Volume 80 | Issue 05 by Salient

SALIENT

03 APRIL 2017

Editors — Tuioleloto Laura Toailoa and Tim Manktelow

Contact — editor@salient.org.nz 04 463 6766

Designers — Eun Sun Jeong and Ellyse Randrup

Level 2, Student Union Building Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600, Wellington

News Editor — Brigid Quirke News Reporters — E A Tombs, Henry Badenhorst Juer, Marc Daalder, McKenzie Collins, Saeran Maniparathy, Thomas Croskery Feature Writers — Trinity ThompsonBrowne, Dan Kelly, Ali Burns, Laura Toailoa Chief Sub-Editor — Georgia Lockie Distributor — Josephine Jelicich Section Editors — Annelise Bos (Podcast), Cameron Gray (Games), Finn Holland and Mathew Watkins (Film), Hanahiva Rose (Visual Art), Katie Meadows (Television), Kimberley McIvor (Books), Olly Clifton and Lauren Spring (Music), Sean Harbottle (Theatre) Contributors — Ben Leonard, Tessa Cullen, Jack Close, Sarah Dillon, Marlon Drake, Rory Lenihan- Ikin, Beth Paterson, Jasmine Koria, Erin Page, Jaylee Rolleston, Georgie Steel, Emma Wollum, Sasha Beattie, Joe Morris, Nan Joung, Callum Turnbull, Kii and Tom, Puck, Aubergine, Celeste Advertising — Grace Gollan grace.gollan@vuwsa.org.nz 04 463 6982

Printing — Service Printers 258 Taranaki Street, Wellington Paper — Sun 90gsm Salient is printed on environmentally sustainable paper, with vegetable ink, and is completely FSC approved. Typefaces — Wedge by Bruce Rotherham, Adobe Caslon Pro by Carol Twombly, Cover numeral based on a Geometric-sans serif typeface About Us — Salient staff are employed by, but editorially independent from, the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA). Salient is a member of, syndicated, and supported by the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). Salient is partially funded by Victoria University students, through the student levy. Opinions expressed are not necessarily representative of those of VUWSA, ASPA, Service Printers, or the editorial staff. Complaints — Please email editor@ salient.org.nz and if not satisfied with response contact VUWSA. Salient — 03 April, 2017 Volume 80, Issue 5

CONTRIBUTORS & COLOPHON

CONTENTS Editors’ Letter.........................................6 Letters...................................................4 Notices..................................................5 News General News.......................................8 Academic Freedom under attack.........................................11 “Inept” white supremacist organisation attempts VUW poster run..................12

Politics Political Round-Up.............................13 The Trump Front.................................14 The Party Line....................................14 Interview Sam Keene..........................................16 Opinion Hit and Run.......................................18 — Sarah Dillon The Living Costs Conundrum............19 — Jack Close

Whakarongo mai e tama!....................20 — Marlon Drake Columns Presidential Address............................22 VUWSA.............................................22 Te Ara Tauira......................................23 One Ocean..........................................23 Shit Chat............................................24 From within the fallout zone..............25 The Queer Agenda..............................26 Access Denied.....................................26 SWAT.................................................27 Postgrad Informer...............................27

Features Here’s to a mid-tri pep talk.................28 — Trinity Thompson-Browne Somewhere in there: An Outsider’s Guide to Auckland.............................34 — Dan Kelly Brave face: Crying in Public...............40 — Ali Burns

One Thousand Thoughts.....................44 — Laura Toailoa Arts Poem...................................................47 Visual Art...........................................48 Music..................................................50 Podcast...............................................52 Film....................................................53 Games................................................56 Television...........................................57 Food...................................................58 Theatre...............................................59 Books..................................................60 Puzzles................................................62 Horoscope..........................................63

LETTERS

If you don’t want to write for us — write to us! Salient welcomes, encourages, and thrives on public debate. Send us your honest feedback, be it praise or polemics. SUBJECT: YOUR INDIRECT QUEER PENPAL Dear Salient,

I write in hopes of reaching the anonymous sufferer of Queer Fear, as another anxious and queer first year student. Now is the time to express yourself. For me, high school was a zoo of homophobes, which I unironically escaped with my clearly biphobic boyfriend (who finally left last week); university is my fabulous rising from the rainbow ashes. Join me. Join my “I only date girls who vote Green" sticker (courtesy of Greens at Vic), join my obnoxiously loud Tegan & Sara bus stop jam sessions, join the large rainbow flag every one of my roommate's many friends see as soon as they walk through our door. Be your identity - be you. I hope to see you at one of those UniQ meetings. Quee(n)r xoxo

Letters must be received before 5pm on Tuesday for publication the following week. They must be 200 words or less. Pseudonyms are fine but all letters must include your real name, address, and telephone number — these will not be printed. Letters will not be corrected for spelling or grammar. However the Editors reserve the right to edit, abridge, or decline any letter without explanation.

