The Big Issue Australia #573 – Tails from the Streets

I NVICTUS GAM E S | MAR KUS Z USAK | LI FE ON MAN US

$7

No 573 19 Oct – 1 Nov 2018

HELPING PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES $3.50 of the cover price goes to your vendor

TF RAO MILS THE STREETS THE LIFE-CHANGING POWER OF PETS

NATIONAL OFFICE Chief Executive Officer Steven Persson Chief Operating Officer Sally Hines Editor Amy Hetherington Chief Financial Officer Jon Whitehead National Marketing and Partnerships Manager Louise Gray National Operations Manager Jeremy Urquhart

The Big Issue is Australia’s leading social enterprise. We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation that develops solutions to help homeless, disadvantaged and marginalised people positively change their lives.

The Big Issue magazine is published fortnightly and sold on the streets by vendors who purchase copies for $3.50 and sell them for $7, keeping the difference. Subscriptions are also available and provide employment for disadvantaged women as dispatch assistants.

For details on all our enterprises visit thebigissue.org.au.

Principal Partners

CONTACT US Tel (03) 9663 4533 Fax (03) 9639 4076 GPO Box 4911 Melbourne VIC 3001 hello@bigissue.org.au thebigissue.org.au WANT TO BECOME A VENDOR? If you’d like to become a vendor contact the vendor support team in your state.

ACT – (02) 6234 6814 Supported by Woden Community Service NSW – (02) 8332 7200 Chris Campbell NSW + ACT Operations Manager Qld – (07) 3221 3513 Susie Longman Qld Operations Manager SA – (08) 8359 3450 Matthew Stedman SA + NT Operations Manager Vic – (03) 9602 7600 Gemma Pidutti Vic + Tas Operations Manager WA – (08) 9225 7792 Andrew Joske WA Operations Manager

Major Partners Allens Linklaters, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Clayton Utz, Fluor Australia, Herbert Smith Freehills, Macquarie Group, MinterEllison, Mutual Trust Pty Ltd, NAB, PwC, Qantas, Realestate.com.au, Salesforce, The Ian Potter Foundation, William Buck Marketing/Media Partners Adstream, C2, Carat & Aegis Media, Chocolate Studios, Getty Images, Realview Digital, Res Publica, Roy Morgan Research, Town Square Distribution and Community Partners The Big Issue is grateful for all assistance received from our distribution and community partners. A full list of these partners can be found at thebigissue.org.au.

The Big Issue is a proud member of the INSP, which incorporates 122 street publications like The Big Issue in 41 countries.

573

CONTENTS

COVER STORY 14 MORE THAN PUPPY LOVE

For people experiencing homelessness or disadvantage, a pet can be more than a friend: it’s a lifeline.

19 TO THE RESCUE

A simple story of love between a man and his cats: Doug, Verbena and Oscar.

FEATURES

20 LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF

Curtis McGrath talks about the healing power of sport after losing his legs in the army.

23 VILLAGE PEOPLE

Sometimes when you move you get more than just a home: you get a community.

24 LIFE ON MANUS

THE BIG PICTURE A year on from the Manus Island standoff, we find out what life is like for those detained there.

29 THE POWER OF ONE

How the kindness of a stranger changed the lives of an entire family fleeing persecution.

30 BUILDING BRIDGES

Markus Zusak talks about his long-awaited follow-up to The Book Thief.

32 THEY ARE THE 1%

A new Australian film about a Perth-based bikie club is told with Shakespearean flair.

34 ATHENS ASCENT

Melbourne-born musician Ben Montero finds musical inspiration in Athens.

40 TASTES LIKE HOME

Tobie Puttock treats us to a lentil, sweet potato and mushroom shepherd’s pie.

REGULARS 04 ED’S LETTER,

YOUR SAY 05 MEET YOUR VENDOR 07 STREETSHEET 08 HEARSAY 11 MY WORD 12 RICKY 13 FIONA PUP PALS GETTING READY FOR THEIR FREE CHECK-UP AT PETS IN THE PARK (P14) PHOTO BY CHRISTINA SIMONS

36 FILM 37 SMALL SCREENS 38 MUSIC 39 BOOKS 43 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT 44 PUZZLES 46 CLICK

YOUR SAY

DOG LOVE THEM

BIG LOVE

GOLDIE WAS MY grandpa’s dog, back in

Scotland, long before I was born. But there are some family stories that are the stuff of legend, and Goldie the Cocker Spaniel is just that. Goldie was beloved, he was Papa’s wee shadow joining him at work on fisheries in Aberdeen every day. But when the family decided to emigrate to Australia, Goldie wasn’t able to make the passage, and was sent to live with a farmer out of town. Three days later, there was mewling at the door. It was Goldie. He’d found his way back, through the deep snow, across icy fields and busy streets, to the new house where the family were staying before their departure. His fur was matted in frozen clumps. No-one really knows how he found them. It was the first time Mum saw her dad cry as he brought Goldie inside and gave him a cuddle. It’s a story that always makes me weep. It reminds me of my own lost pup, Winnie.

This edition – and the new Big Issue calendar – celebrates that special bond so many of us have with our pets. For many, their four-legged friends are a lifeline.

Writer Mel Fulton and photographer Christina Simons visit an organisation helping to make a difference in the lives of both people and animals experiencing homelessness – and discover just how important those furry companions can be.

Amy Hetherington, Editor THE BIG ISSUE CALENDAR IS ON SALE FROM FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER. GET YOURS FROM YOUR VENDOR FOR ONLY $10!

GAMAL SELLS THE BIG ISSUE IN MELBOURNE.

How do I love The Big Issue (and not just the Love issue)?

Let me count the ways. Taking the Love issue [Ed#570] as an example, I love the people who are featured, like the vendor Cameron who gave out Valentine’s roses; Kelly and Greg and their beautiful romance while living so mindfully in their blissful present and dealing everyday with challenges that we cannot begin to understand; all the loving grandmothers, drawn together from around the globe; and then, from Germany, the marvellous Nicole who shows that homelessness doesn’t define you. I love the columns (books, small and large screen reviews, and Hearsay as just some of the examples) and the columnists – like Fiona who makes me laugh (wryly); and Lorin, who makes me think (outside the square). And then there is the rich variety of big issues, and of interviewees drawn from so many different arenas. So many ways, so thank you for adding so much to my life, Big Issue.

Anne Ring, Coogee, NSW As winners of this edition’s Letter of the Fortnight, Anne wins a copy of Anna Polyviou’s new cookbook Sweet Street.

As I had just come up the stairs from the subway at the Flinders Street [Melbourne] exit, I saw a guy who I’ve seen over the years, and know is completely without vision. He was battling through, against a sea of people.

I tried to work out if he’d gone off course or was where he meant to be, given there were downward stairs in his path. As I hesitated, and everyone else rushed on by, The Big Issue vendor who is there most mornings, headed straight for him, gently

took his elbow and guided him all the way to the turnstiles and helped him through, and then returned to his spot. This matter-of-fact kindness was such a beautiful start to my day. I ran over and told him he is beautiful, and he blushed and humbly he said he does it most mornings. I wish I knew your vendor’s name. I say good morning and buy from him. Next time I will ask him.

Susan Collins, Elwood, Vic Ed – In case you haven’t had the chance to ask yet, that gracious man is Geoff, who works Flinders and Elizabeth Sts. I bought Ed#570 in Bunbury, WA, this week. As a Bunbury City councillor and part of the move to make Bunbury both more accessible and inclusive, I was reminded of just how good The Big Issue has been. Well done! Love your work!

Cr Brendan Kelly, Bunbury, WA

All letter writers published in the next edition will win a double pass to the film Suspiria, starring Tilda Swinton. So send in your thoughts to win: submissions@bigissue.org.au.

COVER #573 PHOTO BY GETTY

THE BIG ISSUE USES MACQUARIE DICTIONARY AS OUR REFERENCE. MACQUARIEDICTIONARY.COM.AU

» ‘Your Say’ submissions must be 100 words or less, contain the writer’s full name and home address, and may be edited for clarity or space.

PHOTO OF GAMAL BY MEL FULTON

ED’S LETTER

MEET YOUR VENDOR BARRY SELLS THE BIG ISSUE AT BROADWAY, SYDNEY. I’M FROM VICTORIA, about three hours from Melbourne in the country. I moved up to Sydney last year and my plan was to come up here and start driving tow trucks. But it hasn’t really worked out. Everything’s gone to shit.

I’ve got a couple of convictions on my licence that have stopped me getting my tow truck licence. They aren’t serious convictions, but they are still convictions. It’s not that easy to get jobs anymore, it’s actually pretty hard. Plus, I’ve just turned 52, so that probably makes it harder again.

I was doing alright at one stage, I drove trucks. I lost my son to SIDS in 2002 and me and my girlfriend then had a few years where it was a bit up and down. We split up in 2007.

I’ve been sleeping rough down at Bondi and in Wollongong.

You almost get used to it...sort of. But then when it’s wet and cold you don’t get used to it. I go to bed if it’s warmer lying in bed, no matter the time of day. But then you find at 3am you wake up because it’s that bit colder again. That takes you to about 5am or 6am when it gets that bit warmer and you can go to sleep again. You lose track of time; every day is the same.

I did have a boarding room in Bondi, but it was $200 a week.

So that’s $400 out of my dole payment of $550 a fortnight, which was a fair bit. But over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, I ended up behind; and they kicked me out because I was a week behind.

I went to Sydney Homeless Connect and that’s how I seen The Big Issue and I thought, cool I’ll do that. I do it almost every day now. I don’t mind it. I like chatting to people, I always say hello. Most say hello back to you, some “IT’S NOT THAT keep going, some stop and have a yack.

EASY TO GET I’ve had my motorbike for about nine years. I’ve JOBS ANYMORE, had people ask me if I’ve ever thought about selling IT’S ACTUALLY my bike to get a place to stay for the night, but that’s PRETTY HARD.” stupid. I might be down and out at the minute but if I – BARRY sold it how long is the money going to last? What am I meant to do then? Walk around? It would be different if I were still paying it off, but I own it.

It is fun when you’re selling more magazines. When you don’t sell many it’s tough, but it’s alright. You get money to live on and that’s all that matters, just as long as I’ve got enough to get me by. You really need to make $30 a day to live; buy something to eat and a little bit of juice. If I do that I’m happy enough.

If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be broke.

interview by Sam Clark photo by Peter Holcroft

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

5

STREETSHEET Stories, poems and pictures by Big Issue vendors and friends

I took this photo of a lizard in the bushland at Karawatha Forest near Browns Plains in Queensland, when I was out walking with my stepdaughter and her dog. I only discovered photography about two years ago and was astonished at how instant the process is!

So I decided to save up and buy a good-quality camera. I enjoy it because it surprises me every time I take a photo.

I never use auto focus only manual focus.

Ben G sells The Big Issue on Victoria Bridge, Brisbane.

FUN IN RUN

I’ve spent many years travelling the country, operating carnival rides, but moved to Brisbane five years ago to be closer to my sister. I have been working with The Big Issue for a little over a year and I was really excited to participate in the Bridge to Brisbane fun run earlier this year with other Big Issue vendors and staff.

Will sells The Big Issue at Commonwealth Bank, Queen St, Brisbane.

ON SONG

I used to sing as a 12-year-old and wanted to sing on the stage. I was so glad when the Street Choir started. I finally enjoyed playing the guitar on stage.

Charles L sells The Big Issue on Pitt St, Sydney.

SOUTHERN STARS

I believe everyone who gets married in a church has their own stars and planetary alignment. My husband Nathan’s and mine is the Southern Cross and I hold the Southern Cross close to my heart.

Deb sells The Big Issue on Creek St, Brisbane.

KIND STRANGER

Last week I was in Rundle Mall selling The Big Issue with my dog Fifi. On the way home, I realised I had lost my purse. In my purse was everything; all my cards and my Big Issue badge. That night I thought about all the cards I would have to replace.

In the morning I still felt stressed about my purse until I received a phone call from The Big Issue office saying someone had handed it in. I could not believe my luck. I picked up my purse

and everything was still in there – even the money. I do not know the person who found my purse and took it to The Big Issue, but I would like to thank them! And so would Fifi, because I bought her Schmackos! Thank you.

Ruth (with the help of Fifi) sells The Big Issue at James Place, Rundle Mall, Adelaide.

BUILT FJORD TOUGH

I was born in the Philippines and when I was five years old I was adopted by a family in Norway. I speak three languages including Norwegian and lived in Norway until the age of 18 when we came to Australia. Selling The Big Issue is helping me to save money for my own place.

Les sells The Big Issue cnr Creek and Queen Sts, Brisbane.

BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS

It has been so cold this winter – absolutely freezing. In fact, on a couple of days the temperature fell to eight degrees here in Busselton, recently. I’ve

never known it to be so cold. However, I was sitting in the refurbished Alan’s Cafe on Sunday, with a friend. We were all warm and cosy, enjoying a lovely meal. A waitress came along to our table after I had finished, and brought me cheesecake and coffee, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. How lovely! It warmed the cockles of my heart. A benevolent gentleman, whose name is Keith, came into the cafe with his daughter as the waitress was singing to me. He gave me an unexpected lovely surprise before he left the cafe, stating “I hear it’s your birthday”, as he placed a $50 note into my hand! He is a local architect.

Jeanette, his wife, and I worked as early morning part-time cleaners at a medical and dental practice a long while ago now. He has bought a few copies of The Big Issue from me.

Kathy A sells The Big Issue in Busselton, WA.

» All vendor contributors to Streetsheet are paid for their work.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

7

HEARSAY WRITER RICHARD CASTLES

» CARTOONIST ANDREW WELDON

WE LAUD SUCCESS SO MUCH, AND THINK THAT IF YOU’RE SUCCESSFUL, YOU’RE SPECIAL. MAYBE IT CHANGES SOME PEOPLE. BUT WHAT I FOUND REALLY DISCONCERTING WAS THAT IT HADN’T CHANGED ME AT ALL. ULTIMATELY, ALL THE SAME OLD CRAP IS GOING ON. Claire Foy, who played the Queen in The Crown, on learning that success didn’t change the crap in her life.

Perhaps the same goes for Her Maj herself.

– The Guardian (UK)

EAR2GROUND “How do you run a horse race on the Sydney Opera House?”

A slight misunderstanding of the issue, overheard on the bus by Murray of Stanmore, NSW.

8

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

“Maybe a black hole could form, and then suck in everything around it. The second scary possibility is that the quarks would reassemble themselves into compressed objects called strangelets. That in itself would be harmless. However, under some hypotheses a strangelet could, by contagion, convert anything else it encounters into a new form of matter, transforming the entire earth into a hyperdense sphere about 100 metres across.”

Lord Martin Rees, the UK’s astronomer royal, on the slim possibility that a particle accelerator like Europe’s Large Hadron Collider could shrink the world into a tiny dense sphere about the size of the MCG – which could make living conditions pretty crowded.

– Newsweek (US) “Traffic signals give priority to motor vehicles over pedestrians.

This inequality undermines many of the stated goals of transport, health and environment policy.

Sydney uses adaptive signals so that they’re designed to maximise the throughput for cars and so

they’ll extend the green light for cars but that results in there being more ‘don’t walk’ time for pedestrians.”

Professor David Levinson from the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney on the city’s pedestrian traffic signals having among the longest wait times in the world.

Also, for most of the time, pressing the button – even multiple times – makes no difference at all; each is set on automatic timing. It’s like a placebo button.

– The Sydney Morning Herald “The Doctor’s a hero for everyone in a way that I really adore, because the people in the cast look like they live next door to you. They’re not these extraordinary gorgeous, god-like figures. It’s not a typical superhero that has an unattainable beauty. It’s a hero for everyone because they look like everyone.”

Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to play Doctor Who, on why the Doctor is a hero for everyone…who can time travel. (For more on the Doctor see Ed#571.)

– Vulture (US)

PHOTO BY GETTY

“There were a lot [of names] to choose from, but thankfully Twitter only allows you 50 characters! My name for October will be Monica ‘Chunky Slut Stalker That Woman’ Lewinsky.”

Former White House intern under President Clinton, Monica Lewinksy, on changing her name on Twitter for a month as part of an anti-bullying campaign that asks people to change their online name to what they have been called by bullies.

– Vanity Fair (US)

“These cultural differences correspond to current theories of ideal affect that propose that Westerners value high arousalpositive states such as excitement and enthusiasm, which are often associated with wide-open eye and mouth movements, whereas East Asians tend to value low arousal-positive states, which are often associated with closedmouth smiles.”

The authors of a study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, on cultural differences in expectations about what a typical orgasm-face should look like.

– Ars Technica (US) “I just was at this guitar store doing interviews and there were all these cut-out pictures of Slash

and dudes with guitars and I wasn’t thinking: I just pulled out a cigarette and was going to smoke. And they were like, no, no, you can’t smoke in here.

And I was like, well, if it was Keith Richards going to smoke, no-one would tell him not to – of course, because he’s Keith f***ing Richards.”

Chan Marshall, better known as musician Cat Power, on being told not to smoke.

– The Independent (UK) “I’ve been pretty lucky in my life.

I feel lucky getting to do what I want to do for a living. As you get older, you realise how rare that is, how small of a percentage of the world gets to do something they like. It’s such a crazy gift.”

Actor Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad)

on realising how lucky he is to do something he likes doing for a living.

Rare Hollywood wisdom for his age.

– Vulture (US) “I play a travelling impresario.

We filmed in New Mexico. The odd thing is the horse who pulls my wagon knew me. You won’t believe it. I’m saying this horse knew me. He actually remembered me from another western we made a while back.”

Irish actor Liam Neeson on believing the horse he worked with in his new film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, recognised him from working together previously. Fellow actor Russell Crowe backed the claims, tweeting that he made lifelong friends with two horses he worked with in multiple films, Rusty and George.

– abc.net.au

» Frequently overhear tantalising tidbits? Don’t waste them on your friends – share them with the world at submissions@bigissue.org.au

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

9

MY WORD

Thinking About Forever

James Colley has never planned far ahead. But now that he’s in love – grossly in love – things have changed.

PHOTOS BY iSTOCK

I’M PROCRASTINATING. It’s unusual for

me. I love to throw myself headfirst at deadlines and see who falls first.

Sure, I’ll slack off from time to time, and I’m certainly not above doing a halfarsed job on a chore – but procrastinating isn’t one of my vices.

But this time it’s bigger. I’m not writing a stand-up set, script or article.

I’m writing my own wedding vows. Or at least I should be. I’m not writing much of anything right now.

I’d had a first line for a while.

“Miranda,” I would say, “you’re making a huge mistake.”

But a dear friend gave me advice that I’ve needed to hear for most of my life: Don’t ruin this just to make a joke.

Fair. But now, I’m entirely stuck.

It’s not that I have nothing to say.

I have too much to say. I’m one of those annoying people who has been swept up into a fairytale romance. I didn’t even have much say in the matter. She contacted me. She demanded dinner. She made me fall in love with her.

From that moment, my whole life has fundamentally changed. It’s the most sickening cliché and I promise you that even while telling it I’m reaching for the paper bag. But it’s true. Neither of us were expecting much, but somehow we grew together, slowly transforming into one of those endlessly happy couples you see in the photos they sell with the frame.

We’re only a couple of months away from the wedding and, for the first time,

I’ve started to peek my head above the organisational dramas, seating dramas, family dramas, friend dramas and venue dramas to look towards married life.

And yes, I can feel the condescending sighs from the already-married or the once/twice/thrice-married reading the words of this wide-eyed lamb.

But, in my defence, long-term planning has never my forte. If I were capable of such a thing I would have never entered comedy. It’s not exactly an industry with swish retirement plans.

The future never really felt like my concern. I was an exceptionally large child growing up with weight issues from as early as I can remember and at some stage it was drilled into my head that people like me didn’t have a long lifeexpectancy. It was just always there as an underlying assumption. I wouldn’t have that long here, so why worry about it?

In some respects, I’m thankful to that feeling. Sure, it has been incredibly corrosive to my psyche in a hundred different ways, but it also helped make me who I am. I write like my arm is falling off. I don’t tend to sweat the big things, and I take everything a day at a time. I like those things about me. If they had to grow from resignation and fear, then that’s fine.

Roses have to grow in fertiliser. I’m not here to prosecute nature.

But this all changed when I met Miranda. She offered me something different.

Partly, it was possibility. The idea

that good times were ahead was far from a certainty. I’d hardly entertained the idea. Now, I can believe in it. It’s still not guaranteed. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. But there’s a chance. There’s something to work towards.

The second and most important part was the belief that I could deserve such a thing. Importantly, it was not that I deserved happiness with her. It was that I deserved it on my own, irrespective of anything else. That’s a belief that I’d never really had before. It still makes me a little uncomfortable. Even now, my natural instinct is to undercut it, to make some joke at my own expense because that thought sits alone, too vulnerable, ripe for the picking. But, right now, I won’t. It’s alright to be genuine and vulnerable.

The promise of this relationship isn’t a happy ending. It’s a happy journey all the way to the end. All of a sudden, the future looked like somewhere I might want to be.

My proposal was the first time I felt confident I’d made the right decision.

I’m a constant second-guesser. Every breakfast order is a Sisyphean task.

But this was simple. It made sense. I’m confident. I’m excited to start this new phase of our lives together.

All I have to do is write these damn vows.

» James Colley will appear alongside Nakkiah Lui in MAKING FUN: Colley & Lui on Satire on 4 November at the Yack Festival. More at yackfestival.com.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

11

RICKY IN PATRICK SÜSKIND’S 1985 novel

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a baby is born with the most remarkable sense of smell. Set in 18th-century France the book is a serious study of stench. Pretty good read so far, and there will be no spoiler alert needed as I’m only up to page 124. I’ve learned a new word: olfactory. I’ve learned how much Paris reeked when the baby, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, came into the festering pong of existence.

I’ve also learned the book was the subject of Kurt Cobain’s 1993 song Scentless Apprentice, something I discovered quite by chance when I played the song while driving in Queensland’s Goomburra Valley.

Strange that I would play that song 25 years after first hearing it, just as I was reading the book. The cosmos smells fishy.

Poor Grenouille can’t escape the world of smell. His nose is the best in the world.

He can smell you coming a mile away. As a toddler he smells wood for the first time, and has a transcendent episode, matching word to smell. “He gagged up the word ‘wood’. He vomited it up, as if buried in wood to his neck, as if his stomach, his gorge, his nose were spilling over with wood.”

Naturally Grenouille’s nose leads him into the vocation of perfume making, which he finds he’s rather good at. He becomes apprentice to a great master in Paris, whose fading legend he revives. He also becomes a coldblooded killer. Grenouille, you see, has one vital deficiency: he has no odour of his own.

Without a scent you are without a soul, without conscience, without hope of redemption. Words without an olfactory connection mean nothing to him; words like joy, humility, gratitude. Redeeming human emotions are granted explicitly to those on the nose. Just remember that next time someone suggests you bathe more often.

What the book does well is alert you to our most neglected sense. Spring is a great time to get out and get a whiff of this great stinking country. Queensland

12

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

“The Kraft factory next to the West Gate Bridge intoxicates a dozen lanes of drivers with the uniquely Aussie aroma of Vegemite.”

smells especially fruity, the tropical sweetness mingling with grass fires, the waft of chlorine from suburban pools and heated bitumen. One of my favourite smells hovers above the wharves down on the Hobart waterfront; a mix of salt water, damp wood and calamari sizzling in deep-fry batter. If it’s a cold, clear morning the air has a pure, straight-out-of-the-box scent, before the sun warms the sweat of the city and cracks open the sticky, revealing whiffs of civilisation.

The worst smell is when someone who’s just taken a long, last drag on a cigarette jumps in your car; the best smell – and maybe the most controversial – is burning coal. The fossil fuel industry should really use that great virtue as part of their propaganda, but I doubt they’ve even noticed. And that’s the thing, we don’t give smells the appreciation they deserve. Süskind noticed and devoted a novel to addressing our inattention. Maybe it’s just that we don’t stink as much anymore. The Paris of his novel stank of manure, urine, rat droppings, spoiled cabbage, mutton fat, caustic lyes from tanneries, congealed blood from slaughterhouses. People’s mouths stank of rotting teeth, their bellies of onions and rancid cheese. “There was no human activity…that was not accompanied by stench.”

Melbourne was once nicknamed “Smellbourne” – today you still get a few earthy industry smells. Meat processing companies routinely get fined for conjuring up the pongs of yesteryear, and the Kraft factory next to the West Gate Bridge intoxicates a dozen lanes of drivers with the uniquely Aussie aroma of Vegemite.

But it’s the subtle, everyday smells I’m going to try harder to appreciate this spring.

On the road you follow your nose to all sorts of exotic destinations, but always return to home, sweet-smelling home.

» Ricky French (@frenchricky) is a writer and musician with a nose for a good yarn.

PHOTOS BY JAMES BRAUND

Heaven Scent

FIONA

Stop the Pigeon WELCOME TO SPRING! Or, as we call it at our house, a perfect storm of vermin.

