Empire Times 42.3

EMPIRE TIMES YOUR STUDENT MAG

Creativity issue

42.3 it's Free!

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COMPETITION WINNERS nners i w e h all of t e t a l r their u t o a f r e g n n veryo ourth f e e to co k a k i l n d a d e l creat and th s wou e e n w o m , i ti s T tal. mpeti entrie o o f t Empire C o n i r y t e s i prize numb reativ t e C h h g e t i h e o t of Due t arded . w s a n o e i v ss nd ha a submi , y r t y, poe r o g e t ca ARTWORK

POETRY

Winner Ira Herbold

Winner Tash Behrendor Runner Up Lauren Gough

Runner Up Callum McLean

FICTION

PHOTOGRAPHY

Winner Jess Miller

Winner Sarah Gates

Runner Up Simone Corletto

Runner Up Matthew Bird

- Editorial -

H

H

H

Do you ever get that feeling of missing someone (or certain people) so much, that you would do almost anything in order to see them again? I feel ya!

Three of the most beautiful, most kind, extraordinary people I have ever met, currently live about 14,500 kms away from me, and it is killing me.

Working on Empire Times is like going to an art gallery for the first time – you spend hours feeling inspired, in awe, and there is always a hint of jealousy because you wish you could translate your sense of creativity into physical form, just as the artists have done (Oh, if only I was skilled beyond the art of play-doh formation).

What does this have to do with the latest ET? Well I am glad you asked!

Welcome to the creativity issue, and on the forthcoming pages, you will find them filled with wonderfully creative stories, artwork and even some hidden gems. What does creativity have to do with my story you may ask? These three incredible people and I, have had to come up with creative ways of staying in touch, Snapchat, Facebook, Skype; and postcards, letters and carepackages are just some of the ways we keep the magic alive. Being creative doesn’t always mean using a paintbrush or a camera, sometimes it means making the best out of a situation and exploiting the resources you have, in order to be happy.

J-Laura

On your second visit, you become more familiar with the names of the artists, where they come from and what has influenced them, and in that, comes a sense of connectedness.

I was very lucky this year, and my brother bought me a ticket to go with him to see the Foo Fighters in concert for my joint birthday/Christmas present. I consume music on an almost hourly basis, but I rarely think about the artists when I listen to the music. When you’re sitting watching 20+ year veterans of the music industry work their craft on stage in front of you, it’s very hard to forget that fact.

I sat there in the audience, watching people who have sat at the peak of their talent for years and I couldn’t help but feel inspired.

ey Peeps!

ey guys,

In my mind, there is a greater appreciation for art when you know who created it and the story behind it. It makes sense then that this issue contains a student artist profile, which takes a look into the creative journey of an ET illustrator. A huge congrats to the winners of the creative competition and thank you to all those who entered.

Take care,

ey guys,

Someone else who sat at the peak of their talent for years was the exceptional Terry Pratchett, who died in mid March.

My brother (who, as you can tell, is an exceptional gift giver) gave me my first Pratchett book, Mort, many years ago.

Pratchett is a great example of someone who made the world a little brighter for millions of people, using his creative gifts.

I hope you all take a day or so, grab a Discworld book off a friend, and have a bit of a read.

Jess Love, Jenn

P.S. if all that fails, have a quarter life crisis and cut ¾’s of your hair off like I did!

TOP PICKS FOR THIS ISSUE

TOP PICKS FOR THIS ISSUE

TOP PICKS FOR THIS ISSUE

10 18 42

14 24 31

31 On Your Father’s Toes 34 Outskirts 49 Burger Theory Review

Palestine Accepted in the ICC Female Comedy Someone’s Thinking of Me

Caricatures by Allan Addams, cartoonguy.com

Openly Sexual Student Artist Profile On Your Father’s Toes

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OH HELLO there.

CREATIVITY ISSUE

EDITORS Jess Nicole Jenn Matters Laura Telford

Issue 3 Vol 42 April 2015 empire.times@flinders.edu.au www.empiretimes.com.au Advertising: stephanie.walker@flinders.edu.au

SUB-EDITORS Shaun Hobby Simone Corletto Jess Miller

COLUMNISTS Jonno Revanche Emma Sachsse Marat Sverdlov Kaisha Wyld Eleanor Danenberg Kelly Guthberlet Kevin Clark Aden Beaver Karen Smart Bethany Lawrence

PHOTOGRAPHERS Tori Hyland

CONTRIBUTORS Andrew Cowling Callum McLean Claudette Yazbek Dylan Price Georgia Riessen Ira Herbold Jess Miller Joannie Lee Lauren Gough Matthew Bird Rafal Banasiak Sarah Gates Shaun Hobby Tash Behrendorff

THE COVERS Front Cover by Tash Behrendorff, winner of the “Artwork” Competition.

Back Cover by Sarah Gates, winner of the “Photography” Competition.

WITH THANKS TO Paul Harrison for always helping at every opportunity, Sue & Helen for spreading ET to the new Tonsley campus, and Stacy for helping with the competition.

Empire Times is the student publication of Flinders University. All work within remains the property of the producers and may not be reproduced without their consent. Empire Times reserves the right to republish in any format.

Empire Times would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people who are the traditional custodians of the land Flinders University is situated on. We would also like to pay our respects to the elders past and present of the Kaurna nation and extend that respect to other Aboriginal peoples.

“The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editors, Flinders University, or Flinders University Student Association. Reasonable care is taken to ensure that Empire Times articles and other information are up-to-date and as accurate as possible, as of the time of publication, but no responsibility can be taken by Empire Times Magazine for any errors or omissions contained herein.”

FUCK YEAHS • • •

We have really awesome winners for our competition!

Annabel Crabb hosted Q&A. Deregulation of Higher Education failed in the Senate.

FUCK NOS • • • •

Terry Pratchett died. :( Christopher Pyne will likely try again.

Tony Abbott likes raw onions.

Malcolm Fraser died. :(

WHOOPS! •

Issue 2; pg 24 - We accidentally wrote “Simon Cann” of the “Cann Academy” instead of Khan Academy; Salman Khan, and “ Sebastian Thrunn” instead of “Sebastian Thrun”.

Index INTRO 3

EDITORIAL Introduction

8

PREZ DISPENSER A message from the President

9

CULTURE

FEATURES

INTERVIEW WITH COUNCIL Women’s Officer

COLUMNS

10 PALESTINE ACCEPTED TO ICC International relations

40 POETRY I used to be able to feel all this romantic imagery

24 STUDENT ARTIST PROFILE Rafal Banasiak

41 HOMILY Captivity

28 VOX POPS Voice of the people.

12

EQUALITY Politics of internet debate

14

OPENLY SEXUAL Thank you for Fifty Shades of Grey

16 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING How crescendos connect the dots 17 FEMINISM Reaching out

42 FICTION Someone’s thinking of me

31 COMP WINNER: FICTION On Your father’s toes

49 FOOD REVIEW Burger Theory

34 COMP WINNER: POETRY Outskirts

FUN STUFF

35 COMP RUNNER UP: POETRY In the wilds of my mind 36 TOULOUSE-LAUTREC The prostitute authority

18 WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT The power of female comedy

47 COLOURING IN What’s in the Lake?

38 WORST CREATIVES AWARDS You’ve seen the best; see the rest

19 LEVEL UP Dungeons & Dragons

46 CROSSWORD Win movie tickets!

48 SHORT REVIEWS Find good stuff; avoid crap stuff

39 STATIONERY ADDICT Creativity is organisation

20 TECHNOLOGICA The dilemma of control

Which creative type are YOU?

21 MUSIC BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah

50

30

19

21

vox

pop

31

29

25 5

Photo by Joannie Lee

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS empire.times@flinders.edu.au

www.empiretimes.com.au

/empiretimesmag

@empiretimesmag

/empiretimesmag

Empire Times Contributors

Dear Eds,

Dear Editors,

Dear ET,

Loving ET so far this year. I was super keen for some good reading material when issue 1 became available to read online while I was sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for a flight home last month and ET did not disappoint!

Thank you for all your snarky, sarcastic comments. They appeal to my sense of humour and make me laugh.

I love reading your magazine, especially on a long ride home after a 2 hour lecture on corporations’ law. So therefore, while I appreciate that the magazine has taken a decidedly serious tone with a lot of Abbott-bashing (no complaints there!), there could be more fun bits. I especially liked the cheeky ‘overheard’ and ‘back of toilet door’ segments, it breaks up the seriousness of being a student (haha)

Keep up the awesome work, Leisha

Love, Tamsin

Overworked student

What’s Going On What’s Going On is a guide to some of the events held on campus at Flinders Uni. If you would like your Flinders University event in the calendar, contact us at empire.times@ flinders.edu.au

WEEK 6 6-12 Apr

MON

TUE

WED

Public Holiday

Relax @ Anchor

Welfare @ Sturt

Enjoy your sleep in, or your penalty rates!

Welfare @Library

FLICS Movie Night Nth Theatre 2, 5pm (double feature)

Muay Thai Training Gym, 5:30pm

Muay Thai Training Gym, 5:30pm

BREAK 13 - 26 Apr WEEK 7 27 Apr - 3 May

FRI

Korfball Training Sturt Gym, 8pm

FUSA PUBCRAWL

Women’s Collective Discussion Group Women’s Room, 6pm

Muay Thai Training Gym 6pm

Student Council 6pm

FLICS Movie Night Nth Theatre 2, 5pm (double feature)

FUTURE Game Day McHughs, 11am Speakeasy Creative Readings, 2pm, Humanities 101

Korfball Training Sturt Gym, 8pm

Muay Thai Training Gym 6pm

Welfare @ Library

Relax @ Humanities

FLICS Movie Night Nth Theatre 2, 5pm

FUTURE Game Day McHughs, 11am

Korfball Training Sturt Gym, 8pm

Welfare @ Tonsley Optometry Students (FUOSA) Pubcrawl

Muay Thai Training Gym 6pm

Muay Thai Training Gym, 5:30pm Outdoor Cinema 8pm

WEEK 8 4 - 10 May

Welfare @ Library

Welfare @ FMC Muay Thai Training Gym, 5:30pm

Important Info

Clubs Contact Info

THUR

Relax @ SILC

FLICS Movie Night Nth Theatre 2, 5pm

Korfball Training Sturt Gym, 8pm

Muay Thai Training Gym 6pm

Women’s Collective Discussion Group Women’s Room, 6pm

Withdraw Dates

Exams Start

WNF: 15 May WF: 19 June

20 June

FUTURE Game Day McHughs, 11am Palaeontology Society Quiz Night, Belair Hotel, 7pm

Relax and Welfare are events hosted by FUSA with free stuff for poor students. Go to them.

FLICS

FUTURE

Korfball

Muay Thai

Speakeasy

Palaeontology

Optometry

Film Club fb.com/groups/ flindersfacts/

Tabletop Games Club fb.com/groups/ FlindersFuture

Sports Club fb.com/ flinders universitykc

Sports Club fb.com/ Flinders MuayThai

Creative Readings fb.com/speakeasy. creativereadings (all one word)

Quiz Night fb.com/groups/ 10142853659/

Pubcrawl fb.com/groups/ 1319326701 67755/

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Prez Dispenser

The Student Council President (“Prez”) is the official spokesperson of students and the Student Council. They make representations on behalf of students to the university, media, government, and external organisations.

We live in times, when few feel we can explore and unleash our full creative potential. It goes without saying that this is unfortunate, but for this affliction a broad shift in public policy is to blame.

Government policies enacted over the last 30 years have whittled away the possibility of being a full time university student. Our time, freedom, and choice to engage in critical thought and inquiry have been undermined, as has our ability to exercise any genuine choice over what and how we study. The effective demise of student income payments have resulted in many of us spending more time stuck in the rut of the family home, or in shitty, low-paid, soul-destroying jobs (that is, if you are ‘lucky’ enough to have one at all). We now spend more time working than in lectures, in tutorial rooms or on campus discussing and debating course content with our teachers and peers.