Email: editor@salient.org.nz with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line. Post: Salient c/- Victoria University of Wellington Hand-delivered: Salient office, Level 3, Student Union Building (behind the Hunter Lounge).

NOTICES VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR PORN STUDY

Feel that porn has had an influence on your life? Positive or negative? Keen to talk about it? I’m looking to speak with self-identifying heterosexuals between the ages of 18 and 30 about their experiences with porn. Confidentiality is assured. Contact Sam Keene on 0211608239 to hear more!

RAW COMEDY QUEST

The Raw Comedy Quest is on right now, every Thursday at the Fringe Bar. We are looking for more entrants for Heats Five & Six. We have space for ten more performers: four spaces left for Heat Five, and six spaces left for Heat Six. Have you ever wanted to try stand up? Then sign up to enter the heats of the Raw Comedy Quest! To enter, email contact@ humorous.co.nz

NOTICES VICTORIA UNIVERSITY TAEKWONDO CLUB (WORLD TAEKWONDO FEDERATION)

Interested in Taekwondo? New to Taekwondo? Learned Taekwondo before? Come along and join us! Great way to keep fit and have fun! We are affiliated to the Taekwondo Union of NZ (TUNZ). Training times: Wednesday, 6.30pm–8.00pm, Dance Room, Victoria University Recreation Centre Saturday, 3.30pm–5.00pm, Dance Room, Victoria University Recreation Centre What you need: Drink bottle, comfy trousers/shorts, t-shirt Contact us: vuwtkd@outlook.com

VICTORIA ABROAD — ATTEND AN EXCHANGE INFORMATION SESSION!

Why not study overseas as part of your degree?! Study in English, earn VUW credit, get Studylink and grants, explore the world! Weekly Information Sessions: Every Wednesday at 12.50pm, Level Two, Easterfield Building. Drop-in times: Tuesday & Wednesday, 1.00–3.00pm; Thursday & Friday, 10.30–12.00pm Website: http://victoria.ac.nz/exchange

ADAM ART GALLERY

Conal McCarthy on the “museum without walls” Friday, April 7, 12:00pm Programme Director in the School of Art History, Classics, and Religious Studies Conal McCarthy will discuss digital access to collections and the role of paintings in enabling access to historical memory.

VEGVUW

Meet and Greet Movie Night Come along and meet our new Exec team and fellow vegetarians and vegans studying at Vic. Vegan pizza and baking provided, bring your own snacks. Check facebook.com/ groups/vegvuw for yet to be chosen, lighthearted movie to be shown. Any questions email vegvuw@hotmail.com. Great chance to meet like minded new friends. Wednesday, April 5, 5.30pm in CO11

NGĀI TAUIRA — PŪRANGIAHO

Tēnā tātou! He paku pānui tēnei. Pūrangiaho will be held at Te Herenga Waka Marae here at Vic from the 7th–9th of April. This wānanga will be an opportunity to learn about the history of Māori at Victoria, gather whanaungatanga, and there will also be space for study and assignments (with some fun in between). There will be a koha to cover kai, see facebook.com/ ngaitauiraVUW for more details, all are welcome! Nō reira, nau mai, haere mai koutou katoa!

A listing in our notices section is free for all VUW students, VUWSA-affiliated clubs, and not-for-profit organisations. If you would like to post a notice please email editor@salient.org.nz and include NOTICE in the subject line. There is limited space in this section so notices will be prioritised at the discretion of the editors.

Editors’ letter

Thank you all for your kind messages on Facebook, via email, and in person regarding our last issue. There is strength found in leaning on each other during hard times, and the innumerable amount of people around the world offering each other support and comfort has shown how many lives Teresia impacted. Her work has a phenomenal scope and depth, but she also championed self-care: “I hope you feel supported and take time to refill your own tank.” This is the time of the trimester filled with assignments and tests, when all you want is to do is reach the glorious two week “break.” Trinity brings a timely pep-talk for those needing an encouraging reminder to help you reach the end (of at least this half of the trimester). Ali writes about the very awkward but normal experience of crying in public and reminds us that “a puffy face is still a brave face.” Crying is something we all do; it’s awkward, but talking about it and normalising discussions of emotions are important for fostering an environment supportive of our mental health.

***

Last week the Victoria University Feminist Organisation ran a koha bake sale in which donations were exchanged for sweet goods and all proceeds went directly to the Annual Wellington Rape Crisis Appeal. The work of the Wellington Rape Crisis is made necessary and urgent due to our society’s failure to address systemic rape culture. Rape culture is a term thrown around a lot, often imprecisely, and to help clarify what it means and what we can do about it we interviewed PhD student Samantha Keene who has researched rape culture, sexual assault, and pornography. We won’t attempt to recount her words here, but we implore you read the interview. In an opinion piece, second year student Marlon reflects on his experiences of the discomfort around discussions of rape culture, and raises the need to engage without shame or guilt. His piece is targeted towards men, the ‘boys’ — those who need to start engaging, who need to start listening, and who need to take action within their circles to stamp out this noxious part of our culture. Look after yourselves. — Tuioleloto Laura Toailoa and Tim Manktelow

