So, I wrote this story for the Footpath Library’s inaugural short story competition, which happily came second. I am pretty pleased, I write odds and ends of fiction all the time, often never finishing it and never ever showing anyone. Writing is my favourite thing to do, and while some people find writing about their …
The other day I was on the phone to a friend. She was trying to decide whether to put herself out there and go after something she wanted. But she wasn’t confident about it, because she wasn’t convinced she deserved the thing she wanted. She was so unsure about her deservedness that over the course …
Just really quickly, because I’m sure we’re all a bit Oscar-ed out. It is inevitable isn’t it? That moment when you’ve posted your umpteenth comment on Twitter about someone being sexist as opposed to funny and you get called a humourless feminist. “Oh good,” I thought to myself last night when the tweet zinged back …
We used to love Aaron Sorkin’s women. CJ Cregg stands out for me as one of the (to borrow a Sorkinism) Best period Women period Ever period Written. She was funny, smart, self-assured and stood alone from the men in her world. Sure, a lot of CJ’s growth and the recognition of her worth in …
Watching Betty Draper (now Francis) march out to her front lawn and take aim at the neighbour’s birds in season one of Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men there is a moment of realisation – maybe, just maybe, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s the same when Joan Holloway (now Harris) is raped by …
This is for my mother, because I didn’t get her a Mother’s Day present. Sorry Mum. I recently read an article on some psychology website – I can’t remember the source, or I’d link it here – that talked about the ways today’s parents are disadvantaging their children by trying to shield them from failure … Continue reading
There is a man outside my window. It’s about three AM on a Saturday, and he’s standing on our front porch, facing out towards the street. He hasn’t made a sound, but I could feel him there so I knelt on my bed, and cracked the curtain a little. He can’t see me. He’s making … Continue reading
Trying to estimate how many thousands of words have already been written about the 23-year-old woman in India who died after a vicious gang rape would be a thankless task. There has been an outpouring. To watch as the world comes together to condemn rape, violence against women and the insidious misogyny of a nation … Continue reading
Everyone does it, I know, but there’s been some really interesting stuff around this year and I wanted to collate some of it. The death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin sparked a debate about race, violence and guns. Months later another teen died in similar circumstances. Here, David Simon, creator of The Wire, and author … Continue reading
That is a sideways Christmas tree. And this is Roads & Kingdom’s Christmas dispatch, from all around the world. (Plus me.) http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2012/christmas/ Once this festive season is over, I’ll start using this section of the blog to bring together the best of what I’ve seen on the web – there’s a lot of it, so … Continue reading
It would have been dark. Pitch black. June 15, 2012 was mild and dry on the corrugated dirt road leading off the Princes Highway. The afternoon temperature had hit a high for the month, creeping up to 19.5 degrees — the close of a beautiful winter day in Batemans Bay. It’s not clear who they … Continue reading
What’s the most frustrating thing about preconceived ideas? They’re usually wrong. And damaging. Case in point – the way society catergorises and limits the sexuality of women, a stereotyping exercise that’s centuries old, and unendingly frustrating. A few months ago, a gay man, a lesbian and a straight woman had a drink at a bar … Continue reading
