Pelican Edition 3, 2021 - Trans/mission by UWA Student Guild

Trans/mission 92.3

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PRESI MILLI RILEY TORIAL TORIAL TORIAL

Waddup gangsters,

Earth to pelicans, do you copy?

Sem One is nearly at its end. I cannot be the only one who feels like it was a blip in time, yet also one of the longest, most drawnout band aids of a semester to rip off. Exams loom in the not so distant future; best of luck to you all. Whether you get that HD or just get by, be proud of yourself for just finishing.

As our feathered astronauts soar above us and beneath the water - in search of the best content our universe and estuaries have to offer - we’ve scouted out some stellar student content from mission control in the Pelican Office.

Trans/mission is the theme of this edition and boi o’ boi is it relevant to us right now. Perhaps it is the trans/mission of knowledge from your brain to paper in your upcoming assessments. Perhaps it is the trans/mission of the virus which is currently devastating countries and communities around the world. Or, the trans/mission of conflict occurring around the globe at this very moment in Palestine and Myanmar. While the trans/mission of disease and conflict causes unbearable pain, each one of us has our own ability to trans/ mit compassion and kindness to each other, which has an ongoing ripple effect throughout our communities. Choose to trans/mit positivity and love in these uncertain times.

From space exploration to the link between extremism and memes, you’ll find something within these pages that piques your interest and if not, well, our pelicans are still orbiting above us so radio in at a later date. Look out! We also have a special ‘trans/mission’ somewhere in our magazine! While trans/missions of the viral kind rippled through our community recently, the rapid trans/mission of information through testing, technology, and media, as well as our solidarity and support for one another kept us safe and agile. As we each continue on our individual missions, let’s make sure we continue to listen, critique, and communicate with one another to improve our world. Until the next edition, sit back, relax, and stay tuned.

I’m on my laptop in the lounge room, finalising this edition. My grandparents, married now for sixty-odd years, sit on the couch, watching telly. Info being trans/ mitted on my little device, on the TV. Instant Facebook communication alongside the planned, produced artistry of the bigger screen. It’s the ABC, a show called Wakefield. Episode Four or something, and I have no idea what’s going on. But it’s kinda a love story I think, with some wacky multiple timelines and ‘Come on Eileen’ in the background and all the various tricks of the trade. Music blaring heartache, emails dinging urgently. I look at the couch, and Mama and Papa are holding hands, eyes fixed on what the screen reveals, or allows. And they squeeze each other’s hands, and I wonder what THAT communicates; what that trans/mits. A little less, perhaps, than a whole TV series. Or maybe much more. Sometimes things are a little blurry. This edition is themed ‘Trans/ mission’: make of it what you will.

Pelican over and out.

Contents Trans/mission

ARTS

‘The slowness of books’: Interview with Daniel Juckes - Ellie Fisher | Page 46 A Night from the Top Shelf - Luke McPherson | Page 40 COMEDY

COLUMN - Letters to the Editor Various | Page 16 Caption Contest - Holly Carter Turner and Benjamin Caulfield | Page 17 Comedy: How Not to Be Honest Riley Nguyen | Page 15 DIVERSITY

Influencers with a Mission Cleo Robins | Page 50 COVID Transitions - Laura Green | Page 64 FASHION

The Winter Guide: Timeless Classics Kayley Cranley | Page 28 Trashmission - Maja Maric | Page 43 FILM

Missing My Memories of Miyazaki - Rachel Denham-White | Page 38 Trans/mission Interruption - Boa Antahputro | Page 41 FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

The Anti-Progress of Progressiveness Lana Pavlovic | Page 20 COLUMN – The Theory of Model Sentiments - Charles Fedor | Page 23 LIFESTYLE

La Dolce Far Niente - Ellenor Sibon | Page 18 The Missions of a Fresher: Entry One - Kate Hawker | Page 44 LITERATURE WRITING

AND

CREATIVE

static – Ellie Fisher | Page 9 When to say it and when not to say it - Tess Bury | Page 35 Breaking the Rules or Making Them? Rachel Denham-White | Page 53 As Beautiful as Any Other Elena Perse | Page 60

Irreversible: Entering the Void of Gaspar Noé – Giles Chan | Page 30 The views expressed within this magazine are not the opinions of the UWA Student Guild or Pelican Editorial Staff but of the individual artists and writers. The Pelican team acknowledges that the UWA Campuses are located on the lands of the Whadjuk and Mineng peoples of the Noongar nation, the original and continuing storytellers and custodians of their lands. These lands were stolen, and sovereignty was never ceded.

How can YOU get involved? Join our Pelicreators 2021 Facebook group, or email the Editors at pelican@guild.uwa.edu.au

Cover Art by Pauline Wong MUSIC

Trans/Mit This! - Seth Malice | Page 58 Trans/action - Rob Pierson | Page 62 POLITICS

Sub-Editors ARTS - Matt Bryan & Natasha Brandon COMEDY - Charlie Mills & Faisal Hamza

It’s Not Just a Meme, Bro – Luke Barber | Page 6

DIVERSITY - Amman Bari & Cleo Robins

Inside the Murky Canberra Bubble - Linda Pickering | Page 26

FASHION - Emma Forsyth

COLUMN – Politicontiki – Phoebe Levin | Page 56 SCIENCE

Plastic isn’t the Problem; You Are Toby Brown | Page 67 SPORT

Trans/forming Lives Through Inclusive Sport - Jamieson Kay | Page 10 ‘By One Degree’: Anna Cook and Transition in Sport - Luke McPherson | Page 12 TECHNOLOGY AND GAMING

Gaming Missions That Stuck Tim Wong | Page 30 Transmitting the Universe’s Secrets: Professor Peter Quinn - Ahmed Suliman | Page 70

ART

Untitled - Hnin Ei Kyaw Win | Page 34 & 75 Transmission - Talola John | Page 42 PHOTOGRAPHY

Parks on a Pedestal: May Drive Parkland Ashley Browse | Page 36

FILM - Amy Papasergio & Boa Antahputro ECONOMICS AND FINANCE - Brook Lewis & Charles Fedor LIFESTYLE - Courtney Withers LITERATURE - Campbell Williamson & Elena Perse MUSIC - Jack Meakins POLITICS - Luke Barber & Maddi Broad SPORT - Nicholas Warrand & Lulu Suleski SCIENCE - Jack Logan & Paris Javid TECHNOLOGY AND GAMING - Ahmed Suliman Pelican Editors 2021 Riley Faulds & Millie Muroi Magazine designed by Xander Sinclair

For Pelican this year, we’re having an all-new ‘Pelican Plus’ section online for each issue. Wherever you see this little tech-whiz pelican, there will be illustrations, diagrams, further content or exciting ideas related to that page/section. Go online to pelicanmagazine.com. au to see all the bonus content for this issue.

It’s Not Just A Meme, Bro LUKE BARBER wishes he’d taken his mother’s advice and read more through High School. During a brief period in Year Nine when I had very few friends, I spent recess and lunchtimes standing on the outskirts of one particular group of boys. There was probably a group of these boys at your school, too. They were very uncool, had little feminine contact, and loved video games. Obviously none of these traits should be held against a person, especially not an innocent teen, but what was a little uncouth were their chosen topics of conversation. The playground chatter in this group was mostly centred on porn, niche YouTube videos and, first and foremost, edgy memes. Lots and lots of edgy memes, spoken about in words I’d never heard before, but that sounded like they belonged to obscure corners of the internet (I used a lot of Urban Dictionary during this era of my adolescence). I happily moved on to greener pastures come Year Ten, and left the offensive gags behind. Then, two years ago, I ran Chad - A deroga tory into a couple of those guys at a party.

term for attracti ve men who are appealing to wom en and have lots of sex. The implica tion being that wom en are shallow and will always go for Ch ads.

It was stark how little had changed. I felt like a completely different person, and here were these people spewing racial slurs and doing impromptu Hitler impressions. I felt like my lovely, progressive bubble had collided with a different bubble. A bubble I never thought people I once considered my friends would be part of.

Video killed the radio star. Pelican killed the video star.

Femoid - A portmanteau of ‘female’ and is a ‘humanoid ’, this ed us r slu st misogyni en as to describe wom non-human.

Cuck consider A term ed d to describ erogatory effemina e a weak, te or o inadequ ther wise ate man .

Last year (for Honours research) I spent some time on a select few notorious far-right forums: 8chan, 4chan, and certain corners of Reddit. The reason I was interested in these forums was because of their recent notoriety as important breeding grounds for far-right extremism. This was thrown into sharp relief by massacres such as those in Christchurch and El Paso, Texas, where the culprits were not only radicalised on these boards, but shared material such as manifestos and live footage onto them during the attacks. But trawling these dark corners of the internet - again, I cannot stress enough, strictly for research - I made a startling realisation: they sounded like the boys I hung out with in Year Nine. Post after post, their racist comments were full of similar teenager-y internet words, and I found my brain reading them in the voice of the boy who had impersonated Hitler. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s no secret that websites like 4chan and 8chan are tailor-made to accommodate edgy memes due to being anonymous and unregulated ‘image boards’ (meaning each post is required to have a unique image). The unfortunate story of Pepe, the innocent frog who was claimed as a symbol by the altright on 4chan and tainted forever, has become well known. But I always thought of these two phenomena – the edgy mememakers and the white supremacists – as separate communities that cohabited. I assumed they existed harmoniously but independently: similarly to how I go on Twitter every day but only ever see funny comments from political journalists, and never come across any hint of the ‘Sports Twitter’ that I am told is alive and thriving.

rm used to Kek - A te t with bu mean ‘lol ’, ificance sign heightened ht. It also -rig for the alt ed the so-call ts n se repre ion’, ig el ‘r e th ‘deity’ of e icted as Pep usually dep g. the Fro

BUT THE TWO AREN’T SEPARATE. THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME. Goolag - A portmanteau of ‘Google’ and ‘gulag’ (gee, they love portmantea us). The idea here is that Google is a leftwing ech o chamber that cen sors thought which do esn’t fit within this ideo log y.

This isn’t to say anybody who has visited one of these sites in the pursuit of memes (or porn, there’s a lot of that too) is a radical alt-right racist; of course there is a spectrum. But by and large, the people there making edgy jokes like the ones I heard in high school are the same ones discussing racial segregation. The people there discussing video games like teenage boys are, in some cases, the same people supportively reacting to footage of people being murdered. Captions + maximum volume = grandparents.

In April, ASIO Director Mike Burgess described the far-right movement as being predominantly filled with young men. A year ago, this would have surprised me. A lot of young people, myself included, probably think of the political ‘right’ as something of older generations - shouldn’t the far-right be as well? And there certainly are spaces on the internet inhabited by older people, filled with alarmist discussion of social change and panic over the decline of Christian morals. These forums exist, but if you go to 4chan or 8chan, you’ll encounter a different kind of extremism.

Wrongthink - An idea that the alt right sees as tru e, but is silenced by TP TB (the powers that be) on the intolerant left.

This is not the bigotry of your grandparents. This is juvenile boys spiralling into more and more racist rhetoric by trying to outcompete each other for shock value. This is a community who have developed a whole system of new words like ‘kek’, ‘cuck’, and ‘Chad’ to attempt to make their conversations opaque to intruders. This is lonely boys finding comfort in an online reality that lures them in with a sense of community and slowly drags them deeper into the web of the alt-right belief system. This is an online, purpose-built pipeline that takes insecure teenagers in at one end and spits out extremists at the other. And these individuals are precisely the people ASIO views as a terrorist threat, with twenty-five being the current average age of the subjects they are investigating. When I hear Mike Burgess say that the people ASIO is concerned about are “young, well educated, articulate and middle class”, I think about the boys from Year Nine and it sends a shiver down my spine. In researching this piece I went back to the website formerly known as 8chan and looked at the posts on its political discussion board. Following the departure of President Trump from office in January (and the subsequent collapse of QAnon), 8chan has spiralled out of relevance. Numbers of active users have been decimated. It appears the people whose words I was reading last year, the ones who sounded so much like the boys from Year Nine, have moved on as well. I wonder where they have gone

They said we couldn’t put a video in a magazine. Well, press play.

static

Ellie Fisher could not be contacted for comment That feeling of lightness. Angular blackness discloses itself briefly. Fears fall away. They clustered so thickly, so extravagantly. Golden bees upon a raven head. You let them go unwillingly, expecting disaster when their weight fell from your bones. Now you are moon-thin, skin-tender, helium-light. The bruises ring and circle, beautiful blood shadows. Tides of anxiety bleed into indigoes. Heartbeat after heartbeat thread through your veins, transgressive. Outside the chapel, the sky is dour. That Sunday look. Clouds filled with the taught feeling of unreleased rain. The dinge of petrol in the air, the blossoming headiness of it all. The church is modern, but not aggressively so. You are out of place, a godless visitor attracting hopeful glances. I like the light globes, he says, stretching. The filaments twist and flame. But you are not looking at the lights now. His eyes are blue-grey, two pearls. The service begins. The apiary-hum cuts out, transgressive.

Trans/forming Lives Through the Shared Mission of Inclusive Sport Jamieson Kay is a UWA English graduate trying to break stereotypes by making a career out of that degree. What do a local AFL group and a local competitive ballroom dancing club share? A mission to bring LGBTQ+ inclusivity to local sporting clubs. Sports Australia has partnered with the Human Rights Commission to promote the inclusion of LGBTQ+ Australians in sport at the local level. Around Perth, many groups have also embraced this mission. We caught up with two of those clubs: OUTdance and the Perth Hornets, to explore why the mission of LGBTQ+ inclusivity in sport matters, and how it can transform the lives of members of the local queer community.