NEWS WOMENS FOOTBALL FUCKED OVER (AGAIN) WHAT’S WITH THE WI-FI? EQUAL PAY AMENDMENT BILL GOVERNMENT, AGENCIES, AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS FAILING STUDENTS KIWISAVER MAKES BAD INVESTMENTS BELARUS PROTESTERS DETAINED ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK “INEPT” WHITE SUPREMACIST ORGANISATION ATTEMPTS VUW POSTER RUN

POLITICS POLITICAL ROUND-UP THE TRUMP FRONT THE PARTY LINE

8 opinion [...] we also ‘get it’ that all WOMENS FOOTBALL that is being proposed/enacted [...] will cause some angst amongst some FUCKED OVER clubs who feel it is ‘unfair’, again this (AGAIN) is the nature of these things.” The content of new rules have also caused concern. Prior to the reA review of women's football in the view, teams at the end of each sealower North Island has resulted in son were able to either move up if a number of structural changes to they had won their current league, women’s club football in 2017. or move down if they had lost their Capital Football (CF) hired pri- current league. vate company Peter Dale ManageA player from a Victoria Uniment to conduct a review of wom- versity’s Women’s team, who wished en’s football across the lower North to remain anonymous, spoke with Island in 2016. Lisa Jones, CF’s Salient, saying, “it’s just unfair that Operations Manager, described the we don’t get the opportunity to chalprocess as “a player focused review” lenge ourselves and move up to a that involved “players, coaches, and higher league.” people who are actively involved in “What if we’re better than the the game.” worst team in this new league? They She stated that “every club was can’t be moved down, and we can’t contacted.” be moved up. It doesn’t make any CF used the recommendations sense.” of the review to initiate changes, In addition, players from outside including a commitment to dis- Wellington who seek to play in the establish the Women’s Central WPL would likely need to travel to League (WCL) and replace it with the Wellington region to do so, as a six-team Women’s Premier League five of these teams — Wairarapa, (WPL), and to remove promotion/ Wellington United, Seatoun, Upper relegation for the Women’s premier Hutt, and Stop Out — are from the league for at least two years. greater Wellington region. A number of clubs and players The anonymous Victoria Univerhave raised questions about the pro- sity’s Women’s team player reflected cess, many of whom were not aware that “these changes would never be of, or involved in, the review. suggested, let alone introduced, in North Wellington, Petone, Vic- men’s football.” The changes follow toria University, Brooklyn Northern a number of instances of alleged sexUnion, Karori, Wests, and Kapiti ism in the industry. Coast United teams sent a collective A player from the New Zealand letter to CF, asking, “were there rep- national league, who chose to remain resentatives of all clubs questioned / anonymous so as not to jeopardise interviewed? [...] What recommen- her career, said to Salient, “players dations of the review that are to be in the women’s national team are adopted are not outlined in the No- expected to train full time, but aren’t vember 4 letter?” paid nearly enough.” CF spokesperson Richard Reid “They end up having to train full responded, suggesting the clubs had time, and work nights just to make “made many unsubstantiated ‘allega- ends meet. The women’s team pertions’ as to the validity of the review form far better on the world stage and therefore its integrity.” than the men’s team, so the funding He stated: “I am sorry if that is should be placed there first.” how you view CF and the way it Hope Solo, who played for US operates but you are entitled to your women's national soccer team until

News NEWS 2016, garnered media attention after coming forward to complain about a disparity in resource quality between women’s and men’s teams. Solo posted a photo of worn grass at the Boca Raton stadium in Florida, writing “this is what the top two women's teams in the world will play on tomorrow night. #EqualMeansEqual.” — Henry Badenhorst Juer

WHAT’S WITH THE WI-FI? VUW’s Wi-Fi system is struggling with an increase in the number and frequency of users, according to ITS Director Stuart Haselden. Following widespread reports of slow Wi-Fi, and even outages in some parts of the campuses, Salient approached ITS about the issue. According to Haselden, the average number of Wi-Fi users has jumped by almost 5000, from 16,500 to over 21,000. “No other changes have been made [to the system] apart from increase in use.” In order to rectify this issue, ITS is “looking to increase our bandwidth with our vendor — i.e. to purchase more capacity.” Various posts on unofficial VUW Facebook pages have identified an issue with accessing the Facebook Messenger application on campus Wi-Fi. Comments range from those who claim “this is an absolute stitch up” to others who have labelled the Wi-Fi access as “a joke.” When asked about the issues specifically with Messenger, Haselden said “from a Service Desk perspective, we’ve had no more than two or three calls regarding an issue with Facebook Messenger. We are not getting flooded with calls about this.” — Marc Daalder