As Flinders heads towards its 50th birthday, it is worth pausing to look back at some of the creativity of the staff and students who established this place. Many of these people, operating in less restricted circumstances, were amongst a generation who dreamed of a better world and a democratically controlled university.

In the early years of our university, Flinders was an important wellspring of the 1960s counter-culture radicalisation in Adelaide. Our students and staff played a leading role in the anti-war movement opposing American imperialism in Vietnam. At the Flinders Open Day in 1969 the most common questions asked by inquiring school leavers were about the ‘demos’— the protests that were eagerly anticipated. Radicalised students organised a sanctuary on campus for draft resisters.

Around the poured concrete pylons and laminex corridors of Flinders, there were discussion spaces created to debate ways to not only end the barbaric Vietnam War, but also elaborate on broader social and political issues relating to all aspects of life, both on and off campus. Students held mass meetings involving thousands to openly debate issues — democratising course content, furthering women’s rights, gay (LGBTI) concerns, combating racism and many more.

These meetings would make collective decisions and take action to implement decisions.

In 1970 philosophy Professor Brian Medlin, a leader of the Campaign for Peace in Vietnam, joined three of his four philosophy colleagues in developing radical courses which challenged the way society was organised. Group assessment was introduced; essays were assessed by the tutorial group “to encourage co-operative, self-managed education, without the exercise of ‘authoritarian’ power by academics”. By 1973 philosophy had become a participatory democracy of students and staff, as did visual arts the following year.

The radicalisation and creativity of early Flinders is quite extraordinary, and at the time young people across Adelaide wanted to study here because of it. It was a place where one’s creativity could blossom because of the collective actions of students and staff to transform every facet of Flinders. In 1974, for example, history students wanted to abolish the three-hour exam in first year history. A general meeting of students in July 1974 called for methods of assessment to be decided by “all people involved in that course”.

I love reading about the early radicalism and creativity of students and staff at Flinders, which is why I’m excited by recent events at the University of Amsterdam. Many students and staff are trying to democratise their university by wresting power away from a managerial caste, carrying out a neoliberal agenda, and shifting decision-making to the university community.

These Dutch protests differ significantly from student protests in other countries, in that they are joint studentstaff actions, demanding a total restructuring of higher education. They are calling for the self-organisation of universities, with the aim of fulfilling educational, not financial, goals. Now that’s what I call a creative idea! History can be a source of inspiration, but let’s not just romanticise a distant past. Look around the world today and there’s inspiration to be found there too.

- James Vigus, Student Council President

Inside Student Council: Women’s Officer

The Women’s Officer acts as an advocate and spokesperson for women students. Her role involves liaising and networking with women’s organisations on campus and outside the university, referring students to services, coordinating campaigns and liaising with the Women’s Action Group.

Riana Cermak Why did you run for Student Council?

I feel like over time, the word “feminism” has become associated with negative connotations. This negativity has led to many women and men denouncing feminism entirely. I just wanted to do my part to promote women’s rights and gender equality on campus, and hopefully in the bigger picture as well. I wanted to show people that feminism isn’t about “man hating”, it’s about promoting equality of men and women. In essence, I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles, and have everyone eat it and be happy.

What kind of issues does the Women’s Officer handle?

I’m pretty much the “go to” person on campus for women students with any issues they might come across. This covers anything from cases of sexual harassment, to not enough access to sanitary products. I am here to be the advocate and spokesperson for women to make sure every voice is heard.

campus to become actively involved in the campaigns I am organising, with the belief that this involvement will result in greater awareness, and encourage positive progress.

How can people help out?

The best way to get involved is through the Flinders University Women’s Collective. There are formal monthly meetings to discuss the planning of events and official matters; then there are informal fortnightly discussion groups with a different topic each time. Check out (and don’t forget to “like”) the Women’s Collective Facebook page or Instagram account (@womenscollectiveflindersuni) for more information and to keep up with what’s going on!

Best way for students to contact you?

The best way would be to email me directly at womens.officer@flinders.edu.au or pop into the temporary Women’s Room for a chat! It is now located underneath McHugh’s café on the south ridge of campus.

What is the one issue you’d really like to tackle this year?

The biggest event this year that I am in the process of organising is a week-long awareness campaign at the beginning of the second semester. Each day will tackle a different issue, ranging from women in power to domestic violence, with key public speakers, film screenings and Q&A forums. I would really like to use my position as much as I can to promote awareness and gender equality.

INTERVIEWEE Riana Cermak, 22, Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Honours) and Bachelor of International Studies If Riana could have any talent, it would be acrobatics because she always had dreams as a kid of joining the circus but her lack of coordination got in the way!

Building on the momentum of Emma Watson’s HeForShe campaign, I really want to promote the involvement of men in the promotion of gender equality. As mentioned above, I believe the negative stigma associated with feminism and women’s rights is a serious issue. As part of my role as women’s officer, I want to encourage men on

9

International Relations Palestine Accepted as Member of the ICC

by Claudette Yazbek

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, confirmed that Palestine will officially be a member of the International Criminal Court from 1 April, 2015. The United States and Israel criticised the move with State Department spokesman, Jeff Rathke stating that Palestine did not qualify as a state. This is consistent with their long-stated positions that Palestine does not qualify for statehood under the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States. Under International Law, a state needs a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. The US and Israel do not believe Palestine satisfies this threshold and this key point of difference generally causes friction between the parties, to say the least.

The weight of their opposition, however, is somewhat compromised as neither are members of the ICC. Discussions from both camps highlight misunderstandings regarding the Court’s purpose and functions. And without providing sufficient context to what motivated Palestine’s application, their statements distort reality and continue to set up road blocks to any constructive dialogue.

Within the ICC, the Office of the Prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry into possible war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories as a matter of “policy and practice.” This involves assessing the strength of the evidence of alleged crimes, whether the court has jurisdiction and how the interests of justice would be best served. The problem is that Palestine cannot simply “take” Israel, or key individuals in its military command, to the ICC. The ICC is complementary to national criminal jurisdictions, which means it is a court of last resort.

In December, Israel’s military opened eight new criminal investigations into its Gaza war operations. This adds to the five criminal investigations it launched in September, including attacks which killed four children on the beach and 15 at a UN school. For the ICC to exercise its jurisdiction over these offences, it would need to demonstrate that the Israeli courts had acted in bad faith. This is an especially high bar to clear, so it seems unlikely Israeli leaders will face trial for these alleged crimes.

The ICC can also investigate the legality of Israeli settlements on occupied lands. This is significant as the United Nations Security Council rejected a draft resolution which demanded an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories by late 2017. This is likely what forced President Mahmoud Abbas’ hand. The Court, however, is based on individual criminal accountability.

Individuals, not states, are investigated and it is unclear who the defendant in such a criminal case would be. Politicians, military officials, judges and private companies have all been involved in constructing and strengthening the settlements in the West Bank.

use the conflict for their own political leverage, with Paul introducing the Defend Israel by Defunding Palestine Foreign Aid Act of 2015.

Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said he would recommend his government not cooperate with the inquiry and the United States described the decision as a “tragic irony.” These visceral reactions have far-reaching consequences and are less than helpful for any party involved in the conflict.

States are also increasingly reliant upon international institutions for assistance with refugees, counterterrorism strategies and global security. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees provides assistance to the increasing influx of Syrian refugees in Jordan. The rising burden of costs for health, education and welfare presents a security challenge for the Jordanian government.

Unemployed and impoverished youth in the region compete for access to basic resources, including fresh water.

First, the international system is dependent on State cooperation. Israel even suggesting it will not cooperate undermines the larger framework of international institutions that regulate state behaviour and enhance global security. This makes it more difficult to hold other states accountable for crimes in the future, such as Syria.

It also implicitly challenges the legitimacy of the Court’s previous findings on situations in, for instance, Libya.

Second, the “tragic irony” is that the United States attempting to broker peace between the two parties, is like having a player be both on the pitch and refereeing the match at the same time. George Bush in 2002 said Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories needed to stop and Israeli forces needed to withdraw fully to positions they held before September 28, 2000. He said the interests of the Palestinian people have been “held hostage” to a comprehensive peace agreement, that never seems to come. However, this “delay” can now be attributed, more so than at any point, to the relationship between the United States and Israel.

To say the conversation on Capitol Hill is one-sided is an understatement. Congress adopted the Fiscal Year 2015 Appropriations Bill which imposes sanctions on the Palestinians if they become members of the ICC. It cuts off aid and defunds the agencies in question, as they did with UNESCO after the Palestinians joined in 2011.

Presidential hopefuls, including Senator Rand Paul (R - KY),

The problem with this is that, should the United States continue down this path, they create a climate of animosity in which “peaceful negotiations” are expected to take place. Congressmen using inflammatory and accusatory rhetoric for political gains and passing legislation linking the health and survival of the UN system to the Palestinians, hardly suggests a genuine interest in achieving a “two state solution for two people.”

It is easy to see why this discontent and frustration provides a fertile recruitment ground for violent extremist group, ISIS. If Palestine joined the UNHCR, the US could theoretically defund the agency. As its top donor, surpassing the European Union’s contributions by $10, 000, 000, the UNHCR’s operations in the region would be heavily impacted. ISIS’s appeal could increase in refugee camps as they continue to offer new recruits a monthly salary, accommodation, free food and even internet access.

Congress, and Congressmen, could do better than to pass legislation threatening to defund these very same UN agencies. If the United States were genuinely interested in a stable peace between Israel and Palestine, it would allow the Court to undertake its preliminary investigation without obstruction.

AUTHOR Claudette Yazbek If Claudette could have any talent, she would want to be an exceptionally talented dancer - salsa, ballet, hip-hop, twerking. It is the only form of communication that transcends all language barriers.

Also, she ran out of milkshakes and need something else to bring the boys to the yard.

© ICC-CPI. Seventeen of the eighteen judges of the International Criminal Court. Each judge is elected for nine years.

Learn more at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/

11

Equality My Problem with the Politics of Internet Debate

by Jonno Revanche

The discourse we are often presented within Internet spaces is one strictly adherent to dogma.

The world of debating and rationalising has changed, and it’s hard to say whether it’s for the better or if it’s for the worse. If you say one thing incorrectly, you are absolutely wrong, and, apparently, everything you have said before is completely irrelevant and must be looked over.

Once you have passed this threshold you are irredeemable as a human being and incapable of growth, of becoming a better person, and have no potential to progress as a thinker.

Indeed, we’ve evolved into different kind of thinkers and conversationalists over time, and with that comes a new form of debate. In particular, the way we converse and trade off in a virtual setting holds its own rules, buzz words and phrases. In addition to this, there seems to be a lot of people who work within this sphere who operate with very black and white thinking. To write off someone completely is a dangerous attitude to take and although initially understandable, it is not constructive in the grander scheme of things. If we want to critique late capitalism and all of its creations (systematic racial oppression, for example) in-fighting does not necessarily seem the greatest approach. What I think we need to bring to the table is a culture

based on empathy and conversation, and resort to things like “call-outs” only when it is necessary.

You might think I am approaching this from the perspective of, say, an apologist. This is not necessarily 100% true.

The conflict created by call-outs, it seems to me, can be witnessed anytime I open up a tab on Facebook, Tumblr or Twitter. “Call-outs” seem relatively self-explanatory, but in the context of virtual debating they often refer to a situation where something oppressive has been said and must be recognised. To “call someone out” is to lay the blame on the perpetrator in a place everyone else can see. In our online activist spaces, it seems like an easy way to lay the blame on someone who has fucked up, and alert everyone else to the error.

The logic here lies in the power of the onlooker. A debate is happening in public, and observers may benefit from seeing this error be openly critiqued.

The open dialogue is ready for anyone to access and to benefit from. There is some logic here, even if this is cruel.

