crUWSible issue 10

cruwsible

love guru

what are you ?

employment law

struggle street

mountains hip hop

nepal earthquake

tent embassy protest

more poems than ever IMAGE: SCOTT MCDONALD

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ISSUE 10 | WINTER 2015

EDITORS

WRITE FOR US Send us your stories, artwork, blurbs, photos, articles, reportage, rants, poems, fiction, recipes, good news, not good news and pet photos. crUWSible@uws.edu.au crUWSible.com.au feacbook.com/crUWSible @crUWSible

Advertising inquiries: crUWSible.com.au

Ian Escandor, Lucy Borg, Fenella Henderson-Zuel, Mia Sanders, Jarrod Bradley, Murray Robertson

poetry editor Sara Mansour Sara is a fifth year psychology/law student at UWS who, in February of 2013, co-founded the Bankstown Poetry Slam. She has published her work in two poetry anthologies for the Bankstown slam, and joined Mark Gonzales in his Melbourne poetry tour last year. Head to bankstownpoetryslam.com for more details on how you can get involved in the largest slam in the country.

cover art Scott McDonald

crUWSible acknowledges the country and People of the Darug, Gandangarra and Tharawal Nations and acknowledges their ancestors who have been Traditional Owners of their country for thousands of years. crUWSible pays respect to their Elders past and present

crUWSible n. A melting pot of cultures, backgrounds and interests that make up the UWS student body, the fusion that is UWS - a molten mix of dynamic and interesting content.

CONTENTS 6

Nepal Earthquake Struggle Street

10

Market Lovers Women’s Refuges in Crisis

16

25

Photojournalism in China The Poems

44

19

Employment Law The Good Life

26

13

Health Professionals Media Response Uni Work Experience Plan

21

9

31

Blue Mountains Hip Hop Love Guru

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student SUpport FOr Aboriginal tent embassy redfern

By Mia Sanders

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There’s a community of impoverished people who are in danger of being dispossessed – right in the middle of Sydney. It’s the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at the Block, in Redfern.

For more than a year, activists have been occupying land once given to the Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC), which was then promising to build quality, affordable housing for the neighbourhood’s low income population.

Many long-term Aboriginal residents of Redfern/Waterloo are currently living in overcrowded, unsuitable state housing, or are homeless, while Aboriginal land is being taken over for commercial development.

The AHC, together with property developer Deicorp, wants to build expensive apartments for overseas students and others. Aboriginal activists, including some who have lived large parts of their lives in Redfern, are understandably disappointed and outraged.

According to Felon Mason, a young Aboriginal activist who has spent the last year campaigning for justice, the AHC has completely lost the plot. He’ll tell you straight about federal and state governments’ systemic racism and corruption. He’s angry that the AHC wants to get the poor Aboriginal people to leave the area.

The establishment of the Tent Embassy in 1972 in Canberra led to the landmark recognition of Aboriginal rights by the Gough Whitlam government. Things were looking up, also with the landmark Mabo ruling. But since the Northern Territory intervention – initiated by John Howard and continued under the ALP government – combined with the Barnett-Abbott push to forcibly close remote Aboriginal communities, Aboriginal people are justifiably feeling under huge pressure.

Some statistics paint a very grim picture – an indictment of successive government’s paternalistic and racist policies. Since 1989, the imprisonment rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has increased 12 times faster than the rate for non-Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people represent only 3% of the total population, yet more than 28% of Australia’s prison population are Aboriginal. Aboriginal people represent on average 17% of the prison population, except in Western Australia and the Northern Territory where they account for 43% and 84%.

Despite entrenched discrimination and racism, Aboriginal people have survived and are fighting back. Felon Mason put it like this: “The systemic racism and corruption causes fear among the remaining Aborigines in Redfern, as they’re slowly pushed away from their ancestral lands to make way for high-rise developments.

“But we are not going away. Redfern Tent Embassy is here to stay, and we are calling on people to come and show us their support”.

The Commonwealth and state governments are refusing to release public funds for any Aboriginal-controlled community housing projects anywhere in Australia. This discriminatory policy needs to end. Public funding must be allocated immediately for Aboriginal community housing for the Block and across the country.

For more information on how to support the cause, contact the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy via Facebook, or contact Mia Sanders, chairperson of the UWS Resistance Club on OrgSync.

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The Earthq that Broke U

Apart

Yup, all ready to go to work. It was 25th April, 2015, around 4pm in Sydney. I was enjoying a cup of tea and having a quick go at my Facebook...

After scrolling through a few posts, I was in utmost shock to see my hometown Basantapur drop down to rubble. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Scrolling through a few more posts, I figured that my country Nepal just had a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. That was the moment my mind fled. Scared and trembling, I tried to call my home but the network connection back home was almost dead due to the earthquake waves. I couldn’t go to work that day due to the sudden stress.

I soon found out that there was a lot of destruction that had taken place in Nepal and more than half of our cultural heritage sites were destroyed. After hours of trying, my phone call finally reached home and I was very relieved to hear my family and relatives were safe and were staying outside in tents.

a few villages were entirely destroyed by the landslides that had followed the earthquake. If that wasn’t enough, the monuments that we have in the UNESCO World Heritage site like the ancient Swayambhunath Stupa, Boudhdhanath Stupa and a lot of historic temples and architectural buildings were partially damaged too. In this difficult time, the last thing we want are the aftershocks that are still going on, scaring people.

That was how I felt during this time, away from home.

If we look at the bigger picture, the condition is even worse. It was referred to as the biggest earthquake in Nepal in the last 80 years. Having a peek at the casualties, the deaths so far were more than 8000 and the injuries were more than 18,000 and still counting. The destruction was mainly on the old, historic buildings and architecture that we were really famous for around the world. The historic buildings from the ancient period in Nepal, which were in the UNESCO World Heritage site, are highly damaged in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan. Apart from this, the historic 9 storey tower called ‘Dharahara’ was also taken away from us by the earthquake. In the higher altitude, we faced an avalanche on the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest, where we had at least 19 deaths and around 120 people missing.

In addition to that, in the village areas of our country, we suffered a massive loss of human life and even

As I wrote this article (on 12th May 2015), I got the news there was another huge earthquake of around 7.4 magnitude in Nepal again. This was the second biggest one this month.

Even though we suffered such big earthquakes, we have not given up yet. There is a lot of foreign aid that is coming up to help the needy and the people who lost everything in this disaster. Rescue works are being carried out simultaneously. The government is trying its best to make sure the people affected get food and shelter. The people themselves are also doing donation and awareness programs for the victims, in the fields of sanitation, shelter, food and rescue works.

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hquake e Us

By Ishan Karanjit

We Nepalese have faced such huge earthquakes and many natural disasters in the past and have successfully risen up from them.

I’m very sure that this time, with the help of the people, government and all the aid that we have been receiving, we will rise again.

The most unfortunate thing at the moment is that the earthquakes are knocking on our doorsteps again and again, and it is really disturbing to ask how much can we take ? There is the huge possibility of Post Traumatic Disorders or serious mental stress for people living far away from home in foreign lands. Having said that, we are still fighting against the cruelty of nature in Nepal and, as history shows, we believe that we will get through it. We have a hashtag trending in Facebook and Twitter that says, #WeWillRiseAgain, and it is right.

I pray to God everyday to very soon make my country as stable and normal as it was before.

JAY NEPAL !

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By Caitlin Hooper “Wow, so is the rest of your family tall too?”

“Yeah well my Dad is Dutch and Mum is Maori so I kinda got all those tall genes together…”

“Far out that’s quite the mix!”

“Yeah, so what are you?”

“Oh, I’m Australian” “No…but what are you?”

This is a conversation that I had with my boyfriend soon after we met in the final year of high school. The last sentence still runs through my mind at random moments and I often tell it as an anecdote when it comes up in conversation. How tall is he? He is 6’10’’. Talk about genetic inheritance.

So with such strong, unique cultures influencing him, and in such an obvious manner, he identifies with both, selecting which one he appreciates more depending on what mood (or country) he is in. His grandfather in New Zealand is a Maori elder. His family has generations of history in Holland where his father’s family still lives. With such a smorgasbord of cultural heritage to choose from he sits very easily within his own cultural identity. And until he came along, I enjoyed the same.

Turns out, ‘Australian’ doesn’t count as a background. This was news to me.

After repeating myself more and more vehemently as he persisted in questioning me I finally got fed up and yelled ‘Well I can trace myself back to a convict – what more do you want!?!?’. Realising he touched a nerve he finally recognised that I was genuinely upset. (Three years later he still knows how to push my buttons.)

I am so proud to be Australian. Every time I have been overseas I enjoy watching reactions when I say that I am an Aussie.

I always pretend to be so offended when they first assume I’m English.

In terms of ancestry, my family on my mother’s mother’s side descended from Christopher O’Leary who was sent over to Australia during the first years of convict settlement. Not the most illustrious ancestors, but hey, they’re the ones I’ve got.

Can’t choose your family right?

Having the travel bug but not wanting to wait until I had saved enough to travel to the other side of the world, I decided that I wanted to explore this breathtaking country. So I booked myself on a backpacking tour from Adelaide up to Alice Springs. Ironically, I was the only Australian on the trip. When we finally reached Uluru, I was amazed. It was one of the most breathtaking, peaceful, spiritual places I have ever visited. I walked the entire base completely alone.

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Finally I reached the cultural centre.

Learning about Indigenous culture in school did not do it justice as to just how beautiful and spiritual it is. But it came with a bit of an epiphany for me.

Overwhelmingly, I took away the message that Uluru is an Indigenous site. It was not mine. In terms of Australian history, particularly colonisation history, I was not Indigenous, so logic prevails: I was one of the white people. To me, these ‘white people’ of our history books are Europeans. I am not European. I was born and raised in Australia. As were my parents before me. So then what am I? Can I be proud of Uluru as part of my country?

Australia is promoted as a multicultural melting pot, constituting cultures from all over the world. And I am not to be misunderstood, I think this is fantastic. But I am not English. I am not Indigenous. I’m not Dutch, not Maori, not Vietnamese, not Lebanese, not Chilean, not Turkish and not French. I do, however, have friends from all of these backgrounds. Where do I come from then? One of my great grandmothers was English. So I suppose that makes me English. What do I gain from that? Not only ‘white guilt’ for atrocities committed, but a culture, land and history I don’t Identify with. England doesn’t have the white sandy beaches, red belly blacks and weeping gums of my childhood.

Australia is in an identity crisis. But it was only recently that I fully came to terms with what that meant, and what it meant for me. It has been difficult to move beyond superficial beach cultures and even my hallowed ANZAC spirit (I say ‘‘my’’ as my great grandfather fought in both World Wars) feels so tied to European background in other people’s eyes. At the moment it seems to be an ethos of ‘embrace all cultures’. I think it’s the most relevant yet, but then why do I feel out in the cold? Some will say ‘what do I know about cultural identification?’

I am lucky enough to not have suffered terribly as did the Stolen Generation, like refugees who risked their lives for Australia, or a minority who has been subjected to abhorrent racism on a daily basis. But Australia is moving towards generations of young people who, like myself, have been born and raised here and are essentially born from, but do not identify with, white colonisation. There seems to be a sinkhole, where if you do not have a culture or ethnicity to cling to you end up drowning in the melting pot of cultures we so praise. I don’t speak bitterly, and I certainly don’t aim to offend. I just feel, like everybody else, a little lost on the pathway to figuring out where I fit in. And whilst I still haven’t truly discovered what it entails, I am still bloody proud to be Australian.

In Defence of

Struggle Street

By Gabrielle Lawson 2770. The postcode that’s not often associated with having the good life. Mount Druitt. Yes. This is my hometown. This is where I grew up and this is where I live. I will never be ashamed to call this place my home but sadly, this attitude is not shared by many others.

The city of Mount Druitt is one that is stained by stigma and, mixed with the misfortune of perpetual poverty, it has become somewhat of a haven for the hopeless. In the minds of many it is the place where losers live. It’s the place where those who weren’t lucky enough to escape raise a family on welfare. It’s the place where kids have kids before they graduate high school – if they can even find the drive to graduate at all.

2770. The postcode of the damned.

Although this picture is not an accurate representation of every person who

calls Mount Druitt home, it is a picture far too common in my hometown.

Every day I fight a battle in my mind of optimism and despair. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is sickening and the denial of the human rights and social justice of individuals on a global scale makes me want to cry. Sometimes I am brought to tears.

