Indonesia — Stories

Pop and Circumstance

Each person is more interesting than any one aspect of their identity too, and everyone owes it to themselves to experiment and discover themselves, instead of just assuming the identity placed upon them by their societies…

Raising The Bar

The scene of a Muslim family decorating a built-in home bar at Christmas felt normal to me at the time…

A Grim Balinese Summer

Isn’t that always the case? You plan for life to go a certain way, only for it to forge its own path…

We Have The Power To Write Our Own Narrative

‘It’s cancer’… The doc said. And with that prognosis, I saw myself living back in Perth, Western Australia…

A 5-day Intensive to Remember

Getting to my final year, I had an existential crisis—I hadn’t done an exchange semester yet...

The Hale Boys

Your purpose in life isn’t just found in big cities, away from supposed intellectual backwaters. It’s found wherever you feel the most alive and the most genuine and such a place isn't often tacked to a specific postcode.

How Far Being a Banana Got Me

I still remember it vividly. I was 10 years old, and I had just come home from school. I opened the door to our townhouse and found my mum in a near foetal position on the chair sobbing. This was the first time I’d ever seen my mum in such a state...

Staying True As A Javanese Woman

I was afraid that by identifying as a Javanese woman, I would be mistaken for being submissive, accepting and feminine. I would be misunderstood as being passive, when there is power in subtlety, courtesy, initiative, emotional mastery and consciousness...

Wogs and Dings—Enemies of the State

The peace and tranquility were the main draw cards of Coolbinia Primary School, but it was also one of its major pitfalls. They bred comfort—the type which people get possessive about…

The Art of Seduction: TCK Male Chronicles

For the sake of science, and the greater cause of humanity, one TCK-male set off on an empirical journey to discover the romantic intricacies of women, worldwide. On his quest into unchartered territories (well, not completely unchartered, but how many can claim a voyage to woo the world?), he propositioned females from different countries...

I Could be From Bali

My grandmother spoke in Javanese a lot, especially to my grandfather. This was usually when she was talking about me or my sister, assuming that my attendance at an English and Indonesian speaking school meant I would not understand her...

Recipe 4: Mi Gorgasm

My first time with said noodle was in college (granted, I was kind of a late bloomer). When I asked my friends about their first experiences, some confessed that they’d gone home to it after a first date or left parties early for it. Others boasted they’d had three sessions in one night...