OUTdance, Perth: Established in 2001 by Darryl Davenport and Tanya McGuiness, OutDance is a local dance group with a mission to bring samesex ballroom dancing to the mainstream, to transform people’s understanding of what ballroom dancing is, and to support the local LGBTQ+ community through inclusive sport. “Darryl and Tanya were heavily involved in mainstream ballroom dancing and saw a need for gay couples to learn to dance socially and compete at a professional level,” a spokesperson from OUTdance explained. 10

Gay couples have been barred from mainstream ballroom competitions until recently. But Darryl and Tanya’s mission to bring same-sex dancing to Perth has seen several gay, lesbian and transgender dancers compete in local competitions. OUTdance has received multiple awards for its dedication to same-sex ballroom dancing. About twenty members attend their uniquely structured lessons weekly. “We have structured the classes so that we always have two teachers, and new people attending will get a dedicated beginner lesson each week,” the spokesperson said. “We structure the classes so that LGBTQ+ singles will always have a partner to dance with.” The spokesperson said dancing was great for both physical and mental health. “A good part of our weekly class is socialising, we all get to chat about local gay events as well as our personal lives,” they said. OUTdance’s dedication is demonstrated in the longevity and success of its program. “A couple of our dance members were at the very first lesson and they still come regularly now,” the spokesperson said. “My partner and I have been involved in OUTdance for 16 years and we have made lifelong friends; it’s a great place to meet other LGBTQ+ people and have fun at the same time.”

Science can’t explain the volume of really empty space in the Bayliss building.

The Perth Hornets They’re a local AFL club established by Dan Cooper after he moved from Adelaide to Perth. Formed out of his love for AFL, and the desire to bring queer people together through a shared hobby, the club remains the only officially listed LGTBQ+ inclusive AFL club listed in Pride in Sport. The AFL has flagged tackling homophobia and biphobia at the grassroots level as a key mission, and the Perth Hornets have risen to meet this challenge. While speaking with All Things Queer, Hornet Ian was asked why the club had a mission to maintain an LGBTQ+ specific club today. “In queer sports, it’s okay if you’re gay, or non-binary, or you’re a trans person… queer sports are there to say it doesn’t matter who you are, just come along and be yourself,” Ian said. Ian explained his desire to transform stereotypes about LGBTQ+ people, and particularly gay men. “I think it’s such a stereotype…you’re brought up thinking ‘you’re gay, you don’t play sport’,” he said. “So we’ve resigned ourselves for so long to the fact that’s the way it is...sports don’t take the time to reinforce that no matter who you are, you can play sport.”

“THAT GOES FOR RACE, SEX, SEXUALITY, ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF.” Ian stated that one of his favourite things about being on the team was watching how people “come out of their shell”. The power of sport to provide a space for individuals to be supported and included within realms from which they have been typically rejected, cannot be understated and is a common thread between these two local groups. OUTdance and the Perth Hornets are only two clubs of many in Perth, which altogether span everything from badminton, to synchronised swimming, basketball, tennis, and indoor rock climbing. All these clubs share a mission: to support the local queer community, and bring people together through a shared love of a hobby. Transforming people’s lives, they challenge our understanding of the queer community. Despite being from two very different areas, the shared mission of OUTdance and the Perth Hornets demonstrates the importance of inclusive sport in the lives of local LGBTQ+ people. Note: some quotes sourced from ‘Perth Hornets Interview’ presented by Leigh Hill and All Things Queer on 92.1FM. Found at: https://rtrfm.com.au/story/perth-hornetsput-the-lgbtqia-in-afl/

Parking availability at UWA is directly correlated with the job market.

‘By One Degree’:

Anna Cook and Transition in Sport LUKE MCPHERSON’S only goal in life is to have fun When a friend’s team was in desperate need of another player, Anna Cook stepped in. It was in the seaside town of Clacton, Essex in 1997 - and the first time she played hockey. Anna was mesmerised by the sport,

continuing to play even after moving in 2013 from England to Perth, where she joined the Fremantle Cockburn Hockey Club. In 2018, Anna began her transition; previously known as James, she had lived her life as a man.

A visit to the Shakespeare Garden ensures no tragedy will befall your essays.

“At the end of 2017, I had a few personal revelations in myself,” Anna said. “My life was off by one degree. I was never really unhappy; things just didn’t line up.” In 1998, the annual Eurovision song contest was held in Birmingham. The winning song, Diva, was performed by Israeli singer Dana International. Ms. International was the first singer at the contest to have undergone gender reassignment surgery, and the first transgender woman Anna had seen. Anna said that was the first time she realised you could be born as one thing and live as another. “If we go back 25 years, people were completely oblivious to transgender,” Anna said. “I would wear my sister’s clothes (and) I used to keep it a secret because it felt wrong. It felt like I was the only one doing it and I was all alone. As time went on the internet became a thing, and I got to learn that there are others out there.” Four months and $3000 worth of psychology sessions later, Anna decided to start her transition: “People think you wake up one day and decide to put on a dress and say that’s your life now. It’s not really like that, it’s to improve my quality of life.” Anna said continuing to repress was not an option, and that leaving it longer would mean marriage and children could potentially make

it much harder. “It’s scary. You’re about to turn everything upside down, you’re about to tear down your whole life.” After beginning her transition, Anna could not bring herself to return to hockey: the sport she had played for 21 years. “I thought at one point I could go without hockey but I can’t, I couldn’t,” she said. “A lot of my friends were from hockey so when I got rid of that, I had nothing.” In late 2018, Anna began playing with the Perth Pythons - WA’s only LGBTQ+ hockey club. A teammate looking to play hockey asked Anna what she thought about her old club and if she would go back and play there with her. Anna had not thought of this as an option, but decided to see if it was possible. She contacted members of the committee at Fremantle Cockburn, and they said they would sort it out. Neither Hockey WA, nor Hockey Australia, had rules for transgender women, so they referred to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC’s rules state: “athletes are required to demonstrate that their total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months prior to their first competition”. Basically, female athletes cannot have too much testosterone in their body. Anna was 90 % below the maximum, and therefore free to play.

Docs used to be part of the army uniform of Arts students.

But Anna said she was afraid that people would walk off the turf in the first game. “Whilst I was not breaking any rules, it was the social aspect of it,” she said. “For the first five or six games, I was so aware of what was going on around me. I was petrified that someone was going to be upset or not on board with it all. It was such an emotionally tiring time.” There are questions around performance advantage for transgender women. Just a year into her transition, Anna had lost 20 kg of muscle mass. She was seeing a personal trainer at the time and her chest press had dropped from over 40 kg to around 20 kg. In Anna’s first season playing with the women, she played in a game where her team lost 11-0, and never won a game. “If I had a performance advantage, I don’t think we’d lose 11-0,” she laughed. Anna remained hyper-aware of those around her. She did not want to stand out or upset anyone. She also did not want the hockey club she loved to be negatively impacted by allowing her to play. “I said to the club, I’m very grateful, but if anyone has a problem with it, I’d rather not do it,” Anna said.

Like many transgender women, Anna has experienced discrimination. She recalls talking to an opposing player after a game and being told that people from the opposing club had been saying horrible things about her. “One of the guys from their men’s team was being vocal about my existence and kept referring to me as ‘it’,” Anna said. “That really shook me. Being referred to as ‘it’ stripped all humanity from me. I am not even a human being at that point, I am just a thing.” Anna has never wanted attention; she wants the complete opposite. “The ultimate goal is to blend into society and end up in the background,” she said. “I don’t really want to stand out as different, the idea was to fit in with the rest of the world.” At the beginning of 2021, Anna was named captain of Fremantle Cockburn’s top women’s side. She coaches a junior team at the club and the Ladies 3-5s teams. “It’s awesome that people have put that faith in me and want me there in that position,” Anna said. “Irrespective of my situation, it’s a great honour.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE WHERE I AM NOW. I NEVER THOUGHT

I’D BE IN THIS SITUATION. I’M HAPPIER THAN I EVER HAVE

BEEN. EVERYTHING LINES UP, EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE.” 14

ARTWORK BY HOLLY CARTER-TURNER

How Not to Be Honest RILEY NGUYEN is a big believer in choc mint supremacy. Don’t let this article fool you i am actually a fully qualified writer and comedian. Do you see what I just did there? I purposely used incorrect grammar. Hopefully, it made you go back, reread the sentence, and think, “my gosh, they don’t know what they’re talking about”. Hello, I’m Riley Nguyen and I’ve been performing comedy since 2015. Welcome to my master class - not really, but I am about to coin a term, so maybe that’s worth something. My comedy philosophy has always been: “Self-Effigy Comedy”, an effigy being: “An image or representation especially of a person: often, a crude figure representing a hated person.” (I am fully aware this article has become more like a wedding speech by adding in a dictionary definition.) Whenever I perform comedy, I find it easiest to get up on the stage and present a version of myself that the audience can burn and throw tomatoes at. Whether that be a sketch poking fun at film-bros, acting as a fascist for a play, or simply walking up to the microphone with

no material prepared. I am always creating a version of myself the audience can rally around for a good laugh AT me, and not with me. There is definitely an element of, “I have to do it before anyone else does” kind of defensiveness to it - needing to point out my flaws before anyone else does. There was a major shift in my personality after I started performing comedy. I started casually telling people about peculiar kinks I was perhaps into, or some childhood trauma that still affects me today - and I would shrug it all off with a weak punchline. They would laugh, and not ask anything, and it took me years to realise I shouldn’t have told people those things, especially in the context that I did. But it felt comfortable to open up that way. I encourage anyone who thinks they’re funny to try out stand-up comedy; there’s always room for more comedians with varying viewpoints and unique insights. My personal advice to you is this: don’t base your comedy on sharing the worst sides of yourself - at least not until you’ve processed it fully, before taking it to the stage. “You can tell a story with a scar, but never with a bleeding wound.”

Budget Analysis: Cuts. N.

Letters to the Editor Dear UWA Love Letters,

Dear Editor,

I’m in love. I’ve fallen for the most beautiful ethereal being - who lights up my world. Like Romeo and Juliet, we are star-crossed lovers, and I will not hide the truth any longer. The world should know that you are mine and I am yours.

People ask me about my days in the army.

I am in love with you, Chilli and Lime Mission Chips. I’ve loved you ever since I accidentally picked you up because I thought you were the normal cheese flavour. Meet me in aisle five tonight, let us run away and live our lives with no judgement. Love from your one and only, Doritos Salsa AUTHOR BIO: ESHA JESSY has started a diet of Mission Chips and Mission Chips only.

Editor, do you read me? Our man on the inside says that everything is set. All you’ve got to do is scale the drainpipe, jump the fence, avoid the security cameras, distract the guard dog, ring the doorbell, and run like hell. Mum’s gonna be so mad. Ready when you are. Over.

They always want to hear stories from my tours in Afghanistan or Iran. But never ask about my most memorable tour in France, when I visited the Louvre museum. Thanks, Salvation army vet

Dear Editor, Confession: I used to really want to be a spy. My wish came true in the Christmas of 2012 when I was gifted two bright orange and green walkie talkies. We were going to have so much fun together. But on their very first outing, I heard a stranger’s voice speak out of one of them. I went straight home and took the batteries out. I wrapped the green one in a cloth, smashed it with a hammer and buried it in my next door neighbour’s front garden. As for the other, I tied it to a brick and dropped it off a jetty into the river. Regretfully, Someone who learnt only yesterday learnt how radios work AUTHOR BIO: MCKENZIE NAGLE really struggles to write about herself in third person.

Dear Editor,

We appreciate you trying to spice up the team meeting presentation last week, but we’ve received several complaints about your choice of aesthetic in the occupational health and safety section.

I just invested in Dogecoin

I know it was somewhat relevant to show the fire exits disappearing with a flash of smoke, but half-blinding the audience with flash bulbs as you show the official complaint forms being “shredded” is pushing us in the wrong direction.

AUTHOR BIO: DAVID PAIK likes that dog from Scooby-Doo.

I know, I’m smart

Get yourself together, Management

So which hotel did you stay at? Art by: Holly Carter-Turner | Caption by: Benjamin Caulfield

La Dolce Far Niente

ELLENOR SIBON eats her pizza with a knife and fork.

Ever since conjugating my first verb in ITAL1001, it has become my mission to graduate uni with a thorough grasp of the Italian language. It has been a bumpy journey so far, but one that I am enjoying immensely. Italian is not a particularly practical third language, but it is beautiful. Our increasingly fast-paced world has little time for aesthetics — the quiet contemplation of beauty, art, and pleasure, to name a few. This is deeply unfortunate because aesthetics are integral to our humanity; through them, we find meaning and purpose in everyday life. I live with clinical anxiety and depression, the result of which is that my mind often goes much too fast or much too slow. Focusing on beauty helps me to feel grounded. A beautiful flower or word helps me escape my thoughts for a while, and find joy in something fleeting. 18

Italians are famously very adept at prioritising beauty, rest, and pleasure. A sunny afternoon spent napping on the lawn beside the rose bushes helps restore peace, serenity, and contentment. Time spent like this may not be productive, but perhaps that is precisely why we need it. There is one phrase I particularly love: la dolce far niente. It roughly translates to ‘the sweetness of doing nothing’. This sweetness is what I hope the Italian language can teach me. I find it intensely difficult not to feel guilty when I am not being productive. To me, la dolce far niente, involves taking time to rest and to enjoy life without the burden of guilt. Spare time is not filled with ‘in-between’ tasks – checking emails, answering messages, uploading photos. Spare time is something to relish, cherish, and fiercely protect.