From a distance, if you smear vaseline on the lens, you’ll glimpse an arboreal innercity paradise with frolicking chickens and an explosion of pink flowers from the beds next to the driveway. Ground level, however, is a fresh hell with tired dirt instead of soil, and various introduced, feral and invasive species making a bid for immortality. It’s a real-time game of Risk played out by what passes for flora and fauna in my rental backyard, none of which are fazed by my, and my boyfriend’s, increasingly desperate attempts at human intervention. We are defending on all fronts, and losing the war.

“Babe, check out Harry [our cat], soaking up the sun. He’s loving it. Wait, why is the ground moving? Aargh, oh god, the ants.

THE ANTS.” “Oh look! Is that a pair of ravens flying out of the chicken run? One of them’s carrying something big.

What can it be? Oh god, it’s a rat, isn’t it? They’re hunting rats in the chicken run.

Raaats.”

“The pigface looks great, doesn’t it? Finally something hardy that’s covered everything up. It’s a riot of pink flowers!

Wait, what’s that on the stems? They’re smothered in scale! Like bright-green pustules oozing sticky stuff! Everywhere.

Ugh… Oh you know who likes that? Ants.

Oh. Oh god. There’s swarms of them.

AAAANTS.” And take the pigeons. Please, I’m begging you, take the pigeons. Not that it would help, because their pointy little heads contain sophisticated machinery that geocoordinates with such precision that NASA would weep with envy. You could trap them, drive them to Alice Springs before releasing them, and they would still find their way back to shit on my porch.

Shitting, apparently, is their vocation.

It’s what they do. If a pigeon were asked at a job interview to identify its strengths and weaknesses, it would be all like: “Thanks for the question, Natalie. My strength is

“They are actually a stunning real estate opportunity for a young pigeon couple looking for somewhere to raise their kids.”

definitely shitting. And my weakness?

That’s a toughie, but probably my inability to stop shitting, so it’s kind’ve a strength, you know?”

Our porch is large, and features three tall, solid, brick-and-render pillars that hold up the roof. At the top of each pillar, cunningly out of reach, are six pigeon apartments.

Oh, I’m sure they were intended to be architectural detailing, back in the 1920s, but they are actually a stunning real estate opportunity for a young pigeon couple looking for somewhere to raise their kids.

And when several couples of healthy young feral pigeons roost on your porch, it is, literally, a shit storm.

You scrub it off. They shit. You scrub it off. They shit. Who has time for this? The porch is perpetually, festeringly, covered in crap. So is the pigface. We’ve fought for years. Filling the spaces with upturned plant pots, shooing them away. The pigeons work around. They perch on top, to the side, in between. They create giant piles of faeces and perch on those. They are implacable and unbeatable and perennial. Pigeons don’t just breed in spring, they breed when there’s enough food. We have chickens; there is always enough food.

Some days I’m awake to the irony of cosseting one breed of bird and trying, actively, to dissuade another. “Who,” I ruminate, “am I to decide a pigeon’s life has less value than a chicken’s?” Other days I’m standing at the base of a pillar, poking a nest with a long pole, screaming “Why won’t you just LEAVE?” They won’t, of course. They can’t. My porch is their ancestral home.

Welcome to spring. The emblem of my house is a pigface bloom encrusted with pigeon shit, crawling with ants that harvest the honeydew sap from the scale blight.

Overhead a raven caws, a rat clutched between its claws.

» Fiona Scott-Norman (@FScottNorman) is a writer and comedian who’s always within cooee of a pigeon.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

13

— JUNE AND CHYYLO

XXX XXX XXX XXX

—

—

19 OCT–1 NOV 2018 CHRIS14 AND THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU HOLLY

VERY IMPRESSIVE AND NUNGA

MORE THAN

PUPPY LOVE

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA SIMONS

Mel Fulton and photographer Christina Simons visit an organisation that helps vulnerable pet owners take good care of their furry friends – and they discover why cats and dogs make such a difference.

“HE’S THE MOST important person in my life, my dog,” jokes Very Impressive of his terrier, Nunga. Sitting with his head in a book, the uniquely named Very has the incognito poise of a celebrity dodging the paparazzi.

Nunga’s his earnest bodyguard, fixed firmly at his side, watching. In matching patched vests (which Very makes himself), badges and lots of fluoro, they even look alike; they each have the same attentiveness, the same wide, intelligent eyes. And they’re both a little cheeky.

“He is obsessed with me,” declares Very. “If he could, all he’d do all day is sit and stare at me, but now and again he does actually need to sleep.”

Very and Nunga are waiting in line at the monthly clinic session for Pets in the Park: a nationwide charity devoted to providing free, quality vet care to pets of people experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed. It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon and there’s something of a barbeque atmosphere – plenty of chatting and laughing and sharing of smokes – as people mill about on the street, waiting to see a vet. Volunteers buzz between groups, getting people to fill in forms and preparing their makeshift stations. Today the clinic’s held at the North Melbourne Lost Dogs’ Home; the same place, incidentally, where Very adopted Nunga almost five years ago, as a potential cure for his

post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 2013, Very was one of the first people at the scene when a brick wall at a construction site on Melbourne’s Swanston Street collapsed, killing three people. He administered first aid to 18-year-old Bridget Jones, who died in hospital two days later. “I can see the entire day, like that,” explains Very, snapping his fingers. “It’s been crazy.”

He credits Nunga with his recovery.

“Everything is better and more wonderful when he’s around. He’s a very calming influence and life is just better with him… I would’ve committed suicide a number of times by now, but he’d be terribly upset if I was to go.

He’s upset if I’m away for more than 10 minutes.”

Companion animals play an important role in the lives of many, but for the people I meet today, their pet is more like a lifeline. Approximately one in five homeless Australians owns a pet, representing about 20,000 animals across the country.

According to Pets in the Park CEO Eric Bickerton, when times get tough, pet owners often put their fur babies’ needs before their own. By providing vet care for free, the organisation is freeing up funds for other essential provisions for those experiencing homelessness, such as food and shelter.

Established in Sydney in 2012 and now

operating nationwide, PITP provide everything from health checks to annual vaccinations, flea treatments, routine worming, desexing, dental work and microchipping, free of charge. To make sure the organisation helps those most in need, it works on a client-referral basis, which means that all pet owners must be referred by a homelessness outreach organisation. All vets volunteer their services.

“The most rewarding thing about volunteering is the gratitude that people have for us being here,” says Nicole Hoskin, a vet with Prahran Veterinary Hospital who started with PITP last year. “It’s really nice to be able to see what the pets bring to the client, and how much the clients are willing to give.

I often see that these animals are eating much better than the people are,” she says. “They sacrifice so much to have their pets, but they get so much out of having them.”

Back in line, I meet an example of such sacrifice in a queenly staffy.

She swans in once things are up and running, sniffing bums, wagging her meaty tail and making friends. She’s flanked by her two adoring owners, mother-daughter combo June and Zoe, and dressed in a fabulous outfit: an aquamarine onesie, the same colour as Zoe’s spiked fingernails, with a unicorn horn and a strip of hot pink fur.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

15

— — ONE OF FIVE KITTENS FROM MOTHER CAT DORA

GIZMO HAVING A CHECK-UP FROM VETS GENEVIVE AND KATE

—

—

VERY AND NUNGA HAVE A MOMENT

GIZMO AND IVAN

In cursive across her nuggetty back are the words, unicorn trainer. When I ask the dog’s name, June and Zoe are quick to spell it out for me, “That’s C-H-Y-YL-O,” says June, leaning in to check I’ve got it scribbled down right.

Chyylo – pronounced Shiloh – is here for her annual shot and to pick up some medication. She has terrible allergies and lives on porterhouse steaks. Her favourite thing to do at the park is ride the slippery dip. She always sleeps with June, spooning her under the covers. June and Zoe got her for Christmas in 2016 and have been besotted ever since. “She means the world to me,” June says, wiping her eyes. “I love her to bits... Wherever I go, she’s with me.”

The mental and physical health benefits of having a companion animal are well documented. According to the RSPCA, people who own pets 16

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

have better cardiovascular health, and a tendency to exercise more and visit the doctor less. Pet ownership enhances social connectedness and reduces feelings of depression. Pets are also wonderful caregivers, and offer comfort and companionship. Their love is unconditional. “Having to care about something else helps you take your mind off your own problems,” says Nicole. “It’s something to focus on, it’s a reason to get up every day, it’s a reason to go out for a walk every day.

It’s a reason to keep going, and I think that’s really important when you’re in a tough situation.”

Everywhere I look this afternoon, the benefits of the human-animal bond are on show. I meet a woman who moved here from Egypt 10 years ago, whose husband left and who now has no family here at all but for her cat who escaped one night, got pregnant and

gave birth to five kittens – the kittens are curled up tightly in her backpack.

I meet an elderly woman who lives alone with her dog, whom she clutches in her arms like a newborn babe.

I meet a woman struggling with an ice addiction, whose caramel-coloured puppy she named Shadow because, before she got the puppy, she felt like she didn’t have one. I meet a woman grieving the deaths of both her parents, whose dogs’ names are tattooed on her back. When I ask her what her dogs mean to her, she looks me in the eye and says, “Without the dogs I probably wouldn’t be here today.”

There are people here fleeing domestic violence, people who are sick or in poor mental health, people with disabilities, with substance abuse issues, battling long-term unemployment, people who are fresh out of jail. But the delightful thing

Paws and Reflect Here are some other organisations that are doing everything they can to help our beloved pets – creatures great and small.

DELTA SOCIET Y is a nationwide, not-

for-profit organisation. Their Therapy Dogs program is the largest of its kind in Australia, with more than 1000 dogs. Their volunteer owners visit over 850 facilities across the country, including aged-care facilities, acute care hospitals for children and adults, as well as prisons and mental health and dementia facilities.

SAFE BEDS FOR PETS is an RSPCA-run initiative that arranges accommodation and veterinary care for pets whose owners are leaving domestic violence situations. The initiative was set up after research showed that many in violent relationships delayed leaving the home because they could not bring their animals with them, and they feared for their animal’s welfare.

PETS OF THE HOMELESS AUSTRALIA provides food, pet supplies, veterinary care and emergency boarding to the pets of people sleeping rough. Pets of the Homeless has a strong emphasis on creating a welcoming, judgement-free environment for those seeking support.

PAWS FOR A PURPOSE is a gourmet pet food and products social enterprise that donates 100 per cent of its profits to supporting underprivileged people to care for their pets – including the elderly and people experiencing homelessness. They are also working to raise awareness of and combat the contagious viral illness Canine Parvovirus (Parvo).

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA SIMONS

BUDDY

about having a pet is that, for these people, their challenges needn’t be the dominant narrative of their lives anymore. Instead, they can talk about the tender, warm and furry creature who loves them, and whom they love.

“Yeah I’ve got a girlfriend – she’s got four legs and a lotta hair!” jokes Chris of his Kelpie dog, Holly. We’re playing stick outside the clinic and her silky chocolate coat catches the light as she leaps and jumps. She’s as gracious as a ballet dancer, albeit a little frothymouthed from all the chewing.

Chris, tall and stately in a Driza-Bone and with swimming dark eyes, runs me through Holly’s commands, including a little chomping motion of the hand that gets Holly to bring the stick closer.

He boasts that she’s never more than 15 metres away from him, and that he’s had her off her leash since she was 13 weeks old. “She’s an incredibly

intelligent dog,” he says as people fuss and coo over her. “She just wants to learn and, as you can tell, she’s very unsociable,” he winks and smiles. “She hasn’t worked out she’s a dog a yet.”

He’s always trained his animals well. Years ago, Chris became homeless and had to rehome his previous dog.

Chris gave him to a family out near Bendigo, and stayed on with them for a few days so he could show them his commands and make sure he settled in okay. These days, he and Holly have their own commission flat in innercity Melbourne, where Chris keeps a little garden.

I follow Chris and Holly through to the vet’s station, where Holly is complimented for her glossy coat, her excellent teeth and her lean muscular build. When Holly lies down on her back and seems to take salon-like pleasure in having her nails

trimmed – a notoriously wriggly and uncomfortable procedure – Chris pulls his shoulders back and gains about two inches. As he and Holly leave the clinic, it strikes me that I’ve never seen a prouder parent.

There’s an old Donny Osmond tune I’m pretty fond of. It’s big and sweeping and warm and desperate, about a love, pure and true, that no-one understands but him. “Yeah they called it puppy love,” he sings, “Oh, I guess they’ll never know/ how a young heart really feels/ and why I love her so.”

I blast it on my way home from the clinic.

» Mel Fulton is a writer, primary school teacher and the Big Issue intern. » For more information, visit petsinthepark.org.au. » If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 131 114.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

17

TO THE RESCUE

PHOTO BY SEAN DAVEY

For Big Issue vendor Doug, his beloved feline friends Bena and Oscar are his true companions – during the good times and the bad.

“I ADOPTED VERBENA, a tabby, from the RSPCA when she was four years old.

