Mood

<p><em style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)><span>?</span>Mood</em><span style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)> is a memoir that perfectly suits our times and our collective journey to understand how we are shaped by our identities. It is a testament to hard-won growth through self-knowledge.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)>Roz Bellamy is a first-generation Jewish Australian who identifies as non-binary. They met their wife Rachel as a university student as the pair made their first tentative forays into queer culture - and fell in love - through a </span><em style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em><span style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)> online message board. As a young teacher Roz's longstanding anxiety intensified as past trauma of being bullied in their own schooldays and the creeping toll of antisemitism in the classroom undermined their burning desire to be the 'perfect' teacher.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)>Therapy to treat their distress became a deeper inquiry. As Roz began to investigate and unfurl the various strands of their identity and how they intersect to make them who they are they were handed more pieces of the puzzle.</span></p><p><br></p><p><em style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)>Mood</em><span style=color: rgba(88 89 91 1)> is a story about love family and self-fulfilment while living with mental illness. It's also a candid absorbing inquiry into the self and the rewards of embracing who you are in all its complexity and contradictions. Even - especially - when it's hard.</span></p>