Arts, Culture & Society – Page 5

The shrinking family

The most remarkable human achievement of the past 200 years has been the conquest of premature death. It has been a task of great complexity, drawing on political and economic changes, safe water, improved food supply and distribution, government regulation, medical and technological advance, the spread of literacy, the emancipation of women, the moral struggle against discrimination in all forms, revolutions in communication and connection, and above all, changes in human expectations and values

By Writing|2022-01-27T12:00:47+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off

The fragility of reality: the drama of Will Eno

For the artists involved, the staging of a theatre play requires what surgeons and philosophers call a suture. A stitching on, in a physical sense, of what it is saying, the world it is conjuring up. Without this personal connection, drama is a just jumble of vocalised third-person sentiments and self-conscious arm waving. Add the human element, via the suture, and the activity is transformed

By Writing|2021-12-30T14:15:41+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off

The next Australia

Despite being home to one of the oldest cultures in the world, Australia likes to think of itself as being young. When Australians travel overseas they marvel at ‘the history’ of the places they visit: the architecture, the art, and the customs that were all there before Australia was colonised, before it became a nation

By Writing|2021-12-30T14:16:28+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society, Health|Comments Off

Nothing Will Silence It

I don’t know that it’s making any difference, is it? And if it is making a difference, how do we begin to quantify the difference it’s making? It’s rather like prayer. How can we know? Without poetry and drama and novels and music and art we know ourselves to be poorer. We know such things as these enrich our existence

By Writing|2022-01-31T11:20:52+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off

A Writing Career

I grew up in Legoland writ large. Big brick veneer houses on small blocks treed with conifers and covered with tan bark. It was a happy place, but Wantirna, in Melbourne’s outer east, can’t be mythologised like Green Valley. I wanted out

By Writing|2022-01-31T11:36:54+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off

Life balance

As part of every course we teach on leadership in public health, we aim to get our students to think about leadership of their own lives. We ask them to imagine the world in five or ten years and to think about what sort of person do they want to be? What sort of life do they want to be leading? And then what sort of leader would they like to be? And each time we ask (now over 30 times), I also do the exercise. And each time I come up with the desire to be a more generous, less egotistical person, and to lead a more balanced life

By Writing|2022-01-12T10:16:17+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society, Health|Comments Off

Funding retirement

A few years ago, a survey asked several hundred Americans what they feared more: death, or running out of money during retirement. Three out of five respondents stated the latter. The proportion was particularly high for those aged between 44 and 49 years who had dependents: in this age group, four out of five respondents reported that the lack of retirement savings was a bigger fear for them than death

By Writing|2021-12-30T14:13:39+11:00December 14th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society, Health|Comments Off

Getting Social: The Rise of Youth Media in Australia

Aussie youth media is on the rise. There has been an explosion in online media outlets aimed at younger audiences. New local startups include Junkee, Broadsheet and Spook. Such sites offer proof of dramatic changes in the way young people access news and information. They are created, edited and staffed by young journalists who set their own agendas. More often than not, this means a visually rich, quirky mix of politics and pop culture, serious commentary and laughs, street-smart advice and buyer guides

By Writing|2021-12-30T14:13:46+11:00December 13th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off

Why Multiculturalism Makes People So Angry and Sad

Since the 1970s multiculturalism has served as a category that has widened the conceptual framework of public policy, cultural philosophy and aesthetic practice. After 2001 it has slid into the twilight zone of a zombie concept. The current bout of simplistic slogans and jingoistic dismissals of multiculturalism are not new in content

By Writing|2022-01-22T15:48:22+11:00December 13th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society, Governance|Comments Off

Poetry Can and Does Tell the Future

Like most poets I’m very superstitious. The poetry of Yeats’ ripples with visions, spells, alchemy and portents. Yeats not only believed in but also notoriously practised magic. He claimed unapologetically the ancient Celtic tradition where poets are akin to priests and magicians

By Writing|2022-01-31T11:26:18+11:00December 13th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society|Comments Off