March/April/May Edit
Meg’s long silver skirt, and waiting in line for Cub Sport, passing UNO cards between strangers and buying dollar bags of carrots. Grabbing Meg’s hand and spinning her around in the middle of the street. 6am buses and sprawling markets, sprinting through the city and dancing in the flash mob, the fireworks on the water and screaming Janae’s name along the river because Aaron’s phone went flat.
Oscar and Fraser turning up with maccas at 3am, and my 4am flight the next day. 5 days in Brisbane, sleeping in a white room below planes that dipped low in the sky. Eating dinner with a girl in love with poetry, and sitting in a tiny open bar full of electric green light. Josh making a home from blankets and paddleboards by the water, and hopping the fence with Bianca the next night at the party, ending up in that park only half-conscious and dialing Fletcher repeatedly. Watching the sun set over Melbourne from a pool sixty floors up, and wandering back through the city in bare feet and wet hair. Cody passing his denim jacket back to me at maccas, the rain-soaked football game and wandering through Sydney in a long white dress.
Sunday mornings & Shilo & yoga on the beach, and Janae shopping for plants in Bunnings. Crawling into Giada’s bed, half-asleep, and rifling through art books in the state library. Marching through the streets of Melbourne, girls with dreads and piercings chanting in support of veganism. Fletcher over-buttering pancakes the next morning, and Tori cocooned in Janae’s bed, and cutting my hair three times in three weeks, always over the sink or in the bathtub while it rains. Purple skies framed in train windows, everyone crammed into Bayden’s living room and laughing until we cry on the blow up mattresses.
Arranging polaroids and film scans and white text in layouts for the magazine, and endless nights with Corina, wrapped in scarves and balancing boxes of vegan pizza, lying out on the wet trampoline and watching the sky. Janae making noodles in her tiny kitchen, and dancing in the botanical gardens. Fletcher kissing me for the first time in an abandoned building we were both in love with, one level below the roof, half of Melbourne spread out before us. Electric-blue lined bus, hurtling past a beach stretching through suburbs I’ve never stopped in, pressing my legs to the dark glass and forgetting where I’m going.
Standing on a beach in Flinders I had to scramble down a red clay cliff to get to, and screaming at the ocean until my lungs are empty and all I can taste is salt. Draped over Jordan and Corina in the back seats of cars, climbing down waterfalls until our fingers are numb and faces are white. Dom diving into the dam at 11pm, and Janae spending half an hour making avocado toast, and Charlotte nearly crying with laugher on her roof. Collapsing on the floor of the train, spinning around on rooftops and ducking into storm water drains.
I never really like March, or April or May. They get all mixed up in my head and I’m never sure what the date is, much less what month we’re in.
So, yeah. Here’s to June. 2018, Pt 2.
I Tonya – A vividly tied together, half documentary half drama, exploring the life of Tonya Harding. Stitched together with interviews and real-time footage, the film smashes the fourth wall regularly in the most comical ways, and is equally dark, funny, and fascinating (even, occasionally, feel-good).
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – My mum hates this movie. I love it. There’s not really any in-between. But it’s weird and twisted and wonderful, and explores love and memory and heartbreak and impulse, and is easily one of my favourite movies in the world. Also, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslett. Need I say more?
Ya Girl is Sad – An intimate video diary by Pure Nowhere favourite, Kiele, documenting months spent in recovery. “What I did learn is that recovery is slow, painful, and far from linear. I learned that time, vulnerability, and self-compassion are invaluable—and perhaps much more important to my own recovery than any medication I’m taking.”
i-Ds Summer of Love (4-Part) – In 2017, i-D put together a 4-part series entitled Summer of Love. Each chapter focuses on a new love story, and particularly how it interacts with the city it’s set in. From Paris, to London to Barcelona, through whispered interviews and vivid, intimate footage, i-D opens the door to exploring modern love in the most candid, visually beautiful way possible.
Casey Neistat – An old favourite of mine, but he started up a new daily vlog about a month and a half ago, and I’m newly re-obsessed.
Princess Nokia Interviews – I adore her.
Paper Sea – An surf & culture magazine based out of Australia, with the thickest, most luxurious issues you can imagine. Feel more like coffee table books than mags, ya know? Just kind of want to stroke the covers forever. Major inspo.
VICE– I don’t read a lot of online magazines (ironic, I know), but VICE & VICE channels (including i-D, Noisey and Broadly) have been an absolute must for me the last month or so. Also, obsessed with trawling through the i-D YouTube.
Peach Pit Collective – We sent out our first email this week! If ya don’t want to miss the next one, I’d suggest you sign up quickly! We deliver emails packed with the newest, best content from a dozen independent publications like Pure Nowhere. Makes checking your school emails, or overflowing inbox, just that little bit more exciting.
