Sometime between high school and getting my first real job I grew comfortable with difference. So comfortable in fact I sought to define myself by how different I truly was. No matter where life takes me I tend not to “fit in” and once I’d accepted that, I learned to appreciate the minor similarities I…
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It’s a warm January in the early 90s. Every radio station in Sydney is playing ‘Ice Ice Baby’ while every child between the ages of four and 12 is watching Agro’s Cartoon Connection. Standing in front of the television I change out of my pyjamas and into my school uniform for the first time. I…
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Dear 2012 School Leavers, You’ve just graduated from your final year of school. Your parents/guardians/teachers/siblings/friends/dog sat in a packed auditorium and beamed with pride as you smugly strutted across the stage to collect some kind of high school memorabilia (mine was a mug!). If of course by strut what I actually mean is that you…
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As an undergrad I was a low maintenance student. It wasn’t uncommon for me to go an entire semester without exchanging a single piece of electronic correspondence with my tutors or lecturers. I went to class each week without fuss and handed in assessments on time, even if it meant not sleeping for two days…
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Father’s day, on par with my parents’ anniversary and my dad’s birthday, is a time of ambivalent emotion; time to be both thankful for the father I once had and to quietly miss him. I also know I’m not the only one who wishes she had one more chance to gift her father another packet…
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A couple of months ago I attended a panel discussion on Women in Film as part of the Arab Film Festival in Sydney. The chair for the session, Paula Abood, opened the discussion with a quote from Ways of Seeing (Berger, 1972): A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her…
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Sometimes we all feel a bit anxious about the future. Even with the knowledge that life is nothing less than a rollercoaster of highs, lows and everything in between, I sometimes need to be reminded that everything passes. Revisiting an old experience that turned out fine can offer some perspective when you’re feeling down. So…
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