News

The situation calls into question the support and assistance provided to international students seeking to study in New Zealand, just months after the high-profile case of nine Indian international stuGreen MP Jan Logie’s Equal Pay dents who were deported after Amendment Bill, which was drawn being defrauded by education from the ballot last week, seeks to agents submitting false bank loan provide greater transparency and approval documents. remove gender discrimination in the GOVERNMENT, McClymont said “there's no real workplace. AGENCIES, incentive for [the education proIn brief, the bill requires busividers] to have a long-term busiAND nesses to make pay rate information available to the Ministry for Busi- PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS ness plan,” because “they can make so much money so quickly, that if ness, Information, and Employment FAILING they can just survive in the market for publication. STUDENTS for five years before their [instituCatherine Flemming, a Senior tion] gets closed down, they’ll be Associate at Kensington Swan Lawretiring as millionaires.” yers, told Salient that this transparVice-Chancellor Grant Guilford ency is a “fundamental component Documents released under the Ofof an equal pay regime that works.” ficial Information Act (OIA) have said that VUW is “in a much betWithout this kind of information, revealed that some international ter situation [than private tertiary “employees have no way of knowing student graduates are being let down education providers] — we have a if there is an equal pay issue in their by the policies of education agents high standard of pastoral care and high minimum academic standards, and private training providers. organisation or not.” 66 Indian graduates, who were so when we get international stuThe Human Rights Commission has also praised the bill, saying this interviewed in their application to dents into the university sector, we kind of reform is timely, especially study bachelor-level programmes at are certain they are people of high “given the important conversations private tertiary education providers, academic merit.” McClymont said the main source taking place around pay equity in were interviewed again during the 'Operation Shakespeare' investi- of the problem is that government New Zealand.” The conversation around pay gation. Four had scant knowledge policy is “just driven by the need to equity has been driven by the gov- regarding their course, three could make as much money as possible,” ernment’s agreement to implement not name any subjects, and two re- reporting that some graduates were the recommendations made by the quired a translator to complete the employed in hospitality or horticulture, without adequately understand Joint Working Group on Pay Equity interview. Lawyer Alastair McClymont their employment rights. Principles. Education New Zealand's webHowever the prospect of provi- said to Salient that this was due sion of pay information has led some to education agencies submitting site says India offers “significant experts to question the full work- fraudulent visa applications, where opportunities” for New Zealand ability of the bill. Flemming says, agents created cellphone numbers providers as “students actively seek “how personal information is dealt and email addresses allowing staff to opportunities not offered in India, with is one of the areas that is not take application interviews instead and India’s industry calls for workready graduates.” fully resolved in the current version.” of the students. The agency would receive a comAs an example, Flemming stated — Thomas Croskery that “although the Bill provides for mission for each successful student an ‘independent reviewer’ process to visa application. McClymont said that while Improtect confidential information,” there is no “clear path” forward if migration New Zealand appear to that reviewer decides the informa- have been “looking at it as an issue in tion might support a discrimination the last year,” it is “something which or pay equity complaint. For this has been obvious [...] to pretty much reason, Flemming says the balance every single person working in the between pay equity and confiden- industry for a long time.”

EQUAL PAY AMENDMENT BILL

tial information has yet to be determined. Salient reached out to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Michael Woodhouse, who declined to comment. — E A Tombs

News

KIWISAVER MAKES BAD INVESTMENTS

BELARUS PROTESTERS DETAINED

At least four of the largest Kiwisaver providers — ANZ, Kiwibank, Mercer, and Westpac — remain part of a passive fund currently financing armaments such as cluster bombs and nuclear weapons. An investigation undertaken by New Zealand Herald in 2016 found that more than two million people were “unwitting investors in big tobacco companies and makers of banned weapons.” Sue Brown, former head of regulation at the Financial Markets Authority, said it was unlikely the investment providers themselves were acting “unlawfully,” as the complex nature of the investments meant providers lacked the requisite knowledge. However the Green Party has pointed to the Cluster Munitions Prohibition Act 2009, stating “Parliament’s intention was clear when it passed [the] law.” The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Jacqui Dean, stressed her expectation that providers remove themselves, but has not set a divestment deadline, declaring it the obligation of each provider to respond to their customers. Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw has criticised the government’s inaction on the issue, stating, “[they] must set a clear deadline for when all KiwiSaver funds should dump their investments in companies involved in the manufacture of these horrific weapons.” ANZ told Salient that they were “working on an alternative fund,” while other providers remain in review. — McKenzie Collins