Personally, I have found it extremely hard to engage with someone when they are on a higher plane of privilege than I am. Trying to communicate with

someone about queer issues is tough. I am forced into the corner where I have to explain myself, which is to their benefit, because the straight person in question can keep up their ignorance for as long as possible. It is very easy to plead ignorance. They are given license to not do their homework under the guise of mis-education, essentially. Often this is very exhausting and seems like a very deliberate tactic from the person on the other end to wear me down, to make me frustrated, to force me to validate my own existence. In this instance, I understand why people resort to callouts and react in an overtly direct way. It is an effective way of communicating frustration and carries across the urgency of our oppression. The desired attitude of the “oppressor” if you will, would not put the onus on the person they are talking to. They would listen in on conversations about homophobia and wonder what they can do in their own lives to make it better.

Theorists have debated that call-outs are very necessary and are usually utilised after the individual has reached a breaking point. The reaction to articles critiquing call-out culture suggest that it is often white people speaking out against call-out culture. It is a privilege to have the time and patience to opt for “calling in” instead, which is to say, privately message the person who has said something racist, and correct them in a more discreet virtual space. The issue with “calling in” is that observers miss the opportunity to learn vicariously, which is a much more efficient way, and a much less harmful way for the LGBTIQ community, to generate understanding of queer issues.

The thoughts I have about sociological discourse in an open, public space are varied. On the one hand, I understand certain approaches to be very useful, but are not one size fits all. I think that, before we open our mouths to speak or type, we need to consider what relevant thoughts we can add to the conversation. Are we empathetic in our approach? Is the person we’re having a conversation with understanding of our lived experiences, and if not, are they willing to educate themselves and understand where they stand in relation to us? Are they willing to understand privilege? I think every conversation is unique, and in order to respond, we have to be constantly assessing ourselves along the way, observing the details of the situations we’ve found ourselves in.

This is our calling card as humans. Self awareness is a heavy thing to hold, but how else would we carry the tools to make things better?

AUTHOR Jonno Revanche, 23, Counselling

13

OPENLY SEXUAL

kinda pathetic: In order to set aside their anti-kink “ It’sattitudes and enjoy trash like Fifty Shades the average reader first needs to have her assumptions about kink confirmed—crazy! fucked up!—and only then is she able to get down to the business of furiously masturbating about what she’s just read.

— Dan Savage

Thank you for Fifty Shades of Grey, E. L. James.

No, I haven’t read the books. I have an aversion to badly written erotica and there is so much excellent work out there that I still haven’t enjoyed.

And no, I do not intend to see the movie for now as there are so many better, sexier, cleverer films to see before that one. But I am glad that Fifty Shades of Grey was so incredibly successful. You see, I have been happily reading erotica for years. I have known other women to have sexual fantasies for a long time and I have known that some of those fantasies include submission and even rape. However, apparently a lot of women didn’t. They didn’t know that there is a large selection of erotica available at their bookshop, library, and online. They didn’t know that it is okay to fantasise about something you would never really do in a million years, or that it is okay to not only fantasise about being kinky but to actually go out and get your kink on.

So thank you E.L. James* for generating the excess of discussion and opinions and general chatter about sex, sexuality, sex toys, play, abuse, kink, BDSM, fantasy, fucking, sexism, sex positivity and feminism.

The dialogue surrounding the effects of this book and film have been marvellous. There have been open and honest discussions with women sharing their stories about the triggers it had for them about their

abuse, women expressing how they finally felt okay about admitting that they were into BDSM and how they went out and explored it in a positive, healthy way. Some discussions were just stories of women who got turned on by the fantasy and felt sexy again, whilst others got angry over the messages about power dynamics and mental abuse in relationships. And because of the exposure everywhere, others felt they had to discuss positive relationship models with their children. What a great outcome.

Personally, my favourite erotica is a magazine published in 1883 by a William Lazenby. The stories are written in the character of young noblemen and it is about their various escapades in a time when there were seemingly more barriers to enjoying sex and yet they still find willing, informed, aware, intelligent women everywhere they go and they pleasure them, properly. It is not particularly brilliantly written but the women are never submissive and are always satisfied and this appeals to me. It may not appeal to you but that is the point – one person’s sexual fantasy is another women’s sexual turn off and yet another’s trigger. Although I am not sure how 19th century erotica about consensual sex will trigger you unless you are a socialist time traveller…

What is beyond me is why Fifty Shades of Grey is so revolutionary when we know for a fact there is plenty of erotic fiction out there for women and there has been for over a hundred years? Little Raven Publishing has far more well-written pieces than Fifty Shades and yet Fifty Shades sold a 100 million copies worldwide and got made into a movie. A movie that is either terrible or wonderful depending on who you talk to. The book and the movies seem to have so many people for and against them you would think

”

we were discussing Hamlet and its intricacies about personal and sexual relationships, not some poorly written fanfic.

According to Esther Perel it helped women connect with their erotic selves and to accept the paradoxes of their fantasies. Which is great.

But again, Nancy Friday’s book My Secret Garden did this back in 1973 by collating real women’s fantasies without selling us a crappy, tired stereotypical power dynamic between a rich man and a virginal woman. Not that I don’t love Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Or Beauty and the Beast.

So go read some erotica, or write it, or write about it, and have fun. Don’t judge another person, or yourself, for a fantasy.

Check out: • Little Raven Publishing littleravenpublishing.com • Nancy Friday’s work • Anais Nin for some twisted but beautifully written erotica that will end up with you leaving teeth marks on the cover • William Lazenby’s The Oyster • Audio books mean you have an extra hand free • Fanfic or slash fiction. Hermione and Snape getting it on is just one storyline. Draco and Harry is another. *Erika Mitchell aka E.L. James was born in England (I always thought she was American for some reason) and wrote fanfic about Edward and Bella from Twilight under the pen name ‘Snowqueen’s Icedragon’. It became popular and she changed the names, removed the supernatural elements, and became an overnight publishing success.

AUTHOR Emma Sachsse, 42, Psychology (Hons) Emma would choose deduction as an exceptional talent so that she could be the modern female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes.

a e er

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ow

:

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T I C O A R

to e

Out loud and in bed with a sexy companion, see how long you can keep reading...

njoy th

Alone & in bed with a vibrator (or sex toy of your preference)

15

- Science -

The

Theory Of

Everything How Crescendos Connect the Dots

by Marat Sverdlov

M

usic is one of humanity’s oldest expressions of creativity.

Recent studies suggest that playing an instrument as a child does not, in fact, increase one’s IQ (which in itself a scientifically contested measure, so highly biased some no longer see as being relevant). There is, however, significant evidence that learning and playing an instrument in the long term has several broader benefits that can be specifically described, rather than the relatively vague measurement of unspecified “intelligence”.

When you learn new skills, your brain forms more connections between neurons. As you practice your new skill those connections increase and strengthen, and according to research

by Cornell University, these increases lessen the strain that practicing puts on your brain. Specifically, the frontoparietal control and dorsal attention networks, which are involved in regulating attention and effort, show decreasing activity over time as you become more adept at a skill. Think of a traffic grid; when you learn a new skill, you build new buildings, and traffic needs to get to them. However, there are only a couple routes to get there so all the traffic is jamming. As new connections are formed through practice, new roads are built to more evenly distribute the traffic and as those connections are strengthened the roads are widened.

The brains of skilled people show a lot of activity on the roads connecting those new skill ‘buildings’, and relatively little on the paths that connect your attention and effort. The reason pros make it look easy is that they actually are trying less hard, relative to someone just starting out. Their brains are under less strain because of those additional connections softening the brunt of the ‘traffic’ that’s crawling bumper-to-bumper in the brain of someone who hasn’t built those roads yet.

So, why is music so great for your brain? It’s because doing so uses (and connects) so very many different parts of your brain, across both hemispheres. Research by Harvard, Emory, and Southern California universities suggest that learning and practicing an instrument profoundly increases the

interconnectedness of motor and auditory functions, adaptiveness to new information, and nonverbal and visuospatial working memory.

In short, musical learning is just densely packed with an entire array of coordinated brain regions, all of which become more tightly connected and coordinated. The brains of children as young as six have shown structural changes associated with the above improvements after 15 months of practice. These improvements have been found to remain in adults even decades after they stopped playing, because just like actual roads, those synaptic connections can be used by all kinds of traffic going all kinds of places even if that ‘playing the piano’ building in your head closes its doors.

The increased interconnectedness and coordination of so many brain regions, along with the increase in white matter (responsible for brain plasticity, which is related to one’s ability to adapt to new information) has also been shown to provide an added defence against cognitive decline in old age.

Research shows that to optimise the effects of musical training, one should start before the age of nine and keep training for at least 10 years. For those of you without access to time travel or the ability to retcon your own life, research at the University of South Florida showed that six months of piano instruction yielded improved memory, information processing speed, planning ability, verbal fluency, and other cognitive functions in adults between the ages of 60 and 85. So worry not about an unmusical childhood, and whenever you can afford to in your life, pick up an instrument. Aside from personal creative enrichment, few things can compete with such a dense and comprehensive form of brain training. If you have or are planning to have kids, do them a favour and be one of those annoying parents that sends their children to music lessons and won’t let them quit (if you can manage it). They might complain or resent you for it, but their frontoparietal control and dorsal attention networks will think that you rock.

- Feminism -

“ Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“ Reaching Out

by Kaisha Wyld

T

hanks to social media, everyone knows an attention seeker. An unspoken social contract dictates that we avoid them for “behaving inappropriately”, and as a result every slightly negative status update or tweet is met with disapproval. Most people keep scrolling through their news feed, or move onto that story about the researchers who have designed music specifically to calm cats. (Yeah, that happened.)

I want to ask, though: what is so bad about a person seeking attention? It’s understandable that sympathies start to waver when you see the same person with the same cry every single week. I mean, why doesn’t this person get their act together? Surely, if they’re posting about it, their life can’t be all that bad.

A better question, however, is one to ask ourselves—why does this social contract exist in the first place? Why do we avoid the attention seekers?

In a highly scientific study (I asked Mum), I discovered that it could be an attachment and commitment thing.

Remember the stray cat your parents wouldn’t let you feed, in case it kept coming back? They didn’t want it to become dependent on your goodwill. The same principle seems to apply to attention seekers; we avoid them, we ignore them, and we hope that they’ll go away by themselves.

This is not an effective way of thinking, and it helps no one. Want to see attention seekers stop posting ambiguously for weeks on end? Stop victimising them; try being there for them.

If a person is using attention-seeking behaviour, they are likely to need that attention. Human beings strive for attention, and that attention can validate their existence or help calm their anxiety. You don’t have to commit to

being there permanently; just message them, call them, or visit them. If you’re so worried they’re going to overstay their welcome, try approaching them on your own terms.

Let them know you don’t have much time, that you’re just checking in, or that you’re just worried about them right now.

For the love of all things small and fluffy, though: CHECK IN ON A PERSON WHO IS SEEKING ATTENTION. Their pride may be the only thing stopping them from messaging you first. They may think they’ll become a burden, or that they aren’t worth anybody’s time. They may be one conversation away from self destruction.

You can never know what someone is going through, and even if you ask, they may not tell you everything. Being there for someone can be as simple or as complex as you make it. Listen to them, hug them and invite them over for dinner so you know they’ve eaten something. Social media has blurred the line between public and private; although you may not agree with how a person is getting through their life, it doesn’t mean they need the attention any less.

Just be there. You may be saving their life, and there is nothing burdensome about that.

**Eds: If you’re having difficulty, please contact: Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 Lifeline 13 11 14 AUTHOR Kaisha Wyld, 22, Psychology (Hons) If Kaisha could have any talent, it would be baking perfect cakes because you can never have too many procrastination skills.

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- Feminism -

We Need to Talk About...

The realities of sexism and gender in everyday life

The Power of Female Comedy

by Eleanor Danenberg

I

have a confession to make; the worse the pun, the more I laugh. Joke books, comedy road shows, Tony Abbott as Minister for Women; you name it, I’m still laughing. I‘ve always loved comedy, and I love to make people laugh; I actually recited the ‘Penis-enlarger pump’ scene from Austin Powers in ‘Show and Tell’ in my very first year at school.

Moving on from that horrifying image, what happens when you combine feminism with a love of comedy?

