'If travel dislodges us from our usual strictures, what might we then become? If we go together, who might we then become to each other? The by-products of travel are innumerable—new discoveries, sensations, energies, stories to tell. In Jessica Au’s Cold Enough For Snow (2022), the narrator returns to Japan, bringing her mother, who has never visited. The novel follows the details of their trip from beginning to end—what they eat, which artworks they see, the temples they visit. But what the narrator desires lies beyond a meticulous itinerary—it’s something that cannot be planned.' (Introduction)
'Without question, the seminal text of our times is Bluey. More than any other cultural product of the last ten years, Bluey binds together the imagined community, highlights the popularity of watch on demand, and reflects and generates the zeitgeist. Its popularity demonstrates this, but that does not account for its ubiquity at the level of discourse and commodity. Bluey is everywhere once you see it. Yet within that reality, we lack a critical consciousness of what Bluey actually means; failing to understand the semiotics of the scooter, the toothpaste, the plush toy in our daily lives let alone how we might unpack the actual animated show from which this stems. For a whole generation of children, their parents and carers, Bluey deserves to be read closely then, if only to help us know more about who we are right here and right now. That starts with acknowledging the suburban reality of where 87% of Australians actually live. Bluey if it lives anywhere lives in that heartland most of all. ' (Introduction)
