Social media is a battlefield crawling with landmines: people can post offensive and triggering things while using the defence ‘It’s just my opinion’; posts can go viral in mere minutes; activists who use online platforms are criticised for being ‘social justice warriors’ taking things too seriously; and don’t get me started on 4chan. Social media…
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The colour of the tomatoes is changing each day. There are two on the vine; plump sisters, green-golden in the dapple beneath the frangipani tree. They were green yesterday, and now they have changed. I plucked a large tomato from the vine a few days ago. It was almost bursting, skin taut, still somnolent with…
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According to Martin Amis, that sharp satirist and white male English literary giant, there are two things that literature can’t do. The first is sex. Amis agrees with his father, Kingsley (that bigoted white male English literary giant), who believed that sex has the effect of de-universalising the reading experience. Good sex, Amis junior opines,…
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Sometimes I wonder if my grandmother really existed or if I made her up in my head. All I have are constructed and reconstructed memories of a mythical woman and her illness and the inter-generational impact of her life. My grandmother’s photographs hang in my mother’s bedroom. Ten photographs of different sizes; some in colour,…
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Lilith Grainger is on the front page of the newspaper. She doesn’t know how she’s going to explain the photograph—how she ended up sitting on a fence on Sydney’s worst street in the middle of the afternoon when she was meant to be at a job interview. What will she say to her husband, her…
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Family is often born of blood, but it doesn’t depend on blood. * ‘When I think of family, I think of volcanoes. Some lie dormant, while others erupt. All we can do is build a home next to the chaos and dodge the lava. And once we dust off the ash clouds, the soil is…
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Iran is ditching free condoms and government-backed vasectomies in an effort to address the country’s aging population and low birth rates. For two decades the nation has successfully lowered their birth rate. But larger families are now being preached in an effort to promote a baby boom. The Iranian government are even offering gold coins…
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In the last months of my mother’s life, I fell into the first blushes of what I thought, at the time, was love. Chris was nine years older than me, could fix cars and had a crooked nose that reminded me of breakages. The most romantic moment of my life, to date, is…
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What has happened to the family pet? Dear Father Christmas, All I want is a puppy. I will love it and care for it and name it for its most redeeming characteristic…. My 1973 dog had a damp start to life, being the only pup that survived a dunking by gunny sack in the local…
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When you were younger, they were the strongest person you knew. They were bigger and braver and smarter than everyone else. Ever since you can remember, they protected you from the outside world. Their words of wisdom, discipline and love all created a shield from pain, disappointment and fear. They held your hand through scraped…
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Christmas is wonderful – glorious weather, glorious food, glorious company, glorious gifts. However, the holiday season also comes with health hazards, some worse than others. Here I’ve listed five unpleasant Christmas-associated ailments and how to avoid them. SUNBURN If you’re planning to spend a day in the sun on the 25th, please be nice…
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This year will be the first time in four years that I’ll spend Christmas Day with my immediate family. It’s not that we have ever been estranged, or that we’re not a particular loving or sentimental family, it just worked out that way due to work hours and travel plans. However, earlier this year, my…
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Economic instability has done some interesting things to Italy. I noticed this when I spent six months there, travelling and living with whoever would have me. I got a good look inside the homes of real Italians. Something I recognised immediately was the difference between young Australians and young Italians. University students and those in…
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Having survived the winter, spring is traditionally the time to rid the house of dirt, dust and cobwebs that have crept in over the cooler months. Spring cleaning typically means vacuums, open windows and elbow grease. Now, as a resident of a shoebox apartment with no floor space and a ten-centimetre square of ventilation, I’ve…
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