An investigation into the bizarre but commonly held conception that women aren’t funny. Some people who share this belief spout ‘evolutionary psychology research’ that ‘proves’ that biologically, men were, and are funnier than women. They go on to claim that by displaying desirable traits such as intelligence and a sense of humour these men will achieve a female mate. Well, I better stop typing this and continue foraging for berries in the wild, waiting for a man to bowl me over with a knock-knock joke, then take me back to his cave for a night of amore.

I did some research of my own, and concluded an odd pattern among icons of comedy: Charlie Chaplin, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Jim Carrey, Rowan Atkinson, Dame Edna. What does a woman have to do to be placed among the comedy greats, let alone considered funny? It’s quite simple really; she must be a man.

The notion that it’s not acceptable or appropriate for women to be funny is baffling and archaic. It’s alluding to the stream of thought that women should look an acceptable way and do acceptable things, but not think or speak of anything beyond a superficial level.

This reminds me of my favourite ‘girl power anecdote’ ever; it was a few years ago when Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey were all on Saturday Night Live.

They were swapping stories and jokes backstage, and

Amy told a “dirty and loud” joke, to which Jimmy replied, “Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.” Then, Amy’s eyes went dark and angry and she snapped back, “I don’t fucking care if you like it.” Poehler’s phrase has become a feminist mantra, the idea that somehow, maybe, a woman’s most basic decision actually doesn’t revolve around how a man will receive it.

Now, as much as I love Hamish and Andy, Lano and Woodley, and Steve Carrel on The Office (US), I find Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling equally hilarious. I have read their books; I have seen the TV shows these women have written for, and those in which they star, and these women are indescribable. And they’re not the only ones…Lena Dunham, Sarah Silverman, the entire cast of Bridesmaids, the ladies of Broad City, and the list goes on and on.

These women are intelligent, passionate, brave, and talented; they inspire, they push boundaries, and they don’t give a damn what other people think. Female comedy is unique in that simply by existing, and by being heard and liked, it is a subversive act.

Like Tina Fey herself said about the ‘Women aren’t funny’ line; “You still hear it. It’s just a lot easier to ignore.”

And what do you know; I just found my new feminist mantra!

AUTHOR Eleanor Danenberg, 19, Arts Eleanor wishes she was as exceptionally talented and funny as her favourite comedians.

“We played Dungeons & Dragons for three hours!

Then I was slain by an Elf.”

- Games -

- Homer Simpson

Level

Up

Dungeons & Dragons: A creative roleplaying experience

by Kelly Guthberlet

D

ungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game first developed in 1974 by the great Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It is an open-ended game where people explore the world as player characters of varying classes, races and types.

The Dungeon Master tailors the adventure to the desires of their players; whether it is a tale of insidious intrigue, thrilling adventure, with more roleplaying or more combat or various mixtures of both, more cooperative or more competitive. Each game is a unique experience that can appeal to a wide range of players who value different aspects of a story.

The adventures are overseen by the Dungeon Master; the god of the table who leads the players through their quest, giving them opponents to fight, people to save, subordinates to lead, and acts as the final arbitrator on all rules. The Dungeon Master is also responsible for creating the world that the players inhabit. Dungeons & Dragons is just as immersive as any video game as players act through their characters, making moves and rolling dice to determine their successes or failures. The expansion packs come in the form of rulebooks and the game can be played almost anywhere.

Character creation is perhaps the aspect of Dungeons & Dragons that most makes use of the players’ creativity. With over 50 rulebooks available for the 3.5 edition of the game, characters can range from a rogue who lurks in the shadows and stabs from behind, to a mighty lawful paladin of a noble god who smites evil with a single blow and then nobly heals the party afterwards. Even a class such as the cleric which has a traditional healer role could range from being the party’s nurse, to a hard hitting melee combatant, or even an evil necromancer, delving deep into dark spells to raise armies of undead, all through innovative character design. Players are also encouraged to create a compelling backstory for their characters that a clever Dungeon Master can use to weave throughout the campaign.

Creative problem solving is my favourite part of the D&D

experience. For example, in a game I played, we were trapped on a ship that sustained hull damage and water was gushing in. The ranger had to use her knowledge of ship craft to gather materials and show the others how to pack the hole so that the ship would stop sinking for a few hours while the druid had time to prepare a spell to warp the wood back into shape.

The many different rulebooks available for the game contain details of different worlds you can use as a game setting.

You can use these for your character’s backstory, classes your characters can take, races that exist in the world, and monsters to defeat. There are spells to cast that can do anything from cleaning your clothes to summoning a furious storm of elemental destruction, and magical items that can aid characters in their quest or be a real hindrance. It is a game where complete customisation is possible, but quite a bit of the time, effort and reading is required to truly make the most of your gameplay experience.

Dungeons & Dragons has received quite a revival recently, thanks to its relation to popular culture. Lord of the Rings was the inspiration of many traditional Dungeons & Dragons staples such as hardy dwarves, graceful elves, vicious orcs, and powerful wizards. The popularity of the recent Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies has also reignited interest in fantasy roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons. The 5th edition of the game has also recently been released, and is said to be even easier for newcomers to pick up. So now would be the perfect time to start playing, all you need is some dice, some friends, and a willing Dungeon Master to lead you through the Dungeons & Dragons world. Or you could even take that role yourself, if you dare…

AUTHOR Kelly Guthberlet, 20, Science/Education Kelly would choose to know every language as an exceptional talent so that she could go everywhere and do everything.

19

technologia The Dilemma of Control

by Kevin Clark

I

magine it’s all the way back in 2014 CE: You have a friend. Well, I imagine a good looking and funny individual like yourself has many friends, but you have one friend in particular who spends far too much time on the Internet. This friend links you a couple of pages, not in itself an unusual activity, and you flat out ignore them. After all, it’s almost 2am and you still have to finish this stupid report that you totally started last week. An hour later you open the message, as you figure you’re due for the break anyway (I’ll let you pretend this is the case, it’s the only real hope you have for this assignment).

The first one is the obligatory videos of kittens; you can never watch every kitten video on the Internet, but the second one is a little different. It links to an ominous sounding ‘Forced Finger Project’. Bracing yourself, knowing that you have already seen glimpses of the dark side of the Internet, you are pleasantly surprised when it is instead a 45-minute lecture. You’d never re-watch the lectures you were required to view for study, but you skim through this one, and it seems kind of cool, but having a robot teach you how to draw is never going to catch on.

Well, it might work for others. You, however, have no hope. You can barely draw stick figures.

Don’t feel too bad though, just because a robot is better at drawing than you are. There are lots of things that robots can already do better than you; drawing is not the one to get hung up on. At least

this robot could only repeat drawings that someone had stored in them, nothing inherently creative. It’s not like they can also write an article about sports events, as they happen, or anything. Well, not one that gets published in more than a few large newspapers at least. You’ll always have that article your third grade teacher really liked, up on them.

For now… And currently, it is unlikely that any robot could finish off this assignment of yours for you, without tripping some form of plagiarism detection.

Speaking of which, you should probably get back to that. The assignment, that is. Working out a way to beat the plagiarism detection is beyond you at the best of times. It’s now close to 5am and you barely have a title.

In five to ten years from now, robots become a little more normal. Still quite cool, but not as prevalent to the extent that any science fiction article you read outside of ET promised, but a little more normal nonetheless. So much so, that forced movement is much less odd than it was all the way back in 2014.

At least that’s what you tell yourself as your personal robot lifts the coffee in your hand to your mouth for you.

AUTHOR Kevin Clark, 20, Computer Science Kevin would choose to have an incredible voice. At Karaoke he would be ‘that’ guy

- Music -

ALBUM REVIEW: BADBADNOTGOOD & GHOSTFACE KILLAH // SOUR SOUL

B

adBadNotGood (BBNG) are a Canadian jazz trio who, rather than sticking to the conventional form of jazz, have instead fashioned a name for themselves out of hip-hop covers. The last album they dropped, titled III, was an album made up of all original material. Their previous recordings have never been fully jazz oriented, but are tightly arranged compositions. The same goes with SOUR SOUL, a collaborative effort between them, and the former Wu-Tang clan member Ghostface Killah.

First things first: The production on this LP is high level.

All instruments are recorded live which makes SOUR SOUL stand out further than other hip-hop albums. BBNG and Ghostface are made for each other, with BBNG smoothly guiding the vocals from track to track. Their formula is strong from the start, and it only gets stronger as they push the boundaries of jazz, on tracks like “Six Degrees”.

Unfortunately, the lack of jazz improvisation means some of the tracks at times sound dreary and boring when Ghostface isn’t present.

on “Gunshowers”, which also features a verse from Elzhi. The other feature artists, DOOM and Tree, have strong appearances but never take the spotlight away from the main attraction.

Ghostface Killah doesn’t explore any new lyrical ground, but still manages to create vivid rhymes.

From bragging about his pimping skill on “Tone’s Rap”, to delivering survival skills on “Street Knowledge”, Ghostface’s key delivery always takes centre stage over the backing. Some of the other tracks do take on a rapid tangent, as seen on “Food”, where at one point Ghostface raps about fish and yoga.

Overall, this collaboration is solid, but I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed. While the tracks are well layered, produced and arranged with a variety of instruments, some of the tracks glide over with no lasting impression, and no hook. The lack of improvisation I mentioned earlier is a downfall for me especially, as I like my jazz with substance.

The tracks “Mono” and “Experience” serve as great opening and closing instrumental tracks to the record.

On “Mono”, a walking bass leads the drums and keys, slowly building up the volume, which then leads into the next track. “Experience” takes the same riff and amplifies it, layering horn and uplifting string sections, which then fade out, bringing SOUR SOUL to a close.

One thing I did notice is that this album is short and quiet at 33 minutes, with only a handful of songs (notably the tracks “Mind Playing Tricks” and “Gunshowers”) turning up the volume. With that said, SOUR SOUL is still worth a listen if you’re looking for a new take on conventional hip-hop.

One track that really stood out for me was “Six Degrees”, with another slower walking bass riff and fingerpicking guitar, featuring a verse from Danny Brown. The production on the song is minimal, making the vocals and guitars stand out more. The fingerpicking sounds continue

AUTHOR Aden Beaver, 17, Creative Arts (Digital Media) Aden would choose talking to animals as an exceptional talent, so he can tell when his cats are judging him.

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H ING C N S U L S E Y E R E FR IR D NER HA ATIO ITIES ST TIV ORE AC D M AN

/REL U A .

U D E FUSA.

AX

Creativity Competition Photography Runner Up Matthew Bird 23

STUDENT ARTIST PROFILE: Rafal Banasiak CURRENTLY IN HIS THIRD YEAR OF A BACHELOR OF CREATIVE ARTS (DIGITAL MEDIA) AT FLINDERS UNIVERSITY, RAFAL BANASIAK IS A TALENTED COVER ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR FOR EMPIRE TIMES . WITH A CLEAR PASSION FOR THE GAME AND FILM INDUSTRY, RAF CHATS TO ET ABOUT CONCEPT ART, THE IMPORTANCE OF FAILING, AND THE INEXPLICABLE QUESTION “WHAT IS ART?” What is a concept artist and would you describe yourself as one?

A concept artist is responsible for solving design problems outlined in the brief and presenting the client with a variety of drawings or paintings to choose from. The drawings have to be completed very quickly and need to remain quite rough and flexible to enable quick iterations to be made based on feedback. It’s very much like designing a logo but with pictures.

The design skills are key and come from understanding the world around you, being able to invent new, believable things, but art skills are similarly essential in creating a clear and pleasing presentation to help “sell” the idea.

I consider myself half concept artist and half illustrator. I primarily specialise in environment work, but I occasionally work on props and vehicles as well. My goal at the end of uni is to be very flexible, stylistically, and to be comfortable with designing an extensive range of subject matters, like characters, creatures, mechs and weapons to broaden my job opportunities and adapt to diverse briefs.

What is your art background?

