Author Archives: rustichello

About rustichello

A rather too quiet fellow of little reknown.

Mrs Mac Tells All

Posted on April 19, 2017 by rustichello

The river water is a jolly poo brown. The bridge, which I would usually cross to get to school, is entirely obscured. The clubhouse by the soccer fields is visible only by a single layer of breeze blocks and the … Continue reading →

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the heist

Posted on November 17, 2016 by rustichello

It’s Sunday morning and the sky is clear. The football season is over and the cricket hasn’t started. I have no deeds to do and no promises to keep. I mooch around the house for a bit. I consider getting … Continue reading →

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slip & sprint

Posted on August 30, 2016 by rustichello

I In his book about memory and the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien tells the story of his first love, at elementary school, and her subsequent death. The story is a neat piece of meta fiction in which … Continue reading →

Posted in things belonging to the emperor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

words overwhelm

Posted on June 16, 2016 by rustichello

In 1881 the Pretoria Convention established British suzerainty over the youthful republic of the Transvaal, a matter which would be disputed for the next twenty years or so. A small part of this agreement was a guarantee of the independence … Continue reading →

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haunts and haunting

Posted on January 14, 2016 by rustichello

The Chook and I have returned from our sojourn in the west. It was a good long drive, over 2000 kilometres in all. We headed off north through the city, up the central coast, taking a left up the Hunter … Continue reading →

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sixteen kinds of hurt

Posted on September 27, 2015 by rustichello

When my Dad was mad he’d threaten me with sixteen kinds of hurt. There was the clip over the ear; the smack on the chops; the belt across my buttocks; the gut punch; the double fisted shirt grab; the single … Continue reading →

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heaven knows

Posted on September 11, 2015 by rustichello

The day starts with Sex Machine. James Brown shouting his chorus to my sleeping children (Get up! get on up/Get up! get on up) and I feel Bootsy’s deep bass begin the snaking energy transfer from the cold airs to … Continue reading →

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the curiosity and the joy

Posted on September 9, 2015 by rustichello

Higher education is usually all about the piece of paper, a parchment with heraldry presented at the end. Institutions want their customers to think that without the parchment there is no education; no scholarship without the overarching curricula endorsed by … Continue reading →

Posted in The F-Bunker | Tagged | 3 Comments

It’s not about the baggie

Posted on March 4, 2015 by rustichello

It seems certain that Andrew Chan and Myu Sukumaran will be executed over the next few days, and there’s no question that executing them is a greater crime than importing all the heroin in the entire golden triangle. It’s a simple … Continue reading →

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way out west

Posted on January 7, 2015 by rustichello

It was a long drive, ten hours or so, undertaken in the heat of mid-February. Vinyl seats in the P76, dog at my feet, the handmade yellow trailer behind. It was the beginning of our long migration, our time of … Continue reading →

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