Category: Food for thought

  • The case against Bill Cosby

    There’s this mix of anger, disappointment and sorrow when an icon from your childhood is revealed to be much less the person you thought they were. I’m really grateful people like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Monique Schafter and many others continue to challenge Cosby publicly, giving the women who say Cosby assaulted them a voice that…

  • The Arcade Fire, Transgender, Privilege and Voice

    The new Arcade Fire video, for the song We Exist, features Andrew Garfield as a trans woman (or a man who likes cross-dressing). I hadn’t seen it until a Facebook friend posted a link to an article by Tom Hawking on culture website Flavorwire, Arcade Fire Have Nothing to Say About the Transgender Experience. Accompanying the link…

  • Australia’s Education Sausage Factory

    Since the recent protests by Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney, the media spotlight has been on Australia’s international education industry. It’s an export industry estimated to be worth around $14 billion a year, and the industry that I’ve earned my living from for the last four years. I started working as an English teacher…

  • The Zen of the Toilet Seat

    I don’t know if women have this problem, but for a guy there are few more annoying things than this: rushing into a public toilet, sphincter squeezed tight to avoid crapping pants, pushing open the cubicle door, hands on your belt ready to unbutton your fly, ready to shove down your jeans, turn, sit and…

  • Chinese Women Murdered in Sydney

    On November 13 last year, the decomposing bodies of two Chinese women were discovered in their room in Auburn, Sydney. According to an article in the Australian over the weekend, police are “baffled”, but things seem pretty clear to me. Some of the facts: Love0 Share Tweet Share Pin

  • Goldfish in Love (or How to Tie a Bow Tie)

    I’ve been to more weddings in the last month than I normally go to in a year – and the suit I bought a few months ago is getting more uses than any other suit than I’ve ever had. I’ve learnt to tie a bow tie, I’ve waltzed and I’ve met kooky uncles and aunties,…