I wish Grattan Street Press had been in existence when I gained my first job at a publishing house. Let me explain . . . I was one of the very first graduates of the new Master of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne in 2003. There were only a few practical editing … Continue reading Things I Wish I’d Learned Before I Became a Fiction Editor
Driving was seen as a huge deal when I was growing up in the UK. For my sister, who got her licence at seventeen, driving was a crucial part of her fledging independence from the family home. My brother picked his licence up later in life, at the age of 25, once he realised it … Continue reading On (Not) Learning to Drive, Gender, and Failure
When I was young, I thought life was a linear series of achievements. A long list of boxes to check off, and once you checked enough of them, you were an adult with a career. I have since come to realize it’s a bit more like an Etch-a-Sketch, restarting and erasing constantly, because those two … Continue reading The Post-College Letdown
‘Do you want to come home?’ Mum asked me when the pandemic began spreading internationally. I assured her that I was fine in Australia. It has a better health infrastructure than home, a smaller population, and I had already paid my tuition for the year. New Delhi will always be my city but I was … Continue reading The Woes of Being Internationally Stranded
Nostalgia is ingrained in the millennial identity. But while this has become an object of mockery, it can actually be a useful coping mechanism in these troubled times. One day, when doom-scrolling through Twitter, I happened across the most unexpected inter-generational debate I’ve ever read. A spate of millennial roasting by Gen Z-ers on TikTok … Continue reading The Virtues of Millennial Nostalgia
If you didn’t grow up with a pet of some form, it’s hard to imagine what an incredible presence they are. For me, a home is just a house without one. One of the eternal highlights of my life will be when one of my two adopted cats had kittens. I spent a blissful summer … Continue reading On Motherhood and Dog Ownership
Generational theory can provide a fascinating inside into cultural shifts and shared experiences, but they can also fall into the trap of being sensationalistic, overly simplistic and stereotyping. Us millennials have suffered (and, judging by the many articles still being published, are still suffering) from becoming a parody of our experiences. We have been described … Continue reading More Than a Stereotype
It was 4:45 p.m. New York time, 7:45 a.m. Melbourne time, when my parents called and said, with an unmistakable tone of disappointment, ‘We think you should come home.’
As millennials, we have been accused of killing many an industry (from department stores to door bells) and while most of this is unfounded or exaggerated, we certainly seem to have lost the art of – if not killed – hobbies. We don’t have hobbies anymore, we have side hustles.
When I moved out of college at the end of last year, in favour of adulting in my first share house, I didn't get around to buying any meat for approximately two-and-a-half weeks. It's not that I don't like meat. In fact, when it's cooked well – think kebabs, slowly marinated and cooked over hot … Continue reading On Being an Accidental Flexitarian
