Good Weekend Magazine

30/08/2024

Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright famously said there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women. I’d add that there’s a seat alongside them for those who dismiss women who write about their interior lives. You know, the ones who diss all “chick lit”, who don’t just dislike Taylor Swift’s music (which is fine, each to their own) but see its subject matter – relationships, heartache – as lightweight. To read in today’s cover story that Missy Higgins, despite having produced one of the most popular Australian albums of all time, has never been fully embraced by commercial radio, brought this train of thought to mind. Is it her music (again, fine), or is it something about the subject matter – relationships, heartache – that somehow disqualifies her from consideration? I guess we’ll never know, but I have my suspicions. Elsewhere in today’s issue, Jennifer Byrne revisits Rwanda 22 years on to find a revitalised country; sculptor Alex Seton discusses his art; and finance journos Alan and Chris Kohler talk about their beautiful father-son bond. Note, no fear of feelings there. ⁠
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Editor, Katrina Strickland.⁠

✍️ Melissa Fyfe⁠
📸 Mia Mala McDonald
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-september-1-edition-20240712-p5k5an.html

23/08/2024

NOT SO long ago, if you talked about soccer as “football”, Australians would divide into two camps: those who’d say of course it’s football, it’s the world game, the beautiful game, the only real game; and those who’d say “football” here means Aussie rules, league or rugby – soccer’s just that … soccer. ⚽️⁠
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Today, thanks to a growing interest in the sport – including our national embrace of the Matildas – people are smart enough to work out which code is being referred to by the context of the conversation.⁠
But that former divide helps explain why one of our greatest football exports, Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou, is still sceptical about Australia’s relationship with the game – and more particularly, with him. He speaks about this and more in today’s cover story by Vince Rugari, who has also penned a new book on the coach, Angeball. It seems that, all too often, we still only truly appreciate our compatriots when they’ve “made it” overseas. ⁠
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Speaking of which, for stirring evidence of the reverence with which Postecoglou is held by Spurs fans, watch the YouTube video of them serenading him last year with their own version of Robbie Williams’ Angels. It’s an instant mood-lifter. Editor – Katrina Strickland⁠

https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-august-23-edition-20240712-p5jzp3.html
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✍️ Vince Rugari
📸 Ryan Pierse/Getty

16/08/2024

Hard to believe, but it’s been 24 years since Michael Klim strummed an air guitar at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Who can forget that splash of sheer Aussie cheekiness after beating the Americans in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay with Ian Thorpe, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus? Klim was the new golden boy. But, as we all know, life has a habit of pulling dark surprises out of the bag. In 2020, Klim was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called CIPD, causing progressive muscle loss, particularly in the lower limbs. It was a crushing blow for Klim, who’d long defined himself by his strength. Even more poignantly, as Luke Benedictus writes in this week’s cover story, the condition made Klim feel less of a father because he’d always been an active dad, shooting hoops with his son, playing tennis with his daughters. For a time, the diagnosis blindsided him – but, ultimately, he was able to pull himself out of the pit of despair he’d fallen into. Why do some people bounce back from hard times while others struggle? Klim’s story is a lesson in resilience. – Deputy editor, Greg Callaghan⁠
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-august-17-edition-20240701-p5jt7z.html
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✍️ Luke Benedictus⁠
📸 Josh Robenstone

09/08/2024

In my version of utopia, the little guy often wins. You know, the one who leaves his well-paid job to start up something of his own, something more creative, fun and fulfilling than working for da man. He intuits what the populace want before the populace even know they want it, and delivers it to them. David triumphs over Goliath, the end.⁠
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Of course, in real life it’s never that simple. Goliath often sees what David is doing and, with all his resources and market power, jumps ahead of – or on top of – David. Governments also want a slice of David’s brilliance, adding to his red-tape headache and cost base. And, well, sh*t just happens, too (hello, pandemic). ⁠
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The rise and fall of craft brewing reflects this trajectory, and in today’s cover story, Konrad Marshall assesses why it’s all suddenly become so difficult. ⁠
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It’s a reality check, particularly if, like me, you are rather fond of Gordon, the microbrewer from the superb home-grown TV series Colin from Accounts, and his ilk. Come to think of it, that was another indie-done-good story, a TV show created by two little people with a big idea that became a hit around the world. Maybe there’s still hope for David, after all.

