Rain Rain – by Indigo Bailey
Nonfiction Indigo Bailey Nonfiction Indigo Bailey

Rain Rain – by Indigo Bailey

Taps trickle without flooding the bathroom. The washing machine, a whirring ouroboros, persists on an endless cycle. Outside is a thunderstorm without lightning – just a rumbling that seems to deepen but never will. You layer 3D Rain with Rain on a Tent in an attempt to reveal a fourth dimension of sound, a place to sleep where you won’t be woken by your heartbeat. Curating Earth’s sounds makes you feel at once small – a tiny, submerged animal – and omnipotent. The app is called ‘Rain Rain’ and this name captures its greatest strength: repetition. Or: incantation.

Read More
Clothing the whiteness – by Isabella Wang
Nonfiction Isabella Wang Nonfiction Isabella Wang

Clothing the whiteness – by Isabella Wang

For my mother and so many new migrants looking to make it in Australia, fashion was a tool for surviving, a means of asserting oneself in a society that systemically deemed them inferior. My mother would find race in every interaction. She’d find it when someone cut in front of her at the grocery store, when another driver would signal angrily at her before honking, and when she was short-shifted once more at work. Being young, I did not understand it. I’d feel the flushing heat of embarrassment thinking she’d overreacted, then beg her to stop. But she lived her life with nervousness and agitation, knowing she was constantly judged by her face and accent.

Read More
The other hand – by Carly Stone
Nonfiction Carly Stone Nonfiction Carly Stone

The other hand – by Carly Stone

The gold parts. Bright blue day in Central Park with T. We stop at the dog statue, take off our gloves, and pat the front paws. The dog is a dull bronze, but the paws have been rubbed gold, as have the nose and ears and tail, and these parts feel warmer, as though the paws have held the heat of every hand that touched them.

Read More
Collection of collections – by Meredith Jelbart
Nonfiction Meredith Jelbart Nonfiction Meredith Jelbart

Collection of collections – by Meredith Jelbart

The lady’s hand muff in the folk museum is made of fruit bats. The fur is sleek and glittering jet black. Each body is arranged beside the next, head to toe, toe to head, so that the tiny faces form a decorative scallop at either edge of the thing, a little like crochet. Beside the glass case with the fruit bats is a dressmaker’s dummy displaying a long white dress of simple cotton, trimmed with blue ribbon. A handwritten card pinned to the bodice explains that this dress was worn by Miss Dianne Collins to the Wentworth debutant ball in 1936.

Read More
We Were Here – by Sarah Firth
Nonfiction, Arts Features Sarah Firth Nonfiction, Arts Features Sarah Firth

We Were Here – by Sarah Firth

I’m in Canberra, on Ngunnawal country, at my childhood home helping to sort through stuff accumulated over a lifetime. My parents have sold the house after 45 years to move into a smaller townhouse with room for a carer when needed. It’s the end of an era. There is so much to process. And I’m trying to get some sort of closure.

Read More
Archive