The E-Zone has a weak spot. Touch it, and watch it all come down!

Our society’s overwhelming emphasis on productivity and stimulation strips us of the ability to connect with ourselves, and with each other. In a world of loud cars, competitive job markets, and racing thoughts, I want elongated vowels and soft rolling trills, pasta smothered in creamy tomato sauce, and warm barefoot evenings. Studying Italian is not without sacrifices; while my friends watch reruns of Grey’s Anatomy or Suits, I watch Italian Peppa Pig. The fact that my vocabulary is developing to match that of a three-year-old is a slightly unfortunate side effect. The high voices and conflicting past tenses are worth it though, for the escape and ‘sweetness’ the language provides. When Kant is threatening to plunge me into yet another existential crisis, or a friend’s

invitation to go out has me spiralling into a panic, I dive into my Italian dictionary the way others dive into the new season of MAFS. Unfortunately, I am still not able to conduct a full-speed Italian conversation. However, I am at least able to translate the menu when my family goes out for dinner, and laugh scornfully at my brother’s pronunciation — “It’s pronounced ‘peshe del giorno’, not ‘pesky’.” My mission to learn this beautiful language is only really beginning. I know there are many more tenses to learn, verbs to conjugate, and idioms to remember, if I am to have any hope of attaining semi-fluency. Nonetheless, the learning in itself has already brought more beauty and joy into my life. For that, I am incredibly grateful.

Business School: the only place where suits can be used for camo purposes.

The Anti-Progress of Progressiveness: Why Fewer

People Choose Liberty LANA PAVLOVIC is not lactose intolerant but thinks certain dairy products shouldn’t be tolerated Since the 14th Century, revolutions have been fought in the name of freedom from oppression - all fuelled by the human desire to be free: the Peasant’s Revolt against British aristocracy, American Revolution against taxation without representation, French Revolution against monarchy, and Haitian Revolution against slavery. Underpinning these movements is the fundamental principle of liberty. Champions of liberty strive for individual freedoms - or ‘negative rights’: the freedom to do and say as you please; to earn, own, and spend the fruits of your labour to your choosing; and to trade and associate with whomever you please, so long as you do not transgress the freedom of others to do the same. When the government imposes authority over individuals through legislation, they take away personal freedoms. Through the lens of liberal principle, such government power should thus be limited. From as early as 500 BC, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu explored these ideas through allegories and parables, writing, “I would rather roam and idle about in a muddy ditch, at my own amusement, than to be put under the restraints the ruler would impose”. Over time, these simple ideas have 20

manifested into more sophisticated economic arguments through the works of theorists such as Fredrick Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Henry Hazlitt, who argue the limitation of personal freedom is not only morally unjust, but also reduces economic prosperity. The position of these economists is difficult to summarise concisely, but their central view is that government restriction through taxation and regulation reduces societal prosperity by distorting resource allocation. Government investment crowds out private investment, increasing borrowing costs, and eliminating competition. The absence of the price mechanism and profit motive result in inefficiency and lack of innovation. An example of government interference creating perverse outcomes is the Chinese government’s subsidy for the fishing industry, which has been accused of multiple violations of UN fishing laws. The value that individuals place on civil liberties and freedoms is evident. We deplore the enslavement of Black Americans; we champion the right to say what we want, shown through our disdain towards China’s punishment of democracy activists; we decry the lack of freedom experienced by women in countries like Iran, and celebrate when these chains of oppression are lifted. There is broad

All the libraries are connected by a secret tunnel starting in the moat.

support for freedom of marriage and selfdetermination for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and a growing movement for cannabis legalisation. However, the same level of support is not granted to economic freedoms, especially among youth. A survey of Americans aged 16 or older conducted by global public opinion company, YouGov, in 2019 found only 50% of Millennials had a favourable view of capitalism, with similar results for Generation Z. About one in five Millennials believe society would be better if private property were abolished, and 54% of Americans believe taxes should be increased on higher earners. These statistics are not surprising given the popularity of movements such as Occupy Wall Street, and more recently, Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion, which advocate for government intervention to fix genuine social issues such as poverty, socio-economic disadvantage, and climate

change. This disparity between support for individual freedoms and economic freedoms interests me, particularly as someone who sees them as congruous. As a member of Generation Z, I wanted to investigate why most of us are not open to this way of thinking, and do not see the merit behind libertarian economic arguments. French economist Frederic Bastiat’s parable of the broken window provides interesting insight. When a child accidentally smashes a shopkeeper’s window, the glazier benefits because the shopkeeper pays him money to repair it. Does this mean that breaking windows is good for the economy, as it causes money to circulate? Bastiat concludes this thinking is misguided because of unseen consequences. The shopkeeper could have spent the money on something to improve his quality of life, like a new book or shoes.

Shout loudly in the Law Library during exam period to summon Kim Beazley.

It is easier to visualise the seen consequences of government intervention.

their own interests, younger generations are about 25% less likely to agree.

If, for example, taxes were raised on highincome earners, we could fund free or cheaper healthcare, education, and housing, provide more welfare, and fund renewable energy. If we raised the minimum wage, mandated certain work conditions and entitlements, legislated rent controls, and restricted the use of fossil fuels, similar outcomes would ensue.

Misconceptions about capitalism also add fuel to the fire; many of the criticisms raised by supporters of socialism address crony capitalism rather than laissez-faire economics. For this, we can thank subsidies to fossil fuel companies which discourage investment in renewables, the banning of nuclear power as a clean energy source, lobbying and bribes by corporations for regulations which preserve market power by locking out competition, and subsidised university loans which allow institutions to keep hiking prices without seeing a fall in demand. All these contribute to the social and economic problems previously outlined.

What remains unseen, however, are the jobs and wages lost as businesses try to remain profitable while complying with these regulations. The individuals disincentivised from entering the market and supplying goods place upward pressure on living costs. The loss of competition and innovation in these sectors - as governments crowd out private investors and charities - results in lower-quality and higher-cost services in the long run. Speaking of the unseen, young people today, at least in western societies, have not experienced the consequences of widespread socialism. Extreme poverty and mass starvation killed millions during the Soviet era in Russia, the Mao era in China, and, to a lesser extent, Venezuela today. These consequences, whilst extreme, demonstrate the consequences of nationalised assets and curtailed civil liberties. Additionally, most have never lived without government, which is perhaps why we assume government-led solutions are the correct ones. The fear of the unknown could perhaps also be explained by a lower risk-appetite. According to YouGov, while 80% of Americans say they trust themselves (over government) to take care of

Like with anything, communication is key to uncover hidden information and better understand misconstrued arguments. The irony of anti-government sentiment taught within government-run educational institutions isn’t lost on me, so, in classic liberal fashion, we must take what we hear, and learn from it ourselves. In the words of Franklin D Roosevelt: “freedom cannot be bestowed – it must be achieved.”

UWA planned to build a metro network but accidentally built a sandwich stand in the ref.

The Theory of Model Sentiments: From Rouen to St-Eifel-ing Riches Charles Fedor was never good at maths. This is why he did economics.

France - birthplace of the Enlightenment and the smug (yet false) sense of cultural superiority that it has birthed. When an eagle-eyed reader suggested I cover the unique French take on economics, I only had one possible response: wine not? So let me introduce you to the French economic system of Dirigisme which basically means ‘to direct’. Dirigisme is a fascinating example of a third way response to post-war reconstruction in which France walked a fine line between capitalism and communism. France had a rocky history with capitalism, finding that laissez-faire systems seem to positively correlate with the number of decapitated government officials and rich people. After watching in dismay as communism fell to the same predilections, French president Charles De Gaulle introduced a

unique French middle ground. France was the progenitor of the word ‘bureaucracy’ and was acclaimed for its high-quality civil servants who came out of specialised (and highly competitive) government schools such as Ecole Nationale d’Administration. De Gaulle decided to leverage these highquality bureaucrats to lead the national recovery, stimulating a robust economy that saw workers’ standard of living skyrocket, consumption increase, and considerable urbanisation occur. Not to mention, it was authorised by conservatives, communists, and centrists! You might wonder how they were able to d-éclair such remarkable results!? Dirigisme has a number of key features that will definitely make a capitalist roll their eyes, though like many good ideas, it has been plagiarised by the American School and the Chinese Economic Model.

Eye contact should be maintained with the invigilator for the duration of your exam.

Indicative Planning Calm down, and please stop muttering, “communist FILTH” to yourself. This is not a centrally planned economy. Indicative planning is a happy medium between its neglectful laissez-faire parent and overbearing communist partner. A dirigiste government recognises that our market economies are subject to imperfect information and thus can create oversupply, shortages, and bottlenecks in the production system. A classic example of this imperfect information creating a shortage was Australians hoarding toilet paper when we went into lockdown because we did not know if there would be enough. The solution to this is, firstly, publishing the production levels of goods to the citizens, letting people know there are enough goods to go around. Yes, this is boring, but remember the Thomas Hardy quote, “peace is poor reading”. In addition to this, the government would use export subsidies, research funding, tax breaks, and state-backed loans to ensure the market always remained in equilibrium. This would prevent massive price fluctuations, reduce panic-buying mentality, and have the government act as a more active facilitator of free market operations. This would all be done under the technocratic oversight of bureaucrats known in France as Commissariat General du Plan. Note, the government does not set production quotas or directly manage firms’ activities.

Protectionism De Gaulle, owing to his experience in the war, was an ardent French nationalist - and this bled into his economic policy. Recognising that the obliterated French economy would 24

struggle to fend off powerful multinational corporations (MNCs), De Gaulle introduced a range of protectionist measures. De Gaulle nationalised key sectors of the economy including banking, car manufacturing, and transportation. This was paired with the government encouraging corporate consolidation as a survival mechanism. This would arm firms with sufficient market power and capital to fend off MNCs. The government would also pour money into these firms by purchasing a minority stake, injecting these firms with government capital in times of need. This was a successful experiment that introduced us to Airbus and Renault firms which now dominate their markets.

Labour Laws Learning from almost 200 years of intermittent revolution, the French government took the bold step of caring about the working class. France has one of the most generous and comprehensive systems of labour laws in the world. The Code du Travail is a comprehensive framework that manages labour relations and is remarkably generous. This code mandates the creation of workers’ councils which have significant say in business decisions, including attending board of director meetings. It also mandates a cap of a 44-hour working week and the right to log off to ensure employees have the right to a private life. Dismissal from a French company is remarkably difficult to execute with robust protections and specialised employment tribunals that are staffed by employees and employers. These protections cover 95% of the employees in France who are also covered by collective bargaining

In honour of ‘Con/test’, Pelicans contradict are not ayour good lecturer sourcethen of protein. yell ‘Freedom of Speech!’

agreements negotiated by proactive and passionate unions. These collective bargaining agreements enhance protections and provide even more generous provisions. The French gave us a lot to think about with Dirigisme; unfortunately it made a classic French exit upon France’s accession to the European Union. A worker-first economy saw 30 years of unparalleled growth in France known as Les Trent Glorieuses (The Glorious Thirty). During that time, real purchasing power of the French worker jumped by 170% with private consumption increasing by 174%. Though that economic system was suspended, many of its features including the Code du Travail still remain venerated institutions in France. Perhaps we should ask ourselves what we are valuing in our economic system; if the answer is not your fellow humans, then we are in a pitiful state indeed.

Dirigisme Economics: In Short •

Famous moment: when the very idea of capitalism led Charles De Gaulle to flee to Germany in May, 1968.

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Most likely use: when your hospitality job puts you on for ANOTHER close and you are thinking of countries to flee to.

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Biggest theoretical whoopsie: giving the French an undeserved sense of economic superiority that they then used to build nuclear weapons.

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Big names in school: Charles De Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Jean Monnet.

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FMK: Americans, unions, and employers.

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Biggest turn off: Employment law violations and un-unionised workers. According toBitcoin, Teen Vogue, Dogecoin...canicreatemyowncoin? these Pelly Facts influence global culture!