Yet in the midst of all this commotion of worldwide terror and turmoil, there is one saving grace that, if utilised correctly, can bring salvation to the human race. No, I’m not talking about Jesus. I’m talking about the media.

Recently, SBS released a three part documentary that gave a glimpse into the lives of a handful of Mount Druitt residents. Even before the official broadcast, the series fuelled outrage among the Mount Druitt community who felt they were being inaccurately portrayed and as a result, would be

further scrutinised, scoffed at and stigmatised by the Australian public.

On a personal level, I was touched by the sense of unity in my community - having a petition and protesting at SBS headquarters to stop the series from being aired. On the other hand, I felt glad that it was aired. If anything, it got Australia talking about the many social issues that are destroying our communities. Drugs, unemployment and violence – these are only a handful of the issues that were shown in the series. Although these problems are not unique to the city of Mount Druitt, my hometown was the ‘sample city’ in SBS’s “Struggle Street”. Now that the official fuss and fury has toned down, I have noticed what I can only attribute to the after-effects of the documentary series. More people are openly talking about these issues in my community. There is an increased community awareness about the problems we have in our community and a sense of ownership and pride in thinking “Hey, we’re not all drop kicks. Let’s show Australia what we’ve got!” And it’s more than just marijuana and welfare cheques in case you were wondering! The media plays a big role in our perceptions of the world. Let’s keep the conversations going to help create real change in our communities.

Samira Nicholas and Joanne Laoulach from SOS Wellbeing Photo: Lourice Chidiac

Market lovers will

love this

By Lourice Chidiac

Beneath the steps of Parramatta Town Hall lies a new hub of creativity for Sydney’s West in the form of Lovers Markets. The $5 million refurbishment of the area has brought the Centennial Memorial Drinking Fountain and clock back to working condition, and has seen the installation of modern street furniture, an upgrade of public amenities and new paving and lighting.

strengthen our business and who understand what works in the market environment”.

Stephanie Nehme, a local resident and Lovers Markets customer says, “it’s been a long time coming. It’s something fresh and new for the area.”

“The markets are recognising Parramatta as a thriving city with nightlife, entertainment, and attractions that should be celebrated too. Stigmas that are commonly attached to anything in the Western Suburbs, can now change and that is so important, especially for the creative people in the area” said Ms Nehme.

Lovers Markets, directed by Sally Issa, has been operating since 2014. Ms Issa started the project on Parramatta’s Church Street, a strip of eateries designed to draw crowds of people who are both locals and visitors. Lovers Markets offers a diverse range of stalls from women and men’s fashion, accessories and beauty, to homewares, stationary, music, art and food stalls.

Samira Nicholas, founder of SOS Wellbeing says, “Lovers Markets, are a great way to share what we do with a larger audience.”

“It is something that has been needed for a long time and nobody had done it yet, so I did,” said Ms Issa.

“Lovers Markets was put together to not only showcase Sydney’s most talented, but also to inspire and motivate, allowing them a secure platform to elevate their passion to the next level.”

John Chedid, former Lord Mayor of Parramatta, says, “Council was and still is looking to activate keys areas of Parramatta City through innovation, creativity, and more importantly events and attractions that would contribute to the diversity of Sydney’s West in positive ways.”

Ms Issa, who originated from Sydney’s West and is a designer by trade, used to sell her own designs and travelled to Glebe Markets every weekend to do it.

”Lovers Markets represents a new generation of aspiring artists from the Western Sydney and in particular the Parramatta region,” he said.

“I always travelled to the city to showcase my products.

Parramatta is the second biggest city and it’s booming, so it is the perfect location,” she said.

“Sally is an example for the younger generation to go out and follow their dreams and their local community is the first place to start”.

Ms Issa found a name for the project, paying tribute to the passion and love of each stallholder and creator.

“The idea was all about my love and passion; that is what Lovers Markets represents,” said Ms Issa.

Parramatta Council approved Lovers Markets in March 2014. Ms Issa said she felt the council supported the project from start to finish. She plans to open in Williamstown, Victoria by the end of 2015.

Stallholders apply through the Lovers Markets website, and if successful, they rent a ‘space’ by paying a fee. Kaisser Khater, director of Kayter Co says, “it’s the perfect place to meet other stallholders who we could partner with to

Lovers Markets trades on the last Saturday of every month at Centenary Square from 10am-4pm.

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Bring It On! team with Abbey Lenton on far right.

Photo: Seng Ung

Bring It On !

Youth fest Fairfield

By Anokina Benjamin

The Bring It On! Festival is one of the largest of many Youth Week events held in New South Wales. With open-air music, dance performances and sporting events, the drug and alcohol free festival showcases local young talent. The Bring It On! festival attracts more than 10,000 people in April each year with multiple awards underlining its success such as Most Consistent Youth Week Program.

“Whether it was for them to explore themselves and the wider world or just to remind them of the sanctity in their youth.”

Abbey Lenton, a Fairfield Youth Advisory Committee Member (YAC) spills a secret about the event’s motive.

“Bring It On! showed characteristics of wanting to help and being able to work behind the scenes of a large event with a team,” Pham said.

“A little known secret about Bring It On! Fest is that its entire purpose is to benefit the volunteers.”

Fairfield City’s youth unemployment rate has been the highest in the state, at 50.0% to 69.3% according to the 2011 census. In partnership with young people and community organisations, Fairfield City Council took immediate action in 2011. The YAC committee was formed and created the festival in November in order to prevent the issue from further developing.

“There is so much negative representation around Western Sydney and particularly young people,” Lenton said.

“Bring It On! Festival provides a much needed breath of fresh air from all this negativity.”

Each year, the volunteer program at Bring It On! works with over 100 youth members in Fairfield City aged between 14-24 to help develop their skills for future jobs.

“The training and experience they gain from the festival will greatly broaden their career prospects,” Lenton said.

The volunteers participate in workshops that help increase their skills in many areas including photography, resume writing and social media interaction. “I was even employed by my council for three months to help with the organisation,” Lenton said.

Bring It On! stayed true to its motives as it widened a career prospect for Lenton while she was still volunteering.

With the event’s friendly environment and resourceful leaders, Angela Pham found many opportunities to discover and explore pathways to take for her future while being on the volunteer team.

Pham also had many pathways leading to jobs because of her experience volunteering at Bring It On! “In any career, they’ll look for your ability to work in a team, delegate and execute delegations from peers/mentors. An event such as Bring It On definitely covered all of that.”

Ramos, a singer/song writer, performed at Bring It On! festival.

“The festival gets youth to interact and involve themselves in activities where they can potentially develop a passion and pursue an activity they enjoy,” Ramos said.

Ramos performed his hit song Under Fire and a cover of Survivor by Destiny’s Child.

“We must give them hope by engaging them through music and performances and highlighting positive themes to them like unity, love and just being a humanitarian,” Ramos said.

Both songs carried those themes that he wanted to express and teach to the youth of today.

“Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. Network and unite with youths from all over, create friendships and help one another to get through life’s struggles.”

The Bring It On! festival has three stages of live entertainment – a fun day out for the whole family. With free entry and free shuttle busses to and from the venue, youth of NSW have every reason to attend with such easy access to the festival and various stalls, entertainment and activities.

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IMAGE: Aileen Mountfield and Annabelle Daniel. Photo by Courtney Nowland

Hills community Forum Supports womens Refuge

By Courtney Nowland The Lisa Harnum Foundation recently held a forum to establish a new domestic violence refuge in the Hills area.

Council, said the forum aimed to create community support for the establishment of the women’s shelter. She said it also provided information and support for women and children experiencing domestic violence. Ms RicafortBlaza said the proposed refuge was “very important” as a lot of women and children had nowhere to go.

Over 120 people attended the forum at the Castle Grand Community Centre, Castle Hill, on May 6.

The proposal to set up a new women’s refuge is being negotiated by Aileen Mountfield of the Lisa Harnum Foundation, Annabelle Daniel of Women’s Community Shelters, Hills Superintendent Rob Critchlow and Mitchell Federal Liberal MP Alex Hawke. Ms Mountfield and Ms Daniel said they were very pleased with the community response to the proposal.

In the last month there have been 20 cases of domestic violence reported in the Hills area. Superintendent Critchlow said “the rate of domestic violence in the Hills area is about 40 percent of the state average”. While there has been a 15 percent decline in the number of reported domestic violence cases since 2010, Supt Critchlow said he was worried that women were not going to police for help and said the 15 percent decline was not a clear example of the rate of domestic violence in the Hills area, as most cases go unreported. He said the public response to domestic violence was very complex and required commitment by the government and community together.

The Lisa Harnum Foundation, run by Ms Mountfield, reaches out to women with information, counselling, education and group work. The Foundation aims to eradicate domestic violence through increased awareness, education and prevention programs, especially in the Hills area.

”This project is a great example of the collaboration that would make a difference,” Supt Critchlow said.

The Foundation, along with the Women’s Community Shelter, ensures that women who have become homeless have access to short term emergency accommodation and support, and access to a property for three years rent free.

Robyn Waite, Convener of the Hills Domestic Violence Prevention Committee, described domestic violence as a “hidden epidemic”.

A generous donation from the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has enabled the domestic violence service and refuge to find a home. Ms Daniel announced that the new refuge would be crisis accommodation.

Federal Liberal MP for Mitchell, Alex Hawke, said all tiers of government needed to be involved in campaigns against domestic violence. He said the prevalence of domestic violence was “quite disturbing” and “a great concern”. He was also thankful that domestic violence has “finally been taken much more seriously”.

“We can make the duration of need client-based,” she said.

“Women’s safety comes first”.

Raquel Ricafort-Bleza, the Community Development Coordinator, Community Services, for the Hills Shire

The domestic violence refuge for the Hills area is expected to be operating by the end of 2015.

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domestic violence F Funding shortfall

By Joseph Small

Women’s refuges around NSW are at breaking point, being forced to turn away domestic violence victims and their children more than ever before, while domestic violence figures continue to rise.

While the State Government has introduced new programs to assist victims of domestic violence, a radical funding shake-up has added to the workload already carried by charitable organisations.

Measuring the success of such programs remains a tricky task, with fewer than half of all domestic violence victims reporting to the police, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Thelma Brown Cottage in Parramatta was established in 2003, and since then has provided accommodation and support to approximately 50 women and 100 children annually.

“Most of these women don’t know about programs run by government bodies simply because there is no one to tell them” said Alexandra Falconer, assistant manager of the House of Welcome refuge in Carramar, NSW. “The Department [of Family and Community Services] releases an annual report telling us all about the successes of these programs, but they really don’t give a context. They don’t tell you about the not so successful stories”.

Penelope Gleeson, the General Manager of the Cottage, believes a lack of public awareness and government support leaves staff to work with very few resources.

“Sadly, Thelma Brown Cottage can accommodate less than half of the women that request assistance as we simply don’t have sufficient accommodation or staff”. Penelope believes the number of calls they are receiving requesting help is unprecedented. “It really has never been this bad”.

The Department of Family and Community Services declined to comment on recent cuts to funding to independent charities such as the Thelma Brown Cottage, however a spokesperson said “ Programs such as Staying Home Leaving Violence are proving to be invaluable in helping women and children remain safely in their homes rather than having to flee to escape a violent partner”.

In the year 2013-14, neighbouring state Victoria saw the number of domestic disputes reported to Victorian Police rise 83 per cent from that of the previous year. Months later, a Ministership for the Prevention of Family Violence was created.

The NSW State Government appointed Pru Goward Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence in April.

Whether or not State Government will again attempt to prevent the cause or whether under-funded local charities will continue to pick up the broken pieces remains to be seen.

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is australian media colour blind?

By Tagwa Elnor

The media industry is now more open to accepting different races, according to 60 Minutes executive producer Tom Malone.

Mr Malone said the Australian media industry was working hard on representing Australian multicultural society.

“The Australian media industry has come a long way in the past 10 years,” he said.

“People of colour have a really good chance of making it into the industry regardless of their racial and religious backgrounds”.

Malone gave many UWS journalism and media students hope and confidence in joining the Australian media industry, when he joined a panel to address students from Parramatta campus in April.

The panel included 60 Minutes reporter Allison Langdon and 60 Minutes supervising producer, Jonathan Harley.

