Shirley Twist
Bio
Shirley has had a 35-year career as a journalist, editor and teacher. She has been story-writing since she was 5 and her first story was published at age 13. A University of Western Australia graduate, Shirley is married with 2 children
Achievements (1)
Stories (34)
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My Dad called me 'kid' and he was my king
My Dad loved Humphrey Bogart movies, so he always called me “kid”. Sometimes, I suspect it was a “one-size-fits-all” solution to the problem of forgetting our names – there were three of us children. He certainly never had a clue as to when our birthdays were or even how old we were. That was Mum’s domain. He was a man of few words such that when he did speak at length about anything, I listened. Words weren’t wasted and there was always a point to the story, a teaching of some kind. There were no-go topics of course. I knew he’d been stationed in Hiroshima as a young Australian soldier to help in the aftermath of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan. I can’t even imagine the horrors he must have seen, and the takeaway was a lifelong respect and admiration for the resilience of the Japanese people and severe tuberculosis (TB as it was known) which landed him in an infirmary for two years on his return. Unlike the rest of his family who refused to forgive the Japanese army after the cruel bayonetting death of an uncle, my Dad had a tolerance and open-mindedness for people which I inherited from him “doing” and “being” not just “saying”.
By Shirley Twist3 years ago in Families
Boundaries found in paradise
I was traumatised after just over a year in a job where bullying was the norm. I put up with it because I had been desperate to work in TV and TNT was the country’s only national news network. I guess you could say I was the office “go-for” – “go for this” and “go for that”.
By Shirley Twist3 years ago in Fiction
Halloween hit list runs the gamut from comedy to tragedy
This was an especially enjoyable Challenge by the Vocal team especially for someone like me who loves music as well as scary movies, stories and poems. Australia doesn't really celebrate Halloween but I'm getting into the spirit -- ha ha -- nonetheless. Here's my play list of 13 songs (appropriately) in which I have tried to include some Aussie classics:
By Shirley Twist4 years ago in Beat
