I found We of the Never-Never by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn in a hardcover Reader’s Digest collection of four Australian novels. It had been left behind by the former occupant of the room I rented for a month while working in Alice Springs. I don’t remember the other three novels, but We of the Never-Never was so hauntingly […]
Love Yourself (and why that’s important for moms) #BehindTheBlogger
Love yourself. That’s a simple statement that can be packed with different emotions for many of us. Some may say “of course I love myself.” Others may think that’s selfish. As I thought about this statement for this blog prompt, I realized I haven’t been very good at loving myself. Yet this is an important aspect […]
Alice On the Line by Doris Blackwell
Alice On the Line by Doris Blackwell was one of the books carried at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station for tourists interested in more history. I picked it up shortly after I started working there. I figured I needed to know more about the place, since I was selling tickets to get inside. This autobiography […]
5 Favourite Australian Books #5Faves Vol. 43
Long before I did any traveling in person, I traveled through the books I read. In fact, one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Australia in 2005 was that I’d enjoyed reading some books set there. And when I arrived, one of my first questions to the locals I met was about […]
Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett
Way back when I was doing my writing degree at UVic, I tried exploring some of my memories of Australia in my creative nonfiction classes. Because of my interest in Oz, my professor offered me a book she had by an Australian novelist. Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett has sat in my reading pile […]
Coober Pedy, Australia (Throwback Thursday)
For Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d share a piece I wrote about a town in Australia I visited about nine years ago today. Coober Pedy, Australia, is a ramshackle, helter-skelter town built out of bits and pieces on piles of dirt. There are no green lawns, no trees or flower beds—just red dirt or creamy […]
Far From Botany Bay by Rosa Jordan
A couple years ago, I walked from our house by the university down the hill to Cadboro Bay Books for a reading hosted by a local publisher. One of the authors was Matthew Hooton, reading from his debut novel Deloume Road, and since I was about to take a writing course from him, I wanted […]
Witjuti Grub Kebabs and other Food from around the World
Pupae over Rice – Asia Grasshopper Saute – Mexico Witjuti Grub Kebabs – Australia (As seen at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle)
Three Tips for Writing Personal Essays
Last week I was struggling to write a lyric essay for my workshop on Friday. I had an idea (a story about my time in Alice Springs, Australia) and some research (a book I picked up while I was there about a girl who grew up in the Telegraph Station), but the essay wasn’t coming […]
Buskers Invite Us to Stop and Listen to the Music
The busker stood on the edge of the main street through Alice Springs, holding a large cardboard sign that read “3 Jokes $1.” His long blonde beard, bushy and falling halfway down his chest, partly hid his cheery smile. The rest of his head was bald, as if his hair had all fallen off the […]
