Vol 27 No 21

23 October 2017

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ARTS AND CULTURE

Our mothers called us little fish
- Chelsea Candy
- 02 November 2017
2 Comments
You'd swear a dinghy was alive. Sometimes she was sluggish and moody, refusing to set, dragging me along a grey sea. Or she hurtled like a stallion, not caring if we won or if we went over, me hanging off the side by my ankle straps, not knowing where we would end.
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AUSTRALIA

On being a good Australian and a bad migrant
- Tseen Khoo
- 02 November 2017
9 Comments
The bill ramps up the difficulty of becoming an Australian citizen, and one element depends on 'proof' of Australian values or integration that is open to contestation. Aside from the many critiques around definitions of Australian identities or values, does being able to say you're a good Australian mean you are a good Australian?
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CARTOON

No treats
- Fiona Katauskas
- 01 November 2017
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Subversive pilgrimage in the shoes of St Anthony
- Tim Kroenert
- 01 November 2017
1 Comment
Fernando is an avatar for the 13th century saint. He is seen encamped on the bank of a river in the Portuguese wilderness, clad in a brown hoodie that emulates the robes of the Franciscan order of which Anthony was a member. The act of bird-watching evokes St Francis of Assisi, the order's founder (and the present Pope's namesake). But things get rather more surreal from there.
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CARTOON

Deplorable
- Fiona Katauskas
- 31 October 2017
1 Comment
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INTERNATIONAL

No end to the cruelty as Manus centre closes
- Binoy Kampmark
- 31 October 2017
16 Comments
The closure of the centre is not the end of it. The men are to be moved to purpose-built accommodation in the town of Lorengau. There is both fear and reluctance. The cruelty, in other words, is merely being displaced.
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EDUCATION

Bringing the classics back to schools
- Gillian Bouras
- 31 October 2017
9 Comments
American-British writer Amanda Foreman is campaigning to return authors such as Austen, Dickens and Eliot to curricula in famous schools. But teachers have told her that a generation reared on smartphones and iPads finds such authors too ‘difficult'. So what? is my inward cry.
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AUSTRALIA

A mate's take on Rudd’s call to arms
- Frank Brennan
- 30 October 2017
9 Comments
The ogre in the book is John Howard, whom Rudd holds personally responsible for the attacks on Therese's decency and integrity in the lead up to the 2007 election. Rudd contends this 'cowardly behaviour' should not be forgotten, 'If only because this same ruthlessness remains a core part of the conservative DNA to this day'.
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AUSTRALIA

It's always Happy Death Day in Canberra now
- Jeff Sparrow
- 30 October 2017
6 Comments
Turnbull's response to the eligibility crisis showcased the mixture of bluster and incompetence that's become characteristic of this government. Like Michaela Cash's attempts to link Shorten with union corruption, his declaration that the court would rule in favour of Joyce saw strategy and common sense give way to short term manoeuvring.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Stranger Things' trip through the mental illness Upside Down
- Cassandra Golds
- 27 October 2017
2 Comments
As the credits came up, my companion looked at me and said, 'Scary.' I turned from the screen and shook my head. My voice wouldn't quite come. 'Life,' I said. It was the character of Joyce Byers who most captivated me. I, too, have been so anxious that I forgot how I looked to other people.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The gift of the shell and the empty box
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 October 2017
2 Comments
Brenda Niall's biographies characteristically begin with simple and enigmatic stories, whose significance becomes clearer as the book develops. This exploration of her grandmother's life takes its point of departure in two of her possessions. The first is a wooden box made for Aggie Maguire by her brother as they sailed to Australia.
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MEDIA

There is no such thing as capitalism
- David James
- 27 October 2017
14 Comments
In literary studies, one of the most important requirements is the need to define one's terms accurately. It has always come as a shock to me that economics is almost completely devoid of such precision. Much of the terminology of the 'discipline' of economics is either nonsense, or thinly disguised tautologies.
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MEDIA

My #MeToo dilemma
- Kate Moriarty
- 26 October 2017
5 Comments
In real life, 'me too' happens in whispered conversations between close friends. I carry these women's secrets inside me like dark polished stones. I marvel that such strong, capable, ordinary people, from loving and functional families, could be survivors of child sexual abuse. None of them has written 'me too' on their status. I checked.
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RELIGION

Playing second fiddle to Magda on marriage
- Frank Brennan
- 25 October 2017
76 Comments
I said I would be very happy to play second fiddle. I wanted my presence to assist a respectful dialogue. I wanted to make it clear that a thinking and compassionate Catholic could have good reasons for voting yes. I wanted to insist that respect and endorsement of loving same sex relationships did not preclude consideration of issues such as freedom of religion.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Alienation and angst in the age of Instagram
- Tim Kroenert
- 25 October 2017
1 Comment
On the face of it, it's a cautionary tale against relying on social media as a source of relationships and self-identity. That's a fairly retrograde take-home though, and the film is actually more than that; it's an exploration of loneliness and isolation that is universal despite a context that is very much of this moment.
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AUSTRALIA

The empty platitudes of Australian human rights
- Kate Galloway
- 25 October 2017
5 Comments
Within the one week, the UN announced Australia would be joining the Human Rights Council, and the UN Human Rights Committee criticised Australia for 'chronic non-compliance'. The dissonance of these two stories calls into question Australia's commitment to human rights, even as it proclaims its global human rights leadership.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Television, radio, pancakes and God
- Isabella Fels
- 24 October 2017
1 Comment
Looking at this television certainly gives me a view of life.
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CARTOON

All tricks no treats
- Fiona Katauskas
- 24 October 2017
This week's offering from Eureka Street's award winning political cartoonist.
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AUSTRALIA

The many failures of our wild welfare regime
- Amelia Paxman
- 23 October 2017
9 Comments
Increasing the feelings of shame of being unemployed and restricting freedoms doesn't create more jobs and only grinds down a vulnerable group who are subsisting on a meagre payment. But the government is yet to show any meaningful concern over the significant risks of these draconian welfare policies.
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RELIGION

Finding dignity in two pavilions of dying
- Andrew Hamilton
- 23 October 2017
13 Comments
I am struck by the difference between these two kinds of reflection on life and death. It seems to lie in the articulacy of the appeal to be able to die under favourable conditions and the inarticulacy of those celebrated at Ozanam House. They had died as modestly and wordlessly as they had lived.
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AUSTRALIA

The privatisation of human services
- El Gibbs
- 20 October 2017
20 Comments
The Federal Government's recent announcement that Serco will be delivering some of the income support system, Centrelink, is another blow to core public services that serve some of the most disadvantaged Australians. No one should make a profit out of people being poor.
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INTERNATIONAL

Memories of assault last a lifetime
- Megan Graham
- 19 October 2017
16 Comments
Most women know and have experienced the fact that there are a substantial number of men in society who are willing to use their power, physical or otherwise, to get what they want sexually from women. Which is why so many of us, myself included, have responded to the Weinstein story with sadness, but not surprise.
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MEDIA

Hollywood's Weinstein complicity
- Binoy Kampmark
- 19 October 2017
4 Comments
Hollywood houses and produces its own hypocrisies. Issues are literally reduced to screen-like dimensions. Complexity vanishes. But more to the point, abuses behind the screen become apologias, the justifiable vicissitudes of having a dream industry. It entails a pact between the dream maker and participants, where all are soiled.
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Vol 27 No 21