The team gave students as insight into how the show is put together, the kinds of decisions journalists make on daily basis, the importance of storytelling and how to find credible and reliable sources.

Students found the session very informative.

Media student Pallavi Wardan said “the lecture was fun-filled and very informative, unlike what I expected”. Wardan had some concerns regarding her chosen profession but said she regained her confidence and faith. “I had some concerns about my job opportunities but after today I feel like I have regained my confidence and faith, and I am excited for my future in the media industry.’’

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Campbelltown

1/9

Hawkesbury 2/9 3/9 Nirimba 3/9 Penrith

8/9

Parramatta

9/9

Bankstown 10/9

Internationally acclaimed comedian, Aamer Rahman and UWS-bred poets from Bankstown Poetry Slam

Healthcare professionals need more support

By Jenyfer Joy

The other report, aired by Four Corners, exposed the bullying tradition inherent within the medical profession. Although the episode focused on the experience of junior surgeons, bullying transcends beyond just the medical profession. Unfortunately, it is the old story of how the corruption of power and those at the top of the hierarchy continue the tradition of bullying entrenched within the system. The sayings ‘nurses eat their young’ and recently ‘surgeons eat their young’ are becoming all too prevalent in the media. But it captures how power can be manipulated by those in senior positions and can inevitably destroy the confidence of junior healthcare professionals. I was captivated by what Avril Henry, a leadership consultant, said in regards to emotional intelligence and how it can determine if a person chooses not to become a bully. In a profession where intelligence is favoured over emotional prowess, it is not surprising that bullying is spreading infectiously through the system.

You may have heard or seen the episodes aired by Four Corners which exposed some of the issues occurring within the healthcare industry. The first program was about how some nursing students were given jobs as registered nurses despite not being fully competent. The second program revealed the extent of bullying experienced by doctors just starting in their profession. The two programs were not only controversial but exposed one unspoken truth – that Australia’s future nurses and doctors are vulnerable but may not be receiving the adequate support they need.

As a final year nursing student, I know that the assessments I have completed so far have been marked rigorously and cross marked. The lecturers and tutors can almost instinctively tell if I have not done my readings and are not hesitant to tell me that my work is not up to standard. The strict marking scheme in conjunction with the numerous clinical placements I have completed makes me realise that it will all be worth it in the end. Yet the story revealed by Four Corners made it appear as if students were allowed to pass because the university had an obligation. I concur with Professor Rhonda Griffith, Dean of Nursing at UWS, in saying that the report was perhaps one sided and did not discuss how after the completion of university, students are once again assessed in meeting all competency standards by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. It just does not make sense how, despite being assessed by two different professional organisations, students are still under scrutiny.

What does this mean to the future nurses and doctors about to graduate? After listening to these two reports, I realised how much support I would need in order to get through the first few years in my profession. I have had wonderful experiences in nursing so far where I have witnessed the tangible positive difference the healthcare team makes in a person’s life.

But there were also some extremely difficult times where I was simply called ‘student’ and I started questioning if I really wanted to be part of a team that did not appreciate the contributions I made. If it weren’t for the support the university has provided through workshops and informal discussions, I may not be here today looking forward to graduating.

The few years students have at university is filled with exams, mastering and memorising heavy content and trying to have a life. But if we are too really to succeed in the workforce of the future we have to first acknowledge the unspoken truth that students may not be receiving the crucial support.

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By Joseph Small A 2000-strong crowd flooded Belmore Park in Sydney recently to voice anger over the closure of Aboriginal communities in Western Australia and the planned commercial development of Redfern’s ‘Tent Embassy’.

It was one of more than 100 protests held around Australia on the same day in April. Despite the large police presence and the small flock of sullen, delayed commuters, the protestors appeared to be behaving peacefully frustrated.

Speakers such as John Pilger and Ernie Dingo joined Les Munro, co-founder of the Tent Embassy, to share the same message: ‘Close the gap, not the community’.

In days prior, WA Premier Colin Barnett said: “No-one will be forced from their land but the State Government can no longer continue to service remote communities” Munro believes respecting the right of Aboriginal Australians to their own land is the first step, yet like all Australians, he said: ”We need homes, we need to be housed. It’s a human right.”

Based on the 2006 census, although only representing 2.3 per cent of the Australian population, Indigenous people comprised nearly 30 per cent of persons classified as homeless.

protest over plans to close

aboriginal communitieS In 2008, in conjunction with the Aboriginal Housing Office, both State and Federal governments formed the ‘National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Housing’, which aimed to reduce these figures drastically through “increasing the supply of new houses”. As of 2015, according to the ABS, the number of Indigenous homeless has in fact increased by 3 per cent. The Aboriginal Housing Office declined to comment on either the protest or the rise in Aboriginal homelessness, yet maintained ”our continual engagement with the community and Aboriginal Housing Company Inc has allowed for steady and positive progress”. Engagement and progress some community members fail to see.

“The people here have had a number of concerns on a number of times about the development plans and how Micky [AHC CEO Michael Mundine] is running this Pemulwuy Project,” said Aunty Jenny Munro, a founding member of the Aboriginal Housing Company who is now one of the Tent Embassy protesters.

“The lack of national spotlight is disgusting and there is pretty much no accountability on his end,” she added.

Michael Mudine was scheduled to speak at the protest but failed to do, fuelling the obvious frustration present in the crowd. Max Clement was amongst the protestors at Belmore Park and has been actively involved in Redfern’s tent embassy for the past 6 months. He said the issues “stem back to the colonial era” and described the plight of Indigenous Australians as a national tragedy.

“Allowing $70 million dollars to build some building, making rich people richer rather than allocating that money to give homeless people homes, and then to kick out our uncles and aunties in WA from their land? What does that tell you about our society?” said Clement.

In an overdue moment of calm, the night closed with traditional dancing and a moment of silence for prominent Indigenous activist, Uncle Ray Jackson.

At around 7pm, the crowd died down as approximately 70 per cent of people dispersed back to their homes. As for the other 30 percent without housing?

Ask Anthony Albanese in between songs at his DJ set in Melbourne. No luck? Tell Tony Abbott you’ll give him a nice big raw onion if he gives you a straight answer.

PHOTO: Joseph Small

17

wake up on campus! apply now for 2015 Stay on-campus at UWS Village and walk to your class in a matter of minutes!

Fully furnished apartments

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24 hour support

A fantastic social scene

Wireless internet

Student lounges and study areas

Make your online application today, visit:

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on-campus student accommodation email uws.village@clv.com.au

Real life + degree

= job

By Nelofar Nawabi

UNIVERSITIES and business leaders plan to implement a strategy to make graduates more ‘job ready’.

Universities Australia says that a national strategy is being implemented to build the productive capacity of Australia’s workforce, improve graduate job prospects and meet the skills needs of employers.

Work Integrated Learning (WIL), is about integrating theory-based knowledge with practical work experience in education. WIL is already well established in many areas including health and teaching.

However, there is higher demand in many emerging industries in which practical skills are needed.

Skills shortages in certain industries are a contributing factor to the increased demand for job-ready graduates. In the past, employers have partnered with universities to provide students with WIL experiences, but until now there has not been a strategy to focus its future growth.

Former UWS graduate Mark McKeown, who is currently an Executive Producer at Channel 7, said that the key to a successful graduate is doing lots of work experience during your course.

The strategy was introduced for tertiary institutions to better respond to the needs of employers. Employers say that training staff is expensive and believe tertiary institutions should prepare graduates with the right set of skills for work.

While tertiary experience has taught many students theory as well as practical, focus is needed to be shifted more towards practical, particularly for growing industries that don’t do as much work experience in their course. With the increase in employer demands, this strategy will help graduates to get work in their field.

Nevertheless, there is debate as to whether degrees should prepare graduates to be ready for anything or for just for work in their field.

Whether it’s working in the Hunter Valley vineyard or the corporate office, students from around Australia are putting their knowledge into practice by undertaking work-based learning experiences during their degrees.

Consequently, universities are starting to focus on preparing students with more generalist skills which employers are demanding, such as communications, team work, and problem-solving.

Amelia Moseley, a freelance journalist, said: “There used to be a perception that getting a degree from university equalled a bright job future. Many graduates would say they have been looking for work after years of their studies”.

Natasha Mitchell, ABC’s Life Matters news presenter, said that some employers don’t necessary believe that fresh graduates are job ready with the right skills for workplaces just because they have a degree.

19

Chief Executive of Universities Australia, Ms Belinda Robinson, said that student demand for WIL is increasing and this strategy is about meeting demands.

“The strategy provides the opportunity for industry to play a practical role in giving students the skills and experience they need to match employer expectations,” Ms Robinson said.

“These invaluable ‘hands-on’ experiences help put a student’s education in context and make a real difference to the skills and capacity they can bring to the workplace.

“Through the implementation of this strategy we can expect more places for students in industry, better prepared graduates and a workforce that is more able to meet the growth needs of industry.

“The Strategy is both a call for collaboration and the result of it. It is designed to strengthen the partnerships needed to life employment, productivity and international competitiveness”.

Ms Robinson also said that Australia needs to leverage its strengths, diversify, develop and compete. The strategy will also extend to students doing courses that don’t get enough practical experience.

The national strategy is among one of the critical issues being discussed at the Universities Australia Higher Education Conference in Canberra.

PODIATRY UniClinic at Campbelltown campus offers podiatry services to the general public at a reduced rate, including nail surgery, foot pressure analysis, diabetes assessment, orthoses, vascular/neurological/biomechanical/ gait assessments, and muscle rehabilitation. For students most of the services cost just $10.

Phone 4620 3700 and visit uws.edu.au/ uniclinic

Study & Life Skills Free workshops include academic writing workshops, library roving, maths, dealing with exam stress, mastering your memory, time management, planning, getting motivated, strategies for stress-free presentations.

Email mesh@uws.edu.au for maths workshops, hall@uws.edu.au for academic literacy workshops and counselling@uws.edu.au for life skills workshops

Student Welfare For assistance from other services, such as a counsellor or a government agency, UWS welfare officers can help you with info and advice about the right services to talk to in relation to accommodation, financial assistance including food vouchers Centrelink support, tax help, textbook vouchers, sexual health, bullying, advocacy on misconduct, review of grades and special consideration and budget meals.

Email welfareservice@uws.edu.au or visit uws.edu.au/askwelfare

Careers With CareerHub you may search for jobs, internships, work experience, overseas positions, book in to career expos and access career information and resume advice all in one place. This free service is available to all UWS students and recent graduates. Register with your current MyUWS Account.

Email careerhub.uws.edu.au

Family Planning NSW Mates@UWS Reproductive and sexual health experts on contraception, pregnancy options, STIs, sexuality and sexual function, menstruation, menopause, common gynaecological and vaginal problems, cervical screening, breast awareness and men’s health. Clinics in Ashfield, Fairfield, Penrith targeted to marginalised communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, refugees, people with disability, young people and same sex attracted people.

Visit fpnsw.org.au or call 1300 658 886

MATES@UWS is looking for volunteer mentors to help new students settle in and make their first session at UWS a positive one.

Being a ‘Mate’ not only gives you the opportunity to help new students with their transition but allows you to meet other students, connect with UWS staff, receive free goodies and most importantly, have lots of fun along the way.

Visit uws.edu.au/mates

Indigenous Students

Ever have unprotected sex? Get tested, it’s easy. Many Sexually Transmitted Infections have no obvious symptoms.

Sexual Health Clinics at Nepean Hospital in Kingswood and Blue Mountains Hospital in Katoomba offer FREE confidential testing and treatment. The Nepean Hospital Clinic also offers the ‘Men Out West’ Clinic with HIV testing in 10minutes. No Medicare card needed.

Visit nbmlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/ Sexual-Health or phone Nepean Sexual Health Clinic 4734 2507 or the Katoomba Sexual Health Clinic 4784 6550.

Badanami Centre provides support and encouragement for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student enrolled at the University. Students can drop in to Badanami anytime to study or relax Badanami can put you in touch with a range of services across campuses, from study skills courses, careers advice, counselling and medical assistance all the way through to opportunities to study abroad 1800 032 923 or email badanami@uws. edu.au

SEXUAL HEALTH CLINIC

PASS: Peer-Assisted Disability Service Study Sessions

Work with other students to understand the content of your units and develop study strategies to help improve your academic performance. Each PASS group is run by a student facilitator who has studied the unit previously. PASS is free and voluntary.