More than 48 protesters and journalists from Belarus were detained last week during protests over a new tax on unemployment. A government ban on protests saw some receiving sentences of up to 15 days in administrative detention, and at least eight journalists are still detained at time of print. The new, so-called “social parasite” tax will mean citizens who have been unemployed long-term will have to pay an annual tax of $362.49 NZD — around a month’s average wages in Belarus. The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed the tax would “instil discipline in the work-shy.” The tax has been suspended for this year, but with a warning that it has not been abandoned altogether. Unrest began in mid-February when citizens first received bills for the tax. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, more than 100 journalists have been detained, beaten, or otherwise harassed in the last two months. Protesters also spoke out against Lukashenko, who has been in power since assuming office in 1994. Lukashenko has been widely labelled as “Europe’s Last Dictator” in mainstream media. A statement released by the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Canberra, which was translated for Salient, dismissed foreign press as using the negative coverage “to further their own ends,” and pointedly said that “as opposed to practise in a number of other countries, water-cannon or tear-gas were not used.” Despite claims that the authorities acted to “ensure the safety of citizens,” Amnesty International

denounced the arrests as “disturbing and arbitrary” and called for their immediate end. “The Belarusian authorities must not crackdown on peaceful dissenters just for daring to voice their opinion” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia. “Instead of detaining them, the authorities must respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. Anyone arrested during the protests for peacefully criticising the government must be immediately released.”. — Sofia Roberts

News

ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK A new policy on Academic Freedom has been drafted without consultation with students or staff. The draft policy, which is currently accepting submissions, is in response to a letter from the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) to Vice Chancellor Grant Guilford “asking that [VUW] enter into a conversation about developing a policy on academic freedom” in 2016. The decision not to consult was described as “a missed opportunity” by Wayne Linklater, TEU co-president. He wants the policy withdrawn. “This is probably not the best way to proceed — especially given the level of concern among academic staff.” Academic Freedom is defined and protected in the Education Act 1989, which provides that “Academic Freedom and the autonomy of institutions are to be preserved and enhanced.” Controversially, VUW’s draft policy states that “Academic Freedom applies only within a particular academic staff member’s field of expertise.” Linklater is concerned that “it would be possible to define someone’s expertise so narrowly as to claim that they were speaking outside it.” When asked how VUW would define “area of expertise,” Provost Wendy Larner said, “widely, but as is specified in 4.2.1.” Clause 4.2.1 requires Academic Freedom to be exercised in accordance with “university values” and “all relevant VUW statutes, policies, and procedures.” It is unclear how this defines the scope of an “area of expertise.” Linklater stated: “how the heck do you define an academic’s area of expertise, given that expertise is a consequence of learning, of career experience, of multi and transdisciplinary work across a variety of faculties and schools [...] especially since new disciplines and knowledge are inevitably developed by us working outside of our expertise?” Dougal McNeill, Senior Lecturer and secretary of VUW’s TEU branch, said that robust systems already exist to prevent academics from publishing unfounded views. “We need to trust ourselves as a community

that [...] we can rely on our peers in regards to what stands up to scrutiny.” He also suggested that “the best way to discredit pernicious ideas is to encourage more critical discussion around these issues.” Clause 4.2.1 also provides that Academic Freedom must be exercised “in accordance with VUW’s values (as set out in the Strategic Plan).” The Strategic Plan is a commercially-focused document. Clause 4.2.1 appears to limit the freedom beyond that provided in the Education Act, which specifies “the need for the maintenance by institutions of the highest ethical standards.” Linklater said that the clause “appears to be written in an adversarial fashion,” which “subordinates Academic Freedom to the Strategic Plan of VUW.” McNeill described it as “worrying, to see something produced which purports to support, but in fact limits, Academic Freedom.” Further, despite being “university wide,” the policy’s content does not specifically address students. Linklater argued the policy “is clearly not written for students, and yet the Education Act and VUW should be concerned with the Academic Freedom of students” When approached about the policy’s applicability to students, Larner pointed to the ‘Definitions’ section of the policy document. These clauses are excerpts from the Education Act’s definition of Academic Freedom. Larner stated, “if the consultation reveals there is a need for further detail related to student activities, we will seriously consider that.” If the policy is not withdrawn and redrafted with consultation, Linklater said the TEU plans to campaign against it. “We thought there was room for some hui, and some meetings with staff, to convey [...] what was important to staff and what they wanted to address.” “[VUW] talks the talk, but they need to walk the walk, and there’s a mismatch here between what they keep telling us they respect, and the policy we receive.” — Brigid Quirke

News

“INEPT” WHITE SUPREMACIST ORGANISATION ATTEMPTS VUW POSTER RUN CW: The following article contains uncensored quotes that include racial slurs. Western Guard NZ, a white supremacist group which gained media attention for postering the University of Auckland on March 20, has less than 12 active members. Herbert Sands, who chose to keep their real name anonymous, spoke with Salient and described the group as “inept.” Sands suggested that the members were “desperate,” “mostly men,” and “quite liked attention.” Sands joined the group intending to infiltrate and expose “behind closed doors” discussions. The vetting process involved creating a fake Facebook profile and providing some personal details through a web form. Upon passing the vetting process, Sands was added to a private Western Guard Facebook group. At the time of print, screenshots acquired by Salient show there were 29 members in the Facebook group, of which Sands reported “under a dozen are actually active.” He identified “maybe five signups since [the postering activity].” A spokesperson from the public Western Guard Facebook page told Salient that recent postering activity had led to “a huge increase of membership” of “well over 50 applications.” Discussion threads from the Facebook group suggest that members had attempted a poster run at VUW on Saturday, March 25. A post by “Wahine Irirangi” [from what Salient learned about the group, members Facebook accounts are fake] on March 24 stated, “When we go live tomorrow we will receive a mix of confusion and shock, and incredibly angry little cucks who will try form antifa blocks against us.” On March 27, Salient identified one Western Guard poster on campus. It stated “Wellington Division Now Open” and was located on Mount Street, tucked into a hidden corner of the Student Union Building. It had been partially torn and was next to an antifascist sticker.

