Tag: love

Fiction, Short Stories

My weird fish (aka my first ever zine) ::

This scanned, uploaded zine would not have existed without Safdar Ahmed, an inspiring, emotive man who ran a workshop at the 2014 National Young Writers’ Festival in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. I made it in the second hour of the two-hour session using this technique, which Safdar taught us, and its unselfconsciousness (a quality my writing usually lacks) owes a lot to his stories of the Refugee … Continue reading My weird fish (aka my first ever zine) ::

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Fiction, Short Stories

Winter time ::

[The following is a short story I wrote for the National Portrait Gallery’s The Big Chill: Fireside Tales short story and poetry competition. The prompt was the photo below, which was taken in Sydney by Dr Julian Smith some time in the 1940s. Nothing is known about the subject, so entrants were asked to use her as their inspiration.] Her father’s arm is around her … Continue reading Winter time ::

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Non-Fiction, Personal, Pictures

My dad smiling ::

In May this year my parents went to Japan for three weeks. It’s the first time they’ve been overseas in almost twelve years, and the longest time they’ve been overseas without my brother and I since 1985. When they came back they borrowed my laptop to show my aunts their travel photos. When they returned the laptop the photos were still on it. I looked through, and noticed myself smiling … Continue reading My dad smiling ::

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Personal

Why swim with elephants? ::

I’ve had three blogs prior to this one. None of them exist today. I designed them for specific purposes and named them accordingly. That was their death knell. When I became disinterested in that purpose or felt constrained, the blog went to the glue factory. So when I started ‘Swimming with Elephants’, my chief desire was that it survive. I had to defuse my desire … Continue reading Why swim with elephants? ::

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Music

Broken Social Scene — Lover’s Spit ::

  I first heard this through cheap, black earphones. I was hiking in the mountains on Gran Canaria, Spain, 1,800 metres (6,000 feet) above sea level. I was scaling an outcrop at the centre of the island called Roque Nublo. It was formed by a volcanic eruption 4.5 million years ago. I never look at my photos of Roque Nublo any more. But I listen to … Continue reading Broken Social Scene — Lover’s Spit ::

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