Regular attendance of PASS will help improve your grades and make study more rewarding.

Visit uws.edu.au/pass

Chaplaincy The chaplaincy team offers a caring presence to all staff and students at UWS; encouraging spirituality, offering hospitality and creating community. We do this by embracing our diversity, encouraging conversation and respecting our similarities and differences. Chaplains come from a variety of spiritual traditions.

Email chaplaincy@uws.edu.au 20

A team of professionals to assist students with all types of disabilities including chronic illness, mental health conditions and learning disabilities by providing reasonable adjustments.

Reasonable adjustments, such as exam provisions, are steps taken to ensure all students have equal access to university.

Visit uws.edu.au/disability, call 9852 5199 or email disability@uws.edu.au

Counselling A team of qualified social workers and psychologists to help you with any issues affecting your study. If you’re not sure that university is for you, a counsellor may be able to offer advice and support or help you improve your study skills. Counselling is free, confidentail and can be carried out as e counselling if preferred.

9852 5199 or email counselling@uws. edu.au

Employment LaW: s student legal says

know your rights So what is employment? Employment is based on a contractual relationship between an employer and an employee, where there is an agreement to work in return for wages or salary. The main employment types can be permanent part time, permanent full time, or casual.

The contract can be written or oral, and can contain different provisions or aspects of the employment relationship. Although it can be oral, it is a good idea to get it in writing!

National Employment Standards (NES) There are 10 minimum terms and conditions of employment that apply to employees in Australia, although not all entitlements apply to casual employees.

The terms are summarised as follows: 1. Maximum weekly hours of work 38.

Employees may refuse to work

unreasonably additional hours 2. Requests for flexible working arrangements 3. Parental leave and related entitlements 4. Annual leave 5. Personal carers leave and compassionate leave 6. Community service leave 7. Long service leave 8. Public holidays 9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay 10. Fair Work Information Statement Pay Your employer must pay you at least the minimum rate set out in your award or agreement. The rate will depend on the type of work you do and the time you work. Your pay must also be made on a regular basis.

You may also be paid: -Allowances for certain tasks -Overtime for work outside regular hours -Penalty rates for night work -Weekend & public holiday rates

Pay slips You should also receive pay slips to ensure you are getting the correct wages and entitlements. They should be provided within one working day of payday, even if you are on leave. They can be given in either electronic form or hardcopy. At the end of each financial year, employers have to give employees a summary of their income for the past year. This is called a payment summary (PAYG).

Unpaid Work Unpaid work can include a person wanting to get experience in the industry in order to test their job skills or to volunteer time and effort to a not-for-profit organization.

These include: 1. Student placements: Must be an approved placement with no entitlements for pay, and done as a requirement of an education or training course) 2. Internships/ work experience: Must not be in an employment relationship. This will depend on the length of the work period, the person’s position, and who benefits from this arrangement.

3. Unpaid trial: You should be aware that some unpaid trials go beyond what is reasonably required to demonstrate the skills needed for the job, and therefore the person should be paid the appropriate minimum pay.

Superannuation Employers must pay 9.5% superannuation to workers who earn $450 or more per month (before tax). Overseas students and workers on any other type of visa are also entitled to superannuation. You should regularly check your superannuation to make sure the contributions are being made, and contact the ATO if the employer has failed to do so.

21

Notice and Final Pay Notice is the length of time an employee or employer must give to end the employment. This will depend on your length of employment. If proper notice is not given to you, you can take legal action.

Period of Continuous service Minimum Notice period Less than 1 year: 1 week 1-3 years: 2 weeks 3-5 years: 3 weeks Over 5 years: 4 weeks To terminate an employee, the employer must give written notice of their last day of employment by: -

delivering it personally leaving it at the employee’s last known address, or - sending it by pre-paid post to the employee’s last known address.

The employer can choose to pay you instead of letting you work through your notice period. If this is the case, the amount paid must be equal to the amount that would have been paid if you had worked through the notice period.

If you want to resign, verbal notice is sufficient Unfair Dismissal This is when you have been dismissed from your job in a harsh, unjust or unreasonable manner. You can apply to the Fair Work Commission within 21 days of your dismissal. You must have been employed for at least 6 months before you can apply for unfair dismissal. The commission will take a number of factors into account in determining whether you were unfairly dismissed.

NOTE: some of this information has been taken from the Fair Work Ombudsman website and The Law Handbook.

By Roya Aran, Events Coordinator, and Nina Lau, Solicitor UWS Student Legal Service is a joint venture between Macquarie Legal Centre and UWS. The service is co-located at the UWS Parramatta Community Justice Clinic at Parramatta Local Court. Student Legal Services provides legal advice to currently enrolled UWS students. The service is provided to UWS students through SSAF funds.

Disclaimer: The information is general. It does not constitute and should not be relied on as legal advice. Should you require advice, please contact Student Legal Services on (02) 8688 7875 or email studentlegalservices@uws.edu.au

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Since then, she made it her life-purpose to help the children of developing countries in any way she could. Volunteering on every holiday she took, Simla improved young lives by working in schools and nurseries, hospitals and local communities, right across the world.

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When she was made redundant from her accountancy job in the travel industry, she realised that it was time to make a big difference.

Hands on Journeys is that difference. It’s about assisting children and young people off the streets, and giving them the opportunities to support their families long term, through better education. Hands on Journeys travellers support schools, the children who study there, and help to educate parents. They are an essential asset to communities across the world, and all this because of one woman’s brush with death.

It just goes to show what you can do if you have the will to fly free of convention. Give something back to the world and see where it takes you.

Give something back to the world, and see where it takes you.

In life

the smallest changes at a low level create the biggest differences at a world level. That’s the thinking behind Hands on Journeys, an exciting new way to travel the world and give back something of ourselves at the same time.

Think of the butterfly that flaps its wings in the Atlantic, creating a typhoon in the South Pacific.

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India The beauty of India is now, as well as in her past. This journey is partly one of self-discovery as you volunteer in local schools to help young children learn to read better. It’s also one of external discovery, as you break through the shell of western-style living and find yourself immersed in community life in India. With a bilingual guide, the most delicious foods possible, and comfortable lodgings, join in a genuine discovery experience that provides the opportunity to give something back at the same time.

Vietnam and Cambodia Vietnam and Cambodia: two remarkable countries impossible to discover fully without a guide who knows them well. Full of exciting foods, beautiful and mystical places, and home-from-home accommodation, Hands on Journeys offers a cultural immersion that you won’t find anywhere else. By helping children and adults in the communities here discover themselves through better education, you can give them some of your good fortune and improve your own life exponentially. Uncover depths you didn’t know you had, and in return, Vietnam and Cambodia will give you a life experience that you can’t forget.

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Vietnam and Cambodia Starting date

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01/05/15 14:04

the

good life

By Mahdi Housaini

When was the last time you did something good?!

If you're like most people, you will be giving your mind a big stretch trying to think of a recent instance of yourself doing something good. That's okay, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. You almost certainly have done a lot of good things in your life, you just can't remember them now. But chances are, something essential in you has been greatly diminished, or maybe even lost entirely. And that is your humanity.

A while ago I had a great adventure in a little island off the north east coast of Australia, New Caledonia. I had lost the others and I was exploring the island by myself.

I was soon very far away from the shore, in the middle of an endless road, stranded and alone and walking and then it started to rain, and what a rain it was; ruthless and severe, like bullets. I ran for cover, remembering that I had seen a little shack on my way to the side of the road. I finally found it and sprinted towards it. I found a surprised mother and daughter sitting around a table under a makeshift veranda. I couldn't speak their language, but in elementary English and in gestures, I made them realize that I'm just taking the cover and that when the rain stops, I will be on my way. Then they overwhelmed me with their kindness. The daughter brought me dry, clean clothes to change into, and then they carved a pineapple for me, which I ate passionately.

Then the son and father came out and they were so gentle and good-natured. It's all ironic, back in Sydney, among my own people, there have been countless times in social situations where I had felt the awkwardness and discomfort in the air, an unease, and then there I was sitting in silence among total strangers whose language and ways I did not understand, but I felt so at peace and so safe. Soon the rain stopped and I wanted to be on my way, but the mother stopped me and motioned that she will call someone to pick me up. Later a cab arrived and

IMAGE: David Gordon Whittaker

I said my goodbyes to those unforgettable people. Then the mother attempted to pay the cab driver. I didn't let her. But I thought of it afterwards. They were so poor, but still she wanted to pay for me, a tourist! The cab took me all the way back to the shore. I only had a 50 dollar bill and by that point I didn't care, I just wanted him to take the money. It was obvious that I didn't know the rates and the man could've easily taken the money that I offered.

But he told me to keep the money and then he drove me to a shop where I could get small bills. He told me the fare was only 5 dollars and only took that much from me. He was a just man. I thanked him with heart. Later when I was leaning against a wall waiting for the boat to arrive to take me back to the ship, I heard joyous yells and laughs from a distance. I got up to see what was going on and I came across the boys who were making the noise, all stripped to their underwear and all diving and swimming inside of a natural pool. When they saw me, they came to me, running and leaping all about me and urging me to join them. I couldn't resist, and I still had time and so I stripped and went with them. I told them my name and they told me theirs and soon, I was their playmate.

We were diving and swimming in a pure water that was, believe me, cold and warm at the same time, among the 24

I'm sorry about many things. Here are some of them.

To the wailing and sobbing man on the ground that cold lonely night in Parramatta, I'm sorry that I just walked on.

To the little children who came to my house, I'm sorry that I bitterly kicked you out of my room and locked the door.

To my teachers, I'm sorry that I left high school without saying a mere thank you.

To my grandmother, I'm sorry that you're so lonely and that I never visit.

And to all the hopeless and afflicted people of the world, I'm sorry that you're in such distress, so sorrowful and so in need, and that I forget about you.

I'm so sorry.

many exotic fishes. If somebody had seen us, he would've thought I actually lived in that island with those boys.

How else would they be so intimate? In the end, I had to leave and I said goodbye to all of them. Before I could leave, one of them gave me a lot of coins for some reason and another gave me his own wristband. I walked away towards the boat, aching to stay.

That day was one of the best days of my life. Other things had happened that I'm choosing to leave out because it would get too long to account for it all. But the events of that day made me so happy. It vividly remains in my memory. And later I thought about it all and I realized that what made that day so memorable for me were the ways of the islanders, the kindness, compassion, respect, hospitality, care, fellowship, fairness and simplicity: In short, humanity. And when you think of your own life, you could certainly remember instances where you were made so happy because someone, somewhere had the humanity to treat you well and to take notice. For me, I could readily think of the great surprise birthday that my family threw for me or that one time that man gave me his ticket as he was driving out of the parking, thus sparing me from paying 20 dollars for just half an hour.

~

They've done scientific studies with infants below oneyear-old and they have found them to have a very basic sense of good and bad. With their eyes and little hands, they reach for the pictures of helping characters and they turn away from the characters who acted maliciously.

Countless philosophers, thinkers and leaders throughout the ages have voiced one fundamental truism, that every human is born good, and only the environment can turn him bad. Humans, we know and feel, are inherently good and caring. You don't need any proof for that, just take a notice of the visceral feeling of awe and joy that comes over you when you witness someone doing something truly good, perhaps extending a hand, perhaps sacrificing.

However, the grave reality is that the modern world, especially places like Sydney, has a way of suffocating and snuffing out that moral drive in us to be good, that natural and inherent motivation to help and lift our fellow human brothers and sisters. Modern life reaches deep within our being and slowly but surely, extinguishes a beautiful fire.

And people wonder why there's so much depression and suicide.

It's time to get back to our basics, to reclaim our essence, our humanity. It could be gifting blood, could be sponsoring a child overseas, could be mending the broken bond with a past loved one, could be helping a friend with an assignment, or treating a tourist to a cup of coffee and some directions, it could simply be a smile to the old lady at the bus stop or a mere question put to anyone: 'Are you okay?' Ultimately, it's not so much about what you do, but about adopting a mindset and a resolve, and embracing your shared sense of humanity. Actions will then follow naturally.

Reclaim your humanity and I promise you, it will be the greatest thing you have ever done in your life.

25

Photojournalism Students Tour South East China

By Keegan Thomson

During the summer break, while most students were sweating it out and enjoying the beach, I was invited to join a group of UWS students exploring Hong Kong and Southern Mainland China.

to take some photos and coincidently, one of the best places to take intimate and engaging photographs was on the train.

