Category: Personal

Nicole Livingstone: Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic silver medallist, and a television sports commentator and radio presenter. Livingstone competed for Australia in three summer Olympics – 1988, 1992, and 1996 – winning both individual and team medals. NICOLE LIVINGSTONE O.A.M. Nicole Livingstone, or, as we […]

This is kind of lame (and TV rather than movie), but I guess I had a sheltered upbringing, and I was just six. 1977 was the heyday of Alice Cooper. As a sophisticated adult, I can now appreciate the antics of Alice for what they were, and even stifle a yawn at them. But as […]

I didn’t get to know my paternal grandparents well; I met my grandfather only once, my grandmother twice. My grandmother was somewhat vague by the time I met her, and I had real trouble with her dialect. My grandfather was vaguely feared, but I couldn’t particularly see why at eight years of age; I hadn’t […]

My maternal grandparents (Crete) had five (1940–1953). John, Helen, Maria, Georgia, George. My paternal grandparents (Cyprus) had nine (1926–1947), of which one was still-born (Angelica) and one died of smallpox as a toddler (Kostas). George,† Helen, Chris, Stavros, Dora,† Andrew, Savvas. As Savvas once said to me, “the machine kept going, until it stopped.” The […]

Hokay. Let’s dance. Yes, my first name really is the same as my surname. Just like my three firstborn cousins. I did not speak to my parents until I was 2. While I was being wheeled in by the nurse to see the doctor about it, I was reading out the room numbers to her. […]