Inside the Murky Canberra Bubble LINDA PICKERING was headbutted and chased by a deer in Japan, and still worries where the footage might’ve ended up. It’s no secret that Australians have been becoming increasingly dissatisfied with our political system. According to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, between 2013 and 2016, the rate of satisfaction with democracy dropped from 72% to 42%. Following recent scandals, it may come as no surprise that women are more likely to be dissatisfied with our democracy than men. In the last year we have seen an increase in Australians’ trust in government, but this is likely a temporary spike brought on by the usual effect of a crisis. 26

One issue which highlights just why Aussies have such little trust in government is lobbying. When I started looking into the issue of lobbying I was shocked to find out how unregulated it is – and how easily disregarded the little regulation we do have, is. The OECD has outlined ten principles on lobbying for government integrity and transparency. The Guardian last year found that Australia only meets one of these, and partially meets five. In 2018, an audit into the lobbying system was conducted by the Australian National

Audit Office. This found that the government has no way of knowing if lobbyists are being transparent with government officials. It also found that the government has no power to check if government officials are reporting known leaks in the system. A follow-up audit last year also found that the Attorney General’s Department has largely failed to act on the recommendations of the initial audit. This complete lack of accountability is astonishing to me; checks and balances are a cornerstone of any good democracy. The key strategy we have which is supposed to help ensure transparency is the registered list of lobbyists. However, there are loopholes which mean this list isn’t a complete or accurate source. Many organisations, such as charities, not-for-profits, unions, and big companies, don’t need to register their inhouse lobbyists. People who have worked in state politics also don’t have to register. And a final way to sneak in a lobbyist is for an MP or Senator to sponsor them for an orange pass, which allows them into the private areas of parliament house. This all means that many lobbyists could be having meetings with our politicians and we have no way of knowing. You may have noticed another issue with this system: it creates an incentive for people working in parliament to go on to become lobbyists. To prevent this, Ministers and Senators are banned from lobbying on an issue they had involvement in for 18 months following their departure from politics, and staffers have a similar ban for 12 months. However, this regulation is not very well

enforced. A few years ago, following their retirement from Parliament, Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne both took up lobbying positions that some felt overlapped with their work in parliament. An investigation by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet found that they didn’t break any ministerial standards. But this might be a sign that those ministerial standards are too weak. Politicians and staffers so frequently end up in lobbying positions after leaving politics because of the connections they make. This then makes it more difficult for grassroots campaigns to effectively bring community issues to government without hiring their own lobbyists. It also perpetuates the Canberra bubble: many career politicians go straight from studying at uni to working in MP’s offices to running in an election. Then, once they’re done with politics, they head into lobbying. This means the perspectives in Parliament House are limited and may not accurately represent broader community views. The Grattan Institute has also emphasised this point, saying that politicians spending such a high proportion of their time with lobbyists could leave them with “a distorted sense of policy priorities”. This might explain why Australians are so disillusioned with politics. I would like to think that maybe the lobbying system might change, that maybe the rest of Australia can get a word in with our elected officials. But for that to happen the rules of the game are going to have to change. We might have to burst the Canberra bubble.

Are you a dog person, a cat person, or a tall person?

The Winter Guide: Timeless Classics You Need in Your Wardrobe KAYLEY is a fabulous fashionista who loves sustainably recycled fashion. Working in fashion, there are a few tips I have picked up - including knowing when something is timeless or just trending now. We face constant style changes across seasons: new go-to colours, patterns, and designs and alterations that you quickly realise won’t last past the year. Here are some pointers on how to pick the right pieces.

1. Minimal animal prints Many animal prints are viewed as tacky! But let me disclose this: minimal and neutral prints often last. Snakeskin, croc skin, zebra print, and leopard designs will never be a thing of the past; they are constantly reemerging in new trends. Spice up your winter looks with a snakeskin or croc skin boot. Trust me! The patterned design will elevate a muted outfit, giving off texture and pop while keeping your feet warm! At the end of the day, it’s an insulation investment, but make it fashion!

2. Work your denim YOU wear the clothes; they don’t wear you! Jeans, jackets, skirts, even the newfound 28

dresses; make sure YOU style your denims! Get to know your jean style: skinny, bootcut, boyfriend, flared, or straight line. Various styles on the market are perfectly curated for different body shapes and sizes. The dreaded jean-fitting can, of course, be daunting. It could take trying a million pairs. Yet, once you find that perfect pair, you’ll never want to take them off.

3. Blazers are a must Think Hailey Bieber vibes. This street-style queen knows a thing or two about rocking a blazer: the perfect mixture of business and comfort. A blazer look is everyday chic that you can dress up or down. Rock with casual jeans and sneakers - or a pair of dress pants to make it the real deal. When styling a blazer, you can go for a comfy, oversized look, or a tailored fit. You will always look put-together and professional while doing it.

4. White sneakers The perfect sneaker can elevate and regulate. Invest in a pair for your everyday look and your favourite dress or miniskirt styles. New

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season campaign catalogues prove any dress can look classy yet casual, photographed with a white sneaker. Just make sure to keep them white; the sneaker-dress combo doesn’t work with the wrong shoes!

an opportunity to dress up or down. The plainer the style, the longer you will be able to keep it in your wardrobe!

5. Silks and sheers

Faux leathers look and feel just as good as the real thing - and last just as long. Leather looks are chic and a classic go-to for the colder nights. Jackets, pants, skirts, dresses, blazers, boots: the opportunities are endless for this timeless material!

They are gorgeous fabrics to play around with that are also great for layering - the perfect winter go-tos! Offering layering quality that, unlike thick cotton, won’t drown you or make you feel like you’re dressed for a ski trip. Silky and sheer clothing keeps it tasteful, is of high quality, and is a timeless classic that will last a lifetime!

6. Winter warmers: coats and puffers Every season, there is a rotation of puffer jackets and coats. Thick, bold coat styles and charming puffers welcome an influx of customers. The perfect coat takes you from work to a dinner date. The perfect puffer: from an evening walk to a sporting game. With winter fashion, you’ve gotta go big or go home! Having one or two good quality coats helps clean out your closet and maintain minimalism.

7. The little black dress A little black dress is always handy in your wardrobe. A slip dress or black number that is dinner, work, and party appropriate allows you to shift between occasions. Paired with different accessories or layering, it gives you

8. Faux leather

9. Keep it neutral A drop of colour is nice in the right context but keeping it simple and neutral will go a long way. Sticking to neutral and classic designs is a smart move when buying more extravagant pieces. Neutral colour tones, along with your classic shades of black and white, will always be on trend. Once you refine the colours you wear most, keeping them neutral where possible, you’ll get more wear out of those pieces.

10. Designer and tote bags A little designer bag will elevate your outfit game! However, this may not always be in the uni student budget… so instead stick to a plain little white, black, or croc body bag. These bags will go with anything and last in your wardrobe.

Unifi’s last update was in 1911.

Irreversible: Entering the Void of Gaspar Noé Giles Chan is a English and Literary Studies major who can speak fluent English. And an image for the second page is attached.

CONTENT WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT

A brutal scene of random and violent assault in Irreversible is perhaps one of the most difficult viewing experiences ever put to film. Irreversible is part of a film movement that aims from its very first frame to perturb. Artforum critic, James Quandt, terms it the ‘New French Extremity’. On the proponents of this trend, Quandt says: “Bava as much as Bataille, Salò no less than Sade seem the determinants of a cinema suddenly determined to break every taboo, to wade in rivers of viscera and spumes of sperm, to fill each frame with flesh, nubile or gnarled, and subject it to all manner of penetration, mutilation, and defilement.” One could describe this movement as a mixture of trashy slasher flicks and experimental arthouse cinema. On one hand it deals with a level of depravity so bold and

insincere that it makes the stomach churn; on the other, it uses this depravity to comment on the social circumstances of its production, like a child, scolded by his parents, who lashes out shouting, “I’m the way I am because of you!” Irreversible is a creation of Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé, famous for Climax (2018), Enter the Void (2009) and his sinister handlebar moustache. You wouldn’t be mistaken if you saw any of Gaspar’s filmography and felt like he was quite literally trying to kill you with a movie. During the first half of Irreversible, a low frequency hum is present underneath the soundtrack and diegetic audio. At 27 Hz it’s barely audible but it’s enough to have an effect on the human body. Essentially, this film attempts, in every way it can, to make the spectator ill, as if the subject matter wasn’t enough.

There are free hotdogs at the ALVA campus.

Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves what purpose this serves. Isn’t the point of watching a movie to enjoy some respite? To temporarily enter the liminal space between dreams and the harsh real world? Escapism isn’t a solution. We might call this the philosophy of the New French Extremity, or cinéma du corps (cinema of the body). A night-time rape and assault isn’t a work of science fiction or a new entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe - it’s something that’s unfortunately part of reality. If we react with shock and abhorrence at films that depict this sort of thing, isn’t that a natural human response? We are merely being reminded of the despair that exists in our reality: that sitting in front of the television screen for a couple of hours isn’t going to banish away the demons of the world.

Art is subjective, and for that adage to be true it must presuppose all assumptions and conclusions drawn by the consumer. While some may revel in the artistic merits of films like Irreversible, others see a shallow and misogynistic depiction of violence. Whether there is a victor in this debate, or whether there even should be, are questions that should be reserved for a different discussion. Either way, such films can affirm our beliefs and values or open a door to more meaningful discussions and after all, isn’t this sentiment present at the very core of art? The driving purpose within each artist? If we call for films by artists like Gaspar Noé to be censored or banned, we end up legitimising the act of turning a blind eye to tragedy, brushing it beneath our beds along with the other monsters we keep.

Smile! You’re on camera.

Gaming Missions That Stuck TIM WONG is changing the world, one laundry load at a time.

Games come and go. These days, with hypercommercialised game release schedules, one would be lucky if entire games remained memorable - let alone specific missions. However, there are some missions that have stood the test of time in the happier corners of my mind. I would like to share three of those with you in this piece... Mario versus Bowser - Super Mario Galaxy There is something distinctively 2008-ish about playing Super Mario on Wii. It feels interlinked with a period of care-free abandon and homework procrastination. However, I don’t think it was nostalgia alone that made this game and its final mission memorable. It was also a genuine hoot to play. The game massively upped the stakes on the usual Mario versus Bowser battles. It is no longer just the safety of Princess Peach at stake, but also that of the entire Universe. Bowser-

turned-Emperor-Palpatine has spaceships this time, and he is not going down without a fight. The plot culminates in an immensely memorable ‘final boss’ encounter between the two iconic characters of the franchise. I think what makes this mission so memorable is the variation on the theme and the physical nature of the Wii which made it feel like an actual fight for the first time in the franchise’s history. The CyberLife Tower Detroit: Become Human This 2018 dystopian title follows a group of humans and sentient androids as they try to come to terms with an underclass android uprising that draws on uneasy moral themes. The branching plot-driven nature of the game resulted in me spending many hours in my weekends trying to follow different branches and change the characters’ outcomes. Such a great game.

Pelican is proudly printed on recycled PROSH paper.

Art by Pauline Wong The mission that stuck with me the most from this game is CyberLife Tower. As the android, Connor, stealthily makes his way through his manufacturers’ headquarters, he attempts to “awaken” as many fellow androids as possible through giving them the sentience ‘bug’. However, he is stopped dead in his tracks when his evil twin (Connor-60) emerges from the shadows with a gun, holding his human ally, Hank, hostage. What ensues is one of the most intense moments in gaming: a three-way stand-off takes place where the permutations allow for any character to die. Control of the situation changes depending on who manages to get their hands on the gun and play their cards well. Gripping stuff. Teleport Mission - Titanfall 2 This mission can be found in chapter four (Into the Abyss) of the 2014 first-person-shooter

from EA. Titanfall 2 never really became a best-seller for EA, but it has developed a dedicated fanbase who appreciate it for its novelties. I count myself among them. One rather enjoyable mechanism that the game has become known for is the ability to teleport (otherwise known as phase shifting) in and out different dimensions for a short time to avoid getting hit. It’s a great idea that needs to be replicated more often in the FPS genre. The game encourages the player to get creative with the mechanism to avoid overuse. After all, it doesn’t help much to avoid incoming enemy fire only to teleport into an actual pit of fire. The teleporting also added an all-too-fun feature known as the “telefrag”, where you are able to phase shift directly inside the body of an opposing player, and thus being able to kill even the most well-protected of opponents. Rather nifty if you ask me.

Pelicans are paid minimum wage to dress up as peacocks around campus.

Art by Hnin Ei Kyaw Win

When to say it and when not to say it Tess Bury gets nervous whilst on the phone to Centrelink. Should you always say ‘it’? Or are there times when it’s best not to say it? Do you always acknowledge the lion lurking behind the door? Or do you wait for it to decide its own fate? I’ve tried asking Google. Yes or no generator: do I say it? This doesn’t help. Sometimes, I feel fierce. The world cannot stop me from saying it. I can tell it to anyone and everyone I meet. Other times, I don’t even acknowledge it. My partner will look at me, see it is there, waiting to be said and I deny, deny, deny (sometimes, I have no idea what it even is.) Truth be told, I don’t know if you should always say it. Sometimes, if you refuse to speak it into existence, it goes away forever, never to be seen or heard from again. Sometimes, it lingers instead. Sometimes, if it is spoken, the peace will be shattered, friendships will be ruined. It can cause years of pain. Sometimes it heals: it rebuilds you, brings you back together. Is it worth it? Why don’t you find out?

A 20 minute transit through Kings Park may be a mission, but at May Drive Parkland (a.k.a The Dinosaur park), you can trans/mit yourself back to a time of Phytosaurs and Lycopod trees. I wonder if our own fossils will ever be so mysterious to whoever finds them. Oh, and there’s the glittering scenery and seriously good Zamia Cafe here!

Words and Photography By Ashley Browse

Parks on a Pedestal: May Drive Parkland

Missing My Memories of Miyazaki Rachel Denham-White Rachel Denham-White is a Lit Student who spends more time daydreaming about fictional worlds than actually working on her degree.