Another thread in the Facebook group reflected on the failure of the poster run in Wellington, with member “Lloyd Gretton” stating, “I suspect the police were directed to immediately surreptiously [sic] remove them.” A “Location Call” poll of the Facebook group’s membership, conducted on March 21, revealed that three members identified as being located in Wellington. The majority, 13, were based in Auckland. In addition to the failed poster run in Wellington, the information provided by Herbert Sands suggested that one of the main concerns of the group is cultivating a palatable public persona. “They seem to think that [...] when everyone else has the same understanding as them, they can reveal their true colours and then everyone else will join them.” On the Facebook group, a post by “Helen Smith” said, “Privately almost everyone here I’m certain is Natsoc/white nationalist, but our public image will be toned down slightly — what this means is using ‘nonwhite’ instead of nigger/sandnigger/chink etc or ‘shadowy cabal of globalist bankers’ instesd [sic] of jew/kike etc.” Despite all identifying as white supremacists, there are fractures in the group’s cohesiveness, with the views of some members at odds with others on the approach they should have to issues of sexuality, race, and finances. Although Sands suggested that, due to its low and inept membership, Western Guard NZ has little chance of implementing national socialism, he revealed they were “in talks” with an American white-nationalist organisation, Vanguard America, and had shared poster design. However, this link is also tenuous, as comments by members on the private Facebook page refer to support and approval by “American Vanguard”, which is actually a US-based manufacturer of agricultural chemicals. — Brigid Quirke and Saeran Maniparathy

13 13 vilian casualty” in the raid. At the time of writing, the NZDF’s position is that Hager and Stephenson’s book is inaccurate beHit and Run cause it has confuses two different The prospect of a new Nicky Hager events. book made for a tense week in New Lieutenant-General Tim KeatZealand politics. Many speculated ing stated that while there was a raid that we would see a follow up to at that time, involving New Zealand 2014’s Dirty Politics, or perhaps new forces, that may have inadvertently revelations about John Key’s surprise led to the death of a civilian, it is not resignation. related to the events described by Hit When the book was finally de- and Run. Those raids, Keating says, livered, it became clear that while it did not involve New Zealand at all. wasn’t the Key-era tell-all that many Hager and Stephenson’s response hoped, its allegations were no less was that this is simply another part serious. of the NZDF’s attempts at a cover Hit and Run is co-authored by up. Hager said in a recent interHager and fellow investigative jour- view that it simply wasn’t possible nalist Jon Stephenson, and describes for there to have been two separate a series of raids on two villages in operations, of the same name, opAfghanistan in 2010. erating on the same night, just two The allegations in the book are kilometres apart. wide-ranging and nuanced, but esThough the book is new, the sentially cover raids ostensibly to questions around the raids, dubbed find those behind the death of Lt. Operation Burnham, are not. The Tim O’Donnell, the first New Zea- NZDF has made several prior statelander to be killed in service in Af- ments on the events and John Key ghanistan. The book alleges that the has given repeated reassurances that raids were designed and led by our there were no civilian deaths, and SAS, in tandem with United States that those killed were combatants. special forces, and led to the deaths Last week, Prime Minister Bill of at least six Afghan civilians. English doubled down on those The book also alleges that New statements, saying he had 100 per Zealand forces handed over a man cent confidence in the SAS and captured in those raids to Afghan NZDF. However he did concede security forces, knowing that torture that an inquiry might be necessary, would be used. though he firmly rejected any allegaThe events of 2010 have been the tions of war crimes. subject of speculation for some time, Despite repeated government but Hager and Stephenson’s book and NZDF denials, Hager and Stegoes further, citing evidence from phenson have had substantial supSAS personnel and Afghan witness- port in their claims. es to the raids. The Labour, Green, New ZeaMaking matters even more com- land First, Māori, and United Future plex, the response from the New parties have all called for a governZealand Defence Force (NZDF) has ment inquiry. Even the Returned been inconsistent at best. Initially, it Servicemen Association has come was claimed that no New Zealanders out in support of an investigation. were involved in the operations and Statements from former Defence that those killed were combatants. Minister Wayne Mapp also support Later, under an Official Informa- Hager and Stephenson’s claims. In tion Act request, it was revealed that direct contrast to the government, there was at least one “suspected ci- Mapp accepted the reports of ci-

