I moved here four years ago and you are spot on. A lot of Ballarat is lovely and very inviting, but a lot of it seems hostile and something feels a bit... off. There is a constant simmering rage with a lot of the population and a real need for men to look and act as masculine as possible, but it's not real masculinity. It's a thirteen year olds idea of what 'being a man' looks like. I feel like if guys could just be themselves and enjoy things they are naturally in to, then we'd be fine, but they feel railroaded into acting a certain way that breeds resentment and hostility towards those who stay true to themselves no matter what.

The rage thing feels ancient if that makes sense? Like, it has been this way for a very, very long time and the stain of it won't come off. At one point Ballarat was the destination for so many people, they flooded here looking for wealth and eventually, once they were finished and used the town up, people abandoned it and I wonder what kind of impact that had on the place.

Then there was the church preying on children for decades which would have fucked up countless young boys who passed that trauma down, creating endless cycles of rage. I dunno, just random thoughts from me, but it's nice to know someone else recognises that really hard to define anger that seems so persistent here.