Category: Uncategorized
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I’m currently working on a book for Hunter Valley Grammar School. The School started in 1990, so I’ve been commissioned to write their 25 year history, in time for the celebrations next year. Part of this project has involved chasing down former students and asking them about their education, and how what they learned at…
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On Boxing Day 2004, as a vast tsunami drowned hundreds of thousands across the Pacific, I stopped eating animals. With my television screen flooded with images of dead bodies, meat suddenly started tasting like what it is: remains, a corpse, a lifeless thing. What began as an emotional reaction to some gory footage, and vast…
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There comes a time in every parent’s life when the endless nagging suddenly gets too much, one reliquinshes common sense, torches the family budget, and resigns oneself to many years of picking up steaming piles of shit. Yes, pet ownership eventually comes to us all. With Sophie about to turn six, I decided it was…
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A few months ago, I helped paint the sets for Maitland Repertory Theatre’s production of Freedom of the City. Written by Irish playwright Brian Friel, and first produced in 1973, the play is inspired by the events of Bloody Sunday. In the recent Maitland version, Director Dianna Galbraith led a talented cast of new and oldcomers.…
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I’m always curious about why people do things: what motivates them to change, and more importantly, stick with changes they make to their lives. I started thinking about transformation around the New Year when, with the rest of the Australian population, I made resolutions, broke ‘em and moved on. I’ve decided that the best way…
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Lately I’ve been indulging in a new hobby. For about an hour each night, after I’ve put my daughter to bed, I read fitness blogs. Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure, which I call my ‘research’, despite the fact that I rarely apply this knowledge in any tangible way. (Ok, so maybe my squatting technique…
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As the summer cranks up to its maximum heat, birds pant and the roads are sticky with hot tar, I thought I’d post an update on my vegetable garden. Yes, it’s gripping stuff, right up there with timed sheep-dog trails. Although it has to be said, watching a well trained dog snuffle recalcitrant sheep through…
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In about a week’s time, my only daughter will start school, so I’m in a reflective mood. Like many parents with young children, the last five years have been a bit blurry. I can’t say that I remember all of it, but it’s only now, as the pre-school period draws to a close, that I’m…
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Read any fitness and nutrition blog, and they’ll tell you that kale is the new superfood. What they don’t tell you is that kale, despite being loaded in nutrients, and reportedly possessing anti-cancer fighting qualities, just doesn’t taste very nice. Which is unfortunate, as I have a bumper crop of kale in my vegetable garden,…
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(Photograph courtesy of TrailLink) Years ago, when I was living in London, one of the Sunday papers ran a particularly mawish column. I can’t recall the name, but it was written by two women, one living fast in the city and the other stuck out in the countryside with kids. Frankly, it was hilarious.…
Helen Hopcroft: an artist's life 