I’m sitting in the St. Catherine’s dining hall. I’m not technically supposed to study in here, but there was far too much commotion in the common room, and I want some peace and quiet. I’m allowing myself twenty minutes of free time before I have to start memorising my notes. I’m watching Spirited Away. I start giggling with my hands over my mouth, trying to keep quiet as I watch Sen’s face as she follows the stink spirit towards the bathhouse. The way her whole body quivers with revulsion at the bad smell is absolutely hilarious to me. I want this study break to go on forever. I’m sitting in a café in the East End of London. The tiny overheated space is crowded with white wooden tables and chairs; mirrors and fake plants plaster the walls. My table is littered with the remains of a raspberry croissant, pastel pink cream oozing over my china plate. I really should be writing my essay, but I’m watching Princess Mononoke. The suspense of the ending has me deep in its clutches. Even on my tiny computer screen, I am gaping in wonder at the animation. I have never seen such an epic story told in so many beautiful images. I’ve only got minutes before the film ends, but I want this story to go on forever. I’m sitting in a friend’s bedroom - three of us cross-legged on the bed; empty pizza boxes

stacked off to the side. We’re watching Tales of Earthsea. Therru is singing, but I’m not even looking at the subtitles. I’m gazing vacantly at the dark, angular shadows of the houses outside the window, not really seeing them as I drown in the beautiful sound of her voice. I already know that as soon as I get home, I am learning the words. But I also know that no matter how many times I practise, I’ll never be able to get it quite right. I want this song to go on forever. I’m sitting in a dark theatre, staring at a field of gently swaying wildflowers. My popcorn is long forgotten, but I’m absentmindedly sipping flat ginger ale through a straw. I am watching Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl takes Sophie by the hand and leads her through the meadow. The colours are so vibrant that they seem to explode from the screen, leaving splotches of light and dark on the back of my retinas. I relax into the seat as I listen to the beautiful sound of the score. I feel an overwhelming sense of contentment in my surety that I know which note is coming next. I’ve listened to this music so many times after all, but never with the film. Now that the two media are combined, I want this scene to go on forever. I may never be able to exactly recapture these moments, but I’ll never forget them. This is the magic of Miyazaki.

Next semester lecturers will be penalised 5% for every minute they go over.

Breathe if you love Pelican Magazine.

A Night From the Top Shelf Luke McPherson’s only goal in life is to have fun. Top Shelf Comedy was back for 2021 - and it did not disappoint. The University of Western Australia’s University Dramatic Society (UDS) put on a show full of sketches that had me bellylaughing from start to finish. The show ran for three days before COVID ruined everything and forced the last show to be cancelled. COVID is making a bit of a habit of doing this and personally, I wish it would back off. The UDS is a student-run, semi-professional theatre company, which is currently in its 100th year. Top Shelf has been running for ten years, showcasing the talents of writers, directors, and performers from the UDS. It was my first attendance and had me wishing I had a time machine so I could go back and watch the last nine iterations. The Wednesday night that I went was so full that I had to sit up on the mezzanine! I didn’t know what to expect going to a university sketch show, as it’s not uncommon to hear comedians or actors joke about their quality, but I thought this was excellent. The mix of satire, absurdism, parody, and slapstick meant there was something for everyone. People of all ages filled the Tav and everyone had a reason to laugh and go home happy.

The sketches included making fun of the Boatshed markets, a trip to the gates of heaven, a terrible best man speech, and a recap of the craziest night out. The sketches were well-written and elegantly proved that satire can be silly, absurd, and hilarious without offending or alienating anyone. Each sketch had something golden in it and the performances were incredible. Not only was the cast funny, making the crowd laugh, but these people could really act! The comic timing from the performers was excellent and you could tell they were so familiar with the sketches that everything came so naturally. Every performer brought their own style, whether it be their physicality, delivery, improvisation, or timing – each person had at least one moment where they showed their comedic chops. The show was broken up into bite-sized pieces, making it easy to socialise and embrace the event, rather than just sitting and watching. The crowd were all thrilled with what they saw and amazed by the talent on display. There is talk that the cancelled show from Saturday the 24th may be rescheduled, so if you see it advertised and have the chance - go! It was an event I thoroughly enjoyed and one I will be marking on my calendar for next year!

Do not pass GO, do not collect $200; pay your SSAF fee.

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Scan the QR code or go to our YouTube channel for insightful content from some feathered friends!

Day 127: they still don’t know I’m a pigeon.

Art by Talola John

Trashmission

All MAJA MARIC wants for Christmas is you, you baby.

The history of fashion - much like the history of anything - is unsurprising and, at times, nauseating in its cyclicity. Nevertheless, I wish some things could hurriedly be brought back - before the 9-to-5 workplace garrots away at our window for fashion experimentation. Here are some of them. The Whale Tail - 90s The whale tail: an exposed thong that everso-coquettishly peeks over the trim of your pants, skirt, or dress. A nostalgia staple that is frankly perfect for weddings, graduations, and funerals alike! There was a minor comeback a few years ago, brought upon by Alexa Demie and Hailey Bieber, but the momentum quickly died out - leaving us unsatiated. If I am to fulfil my dreams of living as deliciously as Gillian Anderson at the 2001 Vanity Fair Oscar party, my bejewelled, neon green piece must have its moment in the sun. That necessitates the return of the low-rise waistline. I can hear some of you naysayers already, but remember: one person’s trash is another’s treasure. Cowboy boots - 1800s We’ve all had to scrounge for a pair of gogos or cowboy boots at the last minute. Typically used for themed party outfits, criminally, only one has transitioned into the mainstream.

Cowboy boots bring understated warmth and earthiness to any outfit, and complement more polished and elegant styles - in a way that doesn’t demand the skin of my heels as sacrifice like Doc Martens. Cowboy boots exist in the mainstream, but only really as hyper-inflated, worn, and stained ‘rare finds’ on Depop. Or, as cheaply put together mockeries on online stores. Uggs have had their day in the sun - why not cowboy boots? Although, if watching Alan Kim in Minari stomp around acres of lush fields in them hasn’t endeared them to you in the slightest, I can’t see whatever would. Sheer Gloves - 20s/30s Gloves in general are severely underused. Extending our skincare and SPF routine to our hands is an often neglected and haphazard venture. Wearing a cute pair of gloves easily mitigates this problem. To be fair, there isn’t a significant need for them in Australia since our winters are a pallid chill at best. Additionally, COVID-19 has made clearer our reliance upon the digital. Such modern changes can render the use of gloves, at times, more of a nuisance than a help. But we should look to sheer gloves, made of mesh or lace, to become the go-to accessory in our wardrobes. They are a minor embellishment that nonetheless packs a heavy punch.

Numerology: Edition 3 x 30 (my WAM) + my 2 brain cells = Volume 92

The Missions of a Fresher:

Entry One – Bye Bye, Bubble KATE HAWKER still doesn’t understand why people put fluorescent lights in their loungerooms. They all tell you that leaving high school is like leaving a softly cushioned bubble of life. You wave goodbye to the cosy environment of canteen trips, high school crushes, five different coloured binders to match your subjects, and a friendship group you knew you’d see the next day. 44

The phrase used by teachers to warn you of ‘the real world’, becomes a little tiresome when all you can think about is the freedom beyond school. There lies the possibility of bigger and more exciting times, existing outside the one you already have.

Does my bum look big in this new 76-page size???

But, what is it really like when that bubble bursts? I’ve always been somewhat of an idealist, so my expectations for post-high school life were high and mighty. Think Tumblresque coffee shop studying sessions, days at the beach, a new group of friends in Week One, incredible parties on yachts, working as a cute hipster waitress, excelling in every assignment, et cetera, et cetera… So, when I decided to pack up my life and move across the country to study, I anticipated nothing but incredible, aweinspiring moments. All I daydreamed about was a life that resembled a constant vacation. That’s what I was promised, right? PSA: REALITY EXISTS EVERYWHERE (HOW IRONIC). The first three weeks were just like the holiday experience. I was jam-packing as many sports, parties, and beach trips as I possibly could. Assessments and lecture-revision could take it easy on the sidelines — I was on a mission to have fun! Being at a residential college only escalated the situation; how could I say no to Wednesday Student Night at Cap-S? Follow that up with a toga party or two, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a humongous pile of unwashed clothing, cancelled morning alarms, and general dishevelment. What happens when you have to tough out the hard parts too? Assessments don’t write themselves, making real friends is harder than you think, and as much as you want to, you probably won’t be able to back up a night out with that sunrise jog/pilates grind. Confession time: Week Seven of university saw me calling my mum every day. I was

suddenly hit with a wave of homesickness. My mission wasn’t going to plan, and the itinerary that came with it had been crumpled like a permission form in a school backpack. I felt quite lonely and lost. I was surrounded by new people, but I didn’t connect with any of them. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing, both in college and at uni, but I just felt out of place everywhere. As someone who went to a boarding school from the age of 15, I was usually completely fine with being away from home, but this was something different. I was grieving the loss of an entire period of my life. Ok, this is beginning to sound like a dramatic sob story, but hear me out. Our adolescent bubbles are perfectly curated environments — they allow us to be naïve and content without having to confront the big questions in life, or in the “real world” as teachers would say. This bubble doesn’t just fade away or become equipped with a magical zipper and atmospheric pressure control; it bursts abruptly, and we gasp for air like a freshwater fish in the big ocean. So, to my fellow overthinking freshers out there who feel like everyone else has got their new lives figured out, PLEASE CHILL OUT. We have all started a new mission in our lives, and we aren’t supposed to know what to do every step of the way. Rest in peace, ‘Bubble of Adolescence’. You will be missed, cherished, and soon replaced by a life full of opportunity and pathways you never knew existed. Yours Sincerely, Just another Fresher.

Blessed be they who read Pelican cover-to-cover.

‘The slowness of books’: An Interview with Dr. Daniel Juckes By ELLIE FISHER

Dr. Daniel Juckes is a writer and lecturer in creative writing at UWA. He is an associate editor at Westerly Magazine and holds a PhD in creative writing from Curtin University. Daniel’s creative and critical work has been published in journals such as Axon, Life Writing, M/C Journal, TEXT, and Westerly. His research investigates seamlessness in prose style and the potential of objects in stories about the past.

Ellie Fisher: This is your first semester teaching at UWA, so for those who don’t know: who is Dr. Daniel Juckes? Dr Daniel Juckes: That’s always a tricky question, Ellie – especially when you ask it of a life writer. I’ve spent a good while trying to figure out an answer, and it’s safe to say that one always seems further away, no matter how many words I put down in pursuit of the problem! To offer a broadbrush response, though – and perhaps to get side-tracked by the ‘Dr’ part of your question – I’m a writer and academic with an interest in finding innovative ways to write the past and memory. I have a 46

PhD from Curtin University, which was awarded in 2018; Curtin was where I did my teaching prior to starting at UWA. I work at Westerly Magazine, which runs out of the Westerly Centre here on campus, and I am – like most of the emerging writers I know – currently trying to persuade publishers to take a chance on my manuscript. I was born in England and moved to Perth, with my family, when I was 15. We lived in the north of England, in a town called Todmorden (for those who might be wanting to Google). You can still hear the north in the way I speak, and much

New Guild Political Party Logo: Self-Awareness.

of my writing centres on the feeling of leaving there, coupled with the sense of arriving in this complex place we inhabit and call Australia. I like to read – though that may have been obvious – and hold Virginia Woolf, W.G. Sebald, Mervyn Peake, and Rebecca Solnit among my favourite writers. If you are ever in the Arts building (my office is G37—give me a knock!), you’ll probably hear some kind of tune wafting past the door and into the corridor. Current favourites are Phoebe Bridgers, Max Richter, and the 1975; alltimers include Bloc Party, the Middle East, and—of course—the Wicked OBC. To the team at Westerly – and to lots of my friends and family – I’m just Dan. So, if you see me around on campus, that’s always a good place to start.

EF: What inspires your love of the trans/mission of the written word? Can you remember the first moment you realised that you wanted to pursue writing and English? DJ: I can remember the first story I ever wrote, if that’s what you mean? It was about a beaver – not sure why – and typed painfully

into an old PC running Windows 95, which sat on a desk in the ‘best’ room of the house I lived in for most of the time I lived in England. By ‘best’ I mean that room your parents don’t like you going in, except for when you have visitors over. That room with all the ornaments, and the couch in it which looks nice but is always uncomfortable. To be a bit less glib, I think I am inspired by writers who can communicate the nuances of experience – by those who can tell their readers things they don’t know they know until they read them. I like the slowness of books, the peace they offer, and the very nature of contemplation inherent in holding one and looking at it for a long period of time. Books, for me, have always been a sanctuary, though that doesn’t mean I just read for comfort: those nuanced truths the best writers communicate mostly always pulse with the pressures of being here in the present. As for that first moment: I think I’ve always known, really, that words are the thing, and that sentences are worth worrying about. It feels that way, anyway. But it took a whole other degree – history and politics, at Notre Dame – and lots of prevarication, before I

There is no parking problem at UWA - park in the river!

took the plunge to turn the things I’d been reading and the moments I’d been living into my own work. EF: Some of the themes examined in your research and creative non-fiction include the synergy between English and history, how cosmic and earthly place and space are bound up with memory and genius loci, and the exploration of writers and thinkers such as W.G. Sebald and Albert Einstein. What fascinates you about the trans/mission of these ideas and leitmotifs? DJ: Well, you put that a lot better than I might have, Ellie! I’ll do my best to articulate something I find quite tricky to talk about: central creative urges are often in-built and beyond the intellect. One answer might be that I just like to magpie around, and to think about what it feels like to be where I am. Another might be that it’s about trying to communicate all which is packed into the moments we live through: we tend to skirt the surface of experience – at least, I do. Days/weeks/entire lockdowns can go past and not register at all on the scales of my attention. But, in my writing, I can get a bit deeper, and acknowledge all the edges and curlicues of moments, all the bits and bobs of history which fall off and disappear, but

Avatar: The Last WAMBender

which are still motors of the present. I guess I’m after what Rebecca Solnit calls, in A Field Guide to Getting Lost, “grandmothers”. She says she’s interested in elusive truths—truths that “lie in hopes and needs”, which might be “hidden, lost, neglected.” These truths are grandmothers because “purely patrilineal Old Testament genealogies leave out the mothers and even the fathers of the mothers”, and thus miss all the more tangled bits of the past. If I can write in a way which suggests grandmothers, or if I can put a world on the page which is thick with potential and which implies what our senses always miss, then I am getting closer to something like a genius loci, the numinous, or the cosmic. What I want, in short, is a fuller impression of all I take for granted because of the mechanisms of habit.

