Saturday, December 9

Author: Joanne Wilkes

Comms versus Competence
Culture

Comms versus Competence

“The rise of ‘Comms’ has been a salient feature of organisations in recent years. That is, hordes of people – or sometimes bots – whose actual if not ostensible roles are to make the place sound good, rather than actually do anything.” – Joanne Wilkes

Illumination in the Darkest of Times
Culture

Illumination in the Darkest of Times

“The stories of these courageous dissidents had an afterlife as well. This was partly due to those who remembered them, and partly because the regime itself held on to masses of documentation.” – Joanne Wilkes

Famous People I Mostly Haven’t Met
Culture

Famous People I Mostly Haven’t Met

A school friend of Cave’s in Melbourne in the 1970s, Tracy became the bassist in Nick’s earlier band, The Birthday Party, which brilliantly wreaked havoc in Melbourne and London through the early 1980s

Voyage of the banned
Culture

Voyage of the banned

“I once tussled online with the anti-vax candidate for Mayor of Wellington, who told me I really had to ‘READ 1984’.” – Joanne Wilkes

Lives in pieces
Culture

Lives in pieces

The book has the author revisit his life, starting with the bodily changes of his childhood and puberty, and his playing dress-ups so as to express his desire to be an actor.

The gay guy and me
Culture

The gay guy and me

Gordon and I used to lie some afternoons on one of the lawns round campus. We’d talk, and drink coffee, and that was all. What a disappointment!

Faith across the ditch
Culture

Faith across the ditch

But at this Easter season, what I’m recalling is how in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there still existed a kind of fault-line between Catholics and Protestants.