Furthering our educational experiences, we teamed up with a photojournalism class from Hong Kong’s Baptist University, and ventured into our bustling urban surroundings to take photographs. This was a great experience to understand how other universities run, how other students interact with their universities, and to understand the Chinese culture from a student’s perspective.

We were on a photojournalism trip, organised through the New Colombo Plan Scholarship, which was created to open up better ties and communication between Australia and its Asian neighbours.

For two weeks, myself and 11 other students studying design and communications, led by our fearless leader, Dr David Cubby, tackled the food, culture, language and customs that the Chinese had to offer, as well as a whole lot more.

Kissing goodbye to the sights and sounds of colourful Hong Kong, we made our way to the notoriously tedious Chinese border. Here we all had our passports checked, our visas authenticated and our temperatures checked for Ebola.

Our tour began in the sprawling urban metropolis of Hong Kong. After leaving Sydney on a balmy 31-degree day, arriving in Hong Kong we found ourselves in the middle of a Chinese winter.

The immigration controls are very stringent at the Chinese-Hong Kong border; cars are required to drive through the border with their doors open wide, so they can prove that they are not hiding anyone other than the indicated passengers.

Of course we had to do all the touristy things like visit Victoria Peak, eat copious amounts of Chinese dumplings and pork buns, and marvel at the speed and promptness of the public transport (I’m a bit of a public transport nerd). However, being on a photojournalism tour, we had 26

In China we be based ourselves in one of the newest and most prosperous cities, Shenzhen. There was a lot of instant change in Shenzhen. We found ourselves driving on the right hand side of the road, the air was thicker with more pollution, and the buildings looked older and more clinical.

Engaging with the locals, we ate what the locals ate. I soon found myself munching on some sea snails, fish cheeks, and ox tongue; the curious Chinese cuisine was not as bad as I was expecting. However, eating chilli pig’s intestines, which I stupidly mistook for chicken, was one of the worst things I’ve eaten.

Our brief for our photojournalism assignment whilst in China was ‘getting by’, which meant that we had the chance to explore a lot of the more traditional and less affluent areas of Southern Mainland China. Visiting the art village of Da Fen, we saw how thousands of Chinese artists paint imitations of the world’s most well-known artworks.

They churn out thousands of copies of the Mona Lisa each year, all of them differing in quality. This is where the true meaning of ‘Made in China’ can be found.

Diving further into our brief we took a long bus trip on the wide and often poorly maintained Chinese highways to the rural county of Heping. Some of the communities

here still show remnants of Mao’s oppressive Cultural Revolution.

Photographing the people of these villages was a treat because everyone was so very happy for us to be taking their photographs. Even if they didn’t have much, people were more than happy to show you around their homes, offer up a smile, and even let you pat their pets.

There was just one more thing we had to do before we left China. We couldn’t leave without experiencing one of China’s best known and most celebrated past times, the art of karaoke. Booking out a whole karaoke room we spent the night singing ourselves hoarse and dancing ourselves silly.

The trip was a great way to learn and engage with the people of China and Hong Kong. It was a rewarding experience to work alongside Chinese students and photojournalists. However, if I had to give one piece of advice to anyone travelling to Asia, it would be that you don’t eat anything, unless you’re 100 percent sure you know what you’re putting in your mouth. You might end up eating something like stewed dog, or pickled chicken necks.

27

COMMUNITY HEALTH IN THAILAND

By Rachael Bobbin So here we are. After all this time planning and prepping, counting off days and packing more things than we will ever need, it’s 7am, we are finally sitting at the gate...

Leaving Chang Mai and heading into the mountains there is a collective feeling of nervous excitement. What are we going to find? What will the people be like ? Will we be good enough to help? The three-hour drive to the hospital and our dorm rooms was winding, bumpy, and very, very long. After lunch we went to the Anamai (pronounced An -oh-mai) which is a community health centre that caters to 2,200 people from a number of villages. The nurses there were welcoming and eager to show us what they do and how they have combined western medicine with their traditional medicines such as using seasonal fruits and herbs to make Medicinal tea. Watchan Hospital although only small, is an inspiring place. It's a 10-bed hospital that sometimes sees hundreds of out-patients a day. We were fortunate enough to meet and work with the nurses and doctors as they went about their normal routines. These wonderful people were so patient and understanding with our never ending stream of questions and mispronunciation of Thai words. The nurses in reception thought it was particularly hilarious to teach us Thai phrases and laugh when we got them wrong.

Dr Pranjin is the most patient man I have ever met. He freely gives up his time to those who need it and works tirelessly for better health for all, via his many projects such as water sanitation and health clinics in remote areas. This past week of working in the mobile health clinics alongside the Watchan Hospital team has been one of the best and most rewarding experiences of our lives so far. The hill tribes are a curious and strong people who live in the most remote areas and work mostly as farmers. Setting up the clinic there involved a registration area where the people first came, then an observation area where their vital signs where taken. Next they went to be assessed by the doctor and students, then it was off to pharmacy where they picked up their prescriptions and

compared what they got to what everyone else had. Going on amongst all of this organised chaos were the children's health checks, health promotion and games. They were taught hand washing and teeth brushing and in turn we were taught the song about cooking a chicken by shoving a stick up its butt to roast over a fire. The people here are just as willing to laugh at us as we are at them. The Thai phrases we learnt were helpful in figuring out what the villages were not saying as the Karen people do not speak Thai. Communication has therefore been limited to hand gestures, smiles and a lot of guess work but we manage.

The week passed quickly and now we are back in the land of McDonalds, margaritas and the miracles of hot showers. Relaxation here we come.

Back in Wat Chan we continued our health clinics. For our first clinic we went to an Anamai with the hospital staff and observed how they operated one of their own health clinics. It's interesting as it was not so different from the outpatient clinics at home, except they are more task orientated whereas we generally look at patients’ health as a whole and not just current state of health. Over the next two days we worked in health clinics at boarding schools in the mountains. The kids were cooperative in the health checks and loved to play games including redlight green-light and the hokey-pokey which is what it's all about. Overall, including the children, we completed health checks and assessments on approximately 1000 patients in two weeks. Each day left us exhausted to the point where dinner conversation was reduced to "humph", meaning pass the chicken, and "arrrrgh", meaning I thought I grabbed the tomato sauce not chilli.

On our last night in Wat Chan the hospital organised a traditional Karen farewell ceremony. We were blessed with safe travels and best wishes on our future endeavours.

Overall, this had been an incredible experience that we wouldn't trade in for the world and if you are reading this because you are considering participating in one of these trips, I highly recommend it.

visit

nepal and

help

rebuild

By Sakesh Karanjit

Visit Nepal, the home of the mighty Himalayas and people from more than 100 ethnic groups with diverse cultures and traditions, living in peace and harmony and now collectively looking forward to rebuilding the nation that shook massively during the devastating earthquakes.

Visiting Nepal on your holidays will reform the tourism sector of the nation and help it bounce back from an unpredictable natural calamity.

Visit Nepal for community trekking, tours and adventures with added purpose now. Visit Nepal to help, visit Nepal to bring back the smiles of people in affected areas, visit Nepal to help rebuild it.

I was really scared by this earthquake. The ground shook, houses shook, temples shook, everything of

physical matter around me shook. But the thing that this earthquake couldn't shake was the belief that we can rebuild this beautiful country together in an even more beautiful and strong way. Around the Langtang region, the most affected area, we can build houses with extra rooms for tourists where they can experience home stay trekking rather than traditional hotel experiences. This type of travelling appeals to adventurous tourists who are likely to support earthquake victims too. There are also many treks that are unaffected by the quake. The popular Annapurna Circuit is still accessible and did not suffer much damage.

Tourism is an inseparable and growing part of the Nepali economy, and one that the international community can affect directly. If you love Nepal then come here and spread the word.

Mapping Frictions is a multimedia website that celebrates western Sydney’s untold stories. These are local stories, but global issues that aim to break down stereotypes and allow people from the west to carve out a space to tell their stories in their own words. Teaming up with a range of emerging and award-winning local photographers, filmmakers and writers, Mapping Frictions seeks to slow down the news cycle, promote understanding, and bring the stories of south-west Sydney online. Be part of this bold initiative and come along and send us your stories!

Email info@byds.org.au to register your interest and head to www.mappingfrictions.com for more details.

29

report from hawkesbury student campus council

Since the last CrUWSible the Hawkesbury Student Campus Council has improved greatly, we now have 6 new members, 5 general and one residential member.

The HSCC has also now been allowed to run food events on campus with them all being a big hit especially the Dippin Dots on the last week of term. Currently the council is organising a Carnival to be run in the second week of the new semester to promote the new facilities in Stable Square on the Hawkesbury campus in the hopes that it will make it the new Hub on campus.

New members are: Sandra Ozegovic - Vice Chair (SRC) Emily Baker - General Member (SRC) Estelle Strachan - General Member (Residential) Todd Blackburn - General Member Emily Schupfer - General Member Soraya Outim - General Member Email: hawkesbury_scc@lists.uws.edu.au

Stephanie Oliphant Chair | UWS Hawkesbury Student Campus Council Secretary | UWS Hawkesbury Student Campus Council Member | UWS Student Representative Council

report from

bankstown

• The BSCC are also committed to improving the parking situation, shuttle buses, and academia concerns.

• The BSCC also welcomes Phillip Craig (General Member), Cynthia Liu (International Students Representative), and Murray Robertson (Post-Graduate Representative) to the team.

• If you have any concerns regarding your campus at Bankstown, please do not hesitate to contact the BSCC on Bankstown_scc@lists.uws.edu.au.

student campus council • The BSCC will begin initial stages into investigating the interests of the campus regarding female only gym times. A petition will be carried out throughout the new semester to gauge your feedback, which will direct us to take the best appropriate form of action.

Discussion has already been made, where people have suggested dedicating a time to females only in the gym.

• The BSCC will also be investigating the ongoing problem of examinations clashing with specific religious traditions in the day. We have committed to investigating this further and are reaching out to the students if they can shed some more light around this issue. Has this effected you, or do you know of someone it has effected?

Please contact us via the details below.

Ian Escandor Treasurer/active member | Resistance Club Voting Member/Incoming Educational Portfolio | Bankstown Student Campus Council Member | UWS Student Representative Council Editor | CrUWSible: UWS Student Magazine 30

IMAGE: David Gordon Whittaker

the

poems

31

The life and times of Jiminy Cricket

by Caitlin Hooper The sticky sun trickled down through the valleys and poured into the tunnel. The flecks of gold that twisted and orbited around beams of light fell lightly, dusting the bleached bellies of the stalks of the knee high grass that sashayed in the early morning breeze. The wind pin wheeled through the trees, gently lifting and tugging the world into morning, dragging behind it the drunkenness of sleep. The daylight cracked through the shell of drowsiness, heard as the birds unfurled their wings and larvae emerged from their sticky translucent cocoons.

Each living being collectively sighed and stretched, heard through a cacophony of creaks and groans, of a thousand twigs snapping under the weight of a new dawn.

The morning salute came in the form of a full battalion of cockatoos, followed by the kookaburra armed guard and the fire of all troops of every nationality following their orders. The horizon shifted, trying to get a peek at the new morning, glancing over its shoulder exposing the sun, and turning its back on its pale-faced counterpart. As morning infiltrated the land, pinpointing those darkened corners we all wish would remain hidden in the night, the world was reborn. A second chance.

Slowly, I stretched my legs, each one clicking into place as I winced and blinked last night from my eyes. I blinked and blinked again, my eyelids grating against the lenses, debris of sleep creating thousands of tiny scratches as I dragged them open. My vision was blurry through the ghosts of last night, the morning light chasing them away. My tunnel is filled with light, those persistent beams probing every corner, rousing me and forcing me to pay attention to the new morn. The warmth that came loosened my joints, and grew along with the rising sun. However soon the heat was tattooing the land with its burning kiss, branding every cell as its own, reminding just who was in control. The land seemed to buckle and heave under the stifling heat, kept in check only by the opal blue sky that pinned down the ground at each horizon. The heat sucked every ounce of moisture from my body, and I knew I had to replenish if I had any hope of surviving today.

Time to eat.

One foot in front of another, I clicked down the tunnel and emerged between the dried stems, feeling my way with my antennae. The ground was so hot that it seared my feet, so I hopped from shade to shade with quick, flickety sprints, clicking and buzzing, tasting and testing the air for my prey. I tried to fly, but the heat had cracked my wings and rendered them brittle.

