Suzy Freeman Greene
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Begging ban only punishes the poor
Suzy Freeman-Greene Why is it a crime to beg when charity touts can ask us for money on the streets? Beggars can be annoyingly in your face at times but so can eagle-eyed collectors for UNICEF or Plan International,...
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Quiet care that the news misses
Suzy Freeman-Greene Commercial TV and many online news sites are often a scary litany of crime and outrage.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
When a simple slice of Pi is the most satisfying dish of all
Suzy Freeman-Greene At a time studios wring every drop from sequels, Life of Pi's success is a thing of joy.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Who? What? When? Don't panic, it's listed somewhere
Suzy Freeman-Greene ''Work more and better. Work by a schedule. Wash teeth if any. Shave.'' So began singer Woody Guthrie's list of New Year's resolutions for 1942, handwritten in an exercise book.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
The poor get poorer while the rest get the handouts
Suzy Freeman-Greene When will Julia Gillard's government find the courage to raise the dole?
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Possum stew poses a sticky problem
Suzy Freeman-Greene Ever since one ate all the blossoms on our plum tree, I've been collecting possum stories.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
House husbands still a TV fantasy
Suzy Freeman-Greene Imagine four male leads changing nappies or filling lunchboxes on the blokiest of TV stations, Channel Nine.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Day of absences, not just presents
Suzy Freeman-Greene It's 17 years since dad died, and the other day mum and I were marvelling how much had changed in that time.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
'Tweens' and our sexed-up culture
Suzy Freeman-Greene After the social media squall over Target's girls' clothes, I was expecting the worst. But when I visited the store this week I found a fairly tame collection of sundresses, leggings, T-shirts,...
Suzy Freeman-Greene
As the free world keeps playing, Russia's wild women are caged
Suzy Freeman-Greene A filmmaker documenting the trial of Pussy Riot, Russia's fabulously named feminist punks, has compared it to a Dostoyevsky novel or 'a really warped Beatles film'.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Hugo and Bongo: your new best friends or something creepier?
Suzy Freeman-Greene There's something quite surreal about paying $4.50 to text a question to a fictional monkey.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
'Elite' means pride and prejudice too
Suzy Freeman-Greene We'll marvel at their bodies, admire their grace, their discipline and verve. In a few weeks, our elite athletes will take on the world.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
In our city of perpetual festival, have we reached critical mass?
Suzy Freeman-Greene Here's a sacrilegious thought. What if we had a few less festivals in this glorious, belt-tightening city and put the money saved into TAFE courses that foster future artists?
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Brave irony for Humane Society
Suzy Freeman-Greene Should a man who blinded his partner in one eye after kicking her in the head have been honoured for a one-off act of bravery? It's a question many were asking this week after the Governor-General...
Suzy Freeman-Greene
After a pregnant pause, the phoney mummy wars resume
Suzy Freeman-Greene A thin young blonde posed with hand on hip. A chunky boy in camouflage pants stood on a chair beside her, his mouth clamped upon her left tit. ''Are you mom enough?'' asked the accompanying headline.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Why won't Melburnians take a punt and get out on the bay?
Suzy Freeman-Greene Melbourne looks different approached by water. The city, seen from the Docklands end, seems strange and new.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
Heroes and booze: the unhealthy mix at the core of our culture
Suzy Freeman-Greene Heroes and drink often go together in Australia. Kids get mixed messages about alcohol and this week you could find them in VB's ''Raise a Glass'' Anzac ads.
Suzy Freeman-Greene
The dark face of a cheap and easy online shopping habit
Suzy Freeman-Greene Is there a dark side to buying from foreign retailers online?
Suzy Freeman-Greene
It's time to give Miss a big miss
Suzy Freeman-Greene How do women feel about the word ''Miss''? If it were turfed from official forms, as the French government has pledged to do, would we miss it? Or would this symbolic act be a powerful admission that...
Suzy Freeman-Greene
The subtle art's in what we choose not to impart
Suzy Freeman-Greene Whatever happened to discretion and restraint, the power of the unsaid? We're immersed in a culture of verbal diarrhoea: loose, excessively frequent statements, made in public.
