Dec 28, 2020The long return homeIn the final weeks of February, my housemates and I were stocking supplies in our house for what we assumed would be a shaky few months in Denpasar. Bali has been here before — not in the form of a sudden pandemic but over the last few decades there have…Covid 195 min readCovid 195 min read
Mar 14, 2019Impossible & InevitableHIV for me has always felt simultaneously impossible and inevitable. Impossible, because like so many of us who are young and privileged with good health, we feel invincible. We are reckless and adventurous with our bodies. We test them again and again, and perhaps come out bruised but none the…HIV8 min readHIV8 min read
Feb 13, 2019When home is an ashtrayGrowing up without a family home means that your sense of home becomes invested in things both smaller and larger than a house. Smaller; Mundane objects become the things that you pin your sense of home up with. Their familiarity a constant in a sea of generic suburban homes. A…Identity3 min readIdentity3 min read
Feb 1, 2018Notes from the working class?When someone asks me about being from a working-class family, or about growing up in Campbelltown specifically, I often recite a story about visiting a careers advisor in the final year of high school. The high school itself is in an undesirable part of Sydney so the staff, especially the…Education9 min readEducation9 min read
Feb 1, 2018I don’t have HIV, but it has shaped my lifeI had just come out. I was 17 and I was away on a holiday with my dad and my sister. My Dad was trying his hardest to connect. I was a petulant teenager shying away from the awkwardness of intimacy. The conversation jammed. We were left without words and…HIV3 min readHIV3 min read
Feb 1, 2018Jakarta; or why is it so easy to cry on planes?I’ve left many cities over the past few years, and every time I do, it isn’t until my plane takes to the air that the weight of leaving descends upon me. You would think it would grow easier with frequency, but thankfully feelings aren’t like TV shows. They don’t wear…Travel5 min readTravel5 min read
Feb 6, 2017Bule SombongWhen moving to a new city, buoyed by the enthusiasm and energy of change, I push myself to meet as many people as possible. So, a year ago, when I was brand new to Jakarta I was trawling the various social media/dating apps for interesting faces, witty taglines and sincere…Gay10 min readGay10 min read
