The Monthly

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Fire in the bully Does a macho culture of bush use influence policymakers to override science and safety concerns, and ignore Indigenous counsel, in bushfire management?

Anthropologists have also noticed that Cultural burn practitioners tend to be regarded not as authorities, but as stakeholders who must endure the indignities of high-vis oversight. mnth.ly/Fk9Xl10

Fire in the bully Does a macho culture of bush use influence policymakers to override science and safety concerns, and ignore Indigenous counsel, in bushfire management?

To practitioners like Aunty Jessica, if you don’t ignite using firesticks crafted from Country – if you’re so impatient or disconnected that you need to deploy incendiaries – then you’re not in the liminal state for right practice. mnth.ly/Q80UGWn

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‘Who would I show it to’ A grandfather’s meticulous care with sermons and love of poetry led the author to a resonant line from American laureate W.S. Merwin

My sisters and I – by coincidence, not by design – have all elected not to talk to our respective therapists about our father. We discover this during the loose and shouty evening portion of a family lunch. mnth.ly/LDRLdyz

‘Who would I show it to’ A grandfather’s meticulous care with sermons and love of poetry led the author to a resonant line from American laureate W.S. Merwin

While the adults caught up – all raucous laughter and stiff drinks – we cousins would roam around in packs, before coming together to talk – taking in the “grown-up” conversations and repeating them endlessly, telling our stories of ourselves. mnth.ly/eNmi7QC

Towers of transcendence: St. Thomas More Columbarium A Catholic parish in Perth has foregone the traditional wall of crematorial niches for peaceful chambers enclosed within graceful limestone walls

A Catholic parish in Perth has foregone the traditional wall of crematorial niches for peaceful chambers enclosed within graceful limestone walls mnth.ly/dAWmLTT

‘Who would I show it to’ A grandfather’s meticulous care with sermons and love of poetry led the author to a resonant line from American laureate W.S. Merwin

A grandfather’s meticulous care with sermons and love of poetry led the author to a resonant line from American laureate W.S. Merwin | Michael Williams mnth.ly/oLDVyGJ

Cycles of life: ‘Pillion’ and ‘Sirāt’ Harry Lighton’s film of self-discovery among queer BDSM bikers, and Óliver Laxe’s tale of a man’s search for his daughter in a rave community amid hints of a post-collapse world

A part-rom, part-com, mostly dom film for the ages, ‘Pillion’ encapsulates that all-encompassing first flush of, if not love, then certainly infatuation, and how a unique relationship can sometimes offer startling revelations about oneself. mnth.ly/IpO37ha

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Cycles of life: ‘Pillion’ and ‘Sirāt’ Harry Lighton’s film of self-discovery among queer BDSM bikers, and Óliver Laxe’s tale of a man’s search for his daughter in a rave community amid hints of a post-collapse world

On a second watch, knowing what was to come, I left uncertain of Laxe’s principal intentions beyond a metaphysical viewing experience, leaving me in my own kind of purgatory. mnth.ly/HxAjKsF

Midnight mass delusion The Doomsday Clock was effective Cold War theatre, but does it fail to convey the threat of today’s slowly unfolding existential crises?

To think of that crisis as something in our future is to ignore, or downplay, the crisis we are *in* as a consequence of the kind of thinking that makes nuclear weapons possible, and climate change, AI etc the “existential” challenges they are. mnth.ly/iE7ClHe

Barton Springs A new short story from the award-winning Irish novelist, essayist and playwright

As I drive, I dream about you in the dressing room just as it is ready to close. Everyone else has gone. You are walking naked towards the shower. I watch you. And when you return I pretend to be busy drying myself. mnth.ly/TDT2yGJ

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Midnight mass delusion The Doomsday Clock was effective Cold War theatre, but does it fail to convey the threat of today’s slowly unfolding existential crises?

That Taleb has little time for Pinker, whom he accuses of falsely conflating patterns in historical data with permanent trends, is not an incidental matter. Just like the boffins at the Bulletin, Pinker has greatly overestimated his power as a soothsayer. mnth.ly/kPSEumi

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Fire in the bully Does a macho culture of bush use influence policymakers to override science and safety concerns, and ignore Indigenous counsel, in bushfire management?

“You may be noticing a gender issue in the forest space. Forest-destroying jobs are predominantly male and paid; forest care is predominantly female and unpaid.” mnth.ly/DgrQecS