The Transit Lounge

Amy Goodhew

The Uniting Church in South Australia has a new prayer room – the Quiet Space.

As the good folk behind the prayer room thought about how to explain what it means to be the Uniting Church to people outside the church, it became apparent that the UCA is a tad on the word-heavy side. If they wanted to stand out they had to be bold. They had to be different.

The Quiet Space is both these things because it is the UCA’s first online prayer space, created by South Australian digital media company, I Love Biscuits.

 Alison Atkinson-Philips

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?

Depictions of sexuality on film are everywhere, particularly so for women. Women with their mouths open drape themselves across billboards while heavily muscled men stare challengingly down the lens to sell products as innocuous as toothpaste. Sex sells.

While we can sometimes reach a consensus on how far is too far, there isn’t enough discussion on what we permit but may not feel comfortable with, what we approve of and what we wouldn’t want our children to see.

By Heather Dowling

When does doing the wrong thing mean doing the right thing? According to four Christian activists, when times are desperate, action is needed.

On Wednesday, 31 March, 2010, the group who call themselves the Bonhoeffer Peace Collective took their passion for peace into action when they broke into a highly secret military base used by the Army’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), on Swan Island, Victoria.

Street style photographers and ‘man-on-the-street’ bloggers are usurping traditional arbiters of taste. For those of us playing at home, the authenticity, idiosyncrasies and imperfections on offer are a warm alternative to the occasionally scary editorials in the ‘cool’ magazines. The bloggers who provide the snaps; Garance Dore, Scott Schuman in The Satorialist, Jak and Jil and Bryanboy, are the new guard of style. The Selby can be counted amoung this number but is a little different. Todd Selby takes pictures of the homes of the quirky and stylish. For the creative people he shoots, the home is an extension of self. These intimate and unstyled shots of unique homes offer a little window into the soul of their owners.

By Amy Goodhew

Twitter. All the kids are doing it, flinging self conscious ephemera out into the gaping maw of the internet. For a generation that must be observed in order to feel truly alive, Twitter is the apex of the social media pyramid. In 140 characters or less tweet what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, tweet pictures of where you are or your views on anything from Gaga to Dada. It is the ultimate in self documentation. But beware being boring or you’ll be unfollowed as quick as a flash (drive).

By Amy Goodhew

FACT: Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change.

FACT: Australia has one of the highest incidences of pet ownership in the world with 63% of the 7.5 million households in Australia pet owners.

FACT: When fishing for tuna, 145 other species are regularly killed including manta ray, sharks, albatrosses, gulls, common dolphin, humpback whale and many, many others.

What do these facts have in common? They all relate to our complex and contradictory relationships with animals and food.