I ve always been a city kid, although my parents were raised in the country too. I suspect I ll be no better or worse equipped for parenthood than they were. I wanted to explore this observation a little further by suggesting that people who live in the country keep personal secrets but share their common ones whereas city people tend to share more of themselves and keep community to a minimum. I found heartbreaking in Burning Sunday was the fact that Mark was obviously a very perceptive and articulate teenager yet the situation with his family forced him into a kind of silence, the monosyllabic conversation of most teenagers. It may be an Australian take on a more global pattern of rebellion displayed by one generation against the preceding one.
Families just have the potential to focus it more.
I ve never been able to answer that question. That doesn t mean that there were either too many or too few. I remember sitting on the old Conroy heater in the kitchen before lunchtime Sunday roasts in winter cigarette smoke pressing down from the high ceilings, World of Sport creeping through the door from the living room, pondering the important things about faith such as why I persisted in barracking for Melbourne when they had absolutely no chance of playing in the finals, let alone winning a premiership. Well I look forward to finding out. Todd Alexander Dymocks Category Manager December, 2000.