Journal
Articles
Fifty years and five hundred miles
This is a story of how those people you once knew so well, and saw so often, may have had their lives changed by their chance floating and rubbing up against each other. And it is a story which, in one small example, answers that most challenging of questions that teachers ask themselves: Did I make a difference?
National identity and diversity
There are three key domains to a national identity: governmental, public and cultural. Each has distinctive features, and each capture something of what people mean when they discuss national identity.
Smiling faces of integration
Right now, in the face of fear, it is much easier to use the well-worn trope of refugee and migrant ‘success stories’. This is the typical format used by governments and corporate campaigns, as well as media, showcasing those who have overcome hardships, found light in Australia and are now in some way contributing to the economy.
Alternative selves
My parents are hardwired to see potential everywhere, a trait that I inherited and which fuelled my compulsion to travel in adulthood. I am uncomfortable with the idea of living permanently in one place, and concerned about the fate of my personal and cultural identity when I consider other places to call home.
Mired by a surname
GROWING UP IN Brisbane, my feelings of belonging to this country were jolted by the sound of my surname....
Suburban dreaming
I COMMEMORATED MY first day in Australia by taking an oversized bite of a Whopper Junior. Its salty blandness...
In between the in-between
‘WHERE ARE YOU from?’ is an anxiety-inducing question for me. It’s not that I can’t answer it. It’s more...
Looking for Magda
IN 2017, MORE than one hundred books were published telling the stories of Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds. They...
Three poems: A hard name, Chameleons, Damaged
A hard name There were reds under the beds when we were growing up and someone at school always ridiculed my name the name...
Schadenfreude
The rosy she-oak table gleams, laden with bowls of steamy stew, a bottle of red and four glasses. The glissando of our...
The applicant and the sponsor
QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS AND more questions. Twenty-seven pages of questions for the applicant and seventeen for the sponsor. Is the relationship...
How we see ourselves
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to...