She was a rescue cat. I didn’t change her name when I got her. I stuck with it but shortened it to Bena. I think sometimes when you adopt animals, they tend to be more affectionate. It’s like they have that sense of gratitude.

She’s short, really fat, really affectionate and loves attention – she’s very adorable. I’ve got an older cat named Oscar, he’s 18, and Verbena and he play games all the time. They run around the house chasing each other being a pair of ratbags. You’d think Oscar was a kitten too!

Life before I got my cats was very difficult. I suffered a lot of depression because I have bipolar mood disorder.

I could go eight or nine days on the couch and would find it difficult to get up to do day-to-day things. It was my eldest daughter who suggested I maybe needed a pet.

Having cats has made a huge difference to my life. I never believed in pets as therapy – I never really understood it – but since I’ve had cats it’s been very good for my mental health and wellbeing. Having Verbena and Oscar has lifted me up out of my depression because I have someone else to think about; I have to feed them, I have to look after them, I have to change their litter. And since I’ve been selling The Big Issue, I go home after work and walk through the door and they are there – I’ve got company. I used to suffer major depression but since I’ve had the cats I rarely get depressed.

They’ve brought a lot of happiness and laughter into my life. Lately there’s also been an element of sadness, because I can see Oscar getting more frail. So, mentally and emotionally and spiritually, I have to

— DOUG AND VERBENA

prepare myself for the day I have to take Oscar to the vet and put him to sleep. But I try to keep that in the back of my mind and just enjoy the moments I have with him. But an 18-year relationship with a cat is a long relationship. It’s longer than I’ve had with any human being.

Life without Oscar and Bena would be very lonely. I’m excellent at selling The Big Issue so when I’m out and about during the day I’m good, but if I was to go home to an empty house it would affect my life dramatically. When I’m out working during the day it’s good to know I won’t come home and get silence.

I’ve got quite a few favourite memories of Bena, but the one I hold close to my heart is the fact she sleeps up close to my head every night. Within a few days

of her moving in she took that spot and made it known that’s where she wanted to sleep. I just think that’s cute in itself.

She’s very territorial, very affectionate and very protective of me. She wants all the attention. She’s definitely spoilt!

What would Bena say if she could speak? ‘I love you! Thanks for taking care of me, thanks for rescuing me.’ I think those’d be at the top of the list.”

by Mel Fulton and Anastasia Safioleas » Doug sells The Big Issue in Canberra.

He and Bena feature in The Big Issue 2019 Calendar – along with vendors from around the country and their beloved pet companions. You can buy a copy from your vendor from 26 October.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

19

LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF CURTIS McGRATH

SOLDIER TO SPORTS STAR 20

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

Invictus Games Sydney ambassador Curtis McGrath OAM was serving in Afghanistan when he lost his legs in a blast.

He shares his story…

AS A 16-YEAR-OLD I was living in Queenstown in New Zealand and had an outdoors lifestyle. I loved rugby and snowboarding, and cricket and swimming in the summer. I was slightly rebellious. I wasn’t really enjoying school that much, mainly because we were living in Australia for a little bit but then moved back to New Zealand and so I missed a year of education, which stuffed me up in the long term. I had a job stacking shelves in a supermarket, so I had my own income, which was liberating. I didn’t have a girlfriend at the time, so I was free to do…whatever. [Laughs] I was 18 when I joined the Australian Army. I finished high school and I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do.

I didn’t want to go to university with the rest of my friends. I wanted to continue the outdoor lifestyle, so I started looking at the military. I had dual citizenship in both Australia and New Zealand and I weighed up the pros and cons in terms of their defence forces. Australia’s defence forces were a bit more modern than New Zealand’s at the time, so I decided to move over. I thought I’d go through basic training and see what engineering was like. I enlisted as a combat engineer.

My first posting was in Darwin and my first day was like the first day of school. It was daunting – you’re trying to figure out what the real army is like. I was then deployed for jungle training in Malaysia and Brunei, which was pretty exciting. It’s the hardest physical thing I’ve ever done in terms of work, just because it’s relentless and there’s no rest. The environment there is pretty ruthless, it’s hot and you’re wearing a lot of clothes and carrying a lot of weight. I remember one occasion, we did a patrol of about five days in the Brunei

PHOTOS © COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE, AND GETTY

jungle with 30 guys and by the end of it there were only about eight guys left.

I was eventually deployed to Afghanistan to help clear mines [in 2012]. As a combat engineer it’s considered one of the most dangerous jobs. We are the frontline, we clear the way for the rest of the patrol so that they don’t step on anything. In a way it is scary but our colleagues – our close friends – are relying on us. It’s 100 per cent the motivation for doing this type of work.

I was in a very remote part of Urōzgān, and about halfway through my six-month deployment, when we were given the task of clearing a checkpoint that had been used by the insurgents. We knew the insurgency had been operating in that area, so it was dangerous. I had an odd feeling about this patrol – it felt like we were underprepared. We had only been finding weapons in the ground and pieces of equipment to build an IED [improvised explosive device], but we weren’t finding actual IEDs. Then during a five-day patrol I stepped right on top of a small IED that detonated beneath me and immediately took both my legs off, severely injured my left hand and perforated my right eardrum – the injuries were significant.

I knew my legs were gone as soon as it happened. I was also the combat first aider, so I was talking the guys through the first aid treatment I needed to survive.

It’s a situation you don’t want to be in…

My mum was pretty shocked by the whole situation. You’re not too sure what you’re going to see and feel.

I smiled as they came through the door of the hospital room and she could see that I was going to be alright. That gave her a bit of peace of mind.

I started rehab and it was touch and go at the start. I wasn’t sure how to move and how to get around and what to do. I had lost an incredible amount of weight – my body had gone into marathon mode trying to heal itself. I was incredibly hot, I could never cool down properly, so I had ice packs around my arms all the time.

I had a moment of shock on my first day of rehab when I realised that I was now a disabled person.

I would need a wheelchair and prosthetics

— TOP CANOE SPRINT QUALIFYING EVENT, GERMANY 2016 TOP RIGHT WINNING BRONZE IN 50M BREASTSTROKE, INVICTUS GAMES LONDON, 2014 BOTTOM RIGHT WITH PRINCE HARRY

to get around. It was a bit of a shock for someone who had been so active and outdoorsy. But I had set myself a goal to be up walking when the guys got home.

I had three months to do that, so I committed myself 100 per cent.

The first time I put on my prosthetic legs it was painful.

I assumed that you just put your legs on, stand up and off you go, but it’s definitely not the case. There’s balance and muscles that you’ve never used before, so it’s a painful process. But I had a very good prosthetist and he helped me through that. I had my family and my partner Rachel around me to help… motivate me to get up and do the job.

When it happened I said to myself, I’m going to go to the Paralympics. The Paralympics in London were building up at the time – we used to see the ads after patrol.

I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew how much time an Olympian or Paralympian puts in to their training to get to the top. I chose kayaking and eventually got on the kayaking team and went to Rio in 2016. I was one of the favourites – I had an amazing race – and managed to come out on top. My happiest moment was carrying the Australian national flag during the closing ceremony.

That was an amazing and proud moment.

Sport has given me a purpose and has shown people that I am capable of doing something that a lot of people can’t. That’s what the

Invictus Games is about, celebrating those people who have overcome adversity. The healing power of sport is an amazing tool and its use in rehabilitation allows people to reconnect... It’s so exciting that it’s coming to Australia.

I’ve met [Prince] Harry a couple of times and he’s an amazing guy.

It’s great to have a champion like him around the Invictus Games. It gets people involved… Now Australia has the Veterans Employment Program and all these businesses have come onto the program and offered these great opportunities to the veterans.

I would tell my 16-year-old self to take every opportunity that comes up. You never know where it might lead to. Try your hardest to do the best job that you can.

by Anastasia Safioleas (@anast), Contributing Editor » 500 former and current servicemen and women from 18 countries will compete in the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, from 20-27 October.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

21

Village People

ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH BEETSON

Moving into a new house, Roz Bellamy found an unexpected community of love.

WHEN RACHEL AND I moved to Melbourne from Sydney, we moved to the well-to-do suburb of Armadale rather than one of the hip northern suburbs known for being diverse or queer-friendly. It turned out to be cheaper to rent an apartment among mansions than it was to rent anything in the grungy inner-city suburbs.

But after a decade on those leafy streets, we moved to Clifton Hill. During our first week in the suburb, I spent hours on the verandah getting to know our neighbours.

One of our friends who was helping us get settled cornered me in the hallway after a particularly long chat with a neighbour.

“Is this normal?” she asked.

“Is what normal?”

“That your neighbours are so friendly. It just seems so weird to me.”

It was weird to me, too, but in a pleasant way. I can recall the precise details of the conversations I’d had with our neighbours in Armadale, since they were so rare. Once, we spoke to some neighbours about an escapee chicken.

Another time, it was a conversation with a spiritual neighbour about India. We comforted a mother from the country who was feeling nervous as she helped her daughter move into the apartment opposite. This was the extent of our contact, apart from the visits from the police due to someone who had a tendency to streak from the comfort of the trees outside our apartment block.

In Clifton Hill, the conversations are frequent and robust. We’ve been invited to parties, swapped gifts in the holiday season, and even traded food items.

One evening, a charity collector for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre knocked on our door. As I talked to her, she marvelled about the neighbourhood. “Everyone in your area

wants to know about the research we are doing at Peter Mac,” she told me.

“People actually want to hear about the science, which I haven’t encountered anywhere else.”

Another evening, we met a man who has lived in the area for decades. He told us his recollections of the suburb over the years. He recalled the Hoddle Street massacre in 1987, and the way that people rallied together afterwards.

As one of our neighbours said to us recently, “When I moved here, it felt like coming home.”

People affectionately refer to Clifton Hill as “the village”. It is the first suburb I have ever lived in where I have known all of my neighbours and have been encouraged to turn to them – whether I have locked myself out of the house or am having a rough week. I gladly took up this offer when I locked myself out one cold day, ending up in my neighbour’s living room, being served fair-trade tea, offered socks to keep my feet warm and given copies of The New Philosopher to read.

I am genuinely excited to run into my neighbours. Nothing has helped me get to know them more than walking our two very noticeable greyhounds, Rosie and Opal, around the streets.

People stop me and my wife to have long philosophical or political conversations about the racing industry, animal rights, or my dogs’ athletic achievements. For two people who tend to be introverted and a bit reclusive, the community’s interest and connection with our dogs has helped us to build a further sense of belonging.

This is the first area where I have felt out, proud and able to be myself.

During the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, Rachel and I put Menorah stickers on our front window. They were gel stickers that glistened in the

sunlight. The obviousness of the stickers made me anxious. Being openly Jewish goes against everything I have learned from history.

Almost a year later, during the marriage equality postal survey campaign, I put up a “Vote Yes” sign.

While the sign reminded me to stay positive, it also made me feel a deep, almost innate fear.

But, very quickly, windows around the neighbourhood were festooned with rainbows, too. Many of our neighbours offered sympathetic smiles or kind words when the media coverage of the survey was at its worst. Being surrounded by allies, and like-minded people, made us feel stronger.

One afternoon, as I walked my dogs alongside Merri Creek, two strangers stopped nearby to examine a plaque that welcomes passers-by to the traditional lands of the Wurundjeriwillam people of the Kulin Nation.

It explains that this place, where Merri Yaluk (Creek) meets the Birrarung Yaluk, was an important location for large ceremonies and meetings for their ancestors.

I am always touched by how welcoming it is, and the way its writer so graciously shares with any stranger who happens to pass by.

“I don’t know how I missed this place before,” one of the strangers said to me, “but it’s incredible.”

That sentiment resonated with me. Like them, I feel gratitude and astonishment about the wonders of my neighbourhood: a place I didn’t know I was missing, but now will always feel like home.

Roz Bellamy (@bellarozz) is a queer and non-binary writer, deputy online editor of Archer Magazine, and PhD student. Read more at rozbellamy.com.

THE BIG PICTURE

SERIES BY MATTHEW ABBOTT

24

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

LIFE ON MANUS It’s been a year since the dramatic standoff on Manus Island over Australia’s refugee policy. But, 12 months later, what is life like for the people who are still there?

— ABDUL AZIZ MUHAMAT

THERE ARE SIX new WhatsApp voice messages on my phone.

Some go for a couple of minutes, some cut out after 30 seconds. There will be more to come. Drip by drip, Abdul Aziz Muhamat is revealing his story of how he fled Sudan and came to be detained on Manus Island for the past five years of his 26-year-old life.

It’s a long, complicated story. The reception is patchy, so short voice messages back and forth are the most efficient way to communicate. His WhatsApp profile picture shows a man with a big wide smile. His description reads: “I really miss you dear mum, am still waiting as you told me to.”