EF: You describe yourself as a bit of a technological Luddite. What is it about the tangibility of paper and ink that you love? DJ: This is a tricky one to answer, too! Much of it is, I think, sensorial – though, I hope, in a way which doesn’t entirely contradict my response to the previous question. Because all that higher, deeper thinking I trumpeted a minute ago is filtered through fingers and eyes and nose and ears and mouth – though I

wouldn’t recommend eating paper and ink. If you’re into books, though, you’ll know what I mean when I talk about paper stock, and font, and cover design. But, more importantly, you’ll know the intimacy required to form a true encounter with a book: you have to take it around with you, have to have it share time with you as you read it – maybe you even scribble in it or turn the pages. In this way, you and a book can accrete bits of each other: you can impact each other. I guess, for me, this kind of tangibility is about connection. A literal connection with reader and book, and, thus, between reader and writer (whose voice circles through your head). Of course, it’s slowness too, and we all need a bit of that – I can say so for sure because I am as tethered to my phone as the next person. An object – at least for me – is less slippery than a screen. It has a history which you can partake in, in the same way that you and your book can join together. Of course, I know this is true of the internet and the places you might go when wandering the backways of it. But the affect is different, and that’s where I come back to physical sensation: I tend to glaze over if I’ve been on YouTube for more than a little while, and there’s much more chance of being woken from that stupor if I’m looking hard, listening intently, making physical connections.

For the unabridged version of this interview, go to pelicanmagazine.com.au!

Influencers With a Mission Cleo Robins enrolled in an Arts degree because she hates exams (please nobody tell her that assignments are worse).

Social media is a great influencer upon the way we think and act, so it is no secret that those we follow reflect the way we interact with the world. Yet, so often, we operate as passive consumers of media, allowing the colonised, gentrified algorithms of large tech companies to dictate who would be best suited to our “following” lists. It is hard to find content that fills our needs for artistic and sartorial inspiration and which educates us about the limitations of the systems around us. But, never fear – we at Pelican have decided to assemble some of the best Instagram influencers whose images – and words – should enrich your feeds, too.

Fallon Gregory (@fallon.gregory) Indigenous model and activist, Fallon Gregory, says that whether or not people see her as an influence “doesn’t bother [her] much.” This refreshing attitude encapsulates Gregory’s approach to social media; she respects her large platform and reveres the space she has created for herself online, but doesn’t shy away from calling Instagram out when she is shadowbanned 50

by their algorithm. Gregory’s page is a clear indication that she’s here for herself and her people, no one else. From flawless selfies and hairstyling collaborations, to informative and confronting story posts, Gregory tells it like it is. Her account is particularly striking for the way she explores the nuance and pain of being an Indigenous woman. Gregory constantly supports and uplifts other Indigenous creators, most recently serving as a promoter of Spotify’s ‘Sound Up’ program, which is committed to bringing Indigenous podcasters into the spotlight, but also sheds light on the way in which white systems are appropriating Indigenous culture for “woke points.” Gregory often shares pictures from white artists ripping off traditional styles, making sure her followers aren’t swallowed into a marketing trap, while also uplifting Indigenous artists who are working from an authentic background. It is clear the Kija and Bardi Jawi woman is committed to encouraging other young Indigenous creatives in their respective fields, and it is for this tireless promotion – and her own stunning photos – that every Australian should give Fallon Gregory a follow.

Party Rock Is In The House Tonight. Everybody Just call the police.

Image courtesy of @fallongregory

Alok Vaid-Menon (@alokvmenon) Alok Vaid-Menon (known professionally as ALOK) is an American writer, performer and public speaker. The gender non-conforming artist’s Instagram profile also describes them as a “fashionist@!” which is certainly reason enough to give ALOK a follow. Endless jewellery, hair, and makeup inspiration await on their colourful feed, which boasts 653k followers (as of April 2021). ALOK is also a staunch defender of body hair, and they set the bar high for genderless fashion. On one of their latest posts, ALOK describes themself as “not a boy. not a girl. just me,” accompanying this relatable caption with a full glam photo showcasing their body hair intertwined with a sky-high wig. This image is beautifully symbolic of the blurring of gender boundaries, and poetry and metaphor certainly aren’t lost on ALOK. Their captions are often sweeping and candid, offering sincere reflections on life alongside elegant fashion inspiration. Another reason to give ALOK a follow is their “Book Report” series of posts. ALOK periodically posts infographics which summarise the books

they have been reading, most of which are in-depth explorations of how colonial and patriarchal systems have created many of the supposedly innate biases of modern societies. ALOK’s communication of these readings is succinct and accessible - a great starting point for anyone wishing to decolonise their beliefs (even the ones you don’t realise you hold!)

Stephanie Yeboah (@stephanieyeboah) The account of London multi-hyphenate, Stephanie Yeboah, is a riot for many reasons. She posts pictures of fierce fashion shoots and shares her favourite hair products and book recommendations alongside each other. The core of Yeboah’s mission is to promote “body confidence, mental health, loving yourself and being the best person you can be.” She is well established on the media scene, and has been writing and blogging for eleven years. Her latest publishing venture is a book, Fattily Ever After: A Fat, Black Girl’s Guide to Living Life Unapologetically. Yeboah stands out for the way she does not seek to explain her life to the majority – she writes solely for “fat Black women,” and

Count how many times the word ‘the’ is in this edition for a hidden message.

employs her own “cutting” style to avoid sheltering those with bodies deemed “socially acceptable” by society. In her book, Yeboah doesn’t do things the way they’ve always been done, instead focusing on generating her own tongue-in-cheek voice to convey anecdotes about bullying and dating. All the while, she keeps her reflections grounded in the history of body positivity and fatphobia, to put her experiences into a broader context. Yeboah’s Instagram radiates the same honesty and humour, along with a great accumulation of posts about her growing plant collection. Go on – hit follow!

Minami Gessel (@minamigessel) Model and influencer, Minami Gessel, has created an account which is so visually pleasing that I’ve saved many of her photos in my own aesthetic moodboard. Gessel’s passion for body inclusivity is clear from the way she poses in many of her posted shots: sometimes smiling, sometimes gazing towards the camera tentatively but arrestingly. She exudes an aura 52

that can only be described as ‘cool girl.’ Her stories candidly address racial inequality, and she is a loud voice in the #StopAsianHate movement, posting reels explaining her own and her family’s experiences of being Asian in America. She shares many anti-hate resources and donation links alongside her promotion of boutique brands and glowing selfies. Gessel hopes she “can make a difference and represent the thicker Asian girls that you don’t see in media,” and her nonchalant attitude towards Eurocentric beauty standards is a necessary antidote to the army of Insta influencer clones. Gessel is also passionate about sustainability and promotes ethical brands as part of her fight against fast fashion companies – some of the world’s biggest polluters. She enjoys being able to meet the people who designed and made her clothes, appreciating human connection as the cornerstone of fashion, rather than the designs themselves. Gessel is definitely an influencer who does things her way.

Bada bing bada bemorelikejesus.

Rachel Denham-White

Or at least, that’s what they’d like you to believe.

What would it be like to have a chat with your narrator?

Breaking the Rules or Making them?

The Octunnumi does not exist.

The Octunnumi is a shady, secretive book by Trevor Alan Foris, that’s been floating around Tiktok for the past few months. No one ever seems to know what the genre is, or what the story is about. The website is a rabbit hole of secrets, with only the words “The Octunnumi does not exist,” to explain the plot. But one look at the dust jacket, and I knew I had to buy this book. How could I not? A midnight black cover, black pages, swirling black symbols and the mystical title picked out in elaborate gold script. I was sucked in, I was entranced, and I hadn’t even read the blurb! All I knew was that I wanted to find out more. And now, I have a lot to say. The plot centres around two immortal brothers called Tradien and Reigous who have the ability to regenerate and manipulate reality. They are part of a secret organisation called the Octunnumi, which is charged to protect a vast multi-verse of Innesomids: territories that share the same time and space, filled with incredible beings and creatures with supernatural abilities. When Trad and Reig discover a disgraced, exiled former member of the Octunnumi, they have to uncover the mysteries surrounding him and stop him before he gets his revenge on the organisation.

Hey champ, it’s me chief. Tell pal his buddy king is with lil fella.

This book is bonkers! Of course, going in with no expectations meant I didn’t know what I would encounter, but I was not ready for how absolutely incredible the world building would be. The Octunnumi itself reads like a steampunk version of The Ministry of Magic, a vast, secretive establishment armed with gadgets, gizmos and dangerous knowledge. The book is set in multiple locations, ranging from alien worlds to labyrinthian marketplaces to modern-day London. But since these characters have the power to shift reality, the story is full of trippy visuals that are executed so beautifully on paper. A character may open a door that wasn’t there before, or simply rip a hole in the scenery around them, as though tearing through a painting. It’s truly magical! But I won’t lie, reading The Octunnumi is an experience that involves all of your mental capacity. I have NEVER encountered a story so dense. My edition came with a small booklet of definitions, and the author takes full advantage of his new language. Practically every sentence had me scrambling to leaf through this booklet to pinpoint a new word. Also, the names in this story are hilariously complicated; huge, doublebarrelled, Scrabble word names that take a whole breath to say. Lorin Accsetsicia Pendigm Chudeson comes to mind, as does Fionithvip Ellegivan Dunstguice. I’ll admit, it does get confusing. But this is the magic of The Octunnumi. You have to put so much effort into this book, reading every sentence with your full attention, that it feels like a true gift when the story begins to unravel. Any reader who loves dense fantasy universes will have an incredible time.

All of this would already make the book exceptional. But what really astounded me is how the novel treats its narrative voice. Although the story is told in third person, The Octunnumi might have the most interesting method of narration that I’ve ever encountered. It’s always an interesting experience when you read an author’s voice within the text. The author may make their presence known by writing through a character with hindsight, commenting on the events they have already experienced. Or take Daniel Handler’s persona Lemony Snickett, who constantly addresses the audience to comment on the actions of the Baudelaire orphans and explain words and phrases, a trademark style of writing for his “dear readers.” But I’ve never encountered a story where the narrator appears as an actual character! All throughout the book, Reig and Trad converse with a persona in their heads known as Trevor. Once you realise that this person is a literal “narrator” interacting with the characters, there are so many ways to question the story. Is this the actual author speaking with his own characters? Does Trevor exist within the story, but as an implanted consciousness? He seems to know everything that has already happened, but he still works with the boys to figure out what is going to happen next. How meta is the story? Is Trevor a self-insert character, who dramatises the author’s experience writing the book? Or is Trevor merely a persona, transcribing the events of The Octunnumi for the real author? The more you read, the more you question. And the more you question, the more you want to keep reading!

Wow, that’s the biggest Reid Library I’ve ever seen!

So, if you’re looking for something unique, The Octunnumi’s deeply meta narration is a real shake-up of traditional storytelling. But this book is also a doorway into so much more, boasting incredible worlds, magical abilities, psychedelic imagery, and concepts that will truly set fire to the imagination. And even better, this novel, The Fosbit Files, is only the prologue in a long line of upcoming instalments within the series. So, remember: The Octunnumi does not exist. But if you manage to find this book online, an incredible world is waiting for you.

This programme contains coarse sandpaper.

WE SATISFY YOUR TRAVEL URGES BY EXPLORING POLITICAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE!

Phoebe Levin is too complex to be summed up in a one-word bio.

We’re in Estonia, although, not really. In 2014, the country - which had only declared independence from the USSR 23 years prior - decided to embark on an incredibly ground-breaking technological mission: to create virtual residency. What does this entail, you ask? Well, the e-Residency program allows non-Estonians the freedom to access services which the government of Estonia oversees, such as banking, taxation (yes, this means you need to pay tax to Estonia on top of your own local tax), and the ability to create companies. So, by becoming an e-Resident, effectively, you’re an e-stonian, without ever having to set foot in the country. The criteria to be accepted is also very low. Only applicants involved in serious financial misbehaviour (e.g. money laundering – which is what I assumed you’d become an e-Resident to do) being denied.It’s supposed to be an incredibly beautiful country, with a diverse array of brown foods on offer. Reflecting on modern history, that’s more than enough to entice a bit of nationalism - so I guess I can’t fault anyone for wishing to take up e-Residency. Now, I hate to rain on your parade, but before you start your application, I need to warn you of two tiny little drawbacks. Firstly, it seems as if being an e-Resident doesn’t give you any rights to actually enter Estonia. The appeal is more so the ability for e-Residents to establish 56

Thè qüîçk brœwñ føx jūmpß õvęr thë łåžÿ dóg.

and run global businesses that aren’t tied down by any physical borders. The second - and much more alarming - issue was highlighted in 2017, when a flaw was identified in the system. There was a security breach which affected 750,000 e-Residency cards. It turns out being an e-Resident made it very easy for you to have your identity stolen; not that any were, according to then Estonian Prime Minister, Juri Ratas. From what I can gather it seems that all e-Residency ID cards issued from September 2014 were incompatible with Google Chrome. This opened up the possibility for ID cards, which were connected to people’s banking and medical history, to be hacked. To be fair, the government did freeze e-Residency cards after they realised this possibility. Well, two months after they realised, but I still think that’s something. The ID cards were frozen for two months, and by March 2018, it seems like the Estonian government had completely ironed out the issue, offering a bug fix for all users. No rules were changed, and everything continued as it had been before. The bug fix must have worked, because as of October 2020 over 68,000 people had joined the scheme. This experiment may trans/mit a little bit too much of your information, and lead to a complete identity trans/formation you might not have been expecting. Not to dissuade you from becoming an e-Resident, of course. Which do you prefer: Campus Kebabs, or ‘Come on Eileen’?

