Lot's Wife Edition 5 2016

LOT’S WIFE
— EDITION FIVE —

No to $100,000 Degrees!
No to Cutting Staff, Courses and TAFE!
YES to more funding for our education!
FREE BBQ: MENZies LAwn - 12PM
FREE BUSES TO PROTEST:
ROBERT BLACKWOOD HALL - 1PM
Authorised by Max Murphy NUS National Education Officer 2016
AUGUST 24th

CONTENTS
Lot’s Wife is entirely
written, illustrated, edited and
distributed by students,
just like yourself!
If you would like to be
involved, we are always always
always looking for new
contributors and volunteers.
Say hi anytime:
Lot’s Wife Office
1st Floor, Campus Centre,
turn right at the MSA desk.
Or drop us a line at
lotswife2016@gmail.com
STUDENT
07
08
10
11
13
14
16
Woodside or Seaside?
Interview with Katalin Mindum
Traveling on a student budget
At your own pace
Racism today and how we can
fight it
Working out work experience
Office bearer reports
SOCIETY
20 “Legislation should be for human
beings!”
23 By the skin of their teeth
24 Laughing all the way to the right
25 Political discussion in the meme age
27 Review: Chasing Asylum
28 Wot’s Life with Pauline Hanson
Advertising inquiries:
E: msa-lotswife@monash.edu
P: 03 9905 8174
SCIENCE
CULTURE
35 Aussie born inventions
43 Game of Thrones Season 6
Read online at
lotswife.com.au
36
37
Can the pill cause depression?
Science can’t save the world
44
46
Making art pay the bills
Pink Flappy Bits
About the cover artist
38
Forever young
48
wikiHow to catch them all
Angus Marian is an illustrator
based in Melbourne, Australia,
who specialises in cartoons and
animation, as well as graphic
design, typography and on
occasion photography.
Currently, Angus is studying
his fi nal year in Communication
Design at Monash University
Caulfi eld.
angusmarian.com
Instagram & Twitter - @akmarian
39
41
Saving crops with robots
CREATIVE
53
55
56
Crossword: inventions edition
Prose: Voiceless
Short fiction: Somewhere in
Australia
Poem: I’ll keep you wild
49
50
Goldstone
BONUS
15 Notice of MSA elections
30 Centrefold: Pull-out
calendar and poster
59
Inequality in a two tiered
education system
Galerie de stock
Pattern by Natalie Ng
Lot’s Wife | 3

EDITORS
DESIGN
Timothy Newport
Carina Florea
Lisa Healy
Natalie Ng
SUB-EDITORS
STUDENT
SOCIETY
Tricia Ong
Jermaine Doh
Rajat Lal
Matthew Edwards
Ishana Srivastava-Khan
Maddy Luke
CARINA FLOREA
SCIENCE
CULTURE
CREATIVE
Kinto Behr
Kathy Zhang
Mevani Amarasinghe
Lachlan Liesfield
Georgina Lee
Melissa Fernando
Amber Davis
Audrey El-Osta
Sarah Kay
Ideally, editorials are supposed to talk about things going on
in the world and articles within the magazine. Somehow we’ve
failed in that regard. Maybe one day we’ll get it. Then again, we’ve
come so far that we may as well keep talking about everything but
what’s actually in the magazine. And there is so much going on
outside of our pretty little mag. The Olympics have come and gone,
Papa Rich has come to Monash and Frank Ocean has disappointed
us once again. So while we wait around for his album, here’s
a saucy picture of Moleman, courtesy of Simpsons Shitposting.
Lot’s Wife Edition Five
August- September 2016
© Lot’s Wife Magazine
Level 1, Campus Centre
Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Published by Mary Giblin, Printgraphics, Mount Waverley
As you read this paper you are on Aboriginal land. We at Lot’s
Wife recognise the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of
the Kulin Nations as the historical and rightful owners and custodians
of the lands and waters on which this newspaper is produced.
The land was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded.
Lot’s Wife condemns and will not publish any material that
is racist, sexist, queerphobic, ableist or discriminatory in any
nature. The views expressed herein are those of the attributed
writers and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the editors
or the MSA. All writing and artwork remains the property of the
producers and must not be reproduced without their written
consent.
4 | Lot’s Wife

LISA HEALY
Well, hi.
This has been quite an emotional semester and my penchant
for white wine spritzers (WWS) doesn’t help to keep my
emotions in check/the tears from falling (note: zero tears have
actually fallen, but I will keep a log of when the first one decides
to shed. I am also writing this whilst editing with Carina, both
with a WWS in hand).
You may be wondering how exactly it has been emotional.
Well, firstly, my cat caught a small brown bird that I lovingly
named Cinnamon. Cinnamon’s presence in my life was short
but sweet. I’ve learnt what short-term love is like and that vets
aren’t exactly the most tactful when it comes to delivery news
of a stray bird’s death (R.I.P. Cinnamon).
And secondly, the end of my time with Lot’s (and supplying
you with too many anecdotes) is nigh. I’ve made sure to bring
my shitty disposable camera in, to not only highlight my failed
efforts with film photography, but to capture as many moments
of us playing video games as possible.
On a serious note, following on from Carina’s editorial - and
trying to focus on the magazine and not on myself - we have
some really important articles in this edition. The interview
with Dr Biswa Banik (page 20) whose son is being discriminated
against and may ultimately face deportation is a vital read
and Kapil Bhargava’s article (page 13) calling on why we need
a People of Colour Department on campus - and the systemic
racism that pervades our society - is pertinent for the upcoming
months.
Enjoy the mag and cheers (please drink to that and remember
to look the person in the eye otherwise that’s 8 years of bad
sex for you, ha-ha).
TIMOTHY NEWPORT
We meet again.
It’s a tough time to be a student. Money is tight, jobs are
scarce, and Pokémon GO is taking up all of your phone’s
battery. It literally could not be worse. But it’s also an exciting
time to be a Australian student! We’re getting a new library, a
whole range of new food shops, and a new whatever-the-fuckthat-is
down by the bus loop. So, perhaps, it’s not all bad.
In this edition, we’ve got shitty stock photos (page 59),
your ripper guide to Pokemon GO (page 48), and a serious
dunk-tank of emotions about moving country (page 53). I’m so
bloody proud.
Semester 2 is always a bit of a mindfuck. Weird deadlines,
the approach of summer, and a terribly-timed midsemester
break means that you’ll probably spend half your time trying
to remember where your own head is. So sit back, relax, and
forget your troubles with Lot’s. Hopefully, by the time you
finish reading this sentence, Grafali’s has finished making your
chai latte and you’ve got the next hour for lunch in Papa Rich.
Enjoy it. We’re nearly there.
Lot’s Wife | 5

6 | Lot’s Wife

STUDENT
Woodside or Seaside?
by Elyse Walton
In June, Monash announced a $10 million partnership with
oil and gas giant, Woodside Petroleum. Monash claims that
the partnership “aims to drive significant advances in the energy
sector, bringing positive economic benefits to Australia”.
However, some have criticized the partnership for various
ethical and environmental reasons.
In light of the Woodside Monash partnership, Woodside’s
senior vice-president and chief technology officer, Shaun
Gregory, stated that "our vision for our Monash centre is for us
to rapidly advance commercial opportunities through materials
engineering, additive manufacturing and data science… We are
really excited about collaborating with researchers and experts
from Monash to identify opportunities to solve real-life challenges
we face at Woodside".
This partnership began 135 kilometres northwest off the
coast of Karratha, WA, at Woodside’s Goodwyn Alpha natural
gas platform where the Monash centre assisted Woodside’s operations.
During a maintenance shutdown, a vital safety switch
had broken and panic ensued about the delay in production.
The workers assumed that they would be waiting three weeks to
receive the missing part and resume operations.
“They needed it by the end of the week, so we reached out to
the Monash team, a hand sketch of the part was drawn, emailed
through, there were some questions and answers and the part
was soon on a helicopter up to Goodwyn,” Mr Gregory said.
Woodside’s gift of $10 million - the largest philanthropic
donation in the history of Monash University - will be spent
over the time period of 5 years and will be concentrated in the
Woodside Innovation Centre, located in the New Horizons
building, which is situated behind the Hargrave-Andrew
Library.
The centre was officially opened on June 15 by the Hon.
Josh Frydenberg, who was the Minister for Resources, Energy
and Northern Australia at the time. Praising the partnership,
Frydenberg, now Minister for the Environment and Energy,
hailed it as “exactly the type of industry-academic collaboration
we need to see more of in Australia”.
Monash University Vice Chancellor, Margaret Gardner,
was also present at the opening of the centre, claiming that
Monash was, “very grateful,” to Woodside for their “generous
contribution”.
However, others have been far less supportive of the
partnership. Secretary of the National Tertiary Education
Union’s Victoria Branch, Colin Long, expressed concern about
what it meant for Monash students: “In essence, Monash is
contributing to the further undermining of the futures of the
young people that it is educating.”
He elaborated that “it is disappointing that Monash
continues to develop research initiatives with companies that
are determined to exploit fossil fuels to the detriment of the
climate and the world’s people... thus exacerbating the problem
of carbon emissions and global warming.” He continues: “the
longer universities continue to accept the dirty money of the
fossil fuel industry, the longer they expose themselves to the
financial, social and moral risks associated with that industry”.
Electrical engineering student and Monash Student
Association Welfare officer, Brendan Holmes, expressed similar
concerns: “By endorsing Woodside, Monash University is
sending the message to graduates that it’s okay to work for a
company that is damaging to the environment. Engineering
talent will be directed toward the fossil fuel industry, delaying
the necessary shift towards clean, renewable energy.”
In April, Monash announced that the university was going
to cease all direct investments in coal companies over a five
year period. This was hailed by non-for-profit organisations
like 350.org as a step towards Monash University joining over
500 other institutions, representing $3.4 trillion globally, that
have committed to sell their investments in coal, oil and gas
companies
Fossil Free Monash campaigner and Arts/Law student,
Rhyss Wyllie, speculates about how the partnership has impacted
Monash’s recent financial decisions: “This partnership
reveals the vested interests at play in the recent decision by
Monash to divest from coal companies but not utter a word
about oil and gas”.
“The ‘largest corporate’ gift in Monash’s history comes with
a price tag – Monash’s continued profiteering from the industry
that is destroying the climate and corrupting our political
system,” Wyllie said.
Join the fight to take action against and to help build
awareness of the Monash Woodside partnership by joining
the Fossil Free Monash Facebook http://facebook.com/
FossilFreeMonashUniversity or getting in contact via email
at fossilfreemonash@gmail.com
Lot’s Wife | 7

INTERVIEW
Looking for buried treasure:
in conversation with librarian Katalin Mindum
by Rose Boyle
What is your academic background?
Geography and environmental science is a passion of mine,
even though I don't have an undergrad background in it. I have
had that portfolio for around eight years. Film and screen is a
portfolio I got a few years ago and politics and international relations
very recently – a matter of weeks. I have an Arts degree
from Monash Clayton and I majored in English and History. I
did a Master of Librarianship, and I just never left. Monash is
an awesome place.
Could you tell me about your role as ‘sustainability
representative’?
I liaise with the sustainability office, and there’s been a huge
culture change in favour of having a bit of a ‘holistic’ view of
everything. Infrastructure gets done internally, such as LED
and solar panels; but it’s my role to encourage people to recycle
more, and we’ve got compost bins and little rubbish bins on
desks now, which amazingly reduces the amount of rubbish
people throw away. Just trying to get people to be more responsible
and do things like recycle their paper, print less, and
laminate less as it makes it hard to recycle.
In regards to getting less physical books, and more online, is
that to be more sustainable?
It’s not really about sustainability, mostly it’s a storage issue.
We’ve dramatically reduced what we get in paper. We’ve got
about a million books just at the Matheson. Constantly growing,
there comes a point where you have to get rid of old, worn
out things. We have an e-preferred policy and it makes things
a lot easier for students to access, out on the lawns, at home,
in labs, etc. It’s not always cheaper, but it is more accessible, so
that is a big factor. Our numbers are constantly increasing. We
have something like 800 databases, and thousands of journals.
Do you ever have the issue of not being able to find something
for a student on the online library?
All the time. Particularly with researchers and post grads, so
we have document delivery – previously known as interlibrary
loans – where we borrow from other libraries for students, and
where we will buy resources for students and researchers. Not
for undergrads, but we do for postgrads.
You’re an academic librarian, how is that different from a
“standard” librarian? How can you help different students
across different disciplines?
There is not a big difference - most public libraries have access
to very similar databases as we do, you just have to be a member
of your public library. It’s possibly more predictable - we
don’t have people coming in asking, how do you tell the sex of
a guinea pig? It is more about assignments and after a while,
if you get several students from the same unit, we contact the
unit coordinator to see if we can run a class to cover that with
the students. That way it’s more efficient and helpful and other
students don’t miss out. We also offer essay writing and note
taking classes and presentations, which public libraries don’t
offer. We’ve only had those services for around 5-6 years. You
try and work to fill the student’s needs.
A lot of students are just overwhelmed of the collections in
the library - and people can be a bit scared of librarians and
be scared of asking questions. What advice would you have
for them?
I went through my undergrad not approaching a librarian. You
think you’re an adult and you feel stupid for asking, but from
our point of view there are no dumb questions. Once you’ve
been shown how to do something, you’ll know, then you won’t
need to ask again! We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t like helping
people. We’re always passionate about it, even if we’re a bit
grumpy sometimes because we deal with things all day long.
We tend to see mainly post grad and researchers [subject librarians]
– the undergrads should go straight to the information
point. If they can’t answer the question there, they will refer to
the research and learning point where they can see one of us.
The first ports of call are usually the catalogue, and then the
library guides – which are available in a huge number of discipline
areas. These may have unit specific information, special
resources, course notes. Don’t be scared of the information
point – that’s what they are there for!
What’s beyond the online catalogue and the bottom few
floors? Can anyone look at anything in the library?
Anyone, even the general public can come in and use the
8 | Lot’s Wife

STUDENT
collections and photocopy, although you have to be a staff or
student to access databases. With the exception of the rare
books collection, where you might have the Gutenberg bible
which is 400-500 years old. We retrieve it for you especially in
that case. We have comic books, Women’s Weekly issues, going
back for decades which are classified as rare.
What sort of different things are in the library collections?
We have the biggest Jonathon Swift article collection in the
southern hemisphere. Many colonial cookbooks, diaries,
letters, correspondence, science fiction first editions and old
volumes, such as a first edition of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
World for instance. We do run exhibitions (online as well).
Outside of rare books – a huge Asian collection, a huge music
collection, and specialist collections, like the medical collection,
which is not just books but old instruments and things that
look like torture devices, or the odd skull that has been collected
by someone. Other libraries have different collections –
Peninsula, being education focused, they have some really cool
displays of things teachers might take on rounds, like giant abacuses
and skeletons. We support everything that is researched
and taught here. It’s not just databases and books and journals,
it’s immersing yourself into a certain discipline.
How have academic libraries changed recently due to the
Internet?
Before the Internet, you’d tell the librarian what you wanted
and they’d write a whole big search strategy, do it for you and
give you a print out. You had cards – author, set, subject, title…
typed up and filed in cabinets and that’s what we would use.
The early internet was still very limited, we didn’t have many
databases as most of them came on a floppy disk which you
would have to load onto the computer. You wouldn’t have
a computer at home, so you’d have to come in and look on
the 2 or 3 computers that we had. Before Moodle there was
Blackboard which was not as good, most course notes were
paper based – now it’s a balance between not having enough information
and having too much. One of the hardest things is to
learn to search efficiently. We used to take people to reference
books. Databases were paper based, and people would search
through newspapers and microfilm. It now takes 5 minutes
what would have taken you half a day back then.
RMIT. Then it’s just finding a job in an academic library. People
do swap between school, public and academic libraries. People
find a niche for themselves. There are also librarians who do
indexing and cataloguing.
I don’t have a geography degree but that hasn’t stopped me
from being a geography librarian. You immerse yourself in the
job. It’s people who love a challenge and the challenge of finding
unusual things. When someone comes up and asks you for
something, it’s because they don’t know how to find it. I’ve had
an academic ask me about birds’ nest soup.
Bird’s nest soup?
A soup they make from special birds’ nests they harvest in Java
and Indonesia. [Finding sources] it’s not always easy - you get
challenges thrown up at you. We sometimes look at Wikipedia
as our first resource, so we can use words and references
for searching so we have an understanding of what it might
be. Don’t reference it for your essays, but do use it for that
purpose!
The chase, the hunt of finding information, is that your
favourite part of the job?
That, and a combination of helping people, which sounds dorky,
but it’s true. We won’t give you the answer but we’ll show you
how to get there, as well as give guidance on referencing and
writing, after all it has to look professional… although, for an
open day a few years ago Monash had a house-sized billboard
on Wellington Road with a typo… That got sent to the printers
and no one noticed.
Is online or paper better, or both?
It’s good to use both - there’s still an awful lot not available
online. You do need to dig under the surface on paper or out in
the field. You can’t download rock samples from a computer,
and there is no single perfect book in so much for what you’re
working on.
How does one become an academic librarian or subject
librarian?
My path was that I did my undergrad, then a Masters' in
librarianship, that gave me a foothold into a reference librarian
position. I did a lot of casual work, some loans desk, some
shelving and I landed this position by pure fluke. There’s not a
lot of causual postions, but that is one way of doing it. I did the
course here but they are also online and at other unis such as
Lot’s Wife | 9