His calm and low voice is familiar to anyone who first heard his story, and learned the truth about what life on Manus Island is like, through the 2017 Walkley Award-winning podcast, The Messenger.

“In a simple way I can say, when you have the enemy behind you and you have the fire in front of you, you probably prefer the fire,” Aziz explains about why he got on a boat to Australia. “If you fall into the hands of the enemy you know they will torture you to death, but when you jump on the fire you are just going to die once. That’s why I chose to make the journey to Australia.”

The story is long, sad, frustrating. He talks about the terrifying boat trip. About the three years of waiting and interviewing and more waiting until he was legally found to be a refugee. About protests, threats and bureaucracy.

About smuggling in a phone so he could tell his story to journalists, particularly his long relationship with Michael Green for The Messenger. About the death of Reza Barati, an Iranian asylum seeker who was killed during riots at the detention centre in 2014.

But the important thing for Aziz is to talk about how things are for him, and the more than 600 men languishing on Manus Island, now. It has been a year since the detention THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

25

— A ROHINGYA REFUGEE FROM MYANMAR

— A BURNT SECTION OF THE LORENGAU HOSPITAL, MANUS ISL AND

— THE KINGS’ HAY IS RUNNING OUT. —

—

REFUGEE MEN WALK THE PHOTOGRAPHY CREW 26 THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOVTO 20THE 18 MAIN ROAD

INSIDE THE NOW DEFUNCT REFUGEE TRANSIT CENTRE

centre was closed after it was deemed illegal by Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court. And 24 November will mark a year since the end of an almost month-long standoff between the Australian/PNG governments and the hundreds of men who refused to be moved into the community once the centre was closed. Living without food, water or power in squalid conditions, it was a standoff that captured the attention of the Australian media and public. But a year is a long time.

“Since we have been forcibly removed from the old facility to the new facility, life is just getting worse. It’s a different place but the same situation,” says Aziz.

He feels that there is no place for them in the outside community. They are not welcome. They have a six o’clock curfew. They still feel like prisoners. A number of men still sleep on the floor of a classroom because there aren’t enough rooms. The biggest problem, he says, is a serious dearth of mental healthcare.

“From morning until evening people hurt. They can’t sleep, they can’t eat, they can’t speak. Most of the men say, ‘Life has got no meaning to us.’ For five years, we are not living. We are in a remote island where no-one knows whether we are existing or not existing,” Aziz explains.

“All these men, all they’re thinking about is when and how I’m going to commit suicide. It’s a disaster, and a disaster that is going to take many young lives.”

Photographer Matthew Abbott was stunned by the lack of hope when he visited the island back in 2016, talking to Aziz and the other men, and trying to document what their lives are like on the island.

“I’ve never had so many people say to me, just quietly, ‘I want to die’,” Abbott says. “They see no reason to keep going.”

Abbott is one of many people determinedly trying to keep the spotlight on the human impact of Australia’s immigration policy.

“I honestly believe that if people really saw what it was like there, had the conversations I had, there would be no way they could allow it to keep happening,” he says. “This is the great issue of our time, I believe that.”

Aziz is just trying to do everything he can to make sure that he and the other men aren’t forgotten. He and fellow refugee detainee, Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani, tweet continuously about their lives. They do endless interviews and write op-eds (Boochani has recently written a book) sending their stories out with as much hope as they can muster.

“We have been kept in a place out of sight. No-one knows about us where we are. No-one even thinks about us. No-one hears when you cry,” says Aziz. He admits that he is worried his own energy and hope will run out. But in the meantime, he is determined to keep trying.

“I want to make you feel. I want to change the perceptions of the Australian people who think we’re terrorists or think we’re bad people. We just want to get out of this place, to secure our future.”

by Katherine Smyrk (@KSmyrk), Deputy Editor » For more, go to matthewabbott.com.au.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

27

The

Power of One

PHOTOS BY iSTOCK

More than 40 years after her family fled persecution in Uganda, Rakhee Ghelani reflects on the life-changing power of compassion.

“THERE’S NO ROOM in Uganda for the 80,000 Asians. If I see any of you in Uganda after 90 days I will make you feel as if you are sitting on fire!” announced Idi Amin, President of Uganda, on 5 August 1972. And just like that, Uganda embarked on a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” that changed the course of my family’s life forever. While my parents had migrated to Australia earlier that year, my father’s many siblings, their young families and my terminally ill grandfather were all suddenly stateless because they were Ugandans of Indian descent.

As refugees, my large family was scattered across the world. Where they landed was dependent partly on the goodwill of foreign governments and partly on luck. Something that still holds true for many refugees today. Only one of my father’s brothers managed to make it to Australia. So, I grew up close to my Uncle Pravin. Over the years, he’s regaled me with stories about how he fled Uganda. One story, in particular, has had an enduring impact on me.

While fleeing Uganda, Pravin’s older brother Jagdish was stopped by guards.

They searched his wife and their four teenage daughters and ordered them to remove their jewellery or risk missing their plane. Indians were only allowed to take about $50 with them when they left Uganda. This was barely enough to feed them for a few weeks, let alone set up a new home in a foreign country. Unable to bear the thought of handing over the

precious jewellery his mother had left him just before she passed away, Jagdish turned the car around, took them to Pravin and asked him to smuggle their things out of the country. It was the last time Pravin saw his older brother for almost two decades.

The next day Pravin went to work, but his own pending departure weighed heavily on his mind. Sensing Pravin’s distress, a young African man named Musoke asked him if there was anything he could do to help. They had politely worked side by side, but Pravin knew nothing about Musoke. It was risky, but Pravin felt like he had nothing left to lose, so he suggested they meet for a coffee.

Over coffee that evening, Musoke talked about how helpless and sad he felt looking at what was happening around him. His colleagues, cricket mates and friends were all being forced to leave the country. Listening to Musoke speak, Pravin decided to tell him about the valuables Jagdish had entrusted him with and his fear he would also be caught trying to smuggle them out of the country.

Then Musoke had an idea. As he was African his movements were not restricted, so he could carry jewellery across the border into Kenya. It was an incredible offer – both knew that anyone who was caught helping Indians flee the country was never seen alive again.

Reflecting back on that moment, Pravin would say, “It was the first time since Amin’s announcement that

someone had made me feel like I was more than just the colour of my skin.

Musoke saw me as a human being and was willing to risk his own life because he valued mine.”

The next night, Pravin booked two first-class railway compartments from Kampala across the border to Nairobi, drove Musoke to the station, handed him a black bag and watched him walk away.

Musoke entered one cabin and placed the bag under the seat, then settled into the booth next door. Musoke and the bag each had a cabin all to themselves.

At every station between Kampala and the Kenyan border, burly guards brandishing semi-automatic rifles entered Musoke’s carriage. They roughly ran their hands over his body, opened his luggage and questioned him about his trip to Nairobi. But they never found the bag.

When the train finally crossed the border into Kenya and arrived in Nairobi, Musoke collected the bag and, clutching it close, walked towards the main entrance.

His eyes locked on a young Indian woman wearing an emerald green kurta. She fitted the description Pravin had given him of his younger sister. He walked up to her and quietly asked her name. As soon as she said “Usha”, Musoke smiled and handed her the bag. Her hands trembled as she took it. Before she could even say thank you, Musoke had disappeared back into the crowd.

No-one in my family has heard from Musoke in more than 40 years, but he still holds a special place in our memories.

Some of the jewellery he smuggled was like a life raft to my aunties, uncles and cousins. It was melted down and traded in return for food and shelter when money was scarce. This helped keep their heads above water as they struggled to build new lives in India and the UK. Other pieces were handed down from generation to generation as family heirlooms, much like the story of Musoke. Whenever I look down at the ring that was given to me, I’m reminded of how important it is to pay compassion forward; how there is nothing more powerful than letting another person know they’re not alone.

» Rakhee Ghelani is a freelance writer and Director of Legal Writers.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

29

BUILDING BRIDGES Following up from worldwide success is not always easy, as author Markus Zusak found while writing his much-awaited novel, Bridge of Clay.

MARKUS ZUSAK IS relieved. Not just a little bit relieved, a whole-lot relieved.

It’s been 13 years since the release of his novel The Book Thief – which sold more than 16 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a film starring Geoffrey Rush. Now his next book, Bridge of Clay, is finally here.

“It’s a really happy kind of relief,” he 30

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

says, down the phone from his home in Sydney. “When you’re writing a book, you’re not ever doing it for the money, you’re doing it because you’ve got something in you. And whether anyone reads it or not, you just want to be able to get it done.”

And done it is. Sitting at a doorstopping 579 pages, Bridge of Clay is

an Australian family epic, tracing the haphazard, tender and occasionally brutal lives of the five Dunbar brothers.

It journeys into the tales of this family’s collective past – from why the boys are living without their parents, to the naming of their donkey Achilles, to the reason why the central brother in the book, the eponymous Clay, feels the need to build a bridge.

“I got the idea when I was 19 or 20 years old, so I’ve had it in me for more than two decades,” Zusak says. After percolating for years, he started writing

PHOTO BY HUGH STEWART

“YOU’RE ALWAYS TRYING TO BALANCE THE LIGHT AND THE DARKNESS, AND STILL FIND TIME TO LAUGH ABOUT THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF LIFE.”

Bridge of Clay in earnest in 2008. In the ensuing 10 years, he quit the book twice.

The second time was after his wife gave him a dose of tough love: get the book back on track in a week, or give it up.

“Living without it was even worse,” Zusak says. “And suddenly I just started writing with real joy again; I was starting to laugh again as I was writing.

It sort of reignited how much I love it.

And how much I love doing this job.”

Writing is the job that Zusak has always known he wanted to do; he just didn’t realise how hard it would be.

“You think when you’re 16, I’m going to write a book and nothing is going to stop me. And then you write eight pages, and those eight pages could be entered into a competition for the worst book ever written. But that’s kind of great. That’s how it should be.”

Nevertheless, Zusak managed to have his first novel, The Underdog (1999), published when he was a tender 23.

It wasn’t until his fifth, The Book Thief, that he started getting into the heady domain of best-seller territory.

“I was actually starting to look for other jobs when I finished that book,” he laughs. But despite his misgivings (“It’s set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death and is more than 500 pages long!”) The Book Thief catapulted into worldwide fame, including spending years comfortably perched on the illustrious New York Times bestseller list.

“That’s just something I would never have even imagined. And the one thing that holds you up there is that I wrote that book not expecting anything,” Zusak muses. “That’s kind of how I feel about Bridge of Clay now, I’m sort of at peace with it. I feel like you do have to fight a little bit harder as a reader for this book, you do have to do a little bit more work, but I actually hope the rewards are greater.”

While the process was laborious, Zusak’s methodology is quite simple.

For all of his books his first step is thinking of a start, an ending and a title. In this case he first came up with Clayton’s Bridge.

“Why I called him Clayton and not Bill or David or anything like that is just a complete fluke, because then I

thought, “what about Bridge of Clay?”

And a whole new depth of meaning came to the book. All of a sudden I thought of clay as both a name and a material, and I thought of how clay can be moulded into anything, but you need fire to set it,” he says.

And fire there is, mostly found in the boys who grow and struggle and triumph and fail on the pages. Through Zusak’s poem-like prose, the reader is pulled into the rough-and-tumble universe of five brothers trying to fight their way into adulthood. Sometimes literally.

Zusak points to a line that he considers central to the book, from the narrating brother, Matthew: “It’s a mystery, even to me sometimes, how boys and brothers love.”

“Just that sentence sort of sums up my own relationship to my own brother,” Zusak says. “These brothers are always roaring at each other and they’re always arguing, but in that way, sort of offhand, they are saying everything that needs to be said.”

There is a lot of love in this book.

A lot of passion. A lot of pain. Zusak admits that he was a “complete mess” at certain stages of writing.

“This is a really sad book in a lot of ways, but in other ways I do feel like there’s a lot of life in it as well,” Zusak says. “I could never write something that’s totally bleak. You’re always trying to balance the light and the darkness, and still find time to laugh about the ridiculousness of life.”

by Katherine Smyrk (@KSmyrk), Deputy Editor » Bridge of Clay is out now.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

31

THEY ARE THE

1

%

A new Australian film brings a Shakespearean flair to the treacherous world of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

AUSTRALIA HAS A long tradition of gritty

genre cinema, and Stephen McCallum is excited to become a part of it. “Romper Stomper, Ghosts of the Civil Dead and Snowtown are some of my favourite films,” says the director. “To be able to dive into a genre I love with my first feature was really a dream come true.”

His new film, 1%, is the hard-edged tale of a Perth-based bikie club tearing itself apart. For the last few years, the Copperheads have been run by their savvy vice president Paddo (Ryan Corr), who plans to take them into a profitable future based around organised crime and working in partnership with rival gangs.