Mismatched earrings – An unfortunate side effect of being a generally disorganised person is I’m constantly losing one earring. Whether it’s my favourite pair of soy-sauce bottle earrings, a spiky clam-design hoop, or bejewelled purple studs, finding a pair is getting near impossible. So, mix and match. Better, double/triple pierce your eyes and then mix and match. Your ears are canvases! And they don’t have to match!
Orange crochet top – 3/4 sleeves, asymmetrical and short at the front. Pick out the weirdest pieces possible from side-of-the-road op shops & make them your own.
Long skirts & cropped t-shirts – Been leaning towards relaxed & layerable (is that a word?) silhouettes. Long skirts that catch at my legs & cropped t-shirts easily layered over long-sleeves or under thick jumpers.
Big necklaces – Big clunky silver things that rest just below the collarbone are a look.
Sneakers everywhere – Playing off a feminine or dressed-up look with a pair of white sneakers is my favourite thing at the moment. Kind of just makes you want to twirl around, and also kinda run a marathon. Or pull off your best karate kick.
Vegan food – In May, I finally went vegan! Everyone’s on their own journey, and though I’ve been aware of the exploitation and cruelty rife within the meat and dairy industries, it’s taken me years to finally take the step. Though the first two weeks of veganism were spent utterly bemoaning my lack of cheese/chocolate/sour cream/chicken… I’m now obsessed with lifestyle. It’s actually forcing me to cook. FULL RECIPES COMING SOON!
Spinach and Ricotta Pastries – Take an easy tofu-based ricotta recipe, cook a big bag of spinach down with half a chopped onion, and fill squares of puff pastry. Cook for about half an hour, and serve with vegan sour cream & sweet chilli sauce.
Cauliflower and Raisin Salad – Roast cauliflower w/ raisins, almonds, lemon juice, olive oil, salt… served with roast potatoes, incredible.
Eggplant Meatballs – Roasted eggplant, onion & garlic, blended with breadcrumbs and herbs, and roasted for another half hour. The best bit about these is they’re amazing in any sauce, but equally fantastic spread over toasted sourdough and a thick layer of aioli.
Soup – My saviour, while I was getting my shit together. Pick a base – pumpkin, vegetable, etc., and add everything from potatoes to beans to grains. You can’t really f*ck it up, ya know?
Sourdough – Three week obsession and counting.
Lord of the Fries – I’ve been in the city an awful lot the last few months, and dinner was looking dismal for my recently-vegan self until I remembered this 100% vegan/vegetarian fast-food outlet. (With two stores in walking distance from Flinders). The sweet potato fries are so good I could cry, and I can’t stop talking about their chick’n burger.
The Vegie Bar – A huge room in Fitzroy with an entirely vegan menu to make your mouth water.
and I’ve been listening to…
Marinade – DOPE LEMON
The Dream Song – Nathan Reich
Sister – #1 Dads
Second Hand Car – Kim Churchill
Panama – Sports
You Say I’m in Love – Banes World
Seaweed – Hockey Dad
Love Lost – The Temper Trap
Bob Marley – Grizfolk
Young – Vallis Alps
Youth – Daughter
Flowers in Her Hair – The Dune Flowers
The Heart is a Muscle – Gang of Youths
Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
Don’t Delete the Kisses – Wolf Alice
Youngblood – 5 Seconds of Summer
21st Century Blues – The Wombats
Phone calls – Currently, most of the people I love are train lines away, and I’ve taken to spending my evenings on calls. I never text people back, anyway.
Sitting by the local pool – Okay, I just sort of love the smell of chlorine. So I’ve found myself heading down for a swim and ending up sitting by the side in a towel, damp hair and journal or laptop propped on my knees.
Urban exploring – Fletcher & I took to seeking out rooftops and storm drains. The history & graffiti & sense of timelessness is amazing. Watching the sun set over Melbourne from the roof of an iconic abandoned warehouse is indescribable.
Masterclass – I’ve been trawling through their YouTube videos, daydreaming over classes from Martin Scorsese or Samuel L Jackson. How incredible?? Still saving up for a pass, though. I’ll let ya all know how it goes.
Wunderlist – Pretty sure I’ve talked about this here before, but it’s a literal lifesaver.
Shooting (photos, not people) – I’m taking a VCE Media class this year, which has involved a new photography project every week, from portraiture to tone to studio lighting. It’s testing my creativity & forcing me to get comfortable with my camera, and there’s a lot of bad to say about school, but at the very least it’s why I’m finally taking photos.