The ironbarks wept, shrinking their skin forcing it to split, the cuts oozing rust as red as the dirt. Its roots dove deep into the red dust, desperately seeking something instinctively, yet questioning; frustrated at the futility of it. The scraggly scrub doubled over upon itself, succumbing to the heat that drew upon their strength, forcing them to collapse from sheer exhaustion. I clicked and buzzed onwards, searching for the strength the ironbarks had too easily surrendered.

I reached an overhanging scrub, and crouched beneath a particularly wide blade of dying grass, gasping for its last breath. A roo and her Joe lounged in the shade of a decaying eucalypt, chewing languidly, only using their energy to swat away the tiny insects that buzzed around them with a flick of their dusty-grey ears.

Lunch.

I found a root at the base of the small shrubs that provided the shade they sought, and began my ascent to the edge of the branch that extended just beside the larger roo’s ear. A small gathering of gnats and flies clustered around her face. An annoyance for her, a smorgasbord for me.

I edged out to the tip of the twig, balancing delicately, trying to stop my legs from clicking in excitement. I needed to concentrate. I eyed off the small gathering of hors de ’oeuvres that nattered over the tip of her right ear. I tensed, ready to take one for myself, and a few for the road. The heat had dried up what little strength I had and my legs were shaking from exhaustion. I needed to eat.

That was when I saw her.

32

One of the tiny flecks of gold that hung suspended in the air had alighted upon the tip of her wing, catching the light and momentarily blinding me, nearly causing me to collapse from my perch. Stunned, I closed my eyes and determinedly stuck all my legs to the twig, gripping it with all the strength that was yet to be taken from me, praying that in my moment of weakness, I did not become prey myself. Carefully, I opened my eyes to a sight that knocked the breath from my lungs, the thought from my mind, and the beat from my heart.

She pirouetted and careened, avoiding the constant threat of the dusty grey flick, a twisted ballet, where the final curtain could be all too real.

Her tiny wings fluttered around her dainty black body, as she spiralled through indecision as to hang around the roo or go join the others on the corpse of a calf that had long been taken hostage by the harshness of the light. The bleached bones beckoned, but she stayed her orbit, preferring the hive of activity to the dryness that death left in its wake.

Her eyes glittered and shone reflecting the light through one thousand lenses, my heart beating more intensely with each flutter, as I clung in suspense on my airy perch. My greying bronzed body shuddered as I imagined flying up to her, flying away with her, being with her…

Hopelessly falling. I was ensnared by this tiny…magnificent creature …some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

I was unsure if the ache in my legs was the muscles slowly seizing up from fatigue, or my insatiable appetite for her. An appetite I never knew I had. The staccato of my heart matched the pounding in my ears that joined the flittering in my stomach. The rhythm of her movements, darting around the piercing rays of heat that perpetually speared her from the sky. I was mesmerised. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame (excuse the pun). I felt as though every cell in my being was inextricably intertwined with hers, just as the life force is with every being in this harsh paradise. I gazed upon her intently, as if I could almost will her to cease her futile efforts and come away with me, to take the leap and break the most fundamental laws that define our beings, to break the chain of existence that binds us all…

I remember the world taking on a wonderful rose coloured tinge, as my heart swelled and my body ached…however I should have recognised it for the violent shade of red that it was.

The kind of red you saw through closed eyelids on a sunny day… that burned straight through to singe your thoughts.

The kind of red that struck fear into the hearts of all, the red of the dust to which we all inevitably returned…

The kind of red that meant danger…that meant run…

I wasn’t the only one that was watching her. Another set of beady, glittering eyes glanced maliciously through the sun split ochre tones, fracturing the sphere I had created around the two of us that beat to the rhythm of the blood coursing through my body, encircled by the blessing of this inescapable heat. A skink slithered from the undergrowth, snaking through the parched foliage that draped upon the ground. He looked at me. He smiled and winked. And then, she alighted upon the low russet fur of the Joe, resting her wings veined with streaks of gold.

It happened in an instant.

He was fast, The heat made him desperate.

A snap of the jaw, The crack of doom.

The destruction of two lives…one to the inevitability of the earth, the other to a broken heart.

She was snatched, her absence shattering the golden tones of the afternoon into a dull, dismal, brown, barren land, suffocating us with its heat. My muscles shook and my frail cricket body swayed, threatening to plunge me from my perch. The air was sucked from my lungs just as she was taken from the earth. My vision grew dimmer and dimmer as the world subtly shifted from browns to greys, fading until it was cemented into black and white.

But as I fell, the blackness overcame.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

What’s Your Point?

By Rachad Allaf What’s your point?

Well, I write my words and curve, and write my curses in cursive to try and figure out my purpose with this ballpoint pen.

A flow of conscious with the depth of like a hundred oceans.

I ash it out when I write, until this anchor sinks in.

Now let me really draw you into this, cartoon life that I’ve, been living I’m too fucking real! Is that an accurate description?

I mean you know me, and all my dimensions, but What’s your point?

Well did I mention that I fell in love with a phoenix?

Who said I couldn’t have her heart because she didn’t feel a spark, well isn’t that ironic. Baby, riddle me this: she said she’s too hot for me to handle both of her lips.

That’s probably the same reason why she won’t let me kiss her, but even thinking about it’s a metaphorical bliss.

My baby girl is too cold, but even then her persona is warm enough, to warm a thousand cold men with her cold shoulder…

I poke her mind, while I’m pushing on her Benjamin Buttons, asking questions like: “What have you learned about time?”.

She said “I get a little more wise, every time that I die”.

I said “I don’t think you do?”, and that’s when she asked me why…

You could spend years thinking about who and what you want to be in the future but, it only takes a second to forget who you were in the past.

The retrospective curse of life is that: the older you get, the quicker you forget and the less future you have left.

You could stretch yourself out time-wise, but your memories will become thinner. That’s not a wise way to spend your time.

Spend too much of it thinking about coincidental mishaps, and you’ll miss the happenings of your own actions.

Seek out happy things and don’t settle for satisfaction.

Because the difference between a moment and a memory is that a moment can feel like it will last forever and a memory never does.

But what’s your point?

I think that I will leave out on this note, no suicide.

But even then, I always did everything do or die.

I’m sad this had to end, but let’s be honest, we both knew this could never last because, I can’t be to your flame, what is petroleum gas or fuel a passion inside you with my motivational ass.

If you’re not dying to live, you truly are living to die and, What’s life without a question if death doesn’t have an answer?

Precious child

by Jemimah McMurray In your rhythmic ocean of warmth You tug sweetly at the thousand threads Of red and ochre, sunset blushes A deep song through shallow veins Tuning your fragile compass By a beautifully Miniature Heart One day you will love Tumbling pirouettes of quiet unawares To the melody of your mother’s laugh As the gentle lullabied vines Cradle your whispered breaths You hold a perfect thumb A flawless white shell To pure pink Lips One day you will speak Suspended in wondrous veil A delicate radiance of blessing Weaving light in golden promises A dulcet requiem for your perfect world You sing from your beautiful sphere Scrunched in lovely darkness, Precious child Your little Eyes Will one day see The beauty of life.

So answer me this…

What’s your pointYour purpose that is?

33

Emergency

by Madeleine Hampton

A white sheet dances over the soft brown grass Run and hide Let’s hide beneath Stumbling backwards To the defeated green blades of the divide

Perpetual Sedation

by Madeleine Hampton

Lights chasing Arrests attention A clear, blue sky muddied By the evaporation that surrounds The mountains stand tall Side by side Moving closer together To hide the tragedy before their feet That the hills care not witness Broken limbs rising Twisting back to entirety

Somewhere in this sober dusk Where the clouds could once reside There floods a dormant comatose That ambivalence had defied What pure pleasure erupts inside Known of no perversion’s whim Beauty’s provision granted free to life Can extinguish some within

What do your eyes hope to see?

Disregarded by a crack in the sky above The absorbent tar below Folds and melts flat Amongst screaming metal entwined A lover’s posture lost In shattered glass

Cold, languid air inhaled Animated and motionless To what extent can vision guide That the mind will not dismiss An overture in the dark Trembling with passion awoken What delirium the light can provide To comfort of the night bleeding in

The noise between that should be heard Rolls back with the wind Towards damaged throats Trapped below the threshold That to the onlooker’s jest To see water invade the blood And the revenants to retreat To be beneath the sheet

34

A porch that goes all the way around the house

by Immanuela Saifain

Who told you to reach the far end ?

by Immanuela Saifain

Who told you to reach the far end, who showed you the way there?

A porch that goes all the way around the house.

I can have tea in the front or back, chasing the sun.

Hot nights meant mosquito lumps and spider rashes, and dried tea bags that stained the white wood.

We laid the mattress and hung the hammock sleeping outside.

Sweet air from a honey sky somehow made for sweet dreams all night.

But morning was full of hunger and the air changed to eggs and fruit.

The porch railings were strong enough to hold the hammock, and the eucalyptus tree overgrowing the roof was solid.

String tied around the trunk and the other end to the railing, all night eucalyptus drops would linger around, opening your chest and clearing your breath.

Eggs smelt better and fruit tasted sweeter after a hot night on the porch.

But the best part is the playful sun at daybreak.

Water. No water. Water. No water.

I have tried for so long to open this box but then which hand will I use to hold up my umbrella?

All morning would be taken up by covering the hose and releasing.

What boots did you wear, did you come prepared’?

Cover, now release. Water, no water....water!

We laughed all morning.

I didn’t know I would be kicking for a lifetime trying to hold this umbrella of mine I should have prepared proper boots I never would have put it down this umbrella of mine But the box rumbled and groaned it begged for the far end to reach it and know the way there A long time that box waited Who told you to reach the far end, who showed you the way there?

35

Straitjacket

by Brendan Gapper

It’s Guantanamo Bay, Everyday, And there’s a concentration camp, In my backyard, A detainee killed himself last month, She told me in hospital that all it was, Was broken hearts, Like the first time I saw my dog eat a bird

I wonder

by Angelene Karas

I wonder I often wonder about all the people I could be.

I could be a teacher who instills knowledge to the adolescence of the next generation.

I could be a professor at a prestigious university after my Masters.

I could be a nobody who disappears into the darkness one night.

I could be a foodie and taste all the wonders of the world through their cuisine.

I could be a millionaire who enjoys the music of the sea from my beach house in the Hamptons.

I could be married with children and stay at home.

I wonder about all the paths of life and where can it take me and it brings me joy to see all of my options laid out in front of me.

36

A Brilliant Star

by Charlotte Tai

I am a brilliant star I looked at the world with hope With my creative spirit Since I was a child

I’m sure everyone can relate to me

And I grew up and I flourished And learnt to find my voice Art helped me learn to find my voice

by NJ Yikilmaz

I'm a jack of all trades But creativity is my essence And exploring creativity And enjoying all of it in indulgence Is what I hope you'll do

I'm getting old, My life has stopped!

No money for cigarettes, Just things I have to crop, Yet, I am still determined, To finish this assignment, Why do I ask myself?, It's not like there's any excitement, But there is still hope, That maybe I can still pass, Even if I didn't go to the lectures, Or stay in my tutorial class, In the end I know, What i want to be, Sometimes I just want to say 'screw it, i can't do it!'

Im sure everyone can relate to me.

But there are those who see the world in black and white Who drain the life of free spirits dry A world without colour is a world without meaning I don't care about your arrogance, your envy Your cruel whispers that my creativity isn't good enough That it's hard to understand What's hard to understand about something that comes from the heart?

I have a vision And this vision must be explored Through art, through poetry, film and song, and plenty more Creativity is the soul And people say “you must be the next doctor, The next lawyer, the next businesswoman” I'm so fortunate that my loved ones Let me be me But my cry is for those who can't express their soul through art Because it's not a suitable job Be a brilliant star, be your brilliant self Let it be, just be Art is the soul And words are among one of the finest arts And I speak the words of this poem To express So I urge you Express yourself 37

Autumn grey

by Tala Mansour He hunched over his standard cheese and tomato sandwich, always avoiding the crust. He watched the auburn leaves swirl around lampposts and empty benches, chewing mechanically. The entire scene was one shade of grey, as though someone had put a dirty screen over the lens of a camera. The park was empty except for his weathered form, bathed in black. Folds of skin sagged at the ends of his mouth, weighing it down into an eternal frown. Every 20 minutes a person or two walked by, but they didn’t see him. The object in their hands absorbed all of their attention, consuming it without satisfaction. His crystalline eyes followed intently as they walked by, absorbing every feature and every characteristic, gorging in their presence without satisfaction. His flushed cheeks and nose contrasted starkly against his papery skin. Wisps of silvery hair poked curiously out from under a battered fedora, which was threatening to fly away with the fierce winter winds.

