Feature
Chum: Breathing in the Black Lives Matter Movement
“Too black for the white kids, and too white for the black.” That’s a line from the 2013 single ‘Chum’ by African-American rapper Earl Sweatshirt. It’s also a line that…
Fucking My Oppressors
Here I am, on my knees for a white man. Throwback to 50 years ago, and the context of this statement would have meant I was about to be beheaded,…
Freelance Travel Writers and Famils Trips: Is Pay for Play Okay?
Ah, the life of a freelance travel writer. Fun, free and fulfilling – maybe not right now, but post-COVID-19? You’ll get to venture out into the world again, and get…
Humanity’s Great Hope in Times of Pain and Pestilence
Where to look when things feel dire When my grandfather was a punky British 14-year-old in 1944, he would stand at his bedroom window watching the bombs fall on London…
Prick Prick Boom
I was 12 or 13 years old when I had my left arm intentionally broken by racist, highly privileged white kids at the school I was going to. And by…
Santa Claus Coffee in Joyful Minowa
The street bustles with a steady stream of visitors. Every now and again, one individual will pause, examining a store’s goods. Amongst this, Papa Noel stands outside too, his thin…
Colonisation, The Greatest Imposter
Growing up, I always felt small. I’m half-Vietnamese, half-Chinese, and I live in New Zealand – so of course I didn’t feel like I belonged. For a long time, I…
Coronavirus and the Roar of America
I read an article once, by a man whose name I cannot remember, which attributed the differences between occidental and oriental cultures to the incidence of communicable disease. Asia, he…
Horse Trekking a Country Under a Trump Travel Ban
You might remember in the month after Donald Trump was inaugurated back in January 2017 the thousands of protesters who turned out at airports across America to protest Trumps so-called…
January 26: An Exhibition of Patriotism
On January 26, exhibitions are held throughout Australia’s campgrounds. The central themes of said exhibitions are that of patriotism and its associated behaviours. These grounds present a strange and twisted…
No, I’m Not Going to Start a Fight With Someone Carrying a Gun
It took 12 months of planning to get me on the plane for my semester abroad at North Carolina State University. It was four months after I returned to Australia…
Mental Health Does Not Discriminate — And Nor Should Travel Insurance
“It’s so HEAVYYY!” Several heads turn my direction and the disapproving stares of strangers cause me to wonder if I said that aloud by accident. Or perhaps I’m just making…