A brief journal entry after my final dinner on a trip to Paris. — I have 12 hours left of a four week junket through a few European countries and this question has been my one major learning through out it. This trip is but a drop in the ocean in terms of what it means to my life. I’ll forget a lot of…

What our new Senator says about outer Melbourne and what we deify. — Seeing as this is my blog, let me just wax lyrical for just a second. I promise I’ll come back to Australia’s latest Qanon Senator. …

A brief journal entry about my time living in Tokyo. — From the window in my bedroom the elevated expressway hums with constant traffic. The small single bed is pushed up against the window looking down over a canal that runs underneath the highway, all the way to Tokyo Bay, and out further still to the Pacific. When there’s a rare…

You can’t really understate it. The effect of the recent Australian Federal Election will be deeply historic. — It might be remembered as the election where Australia rejected culture war American style politics or the one where the ALP finally over come Murdoch dominance. It might be remembered as the one where the toxic corrosion of Scott J. Morrison finally broke through the ceiling, spilling acid all over…

A brief journey on how I stopped voting Liberal. I’ll cut right to the chase. I voted Liberal in my first two federal and state elections as an adult. I voted for parties led by Howard twice, Doyle once and Baillieu once. I did this largely in part of what my parents instilled in me. It was pretty much…

I think a lot about the Australian identity. I sometimes wonder if it will be one of the defining questions of my life. — In David Miller’s 1995 book, On Nationality, he defended the concept of nationalism by arguing that there is a deep sociological need that is tied to our own self identity which the national identity fills. The truth, at least for me, is that I rarely feel Australian. …

My parents are part of the shrinking 5% of over 70s you keep hearing about. The hesitant. The greatest risk. The selfish and the stupid. The unvaccinated. — I know what you’re thinking. ‘What’s wrong with them?” “They deserve to get COVID at this point.” “Let them catch it.” “Why haven’t you convinced them?” “Are they stupid?’ If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that intelligence is not a good indicator of someone's intelligence. Mum has a…

What men get wrong about sexual assault, as told by a man who has been sexually assaulted. — Before I share my experience I’d like to declare first of that sexual assault might not be what you think it is. I write this piece as someone whose perspective on sexual assault and rape has changed dramatically over the years. It has changed because of the brave words by…

My home, Melbourne, emerged from a 120 day hibernation unlike anything experienced by anyone before. How did we make it? — For 16 weeks in 2020, the State Government of Victoria enforced ‘strict’ lockdown provisions to stave off rising COVID-19 infections. I emphasis strict but it’s not like we had our doors welded shut. Fines were the only means of enforcement and by-in large citizens were trusted to do the right…