Many artists I follow often say that they drew ever since they were three years old. In my instance, I actually didn’t draw for most of my life, and only took it seriously during my first year at uni. Prior to that, I remember doing some Star Wars fan art every once in a while, and then taking some basic painting and design classes in high school, but I hardly every pushed myself outside the boundaries of homework. I spent all my free time playing games, and when I received my very first Wacom tablet at 14, I started doing some occasional paintings and sketches without any references, and horrible execution of human anatomy and perspective. Once uni started, the energy of the people around me, motivated me to achieve many breakthroughs. Two years later and here I am at the level you see, with my full page illustration contributions for this year’s issues of Empire Times including that front cover on Issue 1.

What kind of things do you learn during your Digital Media classes?

Many of my classes are devoted to learning new tricks in digital media programs like Illustrator or After Effects, and putting

RAF’S NUMBER ONE RULE IS TO PRODUCE ONE PAGE OF ART A DAY. IT COULD BE A SET OF QUICK SKETCHES OR A FULLY DETAILED ILLUSTRATION. HE SAYS THE KEY IS TO “NEVER BREAK ROUTINE.” Top Left: First digital painting Top Right: Concept art for an honours film Genus, created during first year Below: Digital Painting completed in second year

25

What skills has the Creative Arts (Digital Media) degree given you?

The degree has brought together a fantastic group of people who want to work on similar things. We have been taught how to work collaboratively to achieve our crazy ambitious goals, and how to help each other out whenever things go bad. To me, the degree has always been about uniting people together and learning each other’s strengths, to create a strong team and work towards a common goal. I have made many great friends from this process and have worked continuously with them since to produce more amazing things. I owe all my artistic achievements to this degree and to all the people who encouraged me to keep going, I can’t wait to see what we will all achieve from working together this year.

What mediums do you use? Do you have a favourite?

My good old faithful Wacom tablet. Lately all I had the chance to do is work digitally as times get hectic and many people want to see refined work from me. I don’t use my pencils as often as I would like to, mainly because digital workflows are already incredibly flexible and customisable to my stylistic needs. Though I still believe that traditional tools are superior at improving confidence and draftsmanship, so I will definitely need to find time to fill up my sketchbook, eventually. The use of ctrl+z makes a huge difference.

What programs do you use to edit/manipulate your artwork?

Mainly Photoshop. To this day it is still probably the best tool for the job and it’s an incredibly rich piece of software with infinite possibilities. However, I do also like to work in 3D for the sake of speed, and use 3Ds Max to quickly block out structures in perspective to then overpaint in Photoshop. This job isn’t very technical when it comes to software and I like that a lot.

How did you get so good?

Lots of practice! Artists have always said that their life is all about art, and now I know they weren’t exaggerating. Art and design is what I do all day everyday – it’s my job, hobby and a spare time activity. I am either sitting at my desk creating for a project, or for myself, or spending the time outdoors analysing the behaviour of light and colour or creepily staring at people’s faces at the bus stop. You just start seeing things differently and find the smallest, most everyday things so fascinating – almost like a physicist would, with all the their scientific knowledge of the world, but in this case just the visuals.

Everything else is just feedback; I have an amazing circle of friends and lecturers who have helped me identify my errors and have given me suggestions on how to eliminate them. I always make sure to apply them.

And let’s not forget all the endless online art communities and free video tutorials these days that I have playing in the background while I work, or the collection of reference books and art books I gathered over the years. It all helps.

Your artwork is reflective of a love for games, specifically Halo, Mass Effect and other sci-fi themed works. Can you elaborate on this further? Do you want to work in game design?

That’s the dream. I have a huge passion for games and believe that the interactive medium is superior for immersive and dynamic storytelling, and for an emotional engagement. I would love to be involved in creating these awesome worlds and unique locations, seeing my colleagues bring them all to life, and allowing the players to virtually interact with them. I was

“

ARTISTS HAVE ALWAYS SAID THAT THEIR LIFE IS ALL ABOUT ART, AND NOW I KNOW THEY WEREN’T EXAGGERATING. ART AND DESIGN IS WHAT I DO ALL DAY EVERYDAY - IT’S MY JOB, HOBBY AND A SPARE TIME ACTIVITY.

“

into practice various workflow techniques for things like film compositing, animation and matte painting . Frequently, we are encouraged to collaborate on assignments in teams to practice communication and pipeline production, which are essential skills in the business.

already able to experience that satisfaction through the games we have been producing in the Digital Media course, and I cant wait to experience it even more on much bigger productions.

What has been the most valuable advice you have received or wish you had received?

That I will fail, and I will need to fail to be good at what I do.

Failing is always portrayed negatively but it’s actually the best thing to happen to you, as long as you understand why you failed. I never stopped failing and still do, but the issues with my work have steadily become smaller thanks to their occurrence. It’s quite obvious advice but it has eliminated my fear from starting a new painting or moving outside the borders of my comfort zone. If I failed, it means I learnt something new or found a new weakness.

How many hours does it take you to finish a piece?

Anywhere from an hour-long speed-paint, to a 40-hour detailed illustration. On average, my more refined work takes about 20 hours to complete. It’s all of those finishing touches that take up the most time. I like to keep the concept work up to about 5 hours per set of drawings; this might consist of 6 refined sketches or 3 paintings on a single page. It always varies depending on my comfort with the subject matter and the research required.

Does creating your artwork ever become a chore?

It might sometimes when I am asked to draw a bunch of things I don’t particularly enjoy. Sometimes I just need to push through the work to get onto the cooler stuff, but in the end I am grateful for the variety of work I get to do. Every assignment teaches me something new and I can always plug that knowledge back to my environment work. Another part that sucks is the last few hours in that 40-hour painting where the program is sluggish from the hundreds of layers inside a high resolution image, and me having to dig through it all to touch up those small details that nobody would notice in the first place. I am sure many artists can relate to this.

How would you answer the common question “What is art?”?

Nowadays it’s anything you want it to be. In short, art for me has a purpose to present us with an idea, express an emotion, or a different point of view, or to tell a story. Good art achieves its purpose with clarity and an aesthetic that enhances it, and the artist behind it must have a strong understanding of fundamentals, like perspective, colour and rendering so that every feature in the artwork is intentional and not a mistake. I could talk about this all day but let’s just leave it there for now.

What themes do you commonly design around?

I am a huge fan of sci-fi. I have this weird fascination for hard surface metal corridors, and epic structures in space with cool lighting effects and futuristic graphics. Retro sci-fi settings

EMPIRE TIMES YOUR STUDENT MAG

42.1 it's Free!

FOR MORE OF RAF’S WORK VISIT HIS PORTFOLIO RAFALBANASIAK.COM, ARTSTATION.COM/ARTIST/RAFALB OR FOLLOW HIM ON FACEBOOK. Top Left: A recent personal painting Top Right: Raf’s cover art for this year’s first issue of Empire Times

with a horror atmosphere like the first Alien movie or the Dead Space series are my favourite examples. I am very excited when I am given the chance to work on these themes, but I generally stay open to anything just for the sake of exploring new styles and finding new interests.

Girl and games like Solstice as props or sets designed by the production crew based on my design drawings. I have also made a matte painting for the St Vincent De Paul charity commercial, which was aired on television at the start of this year.

What are some pieces you’re particularly proud of?

Anything that is the most recent. It doesn’t take long before I start noticing the hundreds of mistakes I did in my previous work to start hating it; so the fresher the work, the better I feel about it.

What is the best advice you could give someone just starting out at uni in a similar line of study?

This may not work for everyone but has certainly worked for me. Use the time at uni to participate in screen and media projects where you are required to work in a team towards a single goal. Once you’re given deadlines to work to, you will be pushed to work, with the work of others encouraging you to push yourself further to ensure the success of the project. It is incredibly satisfying seeing all your work in a much bigger product. Along the way, you will find friends who strive towards similar careers and will likely support you during your time at uni and after. I believe that the strongest aspect of universities is the network of people you develop during your studies; so make it count and make friends!

What’s the most frustrating aspect of your work?

Fixing major mistakes in a very refined painting. There is always something that catches my eye relatively far into the process, and if it’s a big problem, then the perfectionist in me will not be silenced until it’s fixed – so I fix it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your work?

Finishing something for good and seeing it built by the production team as a physical item for a film or a 3D model in a game. It’s just an amazing feeling to see something from my sketch turn into reality.

Where has your artwork been published?

So far, just here inside Empire Times. Most of my work can be seen throughout the Flinders honours films like The Little

Lastly, always be open to constructive criticism and never let an ego set in. Be open to what your colleagues and target audience have to say about your work, and keep the suggestions in mind when working on your next artwork. It worked for me very well and I ended up improving much faster.

27

VO

1. Psychology (Honours)

2. An expression of human creativity. Art is something that transcends our regular sense of consciousness. When I see a work of art, whether a traditional work, a book, or a film, I get a sense of completeness. It’s a type of beauty that is difficult to explain in a scientific manner. Like another path to knowledge.

3. I would like to have an exceptional ability for deduction – like Sherlock Holmes and the wit of someone like Tyrion Lannister.

4. A St. Patricks gig with my Irish dancing group on Saturday. I’ve been practicing all week to be more awesome.

5. Yesterday I saw that there is a potential cure for Alzheimer’s disease using ultrasound waves.

6. Mint.

7. Van Gough, because he had his image of the world without caring what others thought.

LOUIS

Q.

1.WHAT ARE YOU STUDYING? 2. WHAT DOES ‘ART’ MEAN TO YOU? 3. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY EXCEPTIONAL TALENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE & WHY? 4. WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE WEEKEND? 5. WHAT’S SOMETHING INTERESTING YOU DISCOVERED ON SOCIAL MEDIA RECENTLY? 6. PEOPLE KNOW I’M AROUND WHEN.... 7.

WHICH ARTIST DO YOU ASPIRE TO BE MOST LIKE?

1. Creative Writing (Honours)

2. It means laying foetal on the floor at three in the morning because you finished a novel too soon.

3. I wish I could find someone to pay me an exceptional amount of money for doing not much.

4. Work and nervous avoidance of ethics research.

1. Bachelor of Science (High Achievers) 2. Anything that is not scientific.

3. Being able to play any instrument because only a piano is not quite good enough.

4. Play some video games and eat pizzas.

5. Ireland accidentally legalised meth and almost outlawed heterosexual marriage.

5. A friend of mine introduced some casual translating work to me and got the job straight away without writing up a resume.

6. They see me???

6. Mint

7. Joss Whedon

7. Green Day

RIANA

SHIN

2. When we put our heart and soul into something we create.

3. I’ve been learning guitar on and off for three years and I’d love to be better at it.

4. Dinner with uni friends, and board games with my family. Oh, and homework :( 5. More than 2 women a week have been killed in 2015 by a partner or expartner in Australia; it’s horrifying information but it is very important and a necessary conversation.

6. Blood drips down the walls and birds take flight from the trees.

7. Lina Esco, who directed the #freethenipple documentary. Watch it guys!

ELEANOR

1. Bachelor of Science, specialising in forensics and analytical science

2. Art to me is something that you instantly feel. It is the creativity of someone’s soul that can only ever give you a glimpse and leaves you thinking about exploring the possibilities.

pop

X O 1. BA Enhanced for High Achievers

1. Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing Honours) 2. It means no worries for the rest of your days. It is a problem free philosophy.

3. Charisma and confidence so I could change the world for the better.

3. I wish I could speak and write every single language.

4. Seeing an awesome local band, Devils Crossroad.

4. One blissful day of nothing and one hellish day of work.

5. -

5. The announcement of the Stella Prize shortlist.

6. I’m a nomad, no one ever knows if I’m around.

7. Jemma McDougall from Tonight Alive.

SASHA

6. They hear muffled puns in the distance.

7. Tamora Pierce.

JUSTINA

29

Creativity Competition

Artwork Runner Up - Lauren Gough

On Your Father’s Toes

by Jess Miller

31

- Fiction: Competition Winner -

Dante, I can't remember what music sounds like.

I can't…

I can't…

My fingers reach yours before you can sign anything else, and I shake my head. Of course you haven't forgotten.

Time has more compassion than this.

Behind you, the dinner party claps on Harper as his fingers dance across the keys, and it’s as if we haven't really left, only misplaced somehow. Slip us back into the fold, darling. You haven't forgotten anything.

