ABC Radio National

Features

• The storm: a personal story of sexual abuse

  Friday 19 December 2014

  

  In this extraordinarily raw and intimate story, Kirsti Melville speaks to her former partner Erik and his mother about the sexual abuse Erik suffered as a child, its legacy and the toll it took on their relationships.

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• Michael Park: from Seoul to Sydney and back

  Friday 5 December 2014

  

  When Michael Park was a child, his family migrated from Korea to Australia. He shares the story of his parents' unlikely marriage, his early experience of life in Australia, and how a racist incident in high school changed his outlook on life.

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• Ien Ang's long way home

  Friday 21 November 2014

  

  Ien Ang has called three countries home. Indonesia's violent military coup prompted her family to flee in 1966 and settle in Amsterdam. An academic conference would later bring her to Perth, where she decided to stay. She reflects on belonging, cultural identity, and finding love online.

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• You only have so many heartbeats

  Friday 14 November 2014

  

  While most encounters with strangers are fleeting, some can be life-altering. Erin Biglia won the 360documentaries Pocketdocs competition with her true story ‘You only have so many heartbeats’, in which she realises her brother's mental health condition has made him a stranger.

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• The cancer updates

  Friday 7 November 2014

  

  After her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer, Sophie Townsend began to chronicle his decline in weekly emails she sent to a select few friends and family. The correspondence was raw and often dark, and gave the recipients a chance to bear witness to her family’s struggle.

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• A teenager in two worlds

  Friday 31 October 2014

  

  When Shannan Moloney accepted an Indigenous scholarship to attend an elite Sydney private school, he had to move away from the life and family he had known. William Verity investigates how this unique opportunity impacted his life, five years on.

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• City life through a smartphone

  Friday 24 October 2014

  

  Smart phones, tablets and iPods shape our environment like the weather, influencing what we see and hear. They are changing our understanding of what it means to be ‘together’, and ‘alone’. Benjamin Ball explores the many ways we live together in big cities.

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• The Kurds, IS and the new Iraq War

  Wednesday 15 October 2014

  

  Veteran foreign correspondent Reese Erlich has reported from the Middle East for nearly 30 years. Here he analyses the current conflict with Islamic State militants and asks whether Kurdistan's oil reserves have anything to do with western involvement.

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• 'You can't be here! Ji-had, Ji-had!'

  Wednesday 10 September 2014

  

  Trading in life in Los Angeles, Emily Richmond set out to sail around the world solo. Four years and 15,000 miles later (and still not done) she relates one of her most testing moments: sailing the pirate-infested waters of the southern Philippines.

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• Paul van Reyk's extraordinary journey and unusual family

  Friday 11 July 2014

  

  Born of mixed ancestry in colonial Sri Lanka, Paul van Reyk has led an unusual life. Migrating to Australia in the 1960s, he became a gay rights activist and eventually the patriarch of an extraordinary, blended family.

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