Published Articles (Selected)
Book Blog: EVE by Cat Bohannon
Voyage Virage, November 5, 2024
I picked up the whopping volume EVE by Cat Bohannon curious to understand her scientific take on the evolutionary journey of women. Heavy - literally a tough one to flick through in the bath or bed - I worried it might be full of science jargon that I may not understand. EVE ended up being so much more than I expected—a readable, sweeping, funny, and enlightening tour through the complexity and triumph of the female body. And let me tell you, if you’ve ever questioned why our reproductive system feels more like a high-risk obstacle course than a smoothly functioning process, this book will explain why. Hint: the human body isn’t quite the polished marvel we like to think it is.
Why Choose the Wharram Design?
Practical Sailor, September 16, 2024
I’d been given the privilege of watching a rough cut of solo sailor Kiana Weltzien’s documentary, Women & the Wind, to provide storytelling feedback. Having followed their journey loosely on Instagram, I had my doubts about the seaworthiness of Kiana’s Wharram Designs NARAI, Mara Noka. As I squeezed between my kids and husband Remy, completely unaware of the impact this film would have on us, I turned up the volume…
What Do You Do With Old Fiberglass Boats?
Practical Sailor, September 2, 2024
The first second-hand sailboat my husband and I considered as a potential “project boat” was listed for sale on an online classified website in France for a few thousand euros. With just a handful of sailing lessons under our belts, we were naïve, ambitious and inspired by countless hours of boat refit videos we had binged during the pandemic lockdowns on YouTube. We were captivated by young couples who had picked up someone else’s old fiberglass boat trash for as little as a dollar and transformed it into something beautiful. Or, so we thought…
Life at anchor on Spirit of Gaia, James Wharram Designs’ Pahi 63 Polynesian Wooden Double Canoe
Voyage Virage, May 25, 2024
The journey to southern Portugal was long and arduous, a solid 12-hour drive split over two days from our home in southwest France, across Spain, and through four climate regions. We were welcomed in Portugal by the bright sun and the smiling Hanneke Boon, Designer and Head of Wharram Designs, who had just arrived from her home in Cornwall, UK. From an e-introduction just several weeks earlier to boarding the water taxi together and finally approaching Spirit of Gaia, Hanneke and the late James Wharram’s 63-foot Pahi model Polynesian wooden double canoe, our excitement was palpable…
McLuhan Revisited: Interpreting YouTube's Impact on Content and Society
Anicca Media, April 26, 2024
Marshall McLuhan's (1964) statement “the medium is the message,” finds important relevance in the context of YouTube – a platform emblematic of today’s media culture. Thriving on low-definition (Nerdwriter1, 2015), high-participation content, this digital medium challenges traditional paradigms such as the television by requiring active sensory engagement from its audience, where viewers are no longer passive consumers but become producers and collaborators in the creation and circulation of content (Edutopia, 2013), creating a multi-sensory experience that fundamentally reshapes the message itself…
A Futuristic Symphony of Sound: The Emotional Landscape of Hans Zimmer's Dune Score
Anicca Media, April 20, 2024
The use of vocal music in Dune taps into the deep-seated associations humans have with the voice as a primal instrument of emotion and identity. In cultural terms, the female voice in the opening song acts as a siren call, drawing the audience into the world of Arrakis and mirroring the seductive danger of its vast, open deserts. It also reflects a nuanced understanding of the film's gender dynamics, particularly the pivotal role women play within the Fremen culture and in the life of the protagonist, Paul Atreides. By embedding this element into the score, Zimmer not only bridges the psychical distance but also subtly nods to the underlying themes of feminine power and mystique that are central to Dune…
Hyperreal Connections: Postmodernism, Rhizomes, and Hope For New Sincerity in Postmodern Media
Anicca Media, March 22, 2024
Tyson Yunkaporta’s work extends the postmodernist discussion beyond the confines of literary and media critique to encompass a broader examination of knowledge systems and societal structures (Yunkaporta, 2019). Yunkaporta critiques the monocultural lens of Western epistemology and advocates for the integration of Indigenous perspectives that emphasize relationality, interconnectedness, and respect for the plurality of existence. This approach aligns with the rhizomatic idea of embracing multiplicity and interconnectedness, and challenges postmodernism's sometimes fragmented, nihilistic tendencies, suggesting a path towards a more holistic understanding of complexity and diversity…
Summer Book Review: A nod to nonfiction for this year’s Christmas stockings – five books to gift fellow book nerds