He rose up, briefly brushing the crumbs from his brambly trousers. He warbled forward, silent as a spectre, melting into his muted surroundings. “Look at the water Phillip! Just look how clear it is, just like your eyes.”

His mind attempts to seduce him into another reverie. Teasing him with her voice. He’s given in to those bitter sweet memories so many times before, but not again. The process of returning to reality is too painful to willingly endure. He breaks the surface of the water, scattering the memory to the edges of his mind once more. He looks down the abandoned path to the familiar archway, the once brilliant crimson paint now chipped down to microscopic pink flecks. He quickly glances left and right, then steals a cheeky smile, thinking of the day that he and Rosy wrote their names at the base of the structure. They were two juveniles madly in love, desperate to share it with the world.

The longest day

by Mae Adian Faint silhouette of a man with tattoo, Daybreak falls and realized it was you; A clear of throat and deep deep sigh, I dreamed of you, but why would I? Brewed coffee and crusty cream bread, Sweet September air starts to spread; A diversity of strangers passing by, It’s you I remember, but why should I? All I need to do, Is to escape memories of you; Busy day waves another endless goodbye, I should have ignored you, but why didn’t I? Fading lights of gloomy dusk, Please oblivion, be also fast; Soft shades of orange sky, I wanna forget you, but why can’t I? Nightfall ends with chilly blast, An incitement for sleep at last; Fireflies dance as they giggle to fly, Still thinkin’ of you, but why am I? 38

Shade

by Winnie Dunn

It echoes, the azure of the walls.

It echoes the soft, muffled ticks of mechanical hands.

The plaster does not let it through entirely, And that is sometimes why it is quiet But even then it whispers all the same.

Blue you feel on the hill of your shoulder, and depending on the shade It will slant upwards from the elbow like the caress Of a hidden lover, or waveringly trickle Into the shoulders from the collarbone and, I have not decided which one I prefer.

If it is shoulders, It is also the immensity of nine in its true curve.

It is the slain sigh of a circle.

It trembles from the mirror of lapis lazuli eyes, A pair of night sky.

The things that are almost certainly above you, If not for the ceiling.

I’m wondering…if you heard that tick as well as I… That incredibly loud one…

Never mind, it is creeping again.

The paper-thin walls enclose in its chattering rhythm, Stealing you.

You the inky shadow, For itself.

It takes you, even with all your falsity of a windowpane, Leaving you only in the reality of glass.

If desired.

Look out.

Blue was once the damp, crushed sand That allowed its wings to be burnt at such a temperature where its pain, stood still and reflective.

Blue is the curved nine because it understands, fathomlessly, The words in which your ink smudges with the love of a far away sky, The exact down that is so close to you now.

There is your bed, over the horizon, suspended in air Not the same as yours.

I’m sure you heard the tick that time.

Out in the crystal land of the king’s jewels, Where Nabokov tastes the shade, On the side of his tongue.

Three trumpets on a mountain, right at the peak, prescribed this long ago, as if inevitably part of that damned sky.

At least the walls are the same.

My dear, would it bother you to tell me the time?

39

Mongers gonna mong

By Paul Kleynjan It’s an historical travesty! Monging is in peril! Monging one’s wares is well and truly over. Having a fishmonger mong your fish or having your armour monged by an ironmonger is sadly no more. It was the height of professionalism but alas, the years have turned monging into hateful practices. You might shout whoremonger in disdain or have your land plagued by a warmonger and his troops. Worst of all, you find you are surrounded by hatemongers and gossipmongers. Damn those scaremongers! We must reverse the trend! Bring back mongering!

The first thing I did once faced with this conundrum was to head swiftly to the library and seek out the campus book mongers. Of course, when I say swiftly I mean I made a long detour to the bar café to purchase my beverage from the campus coffee monger. I greeted the coffee monger by her new title and she was pleased. We discussed monging for a short time, after which I bid her farewell and continued on my way. I approached the bookmongers at the library and hailed them by their new title. Unfortunately, libraries loan books rather than sell them, so book monger was put back on the shelf. However, I was still at a loss at how to go about my business, my monging you might say, so I contacted my brother.

We discussed monging in great depth, my brother and I, and we consulted with our friends. Calling someone a whore monger was wrong, we decided, because if you monged whores you would just be a pimp or Madame.

Could you imagine seeking out a lady of the night saying “who is it that mongs these whores?” to which someone replies, “I do, I shall mong a whore to you, for I am the whoremonger!” And hatemonger? How do you trade hate? Imagine that, someone mongering hate. “How

shall I fashion this hate for you?”… “Well I only have a few quid”… “I’m sorry but the hate I monger is of the highest quality and fetches a fair price! Perhaps you should see Joe down the street, he mongers a cheaper quality of hate that you could afford. Now off with you, I must monger my hate to a higher class of clientele” No! These negative uses of the word must stop. We should be calling bakers bread mongers; butchers meat mongers; designers fashion mongers; Sheep farmers wool mongers (or maybe that is the sheep); lecturers and tutors education mongers. But it need not end there!

Fruit mongers can mong fruit. Obi Wan Kenobi can be a Jedi monger. Zombies are scare mongers. Werewolves are lycan mongers. Mongers can lead society, bringing respect and peace to all lands. No more warmongers, scaremongers, or fear mongers! Though it must be noted that fear mongering means the same as scare mongering.

It is impossible to mong fear and scare at the same time. We may need to find a word monger to rectify this problem. Be that as it may, my point is we shall all live in harmony, as harmony mongers and peace mongers.

As you can imagine, my genius on this matter was too much to withhold. I made an appointment with my psychologist the thought monger, and my psychiatrist the brain monger. The psychiatrist loved the new title, but the psychologist felt cheated and preferred cognitive monger.

Thankfully neither of them thought me a psycho monger.

I honestly believe we should change the rules. Start calling everyone a monger. You only get to mong life once, become a fun monger. Hopefully I have turned you all into future mongers. That would make me a monger monger; a monger that mongs mongers.

40

La ngla de

by P hilli p UNIVERSITY LIFE IN A NUT SHELL Unfathomable Nights of studying glorified views of so called academics, Insights which are meant to be our own, wrapped in their aesthetics.

Verification through use of citation, every unit has a different style to use, Each student finally having Chicago down pat, but MLA and APA just confuse.

Realistic deadlines, or some not quite so, as we try hard to complete our tasks, Slaving away for hours on end, no HDs, Ds, or even Cs, most of us glad just to pass.

I can’t understand why some people don’t try, to earn the best grade they can, To just go through the motions or even drop out before their journey began.

Years of our lives are invested in university, so why not make it the best, Learn something new, or at least have a clue, especially during the test.

It can be so hard in tutorials sometimes; as others appear to be smart, Find your own voice through the loudness, and listen to your heart.

Every opinion although they differ, is significant no matter what, It’s what makes us individual, despite being told that we’re not.

New ways of thinking outside the box, our minds in euphoria, Autonomy is supposedly allowed, as long as we wrap it Neatly in academia. So much for individual thinking University said we could use, instead in my head Ticks information that’s bred, from words Spouted from some old recluse. So Hold onto your individuality, Every last bit, and don’t Let ‘Uni’ be your Limit.

41

but a train only ran through the village’s tiny station once every three hours. It was basically non-existent.)

of a

uni student

By Georgia Fait-Jeboult I don’t remember how old I was the first time I experienced an existential crisis.

I was too young to know what exactly it was that I was feeling, but I can sum it up broadly with the feeling of absolutely nothing.

Honestly, I felt nothing inside, had no motivation to do anything – even the things that I enjoyed – because I inevitably fell into a deep pit of numbness where I tried to figure out an impossible solution to the unanswerable question: what’s the point?

Trying to answer this question will only lead to further spiralling into a bottomless hole of emptiness.

I remember whenever I had these feelings, I would attempt to distract myself, and figured out two things that would work to an extent: sleeping or writing.

was it that so many people felt the sinking feeling of the inevitable pointlessness of our existence?

Since then, I think I have developed my own concept on the subject (it would be wrong to use the word ‘theory’ here as that indicates vigorous background and scientific research that I have not done, and will lead to thousands of researchers scowling in disgust). The thing is, when you’re a child, more often than not, your parents will lull you into a false sense of security along with the notion that your existence is important. Which, to them, it is. You’re a substance of your parents’ relationship, and they will usually never let you forget that.

So, for the first ten or so years of you life, your whole worldview consists of you, your family and your friends. And this is all you know about, really, because you are rarely exposed to the harsh realities of the world before this age. At the age of ten – or younger/older for some – you begin to become aware of the actual world going on around you, that every person is a part of another family, that links to another.

So while your mother may mean the absolute world to you, to another, she may just be a stranger passing by with a forgettable face.

Is that not terrifying?

Sleeping was a great solution, as although it was extremely difficult to fall asleep in such a state, it switched my brain off for at least six hours.

Thus begins the unstoppable force of realising the lack of your own selfimportance. From here begins the black hole of the existential crisis.

Writing was my other solution, as it was a way for me to become someone else and escape into a different world for a while, where I had complete control and was able to create meaning behind my existence.

You begin seeing people not for who they are, but for what they may – or may not – have done. Buildings that are falling to pieces or businesses that are not longer being run become beacons of sadness and triggers to the downfall into a pit of nothingness. These things that may have once meant everything to someone or could have possibly been the pinnacle of someone’s life is now forgotten to the world.

Looking back, this is most likely what developed into my intense passion for writing. Not only would it provide me with an escape, but I would also write until I had thoroughly worn out my brain – and hand – enough to eventually will myself to sleep. I was lucky to have discovered these ‘cures’ for the ‘crisis’, but sometimes I would make the horrible mistake of forgoing my usual solutions and begin to discuss my feelings with my mother.

I first remember doing this when I was about fourteen years old, and I shared my incredibly worrying thoughts about existence with my mum. I must have completely freaked her out with my talk of ‘giving up’ and ‘what’s the point?’

Luckily for me, she was somewhat familiar with the sensation, and since has always referred to it as being in ‘that mood’.

I think I was about fifteen years old when I finally realised that this feeling I often felt was known as having an ‘existential crisis’.

For some reason, the name just made it worse, and knowing that so many others experience it daily was terrifying. Why

When I was sixteen years old, I began to lose myself. My previous hopes, dreams and aspirations fell with me into a black hole of despair, and everything I was faced with led me to think, “What’s the point?”

Why bother doing anything if it wont make a difference or an impact on this world, and if it does, so what?

Luckily, at this age, I was bestowed the experience of a lifetime: to travel around Europe with my mother and my sister. We went through major cities booming with important people, and tiny villages that nobody had ever heard of before.

One day, we arrived at a village that was so tiny, it took us a solid twenty minutes to find a person to ask for directions to our hotel (we would have caught the train that would take us right near our hotel,

We spoke to a person at the local supermarket that we had discovered, who called out to a lady who was walking across the street (who he knew) and explained the situation to her. She then called up a friend of hers (the only taxidriver in town) to help us out. It was not hard to realise that this meet-up of all of these people that just happened to know each other and all be in the same area at the same time didn’t come down to our extreme luck. It was due to the fact that literally every single person inside the tiny village knew one another by name, and where they would be at that time of the day. Due to this, we were packing our luggage into the “taxi” (which looked just like a regular car) within ten minutes.

It was such a surreal thing to experience, something that you would only find in a cheesy book or a daytime television show.

But there it was, happening before my own eyes. After this experience, I began to think about this tiny town that had absolutely no significance at all to anybody except for those who lived inside of it.

They didn’t care that their town was so small that hardly anyone had ever heard of it before, let alone visited it, because it was their town. It was their own corner of the world to make their own, and that’s what was important to them.

I guess through this experience, I started to understand this whole ‘point’ thing, and how nobody’s ‘meaning of life’ is going to be the same as another’s, how we’re all stuck in this world with no map to tell us where to go or when, and we’re all just clumsily walking around until we figure it out, or not.