POLITICAL ROUND-UP

Politics News POLITICS vilian casualties. He would also not deny a previous statement he gave saying that the NZDF was doing too much that he did not know about. The reluctance of English and the government to seriously address the claims is surprising. While there is certainly no love lost between Hager and the National Party after the Dirty Politics revelations, the allegations in this book are far too serious to ignore any longer. Labour Māori MP’s The battle for the seven Māori electorates continues to heat up with the surprise announcement that Labour’s Māori MPs will forgo their party-list status and contest the election as electorate-only candidates. This means that high profile members like Nanaia Mahuta and Kelvin Davis will rely entirely on winning their respective electorate seats. If they fail to get the votes needed, they won't be eligible to enter parliament based on their list ranking, as is usually the case. The move is a strange and unprecedented one, leading many to speculate why Labour would take such an unnecessary risk. The official line is that Labour’s Māori MPs made the decision as a “show of strength” and commitment to their electorates, while also allowing other Māori MPs to take their place in the list rankings. Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis said that this could substantially increase the Māori presence in parliament if Labour are elected. Andrew Little was less tactful, calling the move a direct challenge to the Māori Party. While Davis may well be correct, the move is an unusually risky one. Labour won six of the seven Māori electorates at the last election, but they are by no means safe territory. The recent MANA-Māori deal could well be enough to lose Davis Te Tai Tokerau, and the announcement of Rahui Papa in

14 American Health Care Act (AHCA) got pulled from the House floor last Friday. If you didn’t know, here’s the basic rundown of the events leading up to Don-Don’s epic failure number two-hundred-and-eighty-seven. Obamacare, known technically as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was signed into law by Obama in 2010. Its aim was to essentially make insurance and healthcare more affordable, and required that all insurance applicants be charged the same rates regardless of pre-existing medical conditions, or of sex. Now, the whinging Republicans across the bench did not like Obamacare one bit, and have pushed for over 60 unsuccessful Congressional votes to get rid of it. And if you didn’t hear (you obviously did), Trump himself ran on the election promise that he would repeal and replace the ACA. The key reasoning behind Republicans distaste for Obamacare is stated to be “ideologically based,” also know as, “we’re going to use the historically classist party line to justify why rich, white people should be the only ones who can afford to go to the doctor.” Without getting super boring, conservatives/ those on the right believe in small government, and are anti-state intervention. So, Obamacare, which is essentially an initiative to socialise medical care and make health THE TRUMP FRONT insurance affordable for ALL Americans, did NOT fit with the Republican way-of-life at all. Although our old friend Trumpster Republicans have spent the last and his problematic offspring have eight years moaning about how been wreaking their usual havoc (see: terrible Obamacare is, and have Ivanka getting her own office in the consistently yapped on about when White House despite having no offi- and how they’re going to repeal it cial role in the 45th Administration, once a Republican sits in the White Eric Trump letting it slip that he’ll House. Well, this chance (obviousgive his dear old dad quarterly busi- ly) arose on January 20, and those ness updates from Trump HQ, and shady little Republicans had been Donald Jr. offensively tweeting Lon- scurrying around trying to come don’s Mayor following the terrorist up with a replacement bill ever since. attacks last week), one story eclips- In an effort headed by literally the es it all: Trump’s failure to repeal most boring person in the world, Obamacare after his replacement Speaker of the House Paul “I donat-

Hauraki-Waikato, backed by statements from Kīngi Tuheitia, could be the first real challenge to Nanaia Mahuta in years. There is also no guarantee that the move will get more Māori MPs into parliament, even if Labour wins. Labour’s list rankings will not be finalised until April, and while Andrew Little can make strong suggestions, he does not have the final say on where MPs are placed. The policy also adds fuel to speculation over Little’s treatment of Labour’s Māori members and his commitment to Māori representation. After his controversial claims on the term “kaupapa Māori,” he essentially doubled-down last week, saying that the Māori Party had “neglected their people.” Most unusual of all is that these risks are entirely self-inflicted. While it may be gracious of Labour’s Māori electorate MPs to be concerned about their list-based colleagues, the strategy relies on a huge range of unknown and largely uncontrollable factors. Whether this really is a “show of strength,” or further evidence of Little’s wheeling and dealing, remains to be seen. — Ben Leonard

Politics ed $2 to charity in 1989, please give me a medal” Ryan, low and behold, the AHCA was introduced. There was only one little problem: it was an actual piece of garbage. A child with a crayon and a stethoscope probably would have done a better job. Again, without trying to put the four readers of this column to sleep (one of those being my mum), this proposed AHCA would have led to an estimated 24 million Americans going uninsured, while simultaneously ensuring that the richest 1% would get millions of dollars in tax cuts. Luckily, those cheeky Democrats didn’t let the wool be pulled over their eyes, and when the Republicans (namely that muttonhead Ryan) realised that they weren’t going to get the votes to pass the bill, they yanked it from the floor. Of course, this whole predicament couldn’t be concluded without an obscure, overly capitalised tweet from the boss himself: “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!” — Trump, March 25. You keep telling yourself that buddy, whatever gets you to sleep at night. — Tessa Cullen

THE PARTY LINE Last week, investigative journalists Jon Stephenson and Nicky Hager released Hit and Run, which claims that a 2010 raid organised and lead by the New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan resulted in the death of six civilians and the injury of 15. The book turns the spotlight back onto the deployment of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel to Afghanistan in 2001. Should NZDF personnel have been deployed?

