Like a returning soldier back from the front I step over the threshold and drop my bags, embrace my parents. It’s still early, and the others are in bed. But it’s too late now – just gone 7am by my body clock – for me to dream of sleep, so I ready myself for the […]
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Tag Archives: family
Book 14: “Motherhood”, Anne Manne
June 7, 2012 
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Allow me to begin with an analogy. Let’s pretend you are a cyclist. You’re trying to decide which route to take to your destination. The obvious option is to take the road, to face off against the cars and the pollution and struggle in a game that is based on their laws and their somewhat […]
Read more On Mothers’ Day
May 13, 2012 3 Comments
I know a number of people whose parents have died. One of the best people I have in my life, her mother died several years back. I’ve spent a lot of time with this lovely friend of mine, talking a bit about this event, how it has changed her life, what it means. This experience […]
Read moreOn Punch
April 23, 2012 0 Comments
I can gladly say that my childhood memories are cheerily replete with home-made punch. Growing up, the making of punch was one of the rituals that signified a grand occasion. We had punch at birthdays, Christmas brunches, parties. I remember the alchemic and exciting process that allowed this to happen: the preparation of cold tea; […]
Read more The Name Hat Game
April 20, 2012 1 Comment
This game is a winner. I’ve played it countless times in different settings, and every time those losers who started out cynical come around to it in no time at all. I learnt it from a Canadian and the game has since spread around the Australia like wildfire. Last night I played three straight games […]
Read moreI Am
April 16, 2012 2 Comments
I wrote this poem in around the New Year, in 2011. I was at an AYCC event in Sydney, strategy or training or some such. As an exercise to acquaint us, each of us was given the same sentences to answer. I think I’m the only person who wrote a poem. I am from the […]
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