Best and Worst of the Week.

by KAHLA PRESTON

Like most Frosty Fruit-guzzling Australians, I love the summer break. Doing, watching, eating and reading whatever I like, whenever I like – I’m all over it like a hormonal teenager on a One Direction poster.

But for the first time in my life, I was itching to swap my ‘watching six consecutive episodes of Mad Men with cider in hand’ holiday lifestyle to go back to work last week.

No, really.

Let me explain before you reach over to check my temperature.

I’ve been interning here at Mamamia since August, in tandem with my final semester of study. Just before Christmas, in the midst of a post-graduation “Uh… what now?” crisis, I was asked whether I’d be interested in joining the MM editorial team for a few days a week. After administering a pinch to my forearm to determine that, no, this was not actually a sugar-induced hallucination, I accepted faster than you can say “dream job.”

And so, here I am, loving the working life. The MM office is a fun, friendly, fast-paced – and yes, sometimes quite stressful – place to work, and there’s NEVER a dull moment.

Within the space of fifteen minutes I could be loading posts on the latest controversy in politics, researching for a story about foreign affairs, or locating the most recent image of an eligible male celebrity. It’s exciting and mentally stimulating in a way that three-hour brunches – whilst delicious and relaxing – are not.

They say that if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life – now I completely understand that.

While work was the standout candidate for my best this week, a close runner-up was the season 2 premiere of Girls (which was pretty great, by the way). This was one reason Mia’s body image postyesterday had me nodding away in solidarity.

Having been bombarded with cookie-cutter images of female beauty for the duration of my media-consuming life, I find the variety of body shapes within the Girls cast refreshing and relatable. And not in that blatant, patronising, “Look – a ‘plus-size’ model! How very inclusive we are!” fashion magazine way. More like a, “Yeah, women (and men) come in different shapes and sizes – can we get back to the storyline now?” way. I only hope other forms of media will eventually adopt the same attitude.

As for the worst, Rosie Waterland’s account of her horrifying experience in foster care made my stomach churn. Thousands of stories of child abuse, like Rosie’s, are so often untold and unheard. They’re swept under the rug, with no closure or justice achieved for the victims.

That’s why the Federal Royal Commission into child abuse is so important – as Rosie so perfectly articulated, it could finally give a voice to the countless children too scared to speak up. That would be enough to turn this worst into a best.

Now it’s your turn. Time to sit down, rip open an icy pole and tell us: what’s been your best and worst this week?