And while I will still often experience an existential crisis every now and then, they have not once been as intense as they were previous to this epiphanic experience (at least, not yet.)

While I still turn to writing or sleeping to get through these horrible feelings of ‘why’, I have finally put my life back on track to a future that I want to have.

Although not all of the details are very clear, and everyday I can feel the pit creeping at the edges of my mind, I understand that the world and its reasons will never make sense, and never should.

I guess thats the point isn’t it? That there should never be one ‘answer’ because some people may be completely content with raising their family in a tightly-knit village in the middle of nowhere, and others may not be able to rest until they can see the change they have made in the world.

And both answers are fine, as well as everything inbetween. As long as you know what you want (which you don’t have to know, and may never know, which is completely okay), then you should strive towards your goal/s (big or small) and don’t stop until you have achieved all that you want to. Never let the giant pit of existential crisis eat you whole, because what’s the point of being alive if you’re not really living?

IMAGE: David Gordon Whittaker

Ramblings

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Hip Hop’s

new

postcode

By Bec Foley

of junkies walk the streets. And there’s an unmistakable absence of multiculturalism – the mountains is very white.

The setting

It’s in this mix that a strange phenomenon has occurred: The mountains is Australia’s capital of hip hop music.

Autumn in the Blue Mountains is nature’s mardi gras.

The stoic Japanese maple trees of summer become camp, attention-seeking centrepieces clad outrageously in electric red. The trees look as if they’re on fire. Little wonder this environmental flamboyance has a profound effect on people. There’s a nudist bushwalking group. The council is outspokenly anti-coal seam gas. The Winter solstice festival in Katoomba, Winter Magic, brings the mountain’s eclectic mix of hippies, “ferals”, poets, writers and actors together. Meditation retreats snuggle on breath taking valleys, bringing students closer to Buddha, Brahma Baba, or whoever the chosen spiritual leader may be.

The Bronx of the Mountains Some of the country’s biggest names in rap hale from this sleepy hollow: Thundamentals, Urthboy, Hermitude.

And there’s plenty more on the wait list. Fresh out of high school, amateur groups descend on the towns various hip hop nights. Themes of boredom, drug use, rage at the government and cultural hegemony, and Holden Caulfield-esque awareness of phoniness are eloquently delivered with skilled onomatopoeia.

The mountains is a mecca for hip hop culture. It’s quite a close knit community. When you go to a party you see other people who also rap.

There’s a lot of hippies and people who aren’t satisfied with the way the rest of the world is running. The mountains is a sanctuary from that.

Portrait of the artist as a young man: JULZ

It’s an alternative, liberal culture, preferring tranquility to the cut-throat economic and material accumulation of the city. And whilst Leura is home to those who can afford a weekender cottage, Katoomba heaves with its avantgarde working class. A small, but noticeable, smattering 44

Julz is 18. He performs solo and with his hip top trio A Blank Canvas. His musical roots started early, schooled in classical piano, guitar and saxophone. He was awarded a musical scholarship to Korowal, a Bohemian high school in

Wentworth Falls. The scholarship provided much needed financial assistance for his mother, who raised Julz and his brother as a single parent.

The stage

By 15, Julz was writing lyrics, MCing and creating beats on his mac. Music became creating something volatile, a voice of the underdog. Julz considers himself a poet more than anything. He says hip hop “allows for quite a lot of expression, angst and anxiety and the struggle for a better lifestyle. And the Blue Mountains is a centre for alternative views”.

Katoomba is littered with old-man pubs, stinking of carpet that’s befallen too many spilt beers, by too many wobbling hands, over too many decades. Sitting, literally on the wrong side of the tracks, is Gearins Hotel, or “the Gearins”, as locals call it. Once owned by Australian acting legend Jack Thompson, it’s since changed hands. It’s here that the big players play. Like the quaint hessian tote bags sold in retail shops in Leura that say “London, Paris, New York, Leura”, the tour bills for the big names in hip hop look almost comical – Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Katoomba.

Julz and his friends hang out every night after work. Every one of them is employed as an apprentice chef or “dishy” (a dish washer in a restaurant). They joke that in the mountains you either work for a restaurant or work for the council. Restaurants keep the local economy thriving.

The heavyweights of hip hop play here, not for the money, but to pay tribute to their roots, to the phenomenally huge fan base, and to the up-and-coming performers of tomorrow. The Gearins hosts amateur hip hop nights regularly too, putting a Facebook call-out on May 23 asking for “4 or 5 local HIP HOP acts”.

Of Julz’s close knit friends, two are in his band, one performs solo, and one is given the title of Band Manager.

He does nothing to actually manage the affairs of the band, but they don’t want him to feel out of place. Their camaraderie is infectious. Though money is scarce, music takes priority. “If I went to a gig in the city, say Hilltop Hoods, a lot of Blue Mountains folk would be there. The first hip hop gig I went to, it was all Blue Mountains folk in the front row” says Julz.

But it’s a reciprocal relationship. Julz says: “The local support for hip hop, local promoters, are going to the Gearins and saying look, there’s a hip hop scene up here and it’s quite large so we’d like to hold a monthly hip hop night”. If hip hop’s postcode is 2780, it’s drive-way is the Gearins.

Brokn, another rising hip hop artist from the mountains, is part of Triple J’s unearthed initiative. He says “In the upper mountains it is cold, misty and wet for about 5 to 6 months of the year so I think that helps foster introspective, darker sounding hip hop. Walking around the mountains themselves can be inspiring too. Also because it is cheaper to live up here there are a lot of artists and creative people in the area. I guess most bands/artists would know each other because it’s a small place. I’ve played in bands, jammed, gone to school with acts around my age (Urthboy, Hermitude, DUB crew) so there is definitely a mountains connection”.

The finale Public Enemy decreed that 911 was a joke. For postcode 2780, hip hop is smiling down on it’s devotees, even through those flaming red Japanese Maples.

The players White boys and hip hop got a bad wrap in the 90’s. Having developed as the African-American voice of political and social unrest in the 80’s, spearheaded by groups such as Public Enemy and N.W.A, it was appropriated by artists like Vanilla Ice who lacked ‘street cred’. Australian hip hop is respected because it’s the expression of the living-it-tough working class. “Hip hop’s transformed from when it was first conceived. And it’s become a lot more globalized, a lot more accessible, a lot more acceptable to take part in,” says Julz. Australian hip hop in the global market, has been legitimized.

Recent triumphs for the Aussie scene include rapper Seth Sentry chosen to support American hip hop legend LL Cool J on his upcoming US tour, and political and social commentator Urthboy being asked to contribute to the Sydney Writers Festival as a guest speaker.

Blue Mountains is Australia’s capital of hip hop music.

The

Some of the country’s biggest names in rap

hale from this sleepy hollow:

Thundamentals, Urthboy, Hermitude.

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Master Wolf releases

Photo: Tammy Silva

new music

By Curtis Mayfield M-H

“Master Wolf is the name I have taken to embark on this solo project under,” he explains.

Hip-hop outfit Master Wolf launched the new single ‘Never Question The Dopeness’ on May 9 at Redfern’s Hustle & Flow Bar.

“After seeing a tarot card reader at a solar eclipse in 2012 I decided to change the name to Master Wolf; to represent myself not as a villain but as a teacher or someone who has mastered their craft.”

The lineup of this “group” varies, as it is the strange brainchild of rapper MC Skinz. It might be right to call Master Wolf his “solo band” as it is a combination of him, a DJ and/or live band.

“At a show nearer to Brisbane you could expect to see me playing on stage with additional vocalists and instrumentalists. But for this tour [NSW and VIC] it will just be me and [DJ] Brother Beans,” Skinz tells me via Facebook.

After years of opening for big acts like KRS-One and Grandmaster Flash, along with local hip-hop royalty Bliss n Eso and Horrorshow, Skinz hopes his new music will reach out to fans of “soulful, lyrical hip-hop.”

KryptamistiK, Truth Serum and All Underground Sound are all groups Skinz has been a part of over his almost two decade long run in the rap game. As for the meaning behind the name of the project, well you’ll just have to follow what the man says.

Though it’s clear he is no stranger to collaborating with other artists, Skinz is feeling after 16 years of being part of a team it’s now time to step out into the limelight solo dolo.

“I have taken it upon myself to write, produce and record all of the album by myself.”

The single, “Never Question The Dopeness”, is a combination of expressive production and multi-syllable lyricism that has just the right amount of catchiness in the chorus.

In the lead-up to the single, which was released through 21st century means on both Bandcamp.com and USB drives, Skinz expressed a mix of enthusiasm and ambition.

“I’m really looking forward to connecting with different audiences around Australia who have never heard of me before.”

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Dear Guru My girlfriend says she loves me just the way I am. But truth be told, I am a big-boned man, you might say ‘’jolly’’.

My mates say I should lift. I hate the gym. I love pies. I want to be fit and I want my girlfriend to be proud of me.

She used to date a personal trainer and while she says he was a psycho, I know she secretly wishes that I look more like him.

One of the wonders of love is that it breaks all boundaries. Flaws are in all of us but so is beauty. Not the beauty of a model face or a six pack, but what is inside the core of you – your heart, your personality - and that is what matters most. Be proud that your girlfriend can see the beauty in you and not be blinded by a prized body, because a prized body with a psycho attitude can be a big turn off. But what you have on the inside outweighs more than physical appearance, and cancels out any bigboned flaws. This is what makes you so perfect to your girlfriend.

Career by The Stars

Aries: To you there is nothing more important than a solid career. You work hard to reach your success, however it can come after years of hard work. It is likely your career will be related to working in politics, as an entrepreneur, or with older people.

Taurus: Your career is innovative and may include technology or working in a group. You do not like being in the public eye unless it has something to do with your career. It is likely your career will be related to science, inventions and helping people realise their dreams.

Gemini: You often face challenges in deciding on a career pathway. This can change if you make more practical choices.

It is likely your career will be related to art, metaphysics and helping others.

the Love

Guru

by Jesse Neo

Hi Jesse After binging on too much TV, I come over all House-of-Lannister and start being mean to my family. It’s not the TV’s fault. My family is a mess and they need someone to tell them they are crap. But after I have told them all off, I feel remorse. How can I harden up and continue my Reign of Terror ?

Once your ideas start being based off TV shows, this means you are losing sight of reality and clinging onto fantasy as an escape. This is dangerous because you are bringing artificiality into your life. As

Cancer: You can be rash when making decisions about your career. You need to give time to decide what you want to do.

Once you have made up your mind you will go towards your goal like there is no tomorrow. It is likely your career will be related to sport, entrepreneurship or even the army.

Leo: Your aim in life is to be seen as high status and wealthy, even if you have nothing. You can be controlling with your career and find it difficult to give that up.

It is likely your career will be related to working in the arts or finance.

Virgo: You want a career that is dynamic because you can get bored really quick.

You are attracted to jobs that are mentally stimulating where you can use your hands.

It is likely your career will be related to writing, planning or using your mind.

Libra: You are concerned about your career and may experience upheaval. You want to emit a vibe that you know what you are doing. It is likely your career will be related to teaching, or working in an environment nurturing people.

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soon as you react as your favourite actor reacted, the cinematic thrill hits you, but this time no longer on a screen, and zaps you back to the real world. This is when the remorse comes in as the haze between real and fake gets cleared. In order to harden up, you must face your family and turn off the TV at least for a little while. Start by observing. Is a family member being misunderstood? Would telling them off have a positive impact?

Instead of watching a TV show, it is now time for you to direct! So sharpen those minds and you will find a happy ending.

Scorpio: You want a career that gives you praise so it is likely you will be working in the public eye. You tend to work on your own because you are too dominating. You are proud of your success.

Sagittarius: You require a lot of mental stimulation or else you get bored. You want a job where you can be of service to others and freely exchange ideas. It is likely your career will be conventional, involving organising, health or animals.

Capricorn: Your career is likely to involve working with others in a creative way. You need to balance out your life to succeed. It is likely your career will be in the arts, law, or fashion industry.

Aquarius: You have an obsession with your career and would dedicate your entire life to it. You enjoy working during your holidays. It is likely your career will be related to science, finance, or something that deals with secrets.

Pisces: You are optimistic and probably have several jobs. It is likely your career will be related to travelling, teaching, or dealing with foreigners. JESSE NEO

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