All sports fans are sustained by fantasies. They are our white ravens, the sights we imagine we will never see, because they are ruled out by improbabilities, but they still sustain us. For they bring us back to the ‘action’ again and again, hoping against hope and empirical plausibility, letting their associated dreams and wonderingsContinue reading “The Gabba As Field Of Dreams”
Tag Archives: Australia
Walking in Sydney: From Beach to Campus (And Back)
I like writing about walking–to work, and around New York City, for instance–on these pages. I like walking through new cities, for it remains the best way–at the right remove–to experience their offerings. One walk that combined commuting with exploration was one I undertook, sporadically, for a few months, in Sydney, Australia, while living inContinue reading “Walking in Sydney: From Beach to Campus (And Back)”
Nationalism and Climate Change
Many contemporary commentators–sages all of them–have noted that the single most important barrier to expeditious action being taken on climate change is nationalism, that the prioritization of national priorities, the elevation of ‘local’ concerns–possibly short-term and limited in impact–over global ones would ensure failures of co-ordination between precisely those entities–nations–whose joint action is required toContinue reading “Nationalism and Climate Change”
The 9/11 Attacks: A Terrifying Spectacle, Viewed from Afar
On September 11th, 2001, I was in Sydney, Australia, working as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of New South Wales. I spent most of the day in my office, composing a long email to my girlfriend back in New York City, my former home for seven years, suggesting we break up. Our long-distance relationshipContinue reading “The 9/11 Attacks: A Terrifying Spectacle, Viewed from Afar”
Craig McGregor on Living in the Bush
This morning, as I rummaged through my bookshelves in one of those periodic, vain attempts I make to try and organize them, I came upon my copy of Australia Fair?: Recollections, Observations, Irreverences (edited by Russell Braddon, Methuen, London, 1984). I had purchased it in 2000, in Sydney, at the Berkelouw’s bookshop on Oxford StreetContinue reading “Craig McGregor on Living in the Bush”
Samir Chopra 