Don't be ridiculous, I sign. Music is simple. There's the guitar, the bass, the piano—I point towards Harper—and the drums… I knock a rhythmic fist on the wall next to her head.

From the living room: "Was that someone at the door?"

"Nonsense, Aria. You're hearing things."

I start slightly at the voices but you only begin signing again, frantically.

I can remember sounds, like…wheels, and… voices. But music is just…gone.

That last word yanks at your courage like it's nothing, and I pull you close, mostly because seeing you scared only reminds me of the last time you cried, in the hospital. You knew before the doctor had even opened his mouth.

You knew the baby was gone, and your hearing, your whole future, ours, so wonderfully sketched, gone…

But music isn't gone from you yet, darling. It's only hiding. And do you remember when we used to play hide and seek, as kids? I could always find you so quickly.

The next afternoon I bring down that box from the attic and we spend hours going through the old vinyl records. You love them because they belonged to your Dad, and because at family gatherings, he'd dust off the gramophone, lift you onto his feet and twirl you around in a world only you were ever invited into. Years later, when the radio played certain songs, you would

tell me how much you missed him and your eyes would gleam with something which seemed, at the time, to be stronger than everything else.

There are songs and moments of the past all spread out around you.

Everything you need to remember how to dance on your father's toes. I know it. If the feeling of music is as powerful as the sound, then one sense will surely remind the other.

It's not working, you eventually sign. I ignore you, and reach for that green My Bonnie vinyl, the one you're named after. It sits in my lap so my fingers can form the words. You can't forget this one. Remember, when the drums kicked in you'd drag me into the middle of the room and make me dance…

You grab my hands and shove them back at me, shaking your head.

Remember how you always said…

D A N T E. You make each letter almost forcefully, your eyes shining with the wrong realisation. You think it's over.

If that's true, darling, then nothing’s true..

Two days later I take us to that music shop in the city and your favourite six-string acoustic is still there. You can play a grand total of one song, and you'd always play it on that thing. You said it sounded metallic, like rain on a roof. You said a person could hear the song once and remember it for the rest of their lives.

The manager, Banjo, recognises us immediately.

"Thought you'd up and left us for somewhere glossier!" His gaze falls on the guitar in your lap. "Come on then, play that blues thing I never stopped hearing."

Let me, and I will. Give me one frenetic glance and I'll explain that his words are lost on you, and we'll walk straight out of here. But there must be a certain look about him that you recognise, because suddenly you

smile weakly and your fingers fly to those same old chords. And yet your movements are mechanical. There's no longer anything in it for you.

Banjo applauds, we flee the shop and you shatter the moment we're out of sight. The strangers pretend not to look as they pass, but I know they see us. A man comforting his wife. They might wonder about us later, but they'll never understand. Here you are, more beautiful than them all, and yet made to live in silence. Why is it so hard to help you? The music is there! In your head!

Your arms are flailing in the dark, and all you need is to hit the right memory, put your fingers on the right keys…

Keys. That's it.

I lift all the pieces of you into my arms, and head for the car.

Harper leaves his apartment unlocked and we stride straight in. He looks up in surprise from the piano.

"Hey guys, I didn't know you'd be…"

"You're a journalist, Harper." My voice is louder than it should be. "You know words, yes?"

"I suppose so. What are you…"

"And you're also a musician. So you can describe music to Bonnie; you can help her remember it."

Slowly, he shakes his head. "It's not that easy."

"Yes, it is! A blind person can have a book read to them, so of course you can tell someone who's deaf…"

"Music and English are two very different languages, Dante. Music can't be translated. Listening is the only way for us to know what it's saying."

"You're wrong." Of course he's wrong. He doesn't understand us, darling; he's a stranger like the rest of them. He's despicable. "Everything can be described…what are words good for if that's not true? What am I good for, if I can't help her?"

I am good for nothing. I am good for nothing.

- Fiction: Competition Winner -

"Dante, listen to me." Harper pauses, then says slowly: "Tell me what words taste like."

A phone rings in the apartment next door.

A dog barks down on the street.

Somebody sobs.

“I’m so sorry.”

And suddenly there's a hand slipping into mine, and Harper grows smaller and smaller, and then he's gone.

We sit down in the elevator, because you can’t hear and I can’t help and nobody cares about etiquette. We sit and we stare at each other. I can see my unborn son in the ridge of your nose and the protrusion of your ears; I can see your lips on my wrist, your fingers on my pulse.

But I’m starting to forget the way your voice woke up. The way you struggled to finish a joke without laughing. The way you bought pizza.

I’m starting to forget what music sounds like.

‘I love you,’ I whisper. My voice trails over and knocks at your ears, waits, shrugs, turns away. But the knock is enough.

AUTHOR Jess Miller, 21, Creative Arts (Honours) Jess would like to be able to speed-read, because there are so many books and so little time, and also because JFK could speed-read and that makes it cool.

33

- Poetry: Competition Winner -

Outskirts

He made me think of home—perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.

— James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

Return to the plain, the patchwork pastures of tawny wheat.

Breathe in the washed out cast of the day: air in your lungs, rushing up to spaces behind your eyes.

Breathe deep.

Taste the arrogant gold of canola swaying listless in the breeze.

Silence accords with cliché and is deafening.

The day slides by unnoticed.

Makeshift roses die unbloomed.

Words by Ira Herbold Photography by Tori Hyland

- Poetry: Runner Up -

In the Wilds of My Mind I saw you in the wilds of my mind.

A moment memory, blinking and blind, And brought to rest in the warmth of my chest To breathe in my ear, and sleep at my breast.

You’ve ten stumped fingers and ten knobbly toes That stretch to the sun like the battling rose Feeling for warmth in the absence and cold.

You and I come together, knit and fold Into each other, a unit of aims.

Feeding the other and fanning the flames Of hope, burning ruby red in my heart.

I cannot dwell; I have to make a start.

But this vision of you will not leave me.

Your face and mine, twine like roots of a tree Blocking the truth, leaves spread to mask the sun.

I open my eyes, where you were there is none.

I try to think of how you feel—but then I remember. I never knew. Your ten Fingers and toes are worms of my mem’ry.

Cut off and blown to the far distant sea And that face in which I had seen my own Is shown to me now as a carbon clone A blankness, a deposit for time I Wasted dreaming of your eyes in mine.

I wake up with you clawing at my heart Together we rip, tear ourselves apart— But I sit, wait, and contemplate the days And months and years I lost to dreaming Words by Callum McLean

35

Toulouse-Lautrec: The Prostitute Authority A reflection of Toulouse-Lautrec’s life and work which, through its realistic depiction of the Parisian nightlife and prostitutes, cemented his significance within art and societal history.

Words by Georgia Riessen

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a legendary, aristocratic, alcoholic, syphilitic dwarf; renowned for his groundbreaking depiction of the decadently debauched tragedy of Paris’ turnof-the-century bohemian nightlife. Born of a consanguineous marriage between his aristocratic, first cousin parents, Toulouse-Lautrec was unable to participate in activities fitting of his class, such as horse riding, due to his physical disabilities. He substituted such activities with painting voraciously.

His artistic talent was consequential of Toulouse-Lautrec abandoning his privileged life for a hardened, seedy one in bohemian Paris. It was in the avant-garde Montmartre district that Toulouse-Lautrec developed his PostImpressionist style, and refined his drinking habit; “Of course one should not drink much, but often.” ToulouseLautrec’s drink of choice was hallucinogenic absinthe, and the folkloric claim surrounding his life was that he hollowed out his cane in order to store alcohol inside. It was also in this ‘promised land’ that Toulouse-Lautrec discovered the colourful and provocative underbelly of glamorous French society, as he would prowl the alleys, bars and brothels for inspiration. Resultantly, Toulouse-Lautrec’s art began to chronicle the Parisian demi-monde who had eluded him in the grand hotels and refined chateaus particular of his class.

As Toulouse-Lautrec’s artistic reputation grew, many haunts would commission advertising posters from him.

Subsequently, two of the foremost developments in Western culture coincided within his career: the birth of modern printmaking, and the explosion of nightlife culture.

Through his posters Toulouse-Lautrec transformed the courtesans into cabaret celebrities, elevated the advertising lithograph to the realm of high art, and funded his lifestyle of paintings and prostitutes. The cabaret most entwined with Toulouse-Lautrec, was the equally fabled Moulin Rouge. In addition to contracting his posters, the hall would display his paintings and leave a reserved table for him.

During the late 19th century, prostitution was prominent socially and artistically, and in both regards ToulouseLautrec was highly active. Due to the embarrassment that his physical appearance caused him, Toulouse-Lautrec would frequent the houses of tolerance (a regulated, if not archaic, form of legalised prostitution) for sexual activity.

He found the dissolute nature of the brothels appealing, along with the prosaic manner of the transactions and the naturalness of the prostitutes. It was from their tragic beauty that Toulouse-Lautrec found his most moving inspiration; “I have tried to do what is true and not ideal.”

This documentarian view of the prostitutes was enabled by the fact that Toulouse-Lautrec was recording the life he shared with them. He would take up tenancy in the brothels; not least of all for the shock he gave his acquaintances when they learned of his place of residence.

Within the brothel he was more than a customer, he was accepted as a fellow outcast, and permitted to paint freely.

This was aided by his close relationship with the prostitutes, which allowed an incomparable insight into their lives. The most intimate of his works would depict them in private moments, such as lesbianism between the prostitutes or whilst they were preparing for clients. So whilst they facilitated his, what would otherwise have been solo erections, Toulouse-Lautrec immortalised the prostitutes in all their ugliness and beauty, with immense honesty and dignity.

Dignity was one word that would never have been used to describe prostitution. Through his sketches of everyday tasks undertaken by the prostitutes, Toulouse-Lautrec placed them in the penumbra of what society considered them. For his blunt, non-idealised depiction of prostitutes, Toulouse-Lautrec inadvertently made himself more of a feminist than most modern-day so called ‘feminists.’ His work embodied the primary point of feminism; that women should be allowed to live their life how they choose and free of judgment. This is an idea which, in between the Suffragettes, the bra burners and Germaine Greer, has been completely lost. Instead feminism has just become another measure for society to judge women, along with their life choices, against.

The directness and honesty of Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings also testifies to his love of women; “Love is when the desire to be desired takes you so badly that you feel you could die of it.” Whether the prostitutes were fabulous or fallen, Toulouse-Lautrec demonstrated a generosity toward them.

His paintings were personal and humanistic, revealing the sadness and humor hidden beneath the gaslights of Montmartre. He also had an uncommonly sympathetic propensity for the most marginalised women within society.

This humanity was most likely imbued in him by virtue of his own physical disabilities, as well as a seeming rejection of the aristocracy from which he came.

He died at 36 from complications of alcoholism and syphilis; despite a short life, Toulouse-Lautrec is highly regarded for his insightful depictions of the extraordinary bohemian characters who inhabited the late-1800s Montmartre social scene. His modern subject matter of prostitutes as figures of empowerment rather than degradation remains unmatched, and helped define artistry as a profession of moral critics of conventional society. Ultimately though, whilst his unexpected destiny of a sleazy life resulted in his early death, it also inspired Toulouse-Lautrec’s genius and allowed his immortality.

AUTHOR Georgia Riessen, 19, Arts

37

Worst Creatives Awards Words by Shaun Hobby Illustrations by Jenn Matters

Category: Worst Poet Winner: William Topaz McGonagall The Tay Bridge Disaster is the best-known example of his 200poem body of work. It makes no appeals to rhyme or metre.

The stanza lengths follow no discernable pattern. The language reads more like a newspaper article than a poem. Most of his work was similarly disposed.

Category: Worst Author Winner: Amanda McKittrick Ros Despite its short length, Irene Iddesleigh boasts a truly impressive collection of superfluous verbiage. It is a veritable triumph of circumlocutory language about castles and the people unfortunate enough to dwell within them. It reads like some kind of tone-deaf Austen with all of the insight scoured away like a steel brush put to an iron skillet.