STUDENT
Traveling on a
student budget
by George Kopelis
Illustration by Elsie Dusting
Choose your transport wisely
When travelling across state or country borders in Europe
or through the north-east of the United States, you might be
stuck deciding whether to take the train or if you should fly
instead. Sure, flying might save you a few hours, but in peak
tourist seasons (when we uni students normally end up travelling)
plane tickets will be more expensive than usual. Take the
train and see some of the countries you’re journeying through.
A three hour train ride from Paris to Amsterdam will set you
back 135 Euros, but a flight with Air France can be upwards of
200 Euros. Eurorail offers some great rail passes if you plan on
visiting as many European countries as you can. Budget airlines
like Ryanair and JetBlue are great for long-haul travel, but take
the train if you’ve got the time to spare. Keep in mind that
trains will normally get you straight into the centre of a city,
but an airport might be located far out of town. JFK Airport in
New York City is anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes away from
Times Square in Manhattan, so remember to add on the cost of
a taxi or shuttle ride when flying.
Speaking of taxis, speak to the locals when trying to arrange
transport around a city. If they say taxis are too expensive, have
a look at Uber’s pricing or just take a walk around.
Keep your food budget in check
Your spending on food can end up more than what you
spend on accommodation, so it’s worth making good use of
this. Take advantage of the free breakfast your hostel offers,
and if there’s a fruit bowl around, always take something to
have as a snack during the day. If you can’t find one, browse a
local supermarket and stock up on food you can eat on the go.
If you want to go to a fancy restaurant, that’s fine but
remember lunch is normally quieter than dinner and prices
will be lower accordingly. In the US, where portions are way too
much for an ordinary person, don’t feel guilty about asking for
a bag to take some leftover food back to your accommodation!
Make use of TripAdvisor and any other app to find good
food away from the touristy spots where prices are eye-wateringly
high, and try to cut back on coffee when on holiday; caffeine
is an expensive addiction and overseas coffee has nothing
on Melbourne’s. Don’t buy food or drinks at airports either!
Take an empty water bottle through airport customs, and try
to wait for the free food on the plane or grab something before
you head to the airport.
Book accommodation ahead
It’s exhilarating to wake up in a foreign country each day
with no clue where you’ll be sleeping that night, but it’s also
more expensive. Book a hostel dorm bed or an AirBnB ahead of
time, especially if you are travelling in peak season. That way,
you’ll have a greater range of room options available, and at a
relatively lower price.
Do your homework on your destination
If you’re travelling somewhere like Japan where you’ll
mostly be in urban areas with good Wifi connectivity, there’s no
need to buy a local SIM Card; free message and phone apps will
keep you in touch with friends and family. Also, exchange currency
before you get to the airport for better rates. Remember
that you might need different currencies with you – shopkeepers
in even the fanciest parts of Istanbul frown upon the use
of Euros. If you really want to get the most value out of your
dollar, travel to E astern Europe or South East Asia rather than
Western Europe, because prices are lower and the crowds aren’t
as big. You’ll still have a great time, with the added bonus of
having more money to spend on activities and nights out.
10 | Lot’s Wife

STUDENT
For some of you reading this, it may be your final semester
at uni, for others it could be a glorious first year of many
more to come. Alternatively, it could just be another year in
the seemingly endless space of time you spend in the campus
centre.
To some, university is a place where you learn a lot more
about yourself and you learn new skills. However, it can also
be a place where you forget skills. I recently started doing
an internship and realised that somewhere along the line I
forgot how to wake up and arrive somewhere before 9am. This
is something I had to painfully, but quickly, relearn. A lot of
people like to describe uni life and partying as the things that
make you falter in your studies. This is quite possibly true, but
sometimes your studies can actually be the things that make
you falter and forget about what comes next.
Not to dwell on the obvious, but everybody’s experiences
of university life are going to be different. There are some
definite stereotypes and common experiences that we all share
and can relate to. I remember walking around open days and
information sessions, all those years ago, feeling excited but
also overwhelmed at the expanse of knowledge available to me.
For me, university presented a more relaxed and less structured
learning environment than high school. With such an
environment, it can often become easy for students to become
preoccupied with the experience of university and forget about
where it’s supposed to lead them. I definitely remember that
the main focus of my last year in high school was just to make
it to university. Although after actually getting to university,
I didn’t feel equipped with the tools to ask myself; ‘What’s
next?’ It didn’t take too many semesters at uni to forget what
the end goal of my studies was, if I ever knew that in the first
place. Perhaps your story is different; perhaps after getting into
uni you created structures and foundations to not lose sight of
your goal? Or maybe the follwing years were milestones on the
path to the industry you already knew you wanted to get in? Or
conversely, you embraced the unknown and open-ended nature
of learning, allowing your experiences during your studies to
shape and direct you?
When thinking of universities as institutions to help us
transition into either the industry or better people, we should
consider what the tools necessary to approach that goal are.
Universities give us the technical tools relevant to our specific
disciplines; laboratory skills, proficiency over different formulas
or familiarity with different social theories. Additionally,
universities should also help us identify the industry we wish
to be a part of, as well as the necessary tools and skill sets
necessary to be employed in that area. Even soft-skills such
as an ability to network and self-brand should be considered
important tools. The naming and identification of these skills is
important to our progress and is the first step in learning them
At your own pace
by Abdul Marian
Illustration by Elizabeth Bridges
and becoming fluent in them. As we come to the end of the
academic year we should consider the skills we have learnt over
the year and compare them with the skills we require to reach
our dream destination.
If a problem with uni life is the lack of direction and structure,
then the solution should be to provide that direction.
As well as education, universities should also be facilitators
for growth and development. While the educational material
taught can be considered one such vehicle, universities should
also provide space (mental or physical) for networking, material
for development of character as well as opportunity to think
about and act on future prospects.
It’s this opportunity to think and ponder over our purpose
and future that often gets sacrificed for late-night assignments,
stressful projects and cramming hundreds of lectures over
short periods of time. In an unfortunate irony, it’s this sacrificed
opportunity to develop ones personal and occupational
credentials that is most sorely needed after the assignments,
cramming and exams. Of course, people may attend university
for other reasons and career success is not always the end
goal for some. One of my favourite tutors has begun teaching
students in class to think beyond a career after university, as
another stage in your journey. He asks students, ‘What message
do you want to deliver?’ and ‘How do you want to change
the world?’ I however think it’s these kinds of questions that
firstly get students thinking beyond university but also build
up their character.
This piece comes out as I find myself approaching the end
of what felt like an extremely long and seemingly endless
period at university. After I finally found something I enjoyed
spending time studying, I became frustrated and anxious that
the knowledge I was struggling to acquire may not have any
real applications in the future. As an Arts student it was hard
describing to others and, more importantly, myself how I
would actually implement what I had studied. To some extent
the world outside of university is still a mystery, but at the
same not a mystery that you can’t prepare for. An important
question to ask yourself is, “what skills can I bring forward?”
and not so much, “what skills are people looking from me?”.
Some of the best things about the journey through university
is the ability to take things at your own time, give life to new
ideas or come back to old projects. Yet, we should also realise
these things don’t exist in isolation and should be considered
as steps along our pathway through life and not as individual
goals themselves.
Lot’s Wife | 11

MONASH PEOPLE OF COLOUR COLLECTIVE
The Monash People of Colour Collective (MPOCC) represents an exciting new initiative
to fight against very real racism that continues to plague our society.
The Collective will help form a new department within the Monash Student Association
(MSA) that encourages cultural sharing, political activism and the involvement of a group
in society that remains cursed due to racist political figures in the media, a growing
sense of xenophobia in the streets and an inherent racism in our communities.
Look forward to the facilitation of cultural festivals, employability seminars and an
increased political representation of people of colour at Monash!
To make sure this department becomes a reality, make sure you
during this year’s student elections!
facebook.com/monashpocc
99055493
monashpocc@gmail.com
VOTE YES ON THE
REFERENDUM:
Yes
✓
No

STUDENT
To kill the mockingbirds:
racism today and
how we can fight it
by Kapil Bhargava
I
dare you to tell me racism doesn’t exist in modern Australia.
Not to start an argument with you, but rather so we can
initiate a conversation about one of the most poignant and
underestimated plagues upon our community.
Racism is systemic in its oppression. Western standards of
beauty, competence and superiority are perpetuated at every
conceivable level of society. Go on and tell me that I am not
judged based on the colour of my skin when society tells me,
from the moment I step foot in my very first classroom as a
young child of Australia, that I should hate the pigments in my
skin cells and lament in my inevitable social isolation. One of
my earliest memories in school was being told by a ‘“friend’”
that he was glad he didn’t have “brown skin and black hair” like
me, that I should just know by now that Indians are not generally
as good looking as white people. And what really made me
sad was seeing other kids forced on a day to day basis to defend
their beliefs, defend their right to wear a headdress, defend
their religion against a tirade of intrusive questions. An eightyear-old
shouldn’t have to defend the grand belief systems of
ancient India or the ideologies of their family when all they
want is to be accepted by their classmates.
When I say society is racist, I refer to its norms and values
that lie corrupt and inherent within our subconscious. That is
not to say that every individual is a racist. That is preposterous.
Rather, these norms – beauty standards and misconceptions
about cultures and ideologies – lie within our day to day
notions of ‘normality’. Without realising, we propagate micro
aggressions, racist slurs, and oppressive language without even
knowing it. Where are you from? No, where are you actually
from? As if to suggest that the subject of the question is
somehow ‘other’, a foreigner… not Australian. When I look at
you, I don’t see colour. We are all part of the human race. This
merely articulates a subconscious assimilation to the dominant
culture, a denial of each individual as a cultural being, dismissing
generations of colour, music, festivities, religions, beliefs
ideologies and suffering.
But even on a more macro level, the Pauline Hanson show’s
re-run, along with the global increasing of xenophobic fear
mongering and neo-conservative political pundits reflect a
society that feels like it’s leaving people of colour behind. One
Nation’s four senate seats in the most recent election represents
not only a failure by people of colour to advocate for
sanity and racial equality for all publicly, but also a failure by
political leaders who inhabit privileged positions of power to
starkly stand up against this political regression. Something
must be done to combat these attacks on our community and
protect the sanctity of the civil society we all want to live and
breathe in. All of us.
I’m not here to make excuses. We are here to make change.
The creation of a People of Colour Collective as an autonomous
department within the Monash student union is a fantastic
way of giving a voice back to this community. The department
would constitute a mandate to develop cultural activities
on campus, fight against any racism present on campus and increase
political representation of a community that is severely
unrepresented in the broader political movement. The only way
to finalise the People of Colour department will be with a YES
vote in a referendum in the upcoming student elections. Come
out and vote, support a positive historical step at Monash
University! I cannot stress this enough. A referendum is the
only way a new department can be set up at Monash. There is a
lot of interest, however we just need to prove it to the university.
We demand to see this change. Vote YES in the referendum.
Now I know what some of you might be thinking. Isn’t this
just another form of alienation? Aren’t you just excluding a
large majority of the university populace? The simple answer
is no. The nature of micro and macro aggressions drive people
of colour to isolation. When people of colour begin changing
their names when applying for work to avoid discrimination
and appear a part of the dominant western community, we
know there is a fundamental problem. It is about elevating an
oppressed group, providing a safe platform so that these issues
can be discussed freely, without fear. It is not about bringing
other groups down. There is a systemic, institutionalised imbalance
of power that we face every day of our lives and positive
steps like this merely mobilise individuals, incentivise institutions
such as the MSA and educate the general populace about
the reality of the world and the hopeful future we can have.
Lot’s Wife | 13

STUDENT
The intern:
working out
work experience
by Kate Mani
ake the most of it,” my dad says via Skype on the
“M first day of my Arts international internship at the
In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium. It’s the same advice
he’s given me on the first day of every previous internship
I’ve done: barrister’s chamber, publishing house, radio station,
magazine office….
In this case I’ve travelled overseas for a slice of Europe, a
character building experience and 12 credit points. But there
are some things about internships that stay the same across
the world. Excitement at new experiences conflicts with fear
of endless photocopying. These are pretty regular emotions for
any intern who’s put on a blazer and their best maturity for the
first day on the job.
While nothing can really protect you from the joys of
photocopying if they do come your way, there are a few ways to
maximise the results of your internship and gain much more
than just 12 credit points.
Have confidence in your contribution:
Entering a workplace as a nervous intern, it’s easy to feel
you should be seen and not heard, that you should avoid asking
questions unless necessary and tiptoe past the other desks.
Remember, you’re providing (normally free) help to an organisation
– you should be praised! You’ll enjoy your experience
more if you hold your head up high from the first day.
Ask questions:
Ask all possible questions about the industry and staffs’
specific roles, from exciting tasks to the more mundane. Ask
especially about the mundane: Google will inform you about
the glamorous side of job without having to leave your bedroom
so maximise on the opportunity to hone in on the nitty gritty.
Take notes of their answers. Any feelings of dorkiness at
pulling out your notebook will be well outweighed by the fact
you’ll actually remember the precious, ungoogable information
at the end of the day.
Once you’ve got a greater understanding of the workplace,
don’t be afraid to ask staff slightly more meaningful questions.
Why do they believe their work is important? What inspired
them to pursue this path? While some will be willing to share
more than others, gaging the values of people who work in a
certain field is a good way to ascertain if this career path is for
you.
Practically speaking, if you don’t want to distract people
with questions while they’re working, approach them confidently
and ask them by name if you can arrange a later time
to sit down with them. They will be impressed by your interest
and professionalism.
Don’t limit yourself:
While choosing a field of work related to your degree is relevant,
when it comes to choosing an internship, don’t be narrow-minded.
Work experience is exactly that, work experience.
You’re not committing to a career by spending a bit of time in
an office. Internships are an opportunity for a short immersion
in a field without long-term commitment. It’s the perfect way
to learn about an area of work that you might be interested in
but not inspired to devote your life to.
Don’t have too high expectations:
As previously alluded to, sometimes the tasks delegated to
interns aren’t as exciting as you would like. In particular, the
nature of short internships may make it hard to get involved in
work requiring greater explanation or training. At the publishing
house, I was thrilled to read publications and give a verdict
on whether or not they should make the cut (extremely cool
right?!). Rearranging the filing cabinet the next day was not
quite as exciting.
View your internship holistically and you’ll find there’s no
such thing as wasted time or a pointless task. The chance to see
an office’s inner workings, ask endless questions, improve your
communication skills with professionals, feel comfortable in a
different environment and survive a full 9-5 day can be just as
valuable.
Keeping in contact:
Half the benefit of an internship doesn’t happen in the
office. Internships are about connections and networking which
means asking outright for business cards and email addresses.
The week after the internship send follow-up thank-you emails
to everyone who answered your questions, helped you with
work, made you feel welcome, showed you where the closest
coffee shop is…
It may feel slightly silly, particularly if you didn’t have the
most welcoming experience. However, if you want someone to
remember you when you need a reference or industry contacts,
your memorable photocopying skills are probably not going to
cut it.
If a thank you email feels too contrived, think of further
questions you can ask by email to show a sustained interest in
the field of work. That’s where the trusty notebook can come
in handy. Being able to look back at a specific conversation and
generate questions from your notes makes it look like we’re
been paying attention big time.
In any internship, the benefits up for grabs are much more
than just a CV reference and 12 credit points. While these ideas
won’t save you from photocopying, hopefully they’ll allow you
to walk away satisfied knowing you’ve made the most of a quintessential
student experience.
14 | Lot’s Wife

NOTICE OF ELECTION
The following positions are to be elected at the MSA Annual
Elections
Office Bearer positions:
• President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Disabilities and Carers Officer
• Education (Academic Affairs) Officer
• Education (Public Affairs) Officer
• Welfare Officer
• Women’s Officer
• Male Queer Officer
• Female Queer Officer
• Environment & Social Justice Officer
• Indigenous Officer
• Activities Officer
• Lot’s Wife Editor/s
Monash Student Council and Committees:
Monash Student Council (5 General Representatives)
Women’s Affairs Collective (5 Members)
Student Affairs Committee (10 Members)
National Union of Students:
7 Delegate positions
These elections are conducted using optional preferential voting,
and in accordance with other provisions as required under
the MSA Election Regulations (eg. only women can stand and
vote for the Women’s Officer position).
Tickets
Ticket re-registrations open at 9am on Monday 1 August and
close Friday 5 August at 5pm. The tickets re-registered will then
be published before Ticket registrations are then opened 9am
Tuesday 9 August closing 5pm Monday 15 August.
Nominations
Nomination forms will be available at the MSA office, or by
telephoning or writing to MSA, or via the internet at www.msa.
monash.edu/elections
Nominations open at 9am on Wednesday 17 August and close
5pm Friday 26 August.
Copies of the regulations governing the election are available
from the MSA office or via the internet at www.msa.monash.
edu/elections
Voting
Polling for the MSA elections will be 19 – 22 September 2016,
with the polling times and places as follows:
The main polling place will be open in the Campus Centre foyer
Monday 19 September
9.30am – 4.30pm
Tuesday 20 September
9.30am – 6.00pm
Wednesday 21 September
9.30am – 4.30pm
Thursday 22 September
9.30pm – 4.30pm
Remote polling will be open in the Hargrave-Andrew
Library foyer
Monday 19 September
11.30am – 2.30pm
Thursday 22 September
11.30am – 2.30pm
Postal votes are possible for those students unable to attend
the election in person. Applications will be available online or
at the MSA.
Gavin Ryan
Returning Officer
1 August 2016
0409 757 504
msa.returningofficer@gmail.com
Lot’s Wife | 15

