The following is an excerpt from a memoir about teaching ESL in South Korea. Everyone had their own challenges adjusting to life on Jeju. The Korean education system includes a barrage of placement tests to determine one’s reputation. The purpose and criteria of which are not always clear. But if the ultimate significance of these tests
Category: Non-Fiction
Like most of my generation I am unfamiliar with death. As a Baby Boomer I was born after the two global conflicts that defined the last century and the seminal generation-defining wars that followed: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the war without end that is the relentless suffering in the Middle East. My only experience of
“WE’RE BIG SO WHAT” screams the Star Magazine headline. The cover features three unflattering photos of overweight female celebrities with their weight and first names only: “Melissa 250lbs., Chrissy 400lbs., Kelly 185lbs.” I know I shouldn’t, but I slide the magazine from its metal holder. I do my best to look like I am just
With little success I have tried to write non-Jewish tales for Australia’s largely non-Jewish market, but like pop-up shops in improbable locations, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob seem to materialise in all my narratives. I might be writing a story set in outer-Mongolia when, without any premeditation on my part, an ethnic Kazakh
My boyfriend Eric and I are having breakfast at Good Day Café, and I hear a voice too loud to ignore. “I don’t understand why the fake news is making such a big deal out of these monuments. They shouldn’t be taken down.” These words hit me out of nowhere, a random assault, interrupting a
Love is just love, as much as we’d like to believe in its magic. My love for Craig had the legs of an arranged marriage, yet I had nothing but faith in its magical properties. He wasn’t the man my parents would have chosen—Jewish first off, a vector primed for success. Not this unfledged youth
Again we have had a bumper month with lots of book reviews, film reviews, author interviews and much more…so what better way to bring you all our content than in a monthly round-up of what hit our pages in the month of February 2018. Competition Time – Flash Fiction We have launched our first flash
The night before I left for Southeast Asia, my friend Annie commented that this trip would be a life-changing experience. At the time, I almost didn’t believe her. Sure, I thought it would be an adventure, but in the most naïve sense. I was excited to explore a foreign country and meet the challenge of
‘I don’t do realistic films. I don’t believe they exist … by definition, movies are a lie on reality.’ Alan Rudolph Satirical movie pitches thread their way through Robert Altman’s The Player, like Hollywood punctuation. One of them features film-maker Alan Rudolph, who attempts to describe his latest project – a comedy thriller about a
With such a busy January behind us, we thought it best to pull together all our goings on in one place for you to access: Book Reviews, Interviews, Film Reviews and Short Stories. – BOOK REVIEWS – Seeing Red by Lina Meruane – read review here. The Fandom by Anna Day – read review here.