Daily Addict, December 2023
For this year’s list, I’ve crafted a broad selection including recent releases and a few older must-reads. There is a recurring theme here: centering women and/or women’s voices, except for Tyson Yunkaporta’s new book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking, which explores disinformation from an indigenous knowledge systems lens. Angela Saini’s The Patriachs: How Men Came to Rule, is THE book of the year in my opinion, whilst Cat Bohannon’s EVE: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution will knock your socks off; we’re talking readable science that will blow you off your sun lounger and challenge everything you thought you knew about human evolution as you laugh the whole way through…
Discovering the world's most biodiverse coral reefs in Misool, Raja Ampat
Voyage Virage, May 24 2023
I’m perched on the edge of the bow of our ‘topside’ film crew’s motorboat, Captain Saman at the helm. He has slowed the boat and we are gently putting back to the resort, an afternoon drone filming session complete. Dan, our film team’s drone pilot, passes me his polaroid sunglasses to protect my eyes. I’m fixated on the horizon as the sun creeps closer to being completely enveloped by the sea. Ancient rock formations tower over our starboard side. There’s no wind as we idle and I wait for the green flash I’m striving to see as the sun dissolves. And there it is. Vivid, rapid, there. My first green flash sunset…
Guide to Morocco – luxe in the desert, escape the city, and find solace by the sea
Daily Addict, December 2021
Morocco might just be one of the world’s most diverse destinations. Dubbed the ‘Gateway to Africa,’ with its snowy mountains, golden deserts, surfable seas, those Insta-popping riads and medieval medinas, we found no shortage of sensory stimulation. So, where the heck do you start? Marrakech is where you’ll most likely land, and here’s where we went from there…
A Sojourn Through South West France
Nourish Magazine, March 2019
If you’re after a quintessential European holiday, South West France has it all. With its combination of surf beaches, bike paths, villages with cobblestone streets, and forests of the stunning Pyrenees mountain range - you’ll be simply enchanted.
Coasting Through Colombia
Australian Natural Health Magazine, 2016
Colombia, along with many other countries around the world, always held a special place in my heart. With my burning desire to explore the many diverse offerings of our planet, I decided to sell up all that we owned and purchased one-way tickets for Colombia – a decision that was met with mixed response from my family and friends. I felt that my sons, aged seven and five, could do with some life education…
Finding Hope in Yakushima
Australian Natural Health Magazine, 2016
Trekking through the mystical island of Yakushima, Japan, reveals many of Mother Nature’s most sacred creations. Angie returns to the country she once called home, discovering old friends who have traded fast-paced city living for a more humble, natural existence…
Andean Adventures
Australian Natural Health Magazine, September 2016
Nestled deep in the heart of the Andes Mountains, between the lush flora and fauna, lies a certain serenity and stillness that has to be felt to be believed. ANGIE DAVIS takes us on a sensory journey...
Empowering girls with surfboards in Papua New Guinea
PNG Air Magazine - Our Way, October 2, 2016 (Re-published with permission on Voyage Virage, online)
Below me awaits deep, turquoise water. I throw my twin-fin surfboard in and dive off the edge of a small fishing boat. Jeberdi, the local surf-guide from the fronting village Mereman (‘woman man’) doesn’t waste a heartbeat shredding the three-foot limestone reef left-hander I’m paddling towards…
Madang, Jewel of PNG
PNG Air Magazine - Our Way, December 10, 2015
A short flight from the capital Port Moresby to the mainland’s north coast, Madang is often dubbed the jewel of PNG, and rightly so. Its flourishing and abundant landscape is like an artist’s palette of earthy greens and browns, and its sea more blue than a summer sky. Most of Madang’s 29,000 inhabitants are unemployed, opting to live off the land and the sea, trading with farmers from the Highlands and relying on tourism to get by. As our morning flight skims over swaying coconut trees that fringe the sapphire lagoons, I can’t help but feel humbled at the uninterrupted beauty below…
Wayne Lynch: Australian Surfing Legend
Outdoor Japan Magazine, July 2010
The ocean is silent; rising lines creep toward a sleepy fishing bay. Barefoot, in a dark blue fleece sweater and khaki shorts, a grey-bearded man sits next to his teenage son on a weathered park bench. They watch closely as the bay begins to awaken. Suddenly a four-foot high wall of water rises skyward, pausing momentarily as it rolls into a perfect tube, and then—boom!
“Wow, that was a fast one,” Wayne Lynch says to his son Jarrah with a laugh…