OFFICE BEARER REPORTS
MSA PRESIDENT ABBY STAPLETON
Over the holidays I attended NUS education conference, hosted by the University of Sydney. We had the
opportunity to attend workshops focusing on building for the upcoming national day of action on August
24th. These sessions were very beneficial and we hope to introduce some of the ideas thrown around during
the conference, here at Monash. I have also spent a lot of time organising the introduction of the Workers
Rights Advice service, which will be available first semester next year, I have been working closely with Trades
Hall worker’s rights centre to get this off the ground. Early this semester I worked with the NUS Women’s
officer to discuss how we could address the results of the ‘Talk about it’ survey. The survey pinpointed some
pretty appalling statistics of sexual assault on campus, the MSA will be working closely with safer communities
to introduce some of recommendations of the survey. That’s about all from me! I hope you are all having
an excellent start to the semester!
TREASURER MATILDA GREY
Hello all!
After a semester break full of elections, conferences and illness, we’re straight back into the swing of things at the
MSA. The NUS education conference and the women’s conference - both held in Sydney - were well run and attended
well by students from Monash. We learnt a lot about student engagement on campus, and around organising and
mobilising for events such as the upcoming National Day of Action to be held on August 24. Again, we’ll be marching
to protest against the Liberal governments attacks on higher ed - come along to protect your right to an equitable and
quality education! 2nd semester O-Day was lots of fun - we signed up our 10,000th member for the year! In semester
2, come to the bar and order something off our new $5 menu, and look out for Vancora the food van on Friday mornings
to grab a free coffee between 9 and 11 from our Welfare boys. Keep your eyes and ears open whilst on campus as
you’ll hear and see plenty more from as we draw closer to the end of 2016
xoxo
SECRETARY GLENN DONAHOO
Semester 2 is now well and truly under way and in the MSA we have been busy organising plans for some
great new services. We have now started giving away free coffee and tea out of Vancora at halls every Friday
morning, between 10 and 12, so make sure you come by and grab a cup to wake you up before that Friday
morning class. We have also been promoting the National Day of Action on August 24 where we will be fighting
against deregulation of flagship courses and other changes to higher education that have been proposed
by the Liberals. I have also been busy recently preparing changes to our constitution that will go to a referendum
at this year’s elections. There are a number of changes being proposed such as the creation of a People of
Colour department and the addition of Radio Monash becoming a division of the MSA. Make sure you check
out the changes in the election guide and vote to accept these awesome changes.
As always, if you have any suggestions on services or campaigns we could run, please send me an email at
glenn.donahoo@monash.edu
EDUCATION (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS)
Semester 2 has kicked off after a long July spent conferencing in Sydney. Both of us attended Education
Conference at the University of Sydney where we attended workshops and seminars on education campaigns
happening around Australia. After EdCon Jess attended NOWSA, a conference open to female-identifying
students to discuss issues affecting women within higher education and the broader political landscape. And
finally as a little treat for ourselves, we went to Splendour in the Grass with a few other friends to relax before
semester started up again. As you can see, Dan had a great time.
DISABILITIES & CARERS
EDUCATION (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
Hello once again Monash peeps, your Education Public Affairs officers have been working very hard and
have had awesome results. We have just attended Education Conference in Sydney, where we got a closer look
at the campaigns being run by the National Union of Students (NUS), and we began planning for the August
24 th National Day of Action which are pivotal in showing the government and the public that students are
heavily against any changes that endanger our right to a fair higher education. We’re a little less than 2 weeks
away from the protest, and with that in mind have been promoting the protest as much as we can. Finally,
we have established the Monash People of Colour Collective (MPOCC) and have had our first meeting, which
was a success! The collective will further the campaign for a People of Colour department within the MSA, as
it is necessary to have a space in the student organisation where the voices of ethnic students are heard. If
you’d like to become a part of a team advocating for student issues than you can come to our offices located in
the MSA, or you can join the Monash Education Action Group on Facebook and come along to our meetings.
We look forward to seeing you around campus. Sumudu Setunge: sumudu.setunge@monash.edu Sulaiman
Enayatzada: sulaiman.enayatzada@monash.edu
Hello all! D&C week has left us quite satisfied as we managed to increase the visibility of our department
and gained some wonderful new members - from this we’ve also started establishing weekly afternoon coffee
meets in the disabilities office on Thursdays from 2-4 pm (come join us! We will provide foods and drinks). At
the moment we are talking to the DSS and are planning meetings with the university counsellors to be able
to figure out potentials to improving student access and support in terms of counselling provided here at
uni. We also are in the process of establishing discussion groups to help direct us how to run the department
as well as creating an official committee. If you are interested in joining one, both, either - anything really
please do contact us! Last and certainly not least; we are offering our office as a quiet space for any students
who may require a private place with low stimuli to relax (or even nap - our couches are comfy!) We’re also
planning on talking to security about keeping the office unlocked even if we’re not in so come visit us! Have
a fantastic week,
Viv and Denise
16 | Lot’s Wife

OFFICE BEARER REPORTS
QUEER
After recovering from the National Queer Conference we’re back in gear again with semester 2 and ready
to make it an extra fab one.
So far we’ve kicked off this semester with our regular events like Tuesday morning tea, Wednesday queer
beers, and Thursday discussion groups but we’re also ramping things up by running an additional morning
tea ‘LGBTea’ in Wholefoods and screening Orange is the New Black after every Queer Beers. Already this
semester we’ve had exciting ‘Loud and Proud’ musical performance night where all number of acts took the
Wholefoods stage and showed us their best. Now we’re getting prepared for Queer Week in week 6, with
plenty of events planned like our future themed Queer Ball on the 2nd of September.
If you want more info, or would like to be added to our secret Facebook group email msa-queer-l@monash.
edu or the public MSA Queer page.
WELFARE
Isn’t Spring just beautiful? When the flowers are in bloom, we just can’t resist long strolls across the Menzies
lawn, a refreshing skinny dip in the murky pond – watch out for those grubby leeches; those things like to bite -
and wistfully swiping through Tinder, in search of our one true loves. But fellow students, you must know that
Tinder isn’t everything. Whilst we have loved our experience serving you hella good vegie grub on a Monday
evening and practicing our downward dogs and child posing, we have a confession to make. It is with a heavy
heart that we inform you of our plans to join the next season of The Bachelor, in the spinoff series Bachie x 2: We’ll
Take Care Of You. We know you’ll miss our saucy struts, socks + Birkenstocks, brooding demeanours, and furrowed
brows in the corridor, but just remember, if you’re feeling lonely, we’ll be back in week 10 hosting a series of
events and a BBQ. Come grab a few of our sizzling sausages ;)
ACTIVITIES
Welcome back to uni everyone! After the excitement that was AXP, MSA Activities is ready for another
world wind adventure in semester two! The department’s annual Oktoberfest event will be happening in
week 9 that sees free bevs, German food and the chicken dance played so many times your arms fall off.
Everyone dresses in their fanciest wench or lederhosen to forget about semester two blues. There will also be
a new karaoke event and of course AXP II. Can’t wait to see you all this semester!
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
The first few weeks of semester we’ve been occupied with the campaign to stop the deportation of one
of our staff members. Dr. Biswajit Banik has taught Medicine at Monash for five years, and is now being
threatened with deportation on the grounds his son’s autism is a potential “burden” on Australia’s health and
community services! This is the reality of a capitalist immigration system, making decisions through the lens
of profits and disregarding the human toll it will take.
Fortunately similar decisions have been overturned before, and we hope to do the same. We held a solidarity
photo with Dr. Banik on the Menzies Lawns with the NTEU and 150-200 Monash students and staff there
to show support. We created and have been circulating an Open Letter calling on the Immigration Minister to
overturn the decision, with well over a hundred signatures from academics, as well as from Greens Senators,
Trade Unions and public figures. We also plan to hold a forum on campus for Biswa to tell his story and for us
to plan what’s next for the campaign.
To get involved or find out what else we’re up to, check out MSA.ESJC on Facebook.
INDIGENOUS
WOMEN’S
Hello, all! Since our last report we have continued or weekly events like our discussion groups. Over the
break we took a delegate of Monash students to the NOWSA conference at University of Technology Sydney.
We all learnt many new things and everyone felt they have been greater for the experience. This semester we
are working on our publication, DISSENT magazine, with the assistance of the Lot’s Wife Editors. In terms
of advocacy we are continuing our efforts to push for better University services and greater action on sexual
assault on campus. With the incoming Australian Human Rights Commission Survey into this, we will work
to ensure it reaches as many people as possible to help put pressure on universities nationwide. We are also
getting underway in planning our department week in week 7. We hope to have ongoing connection and
cooperation with other departments so that we may achieve the most this year.
A lot has been happening with the Indigenous Department over the past couple of months. Two prominent
events, the National Indigenous Tertiary Games (NITESG) and the 2016 NAIDOC Ball, went ahead and
Monash participated in both. The NITESG went extremely well for Monash. Our team competed in and won
a variety events, leading to our best results yet. The NAIDOC Ball was also a hugely positive experience for
Monash. We had a group of 20 students attend the Victorian NAIDOC Ball on the 9 th of July. This event was
one of the largest events on the Indigenous calendar for the year, and it was incredibly valuable to have our
university represented. With these events finished, we now look forward to our department week in week 5.
We encourage all students to look out for what we have planned ahead.
Lot’s Wife | 17

Sexual
The reality is that engaging in any sexual act without
consent is an act of violence, it’s a crime and it’s wrong.
MONASH
SAFER COMMUNITY UNIT
T: +61 3 9905 1599
E: safercommunity@monash.edu
monash.edu
For information, advice and support in a safe environment, please contact the Monash University Safer Community Unit on 9905 1599 or just dial 5159
from a Monash phone.The Safer Community Unit website also lists resources and links to external agencies
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/safercommunity/

9
Lot’s Wife | 19

Dr. Biswajit Banik and his family in Mount Gambier, SA | Courtesy of Dr. Banik.
“Legislation should be made
for human beings!”
Interview by Jasmine Duff
Dr Biswajit “Biswa” Banik, a lecturer in the Faculty of
Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash
University for over five years has been confronted with the prospect
of deportation by the Australian Government. Why? Because
his twelve year old son, Arkojeet, is autistic. The Immigration
Department reasons that he may be a burden upon the Australian
economy and health services. It is on this basis that the family’s
application for permanent residency has been denied, and after nine
years of living and working in Australia, they face being forced to
return to Bangladesh.
As the deadline for attaining permanent residency status
approaches, a serious campaign to help keep Biswa, his wife Dr
Sarmin Sayeed, and their son in Australia was launched in the form
of a Change.org petition by Health Watch Australia, followed by an
on-campus campaign headed by the Monash Student Association.
The MSA’s Environment and Social Justice Department (ESJ)
has organised the collection of names in an open letter, calling on
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to overturn the rejection of
the application. On Friday 6 August, over 150 people gathered
on the Menzies lawn to take a photo in solidarity with the Banik
family. Jasmine Duff from ESJ spoke with Dr Banik after the
demonstration.
Today over 150 students and staff gathered to stand in solidarity
with your family. How did it go?
It was a great, well organised initiative taken by the MSA’s
Environment & Social Justice unit. I was overwhelmed and
highly supported by Monash community: students, colleagues;
all the staff at Monash. Everyone showed so much
support, standing by me, by my family, by my son in particular.
Everyone gave such a high level of solidarity. I feel today that
the Monash family is beside me. It gives such a strong spirit to
stay positive; it feels like I am not alone.
You and your family have had a long, tumultuous journey in
applying for permanent residency. What has happened so
far?
We submitted our application for permanent residency in
December 2014. We got notified in July 2015 that my son did
not meet the health criteria, and on that basis they had rejected
the application for all three of us to stay in Australia. They gave
us two weeks to appeal the decision.
We had done our research and knew that we would have to
go through this process, so we applied to the tribunal and had
our hearing in December. The tribunal rejected us; they said
20 | Lot’s Wife

INTERVIEW
Monash staff and students in solidarity with Dr Banik and his family | Courtesy of Monash Student Association
they are bound to Australian immigration legislation. They
forwarded our application to the minister [Peter Dutton], and
we hoped that he may exercise his special power and allow us to
stay. We trusted and hoped that we would get our result from
him in 6 months’ time, but in the mean time it was two months
since we had submitted our paperwork to the immigration
department and we had heard nothing back from them.
Then our son’s visa expired on 7 July.
That’s when I contacted the immigration department again.
I said “What will happen to my son?”
They said my son is unlawful now. The department granted
him a three month visa, but the visa came with restrictions: he
cannot travel, and if he does travel he will not be allowed back
inside the country.
They said after the three months we could be given another
extension, but after that if the minister refused to act my son
would have to leave the country within 24 days. No appeal, no
consideration.
What has it been like, the waiting?
It is emotionally, physically, mentally draining. Every second,
every minute I check my email to see if there is anything
from my lawyer or immigration. It’s like a compulsive disorder.
Most people are not constantly, obsessively checking their
email, but I check it any time I hear a beep or a vibration. Is it
my lawyer? Have they heard anything?
I work in a demanding profession. At Monash I need to
provide a high standard of work. My students have expectations
and I have a responsibility to them. But when I have this
level of anxiety… I am a human, not a machine. Yesterday was
the worst. I was in Berwick, and I suddenly got an email saying
that I was meant to be teaching a tutorial in Caulfield! I teach
it every week. In five years I have never been late, I have never
missed a class, this was the first time. I am completely out of
my mind. As a doctor, I recognise the symptoms of depression,
of mental anxiety, anxiety disorder.
Suddenly I have realised this is affecting me, taking a toll
on my health. My wife is treating hundreds of thousands of
patients. If she slips up, it is someone else who suffers. Both of
us are doctors. We just want to get back to our normal lives.
What made you decide on a public campaign?
I have been living in Australia for ten years. I have been
a good citizen, abided every law; we work hard. Now we are
Lot’s Wife | 21

INTERVIEW
Dr. Biswajit Banik and his family at the beach | Courtesy of Dr. Banik
being treated like paperwork. All these policies, legislation.
Legislation should be made for human beings!
They are treating my son like a criminal. All our hard work of
the last 10 years, is this something we deserve? Over time we
have tried to be positive, to appeal to the minister [for immigration],
ask him to show some compassion. I felt that the time
had come to give him a message.
We wanted our voice to be heard by Australians and eventually
by the government. We have done all the paperwork, but
now we wanted to show how much affection and love we have
in Australia. We want to show that people are supporting us.
My wife is a general practitioner, and her practice supported
her to make a petition. Straight away –you have no idea
how much support we received! People wanted to express
their anger, their frustration, their solidarity, their love! My
students, and Monash, and the Environment and Social Justice
unit at the MSA gave us their support, and now we have been
all over the media.
What makes you keep going?
My inspiration is my son. All I want is for him to live a
happy, independent life. I am happy to do anything: more
training, more work, so I am not being considered a burden to
society. It cannot be measured in money, economics cannot
explain the work we do. Though, if you do want to measure
economically, have a look into our tax records!
In spite of all our mental turmoil we feel that we should
remain positive, that we should remain strong and the Monash
community has shown me that.
The MSA, the ESJ, NTEU (the National Tertiary Education
Union)… we are grateful to them and we urge everyone to keep
up your support. I wasn’t a member [of the NTEU] before, and
today – oh my god. I have always had faith in my colleagues.
They stood so strongly beside me.
We feel that this is our home.
Following the demonstration, the MSA’s Environment and Social
Justice Department issued this statement:
“The campaign to oppose the deportation of the Banik family
is ongoing, and is not isolated. It is a testament to neoliberalism
that only those seen as profitable by the immigration
department may live in this country, with full rights granted to
the minister to boot out anyone else. These laws are used often
to discriminate against those that the government wishes to
scapegoat, and today they are being used to send away a family
who has made their home here for the past nine years.”
If you would like to get involved in the campaign at Monash,
please contact the MSA Environment and Social Justice collective
for information about the open letter and future campaign events.
22 | Lot’s Wife