Editor, Katrina Strickland⁠

https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-august-10-edition-20240701-p5jq7f.html
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✍️ Konrad Marshall⁠
📸 Photograph by ⁠
Digital alterations by Ollie Towning

02/08/2024

You've got to admire people who turn left when everyone ⁠
else is turning right. Going against the orthodoxy is difficult, ⁠
never more so than when you’re a kid, and fitting in is of preeminent importance. Jason Belmonte did that when he started tenpin bowling with two hands rather than the traditional one. It wasn’t against the rules but then, nor was it what bowlers did, certainly not if they ⁠
wanted to play at an elite level. ⁠
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Belmonte persisted with his out-of-the-box technique because it worked, winning him tournaments as a kid in his home town of Orange, then later around the world, including in the US, the sport’s spiritual home. As Amanda Hooton reports in today’s cover story, Belmonte, now 40, is considered the Roger Federer or Donald Bradman of the bowling alley. And guess what? After suffering opprobrium for his unorthodox style, he’s now increasingly revered. Growing, too, are the number of two-handed bowlers on the circuit. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, eh? ⁠
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Editor, Katrina Strickland⁠

https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-august-3-edition-20240617-p5jq6w.html
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✍️ Amanda Hooton⁠
📸 Pip Farquharson
🎳 Jason Belmonte

26/07/2024

After the Bondi Junction stabbings in April, I, like thousands of others, felt compelled to lay flowers at the impromptu memorial that had sprung up in the nearby shopping centre. I found myself walking past regularly in the days that followed, bearing witness to the growing number of floral tributes, a life-affirming antidote to the darkness of the time. And here’s the thing. More often than not, Allegra Spender was there. The member for Wentworth stood in that mall not just when the TV crews were buzzing but long after they’d gone, talking quietly with grieving constituents. I found that deeply moving, and impressive.⁠
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As Deborah Snow writes in today’s cover story, Spender was a reluctant draft to politics but, two and a bit years in, is finding it more rewarding than she’d imagined. She’s taken a keen interest in economic policy, particularly tax reform, which will put her in the national spotlight again in coming months. Watched closely, too, will be her evolving response to the war in Gaza, the most morally and politically fraught issue of our times – and one in which her electorate has a keen interest. ⁠
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Editor Katrina Strickland⁠
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✍️ Deborah Snow⁠
📸 Tim Bauer

https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-july-27-edition-20240617-p5jmch.html

20/07/2024

The loss of a twin during pregnancy triggers contradictory emotions. How to square the happiness that one survived with an enduring sadness that the other didn’t?⁠
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/every-serving-of-grief-is-a-full-serve-the-challenge-of-losing-a-twin-in-utero-20240617-p5jmc3.html

20/07/2024

Serena Williams misses tennis – but don’t take that as a comeback hint. Her only angst post-retirement, really, is whether she’s too easy on her kids.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-m-too-soft-serena-williams-worries-whether-she-can-be-a-pushy-tennis-mum-20240617-p5jmc2.html

19/07/2024

Every Australian should do this, says James Button: stand under a wind turbine. “Gleaming white and 160 ­metres high at the blade tip, it has the feel of a recently landed starship, a messenger from the future,” he writes in Good Weekend. “Its turning blade gives a gentle whoosh. … I find them awe-­inspiring.“⁠
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But, as Button notes, he was a tourist – at a wind farm south of Mudgee in western NSW. ⁠
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It's locals in regional communities who will live with massive change on a daily basis as they bear most of the brunt of Australia's multi-billion-dollar rollout of renewable energy infrastructure.⁠
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Forty-three potential renewable-energy zones – six of them offshore – have been selected across the five southern and eastern states to host many hundreds of new wind and solar farms, hydro projects and batteries. And people in these areas want more of a say on how that happens, and how they’ll be compensated.⁠
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“This is our home,” says Dr Melanie Oppenheimer, a resident living near a proposed wind farm in Walcha. “We will be living with these giant structures for the rest of our lives.“

18/07/2024

Comedian and actor Aaron Chen on how he chooses work (and his tatts), being intimidated in a Korean spa – and eating 40 cheeseburgers with a mate.

The comedian and actor on how he chooses work (and his tatts), being intimidated in a Korean spa – and eating 40 cheeseburgers with a mate.

17/07/2024

Dr Rachael Gunn (aka B-girl Raygun), 36, will be wearing the green and gold for breaking’s Olympic debut in Paris, but if it weren’t for her husband, Samuel Free (aka B-boy Sammy The Free), 39, she’d never even have tried a head-spin.

Olympic breaker Rachael Gunn needs Samuel Free to be her husband some days, her coach others. The two aren’t always the same.

16/07/2024

Mitch, in his 30s, seemed like a perfect gift to self. But then...

Mitch, in his 30s, seemed like a perfect gift to self. But then...