But two things stand in his way. One is his brother Skink (Josh McConville), whose bungled attempt to move into drug dealing forces Paddo to make a deal with enemy Sugar (Aaron Pedersen). The other is Knuck (Matt Nable, who also wrote the script), the gang’s president now fresh out of jail and hell-bent on taking the club back to the old, violent ways he knows best.

It’s the kind of story that could have easily been spun as just another underworld gang face-off. Instead, McCallum turns this into a thrilling saga, with the rival leaders scheming against each other, egged on by their respective partners (Abbey Lee as Paddo’s ambitious girlfriend Katrina, and Simone Kessell as Knuck’s regal consort Hayley).

“It was originally more of a 70s or 80s film, more of a gang-war film. What I wanted was to bring all the conflict

32

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

inside one club, to tell this house-divided, Shakespearean tale. And then to give it a look more like Romper Stomper than something like Easy Rider – a bit more brutal, gritty, hard, a bit skinhead punk.

And I think [the producers] responded to that. They liked the visceral nature of what I wanted to bring to it,” he says.

Adding that Shakespearean slant meant beefing up the role of the female characters, and McCallum had Lady Macbeth in mind as a model. “I really wanted the female characters to be just as brutal and vicious as the men in the film, if not even more so. They’re smarter, and they’re scheming as well – they’re roles that required real strength.”

In casting the film, McCallum started with a high benchmark. “Matt wrote the script, so he was always going to play Knuck; he was the cornerstone we based the rest of the cast around. I was looking for personality first. I was looking for what the actors could bring to the characters rather than what they could play.”

The biggest challenge came in casting Paddo. The goal was to find an actor who could convincingly face off against Knuck, while not simply being another version of him. “I wanted an actor who could bring a real sense of humanity and an honour to his character that the audience could connect with straightaway. It’s not just two bulls going at each other, it’s a young colt and a bull.”

McCallum’s desire to go beyond the usual bikie clichés led him to do a lot of research into gang culture. There’s only

so much you can learn from books and documentaries, though, and eventually he found himself face-to-face with some dangerous people.

“One of the people I talked to was the sergeant-at-arms of a motorcycle club – I won’t say which one – but he followed me on social media, so I contacted him.

We sat down and had a lengthy chat about the film, and the history of how he joined the club,” says McCallum.

“For this guy, the club really saved his life. He was going down a path that could have ended in real tragedy; the club was able to give him a real sense of direction and focus. That was really interesting, to see what positives could be taken from belonging to this group.”

All that research firmly pays off in the finished movie. But perhaps its most memorable moment is the opening sequence, with the bikie gang in full force, roaring through the streets of industrial Perth, soundtracked by noise-band Swans’ distorted guitars. It’s a potent reminder of what underlies all the scheming and plotting to follow: this is an organisation that operates through sheer force and intimidation.

“It was something I really wanted to open with,” says McCallum. “The sound of the bikes bouncing off the tunnel walls was one of the loudest things I’ve ever heard. The noise in real life is like being dragged into hell.”

by Anthony Morris (@morrbeat) » 1% is in cinemas now.

PADDO

KNUCK

“I WANTED TO TELL THIS HOUSEDIVIDED, SHAKESPEAREAN TALE.”

KATRINA

HAYLEY

– DIRECTOR STEPHEN McCALLUM

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

33

ATHENS ASCENT

34

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

Ben Montero might have been born and raised in Melbourne, but it’s in Greece that he found the inspiration to keep making music. world, Montero says, has allowed him the opportunity to shake off some of the weight of his past and to embrace a bigger, brighter worldview. “The world’s big and nobody cares if I was in some band 20 years ago, or if I did some drawing that was annoying 10 years ago. It just doesn’t matter and I’m very lucky to operate in a broader environment,” he says.

“I always feel like I’m on the outside of what’s going on and I guess I like that,” he adds. “I guess that’s why I ended up wanting to come somewhere else, like Athens, to keep me on my toes.

It just makes it more special when you connect with other people who do share the same enthusiasm for music and art that maybe isn’t the popular thing in that particular town at the time.”

Before its release earlier this year, Montero’s second solo LP, Performer, had a prolonged genesis. Recorded with Jay Watson (Pond, Tame Impala, Gum) and engineer/multi-instrumentalist Riccardo Damian in London in the first half of 2016, the “THE WORLD'S BIG AND album sat unreleased for more NOBODY CARES IF I WAS IN than a year.

“I kind of forgot about it. I was SOME BAND 20 YEARS AGO... just happy travelling around by myself and drawing, that was IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER.” my main focus. It took a while to work out the best way to release it. I got a bit burned out by music and becoming the polar opposite.” it wasn’t really number one on my Following his own creative impulses agenda,” Montero explains. “I’m very has long been part of Montero’s makeup. proud of it. I think it sounds great. I’ve For much of the Naughties, he was one really enjoyed playing the songs; they’re of the main players in Treetops and still true to me.”

The Brutals. In an era when much of For live shows, including his Melbourne’s music scene was dominated forthcoming Australian dates, Montero by blokes in thrall to the Stones is backed by a collective of musicians and AC/DC, Montero’s bands were from Athens psychedelic bands Acid making harmony-laden indie-pop and Baby Jesus and Voyage Limpid Sound. proselytising the likes of The Byrds, The He says it’s been exciting to find kindred Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk. spirits in his adopted home.

Moving to the other side of the IT WAS NEVER Ben Montero’s intention

to live in Athens. After releasing his debut solo album, The Loving Gaze (2013), the multi-disciplined, Melbourne-born artist decided to go travelling through Europe. Finding himself in the Greek capital by happy accident, he headed out to a gallery on his first night. There, Montero had fortuitous meetings with future friends and collaborators. It soon became apparent that he’d found a new home.

“I just fell in love with the place straight way,” he says down the phone from his new home town.

“It felt familiar to where I grew up in Coburg and Brunswick, so it wasn’t completely alien to me, and everyone spoke English. It seemed like Melbourne 10 years ago – where you have people smoking in bars and bands playing really loud in the middle of the city and galleries going off everywhere.

There’s an anarchic freedom here that, when I left Melbourne, it was

“I went out and I saw this band Voyage Limpid Sound and they completely blew me away… I got them, and it feels like it was meant to happen,” he says.

Running parallel to Montero’s life as a musician has been his output as a visual artist. His colourful, sweet, funny and sometimes brutally honest cartoons have attracted a devoted following online (some even getting tattoos of his work). It’s led to commissions for album art and posters for the likes of Mac DeMarco, Kurt Vile and Milk! Records.

What was once a hobby and a way to promote his own bands has given Montero a profile that’s exceeded that gained for his music. It’s been somewhat of an adjustment. “It’s been strange sometimes,” he says. “My drawings aren’t just for me and 10 people anymore. Suddenly, they’re for everyone and everyone’s got an opinion on them and that’s nice – but it’s strange as well.

It’s something to navigate. But it put the whole focus on art and I hadn’t written any new songs for about four years.”

Ideas for songs have started coming again, he says, and Montero album three is taking shape.

“I’m going to do a new album next year, I’m writing for that. I’m probably going to do it in LA with the same team that recorded Performer. It worked like a dream last time. We worked really fast because Jay [Watson] is a gun on every instrument and Riccardo’s a gun on engineering and I sat around having some drinks,” he jokes.

“I’m practising instruments again, so maybe I’ll be able to get in on that vibe this time.”

by Michael Hartt (@whatamindblast) » Performer is out now. Montero tours Australia 7-15 December, including Meredith Music Festival.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

35

FILM GHOST STORIES CRITICS ARE GAGA FOR GAGA



“The brain sees what it wants to see,” reads the tagline for this eerie British stomach-turner. Like a leech, Ghost Stories sucks dry the human propensity for pareidolia – seeing faces where there are none – and has a ruddy good time in the process. Taking cues from Tales from the Crypt, this anthological horror film presents three seemingly disparate but entirely creepy tales prodding at the modern disregard for spirituality. But as haughty financier Mike Priddle (Martin Freeman) observes, “It’s always the last key that unlocks everything.” Directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman (who also stars) have an otherworldly flair for creaming the macabre from the kitsch. Dyson is an unseen member of sketch group The League of Gentlemen, and Ghost Stories retains the Yorkshire Gothic mood of their cult BBC series. Based on the pair’s wildly successful stage play, this truly cinematic adaptation features searing imagery and freaky set-pieces that’ll endure well beyond a theatrical release this Halloween. AIMEE KNIGHT ANNABEL BRADY-BROWN > Film Editor “I JUST WANTED to take another look at you.”

A Star Is Born marks the fourth iteration of the immortal romance between two achingly mortal musicians. From William Wellman’s 1937 version onwards, the tale has been passed down across the decades. Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand have each taken turns in the role and, for a time, Beyoncé was attached to the millennial do-over, but pop heroine Lady Gaga eventually landed the part. She hugely impresses in her first leading film role, sings live in every performance, and is basically a shoo-in for an Oscar. Gaga’s Ally is a waitress possessing an extraordinary set of pipes – but also, as she’s been told by industry slimeballs many times, a nose “too big” for stardom. She squares off against Bradley Cooper (in his directorial debut), a sweaty arena-rocker named Jackson Maine whose star is waning, exacerbated by his alcoholism. If only the film could maintain the dynamism of its wildly exciting first third – when the pair meet after he stumbles into a bar, catches her performing ‘La Vie En Rose’, and is instantly smitten. A big-hearted love story electrified by great sacrifice and epic tunes, this sweeping melodrama could’ve been this generation’s answer to Titanic (1997) but, disappointingly, the focus swings away from Ally to the less interesting, troubled Jackson.

A counterpoint to the emotional turmoil that rages behind the music, Stephen Nomura Schible’s Coda – also out this week – is a documentary portrait of Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto that, thrillingly, pays homage to the music itself.

36

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

BEAUTIFUL BOY 

To make an original film about addiction, a disease of repetition, is nigh impossible. Adapted from father and son David and Nic Sheff’s respective memoirs, Beautiful Boy is nonetheless distinguished through Timothée Chalamet’s performance as the afflicted Nic. Like his breakthrough role in Call Me by Your Name (2017), Chalamet shows a wisdom as embodied as it is precocious. Past and present blur as journalist David (an excellent Steve Carell) searches for answers. Their shared love of music (the soundtrack includes Tim Buckley, Nirvana, Sigur Rós) provides the temporal bridge.

Nic comes to realise drugs are a salve to a residing emptiness, but his addiction isn’t mappable: stability can feel suffocating; smart kids often suffer; sometimes pain doesn’t have a source. There’s a lot of screenwriter Luke Davies (who penned Australian heroin film Candy) in here, too.

Director Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown) is prone to sentimentality, but it doesn’t make the performances any less humane or moving. REBECCA HARKINS-CROSS

BOOK WEEK 

Book Week should be a celebration of the joy of reading. But for highschool English teacher Nicholas Cutler (Alan Dukes), joy is but a distant memory. With his literary career stalled after a disastrous publicity tour sank his first book, a zombie novel is his big chance back (though his publishers prefer vampires). Can he go a week without flinging bile at his fellow teachers, insulting his students and dismissing his family? Of course not.

Much of the drama in this witty and well-shot film (based on Australian writer-director Heath Davis’ experiences as a teacher) comes from seeing just how awful Cutler can get before things fall apart. During the week he’s surrounded by women (including Airlie Dodds, Susan Prior and Rose Riley) constantly telling him he’s a terrible human being.

They’re not wrong. They’re also more interesting as characters than Cutler, whose entertainingly acerbic nature would be a lot more tiresome if not for a tortured yet charming performance from Dukes.

ANTHONY MORRIS

SMALL SCREENS SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT 

Because food is such an important indicator of self, memory and culture, cooking shows have a special place in our society. While there’s an increasing glut of celebrity chefs presenting their craft on-screen, Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat pleasantly stands out even among favourites like Chef’s Table and the dearly departed Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Based on her bestselling cookbook of the same name, the four-part series takes us to Japan, Italy, Mexico and, finally, California’s Chez Panisse restaurant, where it all started. The premise is simple: Nosrat shows us what she maintains are “the four elements of good cooking” – the titular salt, fat, acid and heat. That means lovingly cutting up pancetta from scratch, conscientiously hunting down the most flavourful of salts, and more. The cinematography is a wonder to behold. Nosrat is also extremely personable – an excellent teacher with a great wit to boot. In a culture that doesn’t often show women at the helm rapturously enjoying food, this series is a must-watch. Streaming on Netflix. CHER TAN

PINE GAP 

Behind the electrified gates of NT's Pine Gap, some of America’s most clandestine alphabet agencies – the CIA, NSA and NRO – work with Australian national security personnel to protect the Western world from terrorism.

