Good morning, good morning, in this merry month of May. I am still thinking about the woman making a lifesize replica of the Bayeux tapestry. On a more serious note, I’m also still thinking about Jess Hill’s tangible ideas to address domestic violence. (Speaking of, this six-year-old piece from Tim Winton, Australia’s poet laureate of the battle against toxic masculinity, is still sadly relevant, and very much worth revisiting.)
If you feel like reading something else, here are some other stories from the week that’s been. And send us an email with your favourite story from around the Guardian – I’m always curious to know: at australia.newsletters@theguardian.com
1. Lessons from 10 years sober
After 22 years as a problem drinker, Matthew Todd became sober. He shares 10 things he has learned in the decade since. Spoiler: it’s usually not just about alcohol.
Confronting what’s underneath: “I’ve rarely met an ex-drinker who didn’t have anxiety, depression or low self-esteem, usually caused by experiences growing up.”
A clue from Elton John: “Drugs weren’t part of my thing, but I related to the bit where he talked about feeling irritable and always unhappy when he had no reason to be.”
No one can go it alone: “There’s a saying: nobody else can do it for you but you cannot do it alone. There is help out there when you ask for it.”
How long will it take to read: about four minutes
2. Vale Paul Auster
When a beloved writer dies, social media seems to fill with more interesting titbits than you ever saw about them when they were alive. This held for the novelist Paul Auster, who died this week aged 77 due to complications from lung cancer. There were passages of his work, warm anecdotes, glimmering quotes, images of him (topically, as you’ll see below) at the 1968 Columbia University protests. As Auster’s friend Jonathan Lethem writes: “When a writer enters the past we are able to see the masterworks as a constellation” – not just those on the page, but the pieces of a life.
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You can never achieve what you hope to achieve. You can come close sometimes and others may appreciate your work, but you, the author, will always feel you’ve failed. You know you’ve done your best, but your best isn’t good enough. Maybe that’s why you keep writing. So you can fail a little better the next time. – Paul Auster (see more of his words here)
As well as pictures from his life and tributes from many other writers. “He was a person of his own,” Orhan Pamuk said of “Brooklyn’s bard”.
3. Will the US campus protests affect Biden’s chances?
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, Adam Gabbatt writes. As thousands of university students across the US have joined pro-Palestinian rallies and encampments, the Biden administration’s continued support of Israel could have a serious impact on the youth vote for the president come November.
“I wouldn’t expect that the protesters on campuses today are going to vote for Trump, almost none of them will,” one expert tells him. “That’s not the danger here. The danger is much simpler: that they simply won’t vote.”
How long will it take to read: two minutes
There’s so much more to read: you can see what’s happening locally as the Australian encampment movement enters its second week, hear from US students trying to make sense of the protest aftermath and look at their pictures from on the ground. Most importantly, you can look to the catastrophe in Gaza. “This war is breaking some of humanity’s darkest records,” Unicef’s global spokesperson, James Elder, writes after several visits to Rafah, where he has seen “new graveyards fill with children”. “It remains to be seen how many eyes stay, or are forced, shut.”
4. The toll of a ‘brutal business’
Whatever your politics, it can’t be an especially easy time to be a world leader. As Ashifa Kassam reports, four in 10 politicians report low or very low mental wellbeing, and some are being driven out.
Scotland’s Humza Yousaf: “Politics can be a brutal business … It takes a toll on your physical and mental health; your family suffer alongside you.”
Finland’s Sanna Marin: “I am human. During these dark times, I too need some joy, light and fun.”
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez: “At this point, the question I legitimately ask myself is: ‘Is it all worth it?’ Honestly, I don’t know.”
Social media harassment is one part of it; so are long work hours. But what will it take to redesign the job?
One new idea: two politicians in Melbourne have proposed a plan to run as “job-sharing candidates”.
How long will it take to read: two minutes
5. Melbourne’s most beautiful shop
At least it is according to one of our Melbourne editors – and, after reading Adeshola Ore’s story, I’m inclined to agree. Martin Paul repairs and restores stringed instruments – violins, violas, cellos and their bows – in the city’s west … some of them are up to 300 years old. Paul describes his craft, training and community, and explains how each instrument has its own personality.
It starts with a play: He started learning the violin at five – and the first step in repairing an instrument, for him, is to play it. “For me there is always the curiosity of how they will sound.”
How long will it take to read: two minutes
Thanks for reading, and have a lovely weekend.
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