OPINION
By the skin of their teeth:
the changing face of Australian politics
by Ninad Kulkarni
As the dust settles on the recent federal election, it is
becoming increasingly clear that both the Labor and
Liberal parties are attempting to frame the close result as a
victory. This might have been a compelling narrative were it not
for the inconvenient fact that both parties have suffered a clear
decline in their primary vote. The significance of this has largely
been ignored in favour of leadership speculation and Cabinet
reshuffles, meaning a deeper narrative from the election was
missed. The electorate is deeply dissatisfied with the major
political parties meaning we are likely to see even more political
instability in the future.
It’s a bit of a cliché at this point to suggest that the public
is unhappy with politicians; however, it’s only in recent times
that this unhappiness has threatened the continued viability of
the major parties. In the twenty-four years prior to 2007 there
had only been three changes in Prime Minister; from 2007 to
present there have been five. Politicians are quick to deflect
blame for this instability - it’s the journalists, it’s social media,
it’s Getup! But the more likely explanation is that modern
politicians are just unrepresentative of the wider population
and this perception of being unrepresentative has damaged the
standing of politicians in the community.
There is a clear career trajectory that has emerged in the past
twenty or so years for people interested in taking up a career in
politics - study a degree (usually law), work for either a union
or a business before a stint as a staffer and then win a safe seat
in Parliament. While it could be argued that it makes sense for
aspiring politicians to get as much exposure to how politics
works as possible, it seems as though the balance has gone too
far in the wrong way, especially considering that politicians are
supposed to be representative of the community. It’s difficult to
be representative when your career path only reflects the views
of a narrow subsection of society.
The perception of being unrepresentative leads to the further
problem that the community doesn’t believe that politicians
serve the interests of the community. Politicians make
decisions based on what they believe is best for the community
rather than what the population actually wants. To a certain
extent they appear to be self obsessed - part of what made the
Gillard Government so unpopular was the view that it was
more focused on leadership and factions than governing. These
problems have paved the way for ‘anti-politicians’ like Pauline
Hanson to make their way into Parliament.
The individuals who were the clear winners from the election
don’t really have common policy ground - while Pauline Hanson
is Islamaphobic, Nick Xenophon is not. But what is common
amongst figures such as Hanson, Xenophon or Derryn Hinch
is that they are outside the system. They don’t have the same
career path as politicians, when they’re offered a question they
generally answer directly and they all have very high public
profiles based on campaigning on issues important to them -
Xenophon is anti-pokies, Hanson argues against foreigners and
immigrants while Hinch criticizes politicians for being soft on
crime. The attraction for voters here is probably that there is a
sense of ‘what you see is what you get’ whereas candidates for
the major parties merge into a monolithic blob.
It’s also interesting to note that different ‘anti-politicians’
were more successful in different states - for example,
Xenophon did extremely well in South Australia where there
has been strong debate on local issues such as submarine manufacturing.
The attraction for voting for minor parties ahead
of the major parties is actually pretty clear - you could vote for
someone like Christopher Pyne who has to balance advocacy
for South Australia with his national responsibilities or you
could vote for Xenophon who you know will be able to put
South Australians first.
The election has made clear that the major parties face an
existential threat to their continued relevance in society. The
Labor and Liberal parties are obviously aware of this, as evidenced
by the Government claiming that voting for independents
would lead to instability or Bill Shorten ruling out a deal
with the Greens. However, the problem with this tactic is it
is a Band-Aid solution to the much deeper problem of resentment
towards politicians. The true test for whether the parties
can bounce back from the election is whether they attempt to
change course or continue with their stale brand of unrepresentative
politics - all evidence so far indicates that they are
effectively doomed.
Lot’s Wife | 23

Laughing all the way to the right
by Julia Pillai
Illustration by Christina Dodds
As previously laughable populist right wing movements
such as the Leave campaign and One Nation have seen
success in 2016, the attention now falls on America. It is
official that when America goes to the polls in November, their
choice is now between ultra-establishment Democrat Hillary
Clinton – a seemingly radical choice for all reasons except for
policy – and the anti-establishment, loosely Republican candidate
Donald Trump.
How we got here is a bizarre tale. The reality TV show star
who consistently admits that he is not a politician, who has
literally no experience in political leadership, is making his
debut. Not in a local council, or a mayoral or state election, but
in the bid to become the leader of the free world. Viewing this
from the context of Auastralia where our prime ministerial
candidates are chosen from within the Labor or Liberal parties,
from a pool of individuals that already have a mandate in their
electorate, this prospect is ridiculous. Since declaring that he’d
contest the election last year, through the many sexist, ableist,
racist, and homophobic gaffes we’ve laughed at him. We’ve
found him amusing, we’ve found his entourage amusing and
we’ve found the very original speech from his wife, Melania
Trump amusing. We all laughed, as if the problem of Donald
Trump would vanish by merely discrediting him. If anything
our laughter and relentless judgment of him, his policies, and
his neon orange skin and hair made him and his followers
stronger. America has laughed its way to the Republican national
convention. Then they laughed a bit more. However, with
Trump becoming the Republican Party candidate, he has a very
real chance of getting those nuclear codes.
The Grand Old Party ultimately brought the force of Donald
Trump, a force akin to the worst Facebook comment thread
ever, upon itself. As explained in his article, ‘Britain allowed
its populist right to rise. America should heed the warning’,
Richard Wolffe claims that “the rise of charismatic, far-right
leaders can only happen when the weak leaders of the centre-right
surrender to them”.
Charismatic Trump certainly is surrounded by his ragtag
supporters. The “Twinks for Trump” group, including alt-right
commentator and self-proclaimed “most fabulous supervillain
on the internet”, Milo Yiannopoulos, are calling Trump ‘daddy’;
Sarah Palin is stumping for Trump, and KKK figures such as
David Duke are in support.
Is the rise of right wing populism the defeat of the ordinary,
uninteresting centre? And if so, why aren’t we seeing a reaction
in the left wing? The Democratic establishment was able to
pull down the radical left wing of the party, hence nominating
Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders as its candidate. Is the left
rushing to the centre in fear of what the right will bring? With
big name republicans such as Doug Elmets coming out in public
support for Clinton, have the democrats alienated their faithful
for a safer choice? Has the disintegration of the Republican
Party’s norms seeped into the Democrats’ campaign?
Trump, like One Nation and Brexit, is a ser ious challenge to
America’s political system, and could destroy any form of stability
in the country. No one should be laughing now.
24 | Lot’s Wife

SOCIETY
Jerks and circles:
political discussion in the meme age
by Ovindu Rajasinghe
The Libs may have won the federal election, but the clear
winner of the meme election is Labor.
Throughout the cold, miserable, eight week shitfight that
returned Malcolm to the Lodge, the ALP Spicy Meme Stash
shone a light through the darkness. Their memery was a beacon
of hope in an otherwise bleak election campaign. Their closest
competitors were the Liberal Party’s Agile and Innovative Memes,
who tried really hard, but came across as very stale. In a baffling
strategic choice, the Greens didn’t even make any memes.
There’s something strangely comforting about people with
similar political views to you laughing about politics in this
country in a post-post irony internet. The images and short
videos that were produced were really funny.
I never thought Bill Shorten could undergo an Ed Millibandesque
transformation into a sex symbol; never have I been so
glad to be proven wrong.
As much as I enjoyed all of the golden material that this election
produced, is the proliferation of (supa hot) fiyah election
memes good for our political discourse?
My initial response to that question was: of course it is.
Swathes of people across the country are disengaged with politics,
particularly young people, and part of that is feeling excluded
from the elite institutions of politics. Most people don’t
sit down and read Guardian op-eds, or listen to the interviews
on 7:30, because they simply don’t care.
In such a context, isn’t it good that politics is spreading back
into the mainstream through memes appearing on people’s
newsfeeds? Someone who might not have even known who
the Labor leader was could have a picture of Shorten painted
for them by ALP Spicy Meme Stash taking the piss out of him.
Someone who didn’t understand the debate around Liberal cuts
to Medicare could have the issue pop up on their feed. At first
glance, the memes seem like a great thing.
But when you look at it more closely, meme politics is very
much a circlejerk, even more so than regular politics.
When pages like ALP Spicy Meme Stash post something, hundreds
of people will tag their friends. The people that like the
page are generally going to be leftie types, who will lap up the
content. While some people will see the memes appear on their
newsfeed because one of their friends liked or commented, the
majority of people that engage are believers.
The result of this is an echo chamber. The Labor-Greens
types that like these pages have certain preconceptions about
the world, and constantly seeing these reinforced is unhealthy.
We become convinced we are morally superior without ever
having to confront alternative arguments, or defend our positions.
This echo-chamber is true of most media, but memes are
particularly susceptible.
This culture also creates an insular ‘us and them’ mentality.
There is no debate, or dialogue, but simply “the Libs are stupid,
let’s laugh at them”. As much as I think Liberals are stupid and
we should laugh at them, it’s not always the most productive
way to do politics. You’re not going to win the vote of a swinging
young person whose parents are rusted on Liberal voters
by insulting the beliefs they grew up with, with no productive
dialogue accompanying it.
These things might not seem particularly bad when you
think about them in the context of left-wing meme pages. But
what happens when you flip it, and look at right-wing meme
pages? Take God Save Our Gracious Meme, a UKIP-supporting
nationalist page from the UK. They are often genuinely funny,
but also mock and degrade immigrants, people of colour,
women, and other minorities. God Save Our Gracious Meme has
a base that is made up of young nationalists from England,
some of whom have some pretty radical views. In the comments
section you will regularly see more of the same bigotry,
and people tagging their mates in memes that reinforce their
values.
Take one of those UKIP, or United Patriot Front, or Trump
supporting pages run by old people, making unintentionally
shit memes. Imagine them posting a crude image denigrating
immigrants. Imagine the comments section:
‘you can’t even see any white faces in london any more!!! we
need to put our foot down and stop all immigration now’
‘OMG so true Barbara, so many brown people, they’re taking
over MY country!! hope you are well love from me susan and
the kids’
The circlejerk doesn’t look so good from the other side of the
fence.
Th e ALP Spicy Meme Stash is really funny, because I subscribe
to most of their values. But what it can’t do is replace conversations
and dialogue about politics.
Lot’s Wife | 25

26 | Lot’s Wife
SOCIETY

REVIEW
Chasing Asylum
Chasing Asylum, directed by Academy Award winner Eva
Orner, is arguably the most important piece of investigative
journalism in recent Australian film history. The documentary
frankly reveals the shocking conditions of Australia’s
offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, and
explores the physical, mental, emotional and financial costs
of this detrimental asylum seeker policy. Just a month after
the 2016 Australian Federal Election, and the solidification of
Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, Chasing Asylum is becoming
increasingly relevant in the domestic and global context of the
refugee crisis.
In recent weeks, xenophobic outrage has been strongly
expressed across the globe: Republican Presidential candidate
Donald Trump’s hate speech; the elevation of Pauline Hanson
to the Australian Senate on an anti-Islam platform; Sonia
Kruger’s recent calls to ban Muslim immigration into Australia;
and the history-making ‘Brexit’ decision. There have been
repeated vocalisations of ‘anti-Other’ sentiments around the
world.
Unfortunately, this is not novel, nor is targeting ‘illegal’ asylum
seekers unprecedented. Australian asylum seekers policies
have been a major political issue for over a decade as Chasing
Asylum reminds viewers of the 2001 ‘Tampa’ and ‘Children
Overboard’ incidents that were unfolding in Australian politics.
Such affairs involved the Australian Government stirring moral
panic regarding asylum seeker arrivals, which ultimately catalysed
the beginning of offshore detention as part of the ‘Pacific
Solution’. While the topic of asylum-seeking remains heavily
politicised today, the global refugee crisis continues to mount:
the numbers of refugees are the highest since the aftermath of
World War II.
Chasing Asylum is a ground-breaking insight into how far
we haven’t come. The documentary thoroughly canvasses the
current policy of offshore detention of people arriving via
‘illegal’ channels, accounting for the three-word slogans (“Stop
the boats”) which have been drummed into national consciousness.
Through the testimonies of camp staff, interviews
with journalists, and secretly recorded footage, Chasing Asylum
provides a rare glimpse into the closeted lives of detainees on
Manus Island and Nauru. In doing so, the documentary persists
in fostering serious public discourse, which has been largely
absent due to restricted media access to the centres.
Successive Australian leadership, on both sides of the
political spectrum, have pursued offshore detention in order to
reduce the number of the so-called ‘illegal’ boat arrivals, and,
to limit the number of deaths at sea. While the documentary
acknowledges the veracity of claims that deaths at sea have, in
fact, reduced, Chasing Asylum also articulates the human cost of
this reduction.
by Jennifer Worthing
Illustration by Karla Engdahl
The documentary contends that the current political stance
has devolved into a policy of deterrence: poor conditions in
offshore detention centres and long-term incarceration are
intended to dissuade future asylum seekers from arriving by
boat. This point is reiterated by camera footage, which draws attention
to the threatening Australian Government posters peppered
throughout Indonesia. These posters, and accompanying
video propaganda unequivocally advise asylum seekers that if
they attempt to reach Australia via ‘illegal’ boat channels, they
will never be settled in Australia: “You will not make Australia
home”. Furthermore, Chasing Asylum elucidates the extensive
financial strain involved in implementing this deterrence, citing
that over a billion dollars annually is sunk into remanding asylum
seekers offshore, which amounts to around $500,000 – per
refugee, per year – for however long they remain in detention.
The ramifications of long-term detention are both physical
and mental. The documentary details the extent of guard
aggression, provides footage of violent riots at the centres,
and remembers the tragic deaths of Reza Barati and Hamid
Kehazaei whilst in detention. Chasing Asylum projects the
shocking effect of detention on mental health, detailing medical
reports of self-harm in children, and evidence of detainees
engaging in lip and eyelid-stitching, cutting, and the ingestion
of poisons.
Australia is the only country in the world with a policy of
indefinitely detaining children. There are irrevocable, pervasive
ramifications of detaining young children. Chasing Asylum
suggests that, in addition to mental health concerns, these
children also exhibit behavioural issues such as identifying as
their boat identification numbers and presenting highly sexualised
conduct. As the illicit camera record the camps, desperate
slogans scrawled across the tents and living spaces are revealed:
“we hate Nauru”, “kill us”. Overwhelmingly, offshore processing
is depicted as seriously failing vulnerable people.
Chasing Asylum is a candid examination of Australia’s asylum
seeker policies in practice. Providing a rare, confronting insight
into the conditions on Manus island and Nauru, and questioning
both the political motivations, and the tangible human cost
of persisting with these policies, this documentary is one of the
most salient commentaries on Australian immigration policy.
There will be a free screening of Chasing Asylum hosted
by the Environment and Social Justice Department on
August 29th at 4pm in the Campus Cinema.
Lot’s Wife | 27

Wot’s Life with Pauline Hanson
Illustration by Genevieve Townsend
If you still owned your fish and chips store, do you think you
might have expanded your repertoire and started making
HSPs?
No. No, I definitely wouldn’t have been interested. I would have
kept my shop traditionally Australian and only sold fish and
chips. We need to stick to our country’s roots.
Didn’t fish and chips originate in England?
Well. Look, they might have. I don’t know. Moving on.
Hey, you’re probably the best person to ask. What’s a surefire
way to ensure a large collective of people don’t like you?
What an appropriate question. I am the best person to ask,
because I’ve been seeing this for years. If you come into our
country expecting special treatment, while trying to bring in
ISIS so you can break apart our nation, destroy our ancient
culture, force your foreign cuisine on me, poison our waterholes
and corrupt our children, you can expect that most Australians,
such as myself won’t like you.
Would you rather be gay for Moleman or have your dick out
for Harambe?
*sigh* I’m not going to answer that question, there’s many
other questions that need answers, and frankly I’m not a fan of
that one.
How do you feel about the fact that One Nation now holds
four seats in a much larger and diverse Senate, with a 20
person crossbench, where it’s going to be extremely difficult
to pass the policies that you want to focus on, particularly
on decisions relating to Muslim immigration?
I don’t like it.
28 | Lot’s Wife

13 15
19 20 21
designed by Lucie Cester
1 3
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4 5 6
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Want your event featured in next month’s calendar? Email us at msa-lostswife@monash.edu
October already?
Turn over for an illustration by Harmony Wong

Calling all writers, designers and illustrators to get involved
with
DISSENT
Dissent is a yearly zine published by the MSA womens deparment that features the talent, ideas, rants and
musings of awesome women. We are seeking contributions from all mediums, such as poetry, prose, drawing,
comics, design, commentary, etc. If you’d like to get invovled, send an email to dissent2016@gmail.com
***Dissent is a publication open to all those that identify as or with women, including non-binary individuals***

Beyond the black tub:
Aussie-born inventions
by Sasha Hall
Illustration by Jena Oakford
34 | Lot’s Wife

SCIENCE
When most Gen Y’s think of Aussie inventions, one
that may spring to mind is Wifi: an indispensable tool
(unless it throws a temper tantrum… looking at you, eduroam).
But sitting on my couch binge-watching Shark Tank for no
apparent reason made me wonder what other ingenuities
Australia has created: apart from Halal Snack Packs, Vegemite
and Bunnings BBQs, of course.
So, here are a few home-grown inventions that may surprise
you.
The Fridge: This multi-billion dollar idea came from the humble
James Harrison, a Geelong politician who also later edited Th e
Age. He patented a vapour-compression refrigeration system,
where gas was passed through a condenser and liquefied,
becoming cool. The cool liquid was then passed through coils
until it turned back into gas. This process cooled the air around
the coils, eventually freezing the water that was in the unit and
making Harrison a nice bit of profit from ice-making machines.
Eventually, the idea was turned into the indispensable frosty
safe-house for midnight snacks found in kitchens worldwide,
revolutionising food storages and human history.
Google Maps: how else are you supposed to play Pokémon
GO get places? The genius idea of Google Maps was cooked
up by two brothers at their Sydney based company, Where 2
Technologies, as a C++ desktop program. After pitching their
idea to Google, their entire company was purchased by Google
in 2004. Shortly afterwards, Google had turned the initial
model into the version we couldn’t game live without today.
Notepads: 100% Australian. In 1902, a Tasmanian stationary
shop owner got fed up with selling ordinary writing books,
where pages were folded in half and stapled or sewn at the
crease. So he decided to just stick some glue on the top edge of
a stack of pages, and whack a cardboard backing on it. On ya
mate.
Dual flush toilets: it’s nice to know that we have made sustainable
contributions to the world as well. Bruce Thompson
designed and developed the first dual flush toilet in 1980,
subsequently saving millions of litres of water, and giving us
the freedom of choice in the dunny.
Plastic spectacle lenses: at least someone understood the
need for lenses that survive the fall to the solid concrete floor
(when you drop them in your unfathomable clumsiness).
Scientists from the University of Adelaide, we are sincerely
grateful.
Black Box recorders: providing new hope and answers for
air crash investigators and those affected by mysterious plane
crashes, this device combines a flight data recorder and a
cockpit voice recorder to provide an informative overall picture
of a flight. Without it, we would never know what happened in
those final moments. We can credit this to Australian engineer
David Warren.
Baby Safety Capsules: this one is pretty smart. It’s not just ya
mum’s baby car seat; this one has a cushion of air between the
child’s bassinet and the base of the seat. In the event of a crash,
the cushion of air allows the bassinet to rotate within the base,
dissipating force and minimising trauma, leaving the little bub
safe ‘n’ sound.
And here are a couple of inventors we really should all know
about:
Lawrence Hargrave: yes the same cool guy that HAL is
half-named after. He made some extremely important
advancements, namely that curved surfaces on kite wings
provide more lift than flat ones, and invented the box
kite. He was also an admirable academic who, instead of
patenting his inventions, decided to publish them openly in
the spirit of communication and free access: no wonder our
library is named after him! He invented the radial rotary
engine which was driven by compressed air and used in
planes up until the 1920’s, and in 1894, he attached this
engine to four box kites and managed to hoist himself 5
metres off the ground, making aviation history! Although
they never credited him, his work was instrumental to the
development of the Wright Brothers’ early airplane, and
thus to air travel today.
David Unaipon: credited as Australia’s Da Vinci, he was
a pioneer in engineering and science, who invented a
mechanical motion machine that revolutionised sheep
shearing, turning circular movement into straightened motion
within the device. He lodged an astounding 19 patents
on machines, such as centrifugal motors, but was unable to
afford the costs and thus ended up having ideas taken from
him, instead of rightfully profiting from them. A member
and advocate of the Ngarrindjeri people of South Australia,
David Unaipon was a pivotal activist for the Indigenous
community, and the first Aboriginal writer to be published
in English, writing about many Aboriginal legends in newspapers
such as the Sydney Morning Herald. It is only fitting
that his work as an inventor and activist, despite a lack of
monetary gain, has gained him lasting commemoration on
that $50 note you probably don’t have in your pocket.
*BONUS LEVEL*
Medical things:
• Ultrasound scanner: uses really high pitched sounds
to create an image (echolocation) of internal tissue,
from a screwed up knee to a pregnant belly.
• Spray on skin using the patient’s own skin cells
• Bionic ear or cochlear implant
• Pacemaker
• Egg freezing technology required for IVF (thanks
Monash)
• Anti-flu medication
• HPV vaccine
• Other things:
• First ever Feature film: The Story of Ned Kelly, which
ran for roughly an hour long, not only brought in its
producers a nice profit but also made history.
• Plastic bank notes- because the Reserve Bank of
Australia can invent things too.
• AFL, duh
• The Hills Hoist (AKA the rotating clothes line thing
you used to swing off in your grandparents’ backyard)
• Digital music sampler or synthesiser
• Military tanks
• The electric drill
• Goonbags- because what is a better idea than putting
cheap wine in a bag in a box?
Note: This list is just my top picks. But even so, I feel
happy that now when I pick up a bar of Cadbury top deck, it
comes with the awareness and pride that we have invented
a fair deal more than seriously good chocolate.
Lot’s Wife | 35

SCIENCE
Can the pill cause depression?
Have you ever thought that the pill may be changing your
mood?
Whilst the physical side-effects of the pill have been well
established, relatively little research has been conducted into
what, if any, psychological side-effects it may have. Indeed,
these effects are not limited to the pill, they encompass all hormonal
contraceptives including implants and injections.
Many of our patients report thinking that the mood changes
were their fault (“just me”, “being moody”) or due to circumstances
occurring in their life. Most of our patients were not
aware that hormonal contraception could affect mood before
hearing about our research.
All hormonal contraceptives, unsurprisingly, contain chemicals
that are similar to hormones found in the body. Hormones
are chemical messengers that the body uses to control its
functions including reproduction. Hormonal levels fluctuate
throughout the menstrual cycle and it is these cyclical fluctuations
that bring about reproductive events such as menstruation
and ovulation.
Emerging research suggests that these hormonal fluctuations
play a role in mood and mental illness. Research has
shown that mood fluctuates along with these hormonal variations
with mood being lower at the beginning of the menstrual
cycle compared to the middle. Many mental illnesses may be
exacerbated at certain times during the menstrual cycle as well.
Thus, it may come as no surprise that adding in hormone
mimicking substances to the body could affect a woman’s psychological
state. All hormonal contraceptives contain a chemical
similar to the hormone progesterone, many also contain a
chemical similar to the hormone oestrogen. These progesterone-like
substances, called progestins, are the chemical that is
chiefly responsible for preventing pregnancy.
Progestins mainly achieve this by inhibiting ovulation, the
36 | Lot’s Wife
by Jake Kirk | Illustration by Karla Engdahl
release of an egg ready to be fertilised by sperm. Progestins
also prevent pregnancy by thickening cervical mucus (making it
harder for sperm to reach an egg) and thinning the uterus lining
(making the conditions less hospitable for a fertilised egg to
survive). The combined oral contraceptive pill adds in estrogen
to provide more predictable bleeding and is more effective at
preventing pregnancy.
Preliminary research suggests that estrogen may have a
beneficial effect on mood. Progesterone may worsen mood.
Indeed, our research suggests that women using progesterone-only
contraceptives may have worse mood compared to
women using the combined oral contraceptive pill. Both these
hormones affect the brain directly and are further broken down
into other chemicals which can have psychological effects.
This research is important in furthering women’s mental
health and reproductive rights given 88% of Australian women
will use hormonal contraception in their lifetime and women
suffer from depression at twice the rate of men. Indeed, the
largest reason for discontinuing hormonal contraception is
dissatisfaction, this includes psychological, sexual and physical
side-effects. As the pill is 99% effective at preventing pregnancy
when used correctly, many women swap to less effective
methods of contraception like condoms.
So, if you are feeling depressed after swapping or starting
hormonal contraception, it is important to factor in the new
hormone contraceptive when searching for causes and treatment
of your depression. If this happens to you please let your
doctor know, since there are many different formulations of
hormonal contraceptives on the market, (with different individual
effects); it might help to swap to another brand.
Jake Kirk is a Bachelor of Science (hons) research student at
Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre. If you are interested
in participating in research about the oral contraceptive pill and
mood or want more information you can contact jake.kirk@
monash.edu or SMS 04 6849 5245.

SCIENCE
Following the piper:
science can’t save the world
by James Quintana Pearce
Scientism: the uncritical application of scientific or quasi-scientific
methods to inappropriate fields of study or investigation
- Collins English Dictionary
Science, as a paradigm, has had remarkable success in
answering the questions it was created to answer, namely
those that relate to physical reality. This has led many to wallow
in the belief that science is the only legitimate paradigm with
which to answer any and all questions. Although science isn’t
a religion, many people misuse science in the same way that
many others misuse religion -- they apply the paradigm to
inappropriate questions, and dismiss alternative answers.
Signs that suggest a person is a follower of scientism:
- They deride something as being unscientific, when it has
nothing to do with science.
- They quote a famous scientist, or a popular writer, as if the
quote ends the argument.
- They say science can solve any problem, often going further
by saying that science will solve all problems.
- They dismiss hypotheses that challenge what they perceive
as the scientific status quo, for example claiming that an idea
is “un-Darwian”, even though they also cite science’s ability to
reject long-held ideas in favour of new ones that better fit the
evidence as making the field superior.
- They believe science will allow them to live forever in some
way, and if they die science will resurrect them to live forever.
- They believe science will inevitably create a utopia.
For the most part, these behaviours are no more damaging
than other irrational modes of argument, but there is one
result of this belief that is a problem: when people abdicate the
responsibility of altering their behaviour to make the world a
better place, because that is the job of science.
They think it doesn’t matter if species go extinct and ecosystems
get destroyed, because science will just recreate them.
It doesn’t matter if wealth inequality is increasing, because
science will invent new things that will grow the economy. It
doesn’t matter if their products create new forms of pollution,
because science will just clean it up.
However, time and time again science has been shown to be
inadequate to the task of saving the world on its own. Usually,
the solution to one problem creates one or more new problems
that need to be solved, and sometimes the negative effects are
hard to predict. When people proposed the use of chloroflurocarbons
(CFCs) as a refrigerant, to replace the toxic compounds
used at the time, it is understandable that looking at the structure
of CFC, one would not have made the leap to the destruction
of the ozone layer.
Often the consequences are entirely predictable, however.
When antibiotics, used in intensive farming to increase the
growth rate of animals, led to deadly bacteria which were
resistant to multiple types of antibiotics, that consequence was
obvious and inevitable.
More damningly for scientism, oftentimes science simply
can’t solve a problem. Often, the ‘Green Revolution’ is used
as an example of the omnipotence of science, but I would
contend that it is in fact a demonstration of the limitations of
science. The Green Revolution aimed to solve the problem of
chronic hunger in many parts of the world by increasing crop
yield. New farming techniques such as irrigation and artificial
fertiliser use, as well as improved seed strains, were introduced
to developing nations in the 1970s. As a result, cereal output
doubled over the next few decades, which would be a clear win,
if the population hadn’t also doubled over the same time period,
increasing the total number of people living with hunger.
According to the United Nations, “the number of hungry
people in the world grew by 15 million from 1970 to 1980, to
475 million … [then the rate grew faster] reaching 512 million
in 1985”. The people living in hunger didn’t own land, and
didn’t benefit from the increased crop yields. Additionally, the
increased population and profitability of farmland exacerbated
the problem of wilderness areas being cleared.
Is the problem intractable? No. Hunger continued to increase,
peaking at more than a billion people during the 1990s,
but since then has been steadily declining. The change the realisation
that using science to increase crop yields wasn’t enough
without social change to reduce and reverse population growth,
economic change to direct funds to the most poor and lower
income inequality, and political change to provide people the
freedom to control and improve their lives. None of this could
be provided by science alone.
Science will be instrumental in solving problems to make the
world a better place, but on its own, unscrupulous use will be at
the expense of us all. Other disciplines, such as sociology, politcal
science and social justice need to be supported by science so
it can make appropriate contributions to society, and the world.
Individually, we need to stop abdicating personal responsibility
in favour of relying on science (or anything else), and
accept that we are accountable for the changes we make to the
world, and obliged to make our effect a positive one.
Lot’s Wife | 37

SCIENCE
Forever young
by Kathy Zhang
Scientists spend a lot of time reading papers to stay on top
of the latest discoveries. So when I stumbled upon the
headline: “Russian Scientist Injects Himself with 3.5-Million-
Year-Old Bacteria, Reckons He Might Now Live Forever” that
meant one of the two following things: one, this guy is about to
win a Nobel Prize a la Marshall and Warren, who showed that
most stomach ulcers were caused by the Helicobacter pylori
bacterium when Marshall swallowed a vial of the stuff and took
himself to hospital for the subsequent ulcer; or two, Vice may
not be a particularly reputable scientific publication.
As it turns out, it meant the latter. The Bacillus F bacteria
was found by geocryologists in the permafrost of Mammoth
Mounter, Siberia. It had survived for millions of years in the
ice. While treating mice with the bacteria seemed to increase
longevity and fertility, the reported effects on humans are
purely anecdotal. That is to say, this Anatoli Brouchkov scientist
guy injected himself just for kicks, felt more energetic and now
believes the bacteria may hold the key to immortality.
Although this seems farfetched, chief futurist at Google,
Ray Kurzweil, suggests that immortality is possible within our
lifetimes. Our understanding of the human genome now allows
us to edit it in previously inconceivable ways. Kurzweil suggests
that biomedicine may no longer be just a science, but an information
technology where we can add, subtract or reprogram
our genes or the “software of life” in more beneficial ways. He
predicts that by 2020 we will start using nanobots to bolster
the immune system, and technology will add years to our life
expectancies.
This extension of life will be accompanied by an expansion
of life in an era known as ‘the Singularity’. By 2045 when
non-biological intelligence will become a billion times more
powerful than all human intelligence today, Kurzweil predicts
biotechnology may allow our brains to connect to “the cloud”
and become more intelligent and powerful. Recreational activities
will also develop to combat the tedium of life everlasting.
Your favourite cyberpunk visions may become a reality yet (I’m
voting for Ghost in the Shell).
Transhumanism and sentient cyborgs aside, there are easier
ways to live forever. Among the world’s oldest people, most are
women, several of whom attribute their longevity in part to
avoiding men. “They’re just more trouble than they’re worth,”
said Jessie Gallan, who lived to be 109. Perhaps she too was
aware that domestic violence is the number one contributor to
death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15 to 44.
Diet is also considered a major factor. The Indigenous
peoples of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan have the longest life
expectancy in the world, making the Okinawa diet the object
of some interest. It mostly consists of vegetables, Okinawan
sweet potato and pork, and contains much less rice, fish, meat
and sugar than the standard Japanese diet. With the shift away
from the traditional diet towards more Western and Japanese
patterns however, longevity has decreased.
Certain animals also display biological immortality, meaning
their chronological age and biological aging processes are decoupled.
Contrary to popular belief, lobsters do not live forever.
However, they are able to live for a very long time thanks to
the enzyme telomerase. Telomeres are like protective caps on
the ends of chromosomes. These shorten over time after cell
division. Telomerase repairs telomeres, preventing them from
shortening and damaging the DNA, leading to aging. The good
news is this stops lobsters from aging. The bad news is this may
cause cancers in humans.
Say we could live forever, would we want to though? A very
rigorous Facebook poll of my distinguished peers revealed that
2 out of 7 would want to live forever. Major concerns included
boredom and loneliness. Some of the ethical implications of
immortality include increasing the world population, strain on
the world’s resources and the furthering social and economic
inequalities with unequal life expectancies.
In any case, if any of this is true then there may be time for
me to get even with the casting director of Ghost in the Shell
after all.
38 | Lot’s Wife

SCIENCE
Saving crops with robots
by Shivani Gopaul
Illustration by Angus Marian
Since the dawn of time, humankind has delved into available
resources to alter the environment, making it more
liveable and more comfortable day by day. Being able to use a
spear-shaped rock to hunt, or using a cattle-driven chariot to
transport goods were considered marvels, and greatly influenced
the agricultural sector and ensured food security for man
over time.
It all started with the use of simple mechanical systems
to assist farmers in transporting heavy loads, or in crushing
cereal to make refined products and widen the variety of foods
available for consumption. Over the years, we witnessed the
development of railway tracks, making transport of agricultural
goods faster, more efficient and cost-effective. Later, we
saw the advent of automatic systems in agriculture, such as
the use of machinery to milk cows and sort milk according to
quality, to the use of highly precise sensors to track the pH
of soil. Data analysis tools, combined with crop monitoring
via satellite, have revolutionised our ability to predict soil
fertility trends. We also make use of genetic modifications to
make environmentally stronger crops, able to better withstand
climatic, biological and chemical damage. With these scientific
breakthroughs, man has seen agriculture metamorphose into a
mechanised and automated world, where technology complements
human ingenuity.
Today, humankind has reached new heights as far as agricultural
technology is concerned. Agricultural robots, commonly
known as ‘agbots’, will soon become a fully viable solution to
various farming problems. One of the most serious problems is
colony collapse disorder, faced by pollinator bees, triggered by
ecological imbalances and climate change. Environmentalists
have noted a massive decline in the bee population in the
world, which directly impacts food production as pollination
rates drop, threatening food security all over the planet.
A few decades ago, the focus was on trying to resolve the
issue, by artificially breeding bees and re-introducing them into
the environment when they became mature and environmentally
resilient. Others would emphasise the need to make use of
genetically modified insects or cloning as a means of boosting
the bee population growth. However, today there is an unprecedented
way to address the issue: miniature robotic bees. These
agbots are known as RoboBees, as nicknamed by the Harvard
University researchers working on the project, led by Professor
Robert Wood.
With advancements in robotics and material technologies,
what was unthinkable in the past is today’s reality. Carbon
fibre, titanium and plastics are combined to make micro-mechanical
structures, which are rigid all while having flexible
joints so as to achieve different flight manoeuvres and carry
out exceptionally specific functions. Highly precise refining
methods such as laser-cutting are used to manufacture the
outer bodies of the RoboBees, and state-of-the-art materials
engineering technologies are employed in the circuitry of
the agbot: printed-circuit micro electromechanical systems
(PC-MEMS). The overall structure is very light, owing to the
low-density materials used, and thus RoboBee has low power
consumption and can move around quite fast - the wings are
able to flap 30 times per second. Only a few centimetres long ,
once put into use, these RoboBees will have a massive influence
on the agricultural sector. It will serve as temporary solution to
the danger of extinction of natural bees and boost pollination,
thus ensuring the continuity of plant reproduction.
However, more progress is yet to be achieved in regards
to the large-scale implementation of this project. The next
challenge is to enable the RoboBees to communicate with one
another and coordinate their actions as a unit, to biomimic the
natural hive behaviour of bees. This would promise an imminent
revolution in terms of using the robotic bees for other
purposes, such as the identification of chemically-hazardous regions
through the use of sensors, or the simplification of search
and rescue operations using small size of the robot.
While still at the prototype stage, the RoboBee project is
bound to push the limits of the use of technology in agriculture,
and open up a world of endless possibilities in terms of
the future possibilities of agbots. Get ready to say hello to
Nature 2.0!
Lot’s Wife | 39

40 | Lot’s Wife
Illustration by Lucie Cester

SCIENCE
by Rajat Lal
ANSWERS AT LOTSWIFE.COM.AU
Lot’s Wife | 41

CULTURE
Paying their debts:
Game of Thrones
season six
by Rachael Welling
Illustration by Olivia Rossi

CULTURE
H
BO’s Game of Thrones is a massive cultural phenomenon.
We all know this. We’ve seen the endless recaps,
the ubiquitous Winter is Coming meme, the photoshopped
pictures of political figures sitting the Iron Throne and so on.
Even my Mum vaguely understands that Game of Thrones is well
known for ‘tits and dragons’, and she consumes no television
except for ABC news and My Kitchen Rules. As of 2014, Game of
Thrones became HBO’s most watched TV show of all time, and
with a steadily climbing viewership (ostensibly not including
the droves of sea faring bandits who watch the show), GoT
won’t be disappearing from the cultural sphere any time soon.
The question is: Does this god-tier status of cultural infamy
affect the production of Game of Thrones in any way? At first
glance, no. Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have
specifically stated they don’t directly listen to fan criticism.
And it is doubtful that Benioff and Weiss could even begin to
satisfy all of the shows fans if they deigned to listen to them.
The show has so many subsets of fans; casual watchers, avid followers,
fans of the show’s source material A Song of Ice and Fire
(ASOIAF), people who film themselves watching the show in
bars, the aforementioned sea-faring bandits. Game of Thrones’
showrunners have the monumental task of making the show
work for each of these subsets. This isn’t to say Benioff and
Weiss completely disregard their fans – surely they want the
show to be popular – in fact they clearly consider all of them.
Hardcore fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire often complain
of the show ‘dumbing down’ the plot of the books. It’s easy to
see where this is true; storylines are cut (Aegon Targaryen) or
streamlined (Dorne’s entire plot), characters are lost (Arienne
Martell, Lady Stoneheart, Victarion Greyjoy) or combined
(Sansa Stark and Jeyne Pool), and characters’ involvement
diminishes (Doran Martell) or ends prematurely (also Doran
Martell). While it’s impossible to state the true intention of
the creative decisions in the show, many of these changes were
likely due to the need to keep the show both engaging and
well-paced for a majority of watchers. George R. R. Martin’s
A Song of Ice and Fire is a saga so expansive it has its own
published encyclopedia. We may frown at the loss of a cool
speech or intrigue from the books; but how many fans would
rather see Game of Thrones slow to a crawling pace trying to
incorporate every aspect of George R. R. Martin’s epic? Instead
it’s something more crisply paced, riveting, and ultimately
simpler. It isn’t as if the show is without scenes and references
pulled straight from the books: the fight between Oberyn
Martell and the Mountain in Season 4 occurs exactly as it is
written, ex-maester Qyburn’s speech to Grand Maester Pycelle
before the latter’s death is word for the word the speech given
by Varys to Kevan Lannister in A Dance with Dragons – among
other, smaller examples. Regardless of whether fans agree
with every decision, all the showrunners can be accused of is
adapting a story for television, and making needed sacrifices
along the way.
Another factor in the evolving production of Game of Thrones
is the fact that the show has long overtaken its source material.
If Martin were to never finish ASOIAF, it would be the
first major saga to begin in one medium and finish in another.
Game of Thrones’ showrunners essentially have it in their power
to dictate another man’s legacy. Does this, and should this,
change the way the adaption is made? It depends who you ask.
Naturally, its makes little sense for the showrunners – who
are making a TV show – to be held accountable to fans of the
books. But it doesn’t mean they won’t be.
Following the death of Shireen Baratheon in Season 5, David
Benioff offhandedly says, ‘When George first told us about
[Shireen’s burning]…we were shocked’. No biggie, Martin has
to tell the showrunners about book developments for the two
series to essentially line up. But it was a biggie; it was a book
spoiler. Five years have passed since Martin’s last book, and
some fans lost it. Elio Garcia, owner of Westeros.org, who actually
swore off Game of Thrones after Season 5, called Benioff’s
revelation ‘thoughtless’. Fans on the /r/asoiaf subreddit and
Westeros.org forums called it ‘shitty’, ‘absolutely atrocious’ and
‘unprofessional’, with some denying the truth of it outright
(‘What if this is exactly what GRRM planned all along?’ says
one particularly far gone fan). So does Benioff have a duty to
protect the sanctity of book spoilers? Yes, and no. Yes, because
Game of Thrones is now part of the wider ASOIAF fandom, and
no, because the showrunners are no one’s bitch (except maybe
HBO’s). The show has already spoiled future book plot points,
and I doubt Benioff’s comment will hurt the sales of Martin’s
next book. Still, many fans have dedicated twenty years to this
story. All they want is new material from Martin, but it seems
like they’ll have to make do with snippets from the producers.
Game of Thrones’ production quality has certainly improved
– and unsurprisingly so, with the show’s Season 6 budget
reaching $10 million per episode, up from $6 million in Season
1. The Season 6 episode ‘The Battle of The Bastards’ – featuring
a full scale pitched battle, a CGI-giant, and arse-tighteningly
tense action – is undoubtedly a technical marvel, especially for
a TV show. But while ‘The Battle of the Bastards’ was a good
hour of television, was it really a good hour of Game of Thrones?
As much as I personally enjoyed the episode, lingering questions
remain. Why did none of the Northerners flinch at seeing
their liege lord Ramsay literally murder an innocent child and
Eddard Stark’s last remaining son? Why have Sansa warn Jon
not to fall into any of Ramsay’s traps only to have Jon instantly
fall into one of Ramsay’s traps? Why did the Knights of the Vale
save the day at exactly the most dramatic moment? I’ve already
stated that Game of Thrones must be entertaining for the vast
majority of us, and that’s ok, but Game of Thrones reached its
cultural status in part because of its realism, and subversion of
classic tropes. Shock value moments in Game of Thrones are not
new, but will the show’s lasting legacy be as positive if it’s most
climactic moments prioritise spectacle over substance? If the
remaining seasons become predictable, it won’t just be the book
fans souring on the plot.
Game of Thrones is rocketing towards its climactic finish with
(sadly) only two seasons left. From relatively humble origins
to a major cultural staple, it’s natural that more eyes watching
means more criticism all round, and that its production will
continually evolve in response (or otherwise). Issues aside,
Game of Thrones is still one of the best and most consistently
good TV shows around. It’s important to remember with any
work, its creators are human, with their own interpretations
and priorities, and that the act of simply not fucking it all up is
admirable in its own right. If I was handed 100 million dollars a
year to create a TV show, I think all I’d achieve is getting myself
done for money laundering.
Lot’s Wife | 43

CULTURE
Don’t paint
yourself into
a corner:
making art
pay the bills
by Brittany Wetherspoon
Illustration by Lily Greenwood
Living off your passion would be a dream come true for
pretty much everyone. However, there are many pitfalls
that can halt a budding creative entrepreneur in their tracks.
Many of these things I have found are not discussed between
us and our teachers, which will leave many students stranded in
the deep end when their degree ends and they’re not prepared
for the world outside of Uni.
When I use the word ‘creatives’ in this article, I’m describing
anyone with a passion within the creative industry. Whether
that be musicians, visual artists, directors, writers and anything
in between. If you enjoy using the right hemisphere of
your brain, this article is for you.
The creative industry, like most industries, requires hard
work, dedication and desire to achieve and succeed.
Most degrees teach the necessary skills for students to get
by, but there is a hidden expectation that many do not realize
until it is too late: that most of what you actually need to know
you have to find out yourself.
Too many creatives rush into creating content and neglect to
sort out the business and planning side, only to run into issues
later on down the track because they didn’t take the time out to
sit down and do the research.
So, through my own experience and research, I’ve created 5
key points that I wanted to share with others. These are things
that people might not necessary think of at first, but can be a
major thorn in your side.
1) You need to have a clear idea of what you want to do.
“But I just want to sell my art/music/work! Isn’t that clear
enough?”
No, it is not.
When you want to sell yourself and your work to others, you
need to be clear about what that work actually is. You want to
sell your music? What is your style? What format do you want
to sell your work in?
‘Art’ is hard in this sense as it is fluid, and can come in so
many forms. However, the same questions do apply to all
creative industries, such as what format will you put your work
forward as? Where are you going to sell?
It is important to take the time to map out all of your ideas
first before moving on to anything else. Having your ideas out
on a page, whether you have just one idea or 20, is so helpful in
piecing together what you are about and vital in creating a plan
or timeline for you to work by.
2) You gotta know about government support and funding
I’ve put this point second because it is something most people
overlook when starting a profit-based venture. In the end,
ignoring the Australian Tax Office and Centrelink is one of the
most commonly spoken grievances aired by creative business
owners.
For those who receive student support, always remember
that Centrelink can be controlling. They have no issue with
44 | Lot’s Wife

CULTURE
being invasive, and will always want to know when you are
earning income. The ATO is similar in the latter point.
Another issue that trips up some people is deciphering
the fine line between a small business and a hobby. The
simplest way to find out which one you are is to go onto the
official ATO website and search: “Hobby or Business?” When
I searched this, the first entry was a page that walked me
through the process of figuring it out. But if you’d rather type
down a URL, here it is: https://www.ato.gov.au/business/
starting-your-own-business/business-or-hobby-/
When it comes to the ATO, I can’t give more advice other
than do your plan from Step 1, and then take this quiz.
Whatever result the quiz fires back at you is the one that
Centrelink will normally accept. If you are still confused, both
the ATO and Centrelink are available to contact in person or via
phone, a step I would highly recommend.
Yes, establishing contact with these two services as a small
business will mean you will have to stop creating content and
work on paperwork regularly, but this is what running a functional
business of any kind is all about! Rejoice as you leap into
the exciting pool of the self-employed!
3) You have to know your basic business accounting- or
know someone who does.
Following on from the point before, one of the other most
crucial things you need to know or have someone help you with
is business documents. This goes without saying for any sort
of profiting venture. What I mean when I say basic business
is: profit and loss statements, business budgets and efficient
recording keeping. Don’t be freaked out like I initially was!
These documents are just records of all your income and
receipts as well as all your expenditures and expenses that your
business has incurred. When reporting to Centrelink and the
ATO, all they need is your profit and loss statement for specific
periods of time. In the case of the ATO, it may be for financial
year end whereas Centrelink may require them fortnightly.
Budgets are a great way to keep track of expenses, and for
potential funding. Therefore, it’s highly recommended you get
used to writing these. Budgets are the assumed future cost
and expenses that you think may occur and they are good at
showing you how your business is developing, or if you sell on
commission based such as writing, it’s still good to see how
much income you hope to be getting against your living costs.
The best site I can lead you to in terms of this information
would be www.business.vic.gov.au - this site lists all of these
things, but in much more detail and is generally useful to have
open close by.
I understand that there are some very shy people out there,
and the very thought of having to put yourself out there and
mingle with strangers can be daunting. However, the amount of
opportunities that can open themselves up to you the moment
you start networking is astonishing. You never know when the
next person you meet will be inspired by your passion for your
craft and work and offer you a new opportunity to grow.
Half the people I have met that have helped me grow, have
been found in most unlikely of places. One of the easiest places
though I think is definitely in our university environment. We
are really lucky to be here, and there are many opportunities
to network and set ourselves up, you just need to be willing to
look. Start with clubs!
5) Are you an artist or a brand?
Finally, I want to talk about something that seems so fun
and easy to do, but can in fact halt the process altogether: the
name you work under.
I had come up with this awesome design for a bag, and
thought that if I made this, I would be able to make a lot
of money. I had skipped the most important step (which I
outlined in point 1) and was then stuck between creating a
product-based business and working as an artist.
Working as an artist, I would keep my name and promote
everything I make as work handmade by me. But if I wanted to
chase the dream of running a business as an owner (and maybe
hiring people one day) it could be better to use a brand name,
or to use my name as the brand.
There are some cases where people have done this, and it has
been super successful, but the only reason I struggled with this
at first is because I didn’t do Step 1. I had so many ideas in my
head. The moment you have a clear picture of all the things you
want to do and be, whether that’s to be brand or just a self-employed
artist, this last point will come along as easy as pie.
So there it is, my 5 key points to being a self-employed
creative that you may not have thought of. I hope this will save
you time and help you in your endeavor in turning your passion
into your life!
4) Networking!
This is something I have to admit we did get told about,
however I really have to bring it up.
NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK!!!!
You could be a writer looking for your next magazine to submit
to, or an artist looking to exhibit or even a musician looking
for your next venue; and the most common and successful
way to find these opportunities is- you guessed it- through your
contacts.
Lot’s Wife | 45

CULTURE
Pink Flappy Bits
by Emily Holding
Cabaret’s roots date back to the 1880s when bohemian
poets, artists and composers would gather in French
saloons to share creative ideas. It developed into a style of
alcohol-infused risqué musical performance, notoriously
characterised by improvisation, audience interactivity and
small, intimate venues. In 2016 performers Tara Dowler and
Louise Mapleston infuse cabaret, musical comedy and clowning
in their two-woman act ‘Pink Flappy Bits’ that debuted at the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) to sold out
audiences throughout the season.
How did ‘Pink Flappy Bits’ come to be?
Tara: Lou and I met in a MUST cabaret show in 2014 and
bonded over our love of music and theatre. We have diverse
performance backgrounds that seemed to complement each
other and we had both decided that we wanted to perform in
the MICF. We sat down and asked ourselves how we could use
each of our entertaining skills to create a piece that would be
funny and entertaining, which is how we came to what ‘Pink
Flappy Bits’ is at the moment: a musical-comedy feminist
cabaret. At first we didn’t intend to carry on after the comedy
festival but we had such an amazing response that encouraged
us to see what else we would explore together.
Cabaret is a particularly intimate genre of theatre, you’re
in a small space and there’s not much dividing you and the
audience. Did you find audiences at the MICF receptive or
was it difficult to get break the ice and get people feeling
comfortable?
Lou: Our subject matter can be challenging to some people,
but the feedback we got from a lot of audience members was
that they found the show to be a very “approachable form of
feminism”. My family actually didn’t want to see the show at
first because they felt uncomfortable with the subject matter,
and when my Mum eventually decided she wanted to see it she
couldn’t get a ticket because there was so much interest!
Tara: We try to create a safe and comfortable environment for
people because of the nature of our show. We do present some
soft-political ideas but I think it’s done in a fun and accessible
way. It was interesting, though, to see some people’s reactions
to certain euphemisms and the way we talk about our bodies.
I think it’s demonstrative of how even in our ‘free and easy
Aussie society’ there are still a lot of hang-ups about bodies and
sexuality. It was amusing for us at times to see how people responded
to these terms that we thought were pretty innocuous.
Did you find it personally challenging to present these topics
in such an intimate space?
Lou: It wasn’t too much of an issue for me because I’d say that
I’ve always been an activist. I’m studying social work and part
of that is having a core belief in social justice and basically
putting challenging ideas into social arenas.
Tara: We had some very talented and experienced cabaret performers
come to see our show which was a little bit challenging
for me at first, particularly as we’re not strictly a cabaret show –
I would probably classify us as more musical comedy. It is quite
a unique challenge to be on stage every night not knowing how
the audience is going to react, particularly during the audience-interactive
moments. However, I feel like Lou and I have
cultivated a sense of safety between us and Lou has had quite
a lot of experience in improvisation so I feel pretty secure on
stage with her.
46 | Lot’s Wife

CULTURE
‘Pink Flappy Bits’ is an interesting title because often when
we talk about genitals we like to use language that is as
non-descriptive as possible, almost as if we can pretend
we’re not talking about our actual physical body parts.
What is the story behind the title?
Tara: I came up with the title because I think our culture has
a problem with infantilizing body parts, especially when we
talk about reproductive organs or “rude areas” I think this can
interfere with our development and the way we relate to our
bodies…but I also thought it would be a funny joke to wear
pink legionnaire hats and have a title that’s a euphemism for
the vulva.
What are your other favourite terms for your genitals?
Lou: “Vagina”
Tara: “Snatch”
Lou: “Ham Wallet”
Tara: Oh yeah, definitely “Ham Wallet”
Your show has been described as a “feminist, musical-comedy
cabaret with all the excitement of a year 8 sex-ed class”.
If you could go back to your sex-ed class and impart some
wisdom on your 14-year- old self, what would you say?
Lou: I would emphasise that it’s okay to say ‘no’. The anatomical
part of sex-ed is obviously important, but I wish there would
be more emphasis on consent and knowing that people will still
want to be with you if you say ‘no, I don’t feel like this right
now’.
Tara: I would impart that whatever is going on with your body
is okay and has probably happened to someone else. You don’t
need to carry shame about your body and whatever you experience
within it.
Female nudity in art is a hot topic for feminism at the
moment because it seems that some critics find it contradictory
when feminist voices like Lena Dunham in ‘Girls’
and Caitlin Stasey say they don’t want to be objectified
or defined by their physical appearance, but at the same
time really put an emphasis on the naked female body in
their art. Tell us about your decision to wear vulvas on your
chests every night and what you think about the naked body
in feminist art?
Tara: I think it comes down to not trying to speak for other
women. If someone feels empowered by publishing images of
their body and saying this is me owning my sexuality or expressing
my artistic and creative self, I would be very reluctant
to tell them that that is an improper way to express their feminism.
I don’t think Lou and I are trail-blazers by any means but
I think that continuing to demystify bodies, in our own little
way, is really important.
Lou: Tara and I are both very conscious of our privilege in the
sense that we’re both white women, neither of us are obese
and there’s nothing about our bodies that would be considered
particularly abnormal or grotesque. However, we do still challenge
perceptions of beauty on a micro-level by showing two
very different bodies that have achieved lots of things and are
very intelligent - but are not athletic bodies or the size 6 type of
bodies we usually see unclothed in art.
You have a song called “White Feminism”, can you tell me
what that song is about and how you view your role as white
women in the feminist movement?
Lou: Our show is so white feminism. It’s an entry point for
people who may not have thought about these topics too
deeply in the past and we create a very accessible, non-threatening
place to start. We are aware that as two white women,
with bodies that are pretty stock standard, we are able to be
on stage and present these ideas without receiving as much
flack as a person of colour likely would. A lot of people will ask
us even before they’ve seen the show if we are trans-friendly
or queer-friendly, so we have this song which is very much
a tongue-in- cheek way of acknowledging that we are white,
middle-class, heterosexual, cisgendered women sharing our experiences
and we can’t (and won’t try to) speak for anyone else.
Tara: We use the term ‘white feminism’ a lot, which we know
has a lot of negative connotations. We’re nottrying to show
pride in that label but rather to situate ourselves in the discourse
of our art form and be upfront about the fact that we
are only speaking from own experiences and a place of some
privilege. I think it’s important in comedy to be able to say that
you are speaking only for yourself and that you are open to
whatever criticism may follow that.
Do you think comedy is still a male dominated scene?
Lou: I absolutely think it’s a male dominated scene.However, I
think that there’s a difference between the stand-up world and
the cabaret world. The stand-up world is 100% male dominated
but in our work in cabaret we’ve come across a lot of great, successful
women - particularly in the online comedy spaces and
communities we choose surround ourselves with.
Are there any women in comedy that you particularly look
up to?
Tara: Absolutely! We both really look up to Jude Perl.
Lou: Yeaaaaah! Jude Perl!
Tara: And Laura Davis, another fantastic and intelligent voice
we saw at the comedy festival this year…
Lou: And Tessa Waters, a Melbourne based clown. And Liz
Skitch!
See ‘Pink Flappy Bits’ Live:
Miss K is Wrong.com - The Album Launch
27th August, 7:30pm
St Kilda Army & Navy Club (upstairs) 88 Acland Street St Kilda
Tickets: trybooking.com
Pink Flappy Bits Fringe Show
19th of September (Media and Industry Night) 27th, 28th and 29th of
September, 1st and 2nd of October, 10pm
The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Tickets: thebutterflyclub.com
Find Tara and Lou online at ‘Pink Flappy Bits’ on Facebook or
@Pinkflappybits on Twitter.
Lot’s Wife | 47

CULTURE
by Rachael Welling
Illustration by
Brittany Wetherspoon
wikiHow to catch them all
Welcome, trainers.
While I am not
some flora based professor, I am here
to guide you down the path of the true
PokémonGo master. Many have come
before you, and many will come after
(subject to server capacity). You all think
you know the basics: seek out lures, catch ‘em
all, wantonly waste Pokeballs and Razzberries and
incubators for your own personal glory. And in the end nothing
to show for it but a Pokédex filled with all 142 Pokémon, one
that cannot be shared or even traded. That is not the true way.
Following this doctrine guide, you too can be the very best. We
all can.
Intuition, Observation, Strength. Glory awaits, trainers.
1. Your team is your identity, your struggle, your legacy
Once a trainer has completed initiation and reached Level
5, they select for themselves a team: Instinct, Mystic, or
Valor. This decision is the trainer’s alone, not to be influenced
by petty lobbyists or promises of free food from capitalist
Pancake Parlours. This decision also reflects the trainer’s
true inner principles. There is no shelter from the storm for
Team Instinct, Victory is temporary, glory is eternal for Team
Valor, and DABIRDINDANORF, for Team Mystic. The infinite
wisdom contained in these mottos is for the trainer to unravel
in their journeys. It does not matter which team has a smaller
or larger following, but the essence of the motto that matters.
Ultimately the choice is not important, and only the weakest
trainers succumb to justifying their allegiance. What is paramount,
trainers, is unwavering loyalty, dedication, and no less
than two permanent tattoos of the chosen team’s logo.
2. A trainer alone is a trainer without meaning, or purpose
Once a team is chosen, the trainer continues to evolve and
collect their Pokémon until they are able to claim gyms for their
team through glorious battle. The mechanics of war are simple:
good trainers know their Pokémon type advantages, and are
proficient in spamming attacks and occasionally dodging at the
actual correct moment for once. As we know, the goal of every
Pokémon battle is victory. But for the team to achieve victory,
all trainers, irrespective of level, must be united. A single
Vaporeon cannot stand forever against an army of Arcanines,
and so it is the duty of the trainers to battle their own gyms,
bring more trainers into the fold and multiply their strength.
And regardless of affiliation we all share a common enemy: the
other teams.
Do not hesitate, trainers, when
a rival team claims from you a gym.
Defeat them swiftly in battle, or
through other, real life, punching-based
means.
3. Pokéstops are abundant, but their improper
use nullifies their advantage
The All-giver, Niantic Inc, has seen fit to bless the trainers
with abundant Pokéstops and micro-transactions. Our teams
now need Poké Balls, Razzberries, Eggs and Potions, like the
air they breathe, like the instant noodles they eat. But it is
not enough to simply horde resources. Poké Balls must be
thrown with grace, and the appropriate amount of spin. Eggs
should not sit idle in inventory of trainers who forget to keep
PokémonGo open to track their steps, and fail to invest their
income in battery packs. Greatballs should not be wasted on
Pokémon with CP less than 200. Stardust and candy, resources
that cannot be bought or spun at Pokestops, should be
treated as the trainer’s own lifeblood. Waste them not on low
CP Pokemon. Instead, combine the XP doubling power of the
Lucky Egg with the act of mass evolving all of your Pokémon.
4. It is braver to retreat than to advance
Trainers, sometimes even the very best cannot win.
Sometimes Team Instinct is simply outnumbered. Sometimes
Team Valor cannot rely on strength alone. Sometimes Team
Mystic can’t do, whatever it is they do. Gym leaders come and
go, but only the team remains, and the team is immortal. And
so to preserve your team, trainers must know when to stop
battling that gym, when to give your hard-working Pokémon
a much needed rest and a heavy dose of super potions, and
when to tactfully return in the middle of the night to claim
the gym without resistance. Savvy trainers know that frequent
resets are needed to maximize play time. Savvy trainers know
the only way to resolve server issues is to check back every five
minutes while mass messaging their friends, ‘servers are down,
fuck my whole entire life’. And real trainers know, that the
only way to find eternal glory, is to put away your Poké Balls,
delete PokémonGo, and retire while you can still call yourself a
Pokémon master.
So now, trainers, that you know the true way of the
PokémonGO master, you can travel across the land, search far
and wide, and fight tooth and nail for the glory of your Pokémon.
48 | Lot’s Wife

REVIEW
Goldstone
by Nick Bugeja
The sequel to director Ivan Sen’s 2013 film, Mystery Road,
Goldstone takes with it the quiet strength of the original,
while clearly taking new paths in terms of narrative and its
depiction of Australian culture.
We are immediately confronted by a dishevelled Detective
Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen), who has found himself in the town
of Goldstone, on the lookout for a missing Chinese teenager.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the search for the missing girl unearths
a whole spate of greed and corruption among the town’s mayoral
office and a moneyed up mining company. Swan and his
conflicted ally, local cop Josh (Alex Russell), are the only ones
capable of restoring order to a fractured Goldstone.
Sen, who acts as the screenwriter, composer, cinematographer
and director of the film, really knows how to get the most
out of what is a pretty standard tale of high-end human-trafficking,
indifference and criminality. The adaption of this
familiar narrative is inherently elevated due to its observance
of Australian hallmarks: the picturesque desolation of the
outback, racial division and unresolved conflicts. As a result,
the screenplay really packs a punch where it perhaps would
not have. It becomes something identifiable, particularly to an
Australian audience, as we can acknowledge White Australia’s
exploitation and utter disregard for racial minorities. Sen is
perceptive to this, and aptly reminds us there is still a lot to do
in the way of harmonising Australian culture. ¬
Even though Goldstone focuses on the sexual exploitation of
young Asian women, its layering of social issues is quite powerful.
Its exploration of Australia’s enduring mistreatment of the
First Australians is seamlessly woven into the overall narrative,
as Goldstone’s Mayor, Maureen (Jacki Weaver), is interested
only in acquiring their land for mining purposes. There is not
a shred of respect shown to the First Australians by Maureen,
or the mining industry, as represented by Johnny (David
Wenham). Sen’s most provocative assault on racial subjugation
comes in the form of a scene featuring Indigenous man Jimmy
(David Gulpilil). The scene is uncompromising, and designed to
make us as angry as Sen at the bygone and current treatment
of the First Australians. Furthermore, the many close-ups of
Swan’s face display a man tired of his demanding work and his
subjection to a netherworld of racial oblivion.
What the film toweringly succeeds in is making a connection
between oppression and prospective economic gain. Josh is
bribed early on by Johnny to ensure that he does not interfere
with mining operations, and the human-trafficking of the Asian
girls is solely motivated by money. Weaver is wonderful as the
duplicitous Maureen; balancing her character’s sinister nature
with a maternalistic façade to will Goldstone’s residents into
thinking she is a harmless grandmother. Sen obviously refutes
this, asserting that economic interests can quash our own sense
of humanity. This thematic concern could not be more timely,
as mining operations have been further dispossessing the First
Australian’s of even more land.
Alex Russell’s performance as Josh is a hit and miss.
Russell’s attempt to play up Josh’s ignorance of Goldstone’s corruption
can feel inauthentic, and he clearly comes out second
best in his exchanges with Aaron Pedersen’s Swan. Once Josh
wises up to the evils being perpetrated, Russell’s performance
is a lot more effective. Pedersen carries on his great work from
Mystery Road and his acting presence dominates every scene.
This is notable, as Pedersen does not have the kind of screen
time as he did in Goldstone’s predecessor. Wenham and Gupilil,
who are both Australian cinematic mainstays, deliver performances
that maintain the film’s core intensity.
Sen’s cinematography is again informed by the Australian
landscape. Rather than go to great pains to manufacture individual
shots, there is an artistic ease with which Sen chooses to
capture the Queensland small-town. His use of the long shot
is certainly a highlight, as it further adds to the visual style established
early on in the film. The likewise plethora of overhead
shots of diverging roads is striking, evoking in them a sense of
George Miller’s Mad Max (1979).
In keeping with the noir style that Sen develops, there is a
predominant focus on dialogue and the establishment of character
and themes in the first two acts. The tension and moral
outrage Sen intends us to feel is rife by the film’s climax, which
erupts on an explosive scale. We are right behind the protagonists,
and the hostile engagement that unfolds is produced
with great effect. The violence, of which there is a considerable
amount, is rather cathartic.
Sen’s second effort on Jay Swan’s story is compelling, as he
takes with him the good bits and discards the bad ones from
Mystery Road. This film is probably the closest thing we have, as
Australians, to Polanski’s seminal 1974 film Chinatown, and it is
about time we pay attention to the merit of Australian cinema.
Playing in Selected Cinemas.
Lot’s Wife | 49

CULTURE
Feeling the effects of class: inequality
in a two-tiered education system
by Sophia McNamara
ear your uniform with pride,” they would always
“W say.
Private schools exist to perpetuate divisions of class, and my
final high school year made me realise this. They gladly fill the
expectations placed upon them by the parents, who pay good
money to show that their child is a class above the majority.
I grew up in New Zealand and went to a public school for the
first 12 years of school. In my final year I moved to a private
boarding school. Elitism and snobbery aside, it was remarkable.
The teachers were much more helpful, the study conditions
were ideal, and every talent and interest I could possibly have
was nurtured. My academic performance improved immensely,
just in time for university applications. My mum, as a single
mother of two with no university qualifications, had to work
extremely hard just to send me there for a year. As grateful as
I was, I couldn’t help but feel immense guilt. If my academic
results were so dependent on going to a private school, how
was this fair on the majority of students who did not?
When I entered the University of Auckland law school the
year after, I was comforted by the fact that only a handful of
students were from private schools, proving that the more
traditionally academic professions were mostly universally
accessible. In my second year of university however, I moved to
Melbourne to go to Monash law school and to my surprise, almost
every single student I met was from a private or selective
school.
Two years later since my first day at Monash, I’ve only met
one other law student from a non-selective public school. Was
it not possible to get a high ATAR at a public school? Why did I
not see this as much in New Zealand? What about those hard
working and talented students who come from public schools,
why are they so underrepresented? It seemed that private
school students were competing with an advantage so great
that public school kids were almost locked out from getting the
top grades.
Australia likes to think of itself as a merit-based society, a
land of the fair go -where the school systems guarantee that all
children, no matter their origins, can access a quality publicly
funded education that will give children an equal chance at success
in life. If this is really true, if we truly live in a merit-based
society, why are about 35% of secondary school parents in
Australia sacrificing tens of thousands of dollars each year to
make sure their children don’t go through our publicly funded
education system? If we are proud of this country and its
equality, why do we clearly have such little faith in the public
education system that we’ll spend thousands just to avoid it?
We’re in a two-tiered system, where private school kids compete
mostly in a league of their own. It begs the question: is a
class system really just a relic of the 19th century, or does it still
exist in modern Australia?
Australia has one of the highest levels of private schools in
the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
(OECD) countries and is at the bottom end in terms of equality
and education outcomes. The reality is that it’s not a merit-based,
land of the fair go at all, and rather is inherently unequal
and socially stratified, even more so than other developed
countries like New Zealand, Canada or the United Kingdom. I
noticed the divide much more over here due to the difference
between 4% of Kiwi students going to private schools and 35%
in Australia. The high number of private schools here are the
result of such a high demand, caused by parents losing faith
in the public system to such an extent that they’ll spend what
they can’t afford. If the Australian economy is dependent on
workforce participation and productivity, why is education a
prime target of budget cuts, time and time again?
The public system clearly isn’t disregarded in New Zealand
to the same extent it is here. Selective schools don’t exist there,
meaning about 96% of the students go to a public, non-selective
school, making it much easier for them to compete when
they are on a mostly-level playing field and only such a small
minority have the advantage of a private school.
But the inequality doesn’t stop there. While private schools
discriminate based on income and wealth, selective schools
discriminate on academic talents and public schools discriminate
on geographical location, meaning those located in
higher income areas attract better-off students. So either way,
students of similar socioeconomic class will be placed together,
and social segregation of our school students will continue to
widen.
The one friend I do have in law school from a public school
went to Melbourne Girls’ College, in the wealthy inner-city suburb
of Richmond, with a reputation of being one Melbourne’s
best public schools. “I really think there’s not enough public
school kids doing law”, she said.
The “good” public schools in Auckland were all in the inner
city. The best ones, arguably, are Epsom Girls’ Grammar and
Auckland Grammar in the expensive suburb of Epsom. The two
single-sex schools are situated right next to each other and they
raise the house prices significantly in the zones around them
more and more each year. Houses for sale in the area would
50 | Lot’s Wife

