Sixteen Years Ago – Melancholic Memories – 53 Days
Elizabeth I’m in a melancholic and nostalgic state of mind today. Sixteen years ago, on 15 September 2000, Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame in Sydney. I watched that Opening Ceremony…
Sweltering for Democracy – 54 Days
I find weather to be a difficult thing to imagine accurately. I lived in Washington DC in the 1990s and know what summers are like here but in the cool…
At the Coal Face for Hillary – 55 Days
Yesterday, while the organisers for Alexandria made their daily allotment of phone calls to recruit and schedule volunteers they fielded a lot of questions about, and good wishes for, Hillary…
How I Became a Den Mother for Hillary – 56 Days
I read something recently which suggested that it’s easier to do things 100% than less than 100%. The argument is that if you are 100% committed to being a writer,…
Why Donald Trump Has Scared Me Back to the US
In July 2016 I wrote and published this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald I grew up in Ronald Reagan’s America and moved to Sydney 16 years ago. I have…
Some Thoughts Before I Go
This originally appeared on my Facebook feed: Tomorrow at this time I will be crossing the Pacific en route to Los Angeles. I’ve done the laundry and made my bed…
Peanuts and Cracker Jack (Day 149)
Tuesday 20 October (Chicago, Day 149) Here’s a thing about America that I’ve been thinking about – its size and its scale. There is, of course, the story Americans tell…
Sweet Home Chicago? Home but not Home
Saturday 17 October (Chicago, Day 146) I have weird feelings around the idea of Chicago as ‘home’. On the one hand, I am intimately familiar with this place. Or, more,…
She Brought Me Vegemite!
I was last in Chicago three years ago with my then-husband. We then found bicycles in the crawlspace under my parents’ house. We dusted them off, filled the tyres with…
From Berlin to Chicago – My Midlife Gap Year in Transition
This telling of the tale of my midlife gap year of travel has reached a significant juncture. I have wrapped up my summer of bicycling in Europe and am flying…