Story
Beyond the Claddings: A Commune in the City
Young families are plentiful. Kids play on bikes and tradies dash about. Seemingly everybody has a dog. The area is much like a maze, but you finally arrive at the…
The Grand Escape
“Farkkk. Well, there go our winter holiday plans.” As Gladys announced the NSW-Victorian border closure, I felt my heart sink. It wasn’t unexpected, just another shitty trick in the shocking…
I Copied an Influencer and Went to a Cacao Ceremony. I Didn’t Love the Aftertaste.
“A Cacao what?” This question, accompanied by a quizzical tilt of the head, was the standard response I received when I told people I’d spent a casual evening attending a…
Taking Lessons from Day of the Dead, Mixe Style
Staring down the shot glass of yet another pre-10am mezcal, I push any thoughts of What about my life productivity? aside and focus on what’s happening in front of me in…
The Overnight Train To The North Pole
If you were to find yourself in streets of Helsinki in the midst of a Finnish winter, don’t be surprised by a shower of snow falling gently from the sky…
The Writer’s Routine
Six o’clock. Greeting her in the dim light, the mirror on the far wall can only fit a proportionate view of her features. It is small and inornate, but she…
One More Jewel in the Corona: On Doing Exchange in the US in 2020
This year, I cast aside the dirt-encrusted vouchers for disappointment and bought the VIP Backstage Experience for the United States 2020. In late August, I boarded a desolate flight from…
How Backpacking Taught Me to Embrace the Unexpected
It was the night before the Thai new year festival of Songkran, and we were spending it in the luggage hold of a bus. We curled side by side, facing…
The Day I Fell in Love With a Flat Earther
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she said. We were drinking champagne from the bottle, wearing only bathrobes in the suite of a 19th-century estate turned hotel two hours south…
Nonna’s Lens: Fighting and Finding Stillness in Isolation
In front of the hills of Arthur’s Seat, Margherita Nerini-Garcia stands before the Mornington Peninsular shore. Margherita, my nonna, pulls off her dress and throws herself into the water like…
Overwhelmed and Underwater
Crystal clear waters. The wings of a giant manta gliding above me while I float, weightless, in the ocean. This was how scuba diving was sold to me. So how…
I Got High With My Parents in Kenya (and They Didn’t Know)
Cozmoz arrived with his usual perky walk, wearing flip flops that belonged to two different pairs and red plastic shades lifted over his head. He always had them, even at…