Category: Worst Director Winner: Ed Wood Wood’s most famous film, Plan 9 From Outer Space, was cobbled together from parts of other unfinished films and featured some of the worst special effects ever seen and a plot that can be summed up thusly: You can’t finish your doomsday weapon if we kill you with zombies first!

Category: Worst Video Game Developer Winner: Howard Scott Warshaw E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 is most famous for its poor collision detection and the fact that a significant portion of its cartridges ended up on a New Mexico landfill.

Category: Most Hubristic Vanity Publisher Winner: Rich Shapero Novels so bad he can’t even give them away. His latest book was given away for free at O’Week. His work is littered with logical and grammatical errors, and is so bad that it has little value other than as a cautionary tale.

Category: Worst Broadway Director Winner: Julie Taymor Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark was late, poorly written, and plagued by cast injuries. This show served to remind us of the important role that CGI plays in our lives. Broke box-office records and still lost $60m, go figure.

Stationery Addict

by Karen Smart

I

have a problem.

It all started when I was about four or five years old and was rummaging around my older sister’s desk, as little sisters often do. I remember reaching to the back of a drawer and my hand clasping over a long, shallow tin. Instantly, my heart skipped a beat; my sister kept her most prized possessions in that tin. I’d often seen her traipsing off with it under her arm to parts unknown, but she had never let me see inside it, or even breathe on it. Death or hideous maiming was the consequence if I did.

And so I knew I was on to something big when I opened the tin that day and saw seventy-two of the most beautiful things I’ve ever laid eyes on. Tall, straight, resplendent in rainbow colours. In that moment, I was a confirmed addict, and my sister’s Derwent pencils were my gateway drug.

That’s right. My name is Karen, and I’m a stationery addict.

I own more notebooks than I can ever hope to use. My washi tape collection is embarrassingly large for a woman of my age.

I actually own a Filofax and design my own planner pages for it (because just owning a Filofax isn’t nerdy enough). I have a strong opinion on whether 100gsm paper is superior to 80gsm paper (hot tip – it is). I hoard and categorise stickers. I stockpile label maker tape. The staff at kikki-K and Typo, know me by name. I order special hole-punches from overseas and watch YouTube videos on setting up planners, and I enjoy them.

In my defence, a brand new notebook is one of life’s little joys.

The smell and feel of the crisp pages, laying bare and ready for the next creative spark to ignite, is a pleasure I don’t think

Photo by Tori Hyland

I’ll ever outgrow. A blank notebook can be the doorway to anything: an amazing story, a collection of scribbled lyrics, an old-school letter, a diary entry. The outpouring of one’s mind and soul onto paper is a powerful thing and, for me at least, the tactile delight of a virginal notebook will never replace digital communication.

People express creativity in a ton of amazing ways. Take my friend Leah, for example. As well as being a crazy talented cook, she crafts and quilts. She can piece a quilt in a day, while simultaneously cooking a full roast dinner for eight and throwing a batch of cookies in the oven. I have no idea how she does it, because I’m hard-pressed stirring a gravy pot and playing Candy Crush at the same time, but it’s her happy place; her zen.

My zen is in knowing that I own enough Post-It notes to clad the average suburban home.

I’m the girl sitting next to you in the lecture theatre with the multi-coloured erasable pens and look of bliss on her face as her hand glides over notebook paper specifically chosen for its ‘baby bum smoothness’. I’m a one-stop shop for spare pens, page flags and correction tape, and if you ever see me with my planner, please don’t be alarmed by the over-zealous use of colour-coordination.

It’s just an excuse to own the same pen in eight different colours.

AUTHOR Karen Smart, 30ish, plus 5, Nutrition & Dietetics Karen would like to be able to instinctively find a parking space wherever she goes…especially at Flinders.

39

- Poetry -

“I used to be able to feel all this

romantic imagery” The star player the coach left sitting on the bench.

It’s the time of night again when you receive a text from your mother, telling you to return to your address. We get out from under the sheets and rub our eyes. We share a look that I don’t know how to feel.

Tonight the moon is the porch light.

So bright, it knows I fake my goodbyes.

It’s cold. I’m wearing your cardi and I tell you I love you; just like I mean it.

As you hop in your car, I notice a local airplane circling overhead, the flashing lights a mating call to the stars above.

I notice the way the light from the streetlamps hit the roof of your car; painting a portrait of your every breath.

I notice I can hear the rumblings of the trains in the station, over a kilometre away.

The moon has only one phase when we part under its polished glow.

— Andrew Cowling

Captivity Cognitive imprisonment is the capturing and holding of the mind and its thoughts. Mental captivity, much like its physical brethren, wholly focuses on the mind. While physical captivity is rarely enjoyed or sought, mental captivity is a concept striven towards by all. Attention is the dearest commodity in the world, and there are endless merchants seeking to part you from yours.

Musicians want your ears; painters, your eyes; chefs, your tongues and noses. No longer though is our attention cherished by ourselves, as, not only do we seek to give it away voluntarily, but pay to have it momentarily snatched up. We pay for temporal mental imprisonment; imprisonment need not be tedious.

They say ours is the generation with a lack of attention span. Poppycock. I aver we are the first generation who have a glut of attention seekers, yet a finite attention capacity draw upon. No other period in history has had such access to mentally captivating activities, nor the economic means to instigate a veritable attention-captivating arms race. So ask yourself this, will you be spending your attention wisely, or will you throw it away cheaply?

D. Price

41

His name is Fletcher, and he begins as a spark.

She thinks him up on a Sunday evening in 2008, with the curtains drawn and the fireplace orange with life. He doesn’t recall what he was doing beforehand. He doubts he was doing anything.

“Hello,” she says, her dark hair in sync with her eyes, and he tries to respond but the words cannot build on a blank canvas.

So she paints him in. He is Lieutenant Fletcher, of the British Expeditionary Force; Hitler’s Nazis have invaded Poland, and he is stationed at the Franco-Belgian border. For him, it is 1939. But war is not everything, she adds: there is a woman, an Elizabeth who has not quite grown out of Elsie, and she wants to marry him almost as much as he wants to marry her.

Lieutenant Fletcher listens and feels a great surge from inside, equal amounts of anger and love. The moment she mentions war, there is a blind, instantaneous loathing in his veins for the swastika on red and white. He can hear shouting, smell gunpowder, sense fear. And yet, it all lightens at the thought of Elsie, this notyet-Elizabeth, whose face he remembers touching but can’t quite see.

“But who are you?” His accent is distinctly English.

“I’m the one writing the story,” she answers with a smile. “You’re my main character. It’s pretty amazing, actually…you seem so real.

I must be getting better at imagining.”

And she goes to continue, but suddenly there is the slam of a door and her words collapse. A man crashes into the room — cold eyes, blonde hair, fury — and his briefcase hits the floor like a gunshot.

The first of his strikes sends her gasping,

Story by Jess Miller

reeling away from his touch; the second lurches her into an old piano against the wall, and by the third Fletcher is in front of her. But the man’s gaze burns straight through him, as do his fists.

As if he isn’t there.

remembers from England besides his poor Elsie.

She has only given him a surname, a rank and an accent.

And then her last words sink in, and he realises that he isn’t.

#

Fletcher learns rather quickly that the woman’s name is Maggie, and that this will be her third novel — a historical fiction, long-awaited and highly anticipated, a show in which he is the star.

And the role grows on him, strangely enough.

She treats him as her shadow and he obliges; they often walk for hours through her native Essex. He, inescapably dressed in his uniform, she, stealing inspiration from the snatches of life around her; searching for things to scribble in a notebook she keeps with her always, smudging little quirks and habits into his personality, teaching him about himself.

More is needed for a life.

They take the train to London one day, Maggie under the impression that if they sit in Hyde Park for long enough, she will find the elusive face of Elsie not-yet-Elizabeth. Fletcher knows very well not to question her theories, aware that his mere existence keeps her caught on the fine line between imaginative and crazy. And so it is that they hurtle toward the capital in a busy carriage, sitting amidst the commotion of fidgeting children and aloof university students. He opens his mouth before his common sense catches up.

“Mags?”

“Yeah, Fletch.”

“You’d rather not have kids; you find them annoying.”

“You relish control.”

“You think a woman belongs in the kitchen.”

He supposes there have been many clues, but it is only when Maggie tells him he’s hit Elsie twice, that he realises what she is slowly turning him into. But though he tries, he cannot unwrite her literary laws; cannot stop himself from saying nasty things or thinking inhumane thoughts about his own comrades, about Britain.

He starts to share traits with that bleak excuse for a husband – Ted, his name is – who has a thousand shades of unhappiness, and somehow finds Maggie the cause of all of them. Fletcher thinks it might be less revolting, maybe tolerable (to an extent), if in his character development Maggie gave some sort of reason for the bitterness; but there is absolutely nothing to go on: no family background, no person he

“Why are you making me such a bastard?”

At first she ignores him, but he persists and eventually her dark confession sees the light.

Fletcher, noble Lieutenant Fletcher of the British Expeditionary Force, is a fictional representation of her husband. Her vile, aggressive Ted. When Fletcher finds words amidst his horror, he begs her to reconsider but she only grows more and more resolved that the worst must be done, and he grows more and more desperate.

“Maggie, you’ve given me nothing!” If he were real, his voice would be the loudest in the carriage.

“You haven’t even given me a first name!”

She mutters with blazing eyes, “Your name is Ted.” “No, it isn’t. I refuse to be him.”

“You don’t get a choice!” It’s a carriage of turned heads, but she keeps going. “I’m the writer,

43

Fletch…I tell you what to do and you have to do it… you have to be bad. You have to be him.” Her tears glisten, and Fletcher realises.

“I’m never going back to Elsie.” His hands shake.

“That’s why you haven’t found a face for her; it isn’t important. You’re going to kill me off.”

“You have to die!” she screams. “He has to…” and she might have said more but a ticket collector grasps her arm and pulls her away from the stunned passengers into an empty first class carriage. She is given a glass of water, and once the tears arrive they do not stop.

Fletcher says nothing; he only sits opposite her and waits, trying to calm his own fear, aware now of the darkness in his existence. But he will not protest anymore; he will not fight for his own fictional justice.

Instead, he decides he will let her have hers.

She gets off the train one stop early, at twenty past ten, and asks for directions to the nearest library.

Fletcher doesn’t quite know what to make of her new, silent composure, so does not argue when she reaches the genealogy section and asks him to give her some space. As he meanders through the bookshelves he wonders whether Maggie’s books are here, wonders whether those characters die as well, and thinks that maybe when she kills him off he will join them, in that realm where all dead protagonists must go. Maybe it won’t be so bad. But then it occurs to him that there might not be a realm at all; perhaps death is where he ends. Maggie beckons him back over before the thought can sink in too deeply.

She points to a name scrawled into an enormous dusty book; he raises an eyebrow, and she smiles.

“This is your uncle,’” she explains. “Nathaniel Thomas Haines, who served and died in World War One. His younger sister Lucy married Peter Fletcher in that same year, and moved to London; you were born eleven months later. You have a younger sister, Mina, who’s in her final year of school, and a brother William who can’t wait to join up, though you secretly hope the war will be over before he’s old enough.”

At first, Fletcher listens and feels nothing; then, all at once, there is a surge of names and places within him

and swift hands take to his painting, adding colours, blending colours, building up a life. But there is still one question left to answer, and Maggie seems to know this all too well. She has saved the best for last.

“Your middle name is Nathaniel,” she says, “after your uncle. Your first name is James.”

“Am I still going to die?” he manages to ask, and when she shakes her head he adds stupidly, “but…but Ted…” She gives him only a sad smile, and he understands perfectly. War has taught him that courage never quite stands for long enough.

And so, while Ted Fletcher fades, James Fletcher brightens with every sentence. Maggie does not tell him what to think anymore; instead, on their walks through the park, he answers her questions and she builds him from there. He is younger than before, a little taller, a little more naive and a little more innocent – if in fact one can be innocent whilst fighting a war. Maggie insists that he have a creative outlet; he tells her he wants to be musical. They begin to settle into a routine of long afternoons, she writing, and he playing the old piano in the corner, the music punctuated by her occasional questions. He decides that the light in her eyes when he plays is worth the sadness he feels when he stops, and sees the keys still sleeping under dust.

