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Keywords: Platitudes

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Quadriplegic sex and dignity

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 15 November 2012
    5 Comments

    A quadriplegic and a virgin, Mark hears from others how disability hinders or enhances their sexual activity, and recalls the humiliation of ejaculating involuntarily while being bathed. It is a human dignity issue for him, but what of the dignity of the 'sex surrogate' whose specialised services he employs?

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Teen girl's post-traumatic guilt trip

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 21 June 2012
    2 Comments

    A self-absorbed teenager contributes to the road death of a pedestrian, then seeks to assuage her guilt without actually accepting responsibility. One teacher attemps to mentor the girl in her dilemma but is too accepting of her flirtatious advances to be considered a disinterested advisor.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Traversing grief on the Camino

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 03 May 2012
    5 Comments

    Irishman Jack's cynicism has its roots in his hurt and betrayal over the clergy sex abuse scandal within his country. Snide American Sarah's abrasive personality masks numerous hurts. The most extraordinary aspect of religious pilgrimages is the ordinary humanity of the pilgrims themselves.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    When cancer is funny

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 07 March 2012
    2 Comments

    We follow 27-year-old Adam from his diagnosis through the hazards of chemo to still more hazardous surgery. He is aided along the way by the world's worst doctor and a therapist too inexperienced to be of any help. Some cancer stories are as funny as they are tragic.

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  • MEDIA

    'Fundamentalist' Albrechtsen's Malaysia misfire

    • Max Atkinson
    • 13 October 2011
    6 Comments

    In supporting her opposition to gay marriage, the best Janet Albrechtsen could say was that the opinion was her own, and was 'fundamental'. These remarks shed light on Albrechtsen's bizarre attack on the judges of the High Court over their decision on the Malaysia solution.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Alice Springs drinking stories

    • Ellena Savage
    • 19 August 2011
    3 Comments

    On my last night in Alice, we went to the pub, and drank and danced with some locals. Patricia, for whom English was a fourth language, had moved to Alice to be with her husband. Her manner of speech was beautiful. When she invited us to her table, she said, 'Come, I'll tell you a story.'

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  • RELIGION

    Twelve Steps to healing an abusive Church

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 23 March 2011
    32 Comments

    I received a letter from a former student. Ten years ago, he had suddenly vanished without warning or further communication. Now he was about to reveal the reasons for his disappearance. It was the sort of story I had heard often before.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Testing marriage

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 16 February 2011
    1 Comment

    Becca is appalled by the insufficiency of religious platitudes. Howie's emotions are unbridled and barely tempered, emerging as a lunging stallion roar. Separated by the obelisk of grief for their dead son, they seek solace individually.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Back to the future for international students

    • Hanifa Deen
    • 17 September 2009
    6 Comments

    Visits by our senior politicians offering glib reassurances will not halt the turndown in Indian enrolments in our tertiary institutions. We need to revisit the days when we treated international students as people rather than statistics in an export industry.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Redeeming the all-American racist

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 29 January 2009
    4 Comments

    To be fair, Walt dislikes everybody. He dismisses the local priest as an 'overeducated 27-year-old virgin' and spews vile, xenophobic slander towards his Hmong refugee neighbours. Walt respects those who can give as good as they get.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Talking turkey for a cliché-free year

    • Tom Clark
    • 10 December 2008
    15 Comments

    Sick of singing from the same song sheet during a perfect storm? Try our innovative 12-step cliche evasion program and see if, at the end of the day, it impacts your speech and enhances your conversation, going forwards into 2009.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why Aussie pollies are crumby speakers

    • Sarah Kanowski
    • 30 October 2008
    9 Comments

    Where Obama waxed lyrical about kings and pioneers, Rudd rhymed clumsily about Iced Vo Vos and getting on with the job. Australians don't do magnificence, and our national 'shyness' is nowhere clearer than in our political rhetoric.

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