Trans/mit This! Seth Malice thinks Scooby Doo was made to indoctrinate kids into the capitalist world order. CHANGE HIS MIND!

As a creative industry, music provides an outlet for all to serve their hearts on a platter. With this issue of Pelican centred around trans/mitting new ideas and social norms, let me take you on a little dive into what the Australian queer scene has to offer, with a specific focus on artists that transcend – and seek to shatter – the notion of gender as binary. 1. ‘Bad Dream Break In’, Alter Boy (2020). Starting off from our very own City of Lights, Alter Boy is a self-described queerlectro pop band hellbent on salvation. Consisting of members of both the trans and disabled communities, the band witnesses a chaotic menagerie of perspectives. Their 2020 single ‘Bad Dream Break In’ is no exception. A melting pot of sublime melodies and rapturing sub and bass tones – with a beat reminiscent of a heart’s pulse – the track begs you to just close your eyes and give in.

2. ‘All My Skin on the Air’, Lonelyspeck (2016). From the outset of their 2016 single, ‘All My Skin on the Air’, artist Lonelyspeck has every intention of enthralling you. Layered over the track of a seemingly hypnotic and ephemeral ticking of some grandfather clock, Lonelyspeck’s subdued yet poignant vocals – mixed with some clever production – make for an atmosphere that could only be described as surreal. 3. ‘Six Foot Flawless’, No/Trauma (2019). Unlike the previous entries in this repertoire, No/Trauma’s ‘Six Foot Flawless’ leaves very little to the imagination. Unabashed and inspiringly anthemic, the track follows the vocalists’ journey to “six-foot two flawless takeno-s**t damm gorgeous amazon”-ism – with all the energy you’d expect. The track rides the line between introspective and provocative, taking it all in its feel-good stride.

Betting odds are in: favourite for Guild President is Tiny Peacock.

4. ‘Sweet Tsunami Symphony’, Mo’Ju (2012)

6. ‘swell’, imbi (2018)

Think: the pipes on Amy Winehouse colliding with a wonderfully vociferous take on the Pink Panther theme. Plucked straight from her 2012 self-titled, Mo’Ju’s track, ‘Sweet Tsunami Symphony’ is a delightfully produced piece of storytelling. With Mo’Ju’s satisfyingly gritty vocals strung over one hell of a selection of percussion and brass – this Wiradjuri gal is sure to get your feet kicking.

To cap us off – imbi’s ‘swell’ infuses rap with bedroom pop in a way that truly teases at the soul. The track encapsulates all the emotional release of an early 2010s private tumblr blog, balanced out by a healthy dose of self-belief and empowerment.

5. ‘miss andry’, flowerkid (2020). flowerkid’s ‘miss andry’ is a scathing exposé that will gut you raw in every sense of the word. The track’s atmospheric-yet-subdued synth and electronics act as the perfect canvas for the artist’s lyrical mastery as he unpacks his own frustration in reconciling both his mistrust and envy of the male gender – hence the title. Listen to this when you want to feel.

Abracadabra, alakazam, you stole the last car park; f%^k you, Dodge Ram.

As Beautiful as Any Other Elena Perse is the Loch Ness monster’s number one fan.

Early on in his memoir, As Beautiful as Any Other, Kaya Wilson wonders if all art is just a retelling of trauma. It’s a fair question, considering the memoir’s heavy start – in just a few chapters, Kaya suffers a devastating accident, comes out to his parents as transgender, and loses his father after a protracted battle with cancer. Grief and trauma are central to As Beautiful as Any Other, but they’re by no means the only focus. Joy, wonder, and sorrow are balanced in equal measures throughout. Kaya calls the novel a memoir of his body, exploring how his experience of gender, his transition, loss, love, and the world around him have shaped his life. As Beautiful as Any Other weaves through Kaya’s past up until the present day, jumping 60

across time and space to touch on a range of significant moments. The memoir becomes almost part travel novel: we see Kaya diving for conches in Aruba, flying back and forth between his boarding school in England and his home in Tanzania, surfing in Australia, and mountain climbing in Nepal. As Beautiful as Any Other rejects a straightforward, predictable timeline, instead dipping in and out of his life while still remaining cohesive. A common thread unites every chapter: in one, Kaya maps his travels across the world through all the pools he swam in as a child. In another, Kaya, a tsunami researcher, reminds us of his scientific background: he maps the years he has lived alongside how dramatically atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased over his lifetime.

I saw a pelican scoop a seagull into its beak and then spit it out.

Kaya’s transition is a central focus of the book, with his decision to write As Beautiful as Any Other stemming from the beginning of his transition. As Beautiful as Any Other tracks how Kaya’s life changes from his first doctor’s appointment to discuss his transition up to the present day. We experience his intensely emotional highs and lows: from struggles with his family and acceptance, all the way to the freedom of swimming at the beach for the first time, post-top surgery. As Beautiful as Any Other encourages us all to think about how we experience our own identities and reconsider how we are each shaped by society’s expectations of gender.

for a chat about his life and the world around us, peppered with stories from his childhood. He writes gorgeous, thoughtful prose but shakes it up with unexpected humour and the occasional scientific concept. It’s a real testament to Kaya’s skill as a writer that he was able to help me, an Arts student who has avoided science since Year Ten, understand what ice albedo means and actually enjoy reading about it. If you’re looking for a reflective, introspective exploration of healing, identity and family (or if you too want to understand what ice albedo means), then As Beautiful as Any Other is definitely worth a read.

Kaya Wilson is a captivating writer: reading this memoir felt like sitting down with him Step 1: left foot. Step 2: right foot.

Trans/action Rob Pierson likely wrote this in the bath.

“For many artists, works often have to straddle the line between form of expression and source of income. Has the industry become too transactional? Is it healthy that an artist’s expression of self is often constrained by their turnover?” The music industry has always been – perhaps by its very definition – a commercial entity. In recent years, however, the industry’s commercial elements have become more and more bemoaned by artists and listeners alike. It seems, these days, any unfortunate happenings within the music industry or various music scenes are blamed on how money-oriented music has become.

One of the main measures of success for musicians has always been how much money and how many listeners they’re able to accrue. However, money in particular has recently become a primary measure of perceived quality. This perception that an artist’s commercial progress is inherently connected to the quality of their music has become a thorn in the side of many artists who have chosen to pursue less conventional or mainstream muses.

is restrictive. Artists feel compelled to write songs that are commercially viable and are restricted by this requirement; but what’s the alternative? Prior to the current arrangement that artists, producers, and recording companies enjoy, the business side of music was a different place. Before the mid-tolate sixties, musicians were not traditionally paid royalties for their music. Rather, they were paid the rate that the musicians’ union accorded them. Lonnie Donegan for example received three and a half pounds for the release of his song ‘Rock Island Line’ in 1956, which spent twenty-two weeks in the top ten in the U.K. This arrangement – while it may seem ridiculous to our modern sensibilities – does solve the problem we find ourselves supposedly beset by. If all musicians were paid a set union rate then they would all receive the same fee for their work, regardless of its commercial success.

Moreover, the very fact of artists’ success being tied so closely to their commerciality

This situation, however, seems unjust – there is a definite sense in which we feel that the

‘Bruh’ is the new ‘By golly, I’ll be jitterbugged!’

magnitude of the reward that someone receives for their work should be, at least partially, determined by the quality of that work. But this arrangement seems to have replaced one problem with another. While many agree that the coldly commercial nature of the music industry unfairly restricts unconventional and uncommercial artists, it seems equally unappealing to give all artists the same amount of money, irrespective of their work or its relative quality. There are two common intuitions at play here and it’s between them that we can see the tension at the heart of this issue; we simultaneously believe that artists ought to be rewarded for their work in a way that reflects the quality of that work, and that this system of reward shouldn’t result in some artists being squeezed out of the industry.

creative expression. This tension only exists through a confusion in terms, however. The confusion is between the actual quality of an artist’s work and the work’s ability to appeal to a large group of people – an aspect which is strictly unrelated to the quality of the work.

But do these intuitions actually conflict with one another? On the face of it, they do. If an artist’s work is successful – or if it connects with a large group of people – then they reap commercial benefits from that success. Yet a great deal of the music being written and produced does not connect with a commercially significant number of people, which seems a poor reason to stifle their

So, in order for the over-commercialisation of music to loosen its stranglehold on creative expression, perhaps listeners need to adjust their attitude towards music and its role in their lives.

An artwork’s permeation of society is most strongly influenced by how successfully it’s marketed, which is almost solely determined by how much money is invested in its marketing. So, is the answer to cease the marketing of music? While this would undoubtedly impact the issue, it doesn’t seem like the answer. After all, marketing of the sort we see today wasn’t born in a vacuum; it’s something that arose as a result of how listeners engaged with music.

I’m a Pelican - Ask Me Anything.

COVID Transitions What can Australia learn about trans healthcare from Melbourne’s months in lockdown?

Laura Green (they/them) is passionate about writing on politics and social issues despite finding politics and people extremely uncomfortable to be around.

When the Federal Government cancelled elective surgeries in March last year, it caused a sky-rocket in demand for a little-known product: the binder. Many trans people used chest compression binders prior to getting top surgery, and continued using them as a temporary solution when their surgeries were cancelled. Andy Amor Designs, the first locally produced binder store of its kind in Australia, received a massive influx of orders for binders, and the shop’s one-person operation couldn’t keep up. Business owner Andy Amor, who is agender and uses the gender-neutral pronouns ‘they, them and theirs,’ points to two catalysts of the COVID-19 pandemic for the massive increase in orders: cancellation of elective surgeries including gender affirmation surgeries, and the halt of freight ships which cut off supply from popular binder stores in the United States. Andy said many people 64

gave away their binders when their surgery date was looming, so other trans people had access to affordable clothing. But far too many were left in the lurch - unable to get their hands on a new binder and with no surgery date in sight. “Friends of mine who I’ve made binders for, who were planning on having chest surgery this year, it’s just devastating for them,” Andy said. “I’ve had a lot of the people coming to me in desperation this year.” Many friends and acquaintances contacted Andy to see if they could make new binders for them, but their domestic, customised services were only just coping with prepandemic demands. “It’s so hard to say no. I don’t want to say no, I want to be able to help those people,“ Andy said.

Atlantis is Sunken somewhere on campus.

Image by Andy Amor The surgery cancellations were a prudent anticipation of an influx of COVID-19 patients, which fortunately never really arrived, but which doubled the wait time for elective surgeries. For many transgender people, these cancellations meant access to surgery, which could improve their mental wellbeing and affirm their identities, was lost. While other states drove cases down to single digits, Victoria experienced peaks of over 700 cases per day from July last year. Most other states relaxed measures in April last year, and even New South Wales hospitals were allowed to reschedule elective surgeries from the 1st of July, despite intermittent peaks in community transmission cases. Victoria was only able to make these moves from November last year, leaving many trans people in the dark over their surgery dates.

With an additional four-to-six-month backlog atop the usual wait list, plastic surgeon Dr Andrew Ives, who regularly performs top surgeries for trans patients, said the delay caused “significant” financial and work-related distress to those patients. Australia’s public healthcare system under Medicare covers hormone replacement therapy, known as HRT, which allows trans people to use testosterone or oestrogen to alter their physical characteristics such as fat distribution, hair growth, and other changes, to reach their desired gender expressions. Access to transgender surgeries was a different matter, which involved a multitude of barriers even before the pandemic. Medicare will sometimes cover a portion of trans surgeries, but there is a catch: you have to have the right level of private health insurance, along

It’s exam time: believe in yourself !

with hospital cover, and the surgeries must be found on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. An individual has to have their cover for a year or more, since being trans is classed as a pre-existing condition. Trans patients still have to cover General Practitioner fees, psychologist’s fees, and surgical theatre fees, among other costs dependent on their coverage. They then need weeks off work to recover. All this, just to exist comfortably in their own skin. One of the ways trans people can affirm themselves without medical intervention is through their gender presentation, namely the ways they style themselves in line with their gender expression. Psychologist for Melbourne’s Equinox Gender Clinic, Grace Lee, said her patients were embracing lockdown as a time of transformation. “I’m seeing a lot of people who are kind of ‘coming out’ now,” she said. “The fact that they’ve been locked down and the fact that perhaps they’ve had time to reflect that they’ve been freed, to an extent, from social pressures.” “They’ve had a kind of freedom there.” But these are temporary fixes for many who want to medically transition, and the backlog of elective surgeries is upwards of six months, with an even longer wait list. Ms Lee recognised the priority of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, but she believed the support for counselling and other interventions in the interim was inadequate. She said the shift to Telehealth made her services more accessible to residents who couldn’t access transport to her office, but could be “quite challenging, if 66

not dangerous” for others who couldn’t be “out” while speaking over the phone at home. She worried those without any internet access would “fall through the cracks” entirely, becoming isolated from their community which she said was vital for their wellbeing. Trans healthcare needs to change Advocacy groups such as Queerspace and Transgender Victoria want structural changes made, so that medical access for trans people - during a pandemic or otherwise - can be met adequately without putting the mental health of the community in danger. “I think that one of the things that will come out of this is we’ve got to sort of start to push on a national level, to get this changed and get surgeries into the public system, and get rid of the stigma,” said Sally Goldsmith of Transgender Victoria. Tennille Fleming, an Australian LGBT+ teen, recently started a petition to get transgender surgeries covered by Medicare. The petition, addressed to Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt, has garnered over 36,000 of its 50,000-signature goal. In the letter to the Health Minister, Tenille highlights a Trans Pathways study of almost 900 participants which found over 60 per cent of transgender people feel alienated from Australia’s healthcare system in some way, while a shocking 48 per cent had attempted suicide. A former spokesperson for LGBT+ advocacy organisation Queerspace, Ruby Cameron, said without these changes, more lives could be lost unnecessarily: “For a lot of people, [these surgeries] are life-saving and suicide prevention.”