Setting a six-part thriller inside a top-secret defence facility sounds fascinating on paper. In practice, it means everyone’s parroting espionage jargon while looking at computer screens in the dark. The claustrophobic Pine Gap starts with more of a whimper than a bang. Once the characters get out of the office the series picks up speed. Still, it’s hampered by tacky dialogue and a charisma deficit across the cast (save for Stephen Curry). Aerial photography of the NT is striking. The narrative thread about Indigenous land rights is impactful, more so than the romantic arcs.

Lacking the geographic scope for active, sprawling missions (think Homeland, The Americans), Pine Gap paints itself into an LCD-laden corner. On ABC TV and ABC iview. AIMEE KNIGHT

FIGHTING SEASON  From the gung-ho heroics of First Blood to the Oscar-winning drama Coming Home, the effects of war – particularly the Vietnam war – on those who’ve returned is a mainstay of American culture. In Australia, the subject has been largely brushed aside. Until now.

A war-torn mystery bringing PTSD to a mainstream drama, Fighting Season takes place during the conflicts in Afghanistan.

Directed by Kate Woods (Looking for Alibrandi) and Ben C Lucas (Wasted on the Young), it follows a unit of Aussie soldiers returning home shell-shocked after the death of their commander, Captain Ted Nordenfelt (Ewan Leslie). The young ensemble is led by Kiwi Jay Ryan (Top of the Lake), while Kate Mulvany (The Merger) brings gut-wrenching trauma to the role of Captain Kim Nordenfelt, Ted’s wife. As the soldiers try to assimilate into normal life, the narrative doesn’t always convince, but the raw emotion ensures Fighting Season packs a punch. On Foxtel’s Showcase, 28 October. DAVID MICHAEL BROWN

AIMEE KNIGHT > Small Screens Editor “THERE’S THIS MYTH that podcasting is accessible. I think that’s bullshit,” says Bethany Atkinson-Quinton. Folks may assume that any Joe Blow with a smartphone can start a podcast, but I trust Atkinson-Quinton’s opinion here.

She’s a woman with many credentials: broadcaster, arts producer, writer, educator and co-founder of independent podcast network Broadwave. She was also one of four experts on a panel about podcasts that I recently chaired at National Young Writers’ Festival. That’s where she tells us, “The most-listened-to podcasts are created by institutions.”

Think: This American Life (Chicago Public Media), Serial (sprung from TAL’s success), Radiolab (WNYC), so on.

Yet only a few years ago, podcasts were so new-fangled they were awkwardly called “online radio shows” by young people doing vox pops in 2016’s Ear Buds: The Podcasting Documentary (now on SBS On Demand). Since then, I bet at least one of these bystanders has started their own poddo.

Watching Ear Buds, it’s stark how far the form has come.

Podcasts now feel ubiquitous to producers and listeners

DVD

BLU-RAY

STREAMING

TELEVISION

PAY TV

(L-R) AREEJ NUR, IZZY ROBERTSORR AND BETHANY ATKINSONQUINTON OF BROADWAVE.

alike. Every day, new shows go live, bringing dynamism to a soundscape once dominated by alabaster film bros shouting over each other about Indiana Jones. By contrast, Broadwave works at the intersections of under-served communities, offering tools of self-determination and story-sharing. “We want to collectivise the power in the individual,” says Atkinson-Quinton. I’m thrilled to hear it.

PODCAST

APP

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

37

MUSIC NATURE PAUL KELLY 

Master of Australian stories and songs, Paul Kelly is on to studio album 24 and, as with past releases, Nature is full of beauty and life. Though many poems feature throughout, it’s Dylan Thomas’ ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’ that opens. It’s a rejection of death, and the beginning of an exploration of life. Poets like Walt Whitman and Sylvia Plath also feature, with Kelly adding his own stories, too. In ‘Seagulls of Seattle’, for example, Kelly paints a scene of birds circling and waves crashing to buoy a fond memory from abroad. Though diverse in origin, the 12 tracks are bound by nature – a recognition of both its expansive beauty and the tiny part humans hold in it. Nature is a poetic reminder of the sustained decimation of our environment – celebratory and tragic at once. It wouldn’t be a Kelly album without his long-time collaborators Vika and Linda Bull, and on this one his daughters Madeleine and Memphis also sing throughout. Musically, Kelly can do no wrong. Nature is exquisite. IZZY TOLHURST YOUNG THUG: ELTON JOHN IS A FAN.

SARAH SMITH > Music Editor ELTON JOHN HAS long been a fan of Atlanta rapper Young Thug. Not long after expressing his love for Thug in an interview with Noisey a few years ago, John and the rapper were spotted hanging out together. From there, rumours spread that the two were planning a collab. It seemed a strange pairing to some, but John is a savvy collaborator – having worked previously with everyone from Eminem and Kanye to Queens of the Stone Age. He is also a voracious listener, uncovering music he loves on a weekly radio show for Apple Beats.

In August an unmixed Thug track titled ‘High’, which sampled John’s ‘Rocket Man’, leaked online, whetting fans’ appetites. A few weeks on and we finally have the real deal.

Featured on Thugger’s new EP On the Rvn, ‘High (feat Elton John)’ is a contender for song of the year.

Thug has always kind of lingered just on the fringe of pop stardom. A technically playful and experimental rapper, he has often impressed but rarely sat atop the charts. ‘High’ changes all of this. Featuring Thug both rapping and singing, it juxtaposes his – here, often autotuned – acrobatics against Elton’s ghostly refrain: “And I’m going to be hiiiiighhhh/I’m a Rocket Man.” The result is a giddy, fizzy pop song that somehow sounds both nostalgic and ambitious.

Young Thug transforms ‘High’ from what could have merely been a quirky “Elton John feat” to it’s very own extraordinary pop artefact.

38

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

KAMIKAZE EMINEM 

Announcing Kamikaze in a surprise tweet, Eminem went for effortful nonchalance: “Tried not 2 overthink this 1...enjoy.” In other words, don’t expect a repeat of 2017’s popstar-heavy, critically panned Revival. On his 10th album, Em trades syrupy hooks for verbal score-settling, with equally mixed results. As he ages, the rapper’s technical skill is losing its sting. Kamikaze targets everyone from mumble rappers to album reviewers with wordplay that’s both dazzling and hollow. The production, overseen by Em and Dr Dre, gives free rein to the raps, which swing jarringly between sincere and juvenile. Even when the punches don’t land, the former upstart is most alive sparring with perceived enemies on ‘The Ringer’ and ‘Greatest’, while the real-talk personal dramas of ‘Normal’ and ‘Stepping Stone’ fall flat. Fittingly for an album intent on relitigating the past, Kamikaze ends in the most 90s way possible: with a tie-in single for the new Marvel movie, Venom. Ten albums in, Em’s venom only gets him so far. JACK TREGONING

US EMPRESS OF 

The 2015 debut for electro-pop act Empress Of – LA-born, NY-based Lorely Rodriguez – was called Me. The title referred to both its recording (Rodriguez writing and producing it all) and its lyrical focus on identity. Three years on, and the second EO LP is called Us. This, again, echoes its making (there are collaborations with DJDS and Blood Orange) and theme (every song addresses a “you”). Where Me was a youthful expression of self, Us finds the artist – now 28, that classic Saturnreturning age – out to define the self within a relationship; defiance gives way to insecurity. The hook on standout ‘Love For Me’ is Rodriguez saying, endlessly, “I wanna know if you’ve got love for me”. ‘Trust Me Baby’ and ‘When I’m With Him’ slip between English and Spanish, Rodriguez turning to the latter when sentiments are “too personal” for the former. It’s an interesting definition, given Empress Of is, clearly, an intensely personal project. ANTHONY CAREW VINYL

CD

DOWNLOAD

BOOKS THUY ON > Books Editor I HAVE A weakness for books about books. Like many bibliophiles, I gravitate towards anyone who shows as much love for this artform as I do.

So Michael McGirr’s Books That Saved My Life captivated my immediate interest. It’s a series of short essays from a teacher, critic, editor, publisher, author and lifelong devotee of literature. McGirr’s “reading for wisdom, solace and pleasure” roams widely across genres. For those who believe they have no time for such an activity, he reminds us in the introduction that “reading is as much a part of investing in yourself as are gyms, financial planning and relationships”. But this is not a prescriptive book, instead one where McGirr shares tales of connection with 40 texts (including poetry) that have personally enriched him. It’s like sneaking at look at his haphazardly arranged bookshelf. The random selection includes the Harry Potter books, Simone de Beauvoir, Chaucer, Margaret Atwood, Homer, Shelley and Winton. Many of his selections are classics from a bygone era; McGirr doesn’t venture far into 21st century literary sources, which is a pity. There are many contemporary books he could have chosen but, as he points out, “I could have easily chosen 40 more, and 40 after that.”

WOO’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF MATHS EDDIE WOO 

Those who’ve never heard of Eddie Woo before should know that he’s a rock-star maths teacher, who rose to fame through a series of instructional YouTube videos. This book, a collection of short essays, mirrors his online mix of easy engagement and education. For those among us who are wary of number-wrangling in general, Woo allays concerns first off by saying that all mathematicians study patterns. It’s simply another language to learn. His world of maths takes in all manner of random and interesting facts and explanations. Like, for instance, why a rainbow is a bow shape, how some card tricks rely on maths rather than sleight of hand, and what the symmetry of a sunflower tells us about the universe. There are pictures and diagrams throughout. Woo assumes a natural curiosity from his readers; the book is not just for middle primary children, but for adults, too. Even for those of us who are mathematically illiterate – that is, innumerate – it’s a good resource. THUY ON

KILLING COMMENDATORE HARUKI MURAKAMI 

The unnamed protagonist in Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore is a portrait artist whose subjects are conventional company men. His portraits, like his life, are good enough. But life and art are upended when the protagonist’s wife abruptly ends their marriage. Bewildered, the artist becomes the caretaker of a friend’s remote house. The house is suffused with the mystique of its former resident, renowned artist Tomohiko Amada. Also mysterious is the tinkling bell that interrupts the artist’s sleep. With the help of his enigmatic patron, the sound is traced to a hidden shrine. The excavation unlocks many things: inspiration, family secrets, unborn children and the “Commendatore” of the title – who is a character from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni that Amada repurposed in a secret painting. Murakami ranges playfully over the origins of art, inspiration and family. Dense with imagery and allusion, his book explores absence and presence and the often mystifying connections between them. S.A. JONES PRINT

E-BOOK

THE YEAR OF THE FARMER ROSALIE HAM 

Following the big success of The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham’s new novel is The Year of the Farmer, a tale of the inhabitants of small-town Australia whose dislike for each other drives a cycle of passiveaggressive acts. Mitch, the farmer at the centre of the story, has married Mandy. They were only engaged because she was pregnant, yet the pair still went ahead with their wedding despite her miscarriage. Now Mandy is deeply unhappy in the monotony of her marriage and smalltown life, seeing no urgency in opening her shop to sell newspapers to the same people.

None of her fellow townspeople have any affection for Mandy, memorably describing her as “the arse through which the devil shits”. Meanwhile, Mitch is yearning for his ex-girlfriend, Neralie, the one who got away. So, when Neralie moves back to town after buying the local pub, things start to stir and change. This is a raw portrait of a town consumed in a self-made bubble of complacency and anger difficult to break.

DOMINIKA GREINERT

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

39

“

“

I loved coming home from school, drowning the pie in tomato sauce and demolishing it.

Tobie Puttock’s

Lentil, Sweet Potato and Mushroom Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients Serves 6-8

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing 1kg sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

MAIN PHOTO BY JULIE RENOUF; PORTRAIT BY GUY LAVOIPIERRE

sea salt and cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

200g button mushrooms, quar tered

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

200ml red wine

2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemar y leaves

400g can chopped tomatoes 400g can lentils, rinsed and drained

Method

Tobie says…

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease an 8-cup capacity baking dish with olive oil.

Pop the sweet potatoes into a large saucepan, cover with cold water and add a generous pinch of salt. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Return potato to same pan and mash with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil until smooth. Add the nutmeg and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, rosemary and mushrooms, increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are golden. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes then add the wine. Simmer until wine has almost evaporated before adding the tomatoes. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the lentils and continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place mixture in prepared dish and top evenly with sweet potato mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until potato is golden and pie is bubbling. Set aside for 5 minutes before serving with your favourite salad.

This pie freezes well and will keep for up to 2 months.

My dad makes an amazing shepherd’s pie and thinking about it brings back memories of cold winters.