They both dread the evenings, when her husband comes home and leaves her living in bruises. These are the only times Fletcher loathes that he isn’t real, that he cannot step in front of her and shield her from Ted’s blows. Afterwards, to keep herself going, she writes some more.

There is an old war gun resting on her desk, borrowed for research purposes; one day, for no foreseeable reason, she takes the gun in her hand and holds the muzzle to the side of her head, eyes shining something strange. Fletcher knows there are no bullets in the weapon, but he is terrified all the same. Later, after he has persuaded her to put it down, he realises that he was scared because she is the key to his survival. That, and there is also an overlay of tenderness that was not there a month ago, and he tells himself that he only wants to save her because she will not do it herself.

But he knows it is a lost case. She is too breakable to be stopped from breaking.

It begins as a perfectly ordinary day; Ted is at work, Maggie at her desk and Fletcher at the piano. She tells him he has composed the song for Elsie and he is lost in its beauty; so lost, it seems, that he is blind to the whole world until suddenly Maggie is to his right, running her hand along the keys, watching the dust dancing in the air. He is silent, and joltingly so as she straddles his lap – it has never occurred to him, not once, that they might be able to touch. There follow three moments: in the first, he is too shocked at her lips against his to do anything; in the second he loses all thought and kisses her back.

barrel of her war gun pointed straight at him, housing bullets, bullets that have been there the whole time.

The whole time! A door slams in the distance—the whole time— “Maggie.”

He is on the Franco-Belgian border in 1939; he is in Essex in 2008.

It is German cannons, it is a body thudding on the carpet.

It is them.

It is her.

In the third, he remembers Elsie. She tries to stop him pulling away and he murmurs, “Maggie.”

“You don’t know anything,” she tells him fervidly. “It could work…”

“No, it couldn’t. Mags, I am not real.”

“Neither am I,” she whispers, and presses their foreheads together, burning him with such a desperate ferocity that Fletcher nearly gives her what she needs.

She is far too beautiful to be Ted’s wife. But he does nothing.

He feels the tears on her face and then the rush of absence as she leaps off him; her eyes freeze into a hard, unforgiving ice, a hatred that sends the fear creeping across him. Suddenly, she is back at her desk. Hands shaking violently, she manages to write something underneath the afternoon’s work. At first, Fletcher feels nothing. Then, all at once, it is like rough hands have wrenched his lungs from him, agony and terror and no air, no air…gasping, stumbling, he somehow makes it to her desk and reads three wobbly words at the bottom of the page.

AUTHOR Jess Miller, 21, Creative Arts (Honours)

He raises a hand to his chest, to the bullet hole that is swallowing him, bloody fingers grasping at skin, red seeping through uniform until there are no other colours. He looks at Maggie, needing words, but instead he chokes scarlet and she watches him fall. He hears gunshots and through half-open eyes sees the

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Complete the crossword and send a picture of your answers to stephanie.walker@flinders.edu.au and WIN one of ten free double passes to Palace Nova!

ACROSS

DOWN

2. A Danish expat struggles to get ____. (3 Words) 3. A British guy plays an Indian revolutionary in unintentional irony heaven.

6. The Spruce Goose may have been the way of the future. Or not.

Probably not. (2 Words) 8. Russell Crowe fights the French in this formerly French vessel.

(2 Words) 10. Casting decisions caused friction between China and Japan. (4 Words) 13. Two animals are featured in the title of this story of a stolen Chinese sword. (2 Words) 14. Daniel Plainview was a murderous California oilman. (4 Words) 16. The Ludlow family should stay away from bears. (4 Words) 18. Jim Garrison believed this body covered up an assassination. (2 Words) 20. Tale of slavery and evangelism in 18th century Brazil. (2 Words) 21. Mel Gibson’s biopic about a famous Scottish independence fighter.

22. The story of a rescue mission in the wake of the Normandy landing. (3 Words) 24. A reporter uncovers mass slaughter in war-torn Cambodia. (3 Words) 25. It’s Avatar without the blue people. (3 Words) 27. Scary Spanish fairy tale that still haunts Jenn to this day. (2 Words) 28. Seriously, that kid’s fucking lunch the instant that tiger gets hungry. (3 Words)

1. Puyi was the ______ of China. (2 Words) 3. Sandra Bullock is out of this world.

4. “Draw me like one of your French girls.”

5. Michael Keaton is hallucinating wildly, or is he?

7. Scorcese made a kid’s movie? Surely not.

9. The murders of three civil rights workers set this US state ablaze.

(2 Words) 11. A mysterious soldier convalesces in a bombed-out Italian monastery. (3 Words) 12. Seems like I’m slipping into a dream within a dream.

15. A German businessman plays a dangerous game in 1940s Poland. (2 Words) 17. Directed this story of a family of Montana fly-fishermen. (2 Words) 19. Tells the story of the first African-American unit in the Civil War. 23. A mob enforcer and his son kill their way along the road to…

26. Yo, listen up, here’s a story about a little guy who lives in a blue world.

Crossword clues by Shaun Hobby

E

LA K

E?

s

TH IN

H

AT ’

S

F U l N i IV n ER d SI e TY r W

Name: Age:

BEER

For your chance to win a mystery prize, draw what YOU think is in the bottom of the Flinders lake! Colour it in, and bring your entries to IS&T345, or take a photo and email to empire.times@inders.edu.au by the 1st of 47 May 2015. Prizes go to the most fun, interesting or quirky responses. Be creative!

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Walking to ‘The Other Side’// Reviewed by Laura Telford Problems

With all the construction going on around campus this year, it seems many classes are in different buildings and it can be confusing as anything, pretending you know where you are going, while freaking out! With FUSA now residing in the Engineering building, taking a walk “to the other side of the lake” (as I’m a social sciences gal) means I see some many other fabulous things I didn’t know existed. Did you know that from the top of the hill (past the Education building) you can see the ocean? Or have a bird eyes view of the construction going on in the plaza? Or that there is lovely green grass to hang and study? So despite the air being thinner up there, you can get away from the hustle of Humanities and relax, so why not try something different and go for a walk TO THE OTHER SIDE…..

Who: Second and third years What: Exploration of campus

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Jenn Matters Jumanji // Classic Movies from the 90’s

Jumanji used to play as the 8:30pm movie on the commercial channels every few months because it’s the kind of movie that everyone secretly likes to watch. Two kids move to a new town and find an old and mysterious board game that has the power to bring horrifying monsters from the game world into the real world. This includes (but is not limited to) giant spiders, mosquitoes, a lion, a hunter, and stampede.

I like Jumanji because it’s not a horrible drain on my brain after a week’s worth of tutorial readings.

Who: Anyone Taking a Break What: Lighthearted Movie

Price: $4 on iTunes Rating: 5/5 Monkeys

Review -

Should Have Known Better // Track Review Reviewed by Jess Nicole

After a five-year break from studio album production, indie-folk singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has announced the release of Carrie & Lowell, an understated album titled after his mother and stepfather. “Should Have Known Better” is the second track from the recently released album, which plays out much like a sequence of diary entries, taking the listener on a journey of intense intimacy. Clearly reflective of Stevens’ grief over his mother Carrie’s passing three years ago, “Should Have Known Better” draws the listener in with melancholic singing, poetic musings of love and loss whereby Stevens is unashamed of vulnerability and introspection: “I should have wrote a letter. My black shroud, I never trust me feelings.”

Processing the emotion of grief through song creates a sanctuary for listeners who have experienced death before - he comforts the listener, saying that it is okay to grieve the death of a loved one, even if this loved one may have previously betrayed you (as is the case for Stevens, whose mother, according to song, abandoned him when he was three years old).

As the choir-like vocals harmonise and soften, an unexpectedly joyful shift in melody occurs, with the lyrics “I should have known better, nothing can be changed” to naturalise the event of moving on from death. In this moment, Stevens evolves from a fragile child to an adult capable of feeling emotion and reflecting on a past that cannot be amended. Fans of Stevens will be accustomed to the way in which he weaves nostalgia, sadness and hope together in a hauntingly beautiful way, capturing the listeners in a way that I’ve only known Elliott Smith to do.

Ultimately, this track is not for the faint hearted, but for those who are willing to feel heart.

Who: Indie-folk lovers What: Soulful music

Price: $2.19 on iTunes Rating: 4/5

Review: Burger Theory Since the demolition of the beloved Coopers Bar and cafeteria at Flinders, every veteran student who remembers how crowded the food areas can get, was a little pensive (or apprehensive??) about the idea of wedging basically all of the Flinders campus into the tiny humanities courtyard around lunch hours. The idea of food trucks becoming our main source of sustenance throughout the day became absurd, and we all dreaded the imagined stretched lines and ‘SOLD OUT’ signs right when your stomach is snarling madly, and you have a tute within the next 20 minutes.

Fortunately though, the new Flinders Laneway has becoming a relaxed sigh for those fears. Tucked away neatly to the side of the Humanities courtyard, it provides enough space so that students scurrying late to class, don’t have to dodge the crowds and lines. The food trucks are lined to the left of the laneway, while the right provides spaces for seating and tables, as well as a refurnished indoor spaces. The food trucks themselves are varied in type so it would be hard to not find something you’d like, and the turnover seems to be at a reasonable pace, as the longest I have been left waiting has only been ten to fifteen minutes during the busy lunchtime hours.

One cuisine that has undoubtedly become a popular vehicle for students has been the Burger Theory food truck. Situated as the first truck (heading out from the direction of the library) there is always a line, of hungry and eager students clutching plastic beeping alarms, awaiting their food. The main burgers do not actually have names, and instead use the codes ‘Burger 1’ or ‘Burger 2’, which makes it simple and concise when trying to shout your order out over hundreds of students chatting.

I decided to sample Burger 1, which in a meal (fries and drink) was around $16. My first impression (as a rather hard burger connoisseur) was holy shit.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes these burgers so good. A good place to start would be the meat itself; a generous patty of juicy Angus beef which seems to be always cooked to a medium-rare standard. Most burger buns are so bready that they strangle and fight with the taste of the meat, leading to that gluggy marriage of bread and meat threatening to choke you at family BBQs. Burger Theory buns, however, are sourced from the popular Japanese bakery Breadtop, which gives them a delicious soft fluffy taste and has an impressive shiny glaze. The rest of the burger is topped with lettuce, tomato, American cheese (which has been appreciatively melted onto the bun rather than slapped on) and the mysterious ‘Truck Sauce’ which stands out just enough to give the burger a delicious creamy tang, but not enough to overpower.

The fries are the standard golden crunchy heart attack you’d want them to be, and after everything was finished, for probably the first time ever regarding food on campus, I was actually full, and remained satisfied till the evening.

I recommend Burger Theory to anyone studying a long hard day at uni, as these burgers will not leave you hungry.

Delicious and hopefully around for a long time, Burger Theory is like having amazing sex in public: naughty to do it, shouldn’t be doing it, but holy shit — it’s so good you don’t care.

AUTHOR Bethany, 21, Arts. ​ Wishes she had the power to go offline exactly when she said she would an hour ago.

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Which creative type are YOU?

How do you prefer to express yourself?

Do you dwell upon your past failures all the time?

All the time

Movement

Words

Not so much

What is your favourite alcohol?

Are you always the centre of attention?

Really?

Yes.

Images

Nah, I was joking.

Gin. Straight.

Zero

Naturally!

Would you prefer to be famous before or after you die?

How do you spend your down time?

Right clicking synonym

Champagne

No, but I wish I was

What is your current bank balance?

Negative.

Tequila, lemon and salt

After

No, I like to capture it

Are you in front of the camera or behind it?

Before In front!

Watching paint dry

Behind

THE MELANCHOLY POET

THE TORTURED ARTIST

The STAR OF THE SHOW

THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

You are Edgar Allan Poe

You are Van Gough

You are Sharpay Evans

You are Anne Geddes

Details at fb.com/FUSAssociation

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