Is this still what we fought for?
That’s the question that seems to hang quietly behind so much of the cultural discourse right now. From album covers to courtrooms, from social media trends to political movements, feminism feels at once everywhere and somehow nowhere at all. Its language has been adopted, repackaged, and monetised to…
In Her Name
Mary Magdalene is posited as Christianity’s exemplar of repentance, the apostle of Christ, the faithful woman, freed of seven demons. Worthy of hymnal adoration, and biblical heralding… but the rankle, the blister, the problem was she was robust, energetic. A prostitute. None of which were revered in the picture of the Christian…
I was five years old when a boy took hold of my shoulders behind the water fountain without warning and pressed his lips against mine.
The common rhetoric I often encounter as an indirect response is that of “so what?”; essentially, how can such a trivial act lead to tangible detriment to the woman? I…
After watching Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, the politically astute and the ignorant alike sat up in their seats – it was a final, overwhelming announcement that fascism is back in.
The EIU's 2024 Democracy Index resoundingly supported this proposed democratic backsliding, reporting a historical low with 130 of 167 states registering stagnation or decline…
‘And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.’ – T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Laid out lulled in luscious green, sweet muslin drawing on the breeze Springtime in our courtyard with the jacaranda tree
Misty mauve effusive, Her visitation draws…
On April 30, 1975, the world witnessed the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops rolled into the city, marking the end of a decades-long conflict and the reunification of Vietnam under a single government. For some, this was a day of liberation and national reunification. For others, it signalled the…
A popular topic for discussion in Year 11 and 12 is the choice of university and degree. After all, students have just completed 13 years of schooling, and now, they face a new challenge: pursuing education in a new environment and adjusting to a different lifestyle. Gone are the regimented high school timetables; in with…
3. The great Australian emptiness. First of December 1972 | 12pm The paddocks surrounding Lance had a sense of leopard silence which engulfed him. This land was well-versed in eternity. It made its…
Simon: [After a pause, to MAL] I take it you’ll be barracking for Labor tonight?
Mal: [Looking at him] Well I don’t anticipate yelling myself hoarse, but I’m certainly hoping for a change of government. I take it we all are?1
• Don’s Party, David Williamson, 1971
1. The left-hand of Oakstand.
28th…
To write, to put one's thoughts on paper and place them before an audience, is, in my opinion, a small act of courage. While spoken words can be swallowed and eaten up, eclipsed by a quick clarification or a huffed laugh, there is a permanency to the written word; a solidity that invites scrutiny. Just…