I loved coming home from school, drowning the pie in tomato sauce and demolishing it. He would always make enough for a few days. This version of my dad’s recipe is plant-based, and while I’ve swapped out potato for sweet potato to reduce the carbs, I often use normal potatoes. This dish is brilliant for busy people. Like Dad, I normally double, triple or even quadruple the recipe. Once cooked and cooled I portion the pie and freeze as individual serves, making a delicious healthy meal only moments away.

Shepherd’s pie is comfort food and this dish represents what I’ve tried to achieve in SuperNatural. I noticed that the vegan food space was largely filled with vegan burgers, faux meats and other dishes that imitated meat. At the other end of the scale is healthy vegan food – lots of quinoa salads, avocado on toast followed by more avocado on toast and 14,000 recipes for dahl (which I do love by the way). When I started to put together the recipe list for SuperNatural I realised many of the dishes I’ve been making over the past 26 years in and out of kitchens can easily become vegan or are already vegan. I realised the recipes were there in front of me and I didn’t need to reinvent them at all. What’s amazing is that with many of the fats left out the vegetables really come out to play – you will taste vegetables, fruits and various grains and pulses in their natural state with the addition of herbs, spices and some oils to enhance but not drown out their original flavours. I think this recipe is a great example of how plant-based recipes can be more-ish, delicious and satisfying, while being great for you at the same time.

Hint You may notice that I use both olive oil and also extra virgin olive oil in this recipe. Generally in my kitchen I sauté with olive oil and reserve extra virgin olive oil with its wonderful flavour for salad dressings, and folding through purees.

» Tobie Puttock’s cookbook, SuperNatural, is out 29 October.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

41

REALITY BITS HELLO AND WELCOME to this bit! You will need: nothing.

Not a thing. Zilch. Leave it all behind. This bit is an obligation-free bit. No shipping fees. No “administration costs”. You won’t get a parking fine or a late fee. You don’t need to bring a present or a plate. You don’t even need to get public transport. Just step into this bit. Stand here. Take a moment. Have a think. Nobody else will bother you. It’s just you, hanging off the edge of the world, having a bit of a think.

Want some things to think about? Don’t worry. It’s not a BYO situation, not unless you want it to be. We have a long list.

So here are some things to think about in this bit.

THINK OF THE smell of brand new knitwear.

Think about the feeling of having a much-needed shower.

Everything thick and heavy falling away, just a little bit, with the water.

Think of the first belting wave coming at you in the surf.

Ducking under. The silence. Emerging with a roar.

Think about the person you most like to visit. Think about their teapot. Their towels. The hand cream in their bathroom.

Think of how their sheets smell. Think of how different it is from every other place on earth and how generous it is to show another person all of that and how that person is you.

Think of magnolia trees and hundreds-and-thousands and the fact that they are called hundreds-and-thousands, and also bicycles and the colour turquoise.

Think of the sound of an ice cream truck late on a summer afternoon.

Think about sparklers. Who invented sparklers? Fire you can hold in your hand! Fire that explodes in beautiful sparks right before the faces of small children who have never seen anything like it before and who are up well past their bedtime. Fire that costs a dollar for a packet of 12 and can make you the most fun aunty or uncle on planet earth.

Think about how you could have a line in someone else’s life. You could be the first person who is nice to someone all day. You could be the person who helps someone get to the person they love. “Oh yes,” you might say, “the airport is that way.” And maybe, just maybe, that person will change direction and gets to the airport just in time. I know a man whose family came to Australia with brand new Australian

LORIN PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

visas a few decades ago. They approached the official at the airport. He took their passports, stamped them, then leaned forward and said “welcome home”. That guy got his line right.

Try and get your lines right. You never know what impact they might have.

Think about music. How did music even happen? People experimenting with banging and sawing away at things and now look: there are music shops and concerts and musicals and rock stars and people teaching other people how to play and sing right across the world. Without the innate human desire to feel music soaring through our nervous systems, none of it would exist.

Think about the way people communicate when they can’t speak the same language. The mimes they do. The gestures. It is surprising how quickly humans can find ways to understand each other.

Think of a bird coming in to land on water. Imagine that lovely draggy-feet thing they sometimes do that stretches a huge V-shape out across the surface of the water.

Imagine the feeling of doing something you can no longer do. A dive off the big kids’ board. A handstand. A cartwheel.

Rolling down a hill without stopping. Getting a dink on a bike.

Think of the feeling of rolling over from a sleep-in and having nowhere to be. The light coming in from somewhere and outside the sounds of Saturday.

Think of the singular sensation of going for a walk and stumbling upon an animal you didn’t expect to see. The shock of the moment of discovery. The animal watching you.

You watching it. Nobody else to tell. Don’t want to move to photograph it. But somewhere nearby a branch snaps and it hurtles off and you’re standing, the reverence falling away into something approaching foolishness. “I saw a wallaby” never quite captures the magic.

Think of these things and other things or no things at all.

Feel free to stay in this bit for as long as you like. This has been a Public Service Announcement.

» Lorin Clarke (@lorinimus) is a Melbourne-based writer.

Her new radio serial, The Fitzroy Diaries, is on the ABC’s Radio National. You can also find it wherever you get your podcasts, or on the ABC Listen app.

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

43

PUZZLES

Puzzle 2 - 2018 -19

BY LINGO! PLASTIC The word plastic is older than any substance we think of as plastic.

The ancient Greek word plastikos referred to something that could be moulded or shaped. In Greek and Latin (plasticus), as well as Renaissance Europe, it lead a classy life in reference to the sculptural arts. Our current use of plastic for mouldable synthetic products made from derivatives of oil dates back to 1909. It was coined by Leo Baekeland – for whom Bakelite, the first commercial plastic, is named. This is notably later than the first use of plastic surgery in 1839, a reminder that this type of operation involves sculpting the human form into a new shape, rather than the use of synthetic enhancers.

by Lauren Gawne (lingthusiasm.com)

Puzzle 1 - 2018 -19

SOLUTIONS #572

ADDER’S COIL

by Wylie Ideas wylieideas.com.au

HOW TO PLAY Place a number in each empty square to make a path through squares of the grid following the numbers 1 to 9 in order, repeated as many times as necessary.

After 9, start again with 1.

The path tracks through adjacent squares horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally, to form a continuous loop that does not cross itself, split or reach a dead-end at any point.

Solution next edition!

44

Nub 11 Minibus 12 Leisure 13 Mislay 14 Snuggest 16 Traction 18 Vetoes 21 Piquant 22 Assault 24 Obi 25 Gunslingers 26 Steer 27 Escalator DOWN 1 Opium 2 Encinas 3 Don’t be a stranger 4 Amidst 5 Needling 6 Nothing personal 7 Venture 8 Librettos 13 Metaphors 15 Continue 17 Acquire 19 Opulent 20 Garlic 23 Taser

CONTRIBUTORS Film Editor Annabel Brady-Brown Small Screens Editor Aimee Knight Music Editor Sarah Smith Books Editor Thuy On Cartoonist Andrew Weldon

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

ENQUIRIES Advertising Jenny La Brooy on (03) 9663 4533 jlabrooy@bigissue.org.au Subscriptions (03) 9663 4533 subscribe@bigissue.org.au Editorial Tel (03) 9663 4522 editorial@bigissue.org.au The Big Issue, GPO Box 4911, Melbourne, VIC 3001 thebigissue.org.au © 2018 Big Issue In Australia Ltd All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

PUBLISHED BY Big Issue In Australia Ltd (ABN 61 071 598 439) 227 Collins St Melbourne VIC 3000

PRINTER Printgraphics Pty Ltd 14 Hardner Road Mount Waverley VIC 3149

CARTOON BY ANDREW WELDON

EDITORIAL Editor Amy Hetherington Deputy Editor Katherine Smyrk Contributing Editor Michael Epis Contributing Editor Anastasia Safioleas Editorial Coordinator Lorraine Pink Intern Mel Fulton Art Direction & Design Gozer (gozer.com.au)

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Overdrawn 6 Novel 9 Incontinent 10

CROSSWORD » by 1

1

1

Siobhan Linde 2

8 1

1

1

3

1

9

1

1

1

1

16 1

1

19

1

1

1

1

17

1

1

1

23

24

1

1

1

1

1

1

13

1

14

1

1

1

21

1

1

1

25

1

1

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1

1

DOWN

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

18

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

22

26

1

1

The answers for the cryptic and quick clues are the same.

8. How is he concealing desire? (4) 9. Got rid of cider, tea and no-name rum (10) 10. Show First Lady trapped in city (6) 11. Dodgy deals and why they had the greatest influence (4,4) 12. Drill into sea of trees (8) 14. Ernie’s companion rejected the French singer (6) 16. Ends note with post script (4) 17. Writer eats artichoke heart and a nut (5) 18. Mouthpiece to restrain a badger (4) 19. The half-hearted workers in ancient city (6) 21. Flower girl returned a fifty withdrawn from bank (8) 23. Dress shoe with thin lining (8) 26. Wandered in Rome, clutching a diamond (6) 27. Insane goat unleashed anger… (10) 28. …upon Ian Thorpe, now and then (4)

7

15

1 1

1

1

1

27 1

6

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

5

1 11

1

20

1

1

12 1

4

1

10 1

1

1. Insect shrivels if sprayed (10) 2. Ghosts called out to cool cats (8) 3. Hard to climb in cashmere vest (6) 4. Start mixing wood pulp (4) 5. Detective talking about losing weight in secret language (3,5) 6. Girl is swimming with seal (6) 7. Cheese turned up in chocolate fondue (4) 13. Diet whiskey removed from pub around the corner? (5) 15. Playing daily on seesaw (4,4,2) 17. Olympian put ironed jacket on (8) 18. Bats ate 500 handkerchiefs (8) 20. Superhero visiting mother in outskirts of Berlin (6) 22. Virginia tried to remove top to get changed (6) 24. Border policy (4) 25. Hold back welling tear (4)

28

1

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

8. Want (4) 9. Completely destroyed (10) 10. Indicate (6) 11. Predominated (4,4) 12. Tree-dwelling (8) 14. Threefold (6) 16. Lists (4) 17. Type of nut (5) 18. Taunt (4) 19. Ancient city (6) 21. Light purple (8) 23. Clobber (8) 26. Wandered (6) 27. Annoyed (10) 28. Upon (4)

DOWN

1. Insect (10) 2. Ghosts (8) 3. Grave (6) 4. Pulp (4) 5. Argot (3,5) 6. Scottish girl (6) 7. Variety of cheese (4) 13. Resident (5) 15. Saw (4,4,2) 17. Sea god (8) 18. Head scarves (8) 20. Superhero (6) 22. Diverse (6) 24. Boundary (4) 25. Hold tightly (4)

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

45

CLICK WORDS BY MICHAEL EPIS » PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY

Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, 1956 IT’S NOT EVERY day you see Fidel

without a beard and Che in his jocks.

We are in a Mexico City jail, 1956.

On the left, Fidel Castro, the one Western hemisphere leader who successfully resisted the United States, overthrowing its client administration in Cuba and establishing a Communist country on the US doorstep, and surviving assassination bids and coups for decades, eventually dying of natural causes aged 90 in 2016.

On the right, Ernesto Guevara, he of a million posters on student bedroom walls, an Argentine doctor who would be Castro’s second-in-command. “Che” was his nickname, meaning “buddy” (or even “mate”).

Castro looks like he is dressing to leave. He was released first, and promised to wait for Guevara, so he too could be aboard the yacht Granma,

as it sailed the Gulf of Mexico to Castro’s homeland. “Fidel’s answer was irrevocable and I can still hear him say ‘I will not leave you,’” Guevara wrote in his diary.

Three-quarters of the 82 on board were killed on landing in Cuba. The duo survived and escaped to the hills, from where they launched two years of guerrilla warfare, ending in the declaration of their new state on 1 January 1959.

The two had met in 1955, in Mexico City, where Castro fled after being released from a Cuban jail, as Guevara had fled Guatemala. “I talked all night with Fidel. And in the morning I had become the doctor of his new expedition,” was how the younger man described it. His description was vindicated upon Castro’s death when a journalist visited their erstwhile

flat, and interviewed a resident. “They were loud talkers,” Guadalupe Rojas said. “My mother-in-law lived in the apartment above, and she’d tell me how ‘those Cubans’ would be up for hours.”

Castro became president, Guevara was variously his finance minister, bank president and ambassador. Although a doctor, Guevara killed, including an informer, recording that he shot him “with a .32 pistol in the right side of the brain, with exit orifice in the right temporal lobe”, bearing out the dictum of fellow Communist revolutionary Mao Zedong: “A revolution is not a dinner party…it is an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”

After a sojourn in the Congo, Guevara continued his fight in Bolivia, where in 1967, aged 39, he was captured in the jungle and killed – and a martyr was born.

NEXT EDITION OF THE BIG ISSUE ON SALE… 46 THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 19 OCT–1 NOV 2018

FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER