Lot's Wife Edition 1 2017
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SUMMER FIESTA<br />
INTERNATIONAL FOOD | FAMILY FUN<br />
MONDAY 4 – 9 PM<br />
NORTHERN PLAZA<br />
FULL MOON PARTY<br />
TUESDAY 9 PM – 1 AM<br />
NORTHERN PLAZA<br />
TWILIGHT CINEMA<br />
WED – THURS 8 – 11 PM<br />
NORTHERN PLAZA SCREEN<br />
DIVE IN CINEMA<br />
FRIDAY 9 – 11 PM<br />
DOUG ELLIS SWIMMING POOL<br />
MAX<br />
MONASH ARCADE EXPO<br />
FRIDAY 11 AM – 10 PM<br />
NORTHERN PLAZA<br />
DAILY ACTIVITIES IN THE NORTHERN PLAZA
Contents<br />
07.<br />
Student Affairs<br />
Office Bearer Reports<br />
Wot’s News?<br />
Clubs & Societies<br />
A Medley Of Evil<br />
Thoughts On Living Abroad<br />
Unions Are Important: Analysing NUS<br />
Make Education Free Again<br />
19.<br />
Politics Society<br />
27.<br />
Science Engineering<br />
35.<br />
Arts Culture<br />
Trump: A Nation Divided<br />
Logged In<br />
“If You’re Australian, Why Aren’t You White?”<br />
Yes... We Tried<br />
STI Rates Amoungst University Students<br />
Climate Change: You Can Be The Difference<br />
Healthy Skepticism<br />
Tips For Everyday Science Student<br />
Science News<br />
The Tension Between Artistic And Moral Judgements<br />
Artists Should Be Punished, Not Celebrated<br />
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Gig Review<br />
MUST General Program<br />
The Price Of Gaming<br />
The Disruption Of ‘The White Cube’<br />
Why We Love Migos And Other Songs About Nothing<br />
45.<br />
Creative Comedy<br />
How To Be The ‘Best Modern Man’ You Can Be<br />
Love Affair With Cinque Terre<br />
Burnt In Bali<br />
Going Home: A Cycle In Self Discovery<br />
MS Word Enjoys Itself<br />
Wot’s Life? With Agony Aunt
Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong><br />
Editors<br />
Emina Besirevic<br />
Nick Bugeja<br />
Sophia McNamara<br />
Rob Staunton<br />
Design<br />
Hana Crowl<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Sub-editors<br />
Student Affairs<br />
Caitlin McIvor<br />
Dylan Marshall<br />
Sophie Ng<br />
Devika Pandit<br />
Arts & Culture<br />
Tim Davies<br />
Nick Jarrett<br />
Clarissa Kwee<br />
Linh Nguyen<br />
Creative & Comedy<br />
Manon Boutin Charles<br />
John Henry<br />
Georgina Lee<br />
Shona Louis<br />
Elizabeth Yu<br />
Science & Engineering<br />
Tracy Chen<br />
Shreeya Luthra<br />
Isaac Reichman<br />
Rachael Welling<br />
Politics & Society<br />
Mollie Ashworth<br />
Ben Caddaye<br />
Jessica Lehmann<br />
Lachlan Llesfield<br />
Campus Reporters<br />
Joanne Fong<br />
Jessie Lu<br />
Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> is entirely run, written, illustrated, edited and designed by students.<br />
If you would like to get involved, we are always looking for new contributors!<br />
Say hi anytime:<br />
Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> Office<br />
1st Floor, Campus Centre,<br />
Turn right at the MSA desk<br />
Or email us at msa-lotswife@monash.edu<br />
Advertising enquires:<br />
msa-lotswife@monash.edu<br />
Cover art by Maria Chamakala<br />
As you read this magazine you are on Aboriginal land. Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> recognises the<br />
Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations as the historical and<br />
rightful owners and custodians of the lands which this magazine was produced<br />
on. This land was stolen and never ceded.<br />
Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> condemns and will not publish any material that is objectionable<br />
or discriminatory in any nature. The views expressed herein are those of the<br />
attributed writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the<br />
Monash Student Association. All writing and artwork remains the property of<br />
the producers and must not be reproduced without their written consent.
Hello Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> readers! And a special hello to all the bright-eyed first years who may<br />
be reading this for the first time, and have no idea what they have gotten themselves into<br />
for the following years. It has been a whirlwind past few months: with all four of us doing<br />
some form of summer school, trying to put together a magazine for the first time, and<br />
recovering from the fact that Hillary Clinton did not win the election as she may have did<br />
in our dreams (Jill Stein 2020 though, am I right?). At least we’ve still got Bernie fighting<br />
the good fight.<br />
The first few weeks of the year are always daunting – trying to find your new classrooms,<br />
wondering if you regret taking that complicated Japanese unit that you thought was a great<br />
idea in January, and resisting the urge to feel completely overwhelmed and settle for a job<br />
selling healing crystals instead. And while America may not be looking that great again,<br />
there’s a protest coming up in the city to make education free again. If the HECS debt<br />
happens to be getting you down, join the National Union of Students on March 22 in the<br />
National Day of Action and show Turnbull what’s up.<br />
Life’s not all that bleak though – Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> is finally back and we have articles on Trump,<br />
climate change, study tips, and new comedy section that may or may not be funny, but hey,<br />
we tried. So sit back, enjoy the words and illustrations, and tell your friends how much you<br />
love the first edition of Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> for <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
But, before you sit back too far that you fall off your chair, we encourage anyone who<br />
has something interesting to say to pitch and submit their work for future editions. This<br />
can be done by getting into contact with us at msa-lotswife@monash.edu or by liking our<br />
Facebook page and joining our Facebook group Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> General Contributors <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
l<br />
Rob, Emina, Sophia, and Nick<br />
2-3
edition one<br />
Letters to the<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Editor...<br />
Hi, I just came across reference to Lot’s<br />
<strong>Wife</strong> when looking up something else.<br />
I’m glad to see the old rag is still going! I<br />
was on the staff in 1969-1970 as a writer of<br />
articles, an official Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> Photographer<br />
(maybe the only one? Memories are vague),<br />
and I wrote at least one of the Jacquette<br />
cartoon strips (the racy adventures of an<br />
innocent freshette). I remember we used to<br />
dag Molly Meldrum heaps. The Editor was<br />
a bloke who sadly ended up a paraplegic, or<br />
quaddie? due to a water skiing accident, and<br />
the office manager was a lovely lady called<br />
Margaret-Rose Dunphy.<br />
Monash was politically seething at the<br />
time, what with Albert Langer and Michael<br />
Hyde (??) being the top student activists<br />
back then. I vividly remember covering the<br />
first Moratorium for LW, and was almost<br />
pulled limb from limb by about 200 extreme<br />
Lefties after one student occupation of the<br />
Administration Offices, but was saved when<br />
a Channel 2 (0r 7??) news team turned up<br />
with cameras rolling.<br />
Of course, I had so much fun working<br />
for Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> that I failed my second year<br />
exams and never completed my Degree, but<br />
it all worked out for the best. I haven’t seen<br />
the campus since 1971, I used to park my<br />
motorbike in a gravel yard outside the Law<br />
Faculty. I doubt I’d recognise anything now.<br />
Even the Ming Wing has a new bit grafted<br />
on. I spent many hours on the tenth floor<br />
drinking coffee from the vending machine<br />
there.<br />
Ahhhh, memories!<br />
– Kim White<br />
Don’t forget to write letter’s to the editors for<br />
future editions.<br />
Covers of Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> from the 1970’s
MSA Calendar<br />
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday<br />
Orientation Week<br />
O Week<br />
MSA Orientation Festival<br />
MSA Orientation Festival<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
Host Scheme Night<br />
Colonial Hotel 8pm-late<br />
MSA Orientation Festival<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
Taco Tuesday and<br />
Tequila Sunrise<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
MSA Breakfast Club<br />
Sir John’s Bar 8.30-10am<br />
Hump Day BBQ<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
12pm<br />
Mature Aged & Part Time Student (MAPS) Week<br />
MSA Orientation Festival<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Dinner<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
Week<br />
MSA Breakfast<br />
One<br />
Club<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Food Mondays<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
MSA Tuesdays<br />
MSA Members Week<br />
Taco Tuesday and<br />
Tequila Sunrise<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
Sir John’s Bar 8.30-10am<br />
Hump Day BBQ<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
12pm<br />
Zest Fest Clubs Day<br />
MSA Orientation Festival<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Dinner<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
Week<br />
MSA Breakfast<br />
Two<br />
Club<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Food Mondays<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
Taco Tuesday and<br />
Tequila Sunrise<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
MSA Queer Department<br />
Trivia Night<br />
Wholefoods<br />
Education (Public Affairs) Week<br />
Sir John’s Bar 8.30-10am<br />
Week<br />
MSA Breakfast<br />
Three<br />
Club<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Food Mondays<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
Welfare Week<br />
Taco Tuesday and<br />
Tequila Sunrise<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
Sir John’s Bar 8.30-10am<br />
Make Education Free<br />
Week Four<br />
MSA Welfare Department<br />
Free Food Mondays<br />
Wholefoods 7.30pm<br />
2o 21 22 23 24<br />
27 28 01 02 03<br />
06 07 08 09 10<br />
13 14 15 16 17<br />
Taco Tuesday and<br />
Tequila Sunrise<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
MSA Queer Department<br />
Karaoke Night<br />
Sir John’s Bar<br />
Again - National Day of<br />
Action<br />
Lemon-Scented Lawn<br />
BBQ 12pm<br />
State Library Bus 1pm<br />
Protest 2pm<br />
2o 21 22 23 24<br />
4-5
MONASH IS<br />
SMOKE-FREE<br />
Want to quit? We can support you.<br />
Register at monash.edu/smoke-free<br />
Produced by SMC Monash: 16P-1801. December 2016.<br />
Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> is a student-run publication that relies on your sweat and toil<br />
If you’re a writer or artist, we want to publish your<br />
fantastic work!<br />
Send us an email at msa-lotswife@monash.edu<br />
or drop by our office on the 1st floor of the Campus Centre<br />
IT WHAT MEANS IS THEY CONSENT? CARE?<br />
Relationships, When it comes be to sex, they consent partners, is friends the most or important family, can part. be a great<br />
part In Victoria, of life, consent but sometimes means behaviours a ‘free agreement’, that we can so for brush someone off as<br />
someone to consent 'just they showing need to how understand much they what care' they’re can agreeing actaully be to,<br />
harmful communicate or dangerous. their consent Relationships by words should and/or be actions about the equality, whole<br />
respect time, and and be open agreeing communication. of their own free These will, are not some out of red fear flags or force. you<br />
should look for before or during any relationship.<br />
MONASH<br />
SAFER COMMUNITY UNIT<br />
T: +61 3 9905 1599<br />
E: safercommunity@monash.edu<br />
monash.edu<br />
How can you make sure you have consent?<br />
• Remember, it’s your job to ask. Try asking, “Do you want me to…?”<br />
and only act if they say yes.<br />
• Pay attention to their body language, and make sure to stop and<br />
check in if they look uncomfortable<br />
• Never make or act on assumptions on what someone is agreeing to<br />
without asking them.<br />
• Remember that if someone is too intoxicated to consent, asleep or<br />
unconscious, they can’t consent.<br />
Never The reality date is someone that engaging out of in pity any and sexual trust act your without instincts. consent If these is an<br />
behaviours act of violence, sound it’s familiar, a crime the and Safer it’s wrong. Community Unit can help.<br />
For For information, advice advice and and support support in in a safe safe environment, environment, please please contact contact the the Monash Monash University University Safer Safer Community Community Unit Unit on on 9905 9905<br />
1599 1599 or or just just dial dial 51599 51599 from from a Monash Monash phone.The phone.The Safer Safer Community Community Unit Unit website website also also lists lists resources resources and and links links to to external external agencies agencies<br />
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/safercommunity/<br />
Adapted from Surviving Stalking (2002) by Michele Pathé
contributers:<br />
sam allen<br />
jessie lu<br />
joanne fong<br />
jayden crozier<br />
bryda nichols<br />
dolly png<br />
nick bugeja<br />
isabella toppi<br />
juliet steele<br />
jasmine duff<br />
audrey chmielewski<br />
Student Affairs<br />
student affairs<br />
6-7
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
PRESIDENT<br />
MATILDA GREY<br />
Welcome one and all to <strong>2017</strong> at Monash University!<br />
The MSA is your student union, here to make your<br />
university experience as vibrant and as positive as<br />
possible! We run a range of social events for our<br />
members, provide student advocacy and support,<br />
organise activist campaigns around both local and<br />
national student issues, and do our best to service<br />
the needs of students. I hope you get an opportunity<br />
to join a few of our many clubs and societies during<br />
O-Week, and gain some insight into the various campaigns<br />
our departments will be rolling out this year. I also look forward to seeing<br />
you at our Members Week during week 2! We have lots of free and fun filled<br />
events planned for you to thank you for being a part of your student union.<br />
Because the MSA is run by students for students, I would love to hear from<br />
YOU as to what changes you would like to see implemented at Monash, or<br />
if you need any assistance whatsoever during your time here. Please feel free<br />
to get in touch with me at any point! See you all around! It’s going to be a<br />
great year.<br />
TREASURER<br />
CAITLIN BROWN<br />
‘Ey Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> readers! Hope you’re settling into uni<br />
and enjoying the blissful first days until the crushing<br />
weight of assignments and exams settles in. I’m the<br />
MSA Treasurer. I share an office with Jessica, the MSA<br />
Secretary, and if needed I can be found on level one of<br />
Campus Centre between the President and Education<br />
Academic Affairs! Alongside the President, Matilda,<br />
we make up the executive of the MSA. Our jobs vary<br />
day to day, but mainly I look after the budget and make<br />
sure your money is being put to good use! I work alongside<br />
the departments to help them plan and budget for projects and campaigns.<br />
I’ve been helping with enrolment week and visiting Host Scheme camps, and<br />
dispersed information to the departments outlining their financial budgets.<br />
I’m extremely excited to be involved in the running of new events and<br />
campaigns this year, and talking to and engaging with students in the MSA.<br />
Coming up we have O-Week, which we’ve put loads of time and planning into<br />
making super fun and rewarding for you guys! Come join me for Members<br />
Week from the 6th to the 10th of March! A week all about giving back to<br />
our MSA members. Please come to us if you’re having any issues whatsoever,<br />
make sure you join some clubs and societies during O-Week, and purchase an<br />
MSA card so that you can reap the benefits of supporting your student union!<br />
SECRETARY<br />
JESSICA STONE<br />
Hi everyone and welcome back to another year at this<br />
eternal construction site and if you’re new, welcome<br />
to Monash (yes it’s always like this)! I’m Jess, the<br />
Secretary of the MSA, and I have been hard at work<br />
making sure that this year kicks off with a splash.<br />
The Orientation Festival is four jam-packed days<br />
happening from the 20th to the 23rd of February with<br />
opportunities to join clubs, eat tonnes of free food<br />
and importantly meet the <strong>2017</strong> MSA Office Bearers (I’ll<br />
be the one in orange frantically running around). Come<br />
to the big marquee to have a chat to all of us. Also don’t forget to join the<br />
MSA! It’s only $20 for the year and you get heaps of cool discounts on food<br />
at uni and any MSA run event. If you have any questions about the MSA, feel<br />
free to shoot me an email at jessica.stone@monash.edu.<br />
WELFARE:<br />
NICHOLAS VIRGO & PATRICK STEPHENSON<br />
Hey Monash students! Just calling in to introduce this<br />
year’s Welfare department and welcome you all back<br />
for another semester of torment. Nick and Patrick<br />
are your representatives this year, and just quietly,<br />
we’re bloody excited about it. If you’ve got a spare<br />
moment, here is some insight into what we’ve been<br />
up to, and what our plans for the future are. Many of<br />
you will not only be aware of, but will have been swept<br />
into the vortex that is the Centrelink automated debt<br />
recovery disaster. Now, one of the most overused words<br />
in political discourse is that of ‘disaster,’ however this has been a bloody<br />
train-wreck. We have been involving the Welfare department with campaigns<br />
surrounding the inefficiencies and injustices of the current system. On<br />
a lighter note, we will be continuing to run our classic Free Food Monday<br />
event. There is nothing that students can be more united around than free<br />
food, and as such we will be delivering this service with as much conviction<br />
as ever. We hope that by the end of the year there will be a functioning<br />
Centrelink advisory service on campus, an increased number of asylum<br />
seeker scholarships and some weekly yoga sessions for those who need some<br />
time to relax. Naturally, if you feel as though your time at university is not up<br />
to scratch, please come visit us and we’ll turn over a few rocks and even poke<br />
a few bears if necessary. Please contact us at nicholas.virgo@monash.edu and<br />
patrick.stephenson@monash.edu.<br />
EDUCATION (PUBLIC AFFAIRS):<br />
COREY ROSEVEAR & JULIET STEEL<br />
Welcome to our first report back in Lot’s <strong>Wife</strong> - it’s an<br />
exciting time to be alive and an exciting time to be<br />
reading what your lovely Education Public Affairs<br />
Officers have been up to. Corey and Juliet are here<br />
to fight for you in regards to university, state and<br />
federal policy. Our first campaign for this year, in<br />
conjunction with the National Union of Students,<br />
is the fight for publicly funded higher education.<br />
The government fully funds you to go to school, but<br />
secondary education is no longer the minimum required<br />
to get a job in society. Make Education Free Again is the <strong>2017</strong> campaign to<br />
restore government funding for universities to allow more people to access<br />
tertiary education and contribute to our society. Also keep an eye out for our<br />
Activate Monash Leadership Program, designed to equip you with the skills<br />
to create change at Monash and in the wider community - check out www.<br />
facebook.com/ActivateMonash to submit your application!<br />
EDUCATION (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS)<br />
HARINI KASTHURIARACHCHI & RAPHAEL TELL<br />
Welcome to <strong>2017</strong> friends! Especially all the first years!<br />
We hope you’re enjoying your time at Monash and<br />
that university is everything you hoped it’d be! (How<br />
good is the Schnitz on campus??) Over the past<br />
month and a half we have been organising student<br />
volunteers for Academic Progress Committee<br />
Hearings (APC). APCs, for those you who don’t<br />
know, are hearings that students have to face if they<br />
have failed 50% of their units over the year. The role<br />
of the student representative is to listen to the student’s<br />
case, and alongside the other committee members, to find the best outcome.<br />
Some outcomes include recommending support-services or other assistance<br />
to help them lift their academic performance. This year we will be working<br />
towards getting more power outlets in lecture theaters as well as furthering<br />
the campaign to ensure fairer assessment policies and an university wide<br />
‘opt-out’ process for lecture recordings instead of the current opt-in system.<br />
If you have any issues with your studies, teaching staff or assessment policies<br />
feel free to email us at msa-education@monash.edu. Everything you say is<br />
completely confidential. Enjoy O-Week and the first month back!
ACTIVITIES<br />
SEAN GLASS & SARAH HARRIS<br />
Sarah Harris and Sean Glass are the Activities Office<br />
Bearers for <strong>2017</strong>! We will be working hard to bring<br />
Monash Clayton students fun events such as pub<br />
crawls, trivia nights and after exam parties all<br />
year round. But the fun isn’t just for after hours<br />
events, the dynamic duo will also be feeding the<br />
hungry masses with free Hump Day barbecues!<br />
So if you’re ever in the mood for a snag or a<br />
hash brown come down and see Activities every<br />
Wednesday on the Lemon Scented Lawn. Also as an<br />
added bonus we’ve lined up live music acts to serenade you whilst you eat<br />
for the first 7 weeks of semester, how good is that?<br />
INDIGENOUS<br />
JAYDEN CROZIER & BRYDA NICHOLS<br />
ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL JUSTICE<br />
TESS DIMOS & JASMINE DUFF<br />
ESJ is a hub of left wing activism at Monash, uniting<br />
activists and progressives in combatting oppression and<br />
injustice. We organise left wing forums and protest<br />
campaigns on campus, fighting the government’s<br />
attacks on migrants, welfare, and working class people.<br />
As Trump’s attacks on Muslims have escalated, mass<br />
opposition has swept the United States. Inspired by<br />
that movement, we have organised thousands of people<br />
in Melbourne to protest against not only Trump but<br />
our own right wing government and their barbaric refugee<br />
policies. This year we’re part of the national campaign to Make Education<br />
Free Again. On March 22, students in every major city around the country will<br />
protest against the unacceptable living standards that students experience<br />
and for more accessible education. We want as many people involved as<br />
possible – that means you! To get involved, like us on facebook at MSA<br />
Environment & Social Justice or email msa-enviro-l@monash.edu.<br />
The MSA Indigenous Department exists to represent<br />
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.<br />
Indigenous people are underrepresented in higher<br />
education and more likely to prematurely withdraw<br />
from their studies. Our department strives to provide<br />
support networks and advocacy for these students.<br />
This year’s office bearers – Jayden and Bryda – are<br />
committed to raising awareness about issues facing<br />
Indigenous students such as ITAS funding cuts, closing<br />
the gap, creation of an MSA Reconciliation Action Plan<br />
and the renaming of the John Medley Library. Similarly we aim to promote<br />
Indigenous culture on campus. Our first event of the year will be hosting<br />
the Wominjeka Monash Clayton on February 22nd. The event is during<br />
O-Week and will feature a traditional Indigenous Welcome to Country, led<br />
by Aunty Di Kerr and Aunty Carolyn Briggs. It will also be headlined by<br />
prominent Indigenous Australian artist, Dan Sultan, with local Monash<br />
student talent. We hope to see you there!<br />
WOMEN’S<br />
SHREEYA LUTHRA & NIKOLA GUZYTE<br />
Hello fellow students, the Women’s Department has<br />
well and truly kicked off this year with planning<br />
underway for events, workshops and campaigns.<br />
Getting ready for O-Week is a heap of work for<br />
every department, and while we’ve been doing this<br />
we’ve also been preparing for a few post O-Week<br />
events, including a movie night for International<br />
Women’s Day (keep an eye on the big screen outside<br />
of campus centre)! There will be new surprises coming<br />
to the Women’s Room, so swing by if you haven’t before<br />
and hopefully we can unveil the changes soon. #watchthisspace! If you’re<br />
not very well acquainted with the Women’s Department, feel free to swing<br />
by upstairs campus centre! We’ve got plenty planned for this year, including<br />
NOWSA, a national women’s conference that we will be partaking in, so<br />
never hesitate to come along to something or express interest. Thnx v much<br />
xoxo ur women’s officers.<br />
DISABILITIES & CARERS<br />
NAWAMA GREEN & MELANIE LOUDOVARIS<br />
Hello from the MSA Disabilities and Carers (D&C)<br />
Department. We have been working on plans for this<br />
coming semester, including organising a lounge<br />
space in our office for students to use, working<br />
towards making guides to study and how to get<br />
support, as well as working on ways to improve<br />
accessibility of MSA events and activism. We will<br />
be holding events like morning teas and discussion<br />
groups throughout the semester, find us on Facebook<br />
for more information and details. We look forward to an<br />
awesome year and a great first semester.<br />
student affairs<br />
QUEER<br />
ANDREA DUVAL & DENISE ATZINGER<br />
Insert generic welcome. Since we’re always accused of<br />
having a gay agenda, Monash Queer Department has<br />
gone to great pains to stay on theme. This includes:<br />
LGBTea, Queer Beers, plotting discussions and<br />
workshops. We’ve already had a great glittery start<br />
to the year with our Monash contingent marching<br />
at Pride and a picnic afterwards. But the events are<br />
still coming. We’d love to see people check out our<br />
trivia night in week 2. Keep your eyes open for our<br />
Karaoke Night and Queer Ball. Feel intimidated visiting<br />
our lounge on level 1 of campus centre? We’re having friendly intro sessions<br />
for the first few weeks for new students (or veteran students but new to the<br />
lounge). Please check out our Facebook page, Monash Queer Department -<br />
MSA. You can follow for all the updates and get in direct contact with the<br />
Queer Officers for more info.<br />
PEOPLE OF COLOUR<br />
JASMINE NGUYEN & KAPIL BHARGAVA<br />
It’s the START of something NEWWWW and it<br />
feels so right to be here with YOU! Ohhh ~ It’s<br />
Jasmine and Kapil, your officers from the brand<br />
new People of Colour (PoC) Department! The<br />
PoC Department’s main function is to support,<br />
unite, represent and empower students of colour.<br />
We’ve been busy sorting out the office, regulations<br />
and social media. We’ve also been talking to clubs<br />
and planning campaigns and events for the year. To<br />
name a few, keep an eye out for the Holi festival with the<br />
Hindu Society and the United Colours of Monash campaign. Since this is<br />
the Department’s first year, our intention is to make sure we start it with<br />
a BANG by reaching out to as many people as possible so we can build<br />
together a stronger, more inclusive and diverse community.<br />
Jasmine Nguyen: jasmine.nguyen@monash.edu<br />
Kapil Bhargava: kapil.bhargava@monash.edu<br />
OBR<br />
Office Bearer Reports<br />
8-9
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Orientation Festival, Dan Sultan, and Zest Fest!<br />
For all jaffys and newcomers, the Monash Student<br />
Association (MSA) annual Orientation Festival is on at the<br />
Lemon Scented Lawns from the 20th to 23rd of February.<br />
Enjoy free food and entertainment as Monash showcases<br />
its diverse clubs, societies and sporting teams. In<br />
addition, there are special events each day of O-week.<br />
Key highlights are: Wominjeka Monash, the official<br />
Welcome to Monash event that is celebrating Indigenous<br />
culture with a feature performance by Dan Sultan as well<br />
as the Beach Party to be held at the Royal Melbourne<br />
Hotel, presented by Monash Engineering Students’<br />
Society and the Society of Arts Students. The Student<br />
Theatre will be running their Harry Potter themed O-Show<br />
with four shows each day until Thursday. Roaming Host<br />
Scheme volunteers are available to give all new students<br />
a hand. Don’t be stressed if you can’t make it to O-week<br />
though, as Zest Fest, held on March 1st, will be an<br />
extension of the clubs days with the Soundshell and<br />
Northern Plaza hosting live performances and comedy<br />
acts. Further details on all events can be found at the<br />
MSA social media pages, Facebook events and Monash<br />
Orientation Planner.<br />
Monash Welcomes Diversity in Response to Trump’s<br />
Executive Order<br />
In an email addressed to all Monash staff and students,<br />
the President and Vice Chancellor of Monash University,<br />
Professor Margaret Gardner AO has expressed Monash’s<br />
continued commitment to internationalism, diversity and<br />
inclusion. In response to the US travel ban for citizens of<br />
the specified countries in Trump’s Executive Order, she<br />
condemned its negative impact on global collaboration<br />
and tolerance of people from all backgrounds. Monash<br />
does not support President Trump’s recent overarching<br />
measures. Monash’s policy embraces the “free exchange<br />
of ideas that is vital to the education and research of<br />
universities” and emphasises diversity and inclusion as<br />
remaining core to its values.<br />
Summerfest <strong>2017</strong><br />
To celebrate the end of summer, Summerfest kicks<br />
off at the Clayton and Caulfield campuses from the 13th<br />
-17th of March. So far, the Full Moon Party has been<br />
announced for the Tuesday with the gigantic waterslide<br />
making a return along with DJs, face paint, food and<br />
drinks. Tickets are available via MSA outlets for $20.<br />
Watch out for further announcements including the Dive-<br />
In Cinema at the Doug Ellis Swimming Pool, foodies’<br />
night, comedy, live music, markets and more.<br />
M-Pass<br />
The new Monash student ID, the M-Pass, will be rolled<br />
out in February and March, and it will be sent to students’<br />
addresses. The transition period will last until April, and<br />
after this the M-Pass will be used as official Monash ID,<br />
even in exams. The current ID will be required for secure<br />
building access until updates are completed. Library<br />
services such as borrowing, printing and photocopying<br />
will only be accessible with the M-Pass, some through<br />
online credit. Head to Monash Connect with your old<br />
student ID to collect your M-Pass if you haven’t yet<br />
received it.<br />
National Student Protests<br />
Students across the country will gather on March 22nd<br />
in protest of government cuts to education and welfare<br />
for the National Day of Action. The demonstration at<br />
the State Library is organised by the National Union of<br />
Students. The Monash contingent will be meeting on the<br />
Lemon Scented Lawn at 12pm. Juliet Steel and Jasmine<br />
Duff elaborate on page 17.<br />
Counselling Restructures<br />
Monash is going ahead with their plan to cut one third<br />
of the full-time-equivalent (FTE) counsellors and replace<br />
them with contractor or private practice psychologists.<br />
This has been met with student disdain, as it will mean<br />
fewer services provided for free drop-in consultations,<br />
as psychologists require GP referral. It is feared that the<br />
incoming psychologists will lack institutional knowledge.<br />
Counsellors will be lost en masse and students dealing<br />
with issues not deemed serious enough for a psychologist<br />
will face longer wait times. Criticism from the National<br />
Tertiary Education Union points out the hypocrisy in<br />
the university heavily promoting R U OK? Day, whilst<br />
reducing its mental health services.<br />
WOT’S<br />
NEWS?<br />
With Jessie Lu<br />
Refurbished Matheson Library Offers Some Welcome<br />
Relief from Construction<br />
Major construction works around Clayton campus are<br />
continuing with the Learning and Teaching Building by<br />
the bus loop whilst the fully refurbished Matheson Library<br />
reopens. Other projects that are expected to be near<br />
completion are the Monash Transport Interchange and<br />
the Forum, which encompasses the area between the<br />
Campus Centre and Matheson Library.<br />
This comes as Monash powers forward with their<br />
Masterplan, the framework for campus development<br />
envisioning the transformation into a ‘university city’.<br />
Although the construction comes as an annoyance<br />
to many current students with the ‘great blue wall of<br />
Clayton’ still standing, future students will benefit greatly<br />
from a revitalised campus.<br />
The comprehensive refurbishment of the Sir Louis<br />
Matheson Library is expected to be completed in time<br />
for Semester 1 with a new seating capacity of 1,500.<br />
This follows the opening of the updated Lower Ground<br />
level in mid-July last year with modern study spaces.<br />
The introduction of the Forum, which will fill the area<br />
between the Matheson library and the Menzies Building<br />
will complement the reinvigorated library. Landscaping<br />
works are taking place to finish the new water feature and<br />
decked courtyard, replacing the previous water fountain<br />
near the Rotunda.<br />
The new Monash Transport Interchange which boasts<br />
improved integration of bus, cycling and pedestrian<br />
services was set to open in February <strong>2017</strong>. However,<br />
additional works may continue into the future. The LTB<br />
is scheduled to open in mid-2018 with four storeys<br />
of learning space, innovative technology and a retail<br />
precinct. The sustainability of the Masterplan has been<br />
a key concern with the installation of nearly 4,000 solar<br />
panels and a water harvesting system, which will include<br />
a filtration rain garden. Future works are to include a new<br />
200-seat Jazz Club, a Sound Bar replacing Rotunda and<br />
the refurbishment of the Alexander Theatre, scheduled to<br />
open in 2018.<br />
JCU Under Pressure After Promoting a Convicted<br />
Rapist<br />
Controversy shrouds James Cook University following<br />
revelations that former employee Douglas Steele<br />
was promoted to a senior position with JCU advising<br />
Indigenous students after being charged of rape. He was<br />
permitted to remain employed whilst awaiting sentencing<br />
even after Vice Chancellor Sandra Harding was made<br />
aware of his charge. JCU is now purportedly conducting<br />
an investigation into its sexual assault policies after<br />
criticism of its slow response.<br />
Renaming of John Medley Library<br />
The Monash Student Council has authorised the<br />
renaming of the MSA-run John Medley Library, to the<br />
Mick Dodson Library after realisations that John Medley<br />
was involved in eugenics that was linked to the White<br />
Australia Policy. Mick Dodson was the first Monash<br />
Indigenous graduate to hold a Bachelor of Laws, however<br />
the new name is yet to be confirmed. Further details on<br />
page 14.<br />
MSA Space<br />
The new MSA space run by the Monash Student<br />
Association has opened on the ground floor of the<br />
Campus Centre. It is currently offering a dry cleaning<br />
service, bicycle products, event tickets and student<br />
printing with more to come.<br />
New Nature Walk<br />
The Jock Marshall Reserve at Clayton is now open to<br />
public following the opening of the new Nature Walk last<br />
November. This includes a footbridge to allow greater<br />
accessibility to the reserve.<br />
Robert Doyle Awarded with Honorary Doctorate<br />
Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle was awarded<br />
his alma mater - Monash University’s highest honour - the<br />
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. This was in recognition<br />
of his contributions to public life and his associations<br />
in industry and philanthropy. Doyle has recently been<br />
making headlines for targeting the homeless community<br />
by banning them from camping in the CBD.<br />
The same honorary doctorate was also conferred onto<br />
the Deputy Chancellor and Council member of Monash<br />
University, Clinical Professor Leanne Rowe, in recognition<br />
for her outstanding career in the fields of adolescent<br />
and Indigenous health and her service to the University.<br />
Jeanne Pratt, AC was also among the recipients.<br />
Carpooling Fee Remains Amidst Further Fee Hikes to<br />
Parking Permits<br />
Despite continued opposition and frustration by<br />
Monash students regarding the lack of available Blue<br />
permits and their cost, the university has yet again raised<br />
the cost. The yearly Blue permit has been elevated from<br />
$400 to $405 and from $200 in 2016 to $202.5 for the half<br />
yearly Blue permit, which have been selling for Clayton<br />
campus from the 7th of February.<br />
In 2016, the annual permits were sold out before<br />
the semester had even commenced, forcing hundreds<br />
of students to either park away from campus, join the<br />
waitlist or risk excessive fines. A major concern for<br />
students is the scarcity of parking spots. Some of the<br />
strain has been alleviated with the opening of a new level<br />
at the N1 car park, adding 1,170 spaces, as well as an<br />
underground car park at the new Learning and Teaching<br />
Building (LTB), touted to open mid-year with an additional<br />
800 parking spots. The overcrowding may be further<br />
relieved with the gradual introduction of new digital<br />
vehicle signage, providing live data on the availability of<br />
spaces. Free off campus parking will now only be limited<br />
to the Off-campus Two (OC2) car park with discounted<br />
parking being offered at the OC1 car park for $1 per hour<br />
or $5 all day.<br />
The Monash Student Association is continuing their<br />
lobbying efforts for reduced permit fees, the abolishment<br />
of the carpooling fee and better transport options for<br />
students. The MSA is committed to fighting permit fee<br />
increases following an unsuccessful campaign last year.<br />
The contentious introduction of the fees for Rideshare<br />
carpooling in 2016 has continued. Previously, specified<br />
areas for carpooling were free. The justification for the<br />
fee from Monash is to “deter misuse of the program and<br />
help genuine ride sharers find available parking”. The<br />
yearly fees have increased from $70 to $76 for each<br />
individual student to participate in the program. To secure<br />
a carpooling place, the combined worth of the yearly<br />
Rideshare permits will equate to at least $152. Students<br />
are being deterred from this program as individual Blue<br />
permits provide much more convenience for a little<br />
more money. This is worrying for Monash sustainability<br />
initiatives that are aimed at reducing vehicle emissions<br />
despite efforts to promote public transport, walking and<br />
cycling.<br />
Universal Changes to Engineering Degrees Cause a<br />
Stir<br />
At the close of October last year, all Engineering<br />
students were informed of the introduction of a new<br />
compulsory course requirement, named Continuous<br />
Professional Development (CPD). From Semester 1,<br />
<strong>2017</strong>, all Engineering students graduating after Semester<br />
1, <strong>2017</strong> will be required to undertake a minimum of<br />
105 hours of CPD, increasing by 105 hours for every<br />
additional year in the course, up to 420 hours for students<br />
anticipated to graduate at the end of 2020. The preferred<br />
method of accruing time through CPD is work experience<br />
with an engineering related firm.<br />
As with all major university announcements (such<br />
as the new standardised Business School calculator,<br />
closing of gym chicken and the Asian grocery), there was<br />
a uproar on Monash Stalkerspace. The primary concern<br />
was with the lateness of the announcement, considering<br />
all Engineering students graduating at the end of <strong>2017</strong>...
...or later would now be required to find ways to fulfil the CPD. This was at<br />
a time where a large portion of engineering summer internship applications<br />
had already closed and competition for any other engineering related roles<br />
would be very fierce.<br />
“My biggest issue with the system, is the manner in which they sprung<br />
it onto students. The fact that if I hadn’t done work on UAS (Unmanned<br />
Aerial Systems) and was graduating at the end of <strong>2017</strong>, I would need to<br />
have found an internship over these holidays, well after all applications<br />
had closed. It was poorly implemented considering no warning was given<br />
and not enough resources were devoted to helping students find these<br />
internships,” says Adhi-Raj Rana, a final year engineering student.<br />
Some support is provided from the university to students in completing<br />
the CPD through the Career Gateway portal and Monash is also offering<br />
work insurance cover for applicable students. The Monash Engineering<br />
Students’ Society also intends to guide any lost students.<br />
Overall however, the consensus among many Engineering students was<br />
that despite the large time commitment involved with CPD, it is a welcome<br />
addition to the course. CPD is proclaimed by the Engineering faculty to<br />
provide a “framework for students to find professional development<br />
opportunities that teach business related skills and enable students to<br />
gain business and engineering related knowledge”. Students can largely<br />
appreciate the thinking behind the introduction of the CPD, which is<br />
likely to put them in good stead with future employers and effectively<br />
force students to acquire real experience and professional skills in the<br />
engineering field.<br />
“I think the CPD is a great addition. There is no doubt there is difficulty<br />
getting an internship but too many people are graduating with ‘engineering’<br />
degrees without the foggiest clue on what the industry is like and with<br />
nothing to show on their resume. Furthermore, many grad jobs require<br />
or strongly prefer experience which students don’t realise because they<br />
haven’t had to get any experience,” Rana explains.<br />
There are alternatives to engineering based work experience in<br />
completing the CPD that can fill up to a specified quota of hours. Particular<br />
subjects from the engineering course will contribute to a proportion of<br />
required time, as well as work experience in any field, including regular<br />
jobs and participation in additional seminars, courses or volunteering.<br />
The flexibility of the program will assist students greatly in being able to<br />
complete the requirements.<br />
Unpaid internships are bound to fulfil a large proportion of students<br />
CPD hours. The introduction of the program comes at a time where<br />
some universities are moving away from unpaid internships due to ethical<br />
concerns. Columbia University in New York is limiting students’ exposure<br />
to unpaid work placements after efforts from Intern Labor Rights who are<br />
actively against the exploitation of unpaid labourers. UK universities such<br />
as University of the Arts London (UAL), Falmouth and Kingston have all<br />
stopped advertising unpaid internships positions on their student jobs<br />
websites. The efficacy of unpaid internships in assisting students with job<br />
opportunities is questionable and can also severely limit social mobility.<br />
The flexibility of Monash’s CPD may be able to counter this.<br />
Further criticism comes in the form of the lack of opportunities presented<br />
to students by the university itself. For students wanting to work to specific<br />
engineering fields, they are often left on their own.<br />
Rana shares some final thoughts. “I think the university doesn’t take<br />
enough initiative to create partnerships with companies (especially in the<br />
aero field). It has minimal contacts and therefore barely any internship<br />
partners for someone like me. It also makes minimal efforts to create them.<br />
Having presented the engineering faculty with possible partners (through<br />
the UAS team), I have seen them ignore some massive opportunities due<br />
to the required paperwork, despite the huge opening this would give to<br />
students.”<br />
It is only the beginning for the Continuous Professional Development<br />
requirement, which is intended to give engineering students a boost in their<br />
field experience and future work prospects. However, this is contingent<br />
on students being able to manage the commitment alongside their<br />
studies, their ability to find internships in relevant fields and willingness of<br />
engineering companies to value the contribution of these students.<br />
The University Council Election Outcome and<br />
Why You Should Care About It<br />
By Joanne Fong<br />
Elections – in particular, participating in them – are very important, as<br />
they determine who will obtain certain responsibilities and power to make<br />
decisions and changes that affect us. As can be seen in real life events such<br />
as Brexit and the US election in 2016, and with the protesting and aftermath<br />
that followed both, making your voice heard and casting your vote can<br />
really make or break a community.<br />
The Monash University Council is the highest governing body of<br />
Monash University. It is responsible for the management and activity of<br />
the university, including the approval of its annual budget, mission, and<br />
strategic direction. Academic Board, which reports to Council, oversees<br />
important duties including the governance of all university coursework, any<br />
changes to course entry requirements, as well as the Learning and Teaching<br />
portfolio which was partly responsible for the implementation of night<br />
exams. The Council is therefore responsible for the overall superintendence<br />
of the university, and facilitating its role in the Australian community.<br />
Thus, it is important that voting members on Council are able to make<br />
just, unbiased and competent decisions. Both the University Council and<br />
Academic Board take into consideration the reports and opinions of their<br />
respective elected student representatives. It is crucial these students are<br />
able to voice the best interests of students, especially as University Council<br />
meeting minutes are not available to be accessed by ordinary students, or<br />
even the Monash Student Association Executive.<br />
Along with the University Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, President of the<br />
Academic Board, twelve other appointed members, and an elected staff<br />
member, there is one position that is reserved for a student who is of equal<br />
status to the other Councillors. Eligible students are able to nominate for<br />
the position, and the broader student body then votes to democratically<br />
elect their chosen representative. The elected representative participates<br />
in the strategic decision making of Council, supposedly upholding the best<br />
interests and values of students. This includes responding to any proposed<br />
Federal budget cuts such as that of the student-opposed fee deregulation,<br />
for which Monash has previously shown support. The ability for Monash<br />
students to elect a student representative as a member of Council was only<br />
recently reinstated following legislation in 2015 from the Andrews’ Labor<br />
government, reversing the Baillieu government’s 2013 legislation which<br />
dropped requirements for elected staff and student representatives on<br />
Council. An appointed student representative, chosen by the University,<br />
remained on Council for the duration of these four years. The student who<br />
sits on Council, either appointed or elected, is awarded tens of thousands of<br />
dollars per year.<br />
Mr Ziyang (Tony) Zhang, previously President of MONSU Caulfield 2016,<br />
was elected to University Council to serve as the Student Member for <strong>2017</strong><br />
and 2018. As a part of a ticket called ‘Stand Up,’ which is now affiliated<br />
with ‘Unite,’ he and others on his ticket led with a focus around the impact<br />
of university life on international students. Controversy surrounded Mr.<br />
Zhang last year, as he was alleged to have spent $908 of student funds on a<br />
banquet for him and other Stand Up members; money that could have been<br />
directed towards running activities and services for students. This decision<br />
was brought to students’ attention by a post on Stalkerspace, revealing the<br />
receipt of the indulgent meal, and was received with widespread outrage<br />
and concern. Further, it is alleged that under his presidency, attendance<br />
numbers at MONSU events dropped dramatically, and funding was cut from<br />
the Queer department.<br />
According to the electronic poll, only 9.77% of the 70,676 eligible students<br />
voted in the University Council election, and only 2,498 formal votes were<br />
cast for the three positions on Academic Board. 10% of all eligible students<br />
had their say, but what about the remaining 90%? How many people saw<br />
the emails regarding the election in their inbox and just scrolled past<br />
them or ignored them? Brexit, the US election; our own University Council<br />
election. What they all have in common is that voting was optional, and<br />
when people don’t participate, it can have a major impact on the percentage<br />
of the population that is then represented. What to take away from the<br />
result of this election is not that a student about whom a number of serious<br />
allegations have been made now holds an extremely influential position,<br />
but that refusing to participate in elections can mean that you miss your<br />
opportunity to express your views and interests, and that they are never<br />
represented.<br />
10-11
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Clubs &<br />
Societies<br />
Monash Association of Debaters:<br />
The Monash Association of Debaters is one of<br />
the world's best university debating societies.<br />
Whether you have debated at a state level in high<br />
school, or you have never debated before, MAD has<br />
the experience and programs to help you improve<br />
your debating. Debating allows you to build skills<br />
that will be useful throughout your life, such as<br />
01.<br />
public speaking, critical thinking and an ability<br />
to structure arguments in a logical and cohesive<br />
way. A combination of these skills are useful in<br />
just about any career you may have in the future.<br />
As well as building skills, debating is also a lot of<br />
fun and a great chance to make new friends. The<br />
club sends contingents to tournaments all around<br />
Australia and the world, which will allow you to<br />
experience other cities and bond with your new<br />
friends. So come along on a Monday night and try<br />
out debating for yourself!<br />
Oxfam at Monash:<br />
Welcome to Oxfam at Monash! We are an<br />
organisation of students affiliated with Monash<br />
Clubs and Societies, Oxfam Australia and Oxfam-<br />
Monash Research Partnership. Oxfam at Monash<br />
hopes to inform and inspire students to campaign<br />
for social justice and sustainable development in<br />
local, national and international communities.<br />
02.<br />
Oxfam at Monash organises engaging events,<br />
which in the past have included the Hunger<br />
Banquet, Change Conference and other events<br />
in conjunction with other Monash Clubs and<br />
Societies and other like-minded organisations.<br />
Oxfam at Monash also organises opportunities in<br />
conjunction with social enterprises for students to<br />
volunteer during the semester. Oxfam at Monash<br />
hopes to mobilise the power of the people to<br />
campaign for a world without poverty. Oxfam at<br />
Monash updates students on opportunities to<br />
volunteer, intern and work with Oxfam Australia,<br />
Oxfam International and Oxfam-Monash Research<br />
Partnership. We look forward to helping you to ‘be<br />
the change you want to see in the world!’<br />
Female Engineers of Monash:<br />
FEM’s goal is to support female engineering<br />
students by inspiring and connecting them with<br />
each other and with females working in the<br />
profession and in the faculty. Although our focus is<br />
on female students, we welcome everyone to come<br />
and enjoy our social and academic events. Through<br />
our industry events and our annual Industry Guide,<br />
03.<br />
we encourage you to get to know representatives<br />
from the industry as well as provide you with easy<br />
access to relevant information that can help you<br />
make the most out of your university experience.<br />
FEM also has great opportunities for members to<br />
socialise at our famous pancake barbeques and<br />
our Trivia Night. Our aim is to bring more fun,<br />
engaging and helpful gatherings to our members<br />
this year. We look forward to perhaps seeing you at<br />
some of our exciting events this year!<br />
Monash Philosophy Society:<br />
Is it morally just for some of us to live in relative<br />
luxury while others merely subsist in abysmal<br />
poverty? Is it morally permissible, or perhaps<br />
even obligatory, to take drugs which improve<br />
our proclivities towards moral behaviour? Why<br />
is it that so many people find arguments for<br />
vegetarianism persuasive, yet very few actually<br />
04.<br />
follow through and become vegetarian? And: what<br />
even IS philosophy?! At the Monash Philosophy<br />
Society, we aim to undertake an intellectual<br />
exploration of these issues which are so often<br />
pertinent to our daily lives. We do so by inviting<br />
guest speakers from the Monash Philosophy<br />
Department to present on an area of their research<br />
and open up a discussion. Students who come<br />
along can expect exposure to hotly contested issues<br />
in philosophy, robust discussion and a friendly,<br />
welcoming environment. The questions above are<br />
just a sample of what we’ve discussed in the past;<br />
expect more exciting discussion in the future! No<br />
prior philosophical experience needed; just bring<br />
along an inquisitive mind.
Monash Hellenic Student Society:<br />
MHSS was established in 2006 and since then<br />
has been bringing the best of Greece to Monash!<br />
We host a wide variety of cultural and social events<br />
throughout the year, including our famous souvlaki<br />
days, soccer tournaments, unrivalled tavern nights,<br />
O-Week stalls, participation in cultural community<br />
events and much more! Our events are guaranteed<br />
05.<br />
to bring passion, kefi and glendi (as the Greeks<br />
say!). We have the best of time doing everything<br />
that is necessary to operate a successful club and<br />
have cherished memories as proof!<br />
Wired:<br />
Wired is the official society for the Faculty of<br />
Information Technology at Monash. If you're<br />
passionate about computers, the IT industry, or just<br />
want to hang out with other tech-minded people,<br />
Wired is the club to be in. During the semesters<br />
we run lots of different events ranging from our<br />
Industry Night in March, to UniHack and our<br />
06.<br />
Trivia Night in August and September. We aim to<br />
offer a variety of different activities and events for<br />
our club members ranging from fun and informal<br />
lunches like our first week BBQ, to workshops with<br />
our industry partners like Facebook and Deloitte.<br />
Either way when you join Wired, you’re guaranteed<br />
an awesome year at Monash. The best part is that<br />
it’s free for MSA members and only $5 for nonmembers.<br />
So come and say hi to us at our booth in<br />
O-Week, we’ve got a few goodies to give away and<br />
always have new tech to show off.<br />
Engineers Without Borders Monash:<br />
“Science or engineering related fields never<br />
really interested me. However, I was lucky enough<br />
to have attended a science program over the<br />
summer holidays in 2014. Many among the cohort<br />
were extremely passionate about STEM and had<br />
amazing hobbies such as coding or building models<br />
of planes and cars. Others, like me, were simply<br />
07.<br />
curious about what The Conocophillips Science<br />
Experience had to offer. It was there where I first<br />
realised I had found my people and my calling, as<br />
well as my first experience with Engineers Without<br />
Borders. Fast forward two years, I’m volunteering<br />
for EWB and absolutely loving the fact that we are<br />
able to inspire students and bring to their attention<br />
how cool STEM can be. One thing I noticed<br />
during my time as a high-school student was that<br />
engineering had almost no representation in the<br />
majority of schools. I had no idea what engineering<br />
was – maybe just people in hard hats who worked<br />
on bridges and cars? So having this opportunity<br />
to participate in STEM outreach and conduct fun<br />
workshops which students of all ages can take<br />
something away from amazes me. Sure, they might<br />
decide that ‘engineering is not for me’. However,<br />
it’s those few students whose eyes light up when<br />
you show them a cool coding trick, or talk to them<br />
about your studies and projects – it’s those few kids<br />
who you can see start thinking ‘hey, maybe this<br />
could be something I’m interested in…’ that really<br />
make volunteering worthwhile.” - Helen Zhou<br />
Monash Photography Club:<br />
Have you ever wanted to capture a photo but felt<br />
like too much of a tourist or felt guilty for slowing<br />
people down? Join this club and be embarrassed<br />
no more. We are a diverse group of people who<br />
are passionate about photography and believe it<br />
is worth any effort or stare to capture that perfect<br />
shot. Throughout the year we hold workshops,<br />
08.<br />
daytrips and road trips that allow you to learn<br />
camera and editing skills, and travel with equally<br />
passionate people. The club is beginner friendly so<br />
there’s no need to be a professional or even own an<br />
advanced camera (a phone camera will do!). Photos<br />
have become an important aspect of expression<br />
and marketing in this age of social media, therefore<br />
photography is a super beneficial skill to acquire<br />
and great fun to take up as a hobby.<br />
Progressive Law Network:<br />
The PLN stands for increasing awareness about<br />
social justice issues and providing the opportunity<br />
for passionate students to effect positive social<br />
change. Last year, we launched a careers guide and<br />
hosted many public lectures on interesting topics<br />
such as animal rights issues, domestic violence and<br />
international law. This year, we have introduced<br />
09.<br />
a portfolio for mental health and are planning on<br />
creating more policy reform opportunities. Our<br />
welcoming and passionate committee members<br />
will be organising many social activities for this<br />
year which will be intermixed with our meaningful<br />
lectures and debates. We hope to see you at our<br />
upcoming meetings!<br />
Monash Muggles:<br />
If you’re still waiting for your Hogwarts letter<br />
to arrive, wishing that Hagrid will bust down your<br />
door to tell you “YER A WIZARD”, and craving that<br />
little bit of magic on campus, then Muggles is the<br />
club for you! From events like our annual Triwizard<br />
Yule Ball (co-hosted with Melbourne University<br />
and La Trobe) and trivia, to movie nights, game<br />
10.<br />
nights, and Quidditch, the Monash Muggles is<br />
the perfect club for anyone who has just seen the<br />
films to the most dedicated Harry Potter fan. For<br />
any inquiries send us an owl at monashmuggles@<br />
monashclubs.org or visit us in O-Week.<br />
Monash Law Student’s Society:<br />
The Monash Law Students’ Society has been<br />
operating to serve law students since 1964 and is<br />
one of the largest student societies at Clayton. We<br />
have 7 different portfolios that offer a wide range of<br />
experiences to students including: Administration,<br />
Activities, Careers, Competitions, Education,<br />
Social Justice & Equity, and finally, the Juris Doctor<br />
11.<br />
portfolio for our postgraduate students. Whatever<br />
your interests, the LSS has something for you<br />
to enjoy! Whether it be Law Ball, Networking<br />
Evenings, Social Justice Seminars or just a burger<br />
at one of our BBQs, make sure you get involved in<br />
our events in <strong>2017</strong>, and like our Facebook page for<br />
updates.<br />
student affairs<br />
12-13
A Medley Of Evil<br />
edition one<br />
In 1970, a large number of recreational books and records were bequeathed to the University<br />
of Melbourne in the name of John Medley. As the University of Melbourne had already established<br />
a recreational library, the resources were hence donated to Monash and the John Medley Library was<br />
established as the first library of our student union. Managed by the Monash Student Association, the<br />
library is run off the work of a few staff members who are either students or past students, and a team of<br />
dedicated student volunteers. Grace Trist, the library coordinator, mentioned that the original purpose<br />
of the library in 1970 is still very relevant today. She acknowledged that a lot of the feedback she gets<br />
from students now is similar to back when the library was first established. It is a “refuge for students,<br />
away from the chaos of academic life.”<br />
Over the past few years, there has been debate over the names of particular buildings at the University<br />
of Melbourne. The Richard Berry Building has recently had its name changed to the Peter Hall Building<br />
late last year. This was due to the fact that Berry, a strong proponent of eugenics, had collected some 400<br />
Aboriginal corpses. The remains were re-discovered on the campus in 2003, arguably making the name<br />
change several years overdue. There has been a similar push for other buildings at Melbourne University<br />
carrying the names of detestable individuals to also be changed. One relevant example to Monash as well<br />
as Melbourne University is John Medley. Both staff and students at Monash and Melbourne University<br />
have expressed their concern over the name of buildings carrying his name.<br />
John Medley has a particularly shameful history involving the unethical use of eugenics, specifically<br />
aimed at Aboriginal people amongst many others. Furthermore, Medley was a member of the Eugenics<br />
Society of Victoria. The society was known for advocating for the use of sterilisation, segregation, and<br />
lethal chambers against Aboriginal people, homosexuals, people with disabilities and other groups of<br />
people that were deemed ‘inferior’ by members of the society. The practice of eugenics informed much<br />
of the belief system of Nazism. Following in a similar mould to the research developed in the United<br />
States, particularly California, eugenics gained prominence in Germany prior to the Nazis gaining power.<br />
However, once Hitler consolidated power there was a much larger emphasis placed on the expansion of<br />
its research. This expansion ultimately led to the removal of people who were generally considered weak<br />
in the chain of heredity: including people with cognitive and physical disabilities, mental illness and<br />
homosexuals. The idea was that the removal of ‘rotten heredity’ would result in a genetically superior<br />
master race. The Holocaust was a consequence of this belief system.<br />
For a university campus to still have buildings named in commemoration of people whose actions<br />
aided the oppression of marginalised groups, suggests that the honoree should still be celebrated.<br />
Eugenics and the racist practices of the members of the Eugenics Society of Victoria are nothing to be<br />
celebrated. Instead, we should be celebrating Indigenous achievement. The struggle that Indigenous<br />
Australians have faced in trying to gain access to education and equal opportunities is still ongoing.<br />
With this in mind, the <strong>2017</strong> MSA Indigenous Department is in the process of renaming the building after<br />
a prominent Indigenous Monash graduate. By doing so, we would not only have a library named after a<br />
person relevant to our university, but it could play an additional role in reversing the image impacted by<br />
John Medley. This will enforce the notion that we should honour Indigenous Australians, rather than a<br />
person who denigrated them. If the plan to rename is successful, the student union library would better<br />
reflect the values here at Monash University.<br />
The Dark History of our<br />
Student Union Library<br />
lot’s wife<br />
article by jayden crozier and bryda nichols
Thoughts On Living Abroad<br />
Away from home, often for months at a time. The<br />
longer one dwells on it, more daunting the prospect. The<br />
leap of faith just has to be taken, a step forward into an<br />
uncertain darkness of the future.<br />
Studying abroad means being away from family<br />
and the safe shelter of the nest, for both international<br />
students and citizens going interstate. At home, your<br />
father might have taken on the irksome job of managing<br />
administrative letters and monetary matters, your<br />
mother might have tended to the shopping and cooking,<br />
your siblings might have organized weekend picnics<br />
and family outings – it doesn’t matter, now that you are<br />
on your own. No longer is there the familiar security<br />
of family to soften life’s bruises with their reliable<br />
company, shared resources (notably financial) and<br />
heartfelt sympathy. This security is quite rare, although<br />
not impossible to find among friends. You can never<br />
be so recklessly certain of a friend’s affection especially<br />
after a heated argument or in an environment of mutual<br />
competition for grades, internships or jobs.<br />
Thus, this necessitates some time and energy, both<br />
physical and emotional, to be devoted to building a<br />
support network – a family away from home. In addition,<br />
the responsibility of taking care of yourself falls to…well,<br />
you. While we have had some training in taking care<br />
of ourselves, its implications are felt even more keenly<br />
when living abroad by oneself.<br />
Bank account statements? Insurance? Meals? Not<br />
the occasional meal out with friends but every single<br />
breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is hard to see anyone else<br />
around whom you can (perhaps after a particularly trying<br />
or disappointing day at university) delegate/plead/<br />
beg into doing them for you. Moreover, you have to<br />
consider the fact that you want friends around instead of<br />
frightening everyone away with your neediness. You need<br />
to settle things like the grown-up that you are.<br />
Yet this heavy burden of responsibilities on your<br />
lonesome shoulders also brings with it fresh breaths<br />
of freedom. Living away from family also means no<br />
one is waiting for you to be back at dinner time, to<br />
interrogate you about your day or ask for an account of<br />
your schedule. You can change your mind, at any time,<br />
without worrying about clashing family commitments.<br />
The heady carefree feeling of a chilly night out with all<br />
novelty of unearthly morning hours is yours to savour.<br />
Daylight hours are yours to plan and spend as you wish<br />
– a day out in the city or by the sea? Catching up on<br />
homework or sleep? Shopping sprees or long chats with<br />
a friend? You need to be accountable only to yourself.<br />
The inevitable hours of solitude when you find yourself<br />
alone after a friend bails on you can also be a blessing in<br />
disguise – without the incessant voices at home, however<br />
well-intentioned, you can finally hear your true inner<br />
voice (and be sure of it) and have the time to follow<br />
where your inner motivations lead while discovering<br />
different aspects of your personality.<br />
For me, returning home for the summer holidays was akin to<br />
chancing upon a forgotten, old novel. It was the same narrative –<br />
familiar personalities of family, same jokes and quarrels, almost<br />
similar landscape of roads and buildings of the city, but a different<br />
reader. One will start to draw parallels – the public transport,<br />
architecture, food, living with friends versus family. Upon returning<br />
home, the initial friction of re-adjustment – living in close quarters<br />
with people whom you are accountable to and who place certain<br />
unspoken and oftentimes unwelcome expectations on you – might<br />
come unexpected. It is almost like being caged again but the<br />
boundaries more keenly felt after one has known flight. The weary<br />
obligation of blood ties is nevertheless accompanied by the reward<br />
of domestic bliss and greater emotional security (and maybe, the<br />
hopes in anticipation of the upcoming university semester).<br />
So how can one best prepare for this flight of freedom?<br />
1. Find out as much as possible, but not to the point of<br />
information overload.<br />
2. Be willing to make friends, by being a friend to others.<br />
3. Start learning to clean (a little) and cook (a lot).<br />
More importantly, know that it is alright to be confused or<br />
homesick. It is acceptable to have days when you want to lie in bed<br />
and hide from the world. Everyone has their own narrative, their<br />
own story to tell. However in the end, you will need to get out there<br />
to live, experience and create your own narrative.<br />
As a Singaporean coming to Australia, I take particular joy in<br />
noting differences between the two countries. One key point of<br />
comparison is the supermarket – everyone has to buy their own<br />
groceries Down Under. Australia is proud of her produce – her dairy<br />
bears the stamp of a home-grown company. The luscious fruits in<br />
season – peaches and grapes in summer, kiwi and navel oranges in<br />
winter – are fresh from her land. Singapore however does not have<br />
the luxury of acres of fertile land or indeed, much land at all – most<br />
fruits and dairy are imported.<br />
Cashiers in Australia smilingly greet you with “How are you?” at<br />
the checkout, even if it might be out of routine rather than genuine<br />
concern. On the contrary, those in Singapore single-mindedly focus<br />
on scanning barcodes as efficiently as they can. That is possibly the<br />
reason shoppers in Australia tend to be generously happy and polite<br />
– the custom is to carefully empty the contents of one’s basket or<br />
trolley onto the conveyor belt thereby giving the cashier a helping<br />
hand. In comparison, shoppers in Singapore are usually more<br />
time-pressed, worried about adding up dollars and cents of their<br />
purchases and placing the entire shopping basket for the cashier to<br />
empty, as if fearful that the little happiness they have will be lost if<br />
they squander it on a smile for a stranger.<br />
article by dolly png<br />
student affairs<br />
14-15
Unions Are Important: Analysing NUS<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
The National Union of Students is the peak<br />
representative body for undergraduate students<br />
who are studying in an Australian university. Its<br />
basic aims are to safeguard and progress the interests<br />
of students. NUS was established in 1987, having<br />
descended from the now-defunct Australian Union<br />
of Students (AUS). NUS, via its website, asserts that<br />
it seeks to achieve its noble aims by ‘by working with<br />
campus-based student organisations, running actions<br />
and campaigns, and making sure the voices of students<br />
are heard by parliamentarians.’<br />
The need for a national union that protects students<br />
is pronounced in the current political and economic<br />
environment. Universities are no longer public<br />
institutions, but businesses that are run according<br />
to the profit motive. In many cases this results in<br />
universities around Australia subordinating the<br />
tangible interests of students to the demand of profit<br />
and capital. This is evident in the frequent course<br />
restructurings taking place across Australia (the<br />
University of Melbourne example being the most<br />
infamous) and the reduction of funding for lecturers,<br />
tutors and mental health services. Students are also not<br />
immune from Federal government action, who only<br />
recently attempted to introduce 100k degrees.<br />
Annually, NUS holds a National Conference in<br />
Victoria. Delegates are elected from around Australia<br />
to vote on, and thereby determine the policy of the<br />
union for the upcoming year. Some of the matters<br />
voted on at the 2016 National Conference related to<br />
opposing government cuts to welfare and universities,<br />
as well as advocating for the introduction of sensible<br />
drug policies. Many students also come to witness the<br />
proceedings and debate policy about which they are<br />
passionate.<br />
The main factions are: Socialist Alternative,<br />
Grassroots, National Labor Students, the Independents,<br />
Student Unity and The Australian Liberal Students’<br />
Federation. There are also independents who vote<br />
individually.<br />
Certainly, conference floor is fertile ground for debate.<br />
Each faction has a particular perspective on the issues of<br />
the day, and they are accordingly entitled to share this<br />
with the supporters of the union. Thorough discussion<br />
of these issues allows for each attendee to assume an<br />
informed, considered personal position. For the most<br />
part, this is a politically stimulating thing.<br />
That isn’t to say that National Conference functions<br />
perfectly. Sometimes speaker’s arguments can descend<br />
into ad hominem statements, and factional hostilities<br />
can get in the way of productive debates. For example,<br />
there were a number of times where speaker’s were<br />
shouted down from other factions, thereby stultifying<br />
legitimate discussion. Moments such as these are<br />
contrary to the objectives of a representative student<br />
union.<br />
However, it would be wrong to assume that this is a<br />
defining characteristic of the union. Indeed, there were<br />
times where other factions congratulated one another<br />
on creating good policy. One of the more memorable<br />
instances of cooperation came after lunch on the third<br />
day of the Conference. Students in attendance divided<br />
themselves into states, ready to discuss their plans for<br />
the National Day of Action (NDA) in March. There were<br />
many worthy contributions on how to ensure that the<br />
day would be a success, and the spirit of collaboration<br />
was palpable. It is with great anticipation that we wait<br />
for the NDA, the aim of which is to promote discussion<br />
about making university education free again.<br />
NUS is a vital student body that was conceived to<br />
protect the interests of now under-siege students. It<br />
would be erroneous to expect that the members of<br />
the union be in complete consensus on every issue.<br />
But, a united and harmonious union is bound to be<br />
most successful in pursuing the maintenance and<br />
advancement of student rights.<br />
article by nick bugeja<br />
artwork by isabella toppi
Make Education Free Again<br />
For their biggest campaign of <strong>2017</strong>, the peak<br />
representative body of student unions around<br />
Australia, the National Union of Students (NUS),<br />
have started a campaign called Make Education Free<br />
Again. The campaign will defend the rights of students<br />
to accessible education and welfare, fight against the<br />
tertiary fee, and demand an end to the enormous debt<br />
students are saddled with.<br />
Once upon a sweet time, tertiary education in Australia<br />
was completely free (say whaaat). This lasted until 1987<br />
– but it means the very people who are forcing us to<br />
pay higher fees and scrape by on poorly funded welfare<br />
went to university without paying a cent. Since entering<br />
politics, these people have pushed heavily to deregulate<br />
university fees. The average annual student contribution<br />
rose to $1,800 in 1989, then to $5,183 in 1997, and further<br />
to $7,600 in 2014. At the moment, universities can<br />
only legally increase fees by a very minor percentage.<br />
Deregulation means that Vice Chancellors at Australian<br />
universities can make degrees as expensive as they like.<br />
This cruelly takes advantage of the limited options many<br />
students have in regards to their university course, and<br />
a working class that increasingly relies on a tertiary<br />
qualification simply to live within ones own means.<br />
While deregulation was first introduced as an idea<br />
in 2014, it came after a long history of our government<br />
slowly dismantling public funding to education. Recent<br />
years have shown scholarship cuts, major cuts to student<br />
welfare, and a fee structure that makes university<br />
increasingly difficult to access. It is no wonder research<br />
shows that approximately two thirds of university<br />
students live below the poverty line. Financial stress is<br />
not only a huge deterrent from academic success, but<br />
it disproportionately affects Indigenous students and<br />
students from low-socio economic backgrounds. This<br />
issue is simply becoming more devastating for students<br />
and families by the day. A tertiary qualification is almost<br />
the requisite standard for a job that pays a living wage in<br />
Australia. Living in such a world begs the question: why<br />
is the cost of a qualification so financially crippling?<br />
While much of the deregulation bill was blocked by<br />
Parliament, the idea still remains on the table as some<br />
university courses are already being deregulated without<br />
much public scrutiny. In 2014, when we were on the brink<br />
of a complete fee restructure that would be absolutely<br />
devastating for students across the board, NUS along<br />
with many other groups of students, launched into<br />
action by protesting in the streets. NUS President at the<br />
time Rose Steele arranged meetings that successfully<br />
convinced a number of Independent senators to<br />
vote down the bill. Fee deregulation was turned into<br />
a poisonous issue and was defeated in the Senate<br />
three times. While smaller, lesser-known attacks on<br />
education have come into place then, the success student<br />
activists had with beating the main fee deregulation<br />
bill emphasises the importance of student unionism,<br />
political engagement and the effectiveness of taking<br />
action.<br />
The Australian Government consistently implements<br />
cuts to education every year, often far from public<br />
scrutiny. Being deliberately subtle, they take advantage<br />
of an increasingly disengaged and clueless middle class.<br />
This means that there’s seemingly no reason to protest<br />
anything – and IT’S A TRAP. Fighting back to this in the<br />
form of protesting and activism not only pressures the<br />
government, but it spreads the message far and wide that<br />
the current government does not stand for us: not for<br />
workers, not for families, and certainly not for students.<br />
The Australian Government is also cracking into<br />
welfare. Recently, in what has been mostly labelled as a<br />
‘scam’, thousands of dollars of false debt have been added<br />
onto Centrelink recipients. Debt notices calculated on<br />
faulty algorithms have changed the lives of thousands<br />
of people already, forcing them into the stressful task of<br />
scrambling through old payslips to prove they don’t owe<br />
money. It has been alleged that approximately 20% of the<br />
debt notices are inaccurate. There are reports of people<br />
paying debts they don’t owe, just to stop the government<br />
hounding them. This illustrates the government’s tactful<br />
approach to welfare: make it measly, hard to access, and<br />
push as many people off as possible.<br />
In 1974, Gough Whitlam abolished university fees<br />
with the belief that “a student’s merit, rather than a<br />
parent’s wealth, should decide who should benefit from<br />
the community’s vast financial commitment to tertiary<br />
education” (from his 1972 pre-election speech). These<br />
sentiments still ring true, and that’s why instead of just<br />
reacting, we are pushing for positive change.<br />
The National Day of Action is an annual protest<br />
organised by NUS that happens on the same day, at<br />
the same time, in all major cites around the country.<br />
This is what helped students in their major win against<br />
fee regulation in 2014, and <strong>2017</strong>’s objective is the Make<br />
Education Free Again campaign. When thousands hit the<br />
streets of cities around the country to fight for our right<br />
to affordable and accessible education, we are heard. It<br />
is absolutely vital that big numbers of students inform<br />
themselves of the completely unacceptable education<br />
inequity that this government is getting away with, and<br />
get involved with NUS campaigns.<br />
The protest to Make Education Free Again will kick off<br />
with a bang on March 22nd at 2pm, at the State Library.<br />
There will be a barbeque held on the Lemon Scented<br />
Lawn at 12pm and a contingent from Monash will be<br />
leaving together at 1pm. All are welcome to join – and<br />
even if it’s your first protest, you will be apart of a large<br />
and friendly group who are keen to answer any questions.<br />
To join student activists around the country in fighting<br />
for this right for accessible and affordable education,<br />
contact your student union about how you can get<br />
involved with NUS campaigns and events. At a more<br />
local level, the Education (Public Affairs) Officers or the<br />
Environment and Social Justice Officers at the Monash<br />
Student Association (MSA), located upstairs in the<br />
Campus Centre, are always willing to speak to students<br />
who want to know more about their campaigns or how<br />
they can get more involved.<br />
article by juliet steel and jasmine duff, illustration by audrey chmielewski<br />
student affairs<br />
16-17
MONASH<br />
SECURITY<br />
MONASH SECURITY INFORMATION<br />
Whether you’re a student, staff member or visitor to<br />
Monash, you’ll find our security services team working<br />
around the clock to keep our campuses safe and<br />
enjoyable places to work, study and play.<br />
If you’re ever worried about your own or someone else’s<br />
safety, see something suspicious or just want some<br />
security advice, help is just a phone call away. You call<br />
the same general security number on all our Australian<br />
campuses. You’ll find the numbers on our website, it’s a<br />
good idea to note or enter them in your mobile phone.<br />
You can visit or call your campus security team directly, so<br />
make a note of your campus security office location and<br />
contact details which is also on our website.<br />
You’re in safe hands at Monash, so enjoy your time<br />
with us.<br />
MONASH SECURITY<br />
24/7<br />
Campus<br />
Security<br />
Patrols<br />
Emergency<br />
Help<br />
Points<br />
monash.edu/security<br />
Security<br />
Bus &<br />
CCTV<br />
Vehicle<br />
333*<br />
Emergency<br />
Contact<br />
24/7<br />
Campus<br />
Control<br />
ol<br />
Room<br />
Security<br />
Safety<br />
Escort<br />
SECURITY<br />
MONASH SECURITY<br />
For your chance to WIN!<br />
Visit the security website and watch the<br />
security orientation video:<br />
monash.edu/security<br />
Or scan the QR code and follow the prompts<br />
Security<br />
Advice<br />
Turn over for your<br />
chance to WIN!<br />
Property<br />
Marking<br />
Security<br />
Orientation<br />
Video<br />
T: 9905 3333 IN AN EMERGENCY<br />
Security contacts:<br />
T: 9902 7777 for non urgent matters<br />
T: 9905 3333 IN AN EMERGENCY<br />
“ If you leave it, you could lose it ”
contributers:<br />
sam allen<br />
nick jarrett<br />
hugh brooks<br />
devika pandit<br />
joanne fong<br />
caitlyn harris<br />
diana batchelor<br />
kelly simpson-bull<br />
emina besirevic<br />
vanessa le<br />
Politics/Society<br />
politics/society<br />
18-19
Trump: A Nation Divided<br />
article by nick jarrett<br />
illustration by hugh brooks<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Whether republican or democrat, libertarian or green, the Presidential Inauguration typically marks<br />
a new era and the steady progression of a global superpower. With the divisive inauguration of Donald<br />
Trump, the air surrounding the American people can only be described as tense and anxious. President Trump’s<br />
first few days has sparked mass protest, anger and debate unlike any other seen within the opening fortnight<br />
of a presidency. Trump’s executive orders have increased moral confusion and chaos; they have relieved women<br />
of bodily autonomy, isolated religious minorities and immigrants and increased xenophobia and racism to<br />
unprecedented levels. However, there still remains Trump’s faithful base; supporters who refuse to see the moral<br />
wrong in his actions and wish to see further moves to continue this ultra-conservative pattern of governance.<br />
Simply put, Trump is literally dividing the country as he strives towards implementing his policies.<br />
Trump seems driven to undo all of the work completed by the Obama administration, as within a few days he<br />
overruled laws on abortion, shut down sites associated with environmental sustainability and signalled his intent<br />
to repeal Obamacare. In doing so, he is continuing the election cycle divide. A new presidency is supposed to unify<br />
the nation, and yet these moves seem to exhibit that Trump has no desire to compromise with the people who<br />
voted Hillary, but instead undo all of the work which they wanted to see expanded.<br />
No greater example of this tension can be seen than that of the state of California. Prior to the inauguration,<br />
the popularity of secession was at 20%. After two weeks, it has risen to 34%. The state is petitioning for signatures<br />
allowing for a state-wide vote on the secession in 2018, a move which is almost certain to succeed. California, which<br />
has both a larger population and a stronger economy than Australia, has literally been so divided from the United<br />
States, there is a legitimate move to separate from their country. Given that under Trump they will be paying more<br />
federal taxes than they receive in federal benefits, that they have a large multi-cultural population and that they<br />
have increasing doubts over Trump’s ability to govern effectively, the reasons for separation is evident.<br />
People from all corners of the country are standing up in opposition to Trump, particularly in the wake of his<br />
immigration ban. The Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs) highlighted numerous celebrities using their platform to<br />
lampoon Trump’s executive order, in a similar vein to the Golden Globes ceremony. However, despite the seeming<br />
obvious immorality and cruelty of some of the policies, Trump’s supporters have grown more ardent than ever.<br />
Agreeing with the hysterics of Sean Spicer’s first press conference as Press Secretary, there is a popular sentiment<br />
that Trump has been treated unfairly by the media, and that his policies are for the benefit of the ‘Real American.’<br />
In Southern states such as Arizona, Texas and New Mexico, radio stations are lauding Trump’s decisiveness even as<br />
the poverty-riddled cities of Mexico remain in sight just across the current fence-line. Nevermind that these people<br />
are a minority, they are vocal and persuasive.<br />
Refusing to focus on the racist immigration laws which they believe in but do not always vocalise; Trump’s<br />
followers focus on his ‘economic genius.’ Nevermind that he was voted into office to ‘drain the swamp’ and<br />
has since hired the Goldman-Sachs executives he condemned, or that more of his businesses have failed than<br />
succeeded, his commercial acumen is going to revitalise the country. Admittedly, Trump’s pressure on General<br />
Motors has led to their decision to invest $1billion into a new American factory – instead of the original Mexican<br />
alternative – and the subsequent 7,000 jobs that will result. However, his spectacular idea that America should<br />
tax all Mexican imports 20% to pay for ‘The Wall’ would also lead to major price inflations that would cause the<br />
poor of America – who Donald targeted in his campaign – to be priced out of ordinary goods. It is only a matter of<br />
time before even his most loyal supporters are either disenfranchised by his manoeuvres or left loyal through their<br />
support of his racist policies alone.<br />
What is escalating the divisiveness within the country, however, is the seeming lack of preparation that has<br />
characterised Trump’s administration thus far. The comparison between Barack Obama’s first agenda which<br />
consisted of over 25,000 words to Donald Trump’s 2,500-word equivalent was an initial sign that there may be<br />
disorganisation in the administration. Since then, not one of Trump’s executive orders has received legal counsel,<br />
let alone legal review, resulting in the federal courts having to question or attempt to overturn his policies.<br />
Similarly, Kelly-Anne Conway has drawn comparisons to George Orwell’s infamous 1984 dictatorship for her<br />
presentation of ‘alternative facts’, as has Sean Spicer with his consistent demand that Donald Trump had roughly<br />
one million more people attend his inauguration than independent bodies have estimated. The comparisons with<br />
1984 do not end there, however, with Trump’s administration censoring the National Parks Department’s twitter<br />
feed in order to delete their pro-environment posts. The administration has tried to subtly influence what their<br />
government bodies publish and yet has done so poorly that it is public knowledge. This near-comedic circle of<br />
idiocy has confirmed the majority of the population’s opinions that this man is unfit to govern the country, and<br />
yet he is their president for the next four years. That is another 200 weeks of protests, racially targeted laws and<br />
outdated ultra-conservatism.<br />
What I can safely say after six weeks within this melting pot of anger, fear and confusion is that America is a<br />
nation on the verge of mass violence, unlawfulness and human rights breaches. By no means is Australia perfect<br />
– our refugee solution is barbaric, and our marriage equality stance archaic – but thank God I won’t have to live in<br />
America the next four years.
Logged In<br />
developing among people in public. Similar to a robotic<br />
world, each individual is preoccupied with technology<br />
for his needs. We are gradually losing a spirit of human<br />
interaction, our most fundamental trait. Tech-industry<br />
veteran Linda Stone cautions against this trend geared<br />
towards fostering relationships with screens rather than<br />
people:<br />
article by devika pandit<br />
Technology has simplified our lives to a great extent. With a<br />
special focus on the Internet and social media, instant messaging,<br />
chat and regular… no, constant updates, these have made even the<br />
average Joe a walking encyclopedia. I however have mixed feelings<br />
about this development. I like reminiscing about a time when we<br />
weren’t so digitally busy maintaining virtual connections. In this<br />
article, I reminisce some more and draw attention to the ill effects<br />
of new technology.<br />
The Internet Boom with due credit to Google search has<br />
simplified matters since its inception. Today, one can be well<br />
informed about anything and everything right from the spelling of<br />
‘multilingualism’ to causes of liver cirrhosis. However, over-reliance<br />
is my main concern.<br />
For example, my friend Tanish used Google to find out how old<br />
he’d be in 2054. He could’ve calculated the answer himself but<br />
wanted to be sure, ‘just in case’. To my mind, this incident talks<br />
volumes about extreme dependence created by technological<br />
devices. Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is<br />
Doing to Our Brains echoes similar sentiments remarking that search<br />
dependence can indeed worsen our self-reasoning abilities.<br />
Although the Internet is a popular source of information, this<br />
information possesses a high risk of being biased and may lead<br />
users to treat obtained information as inherently correct. Thus, if<br />
Search tells 19 year-old Tanish that he’d be 71 in 2054, it must be<br />
true because of ‘the-Internet-is-never-wrong’ ideology. Carr exposes<br />
such thinking as the future of societal reasoning, indeed a worrying<br />
proposition.<br />
Digitalization is a pertinent issue in this discussion. I wrote in<br />
longhand at school, whether for homework, assignments or finals.<br />
Laptops were for project work that was submitted as hard copies. At<br />
my first semester in university, I learnt the struggle of submitting<br />
all work in typed format. While I don’t have issues with typing, I do<br />
miss writing.<br />
We don’t write anymore, we type – a written assignment is a<br />
precious ‘document’ for the student and feared by examiners owing<br />
to legibility issues. It saddens me to think that we might perhaps<br />
not need pens or paper in the future, in our pursuit of a paperless<br />
world.<br />
Digital note-taking fares poorly when compared to longhand<br />
writing. As proven by researchers at Princeton University, typing<br />
is not learning but ‘procuring’ information. Writing allows one to<br />
sift through a stack of information and separate grain from chaff,<br />
a process that constitutes a major part of learning as suggested<br />
by the Princeton study. Unfortunately, the allure of technological<br />
convenience is stronger than a horde of scientific findings.<br />
My daily commute on public transport convinces me that as a<br />
society, we are engaged in proving how tech-savvy we are. Be it<br />
work, music, relationship problems, self-admiration or killing time,<br />
my fellow commuters invariably turn to the device as a solution.<br />
I watch committed office-goers furiously typing away beside a<br />
lady pretending to read on her phone when her expressions clearly<br />
indicate finding the perfect selfie for Snapchat. Tech-fever has not<br />
spared seniors either. On a quest to not seem outmoded, many flip<br />
through different apps and idle away the ride re-seeing old photos<br />
or marking grandchildren’s photos as favorites.<br />
While there isn’t anything particularly troublesome about the<br />
aforementioned activities, I sense a certain disconnectedness<br />
“It ultimately can feed the development of a kind of<br />
sociopathy and psychopathy.”<br />
Surprisingly, technology (read: social media) may not<br />
be as useful as we take it to be.<br />
For example, Summer Fest 2016 at Monash was mainly<br />
publicised through social media, even Moodle. Large<br />
posters greeted students as they entered the Menzies<br />
and onward towards Campus Centre. Despite this, in<br />
a Moodle Poll, a majority of students said they had<br />
never heard of Summer Fest. This is the case with many<br />
individuals today – we have much information available<br />
but barely know about it. These apparent gaps in our<br />
information systems might be linked to an information<br />
overload. Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner says:<br />
“The problem is humans can't keep up with all the<br />
technology they have created… It's becoming unmanageable<br />
by the human brain.”<br />
I perceive that we are more connected through social<br />
networks than ever before but looking closely, the quality<br />
of these networks is poor. We are friends with people,<br />
but may not talk to them if seen at a cinema. A Facebook<br />
group cannot offer the warmth of strong friendship<br />
experienced on coffee dates. Or, pertaining to matters of<br />
the heart, Tinder swiping is no match for cultivating real<br />
time relationships. Netflix (with or without the ‘chill’)<br />
is the current rage, with memes poking fun at our ironic<br />
tendency to intentionally seek a solitary lifestyle despite<br />
multiple opportunities for socializing. To put it simply,<br />
we are losing the social bit of our description as social<br />
animals.<br />
Moreover, there exists a very real problem of social<br />
media addiction with its effects hampering relationships,<br />
costing people their education, jobs and marriages.<br />
This explains the rise of technological detox and<br />
rehabilitation and even a National Day of Unplugging on<br />
the first Friday of March.<br />
A close friend Anam narrates her experience of<br />
a psychological counseling for FB addiction, which<br />
explains the intensity with which social media exerts<br />
control over our lives:<br />
“Most people thought I was weak due to my addiction. It is<br />
a crippling reality but there isn’t much awareness about it…<br />
I didn’t want to check my Facebook notifications but I felt<br />
anxious if I didn’t… Behavioral therapy taught me that the<br />
mind is a meek follower as well as a headstrong dictator-<br />
--for complying with as well as rebelling against one’s<br />
wishes.”<br />
Technology, as illustrated above, is a double-edged<br />
sword with the power to benefit or disadvantage,<br />
uplift or ruin, enlighten or misguide. We cannot stop<br />
technological evolution but can modify our use of this<br />
development. The choice is ours. It has always been ours.<br />
politics/society<br />
20-21
“If You’re Australian, Why Aren’t You White?”<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
It’s a question – or words to that affect – any Australian with a skin tone that glistens<br />
rather than burns in the sweltering Aussie heat is bound to get thrown in their direction.<br />
Just like Cady in Mean Girls, some will go mute not knowing how to respond. But this is<br />
not a rerun of Mean Girls – it’s real life. Comments that are ridiculously hilarious when<br />
directed at a white person may be an everyday reality for non-white Australians.<br />
In this sunny place, a dark and disturbing attitude haunts non-white Australians.<br />
Because of the colour of their skin, they’re deprived of the thing that white Australians<br />
have taken for granted for centuries – the privilege of being Australian.<br />
I’m an Australian citizen born to parents who arrived in Australia long before I was born.<br />
My father is a white Australian immigrant from England and my mother is Malaysian<br />
Indian. I often find myself defending my Australian identity by entertaining Mean Girlsesque<br />
questions because I have a skin pigment that does not fit the mould. My father<br />
doesn’t get called an immigrant. However, we both find it interesting how I’m often<br />
mistaken for being an immigrant, an illegal worker or a tourist.<br />
‘Australia’s Got Talent’ contestant, Sukhjit Kaur, laments in her powerful poetry slam<br />
performance, “rocking up for my first job at Coles was like a scene at Border Patrol. We<br />
don’t want no illegal workers here in Australia.” Her similar experience demonstrates that<br />
I am not alone. These ordeals appear to reinforce the message that people like me have not<br />
met the criteria required to be an Australian. We are not white.<br />
The First Australians were not white. They survived oppression, invasion and attempted<br />
genocide at the hands of white settlers. For many, Australia Day is a day off from work to<br />
enjoy lamb chops. For many indigenous Australians, it’s a reminder of the injustices they<br />
have and continue to suffer.<br />
Then there are the newer non-white Australians who pave the way for a more diverse and<br />
progressive image of Australia. They are the ones often left feeling strange in a familiar<br />
land.
some thoughts on<br />
My classmate was born in Australia to parents who emigrated<br />
from Italy. One night he got told to ‘Go back to where he came<br />
from.’ Sadly, that statement is unsurprising. We’ve heard it before in<br />
the media, from our politicians and on the streets. The surprising<br />
part was that the people telling this Italian-Australian to “Go<br />
Home,” had thick British accents!<br />
It doesn’t matter how many decades you or your parents have<br />
lived in Australia. If you’re Asian, expect to be mistaken for being<br />
Chinese even though your grandparents came from Korea. If you’re<br />
brown, expect to be randomly selected for a search at the airport.<br />
If you’re black, expect people to clutch their purses close as you<br />
step onto the bus. Prejudice forces non-white Australians to live in<br />
between the lines in this place their parents told them to call home.<br />
We don’t need to look beyond our waters to Brexit and Trump for<br />
examples of xenophobia. As renowned political commentator John<br />
Oliver puts it, “Australia is the most comfortably racist country in<br />
the world.” There is a culture of hatred in this country that pushes<br />
non-white Australians out onto the fringes of society.<br />
The consequences of intolerance affect all Australians. Dr Anne<br />
Aly’s – an Australian professor and advisor to the White House<br />
– research demonstrates how discrimination against non-white<br />
Australians makes them significantly more susceptible to being<br />
radicalised. Racism breeds violence and hatred. This is a problem<br />
for a country that many have come to love for its safety and<br />
fairness.<br />
Racism flies in the face of our Australian belief in a fair go. A<br />
woman came into my work asking about vacancies. I told her I<br />
would pass her CV onto my manager and nosily skimmed it myself.<br />
It contained her photograph and details of her past. I noticed that<br />
she was born in Western Australia. My manager noticed the picture.<br />
“We don’t hire black people,” she mumbled under her breath as she<br />
crumpled up the CV and chucked it in the bin. As the dust of my<br />
shock settled, I wondered about all of the economic opportunities<br />
that go unattained in this country because of racism.<br />
Australians who hail from ethnically diverse backgrounds are<br />
vitally important to Australian culture too. There’s Thon Maker,<br />
Shaun Tan, Waleed Aly, Jessica Mauboy, Cathy Freeman and Penny<br />
Wong to name a few. Thon Maker is a professional basketball player<br />
who, despite being drafted by the NBA and offered a lucrative<br />
opportunity to play for Canada, still considers scoring asylum<br />
in Australia his greatest accomplishment. “As of right now, I am<br />
doing everything I can to play for Australia,” Thon reports. The<br />
accomplishments of non-white Australians should make people<br />
proud of this country.<br />
Australia boasts a national identity that challenges neat<br />
categories. This Australia Day, gulping down tandoori chicken,<br />
chow mein, tacos, falafel or tortellini with family and friends is just<br />
as Australian as cooking up a sausage sizzle on the barbie whilst<br />
cracking open a cold beer. The culinary benefits of this diversity are<br />
obvious but deeper still lies the hard truth. An incorrect and racist<br />
understanding of identity is toxic in a country that prides itself for<br />
rejecting entrenched class structures and giving everyone a fair go.<br />
Australians don’t all look the same. We’re ethnically diverse,<br />
complicated, progressive, free spirited, and we’re better for it.<br />
ethnic diversity<br />
article by diana batchelor, illustration by kelly simpson-bull<br />
politics/society 22-23
edition one<br />
lot’s wife
Yes, We... Tried<br />
As President Barack Obama gracefully departed<br />
the Oval Office for the last time, the words, ‘yes we<br />
can,’ continued to linger. They remain the symbol of<br />
his uncanny talent for drawing hope out of even the<br />
darkest firmament of America. And whilst the hope that<br />
was once so vigorously attached to his iconic campaign<br />
slogan seems hesitant under the Trump Administration,<br />
it continues to lull, albeit tentatively.<br />
Or, perhaps it wasn’t. Perhaps being remembered for<br />
what he represented, and not what he accomplished<br />
merely points to the fact that Obama was an admirable<br />
role model but an ineffective president. The tragedy<br />
of reaching for the stars but ultimately, due to the<br />
disappointing realities of governing, falling short,<br />
is most evident in his foreign policy. His embrace of<br />
the Bush Administration’s approach to the ‘War On<br />
Terror’ saw an unprecedented escalation of drone use<br />
with somber results. By February 2015, Obama’s covert<br />
drone strikes killed almost six times more people and<br />
twice as many civilians than those ordered under Bush.<br />
Reflecting on these statistics makes President Obama’s<br />
2009 Cairo address seem almost imagined. Following<br />
the devastation of the Iraq War, it is difficult to find<br />
another speech that captured the boundless optimism<br />
and possibility that Obama embodied. At the time, it<br />
was circulated that if a man with distant Muslim family<br />
ties who had spent his childhood years in Indonesia, a<br />
Muslim-majority country, couldn’t improve America’s<br />
relationship with the Muslim world, nobody could. And<br />
yet, the speech that once emanated hope that America’s<br />
relationship with the Arab world would improve, it<br />
now merely reflects the gap between what the Obama<br />
administration might have been and what it actually was.<br />
These once certain promises became the mood music<br />
for the failing relationship between the United States<br />
and the Middle East. The disastrous Libya intervention,<br />
the inefficient diplomatic interference in Yemen and<br />
the hasty request to remove Assad in Syria directly<br />
contradicted the ‘new beginning’ Obama once promised<br />
in Cairo. However, his failed foreign agenda also reflected<br />
the fact that the days in which the United States could<br />
create security and maintain world order are long gone.<br />
Obama had the opportunity to choose which places<br />
matter most and which can be left to run themselves,<br />
and largely, this choice was never made. Instead, his<br />
decisions only compounded the mistakes he inherited<br />
whilst in office.<br />
Domestically, the obstructionism Obama faced<br />
from Republicans and the Right was historically<br />
unprecedented. Indeed, one of his hardest battles<br />
fought was bringing about the health care law known as<br />
Obamacare. His goal, to help millions of Americans who<br />
couldn’t afford health insurance, emanated nobility and<br />
quickly overshadowed his other domestic endeavours. It<br />
was desperately needed, and despite its many flaws, was<br />
able to change the lives of countless Americans. However,<br />
whilst it seemed to be a huge step toward the Democratic<br />
dream of health care for all, creating the Affordable Care<br />
Act brought neither affordability nor workability. It<br />
turned out to be yet another dream that shattered and<br />
bore little resemblance to his soaring rhetoric.<br />
politics/society<br />
What he did do, quite well actually, was hasten state<br />
surveillance. But perhaps that’s the wrong way to<br />
describe it. Because you see, Obama publicly declared<br />
his opposition to the Patriot Act and Bush-era secrecy<br />
whilst building his career. And yet, it didn’t take long for<br />
him to quickly devastate progressive hopes by actually<br />
expanding the illegal wiretapping of American citizens<br />
that he was once so against. By 2012, XKeystone, a system<br />
used by the National Security Agency, was storing as much<br />
as forty-one billion records in thirty days. Meanwhile,<br />
whistleblowers and journalists were being prosecuted<br />
by the Obama Administration more robustly that any of<br />
his predecessors. Whilst justified under the untouchable<br />
umbrella of ‘national security,’ the ironic effect is that<br />
storing such volumes of data make the detection of<br />
security threats all the more difficult. Perhaps the<br />
most devastating result is that Donald Trump has now<br />
inherited such a powerful set of tools.<br />
However, Obama cannot be dismissed as merely a<br />
silver-tongued politician. The advancements made to the<br />
LGBT community during the Obama administration were<br />
striking. Indeed, marriage equality, the condemnation<br />
of discrimination in the military and the appointment<br />
of 11 openly gay federal judges were huge steps toward<br />
a progressive future. While discrimination still<br />
exists towards marginalized groups, Obama started a<br />
conversation about this marginalisation with confidence<br />
that was previously unforeseen in American politics.<br />
The 44th President also faced dire circumstances<br />
when taking office. The world economy was in the<br />
worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and<br />
the US was close to an economic meltdown. Yet, the<br />
Obama administration were able to lessen the blow<br />
of the Global Financial Crisis and see for America’s<br />
relatively slow economic recovery, eventually bringing<br />
the unemployment rate to below five per cent. Moreover,<br />
amongst the promises he was criticized for abandoning,<br />
one he did keep was not adding anymore detainees<br />
to Guantanamo Bay. Barred by both Republicans and<br />
Democrats in Congress from closing Guantanamo, Obama<br />
nonetheless chipped away at the population by making<br />
196 transfers to third-party countries. Indeed, the Obama<br />
administration recognised that the closer Trump came<br />
to placing his hand on the Lincoln Bible, the chances<br />
of helping those remaining were drastically slimming.<br />
As such, Obama worked tirelessly to get remaining<br />
detainees, many of which were held captive mistakenly,<br />
out of Guantanamo before he left office – even making<br />
four transfers in the 24 hours leading up to Trump’s<br />
inauguration.<br />
Whilst these achievements are honorable, they are<br />
few. The thought of what might have been if he had<br />
governed in a more tranquil era overpowers the progress<br />
that he did achieve. However, these missteps and missed<br />
opportunities do not take away from his ability to describe<br />
the nation’s pain with a delicacy, maturity and elegance<br />
that is unlike any other of his predecessors. They do<br />
not take away from his being an intelligent, eloquent,<br />
disciplined and wholly admirable man. And they most<br />
certainly do not take away from his ability to instill a<br />
genuine, and unparalleled hope into the hearts and minds<br />
of not just Americans, but all those willing to listen to the<br />
reassuring words, ‘yes we can.’<br />
A historical presidency<br />
and a complicated legacy<br />
article by emina besirevic, illustration by vanessa le<br />
24-25
Public Health: The Effect of Dating Apps on STI Rates Among University Students<br />
edition one<br />
It’s a typical Friday night. You’re browsing aimlessly<br />
through the selection that Tinder has to offer. Left. Right.<br />
Left. Left. Ew, definitely left. Right. Right – it’s a match!<br />
And so on. You scroll through your messages which range<br />
from the basic - hey baby/what’s up/I love ur eyes – to<br />
the more complex and witty (cheesy or otherwise) – you<br />
know what’s beautiful? Read the first word/Can I follow<br />
you? Cause my mum told me to follow my dreams.<br />
Some you reply to, some you don’t. And eventually<br />
you arrange to meet up with a handful. All these new<br />
relationships you have made, no matter how long or<br />
short they last all began by a simple swipe on your<br />
phone. But do you ever wonder that in swiping right to<br />
a potential hot hook-up, you’ve just swiped right to a<br />
potential STI? In an age where meeting new people and<br />
making connections is as easy as clicking “accept” on a<br />
friend request or swiping right on hot singles in your<br />
area, it is a given that dating and hooking up has been made so much<br />
easier and accessible. But with the rise in using dating apps such as<br />
Tinder, Happn, Bumble, Grindr, concern for an increase in the rates of<br />
STIs has risen too.<br />
Sex and the internet are both prone to risk and uncertainty, and<br />
thus the combinations of both in the use of mobile phone apps for<br />
sexual hook-ups or dating have been brought to the attention of<br />
sexual health researchers and promotors. One long-time sexual health<br />
campaigner, Dr Wendell Rosevear, has voiced his concern that people<br />
have jumped on internet dating and apps, to have frequent and often<br />
anonymous encounters, all more instant and accessible than before. Dr<br />
Rosevear expresses concern that this rise in sexual activity is directly<br />
correlated with the rise in STIs in his patients – some of which have<br />
sex with up to 10 people a day – and in the broader population of<br />
Australia. According to the 2015 Annual Surveillance Report of HIV<br />
viral hepatitis and STIs, there has been a rise in new diagnoses of STIs<br />
in Australia (including chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea) totaling<br />
122,258 new cases in 2014, the highest rates of infection found in<br />
groups aged 20-29. This was almost a rise in 10,000 new cases annually<br />
from 2012 (when Tinder was released).<br />
Of course, that’s not to say that using dating apps are a one way trip<br />
to gonorrhea city, but it is important to proceed with caution. As with<br />
any sexual partner, no matter if you found them through a mutual<br />
friend, dating app or off a street corner, communication is essential in<br />
order to eliminate any uncertainty or anything that could potentially<br />
affect your sexual health. No matter if you have one, three or an<br />
entire harem of sexual encounters and partners, make sure to always<br />
communicate with your partner. Ask about their sexual history, tell<br />
them about yours, no matter how awkward a conversation about STIs<br />
with a potential partner is, contracting an STI is far worse. And always<br />
remember to practice safe sex – use condoms, dental dams or any<br />
other form of barrier methods! Even if other contraceptives are used,<br />
only barriers such as condoms protect against STIs, and remember<br />
that some STIs can be contracted orally, not just through penetrative<br />
sex (sorry to sound like your sexual health teacher from the seventh<br />
grade).<br />
The take away from this article is not to scare you away and boycott<br />
all dating apps and technologies forever, they’re a fun, innovative and<br />
easy way to meet, chat to and screen through potential partners. Just<br />
be careful, have fun and continue swiping.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
article by joanne fong, illustration by caitlyn harris
contributers:<br />
sam allen<br />
jessica lehmann<br />
yusra shahid<br />
science & engineering subeditor team<br />
maria volobueva<br />
sasha hall<br />
julia thouas<br />
chulani jithma kaluarachchi<br />
Science/Engineering<br />
science/engineering<br />
26-27
edition one<br />
lot’s wife
Climate Change<br />
you<br />
can be the<br />
differenceclothing item<br />
Scientists have been telling us for<br />
years that climate change is real. Yet<br />
collectively we are doing very little to<br />
reduce the environmental degradation.<br />
Climate change is scary and life altering<br />
but we are the generation that can actually<br />
solve it.<br />
Let the facts speak for themselves. The<br />
world has already lost 80% of its forests.<br />
Half of the earth’s species have become<br />
extinct in the past forty years. In the history<br />
of humankind there has never been this<br />
much carbon in our atmosphere. We have<br />
already lost 27% of our coral reefs and at<br />
this rate all of the reefs will be gone in 30<br />
years. Over three quarters of energy utilised<br />
is from non-renewable fossil fuels sources.<br />
We have an island of plastics floating in our<br />
oceans the size of India, Europe, and Mexico<br />
combined. Reading these facts leaves you<br />
feeling numb; it is easier for us to check<br />
social media and watch a cute dog video<br />
than confront the reality of our looming<br />
climate disaster.<br />
How did we get here? Simply, climate<br />
change is a human-made disaster.<br />
Our direct abuse and disregard for the<br />
complicated and sensitive ecosystem we<br />
occupy has led to the near-environmental<br />
catastrophe. Right now we are existing<br />
in an ‘Anthropocene’, traced back to the<br />
early 1800’s. This is a new geological age<br />
characterised by humans pumping so much<br />
carbon dioxide in our atmosphere that<br />
we have extensively reshaped the planet’s<br />
environment.<br />
There are two fundamental science<br />
terms to grasp to understand climate<br />
science; the greenhouse effect and fossil<br />
fuels. The greenhouse effect occurs when<br />
sunlight passes through our atmosphere<br />
and shines down on Earth. When it hits the<br />
surface, it gets absorbed by the Earth and<br />
released as heat. Greenhouse gases in our<br />
atmosphere trap that heat, holding that<br />
warmth close to the surface that otherwise<br />
would have escaped into space. We need<br />
the greenhouse effect otherwise we would<br />
be as cold as ice, literally. These are a few of<br />
the main greenhouse gases; carbon dioxide<br />
(CO2), water vapor (H2O), methane (CH4)<br />
and ozone (O3). The earth has an internal<br />
thermostat that is now completely off kilter;<br />
most of the earth’s warming has occurred<br />
since the 1970s with 16 of the warmest<br />
years occurring since 2000. And the reason<br />
it is hotting up is due to fossil fuels; coal,<br />
oil, and natural gas that our modern lives<br />
require. However, when we burn fossil fuels<br />
it produces CO2, and more CO2 means<br />
more heat trapped in our atmosphere,<br />
compounding the greenhouse effect.<br />
This is not our fault. We were born<br />
into a world obsessed with consumption.<br />
A consumerist culture encouraging us<br />
through advertising to continually buy<br />
materialistic products we don’t need, with<br />
money we don’t have, to power with energy<br />
that is destroying the air you are breathing.<br />
We do have a responsibility to ensure our<br />
planet’s future exists and the means to do<br />
so are remarkably easy despite the enormity<br />
of the otherwise catastrophic future that<br />
could eventuate; a world changed beyond<br />
recognition, with large areas uninhabitable,<br />
climate refugees, extreme weather<br />
conditions and extensive starvation.<br />
On an everyday level you can reduce your<br />
impact on the climate. When you shower,<br />
cut it short with a four-minute maximum<br />
rule. Reduce your waste. Thrift shop instead<br />
of buying clothes from companies that use<br />
fast fashion ethics and always donate your<br />
goods to thrift shops instead of putting<br />
them into landfill. Don’t buy every trendy<br />
or homewares cushion. If<br />
you think about it, the space that cushion<br />
occupies on your couch equals a whole lot<br />
more space in reality; the fabric is farmed<br />
overseas, transported to Australia and<br />
occupies the landfill it is sent to when your<br />
article by jessica lehmann, illustration by yusra shahid<br />
Instagram idol promotes the next season<br />
cushions release you just ‘need’. There are<br />
myriads of ways to use less energy or to get<br />
our energy from cleaner, renewable sources.<br />
Did you know the Earth gets more energy<br />
from the Sun in an hour than the whole<br />
planet uses in a year?<br />
Reduce your meat consumption. The<br />
farmed meat you are eating is detrimental<br />
for the environment. If meat consumption<br />
increases at current rates, GHG emissions<br />
from agriculture will have increased 76%<br />
by 2050 global. If we all reduced meat<br />
consumption by 25%, it could result in a 51%<br />
decline in agricultural GHG emissions over<br />
the same period. Consider a ‘Climatarian<br />
diet’; less meat, less heat. And if you feel<br />
you cannot survive without red meat<br />
consider kangaroo meat, a sustainable meat<br />
alternative.<br />
The climate crisis is unfair because<br />
those that have done the least to cause the<br />
problem will feel the effects first and worst.<br />
The affluent control the largest pollutants<br />
and live lifestyles at a comfortable distance<br />
from, for example, Bangladesh – which will<br />
have 20% of its land mass uninhabitable by<br />
2099.<br />
As young citizens in a position with<br />
power to make a difference, our voices can<br />
speak out in a multitude of ways to make an<br />
impact. Get involved with the ‘Australian<br />
Youth Climate Coalition’; write a letter<br />
to a local member of parliament voicing<br />
your dissatisfaction; attend climate rallies;<br />
support political parties whom align with<br />
your climate action beliefs and talk about<br />
your opinions far and wide. We need to<br />
live sustainably and justly in a healthy<br />
environment, diverse with nature and<br />
within a community united in a common<br />
goal – our future is ours and our earth is<br />
our responsibility.<br />
science/engineering 28-29
Healthy Skepticism<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Health advertising, like any other advertising, is meant to be compelling. Health<br />
ads may promise to fix anything and everything, to entice you to hand over exorbitant<br />
amounts of money. Adverts for health products and services, however, come with an extra<br />
proviso: they not only have a financial influence over consumers but dangerously sway<br />
community perceptions around healthcare.<br />
Like me, you may remember this unfortunate billboard (pictured) or its more explicit<br />
companions from when you were just old enough to vaguely understand what it meant.<br />
Due to this insensitive advertising, provocatively preying on the fears of men, the<br />
Advanced Medical Institute pocketed several millions selling their shonky products and<br />
services. AMI was receiving 7,000 calls a week allowing for thousands of clients to be<br />
locked into deceptive contracts for products that were not only ridiculously marked-up,<br />
but scientifically ineffective compared to mainstream medications. Whilst the Advertising<br />
Standards Bureau banned the billboards in 2008, only recently was the entire AMI charade<br />
legally unmasked. In 2015, AMI was charged with unconscionable conduct in the Federal<br />
Court against the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and ordered<br />
to halt advertising and providing services.<br />
You would think that the problem was solved. Sadly, it wasn’t. Despite this official<br />
ruling, a simple trip to the AMI website reveals the serious limitations in the regulatory<br />
framework.<br />
Misleading Advertising<br />
As educated university students, why should we give a second thought to this little<br />
anecdote about an obvious scam? Well, firstly because the conduct of AMI is merely<br />
symbolic of the ridiculous behaviour which pervades the world of health advertising. Many<br />
health-related businesses have little regard for consumer protection when promoting<br />
their products, which results in a widespread culture of routinely deceiving consumers for<br />
financial gain.<br />
You may recall Reckitt Benckiser was recently fined $6 million for their blatantly<br />
deceptive marketing of Nurofen as ‘targeted pain relief’ for period pain or back pain. Many<br />
consumers opted for these ‘targeted’ products, unaware they had simply paid an outrageous<br />
premium for the same active ingredient in a normal Nurofen tablet. It was an evil but easy<br />
way for an already enormously wealthy company to make a profit anew.<br />
The same goes for companies like Swisse, whose products are ‘based on scientific<br />
research’ but their trials are generally self-funded and non-transparent. This is because it<br />
is more economical to pay for Nicole Kidman’s star power in your ad campaigns and sign<br />
million dollar partnerships with La Trobe, ABC and CSIRO, than scientifically prove your<br />
products.<br />
The list continues with modern health hacks and fads, such as giving your gut a charcoal<br />
cleanse (yummo) or the IV vitamin clinics that have been in and out of the news, being<br />
promoted as the cure for a hangover.<br />
Plot twist: sticking liquid vitamins into your bloodstream is a dangerous placebo<br />
with little or no scientific basis. And sure, charcoal cleansing ‘works’ – because they use<br />
charcoal in hospitals for drug overdoses to ‘get rid of the toxins,’ it will certainly work for<br />
your ‘toxins’ too. Unfortunately, it seems the human body is not quite that simple. This,<br />
however, doesn’t prevent people from making their fair share of cash out of pseudoscience.<br />
A Failing System
The second parallel to the AMI saga is that the Australian<br />
regulatory framework, screening processes and penalties for<br />
misleading and deceptive health advertising are not stringent<br />
enough to eradicate this kind of conduct. The many costs of this<br />
reality end up falling upon consumers.<br />
For example, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which<br />
among other things currently regulates the registration and<br />
advertising of complementary medicines, does not assess these<br />
products for efficacy.<br />
So, if I wanted to sell a sugar pill and market it for bone health, I<br />
would first have to register the product in the Australian Register<br />
of Therapeutic Goods. I must also state my claim that the sugar<br />
pill ‘supports bone health’ in the Australian Register. In terms<br />
of ‘evidence’ to support my claim, all I need do is declare that<br />
I ‘hold’ the scientific evidence supporting those claims. Then I<br />
can advertise my sugar pill for bone health on any garish yellow<br />
billboard I choose. I might get into trouble because someone<br />
will complain that my claim breaches the Therapeutic Goods<br />
Advertising Code and is deceptive and misleading advertising, but<br />
the complaint will likely take several months to be resolved. By this<br />
I mean that with some luck on the complainant’s behalf, I might<br />
merely have to remove my advertising, but I will still walk away<br />
with a lovely net profit.<br />
In summary, the current system here doesn’t focus on removing<br />
the misleading adverts before they are published but ‘remedying’<br />
the situation after the damage has been done to consumers’<br />
wallets and perceptions. Despite reforms on the horizon for this<br />
terrible system, there is still a long road ahead to ensure consumer<br />
protection.<br />
Healthy Skepticism And Evidence-Based Science: What You Can Do?<br />
From the small vitamin collection in the kitchen pantry, to those<br />
irregular physio visits, we are and will continue to be consumers of<br />
many health-related goods and services. University students may<br />
not be the target demographic of all Swisse commercials, but health<br />
advertising can still subtly influence our perceptions of health and<br />
what we end up buying on that chance visit to Chemist Warehouse.<br />
It really comes down to consumers being educated and equipped<br />
with the skills to protect themselves against the pitfalls of the<br />
regulatory system and the greed of the industry. We deserve to<br />
enter a Pharmacy and clearly see what is worth buying from the<br />
labels, without a science degree or years of professional exposure<br />
to evidence-based medicine. But until a consumer utopia arrives,<br />
applying a bit of evidence-based knowledge to your encounters<br />
with health advertising will leave you better off.<br />
This might involve double checking the advice of a friend or shop<br />
assistant who said a certain pill banished all her health problems<br />
against the body of validated scientific research easily available<br />
online. For example, a simple search in Pubmed, a free online<br />
database of medically-related scientific studies, may reveal that<br />
Vitamin C supplements are unlikely to shorten the length of your<br />
cold.<br />
For those from a non-science background, the studies on<br />
this database generally compare a group of people on the same<br />
intervention, whether it is a pill or a type of treatment, with<br />
another group of people who are given a placebo pill. Theoretically,<br />
this allows for the efficacy of the pill in question to be properly<br />
examined. Although large trials with heavily controlled variables<br />
are difficult to conduct, the results of these studies provide us with<br />
a wealth of knowledge that is used to inform the practice of health<br />
professionals. If it is used by our doctors and pharmacists, then it is<br />
probably worth considering.<br />
Admittedly, the average student wanting to get rid of their cold<br />
faster is unlikely to spend their energy trawling through Pubmed. A<br />
uni-friendly option is to search for the medicine on NPS Medwise<br />
(http://www.nps.org.au/), a government-funded Australian website<br />
providing evidence-based information about all medications from<br />
grandma’s cholesterol-lowering meds to the Vitamin C you are<br />
contemplating purchasing. It is the easiest way to get informed<br />
by just reading the small summary of the evidence for that<br />
medication. Otherwise it is just worth becoming very sceptical of<br />
the following phrases on labels and in ads:<br />
’Clinically/Scientifically Tested/Proven’:<br />
Hmmm how intriguing. The implication here is that<br />
the product has been the subject of a clinical trial,<br />
however what you probably won’t find on the label is<br />
that the trial was:<br />
a) funded by the company themselves leaving<br />
them to tamper or selectively alter results to appear<br />
positive.<br />
b) included bias that significantly altered the validity<br />
of results. For example, if the participants knew<br />
whether they were given the intervention or placebo.<br />
c) conducted by another company that literally<br />
guaranteed a positive trial result by rigging<br />
everything.<br />
d) not tested for the specific health issues it is<br />
advertised as being able to treat.<br />
A side note: this same kind of analysis applies to more<br />
ambiguous such as ‘based on scientific evidence’ (courtesy<br />
of Swisse.) This gives little indication of the quality of the<br />
scientific evidence.<br />
‘More Effective Than The Leading Treatment’:<br />
An ambiguous statement that requires scepticism.<br />
What was the leading treatment? Was it a fair trial<br />
where both participant groups were given the same<br />
dose in equivalent conditions? Hmmm?? Approach<br />
with caution.<br />
’Natural’:<br />
Ummmm ok. What do you mean natural? Do you<br />
mean plant-based? Or not synthetic? Are you implying<br />
because it is ‘natural’ that it is less harsh on the body?<br />
Or do you mean it hasn’t been refined and processed?<br />
Natural unrefined arsenic can still kill you so the<br />
fact that the product is ‘natural’ doesn’t really tell us<br />
much. It is useful to remember that there is a definite<br />
distinction between ‘natural’ and ‘harmless’, even when<br />
it comes to vitamins.<br />
‘Traditionally Used’:<br />
The only validation needed to make this claim is....<br />
oh wait, no validation needed! Picking an obscure<br />
Peruvian root and selling it for back pain with the label<br />
‘traditionally used’ (even though Peruvians have never<br />
heard of it) occurs more than you would think. Yes,<br />
there are traditionally used herbs that have actually<br />
been traditionally used, so just make sure you google<br />
the name of it to check before spending on some<br />
useless placebo.<br />
So next time you find yourself perusing the aisles at<br />
Priceline, avoid taking the ads at face value and apply<br />
your healthy scepticism and evidence-based know-how<br />
instead: was that clinical trial actually transparent<br />
and independently funded? Did 95% of users truly feel<br />
they had more energy? And is that obscure Peruvian<br />
root really ‘traditionally used?’ With a simple change<br />
of thinking, you can avoid falling prey to the world of<br />
health advertising.<br />
article by sasha hall, artwork by julia thouas<br />
science/engineering 30-31
Tips for The Everyday Science Student<br />
edition one<br />
Hey everyone! How was your summer break? How many of you started the holiday thinking I’m gonna travel the<br />
world and have fun with my friends and family while hitting the gym every day. And I’m gonna be so ready for <strong>2017</strong>,<br />
coz you know, new year, new me but ended up slaving away at your job while having minor strokes every time you<br />
think of last semester’s exam results? Did you succeed in getting fat from eating your mum’s Christmas leftovers, and<br />
finally managing to drag yourself to class when uni eventually began? Yeah…me too.<br />
But don’t worry…it’s not all that bad. It’s still the very beginning of the new semester and we have more than<br />
enough time to make a difference for the better. That GPA isn’t gonna raise itself up you know. Even if you are an<br />
innocent jaffy (bless your soul...!) or a final year catastrophe like me; we all have the ability to make a difference to<br />
how we study this semester. Let’s do this!<br />
lot’s wife<br />
before class<br />
Read (Or At Least Scan) The Textbook<br />
Material BEFORE You Come To Class<br />
But if you are like me and don’t wanna<br />
invest in textbooks that cost a soul and a<br />
half, just scan through the lecture notes<br />
you can get from Moodle. You don’t need to<br />
read every line. Just the topics are enough.<br />
That way, at least you’ll know what the<br />
hell you will be learning that day. At least<br />
skim through the slides while you wait for<br />
the lecturer to start the lecture (after they<br />
finally figure out how to get the computer<br />
working).<br />
Make Sure You Have All The Appropriate<br />
Materials Needed For Class<br />
And for god’s sake, don’t go to practicals<br />
without the manual and don’t come to<br />
lectures with no notes or laptop and just<br />
stare at the lecturer behind an empty desk.<br />
We all wanna do that by week 12 but as I<br />
said that GPA isn’t gonna raise itself! You<br />
can’t gain anything without putting in the<br />
effort. This isn’t high school anymore. No<br />
one gives a damn about whether you keep<br />
up with your studies or not. You are the<br />
only person who can save yourself.<br />
during class<br />
Take Organized, Clear Notes<br />
Either make annotations on a computer<br />
or write on printed slides or make your<br />
own notes – just do something! Don’t<br />
listen like a zombie without making notes<br />
because there is NO way you’ll remember<br />
everything. You are more likely to be<br />
actively involved to the lecture when you<br />
have your hands busy.<br />
Be Alert And On Time<br />
No one wants to come to lectures. And<br />
by week 12 no one wants to step inside Uni<br />
altogether. But regular attendance is a sign<br />
of a serious student. However, creeping<br />
into the lecture 45 min late doesn’t really<br />
count. Keep an eye out for announcements,<br />
dates and deadlines; you don’t wanna log<br />
into Moodle one morning and realise you<br />
have an online test due in 10 minutes or<br />
find out that mid-sem you thought has only<br />
Multiple Choice Questions actually has a<br />
ton of Short Answer Questions.<br />
Ask For Clarification Whenever The<br />
Material Is Unclear<br />
It’s always better to ask for clarification<br />
immediately after you come across<br />
confusions since we all know ‘I’ll email the<br />
lecturer when I’m home’ won’t ever work<br />
because we forget everything once we leave<br />
the lecture hall. If you’re too shy to talk,<br />
email the lecturer while you are still in the<br />
lecture. That way, you won’t forget. Start a<br />
new email and keep adding questions to it<br />
as the lecture progresses. Then simply hit<br />
send before you get up and leave.<br />
article by chulani jithma kaluarachchi
during class<br />
Don’t Tolerate The Distractions Of Other<br />
Students<br />
To that one person who always decides<br />
to eat a huge bag of chips, chewing them<br />
loud as they can – eat them after class.<br />
You don’t die of hunger before that. To<br />
the couple who always wants to cuddle<br />
during lecture time – go get a room. You<br />
guys are distracting the people around<br />
you and tittering with each other while<br />
ignoring the lecture is in no way #goals.<br />
And for everyone using laptops – why are<br />
you paying thousands of dollars to come<br />
to Uni just to chat on Facebook during the<br />
whole lecture? And to the ones who talk<br />
during the lecture – you are wasting your<br />
time and distracting others too. Don’t let<br />
other people distract you from listening.<br />
Don’t be afraid to tell noisy people to quiet<br />
down if they are disturbing you. I know you<br />
wanna throw a shoe at them to shut them<br />
up, but because that’s not allowed, we’ll just<br />
have to talk to them. Whether they waste<br />
their/their parents hard earned money by<br />
being distracted is none of your business.<br />
Do not let them be a hindrance for your<br />
productivity.<br />
after class<br />
Re-read Your Notes The Same Day<br />
Make sure that you have written down<br />
everything and didn’t miss something<br />
important. This gives you an opportunity<br />
to put the entire day’s lecture ‘together’,<br />
since the memory of the actual lecture<br />
is still in your mind. If you wait a couple<br />
of days before looking at your notes, you<br />
won’t remember the lecture and you will be<br />
relying on your notes alone, instead of your<br />
memory.<br />
Listen To MULO If You Missed A Lecture<br />
If you missed a lecture because of work<br />
or simply because you were too lazy to<br />
get out of bed, make sure you listen to the<br />
lecture on the same day. Do you really think<br />
listening to 30+ lectures on 1.5x speed one<br />
week before finals is gonna help you learn<br />
anything? Okay, I know it works for some<br />
people, but I highly doubt it would for most.<br />
Listen to the missed lecture in the bus if<br />
you have to; don’t go to lectures tomorrow<br />
not knowing what was done today.<br />
Use Diagrams And Tables Instead Of<br />
Multiple Bullet Points<br />
Most textbooks have diagrams and tables<br />
summarising each section. Study from<br />
them instead of reading long paragraphs of<br />
texts. Then you can see all the important<br />
information at a glance instead of having to<br />
search for them among a sea of sentences.<br />
Location<br />
Find a place to study that is free of interruptions and<br />
distractions. Trying to study at a table in the Campus<br />
Centre, surrounded by 15 other people with a burrito in<br />
one hand might not be the best option. Go to a library or<br />
find a quiet corner at Uni. Even if you study with a group<br />
of friends, find a place that won’t distract you. Buy food<br />
and drinks before you start studying so that you won’t<br />
have to leave in the middle of the session.<br />
Self-Discipline<br />
Fall into some sort of a routine. Develop your own<br />
study rules and stick to them. You must establish<br />
your own study times, listen to lectures actively,<br />
conscientiously do the lab exercises, etc. I know that new<br />
TV series you just found is so addictive and you’re still<br />
suppressing the urge to binge watch the whole thing<br />
instead of studying, but keep reminding yourself what<br />
your priories are. You need to take responsibility for your<br />
own triumph bcz no one else will.<br />
Study In 1 Hour Blocks<br />
The amount you need to study for a class differs from<br />
person to person. You never want to study in blocks<br />
longer than 1 hour. If you sit with a textbook for 4 hours,<br />
you will gain information during the first hour; after<br />
that your brain stops concentrating. After an hour, take<br />
a break. You can spend 10 minutes eating something,<br />
scrolling through Facebook or talking to your friend,<br />
whatever, just don’t study. Your brain can only handle 50-<br />
60 minutes of work, then it needs a break. After a break,<br />
go back and focus.<br />
Study Effectively<br />
Make your study time as uninterrupted as possible.<br />
Pick a good time. Keep stocked up on stationary you<br />
need so there is no reason to interrupt your studies. Use<br />
the same place (if possible). Be efficient with your time.<br />
Hide your phone. If you can’t see it, you might not feel<br />
like using it. You won’t die if you miss a tweet or ignore a<br />
snap. Put away all other distractions. Every time you get<br />
interrupted, you lose information. If you really wanna<br />
change, you’re gonna have to make some sacrifices.<br />
Use Planners<br />
Prioritize things that must get done, what you should<br />
get done and what can be done at other times. Most<br />
science units have lots of in-semester assessments that<br />
add up to a large chuck of your final mark. Missing the<br />
chance to do easy online tests just because you forgot<br />
its due date is such a shame. The more you score during<br />
semester; the less you have to worry about the finals.<br />
Buy a cheap planner or simply use the calendar on your<br />
phone to set reminders 1-2 days before something is due.<br />
That way, you’ll never miss deadlines.<br />
Most importantly, keep a positive attitude!<br />
An education is a gift to you.<br />
science/engineering<br />
Happy studying everyone!<br />
how to study<br />
32-33
Science News<br />
Monash Research Finds Humans<br />
Likely Cause Of Australian Megafauna<br />
Extinction<br />
Recently published research has found that the<br />
extinction of megafauna in southwest Australia was<br />
not linked with climate change as previously thought<br />
but rather with ‘imperceptible overkill’ by humans.<br />
The study was led by Dr. Sander van der Kaars,<br />
adjunct research fellow at the Monash School of<br />
Earth, Atmosphere and Environment. The analysis<br />
was undertaken on a sediment core collected 100km<br />
offshore of southwest Australia, allowing the team<br />
to track environmental change and megafauna<br />
abundance over the past 150,000 years.<br />
The research, published in Nature Communications,<br />
found that the extinction took place approximately<br />
43,000 to 45,000 years ago and was completed<br />
within 4000 years of humans colonising Australi<br />
Source: Monash Science News<br />
edition one<br />
Researchers Believe They Have<br />
Found Observational Evidence Of A<br />
Holographic Universe<br />
In a report in Physics Review Letters, a team<br />
of theoretical physicists and astrophysicists have<br />
published findings of evidence supporting a<br />
holographic explanation of the universe.<br />
The holographic explanation of the universe states<br />
that reality (three dimensions plus time) is contained<br />
or projected onto a 2D surface. Professor Kostas<br />
Skenderis from the University of Southhampton<br />
School of Mathematic Sciences explains that the<br />
idea of a holographic universe is similar to ordinary<br />
holograms; 3D images are coded onto a 2D surface,<br />
such as holograms on credit cards or bank notes.<br />
However he explains “The entire universe is coded.”<br />
By using cosmological observations to investigate<br />
irregularities in the cosmic microwave background<br />
(the ‘imprint’ on the universe caused by the Big Bang),<br />
the researchers have concluded that there is as much<br />
evidence supporting the holographic explanation as<br />
for traditional explanations.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Computer Interface Allows ‘Locked-In’<br />
Patients To Communicate<br />
An international team led by the Wyss Center<br />
for Bio and Neuroengineering in Switzerland have<br />
demonstrated the use of a brain-computer interface<br />
to communicate with patients suffering from complete<br />
locked-in state (CLIS) – when patients are paralysed<br />
to the extent of eye-movement and blinking loss.<br />
Patients who are otherwise unable to communicate<br />
were able to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions through<br />
a brain-computer interface that measured changes in<br />
brain blood-oxygen levels. The interface was initially<br />
calibrated using questions with known answers<br />
(“your husband’s name is Joachim?”), after which<br />
more open questions were asked. During trials,<br />
the interface produced correct answer 70% of the<br />
time. All four patients the technology was tested on<br />
answered yes to the question, “Are you happy?”<br />
Source: PLOS Biology<br />
Australian Scientists Create Super<br />
Strong Graphite Out Of Soybean Oil<br />
Everyday cooking ingredient soybean oil has been<br />
used by Australian scientists to create graphene – an<br />
atomically thin material that is 200 times stronger<br />
than steel and more conductive than copper.<br />
Created in the lab by a team of CSIRO scientists,<br />
the graphene was produced in a process that was<br />
described as faster and more energy-efficient than<br />
other methods. Research describing the method was<br />
published recently in Nature Communications, with<br />
authors stating they believe the use of a renewable<br />
graphene precursor could cut down production costs<br />
significantly.<br />
The issue of scalability of graphene remains<br />
– currently the largest graphene film that can be<br />
produced is the size of a credit card. However, the<br />
CSIRO are looking into developments in water<br />
filtration and solar panels.<br />
Source: ABC News<br />
Source: Science Daily<br />
Global Emissions Remain Stagnant For<br />
3rd Year In A Row<br />
The end of 2016 marked the third consecutive<br />
year that global carbon dioxide emissions remained<br />
relatively flat. Global carbon dioxide emissions<br />
reached 36 gigatons last year, approximately the<br />
same in 2014 and 2015.<br />
In a study published in Nature Climate Change,<br />
researchers aimed to track the progress of over 150<br />
nations that signed the Paris Agreement in 2015. The<br />
study found that the main drivers of the emissions<br />
slowdown were reduced coal use from major powers<br />
such as China. In the United States, emissions<br />
reductions were also due to rapid gains in the natural<br />
gas, wind and solar sectors. However, much more<br />
action is required to achieve global reduction in<br />
emissions and reach the targets set by the Paris<br />
Agreement.<br />
Source: Nature<br />
Black Humour Corresponds With Higher<br />
Levels Of Intelligence<br />
Understanding and appreciating black humour<br />
– defined as humour surrounding morbid or tragic<br />
topics – has been linked with higher levels of verbal<br />
and non-verbal intelligence. In a study published in<br />
Cognitive Processing, researchers had participants<br />
rate their understanding and enjoyment of 12 cartoons<br />
from the infamous dark humour comic, The Black<br />
Book by Uli Stein. The study also found that those<br />
with ‘high black humour preference’ also displayed<br />
the lowest mood disturbance and aggression levels<br />
in response to the comics, whilst those with low<br />
preference displayed the highest levels of aggression.<br />
The authors of the study said that their findings<br />
suggested that aggression and poor moods could<br />
cloud people’s ability to ‘get the joke.’<br />
Source: The Guardian<br />
article by science & engineering sub-editor team<br />
illustration by maria volobueva
contributers:<br />
sam allen<br />
john henry<br />
nick jarrett<br />
molly dixon<br />
dylan marshall<br />
rachael welling<br />
erica gage<br />
linh thuy nguyen<br />
reece hooker<br />
Arts/Culture<br />
arts/culture<br />
34-35
The Tension Between Artistic And Moral Judgements<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
For most people, the initial answer is uncontroversial.<br />
It’s obvious that the unsavoury details of an artist’s private and<br />
working life, for instance, don’t interfere with our appraisal of their<br />
works as a matter of general principle. If someone were to ask you<br />
“did you like Crime and Punishment?”, it would be eccentric to reply “I<br />
can’t say, I haven’t read Dostoevsky’s biography yet”. So far, so good;<br />
this seems pretty clear.<br />
When we refer to acts, intentions and consequences in the<br />
real world, the term ‘good’ is often used as a moral assessment;<br />
to art, ‘good’ is an assessment of quality. Both are normative, not<br />
descriptive, uses of the term—they express a particular point of<br />
view and not a matter of bare fact, but the resemblance stops there.<br />
We respect the critical distinction between art and morality while<br />
things go smoothly, when our artists don’t behave too badly to<br />
warrant our attention when appraising their work, or when the<br />
work doesn’t transgress our moral norms too far. If an artist is a<br />
conventionally good person, for instance, we don’t consider their<br />
works intrinsically better as a consequence; authors like Dan Brown<br />
and Stephenie Meyer seem to be decent enough people, yet this<br />
doesn’t affect the literary (de-)merit of their novels.<br />
But some artists do some incredibly, extraordinarily despicable<br />
things, and this makes the idea that ‘bad people can make good art’<br />
more of a burden to maintain for consistency’s sake, rather than<br />
a harmless platitude. When we learn of an artwork’s unsavoury<br />
background history, it often becomes impossible to ‘unsee’ it<br />
in the work, and as much as we want to pretend that art can be<br />
disassociated from its questionable origins, few of us would be<br />
willing to fully accept this in practice. What are we to make of a<br />
painting of a child by the convicted sex offender Rolf Harris? How<br />
are we to aesthetically and disinterestedly assess the artistic merit<br />
of the portrayal of sexual violence in the film Rosemary’s Baby, when<br />
the director Roman Polanski was to commit statutory rape not ten<br />
years later?<br />
This becomes an even more prickly issue when we consider<br />
artworks that include real moral wrongs—how can we critique,<br />
on purely aesthetic grounds, the brutal real-life slaughter of a<br />
water buffalo in Apocalypse Now? For many, that sort of thing<br />
could impinge on the merit of the work, as it brought about real<br />
suffering. Perhaps we could try to make some qualifications here for<br />
consistency’s sake. When we say that morality is distinct from art,<br />
we may moderate this claim—perhaps when we make judgements,<br />
morality is only distinct from art as imitation. If a person or animal<br />
is harmed in a film in the making of an artwork, our judgements<br />
on the work are no longer a matter of aesthetic taste. A snuff film,<br />
however tastefully shot, is not art as it shows reality essentially as<br />
it is.<br />
Art is, at its core, representation; an artwork is a creation one step<br />
removed from reality, and not the reality itself; and if what we are<br />
observing is a real-life evil on the film screen, we can criticise it as<br />
we would a real-life action. Therefore, when Bernardo Bertolucci<br />
not only permitted, but included in his film the sexual assault<br />
of actor Maria Schneider in Last Tango in Paris, we have sufficient<br />
warrant to criticise not only Bertolucci as committing a moral<br />
wrong, but also to condemn the quality of the film itself, as the<br />
wrong has occurred beyond the realm of representation and into<br />
the concrete world that permits moral critique. If the assault was<br />
a make-believe performance, on the other hand, we would have no<br />
warrant to do so.<br />
Yet this doesn’t seem so intuitively correct when we apply this<br />
‘art as mimesis’ criterion to harmless instances of reality seeping<br />
into art. If we watch a short film of a man drinking tea, and he<br />
is in fact drinking tea, it is dogmatic to insist that we are not<br />
watching art, but just a movie of a man drinking tea. If anyone puts<br />
something forward that can be observed aesthetically, it can be<br />
regarded as art and interpreted accordingly.
Drawing further distinctions about what does and does not<br />
constitute genuine art within this broad criteria becomes a matter<br />
of barren metaphysics.<br />
Once we accept that art is really just any sort of creative act open<br />
to interpretation, the internal distinction between art and reality is<br />
not such an easy one to draw, and we are inevitably faced with the<br />
conclusion that even a vile act of real cruelty could be considered<br />
art. The performance-artist Marina Abramović continually<br />
emphasised this point in the 1970s in her own works, by setting<br />
herself on fire and playing with knives.<br />
It can sometimes happen that the real immoralities that intrude<br />
on an artistic work can contribute something to its aesthetic<br />
quality overall. As the fantasy author China Mieville has remarked,<br />
it is the jaw-dropping racism of H. P. Lovecraft that gave his works<br />
such a distinctive and unforgettable flavour. For Lovecraft, the<br />
very concept of racial intermixing was a revolting idea, and he did<br />
not disguise this in his works—indeed this view is foundational to<br />
some of his most suspenseful and influential works like The Shadow<br />
Over Innsmouth. Yet although we would rightly condemn someone<br />
today for harbouring even a tenth of Lovecraft’s racist views today,<br />
his short stories are oddly enlivened by his horrible ideology. The<br />
profound sense of horror and revulsion that elevates the work into<br />
something convincing and immersive just happened to be the byproduct<br />
of these personal views.<br />
So, upon reflection, if we are to be consistent, we must face up to<br />
the sometimes unpalatable consequences—morally contemptible<br />
as it may appear to us, the merit of an artwork and the morality of<br />
its origins or content have to remain conceptually distinct, even<br />
at the very extremes. If we maintain this principle in general, it<br />
must logically entail the uncomfortable and immoral as well as the<br />
morally pleasant or neutral.<br />
If an artwork is<br />
,,<br />
article & illustration by john henry<br />
somehow immoral<br />
in its origins or<br />
its content, does<br />
it make sense to<br />
call that artwork<br />
itself inferior as<br />
a result? ,,<br />
arts/culture 36-37
Artists Should Be Punished, Not Celebrated<br />
edition one<br />
Let’s be honest. Despite their numerous indiscretions, public gaffes and even crimes, we hold<br />
celebrities in a ludicrously high regard. We are, for some reason, willing to ignore the immoral and illegal<br />
acts they commit so that we may benefit from continued production of their art. This cannot continue,<br />
and a boycott of their work is what is required.<br />
Notable celebrities such as Chris Brown and Mel Gibson have all earned varying degrees of fame and<br />
success in their careers, and still command the attention of millions, and yet they are perpetrators of<br />
domestic violence. Brown’s abuse of then-partner Rihanna is common knowledge and, despite this,<br />
he has since released five albums with reasonable success and become a face of a footwear company,<br />
Snipes. Mel Gibson, charged with physical assault on his then-partner, has gone on to direct the Oscarnominated<br />
Hacksaw Ridge.<br />
By separating acts from the artist, we are ignoring what both informs and drives these people to do<br />
what they do. An artwork is not distinct from the behaviours and actions of the artist, and by ignoring<br />
the indiscretions, we are normalising and even forgiving these awful acts.<br />
This attempt to ignore the misdeeds of celebrities is becoming endemic in pop culture, with people<br />
so infatuated with a celebrity’s work that they are willing to ignore criminal acts. Take the #freebieber<br />
slogan which whirled around the internet following Justin Bieber’s arrest for a DUI. No matter that he<br />
was driving while drink and endangering countless lives, he was too precious to be punished and the<br />
incident has left no mark on his popularity.<br />
Furthermore, and most importantly, by refusing to punish these celebrities we are silencing their<br />
victims and are continuing to suppress much needed dialogue on these crimes. Woody Allen, a famed<br />
filmmaker and actor, has been accused of the sexual assault of his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow.<br />
Whilst no convictions were upheld, Allen continues to direct at least one film per year. For most, being<br />
accused of sexual assault would make one unemployable. For Allen, job opportunities continued in quick<br />
succession, effectively diminishing and ignoring the potential victim Dylan Farrow.<br />
Giving artists accolades and fortune when they commit serious misdeeds only works to silence their<br />
victims. This is because they are celebrated for the two minutes of a song or two hours in a cinema.<br />
Separating the work from the artist only enhances and magnifies the victims respective harm and<br />
contributes to a continued cycle of normalising crime. We need to hold these people accountable for<br />
their actions, and have them treated as any other offender. Otherwise, these crimes will continue to go<br />
unpunished.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
article by nick jarrett<br />
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds: Gig Review<br />
At the second performance of their Australian tour, fans young and old were treated to an<br />
electric and energetic performance. Cave’s powerful stage presence remains as palpable as ever.<br />
The Bad Seeds formed in 1986 and since then, have cemented their name as one of Australia’s biggest<br />
and longest lasting rock exports.<br />
The support act, The Necks, are an Australian 3-piece experimental jazz band that provided a great<br />
atmosphere and sound track for the start of the gig. However, it was obvious that the masses of fans had<br />
come for Cave.<br />
The Bad Seeds set list consisted mainly of the band’s most recent 2016 release Skeleton Tree. This is<br />
their 16th full studio album and can best be described as atmospheric, lyrical and deeply personal, as<br />
much of the record’s production was shaped by the tragic death of Cave’s son in 2015. Spacing out the<br />
newer, heavier style of music with fan favourites from older albums such as The Boat Song and From Her<br />
to Eternity was a good choice to maintain the energy of the crowd… not that Cave’s performance wasn’t<br />
enough already.<br />
Cave’s artistry as a musician and performer was apparent from the second he appeared on stage. There<br />
was an anticipation in the audience that made me almost sure he would appear in a puff of smoke, like<br />
some kind of enigmatic magic-man. As the rest of the band entered, a hush momentarily fell over the<br />
audience. When Cave took the stage seconds later it was broken by a deafening wave of cheering and<br />
clapping. At the age of 59, he is still a true rock star; reaching into the audience, holding hands with<br />
those lucky enough to have fought their way to the front of the crowd.<br />
It would be wrong not to acknowledge the brilliance that is Warren Ellis, the band’s multi-talented<br />
violinist (Ballarat-born) who shines as a live performer. Ellis’s famously experimental violin style is<br />
heightened immensely in a live setting. He rips into the songs that maintain the band’s rock roots with<br />
ferocity and lends beautiful, sensitive sounds to tracks of the ballad variety. On stage, both Ellis and<br />
Cave radiate joy and give passionate performances.<br />
A personal highlight of the performance was the encore. The narrative track Stagger Lee from the 1996<br />
album Murder Ballads really becomes an epic with the full brunt of the band behind it.<br />
I would 100% recommend to anyone who is a music lover to go see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live<br />
at some point. The depth of emotion, energy and pure musical talent makes them an act which bears<br />
relevance to the lives of so many.<br />
The tour reached Melbourne’s Sydney Myer Music Bowl on the 27th and 28th of January and concluded<br />
in Perth on the 31st of January.<br />
review & illustration by molly dixon
Monash University<br />
Program <strong>2017</strong><br />
Student Theatre<br />
Compiled by Dylan Marshall<br />
SEMESTER ONE<br />
THE MUST O SHOW ‘17 –<br />
FANTASTIC TIPS AND WHERE<br />
TO FIND THEM<br />
O Week: 20 – 23 Feb | Written &<br />
Directed by Justin Gardam & Fraser<br />
Mitchell, Musical Direction by Earl<br />
Marrows, Produced by Sophie<br />
Ashkanasy<br />
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT<br />
PROJECT<br />
From Week 3 | Fun accessible<br />
performance workshops all year,<br />
culminating in public showings<br />
<strong>2017</strong> MUST SEASON LAUNCH<br />
16 March | Produced by Michelle<br />
Robertson<br />
THE LATE NIGHT LATE SHOW:<br />
LIVE!<br />
7 – 13 April | Written by Justin<br />
Gardam, Directed by Max Paton,<br />
Musical Direction by Will Yates<br />
PHONE-IT-IN FILM FESTIVAL<br />
Mon 1 May (TBC) | Curated &<br />
Produced by Krystal Gayton & Tyrie<br />
Aspinall<br />
SHAKESPEARE COMPANY in the<br />
MUST Space<br />
27 April – 6 May | The Complete<br />
Works of Shakespeare (Abridged),<br />
Directed by Niamh Percy<br />
SPOKEN WORD EVENING<br />
Mon 15 May | Curated by Annabelle<br />
Ballard from the Monash Creative<br />
Writers<br />
AWAKENING - Remount at<br />
fortyfivedownstairs<br />
10 – 21 May | Adapted & Directed by<br />
Daniel Lammin<br />
SEMESTER TWO<br />
THE MUST CABARET FESTIVAL<br />
1 – 12 August | Curated & Produced<br />
by Lucy Rosenblum & Kat Yates<br />
SHAKESPEARE COMPANY<br />
WORK in the MUST Space<br />
17 – 26 August | The Taming of the<br />
Shrew, Directed by Gina Dickson<br />
PHONE-IT-IN FILM FESTIVAL<br />
Mon 28 August (TBC) | Curated &<br />
Produced by Krystal Gayton & Tyrie<br />
Aspinall<br />
THE WAY – A SERIES OF<br />
INTIMATE ENGAGEMENTS<br />
7 – 16 September | Curated by<br />
Amber Bock & James Malcher<br />
SUBVERSIVE POLITICALLY<br />
CHARGED ROCK CABARET<br />
21 – 30 September | Written &<br />
Directed by Tara Dowler<br />
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT<br />
PROJECT<br />
From Week 1 | Fun accessible<br />
performance workshops, culminating<br />
in public showings 5 – 7 October<br />
SPOKEN WORD EVENING<br />
Mon 9 October | Curated by<br />
Annabelle Ballard from the Monash<br />
Creative Writers<br />
COMMUNITY PROJECT – Story<br />
Telling in Communities<br />
Semester Two | Curated & Directed<br />
by Grace Ulrich<br />
DEVELOPMENT WORKS<br />
Mid - Late October<br />
FRANKENSTEIN<br />
11 – 20 May | Adapted by<br />
Genevieve Atkins & Directed by<br />
Helena Dixon<br />
NEXT TO NORMAL<br />
(THE MUSICAL)<br />
25 May – 3 June | Directed by<br />
Stephen Amos, Musical Direction<br />
by Will Yates, Assistant Direction &<br />
Choreography by Diane Pereira<br />
arts/culture<br />
38-39
The Price Of Gaming<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
My partner and I recently made the pilgrimage to EB Games in Chadstone. Not<br />
to buy anything, but to cancel our pre-order for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo’s newest<br />
console. We looked at our respective bank accounts and decided we couldn’t justify the<br />
$500 that the system would cost us. $500 is rent for a month, or the bills for half a year, or<br />
a year of myki money. Choices like this are common for us; we’ve picked a hobby that costs<br />
money. It just feels like video games cost so damn much.<br />
In truth, gaming has always been expensive. No home console has ever cost less than<br />
US$250 at launch. The ‘Australia tax’ slaps up to 88% extra on to the recommended<br />
retail price of digital products. Downloadable content (or DLC) for games is now entirely<br />
pervasive within the industry, and very little of it is free. Add to that the fact that<br />
videogames are ludicrously expensive to produce, and so the prospect of squeezing extra<br />
money out of consumers is attractive for publishers. But it feels like additional costs are<br />
being built into the business model of modern gaming, and they are becoming increasingly<br />
difficult to avoid.<br />
Types of Additional Costs<br />
Additional costs take many forms. One of the oldest is the expansion pack, which adds<br />
anything from new items to entire storylines to an already released game, and often cost<br />
almost as much as the original. Recently however, The Sims 4 publisher EA Games came<br />
under fire because they were allegedly cutting content from the base game in order to sell<br />
it later in expansion packs. A recent and small example is the inclusion of a butler in a<br />
recent expansion pack for The Sims 4, a feature that was available on launch in The Sims 2.<br />
Whether or not this was actually cut from the base game of The Sims 4 is pure speculation.<br />
Regardless, EA have released no less than seventeen content packs for The Sims 4 since<br />
launch. All of these together will cost the Australian consumer AU$420. You want the full<br />
experience? Be prepared to fork out the cash.<br />
Another form is micro-transactions; small purchases (typically less than $5) that enhance<br />
the game in some way. Micro-transactions can be anything from cosmetic content that<br />
alters the appearance of something in game, to ‘pay-to-win’ content that actually gives the<br />
player some kind of advantage. Micro-transactions in major release games are generally<br />
frowned upon – many feel that paying for a fully-priced game should rule out needing to<br />
pay for extra content – but micro-transactions are common nonetheless. Gaming giant Call<br />
of Duty: Infinite Warfare contains micro-transactions in the form of random caches, where<br />
players can buy a bundle of mystery (supposedly cosmetic) items. But it turns out some of<br />
the weapons given in the random drops have better stats than those the player can earn by<br />
simply playing the game. And keep in mind, Infinite Warfare is a multiplayer game. So now<br />
the costs aren’t even in simply owning a game, they lie in being able to experience it in a<br />
way that is fair.<br />
One of the newer forms is the pre-order bonus. Purchase a game before it releases and<br />
receive certain content that will never be available any other way. The benefits for the<br />
publishers are clear; if someone pre-orders a game, they’ve essentially bought it before any<br />
reviews of the game are published. Unfavourable reviews are circumvented because they<br />
simply don’t exist yet. In certain cases, this model has been pushed to the extreme. Deus Ex:<br />
Mankind Divided pissed just about everyone off with their tiered pre-order bonus structure;<br />
the more people who pre-ordered, the more pre-order content everyone would get. At the<br />
highest tier, the game would actually release an entire week early. Many perceived this as<br />
the publisher holding consumers ransom. You want the full experience? You better hope<br />
everyone else does too. And if you didn’t want the value of your purchase in the hands of<br />
countless, faceless others? Simply buy the Collector’s <strong>Edition</strong>, which contains all of the preorder<br />
content – for US$150US. Within weeks the pre-order scheme was cancelled, and the<br />
developer issued an apology.
The Cautionary Tale of Evolve<br />
No pricing scandal is more infamous than the 2015 shooter, Evolve, developed by Turtle Rock<br />
Studios. Before Evolve even launched, Turtle Rock shot itself right in the foot with convoluted<br />
pricing structure and an avalanche of additional content (and hence costs). Evolve would ship<br />
in three editions, the most expensive costing US$100. On top of that, US$60 of additional,<br />
online only content was available to download at launch. Individual characters for the game<br />
could cost up to US$15 each. Individual skins as much as US$8. The cheapest way to get<br />
everything Evolve had to offer at launch would set you back US$185 – that’s near AU$250. You<br />
want the full experience? Well fuck you.<br />
Evolve had every additional cost possible. The mountain of DLC available at launch went<br />
beyond accusations of cutting content from a game to sell later – it was a textbook example.<br />
The multiple ways to simply buy the game showed a focus on snapping up pre-orders over<br />
delivering a solid experience at launch. The ridiculous costs of single pieces of content made<br />
it clear that micro-transactions were built into the game. And embroiled at the centre of this<br />
controversy, the creative director of Turtle Rock Studios Phil Robb essentially pleaded with<br />
consumers to reconsider their anger. “I don’t like people thinking we’re doing underhanded,<br />
dirty shit” he said. “If we’re going to make money we want to feel good about the way we’ve<br />
done it,”<br />
The issue isn’t about making money. The Sims 4 in its complete form costs around double<br />
what Evolve can cost. The issue is value. Where $15 in The Sims 4 will get you a bundle of new<br />
cosmetics, items and gameplay, $15 in Evolve will get you a single character. It’s not about<br />
being underhanded or dirty. It’s the unreasonable expectation that there must always be more<br />
to buy; that players should take whatever price they are given or have their game held for<br />
ransom until they can afford the rest of it.<br />
Funnily enough, Evolve did terribly. The player base hemorrhaged after launch to less than<br />
400 in the world. The game then became free-to-play, but still didn’t manage to sustain a<br />
healthy community. And less than a month after that, Turtle Rock Studios abandoned Evolve<br />
all together. Was it the huge backlash over the pricing that killed the game, or was it that<br />
Evolve simply wasn’t fun? Questions like these pervade every failed game and it’s unlikely that<br />
Evolve will be the last to upset players with its cost.<br />
arts/culture<br />
In truth, gaming has<br />
Gaming Without (Some of) The Cost<br />
For myself and many other students with limited disposable incomes, it can feel like we are<br />
priced out of modern gaming. While most additional costs are entirely optional, it can feel like<br />
publishers are constantly dangling the carrot. Still there are some relatively easy ways to still<br />
choose gaming as a hobby without feeling like there is always more to buy.<br />
Patient Gaming: Most games eventually go on sale. Games with DLC often re-release as a<br />
bundle pack with everything included, in some cases cheaper than the original game. Sites<br />
such as IsThereAnyDeal can be setup to email you when a game goes on sale. In the case of<br />
Evolve and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the pre-order DLC was eventually given to everyone for<br />
free after their respective controversies.<br />
Be Informed: I know this sounds a little obvious, but simple things like reading reviews,<br />
watching a stream of a game or googling ‘Is [this DLC] worth it?’ will give you an idea of<br />
whether or not the actual content of a game is worth your money.<br />
Make Use Of The Market: Unless you are dead certain you will replay a game, trading in or<br />
selling old games is a quick way of saving money. EB Games does store credit for traded games,<br />
and JB-Hifi frequently do trade-in deals. On the flip side, you can also buy games preowned.<br />
The argument against this is that you are no longer giving your money to the developers, only<br />
the retailer – but that’s a question of ethics, and where yours lead is on you.<br />
Older Games: By virtue of their age alone many games are ridiculously cheap. Microsoft, Sony<br />
and Nintendo all offer older games for download to their consoles. Online PC game retailers<br />
such as Steam and Good Old Games keep libraries of older games and frequently send them to<br />
sale. EA Games’ Origin Store for PC allows players to access older games entirely for free and<br />
often to keep.<br />
Indie Games: Indie games are currently experiencing a huge resurgence thanks to the<br />
widespread nature of PC gaming. Anything from rhythm games to RPGs to story-based<br />
adventure games are out there, all easily downloadable online and most under $20.<br />
The One I Will Not Advocate: Also known as, ‘The One the Government recently tried to block<br />
but did so really poorly making it easy to continue to use but you didn’t hear that from me, no<br />
sir.’<br />
The good thing about videogames as a hobby is you can take it as far as you like. You can get<br />
all serious like me and lament the shady business practices of major games publishers, or you<br />
can just focus on saving money where you can. But that’s the best thing about videogames –<br />
the possibility, the interactivity – at the end of the day, it’s up to you.<br />
always been expensive<br />
article by rachael welling, illustration by erica gage<br />
40-41
Disrupting The ‘White Cube’: Two Exhibitions On Indigenous Art<br />
edition one<br />
These two exhibitions – Sovereignty at ACCA and Who’s Afraid of Colour?<br />
at NGV Australia – provide a glimpse into the array of artistic forms from<br />
First Nations contemporary artists, showcasing a myriad of vibrant and<br />
distinct cultural expressions. By no means exhaustive, these two exhibitions<br />
survey the vital and proliferous landscape of contemporary Indigenous art,<br />
exhibiting new commissions alongside historical works. With Sovereignty, ACCA<br />
presents an exhibition that centres upon the contemporary art of First Nations<br />
peoples of Victoria, while Who’s Afraid of Colour? focuses on Indigenous female<br />
artists – ‘great women innovators – transformers of tradition and precedent.’<br />
Both exhibitions seek to challenge presumptions about how Indigenous art<br />
is conceived and interpreted, exploring a range of mediums from traditional<br />
woven objects to sculpture, painting, photographs, and video installations.<br />
The historical backdrop in which Sovereignty and Who’s Afraid of Colour? take<br />
place is inescapable. By the fact of their very existence, these exhibitions are<br />
inherently political, illustrating the intimate link between art and activism.<br />
The title Sovereignty is itself an assertion of First Nations peoples’ claim to the<br />
land, bringing to mind the legal fiction of terra nullius and the history of illegal<br />
invasion and occupation, dispossession and destruction. The exhibition is<br />
explicitly situated amidst current debates related to constitutional recognition<br />
and treaty, and the historic and ongoing struggles of First Nations people for<br />
self-determination and land rights. Who’s Afraid of Colour? boldly proclaims<br />
a politics of difference and identity, centring the perspectives and voices of<br />
Indigenous women.<br />
The conversation surrounding ‘Australia/Invasion Day’ demonstrates<br />
there is widespread and collective cognitive dissonance when it comes to<br />
acknowledging the foundational violence on which the Australian colonial<br />
state rests. As a nation, over two centuries after the fact, we still fail to reconcile<br />
the historical legacy of our national identity. As the common protest refrain<br />
goes: ‘white Australia has a black history’— yet the bedrock of white-settler<br />
Australian culture is rooted in longstanding denial and amnesia toward its<br />
Indigenous past. It is important to note the authoritative role museums,<br />
galleries, and art institutions play in interpreting and legitimizing contested<br />
histories, and to recognize the power they hold as gatekeepers of cultural<br />
production and knowledge. As purveyors of ‘official culture’, museums shape<br />
which – and how – histories are told and subsequently received by the public.<br />
The ‘white cube’ of elite cultural institutions often privilege a Western and<br />
Eurocentric history and lens onto the world. Colonialism, beyond its economic<br />
and socio-political manifestations, is perhaps most omnipresent within the<br />
realm of culture; as the decolonial theorist Ivan Muniz Reed writes: “so much of<br />
the modern world we know and experience has been constructed out of western<br />
imperial categories… the coloniality of knowledge is perhaps harder to discern<br />
and much more insidious to overcome.”<br />
It is important, then, that Sovereignty is conceived through a collaborative<br />
curatorial model, in partnership with the artist and curator Paola Bella, a<br />
Wemba-Wemba and Gunditjmara woman. In the words of Max Delany, the<br />
co-curator of Sovereignty and ACCA’s Artistic Director, it was a “curatorial<br />
process informed by First nation communities, knowledge, and cultural<br />
expression … structured around a set of practices and relationships in which<br />
art and society, community and family, history and politics are inextricably<br />
connected.” Sovereignty represents a new approach in curatorship and knowledge<br />
production: “a shift from authorial, institutional modes of exhibition-making<br />
towards more self-critical, consultative and collective models.” A curatorial<br />
practice that aims to challenge the legacy of colonialism must necessarily<br />
restructure and reinscribe prevailing discourses with alternative perspectives<br />
and narratives, replacing the hegemony of Eurocentric categories and standards<br />
with a form of “epistemic disobedience.” As Paola Balla herself states – “I<br />
am challenging working within the colonial institution, because I have a<br />
cultural and political responsibility to speak back whilst collaborating with<br />
non-indigenous practitioners.” ‘Speaking back’ to white Australia necessitates<br />
traversing across gendered and racial lines, to embody a politics of resistance<br />
whilst also celebrating and asserting the endurance and vitality of one’s<br />
own cultural identity. These artworks articulate resistance and survival,<br />
self-determination and autonomy, while also bearing witness to trauma and<br />
historical legacy – “art that tries to carve out a cultural space… to give form to<br />
that which is often unseen.” These two exhibitions can be seen as a corrective<br />
to the systemic and institutional absence of Indigenous representation in<br />
Australian arts culture, while also engaging with critical historical and political<br />
questions of our time. Sovereignty and Who’s Afraid of Colour? is a challenge to,<br />
and a disruption of, the ‘white cube’ of the gallery space.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Sovereignty<br />
Australian Centre for<br />
Contemporary Art (ACCA)<br />
Curators: Paola Balla and Max<br />
Delany<br />
17 December 2016 – 26 March <strong>2017</strong><br />
Free Entry, Open 10/11am – 5pm daily<br />
(excluding Mondays)<br />
Who’s Afraid of Colour?<br />
NGV Australia, Federation<br />
Square<br />
Curator: Judith Ryan<br />
16 December 2016 – 17 April <strong>2017</strong><br />
Free Entry, Open 10am – 5pm daily<br />
“Despite being at the forefront of political,<br />
social, and cultural resistance, Indigenous<br />
women’s knowledge and practices are often<br />
omitted and rendered invisible in colonial<br />
academic, art and cultural institutions and<br />
public spaces… Aboriginal women speak back<br />
to white Australia through art and activism by<br />
naming trauma as a disruption of artistic terra<br />
nullius.”<br />
Paola Bella, Catalogue essay: Sovereignty:<br />
Inalienable and Intimate pg.12-13<br />
“In the gallery space and in cultural<br />
institutions, we situate ourselves to return the<br />
gaze with direct eye contact and a request that<br />
you listen to us deeply – whilst we attempt at the<br />
same time to subvert the process; to decolonise<br />
and to Indigenise the very places that have<br />
represented us through the colonial gaze.”<br />
Paola Bella, Catalogue essay: Sovereignty:<br />
Inalienable and Intimate pg.12-13<br />
“The Indigenous artist speaks truth to power<br />
simply by the fact of his or her existence…<br />
the power of presence unnerves some in white<br />
Australia. The autonomous Indigenous body,<br />
within a colonial ideology, should not be.”<br />
Tony Birch, Catalogue essay: Sovereignty:<br />
The Act Of Being pg. 17
I forgive you installation video<br />
On display at Who’s Afraid of Colour? NGV<br />
Kent Morris, Boonwurrung (St Kilda) – Rainbow Lorikeet, 2016<br />
On display at Sovereignty ACCA<br />
article & photography by linh thuy nguyen<br />
Sovereignty exhibition<br />
Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, My Country, 2009<br />
On display at Who’s Afraid of Colour? NGV<br />
Miriam Charlie, Nancy Kidd inside her house, Garrwa One camp, 2015<br />
On display at Who’s Afraid of Colour? NGV<br />
Sovereignty exhibition<br />
Sovereignty exhibition<br />
Maree Clarke, Born of this land, 2016, installation video<br />
On display at Sovereignty ACCA<br />
arts/culture 42-43
Why We Love Migos And Other Songs About Nothing<br />
edition one<br />
“Rain drop. Drop top. Smokin’ on cookie in the hotbox.”<br />
So begins Bad and Boujee, an excellent song from Atlanta rap duo Migos that is about<br />
nothing.<br />
To be particular, the song is actually about “making money and spending time with<br />
women who have expensive taste” (thanks, Rap Genius), but realistically, the subject matter<br />
is entirely inconsequential to why Bad and Boujee occupies #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.<br />
The dearth of subject doesn’t mean by any stretch the song is bad. Offset’s chorus is<br />
intoxicatingly catchy and their handle on the triplet flow is untouchable. Metro Boomin<br />
could probably make a great beat while scuba diving and the bubbly Quavo oozes charisma.<br />
Nevertheless, this song is about nothing.<br />
Hip-hop has never been more ubiquitous in pop culture and strangely, it owes a great<br />
debt to songs of that seemingly spurn all conventions of the genre: thematically empty<br />
vessels that focus on aesthetic appeal, innovative sounds and creative musical directions.<br />
Bad and Boujee is the latest incarnation of that series, but the family tree is adding<br />
branches by the month: Panda, Black Beatles, Broccoli are all smash hits of the same<br />
genealogy whilst iSpy, You Was Right, I Ain’t Hiding and X flesh out the sound taking over the<br />
genre.<br />
None of the big hits succeeded conventionally. Panda had circulated for months without<br />
any buzz until Kanye West sampled the song on Pt. 2. Black Beatles went unnoticed before<br />
the viral Mannequin Challenge. Broccoli is just really, really goofy. Migos were popular, but<br />
their profile multiplied tenfold when Donald Glover praised Bad and Boujee at the Golden<br />
Globes.<br />
No one could have forecast the enduring success of any of these songs, but here we are.<br />
So how did songs about nothing come into vogue?<br />
The oft cited explanation is the considerable power of memes. Some would lump the<br />
aforementioned artists in with Bobby Shmurda, Silento and those who slingshot up the<br />
charts with a viral hit.<br />
However, meme-fuelled chart-toppers tend to disappear as soon as their one hit does.<br />
This group has some staying power: Black Beatles architects Rae Sremmurd have nine Top<br />
100 songs from two albums. Migos have drawn credible comparisons to the Beatles. Even<br />
Desiigner followed up Panda with New English, a good-not-great project that has kept him<br />
relevant a year later.<br />
A better explanation for this explosion of demand for songs like Bad and Boujee lies in the<br />
grim, combative political climate of the United States and beyond. Battered from a bruising<br />
eighteen months of divisive campaigning and widespread discontent, fun rap songs that<br />
don’t require much thought to engage hold unprecedented allure. Artists like Migos are<br />
accessible, apolitical and provide an appealing alternative universe of wealth and glory to<br />
substitute for whatever the real world is now.<br />
Those ingredients have always been in commercial hits but never before has hip-hop so<br />
transparently embraced these toothless apolitical earworms.<br />
To examine how quickly the landscape shifted, cast an eye back to the Best Rap Album<br />
field at the 2014 Grammys. Of the five nominees – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s The Heist,<br />
Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, Kanye West’s Yeezus, Jay Z’s Magna Carta… Holy Grail<br />
and Drake’s Nothing Was The Same – only Drake’s project could be objectively categorised as<br />
‘not political’.<br />
This year, the nominees all offer more escapism than they do commentary. In 2013, Kanye<br />
West was performing Black Skinhead on Saturday Night Live. In 2016, his most inflammatory<br />
lyrics centred around defending Bill Cosby and claiming to be the catalyst for Taylor Swift’s<br />
fame.<br />
Outside of the Grammys, the trend of de-politicisation in commercial rap is even more<br />
palpable. Budding critical darlings like Young Thug, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty<br />
and Kodak Black are all incredibly talented, but never stray close to anything resembling<br />
politics.<br />
That reticence doesn’t detract from their utility as artists, but it distinguishes them from<br />
their predecessors. The runaway success of songs like Bad and Boujee suggests a shift in<br />
what hip-hop means to the masses: a fun genre that can be political, rather than a political<br />
genre that can be fun. It evolved beyond the radical protest of Public Enemy, the sneering<br />
Beastie Boys, the confrontational Death Row Records. Kanye, Jay Z, Drake and Eminem<br />
remain the genre’s biggest names, but after two decades of domination the genre is set for<br />
another creative revolution.<br />
Bad and Boujee helps crystalise what the next wave looks like. It’s the spritely new guard,<br />
armed with a breezy lust for life and a sound that demolishes the traditions of hip-hop. In<br />
an all-engulfing political nightmare, acts like Migos offer momentary respite that is clearly<br />
resonating with a massive audience. Fleeting as it may be, art that does that is worth its<br />
weight in gold.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
article by reece hooker
contributers:<br />
sam allen<br />
nick bugeja<br />
kelly simpson-bull<br />
natasha brennfleck<br />
menthol charlie<br />
rachelle lee<br />
lachlan liesfield<br />
sian davies<br />
agony aunt<br />
Creative/Comedy<br />
creative/comedy<br />
44-45
How To Be The Best ‘Modern Man’ You Can Be<br />
edition one<br />
Men. Lads. Fellas. Boys. Blokes. Mates. However you salute your fellow man. It feels like the pressure on us<br />
to be gentleman with the women and down at the pub with our mates is ever increasing. But of course, we are up<br />
to the challenge. After having mulled on what we have to do to conquer our critics, I wanted to help out blokes<br />
experiencing the same questions. This is how I wrote out this list, and reckon it’ll serve some of you well. Life is<br />
all about sticking up for your mates. Your mum, girlfriend, brothers and mates will thank you for sticking to these<br />
core principles.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Shake hands with everybody<br />
Let’s be honest, there isn’t much better<br />
than a good handshake. Part and parcel of<br />
a good handshake is a firm, tight grip. The<br />
‘shake’ shouldn’t be brief. I estimate that<br />
the optimal time is about 7.8 seconds, and<br />
nothing less. It is a display of power and<br />
initiative. It’s even better if you initiate<br />
the handshake. Now, there can never be<br />
10.<br />
too many handshakes per day. I advise<br />
you to shake the hand of cab drivers, past<br />
classmates you haven’t seen for 10 years,<br />
and especially your girlfriend’s dad. It’ll be<br />
sure to impress them, and it’ll show the<br />
world your a man of action.<br />
Hang out in big groups of other men<br />
If you go out for a lads night, don’t go out<br />
08.<br />
with one or two of them. Go out with 8 or<br />
more of them. There’s no better sight down<br />
Swanston street on a Saturday night than<br />
a group of serious, ready-to-party blokes<br />
strutting down the street, taking up the<br />
whole path. The women won’t be able to<br />
resist – and that scrawny little guy walking<br />
home from playing ‘Pokemon Go’ will wish<br />
he was one of you. It is also imperative that<br />
you don’t waste your man-power. Make sure<br />
people know you’re in a group amongst your<br />
mates. Yell loudly, and talk over bystanders.<br />
Walk like you own the town.<br />
Always pay for everything<br />
09.<br />
Money is pretty sweet. It lets us buy<br />
Tommy Hilfiger clothes, grog and many<br />
other great male-orientated things. Money<br />
is power. That’s why when you go out on<br />
a date, you have to pay for everything,<br />
especially dinner and a movie (take ‘em to<br />
either Will Ferrell-esque comedies or Steven<br />
Seagal action movies). It sends a strong<br />
signal to your girl that you are that man<br />
able to take care of her. It doesn’t hurt to<br />
be kind, and maybe you’ll get something in<br />
return later. The same applies when you go<br />
out with your mates- always shout them for<br />
the first round. This shows them you’re an<br />
indispensable member of the group. Even<br />
better, you show them that you aren’t tight<br />
with money- a real show of power.<br />
Don’t be afraid to be stylish<br />
One of the best things about the<br />
07.<br />
evolution of being a man is that there’s no<br />
shame to pay attention to style. Having said<br />
that, though, be careful of these ‘hipsters’<br />
and never shop at Target. If you want to<br />
be a presence wherever you are, a good<br />
hairstyle is essential. Manbun, gelled-up<br />
hair, whatever suits you. A good Tommy or<br />
Ralphy shirt or polo is a must for any man<br />
serious about impressing his mates and the<br />
girls. Nice cologne (between $80 and $200)<br />
will only help your chances when your out<br />
there in the nightlife.
When you go out: dance, but not too<br />
vigorously and don’t act like you like it<br />
06.<br />
In the past, it was weak to go out and<br />
dance at nightclubs, but times have now<br />
changed. Beware, though, modulating your<br />
dancing is a key. Doing this will impress<br />
your mates, and even better, catch the eye<br />
of many beautiful ladies. In my experiences,<br />
I have found the finger-wag and controlled<br />
head movement to be pretty sweet dance<br />
moves out on the floor. It allows you to still<br />
scout out the women and the competition<br />
without seeming to ‘into’ emotion and the<br />
music playing. In fact, playing it cool is<br />
essential. Only when you are able to latch<br />
onto a girl dancing alone is it acceptable<br />
to get more serious about things. If you<br />
are lucky enough to find yourself in this<br />
situation, quick, abrupt dance moves will<br />
serve you well. Get especially close to the<br />
girl, ideally from behind.<br />
05.<br />
the bar is a powerful way of channelling<br />
article by nick bugeja<br />
illustration by kelly simpson-bull<br />
Stare at girls when you are trying to attract<br />
them<br />
With girls confidence is key. You have to<br />
show them, and yourself, that you mean<br />
business. The most effective way of getting<br />
the attention of a girl is strong eye contact.<br />
Staring relentlessly and without blinking is<br />
the most pure way to do this. Deliberately<br />
staring at a girl with her friends from across<br />
that you want her. Ideally, standing with<br />
your head slightly turned, staring, will give<br />
you a more handsome, manly profile that<br />
she won’t be able to resist.<br />
Stare at guys walking down the street to show<br />
them you mean business<br />
The staring ‘plan of attack’ also goes for<br />
other guys. Whether your by yourself or<br />
with mates, if you see another pack or a<br />
guy by himself a strong stare is a must. It<br />
shows your prey that you own the town,<br />
and lets them know not to mess with you.<br />
Even greater importance is attached to<br />
04.<br />
this if you are with your girl, as you need<br />
This is decidedly satire.<br />
to send a clear message for them to back<br />
right off. Once at Rats I was there with my<br />
missus and this guy walked up to her and<br />
whispered in her ear, asking her if she’d<br />
seen some movie Raging Buck. I stared<br />
at him the whole time and he fucked off.<br />
That’s what that staring does – it scares<br />
blokes off. Even if the bloke is on the other<br />
side of the road, make sure you meet his<br />
eyes with strong eye contact. It’s a sign of<br />
your position on the top of the food chain.<br />
Walk like you own the town.<br />
Take your sporting life seriously<br />
03.<br />
The sporting field is a great place where<br />
you can prove yourself a man. For whatever<br />
sport you play: cricket, footy, rugby, baseball<br />
(not netball unless there is girls on your<br />
team), it is a great place to show your<br />
physical superiority. This is important<br />
for any man’s psychology, and equally<br />
important to put down any man who is<br />
not at your level. For cricket, this can be<br />
achieved by bowling bouncers at 15-year-old<br />
kids, abusing the umpire, and tensing your<br />
biceps powerfully when you take a wicket.<br />
On Saturday night, discussion of your<br />
physical feats with your mates and female<br />
suitors is a great way to impress.<br />
Be the funniest and the centre of attention<br />
The best way to stand out and be<br />
remembered is to be the life of the party.<br />
Wearing clothes that exhibit your best<br />
physical features (usually biceps and pecks)<br />
goes some way, but being a comedian is<br />
probably the most foolproof way. These<br />
two things combined are irresistible. Some<br />
jokes guarantee to kill: anything Harambe-<br />
02.<br />
related, jokes about Trump, and jokes about<br />
you bashing clowns. Always make sure to<br />
dab.<br />
If you feel insecure or threatened, either try to<br />
belittle the person causing those feelings, or<br />
passively-aggressively play-fight with them<br />
(especially if girls are around)<br />
If theres ever a bloke questioning you,<br />
or trying to make out that you’re not a real<br />
man, DO NOT TAKE IT. If this is done in a<br />
social setting, do either one of two things:<br />
1a. Divert attention away from what was<br />
01. said about you by ruthlessly attacking the<br />
person making the allegation/attack the<br />
weakest bloke there. A hint of comedy in<br />
this is good to insert, but still make it clear<br />
you are ripping into their character. E.g. a<br />
good small-dick comment is reliable.<br />
1b. Play fighting with whoever talks shit<br />
about your manliness is a good way to<br />
reassert your male power. Act like you have<br />
taken it well and just want to engage in<br />
some fun male bonding, but underneath<br />
that try your best to hurt and injure the<br />
bloke without showing that you wanted to.<br />
People will just think that you are naturally<br />
strong if you do that. It is also a good way<br />
to release the anger that is surely eating<br />
away at you. The most important thing<br />
here is to make sure you’re manliness is not<br />
questioned. And if you react well, then it<br />
will get you a bit of silent praise from your<br />
mates and the girls will think that your<br />
above your mates and the man for her.<br />
creative/comedy 46-47
Love Affair With Cinque Terre<br />
edition one<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Images from the western coastline of Cinque Terre.<br />
Tash Brennfleck visited in September 2016 on a study abroad<br />
program with her visual arts degree. The images show the<br />
warm climate, crystal clear water, and other holiday-makers<br />
along the coast. Tash shares her photographs to show her<br />
beautiful experience along the coast of Italy.<br />
instagram: tsh_brn<br />
website: bbt-online.com.au
creative/comedy 48-49<br />
words & photography by natasha brennfleck
Burnt In Bali<br />
edition one<br />
No moisturiser,<br />
lot’s wife<br />
no drink<br />
and certainly<br />
no lawyer.<br />
The day after the Brexit vote I woke up in my suite on the<br />
bottom floor of the Komaneka Bisma – an expansive property<br />
on the edge of Ubud, a village in central Bali. As I woke up, I was<br />
greeted to a slow-burning pain all across my stomach and inner<br />
thighs, the previous day’s post-lunch lounge by the pool having<br />
left me with such severe sunburn that scores of empty Aloe Vera<br />
bottles lay sprawled around my bed. My journey to the shower<br />
proved difficult, pockets of green sludge unsteadied my footing and<br />
the burn had affected my quads so harshly that every step brought<br />
sharp and destabilising spasms.<br />
There is no question that I was duped into an elaborate joke by<br />
the staff at my hotel. I was told that the bottles of spray on each<br />
lounge chair side table was certified ‘Grade A’ 60+ SPF sunscreen.<br />
In hindsight they appear nothing more than the discarded oil from<br />
tuna cans. Where my wintery and pasty Melbournian skin suffered<br />
dearly under this ruse, the blonde wife of a Russian oligarch had<br />
profited greatly – on my balcony later that evening, over a quart of<br />
American Bourbon, she loudly illustrated the impending jealousy<br />
from her Moscovian sisters upon witnessing her tan. Playing the<br />
femme-fatale beautifully, she consoled me and suggested I sue the<br />
bastards for general damages. I sighed and explained I didn’t have<br />
access to a Balinese lawyer who specialised in these sorts of things.<br />
As I was reeling from the shock of my egregious overconfidence<br />
in the power of hotel-provided sunscreen, the world too was<br />
recovering in a similar manner from United Kingdom’s vote to get<br />
out of the EU. None of the King’s Court soothsayers anticipated<br />
such a decisive victory for the Leave camp, over a million votes<br />
favoured a Fractured Kingdom over a United Europe. What<br />
was framed by the Brexiteers as an opportunity to precipitate<br />
a renaissance of the United Kingdom, seems to have created<br />
the exact opposite result. Not that this consequence is entirely<br />
surprising either – the entire contemporary political narrative<br />
will be rewritten by this vote. The political elites have begun<br />
sharpening their knives for what is sure to be a grand feast at the<br />
political theatre. I imagine David Cameron, having lost the vote<br />
and ultimately his Prime Ministership, probably wasted no time in<br />
scouring his teledex for contacts in the Cobblestone Underbelly to<br />
survey his options for retribution. One hell of a sunburn.<br />
A call was forwarded to my room straight from the Labor Party<br />
HQ on Collins Street. The receptionist explained that they had<br />
reversed the charges and asked for permission to bill it to my room.<br />
Upon my loud and profane protestations, he put me on hold. This<br />
was the sort of penny-pinching tomfoolery that the Australian<br />
Left believe they can get away with. The xylophonic holding music<br />
finally ceased and I was told the call was urgent. He insisted that<br />
I accept the call. I agreed and told him to connect the call in 25<br />
seconds, on the condition that my caller be subjected to the holding<br />
melody at its maximum while they waited.<br />
I rushed over to the fridge and grabbed four dark miniatures to<br />
mix myself a drink; no doubt I was about to be swooned over by<br />
a secretarial hack and like shit I was going to allow it sober. The<br />
mystery caller turned out to be an old drinking buddy of mine from<br />
my brief stint at Melbourne University. We developed a habit of<br />
camping out at the craps table in the Mahogany Room in Packer’s<br />
Crown Casino all on our parents’ dollar, to begin revision for our<br />
politics exam, usually scheduled for the forthcoming afternoon.<br />
“Kim Carr, I should’ve guessed it! You fucking snake, where do<br />
you get the gall? No doubt extracted from the testicles of freshfaced<br />
Socialist-Left recruits?”<br />
“Jesus Charlie, you are in Bali aren’t you? I’m told this resort<br />
they’ve got you in is more luxurious than Bob Hawke’s bayside<br />
manor. You’ve got no good reason to be so strung out.”<br />
“Kim, ol’ darling, I know your kind don’t care much for private<br />
credit but this is some serious cheek. Charge it to the party!”<br />
“That’s why I’m calling.”<br />
“Ho ho! In a spot of trouble? Don’t tell me the wire’s going<br />
to read; Labor Heavyweight – in both figure and stature – uses<br />
campaign money to fund Bikie-run pooch nabbing scheme.”<br />
“No, no, we gave up on that enterprise in Oh Five. It’s much<br />
worse, our Accountant tells me Campaign Central has run dry, they<br />
mistakenly approved the printing of four million glossed pamphlets<br />
to be sent to each marginal household in Victoria. The order was<br />
irreversible and now we owe millions to some supplier in Ararat.”<br />
“Ararat? There’s no industry there Kim, only housing for<br />
paedophiles and tourists venturing into Western Victoria on poor<br />
intel. This sounds much worse indeed.”
“Don’t worry about that Charlie, Dreyfus has got his best lawyer<br />
on it. There are more immediate concerns. We’ve got about eight<br />
seats that are so close you could measure the margin on Danby’s<br />
dick, and without any more money we won’t just lose them to the<br />
Libs but also the op shop combing north-side seats to the Greens.”<br />
“Give up on em’ Kim, the bookies are saying Batman will be<br />
worse than Bennelong. Fuck that gaff-prone fool Feeney anyway,<br />
he deserves to lose to an academic. Cut him loose, redirect the<br />
volunteers, save yourselves some clams.”<br />
“This is bigger than Batman, Charlie!”<br />
“Time for the hard-ask. Hold the line Kim, lemme anaesthetise<br />
before you close the last stitch.” I ventured back over to the minibar<br />
to refill my drink.<br />
“I’m back Kim, go for it.”<br />
“Alright, I’ve already hit the Krauts, the Lebs, the St. Kevin’s<br />
crowd and even the Church but it’s not enough. They’re telling me<br />
a Porcine Magnate known to you has boarded himself up in Potts<br />
Point with a Polish dancing troupe, word is they’ve got enough<br />
cocaine on call to keep the Bolivian monopoly going for another<br />
few years, at least. This is the break we need Charlie, his secretary<br />
isn’t taking calls and you have his private cell number. The cash you<br />
secured for us in ‘04 kept the Victorian chapter alive, he seemed<br />
very-”<br />
“He’s turned his sails to the hard-right since then Kim, the<br />
prospects of a $50 billion tax cut bodes well in his circles. I doubt<br />
he’s willing to part with so much dirty cash in this political climate.<br />
We don’t know who’s going to win this fucking election. Bill’s run<br />
and Bus across Australia only succeeded in revealing his Keynsian<br />
leanings and its done well to alienate the Reinhart ilk. More budget<br />
deficits means less income tax cuts! He won’t give up the money<br />
Kim- no matter the ludicrous coke-to-blood ratio.”<br />
“Charlie, the Reds may be relegated to the campuses but the<br />
Greens are thriving in suburbs. If the ALP vote crashes through<br />
in this election we’ll lose all credibility and may never recover in<br />
Victoria. What happened in the UK this morning is a sign of things<br />
to come; the centrists are losing their shine. We’re entering an era<br />
of extreme promises and hard consequences. These new Millennials<br />
coming through are fucking the status quo, the game is changing<br />
and the ALP is still scrambling to figure out what the damned game<br />
is anymore. If you don’t get this injection for us the Greens will be<br />
the only seller on the market. Once they get hooked into the inner-<br />
North, Labor will never be welcomed back, believe me, friend.”<br />
“Every call I get from you Kim, only works to hammer in this<br />
perception that Australian politics is headed for crisis. The Dam is<br />
quickly reaching breaking point; it can only sustain so many gallons<br />
of blasted tripe before it bursts. I’ll give it some serious thought and<br />
get back to you this afternoon. Does Shorten known about this?”<br />
“This entire call is on his instruction.”<br />
“I’ll be in contact Kim.”<br />
I put down the phone with rancorous haste. His reply had deeply<br />
unnerved me. The hurried lighting of a cigarette on my balcony<br />
calmed my angst, but in that mix of smoke and humidity emerged<br />
rapid introspection. Bill Shorten had instructed the most senior<br />
left-wing Senator in Victoria to milk his contacts for an emergency<br />
slush-fund to save Labor’s vote from a fatal and awe-inspiring selfinduced<br />
wound. The immediate parallel to that morning’s Brexit<br />
vote astounded me. Cameron had used Western democracy’s most<br />
powerful structure-shifting mechanism (referendum) as a quick fix<br />
to quell party room dissent, only to fall on his sword spectacularly.<br />
Then, in Australia, the Labor party had taken advantage of a natural<br />
friend of the left, the environment, to not only wastefully produce<br />
tonnes of useless paper fucking pamphlets but to also squeeze dry<br />
the last drop of cash in Baby’s College Fund.<br />
A phone call such as this, then in that silence when the receiver<br />
touched its base revealed something that I had not known nor<br />
could escape. I am as pained by, but persist in the political apparat<br />
as I do my sunburn. A life-time membership to the Royal Australian<br />
Political Theatre grants the commentariat unparalleled privilege<br />
over other private citizens, a privilege that dooms me to watch<br />
empires collapse and see old friends turn dirty. Such a burden it is<br />
to trade secrets in this era of Murdochracy. But alas, it puts me by<br />
pools and sends me to the tropics.<br />
That’s all for now, Menthol Charlie.<br />
I’ve divided my advance towards the next issue<br />
with the diligence of an accomplished jurist. Half<br />
for Mint Juleps and the other for Ibogaine. No<br />
other pharmaceutical interaction could mimic<br />
the extractive capacity of a dreamcatcher so<br />
effectively. After all, the boorish editor of the<br />
Telegraph had the cajones to run a piece on Bill<br />
Shorten and a certain Gentleman’s club on King<br />
Street. This calls for serious reflection, especially<br />
because that motherfucking Labourist hasn’t<br />
squared our debt from that evening…<br />
article & photography by menthol charlie<br />
creative/comedy<br />
50-51
Going Home: A Cycle Of Self Discovery<br />
,<br />
edition one<br />
Some students know how it feels to re-locate to study and go back “home” over the<br />
holiday period, away from their new friends, partner(s) and Melbourne summer events<br />
and atmosphere. Whilst some travel for an hour or two by car others travel by plane for<br />
three or more hours. And still both struggle with existential questions, displacement,<br />
and the cyclical nature of living away from home to study. Although, whilst it all sounds<br />
serious, seeing family once (or more) a year is a pretty cathartic experience where you get<br />
to live like old times, where your housemates are your own flesh and blood.<br />
My existentialist side comes out to play only in Darwin, where I grew up and started to<br />
decide the kind of person I wanted to be. And with this, it is the place where I can no longer<br />
run away from answering the dreaded questions of “Who am I? Where am I going? And<br />
what am I doing?” which are common amongst uni students, especially during exam period<br />
and semester breaks. But there is something much more poignant about trying to find the<br />
answers in the place you grew up. And whilst I never have an answer for these questions,<br />
it’s the process of seemingly long stares at the ceiling, extensive journal writing and asking<br />
overly complex questions to my parents about what they did when they were young that<br />
bookends the end and beginning of my year. And every year my soul search spirals into a<br />
several day period of depression about how I became who I am, until I snap myself out of it<br />
to think about who I am, where I’m going, what I’m doing... until next year. I feel extremely<br />
lucky to have a home away from home and to get away from the intensity of Melbourne<br />
to a place that’s inhabited by nothing but crocodiles and grey nomads. I can explore my<br />
existentialism and reflect on the year past and the one ahead. However, it isn’t always a<br />
calm reflective time.<br />
Displacement feels inescapable when you’re living between two places. For me it feels like<br />
I have three separate lives that are all sewn together through my experiences in Darwin,<br />
and my memorabilia there. All with contrasting experiences, they feel disjointed and<br />
fragmented. I grew up in Melbourne where I engaged with the natural environment and<br />
walked home every day with my best friend through the most beautiful Sherbrooke forests<br />
and made new friends in my first years at high school. Then my family moved to Darwin<br />
displacement<br />
where I started all over again, making new friends, exploring new interests and wishing to<br />
return to Melbourne. Those years, of course, were stained with teenage angst. My current<br />
life in Melbourne feels like I’m returning to a reoccurring dream where everything is so<br />
also a strange hunch that they’re memories from a life that isn’t mine. My displacement<br />
feels<br />
stems from living away<br />
inescapable<br />
from family where we have a shared history for a great majority of<br />
my life. Where I am now, living an environment where I have a future, I’m still unsure<br />
whether I can confidently call two places my home – for remotely different reasons – but<br />
I’m willing to try.<br />
familiar but isn’t the same and not quite like how it used to be. Visiting where I used to<br />
grow up and my old friends there, I am engulfed in a wave of nostalgia and familiarity but<br />
The cycle of going back and forth between two places not only feeds into the idea of<br />
displacement – never really settling anywhere or feeling completely at peace – but also<br />
feeds the cycle of annual self-reflection. Every year the cycle continues to uncover personal<br />
growth, reflection and boundless possibilities. But will the concept of entropy ring true<br />
to the point where the regularity of my annual self-reflection will decline into a greater<br />
disorder and further disassociation with memory, and the feelings of displacement and<br />
fragmentation? Or will it, alternatively, become so regular, where the time spent away<br />
when youre<br />
from Melbourne no longer harbours the effects of personal reflection as the years go past?<br />
I honestly don’t know which I prefer but can feel slightly more at ease, knowing there are<br />
other students in the Monash community who face the same challenges of the cyclical<br />
nature of living away from home.<br />
I definitely feel I’ve grown as a person since the last time I visited Darwin but I can<br />
imagine I said this last year and will say it again next year. But I don’t know, it just feels like<br />
living between<br />
there’s something more to living away from home than just being in two places at different<br />
reasons.<br />
two places<br />
times of the year, in places that hold such personal relevance, for completely opposite<br />
lot’s wife
article by natasha brennfleck, artwork by rachelle lee<br />
creative/comedy<br />
52-53
MS Word Enjoys Itself<br />
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh you’re reading this, are you?<br />
edition one<br />
Like properly? With words sounding off in your head and that tinny little voice going ringa-dinga-dinga if<br />
it sees it?<br />
Aha.<br />
Well, very nice then. Carry on.<br />
Oh, bugger you can’t. You need words to do that. Alright, alright just give me a minute and I’ll go and<br />
fetch them, yeah? Great, cheers.<br />
Oh, shit I’ve lost them.<br />
And they were bloody good I tell you, words so good you couldn’t even pronounce them, words like<br />
‘phendrenamultimatchimier’.<br />
But real.<br />
But just as equally unpronouncable. Even in that head of yours.<br />
You didn’t think much of that, did you?<br />
No, didn’t think you’d be impressed. You know what? It’s fine, I’ll take another look alright, I’ll find the<br />
words, just give me -<br />
Whoa,<br />
Hey,<br />
Alright, here, here, here, what about this fella:<br />
“In the same exacting perfection as before, she had not aged a day”<br />
Now that’s a bloody good one that is. True romance in written form. All served up to you on a silver platter.<br />
Silver page. Well, that bit of the page was, we had to make cutbacks somewhere.<br />
But, as I’m sure you can see, we are still a journal of the highest quality, indeed, I would doff my cap to<br />
you if I could, and wish you a good day. Indeed, I have, just like that, you see? Lovely.<br />
You’re still here.<br />
I told you, I lost the words, I didn’t even find those last ones, I just made them up myself. The real words<br />
are gone.<br />
I’m sorry.<br />
Here now, here now, don’t be sad you see, just, well look, look at that:<br />
That’s a proper illustration and all what you’re seeing there, not often we get them in such high quality in<br />
these parts, I tell ya. No, no it’s all plain text this, and formatting that, with no regard to the pleasure of<br />
one such as yourself, ya see.<br />
But that sorta thing is what you came here for innit? Alright then, try with me, come on, give it a shot,<br />
and<br />
3,<br />
2,<br />
1,<br />
And...<br />
Gah, thought that’d work, was hoping the words would find themselves, you see? Never have such luck<br />
I do, but I thought, maybe they’d come out for you.<br />
Come, come, lets try again, and -<br />
3,<br />
2,<br />
1,<br />
Butsincethoulovest,lovestillandthrivetherein,EvenasIwouldwhenItolovebegin”<br />
Bugger me, that all came gushing out at once, didn’t it? Ahaha, we did it, oh, I knew we could do it you<br />
and I, look at that, words on a page. Maker and muse, you and me. Maker and muse.<br />
That’s real beauty that is. What we made there. The words always come to ya eventually.<br />
lot’s wife
True, they did come out in a bit of a deluge, but, you know what, it’s fine, it’s fine, we’ll sort it out now, alright, you<br />
stuck with me this far let’s just, just see what we can get here with a little –<br />
“But since thou lovest, love still and thive therein, even as I would when I to love begin”<br />
Mhm,<br />
Mhm,<br />
That’s the stuff. See what we can do when we take our time to think before we read? Just gorgeous.<br />
But ere, I can do one better –<br />
“But since thou lovest, love still and thrive therein,<br />
Even as I would when I to love begin”<br />
Formatting, ten out of ten. Just makes it that bit more readable, yeah.<br />
Oh, oh, oh, I’m sorry, this is actually probably a bit boring for you, isn’t it? Here then, you give it a shot, let me read<br />
something of yours.<br />
Seriously.<br />
Just put it, umm<br />
Just put it here:<br />
article by lachlan liesfield, illustrations by sian davies<br />
Nope, nothing?<br />
Come on, don’t be shy, show me some words, take whatever space you need, here, here, here, just chuck it:<br />
Ah.<br />
I see the problem. Alright, silly me, that’s, yep, that one’s on me.<br />
Alright, alright, here, just for you then, to say sorry (you must be so embarrassed!) I’ll do something exciting, see:<br />
“But since thou lovest, love still and thrive therein,<br />
Even as I would when I to love begin”<br />
Yeah. I know you’re impressed. They don’t call it Impact for nothing, right?<br />
Hey, hey, more fun coming up:<br />
I may have got a bit excited.<br />
creative/comedy<br />
54-55
Wot’s Life? With Agony Aunt<br />
edition one<br />
Agony Aunt and friends will be here all<br />
year to answer your anonymous questions.<br />
Q.<br />
What happens when you die?<br />
You’re reborn as a bug for asking such a<br />
shit question. Or you go to heaven, or to hell.<br />
Or you just cease to exist. Or maybe you just<br />
live in an urn above a mantle?<br />
Personally, I’d say that it depends on your<br />
own beliefs and no one has come back from<br />
the dead to tell me otherwise.<br />
A.<br />
Q.<br />
I have feelings for my cousin. What<br />
should I do?<br />
You should transfer to the University of<br />
Tasmania.<br />
If anything progresses it is incest to<br />
conceive a child so I suggest you adopt. But<br />
in Australia apparently it’s legal to marry first<br />
cousins. So whatever, I guess it’s fine.<br />
A.<br />
lot’s wife<br />
Q.<br />
I am attracted to my co-worker and he<br />
asked me out to dinner but I’m pretty sure<br />
he has a girlfriend.<br />
Firstly you don’t seem convinced that he<br />
has a girlfriend so probably just confirm that<br />
it’s true. Talk to him up front and see what<br />
he says. Or ya know, stalk his Facebook<br />
and Instagram and the respective girl’s<br />
A. Facebook and Instagram just to confirm if<br />
he does indeed have a girlfriend.<br />
You could always casually slip it into<br />
conversation? But odds are if he asked you<br />
out on a date he’s keen and maybe he has an<br />
open relationship or something or maybe he<br />
just wants to be friends. I suggest you clarify<br />
with him before you get more involved.<br />
Q.<br />
Do you have any suggestions or tips for<br />
taking sexy photos? I am a 22 year old<br />
girl but I have never done it before. I have<br />
just started seeing a guy and I want him to<br />
know what he’s missing out on when we<br />
can’t see each other as we both have busy<br />
work schedules.<br />
A.<br />
Personally, I suggest you keep your face<br />
out of it because what if he turns out to be a<br />
twat and shows lots of people, ya know? Or<br />
alternatively just gather blackmail material<br />
on him and go wild with your photos.<br />
But I feel like you can’t really go wrong<br />
with taking sexy photos, you’re literally<br />
sending them a pic of your boobs, they’re<br />
not allowed to complain and they have to<br />
love it regardless.<br />
Q.<br />
Q.<br />
My friends don’t want full communism<br />
A.<br />
like I do. Please help.<br />
Find new friends, you don’t need people<br />
like that in your life.<br />
O - Week is the time to branch out and<br />
A.<br />
to make new friends so make sure you go<br />
to as many events as you can and befriend<br />
as many people as you can because who<br />
knows, maybe they want full communism<br />
too!<br />
Q.<br />
If I’m wearing a choker, does that mean<br />
I like anal?<br />
According to memes (the highest source<br />
of authority there is) yes, but I’d like to see<br />
the empirical evidence behind it.<br />
It probably just means that you like<br />
chokers and accessorising your neck to be<br />
frank.<br />
A.<br />
Q.<br />
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it<br />
hurt losing your virginity?<br />
Guess you’ll just have to try it to find out<br />
but we’ll say a 4.<br />
But in all seriousness, I doubt that the first<br />
time is great for anyone and if they say it<br />
is they’re probably a liar. So don’t fret, it’ll<br />
probably be over in 40 seconds anyway.<br />
A. Read a few Cosmo articles to prepare<br />
yourself, I find Cosmo to be enlightening!
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
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women for our magazine;<br />
DISSENT<br />
Please email submissions to msadissent17@gmail.com<br />
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TUESDAY 14 MARCH<br />
Doors open from 9pm<br />
Lockout at 10pm<br />
$20 tickets<br />
Tickets available at monash.edu/summerfest<br />
or at the MSA Desk and Sir Johns Bar<br />
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