UWA is WA’s third-most 70s campus. Sucked in, ECU!

Plastic Isn’t the Problem;

YOU ARE By Toby Brown

Western Australia has a huge waste problem, and the choices you make are to blame. You choose to consume food and drinks in singleuse plastic containers; you buy your groceries heavily wrapped in plastic; you drink from straws; and blow up balloons. In your mind, once you’re done with it you toss it in the recycling bin and, as simple as that, your role in this global problem is over. But it’s not that simple, and WA’s addiction to convenience is causing untold damage to the environment. To address this, the WA government has launched “Plan for Plastic”, an initiative to phase out a number of single-use plastic items from 2020 to 2026. This is a major step forward from previous waste reduction initiatives, including the ban on lightweight plastic bags in July 2018, and the WA Container Deposit Scheme that was implemented in October 2020. The Department of Water and Environment published the Plan for Plastics in November 2020, highlighting steps to shift the “take, make, dispose” practices of today’s busy lifestyles.

By implementing this plan, politicians are responding to countless scientific studies, reports, and an increasingly vocal community that is speaking out about the negative effects these everyday conveniences are having on the natural environment - especially when they end up as litter in marine ecosystems. The impacts of such litter have been documented in many ways, like photographer Chris Jordan’s photo series of dead birds with bellies full of plastic bits on Midway Island in 2009, and numerous photographs of a dead pregnant whale that washed up in Italy in 2019, with over 20kg of plastic in its stomach. Single-use plastic is inexpensive, convenient, and a huge part of our everyday lives; however, very little of which is ever recycled. Frankly, we simply do not have the facilities to recycle most single-use plastics; in fact, they’ve become a huge problem for municipal recycling facilities that just aren’t equipped to handle small items in such large quantities. These ‘conveniences’ are a major nightmare for waste-sorting facilities, as they jam up

More unites us than divides us: student debt.

the equipment and contaminate sorted bales of actually recyclable materials. China, the largest consumer of the world’s recyclable materials, has cited these contaminants as their reason for slamming the door on all waste imports, leaving politicians scrambling for solutions to the mountains of waste we generate. The WA Plastic Plan aims to change consumer behaviour at a cultural level, through a combined effort of “education, regulation, stewardship, and continued research and innovation”. The Plan reports that between 2018 to 2019, WA residents threw out 120kg of plastic waste per person on average, with 107kg of that ostensibly recyclable waste ending up in landfill, despite having been put into recycling bins. As consumers, we have been trained to follow careful recycling instructions, and misled to overly rely on the “recycle” in “reduce, reuse, recycle”. We have been trained to believe that plastic is a recyclable material; but while this 68

belief is fairly uniform, the nature of plastics is not, and the supply of recyclable material has greatly outpaced our ability to recycle it. Re-educating the public is a key component of tackling this complex problem. Education is one of the core goals of environmental volunteer groups like Sea Shepherd, which aim to educate the public about all aspects of plastic waste, and how our choices contribute to it. As part of their Marine Debris campaign, they also hold regular volunteer beach clean-ups where you can help remove all the rubbish that was supposed to be “recycled” but nevertheless ended up littering the beach. Change can come slowly through changing the public’s habits. However, when changing an entire nation’s ‘grab and go’ attitude in a timely manner is practically impossible, the next best option is to remove those choices. That’s where bans come in.

Page 80: How to be a BNOC in four simple letters.

A ban is always controversial, and in this case opponents of the ban bear valid concerns. How will we replace these single use items, and will the alternatives be just as, if not more harmful? For example, lightweight plastic shopping bags (which were frequently re-used for rubbish bags) were banned and subsequently replaced with plastic bags that are typically manufactured from heavier plastics which are not recyclable, but are offered to people as a very low-cost and convenient option. Personal drinking bottles, too, are often made of heavier plastic or metal, which require more energy to produce, and by some estimates would need to be reused more times than the bottle’s planned lifecycle to be an effective alternative. It is important to consider these concerns in the context of the Plan for Plastic. It is also important to hold manufacturers and retailers just as accountable as consumers for their contributions to plastic waste. Industry groups have worked successfully for years to

divert responsibility, claiming irresponsible consumer behaviour as the problem rather than holding manufacturers accountable for the life-cycle of their products. Retailers need to know that single-use plastic packaging isn’t what you want, and instead of relying on the broken recycling system, provide consumers with more sustainable options. Banning single-use plastics isn’t the solution to our complicated plastics problem; it is one step of many in reducing our global impact by changing our short-sighted behaviours and need for instant gratification. Manufacturers need to also do their part by stepping up to the challenge of how to use less packaging and more recycled materials. Asking people to forego simple conveniences to prevent the destruction of marine life, sea birds, and our planet shouldn’t be too much to ask. Tackling the global plastic waste issue is a complicated and long process, but we have to start somewhere. The choice is yours.

PELICAN stands for Planking Everyday Looks Incredible on CV; Also, News.

Transmitting the Universe’s Secrets: An Interview with Professor Peter Quinn Ahmed Suliman

It’s the technology that could help find missing pieces of physics and answer conundrums like dark matter. The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope project with an Australian component to which the federal government has recently committed $387 million. About $64.4 million of this will go towards establishing a centre in Perth to process and analyse SKA data: a collaboration between the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), CSIRO, and the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. Pelican sat down with Professor Peter Quinn, ICRAR executive director, to discuss the organisation’s work, his career, and how the technology behind the Square Kilometre Array could change astronomy as we know it.

Hahaha ikr the Pelican Editors are overworked and underpaid roflmao

Ahmed Suliman: Thank you for speaking to Pelican today, Professor Quinn. Firstly, how did ICRAR come about? Peter Quinn: ICRAR was founded twelve years ago, as a joint venture between UWA and Curtin University. We receive funding from them as well as the state and federal governments. At that time the decision about where to put the SKA had not been decided, and so Australia was keen to invest in things that wouldbring the project here, and that included a new international research centre. From the perspective of the WA government, ICRAR was also designed to serve as a landing pad to capture the benefits of the project locally when it arrived in Western Australia. This included jobs, knowledge, research, and opportunities for industry.

AS: What does ICRAR do on a day-to-day basis? PQ: We are not a traditional academic centre, in the sense that we do more than just astronomy research. Our core skills span across astronomy, engineering, and data science. We have around 120 staff and 90 graduate students working in those three areas across our two research nodes in UWA and Curtin. Our astronomy research is facilitated through a network of telescopes in Australia and around the world, including not only radio, but optical and space telescopes as well. Astronomy is a very multi-wavelength science, so we look across the spectrum to piece together how the universe works. In terms of engineering, we are helping build the systems for the SKA, including Oh heck i just sent that to pelly facts instead of you nonono

Artwork by Pauline Wong detectors, receivers, and computing systems. Given we are based in Perth, we are relatively close to the Murchison Radio Astronomy Observatory, which allows us to go to the site, deploy equipment, and test ideas. The data science side involves working with the large volumes of data. ICRAR is responsible for designing a fairly big piece of the SKA’s data system. We work with data centres and software engineers around the world, including some of the biggest supercomputers available.

AS: How was it that you came to be involved with ICRAR? Tell us a bit about your career. PQ: Like all careers in astronomy, maybe in science generally, it is a very zig-zag path. I was born and raised on the east coast of Australia. I was always interested in science, and so I did an undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Wollongong, then went on to ANU to do a PhD in astronomy. Like many do at that point in their career, I left Australia to work overseas, starting out in the United States 72

working with organisations like Caltech and Space Telescope Institute in NASA as a research astronomer. My passion was primarily computational astrophysics. I then had the opportunity to go to Germany to work at the European Southern Observatory. I was asked to start up a new division at this organisation around 1995. This division ended up becoming very large, and designed and ran two huge observatories. This taught me a lot about doing astronomy at a very different scale to before, building and working with big projects. Australia had not traditionally been involved with big observatory projects. When the Square Kilometre Array began considering Australia as a suitable location, it combined my interest in working on big projects with my desire to return to Australia after twentyseven years abroad. In 2006, I was granted a WA Premier’s Fellowship to come back to work on the SKA. It took a few years until the need for ICRAR became clear, and I became the first director in 2009. Here we are twelve years and 200 people later.

My dream lover: a rugged coastline with a gusting southerly...

AS: Many of our readers would have at least tangentially heard about the SKA, but for those who haven’t: can you briefly explain what it is, and what it is aiming to achieve? PQ: The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope, which receives radio waves from the universe. There are two radio telescopes working together to do this. One is in Australia, which receives low frequency radio waves of around 100MHz, what you would expect from FM radio. These radio waves are received by stationary Christmas tree-shaped antennas. Those signals are processed by computers, and converted into images of the low-frequency sky. The other is in South Africa, which works with waves ten times higher in frequency — around 1GHz — which you would typically see in a mobile phone. This uses more traditional dishes which can move around and collect those higher frequencies. The Australian telescope (called SKA Low) in particular will assist in studying an interesting period of the early universe: the so-called “cosmic dawn”. This was around 0.5 to 1 billion years after the Big Bang, where the universe cooled down sufficiently to condense into matter, forming the seeds of galaxies, stars, et cetera. We are lucky in astronomy because we can look backwards in time, as the further you look away, the longer the light takes to get to you. So if you look very far away, you can see faint objects that date back to those early phases of the universe. Why a square kilometre? Those extremely old and distant objects are very faint, so you need a big eyeball to see them. If you work out how much collecting area is required, it

works out to about a million square metres, or a kilometre squared, of radio astronomy equipment spread out over multiple locations. The radio waves coming from the “cosmic dawn” period in particular are around the FM band, so a little bit of your FM radio feed contains signals from the edge of the universe! These signals will be captured by the Australian section of the SKA and help find the first objects in the universe.

AS: When I think of unexpected interstellar radio waves, the accidental discovery of the Wow! Signal (an intense 72-second radio signal from the Sagittarius constellation) in 1977 comes to mind. Does the SKA make it more likely that we will uncover more signals like that? PQ: I think that is exactly right. For example, the (relatively) small antennas we have on site at the moment are already finding objects producing huge explosions in the universe that only last for fractions of a second. We had no idea those existed until the antennas started capturing those signals. One aspect these telescopes will assist with is probing the nature of the “transient sky”, or how objects in the sky change and move over time, through frequent imaging. Most of our current knowledge is centred around static representations of the sky.

AS: From a number of perspectives, the technology behind the SKA sounds incredible. This includes the data flow: 7-10 terabits of data per second, or the equivalent of the entire Netflix back catalogue 10,000 times over. I assume this will be transferred somewhat quicker than your average home broadband speed?

New UWA Major: tractor studies! Vroom vroom!

PQ: Just a little bit! In terms of the Australian telescope, in the first phase we will have about 130,000 antennas, each with its own fibre optic connection. This will be one of the largest fibre optic networks in the world. Over the course of the day, exabytes of data are flowing around this network in the desert, comparable to the data volumes on the internet. To manage this, you need to compress and process this raw data very quickly, and convert it into more compact data types and proto-images of the sky. Even then, you are still storing large image data that needs to be examined by scientists. All this requires dedicated computing, which is provided through a fibre optics cable that links the Murchison site directly with the Pawsey Supercomputer in Perth, 800kms away. In effect, the supercomputer becomes part of the telescope 24/7. This data then goes on to scientists around the world, who need supercomputers of their own to scan through the output from Pawsey. To assist with this, we are in the process of developing a global network of data and processing hubs, known as the SKA regional centres, that those scientists can then access locally. The data problem is interesting in two ways: one is how we develop the algorithms to deal with such vast quantities of data. The second is how supercomputers are now active participants in doing astronomy work. This role could expand into working with machine learning to identify objects and write code down the track.

AS: What sorts of questions are you looking forward to answering through the SKA?

PQ: For me, looking at this epoch when the universe was born opens a door to look at how things changed across cosmic time. Given its temporal focus, SKA will act as a great historian of the universe. Understanding these changes could lead to finding missing pieces of physics that could answer conundrums like dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter in particular really annoys me - that we still haven’t found that stuff. However, we do have theoretical candidates, some of which a radio telescope like the SKA would be able to detect. The one we all talk about over a glass of wine is finding ET, of course! This will be a very sensitive set of ears to listen to the universe. If there are any intelligent signals out there (especially in our galaxy), the SKA has a very good chance of finding them.

AS: How can readers get involved with the ICRAR and the SKA? PQ: There are multiple paths for getting involved. One of those is citizen science, which we do quite a bit, getting the general public involved in working with scientific data doing things like classifying galaxies. For students, we offer work experience for high schoolers as well as vacation scholarships for undergraduate students to come in for two months over the summer break, where they can work on a project and maybe even write a paper. There are Masters and PhD programs available as well. We have some of the very best researchers in the world who act as graduate supervisors, who keep our students engaged and motivated about their work. We also host an annual 5,000-person festival of astronomy that we run in WA called Astrofest (13th November this year). All the information is available on our website!

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