CULTURE
have “Double Grammar Zone” plastered all over them. A 2015
suburb report shows that the average house in Epsom has 3
bedrooms and is worth $1.3 million. Strict school zoning and
house prices like that make the “good” public schools arguably
just as exclusive as private schools.
An increasingly lucrative market for tutoring that targets
parents of already advantaged private school kids, further
exemplifies socio-economic segregation between schools.
Costing upwards of $50 an hour, a student’s access to tutoring
is entirely contingent on a parent’s capacity to spend, and
gives students a significant competitive advantage in exams.
Students in a non-conducive environment with limited ability
to spend simply cannot compete to the same extent. The 2015
New Estimates of Intergenerational Mobility report commissioned
by the NSW Department of Education found that social
mobility is far more restricted in Australia than previously
thought, with family background and earnings playing a much
more significant role on a student’s outcomes compared with
individual ability, talent and hard work. How is it fair that your
postcode defines your opportunities, and your parent’s income
dictates your success in life?
The private/public school divide in Melbourne made it clear
to me that the school you went to is so much more than where
you went to learn; it is a symbol of class.
Some may believe a class system no longer exists, but
looking at statistics and the people I’ve met studying law and
medicine, I have many reasons to believe that this isn’t true.
As cheap credit becomes easily accessible, class statuses are not
as visible as they used to be. Or perhaps we try and ignore it
as best as we can in our own worlds rather than facing such an
ugly truth. I see the biggest problem as public ignorance. After
all, we are the population that just voted a conservative government
in for a second time. Christopher Pyne, when he was
Education Minister, specifically said that him and his government
had an “emotional commitment” to private schools.
With the massive cuts to education that just came from the
2016 Turnbull government budget, people are simply losing
more faith in public education, and a parent’s capacity to
spend on their child’s education is more important than ever.
Turnbull has already expressed interest in deregulating university
fees, giving universities the ability to multiply the amount
they charge - hence the “no $100,000 degrees” campaign. While
the possibility of this is still uncertain, especially due to the
Coalition making up a smaller-than-expected proportion in
Parliament, partial deregulation for certain courses is already
underway. Turnbull has said it will “allow universities to concentrate
on the things they can do best”, however, this would
clearly further limit low socio-economic status (SES) students
from accessing quality education. For someone like myself who
is ineligible for HECS debt, increased university fees would simply
mean that I wouldn’t be able to afford to study in Australia
anymore. But even for those who are eligible for the loan, a
financial burden of that size is simply unthinkable for low SES
students.
As young people, there’s little we can do about this alarming
inequity. However, being aware of this sharp divide in privilege
and making informed choices about the federal election
Good students are
the product of good
teachers, but the
allure of a bigger salary
package at a private
school often wins out.
is a good place to start. The difference of educational equity
between Australia and New Zealand, as well as many other
developed countries, shows that successful education reform is
possible.
Good students are the product of good teachers, but the
allure of a bigger salary package at a private school often wins
out. As private schools appear over-funded relative to the
funding public schools receive, most of the change needs to
occur at a state level. But here on the ground we need to make
parents want to send their kids through the public system like
they do in New Zealand. We need to put our faith back into
public schools, encourage tertiary students to pursue education
and respect our hard-working teachers in public schools who
haven’t already been lured away.
I may not have noticed the disparity of Melbourne’s notorious
private school culture if I didn’t move here from another
country. What it did teach me however, is to have a hell of a lot
of respect for the students in medicine, law and similarly competitive
courses who may be from under-funded public schools,
from low-income suburbs or from under-resourced rural areas.
Coming so far with all the odds stacked against them shows
that their achievements are truly phenomenal.
Lot’s Wife | 51

Illustration by Angus Marian

CREATIVE
Voiceless
by Manon Boutin Charles
I
had always lived in Paris.
8, rue des Wallons. For as long as I can remember.
I had never seen anything else: I had never travelled before
last year. That’s why when I had the opportunity to study
abroad, I chose to apply far away. Really far. The other side
of the world...Australia. When I was a child someone told me
people there were upside down, and that they would celebrate
Christmas in shorts.
It might seem stupid, but I thought the distance would help
me find myself. Wherever I was. Maybe it was there.
I wanted to try everything. Start a new life. I was in the
“Great Unknown” all my favourite adventures books were
describing, experiencing a feeling I’d been reading and dreaming
about since I was a child. A new culture, a new life, a new
language ; that’s what I was about to see.
That language part was the most appealing, yet the most
frightening. Of course I knew English, but I didn’t feel comfortable
with it at all. I am a writer; I love puns, poems and play on
words in French. What would happen with a new code I did not
have mastery of at all?
I had no idea how difficult it would be to deal with that new
language, and that was the greatest part of the adventure. I felt
lost in new linguistic difficulties, drowning in a world where I
suddenly became voiceless.
*
Quarter past eleven. I’ve overslept, again. I’ve been here
for a year, but lately I have felt constantly jet-lagged, trying
to keep in touch with France by staying up late. I’ve missed it.
I’ve missed my language. I dream in English now. I have even
started using Australian slang. It all makes me sick.
Another quick glance at my phone screen tells me I have no
new messages or calls. I go from disappointment, to sadness,
then to mingled anger and disgust. I try to tell myself I am
worth more than that. I try to believe that I am not the one
who was losing something, that I am not the one who is going
to regret something. But if I am perfectly honest, I feel like I am
experiencing a forced weaning. It is emotionally hard, but also
physically. I can’t handle the loss any longer. I need to hear that
voice again.
I’ve always been passionate: maybe that’s my fault actually,
perhaps that’s why it did not work. Maybe I loved too much.
Maybe I was oppressive? I tried hard to put the fault on myself
so I don’t feel hate, but it felt wrong: who chased the other? not
me! It was not my fault. I couldn’t imagine someone chasing me
and then changing their mind. It was unbelievable. It sounds
stupid. Useless. “A total waste of time.”
I remember the first day we’ve met. I’d just arrived in
that new country, and felt like discovering Melbourne’s cold
nightlife. To discover a people, a culture... Everything was so
different from Paris. My wandering drove me to a pub. A band
was playing, people were drinking and dancing, but I don’t really
remember any visual details. All I could focus on was a voice.
The voice. It wrapped me in a feeling I’d never known before. A
weird warmth; powerful, smooth but tough at the same time. It
was like the voice wanted to say something. It could reach notes
I’ve never heard before. It was calling me. Asking me to join, to
stay with it forever. It said it would be there for me anytime. It
said it would never leave me.
I remember that voice. I’ve never been able to detach from
it since then. It was like it was part of me now, it penetrated
me, it cast a spell on me, maybe. I entered that pub, without
the faintest idea how much my life would change from that
moment. Without the faintest idea how that voice would never
leave.
*
Still no new text message, and it was pretty late. I found
myself wondering what I did wrong to deserve that. All the
people I love always end up leaving me at some point. Watching
my phone screen with empty eyes, re-reading our conversations,
memories of a relationship that started well. Finding this
message from a few months ago:
« I can’t control it. I want to talk to you forever. I feel guilty for
giving you all of my attention right now when I have so much work
to do... but I just can’t stop myself. I want to talk to you, I really like
it, I really like you. It’s hard to explain because it’s hard to understand.
I don’t want to do anything else. »
At the time, I found it eerily cute. Today, I read it as a wake
up call, a warning. It was too intense, too dangerous. Now I
Lot’s Wife | 53

CREATIVE
understand what that means, and that’s not because I speak
English better. It was not a declaration of love. It was grievances.
It was complaints. It was the expression of a fear I couldn’t
understand in time. I hadn’t taken it into account. Maybe that’s
why it didn’t end well. We’ll never know.
Since I had to, I went to bed, thinking about all the things
I might have misunderstood since I’ve been living in that
strange land. I speak English, but I feel like there is a language
I don’t speak. I can’t understand feelings. I can’t express them
anymore. They’re different over here. When I finally understood
the real language barrier, I felt like someone just had just stolen
my right to speak. One does not simply translate a feeling. Even
though I was trying to scream my feelings out loud, my voice
just couldn’t reflect them. And even if it had, they couldn’t have
reached anyone. I was voiceless.
Everything reminds me of that story, and I wonder if I’m obsessed
yet. I remember we use to talk about words a lot, about
how they could make us closer or drive us away. Our scales were
so different, we used to have fun comparing them.
Then we’d laugh. “Have you ever noticed how when you
repeat a word over and over, it becomes funny, and makes no
sense anymore?” Maybe those were the words I loved. They
sounded better when pronounced by that voice. I’ve always
thought I was talkative, but it’s usually small talk, like I have
nothing interesting to say. Like I couldn’t express the things I
had to say. I think we both felt that way. I could have chosen
music, like you did, but I chose to write. I could have written
songs instead. I still hear that voice telling me they were hiding
“more secrets about me than I could ever tell you.” I loved that
idea, and I studied each song just like I used to study literature,
phrase by phrase, word by word, searching for a hidden meaning
in every voice variation, in any string vibration.
I thought we were able to communicate, but our linguistic
repertoires never tuned. After one or two misunderstandings,
a false note, a wrong word, everything stopped. Words hurt,
they’re dangerous, and maybe they shouldn’t be carelessly
touched, especially by my inexpert hands. I yelled for the last
time, trying to express a feeling that didn’t exist in that country,
and that’s how we split, mutually misunderstood, maybe
forever.
they were saying out loud what I’d spent my whole life secretly
thinking. That song especially, expressing that fear, that feeling
to be in front of the unknown, to be a whole person. About this
relationship that nobody knows how long would last. “I don’t
know, a second? Or a billion million years? In the grand scheme
of things, hell, I don’t have a clue. But I’m certain that this fraction,
now, is really all we have, I’m just happy to be in this time
with you”. And eventually, I understood. I knew the song by
heart, but I had to wait for that day to finally get what it meant.
I left before the show ended. I didn’t need to be here anymore.
I enjoy thinking about us: how we could have spent our lives
together, talking another language we’d have created, playing
with our differences. But we couldn’t. We didn’t end up together.
There were no emotional reunion, no heart-rending cry at
the airport, no kiss under the tropical rains of the Southern
Hemisphere. No voice begged me to stay. Nobody tried to block
my way to the gate. I entered my plane like nothing was holding
me in that country... nothing did. The link’s broken, and all that
remains from this voice are the few CDs I kept. I can hear it,
but I’m not sure my own voice will ever reach anything down
there. Maybe it will send a scrambled, indecipherable message,
in an unknown language, through these words or others, yet
unknown.
*
I discovered, travelling, that we don’t just learn a new
language; we create it. I’ll never speak English; I’ll master its
sounds, its words, its grammatical rules as much as I can, but
I’ll use them all to speak my own language, a new one that
comes from my experiences, and that’s spoken by nobody else.
Maybe we don’t need the others to build ourselves: we just need
a voice, resonating in ourselves forever. The ones from those
songs which, I hope, will keep inspiring me for many years. I
may have not found my way at the other side of the world, but I
found that voice, and that’s more than enough.
*
Yesterday, for my last night here in Australia, I decided to go
back to that pub, and some weird coincidence decided that the
voice was there again. I didn’t plan it, but I thought perhaps it
was meaningful to hear it one last time, where we met a year
ago. It was like a loop, or the end point of a great adventure.
I don’t know if I wanted to live something more, to try once
more, I just wanted to hear it again. I wanted to write the end
of the story.
And while the gig started, I remembered. I remembered our
laughs, I remembered our fights. I remembered our words, I remembered
our fears. Nights spent talking about the differences
between our lifestyles, and between our countries. Or the ones
spent singing, listening to that voice, listening to that guitar.
I remembered the songs, their lyrics resonating in me like
54 | Lot’s Wife

FICTION
Somewhere in Australia
by Ina Lee
Claire was bad at maths, Iffah at science and Kevin at
social interactions. But none of that mattered, because
together they were the ultimate team for the job. Tasked with
saving the world from an impending alien attack, the trio sat in
the abandoned Hargrave-Andrew library of Monash University,
devising their next move.
The Earth had acted quickly in the face of its approaching
doom. The alien ship appeared in the sky at 5:32pm Eastern
standard time on Sunday the 26th of March and by Monday
the 27th of August the following year, the world’s leaders had
finally reached the consensus that they should probably do
something. An eviction notice of sorts had already been sent
via transmission from the alien ship. And while no one could
translate the message, the mixture of aggressive static and
grunts heard, were enough to finally convince the suit-wearers
of the world that the situation was serious.
After rigorous standardised testing, three individuals worldwide
were selected to save the human race. Coincidentally, all
three happened to be Australian students enrolled at Monash
University. The Clayton campus was shut indefinitely for the
duration of the alien threats and the team was allowed to
freely roam the campus, with unlimited access to all university
resources. The world was watching, anxiously waiting for these
bright young kids to save the world, or for the aliens to finally
invade. The former was preferred.
Every five minutes Claire tapped at the keys on her
Macbook, informing the world via twitter of their progress and
her obsession with teacup Pomeranians. So far there hadn’t
been much to report, but they were trending at number one
with the hashtag #somewhereinaustralia, so that was progress.
Sitting across from Claire was Iffah, the smart one of the group.
Iffah clicked out of the page she had just been reading and
reached for the “physics for dummies” textbook on the table in
front of her. So far all she’d found were numerous articles referencing
Star Trek, Doctor Who and Stargate. She was starting
to question the legitimacy of her resources, but the educational
programmed Farscape seemed reliable, at least it wasn’t vaguely
familiar like the others. She was going to follow up on it.
Kevin, sat on the front half of his seat next to Iffah, hunched
over a small workbook, scribbling random equations and
doodles (the penis kind). He’d been at it for the past 5 hours,
over which he’d had to switch writing hands seven times. He
couldn’t write with his left, but his hand writing hadn’t been
the best before, so illegible was a slight improvement.
“I’ve got it!” announced Kevin, rising from his chair so quickly
the table wobbled and his chair fell back crushing a cockroach
to death. “I’ve got it! I’ve found a way to humanly get rid of the
aliens!” Kevin’s face had never been so red and he no longer had
full control of his hand gestures, yet he continued. “All we have
to do is reverse the polarity and crank up the volume of every
wind turbine in the world.” His arms flapped about here and
there, making grand gestures at the wrong intervals. “Then, we
turn on all the heaters we have and set fire to the forests. The
aliens will see the planet as being too hot and leave us alone”.
Kevin picked up his chair and sat back down, exhausted from
both the physical and emotional strength it took for him to
stand up and deliver his speech.
Claire liked the idea and sent out a tweet. Iffah on the
other hand wasn’t too keen on the plan. ‘What if the aliens are
unaffected by increased temperatures or they prefer warmer
environments?” She asked and with that the team was back to
square one. Kevin started to cry and Claire announced a team
break.
The big idea came during the team break. Kevin was in the
bathroom and had been for the past 30 minutes, Iffah was eating
a banana and Claire was on YouTube. Claire was trying to
find something to watch, something that didn’t involve aliens,
when she came across ‘THE BEST OF FRIENDS – SEASON
1’. Claire had been a big Friends fan when she was 13 and to
watch it again brought back so many memories, mainly of going
through puberty and failing year 7 English, but also all the good
stuff. And then the idea came.
“Guys! Guys! I have an idea!”
Kevin rushed out of the bathroom and Iffah swallowed her
banana whole. “What is it?” They collectively asked.
And so Claire explained her idea, the group agreed and put
it into action straight away. The team compiled a collection of
Friends episodes, deemed to be the best, and then transmitted
them up to the alien ship.
The response wasn’t immediate, the aliens had to first watch
the 960 hours’ worth of video and then process the information.
But eventually the desired outcome transpired. Through
watching their social interactions and how they cared for each
other, the aliens gained an appreciation for the human race and
decided not to invade. The alien ship left in search of another
planet, one a little less occupied, and the trio were celebrated as
heroes and the world got back to normal.
Lot’s Wife | 55

POETRY
I’ll keep you wild
by Ed Jessop
56 | Lot’s Wife

Illustration by Olivia Walmsley
Lot’s Wife | 57

y Emily Dang

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