The Australian Women's Weekly January 2018

I partook in an involuntary experiment in letting go this week, when I misplaced my mobile phone. I realised I was missing this useful but demanding extension of my left arm shortly after jumping into a taxi to settle in for a 20-minute drive. But how would I keep on top of my seemingly endless stream of work emails, scour news sites for updates or check in with my favourite identities on social media? As I contemplated throwing myself out of the slow-moving vehicle and dashing back to the office to retrieve said piece of technology, the taxi driver turned to me and made a comment about an old typewriter discarded on the side of the road. It turned out my rather dashing Peruvian driver was a collector of vintage…

Letter of the month I wish to commend you on your wonderful article on female church leaders (The New Faithfuls, AWW, Christmas issue). The female rabbi, bishop and Muslim community leader were great examples of female empowerment. I am a Christian and at my church there have been two wonderful female ministers. One even conducted the service of my late father’s funeral. Some people believe that women should not be preachers but the New Testament has examples of female deacons. Phoebe, for example, was a deaconess (Rom 16:1) . Keep up the good work, Women’s Weekly, with great articles about girl power! Angela Morrissey, Eaglehawk, Vic. One great Dame Thank you for your brilliant story on the humble and talented Julie Walters, who looks superb at 67 and is reaping the…

Aussie fireys fight the California blaze As we go to press, Californian wildfires are burning across an area of land bigger than New York City and Boston combined. In the worst wildfire season on record, fires have destroyed more than 1000 buildings in communities including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura and the state’s wine-growing centres of Napa Valley and Sonoma. Californian Governor Jerry Brown described the situation as “the new normal” and suggested that, as the impacts of climate change intensify, “this could be something that happens every year or every few years”. Australian, Mexican and Canadian firefighters have joined around 8700 American fireys battling the blazes. Aussie firefighters have been helping out in the worst American bushfire seasons for more than 50 years. FRIENDS FOR LIFE Adelaide Year 10…

In 2004, in honour of the wedding of HRH Crown Prince Frederik to Australia’s own Mary Donaldson, a 1.1 million kroner ($176,000) gift was raised in Denmark and Greenland. As wedding gifts go, this was a pretty generous one and certainly a sign of how much faith Danes had in their new Crown Princess. That trust was paid back in spades when three years later the new royal put the people’s funds to work and launched her Mary Foundation. HRH The Crown Princess’s vision was to create a powerful initiative that gave something back to Denmark, a program of projects that would tangibly help the most vulnerable and tackle key social problems. Under an overarching mantel of combating social isolation, based on the belief that everyone has a right to…

The possibility of a meltdown at last year’s AFL grand final was high, so Dave Hughes gave his son a pep talk before the game. Still, he didn’t expect the weeping to start before the quarter-time siren. A self-appointed Adelaide Crows supporter, eight-year-old Rafferty was nothing if not invested in the event – so when his team’s fortunes turned south, his dad (a mad Carlton fan) went into damage control. “We had some ‘coping cards’ which a child psychologist gave us so we could read them to him to get through the day, like, ‘No matter what, they’re winners’,” says Dave, “but they didn’t work and he was bawling from about halfway through the first quarter until we left just after three-quarter time. He was crying so much that he…

“Meghan has a huge amount of charisma.” The whispers among those in the know was that an engagement was just around the corner, and on November 27 Clarence House announced (on Twitter) that Prince Harry was engaged to Meghan Markle, his girlfriend of nearly two years. While the news had been expected – speculation had reached fever pitch when Meghan quit her television show Suits and moved to London at the start of the month – the announcement triggered a media frenzy as international news crews hurried to Kensington Palace. It was the story royal fans had been waiting for; the world’s favourite bachelor prince was finally settling down with the most exciting woman to marry into the royal family for decades. A famous actress who also happens to be…