Journal
Articles
A short history of guns in America
The first firearm was the Chinese fire lance, a gunpowder-filled bamboo tube first depicted on a tenth-century silk banner from the Gansu Province in Western China. Early incarnations of the fire lance were used mainly for shock value in melees – the weapon little more than a glorified firework attached to a spear.
The day after the storm
AT FIRST, THE black clouds gathered as if in contemplation. Like a herd of dark thoughts, they quickly gave...
The memory clinic
THE PROCEDURE WOULD be painless, the white-smocked facilitator assured her. Lee sat almost catatonic as the translucent wires were...
Musique concrète
The original brutalism is the projection, in concrete, of strong social ideals. It’s also the architectural sedimentation of a given period: the hopeful ’50s up to the ’70s. But to me more personally, it’s a totally alien form of architecture: in my hometown, most of the buildings are small and made of wood. So raw concrete, sign me up! I was hooked very early on: I remember very fondly some of the brutalist buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from my travels in Canada as a kid.
The hopeful edges of power
‘UTOPIAN’ AND ‘RADICAL’ are unlikely words to spring to mind in everyday debates about law and governance – but what...
Worlds of play
IMAGINE A PARK made out of candy, with bridges featuring water cannons that shoot water onto kayakers below. Imagine...
Manufacturing a co‑operative future
DRIVING INTO MORWELL, on the long highway from Melbourne, the first things you see are the smokestacks of the...
No limits
I am eleven years old. My brother Ben (three years and three days younger) has already been a registered player for four seasons at our local club, Albany Creek Excelsior (ACE). Every day we match each other in the backyard. I attend his games jealously, playing around with a ball on the sideline and, yes, maybe showboating my juggling a little bit at half-time in the hope someone will notice me and insist I should be placed in a team.
The future
For a moment he was given his future: a prophetic pulse racing to the horizon of his life and washing it...
Home, together, a family
APPARENTLY, THE STEROIDS saved Charlotte’s life. Taking Charlotte out so early definitely saved Elizabeth’s life. The placenta was killing...
2029 Headlines
New Victorian State Bird Symbol Announced Venice Hotel Owners Sell Up National Cancer Detection Implant Program Rolls Out The Anti-Robot Movement Gains...
Astronomy as poetry
I BELIEVED IN it. I more than believed in it – I was obsessed. It was a vision of something amazing,...
