How do you define youth? Is it an attitude? An age? A generation?
Often ‘yoof’s’ have a hopeful look in their eye. It’s a wide eyed demeanor, unsullied by disappointment or situations too difficult to easily categorize. Youth is still fresh and tender.
You can spy youth in the little kids who tear around fountains in their undies, tweens awkwardly tripping over themselves while smiling in their braces, the teenager looking scornfully at those who went before and plan how they’re like, totally going to do it differently and those in their twenties start building their new lives on their own on their first solo trips to Ikea.
Less obviously, you can also get a whiff of youth from the Grandma with the cheeky attitude, the Dad who gets down on the floor to play with his kids and when grown ups let their dignity drop for a brief moment to have some fun.
If we can identify and appreciate a young attitude maybe we’ll be able to do what the songs says and stay forever young.
In June, 2010, Tony Abbott looked set to learn a thing or two about the plight of asylum seekers first hand as he, in turn, agreed to teach a former refugee how to surf.
Caryn Rogers asks what broader purpose is served by South Australia's high incarceration rates.
Prison. We’re brought up believing it’s the place where bad people go. And to some extent that is true. But prison is a lot of things, and not necessarily always what we think, or hope, it is. The actuality of the prison system paints a complex picture, one which is often masked by political, frenzy-mongering rhetoric.
What a political pickle we find ourselves in. We learnt the Prime Minister we once so adored is foul mouthed (rat-%&*#s? really?), overtired and exceptionally cranky and then before we knew it, he was overthrown. The Opposition Leader has asked the voting public not to take anything he says as ‘gospel’, steadfastly refused to don clothing preferring instead to talk endlessly of things he finds ‘confronting’ while splashing about in his budgie smugglers. It’s enough to drive you to vote Green.
Feminists have fought hard for their independence , not only for their own freedom but for their daughters to grow up as their own people. So what do you do, as a feminist, when your daughter wants to be a princess and insists on being rescued by a prince? Alison Atkinson-Phillips shares her breakfast play time with her daughter Mia, as she faced this dilemma.
There has been a simmering debate about burqa-wearing women in Australia over the last few months, following on from bans in some European countries. The issue has popped up again over the last couple of days because a woman has asked to be able to wear it while giving evidence in court. The question is, what is it about a woman in a veil that is making everyone so hot and bothered?
The headline of a Melbourne newspaper last month trumpeted “Men lead, women obey?” It was a feature article exploring a growing backlash against women leading in some Australian churches.
The Uniting Church in Australia has ordained women for many years. Here in the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania we have a female Moderator. Can we afford to take this for granted, or do we need to remain ever vigilant. Perhaps, even becoming outspoken advocates in the wider church community in support of women as leaders – in the church, in the secular workplace and in the home?
I write as an Anglican, accepted into the Uniting Church fold, a woman, a mother and, increasingly, a feminist, deeply concerned about gender injustice in both our own culture and the wider world.
My idea for an article about how the male brain works initially was a source of mirth for my female colleagues. “An oxymoron if I ever heard one” snorted one, which quickly gave way to widespread cackling from the office ladies. Interest was restored when I revealed that the male baby learns to recognize fear or anger in his Mother’s voice by seven months and can completely ignore her by 12 months.
What do you get when you mix eclectic “grandma-style” furniture, grungy low lighting, affordable fair trade coffee, local artwork and live alternative music?
The answer is Midnite Café — a ministry “on the fringe” in Dubbo, which doesn’t have the traditional agenda of serving the community in the hope that people will come to church.
“The cafe is much more about the question of how the church can bring the kingdom of God to life for people, where people can engage with spiritual seeking on their own terms,” says Naomi Nash. The café was born out of her position as the Young Adults Worker for the Macquarie Darling Presbytery.
Heather Dowling
Alison Atkinson-Philips
The headline of a Melbourne newspaper last month trumpeted “Men lead, women obey?” It was a feature article exploring a growing backlash against women leading in some Australian churches.
By Amy Goodhew
What do you get when you mix eclectic “grandma-style” furniture, grungy low lighting, affordable fair trade coffee, local artwork and live alternative music?
