
Women's Walls & The Fractured God/dess
When I was at University many years ago, doing my B.A., the Arts Faculty ran a great initiative for a semester in which the women's toilets on the first floor were open for graffiti. Women could write whatever they liked, uncensored -- and of course there were a few verses in the vein of"here I sit, broken hearted", but the vast majority of conversation was uplifting, supportive and empowering.
I didn't understand how important it was then. I hadn't yet really been test

One Pen
There's a kid in your class who has a brand new pencil case full of different coloured pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, crayons -- every kind of writing implement imaginable. He dresses well, has a great home life, and you know that if he loses one of his pens his mother will buy him a new one that same day. There's another kid who has only one pen. It's a beautiful pen that his grandmother gave him before his parents moved their family away from her. A fountain pen t
Thank you, Eddie Mabo
Today is the anniversary of the Mabo decision, in which the High Court of Australia decided that terra nullius should never have been applied to Australia. Eddie had fought a long, exhausting and divisive battle for his people in the Torres Strait and for indigenous people throughout Australia. This decision meant that native title was recognised under law -- title that now encompasses more than 1 million square kilometres of land. Eddie did not live to see this decision.