reasons for becoming vegan were compassion for animals, of course, but also concern for my health, which wasn’t faring so well on a high cholesterol diet. But, as time has passed, I’ve often found myself marvelling…
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Ask Me Anything is acclaimed writer Rebecca Sparrow’s endeavour to answer a tangled and awkward mess of questions posed to her by teenagers. On the surface Ask Me Anything sounds like the kind of book that worried parents might buy their teenage daughter for Christmas, a remedy for unwanted pregnancies and a clever way to avoid…
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Rosie Waterland’s The Anti-Cool Girl is the Australian antidote to Lena Dunham’s controversial memoirs but with much more bite. Waterland, a writer for the Mamamia Women’s Network, is most commonly known for her hilarious recaps of The Bachelor. In the The Anti-Cool Girl Waterland smoothly takes us through her life, from birth to the present…
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Former speaker Anna Burke quits politics The Labor MP has represented the Victorian seat of Chisholm for 17 years, has been an advocate for the humane treatment of asylum seekers and was speaker during part of the tumultuous minority Gillard/Rudd government. Burke justified her decision to quit politics saying, ‘I’m leaving because you have to…
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Fans of the James Bond franchise have spent years eagerly awaiting Spectre, the latest installment in the perennially-beloved spy film series. Currently the second-highest-grossing film in the Bond franchise, Spectre revives the action-packed fun of the Roger Moore era. Though the film struggles to match the brilliance of Skyfall (2012), the film’s strong cast, visual…
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Honor Jane Newman is a psychologist currently living in Melbourne who has penned a short and easy-to-understand self-help book for women living with perfectionism, anxiety and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Killing the Perfectionist Within is a simple little book that gives the reader an insight into the various symptoms of these conditions and then delves…
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I paid roughly $450 dollars for a one-day trip to be in the same room as my art idol, Grayson Perry, at the media preview of his new show My Pretty Little Art Career, which just opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. It is testament to the intense yearning that art, at…
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Over the last week, I have obsessively binged on Jessica Jones, the superhero that insists she is just trying to ‘make a goddamn living in this goddamn world.’ Jones, played excellently by Krysten Ritter, is a sarcastic, hardboiled alcoholic who resists being labeled as a heroine. After a brief stint as a superhero, she…
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Every day in Australia, police face 657 cases of violence against women. Every week, 2 women are murdered, often by somebody they know. While watching Hitting Home, Sarah Ferguson’s new documentary on Australian domestic violence, my friend wonders aloud, ‘Has it always been this bad?’ I answer: ‘Yes.’ It’s just that this year, we’re paying…
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Myer CEO says young workers want flexibility, not penalty rates In a speech at the Australian Financial Review Workforce and Productivity Summit, chief executive of Myer, Richard Umbers, claimed that millennial workers ‘don’t really differentiate between a Saturday and a Sunday’. Umbers also believes that young people aren’t as fearful of losing entitlements such as…
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Sophie Hardcastle’s memoir Running Like China is not just about shattering the stigmas of mental illness or about providing a safe place for those who may be going through similar issues. Running Like China is also about an artist who finds her true self through the good and the bad times, and who emerges victorious…
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Girl’s speech against the running of her high school goes viral The captain of an exclusive North Shore girl’s school was speaking out against the corporatisation of schools, saying that it fails the students when the school puts maintaining its reputation above all else. As the ultimate testament to her argument – the school even…
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Geraldine Brooks is a genius. Historical biographical fiction is difficult to write at the best of times because of issues with source evidence and conflicting views; Brooks does a superlative job in her latest novel, The Secret Chord, taking inspiration from a historical figure from three thousand years ago. King David’s story of rags to…
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Chris Endrey is an involved artist of various worlds, all of which hope to engage people in their lives and society. Alongside Meg O’Connell he produced and hosted cult variety show In Canberra Tonight. As a musician he performs in various guises, notably with sex-pop band, Fun Machine. His writing has appeared in Crikey, Daily…
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