15 Greens at Vic The Greens at Vic wholeheartedly reject the notion that New Zealand had a necessary part to play as combatants in the illegitimate war in Afghanistan. Hager and Stephenson’s allegations showcase the sickening consequences of warfare motivated by racist imperialism and capitalist values. The Green Party is committed to nonviolence and by extension the Greens at Vic would support a full inquiry into the alleged war crimes and subsequent rejections of wrongdoing by NZDF personnel and government ministers. — Kayden Briskie

ian deaths are highly concerning if proved true. An independent investigation is needed to provide some transparency. No one wants the allegations to be true. However these claims need to be looked at, if for no other reason than to reassure the public that our SAS is not covering up civilian casualties. The statements from the NZDF on the civilian casualties since the book’s release contradict what they have said in the past. There is confusion and contradiction over the operation, which desperately needs to be cleared up by an independent investigator. The NZDF are our highly proYoung Nats — Lower North Island fessional defence force and when The Young Nats stand behind and things go wrong, they should be held support the decision to deploy to the highest standard — even more than any other arm of government NZDF personnel to Afghanistan. The initial decision of 2001 was considering their armed role. Any a non-partisan one, gaining support indication of a cover-up is worrying across Parliament, spearheaded by and any credible claim of one should Labour and backed by National. be investigated. This, preceded by a UN resolution supporting intervention in Afghan- If you are a representative of a youth istan, provides the moral and legal political group and wish to participate justification for the NZDF deploy- in this section, please email editor@ salient.org.nz ment. On the operational side, there are a list of successes achieved under the NZDF’s deployment. To name a few: 341 schools were built under NZ’s watch in Bamiyan (up from three under Taliban rule), 3000 police officers were trained, the first National Police Women’s committee was set up, health clinics were built across the province, and over 200 infrastructure projects were supported by New Zealand. The Young Nats are proud of the work the NZDF have achieved in their deployment to Afghanistan and see this as a simple non-partisan issue. We’re proud to stand up and be counted. — Sam Stead VicLabour The allegations outlined in Hit and Run around possible Afghan civil-

Politics

• INTERVIEW WITH SAM KEENE • Samantha Keene is a PhD student at VUW’s Institute of Criminology. Her PhD research focuses on the meanings and impacts of pornography. Her research interests include violence against women, student populations, and sex work.

shoes” or “carry a rape whistle” — often in the aftermath of a sexual attack in a nearby locality — instead of sending messages to potential perpetrators about not committing rape. It’s the telling of victims they “shouldn’t have got so drunk” or they shouldn’t have “led them on” by wearing particular types of clothing, instead of telling perpetrators that they shouldn’t take advantage of someone who has been drinking and cannot consent, or that someone’s clothing is not a signal to be sexually assaulted.

*** From an academic perspective, how would you define or explain what ‘rape culture’ is?

Comments made on a private Facebook page by Wellington College students regarding young women and sexual violence recently garnered significant media attention. In this instance, as in the Roastbusters scandal, the involvement of alcohol has been highlighted by the media. How would you respond to the suggestion of a causative link between drinking culture and rape culture?

Rape culture is an environment where sexual violence is trivialised, and the realities of sexual violence are often misunderstood. Rape culture is living in a society where the myth that the majority of sexual offending occurs in a dark alleyway, late at night, perpetrated by a stranger, is perpetuated. In reality, the majority of sexual offending occurs between people known to each other, such as partners, family members, friends, and acquaintances. Holding victims responsible for their own victimisation is a key part of a rape culture — it lays the responsibility for preventing victimisation with victims, instead of the people responsible for offending against them. For example, it’s victims being told that they should “wear running

Alcohol and sexual violence have a complicated relationship. As many as 50% of instances of sexual assault involve intoxication; either by the perpetrator, the victim, or both. So, yes, alcohol is often present in instances of sexual violence. Is there a causative link? No. [...] Rape and sexual violence have been present in our society for decades — it would be naive to say that sexual violence is “caused” by a relatively recent phenomena of binge drinking culture. Family First NZ said that the “example of Wellington College students posting offensive comments on social media highlights the pressing need for experts to formally investigate the public health effects and societal harms of pornography.” In light of your recent PhD work on pornography, what are your views on this? Again, pornography and sexual violence have a complicated relationship. [...] For every study that suggests there is a relationship between people watching porn and committing acts of sexual violence, there’s another that says there isn’t. In the context of a psychological study, certainly, when you show people pornographic images and then get them to reflect on their attitudes towards sexual violence, there isn’t a direct link. [...] But some perpetrators of sexual violence do report extensive use of pornography and have said that this did influence their offending. [...] Does this mean that it “causes”

Interview

sexual violence? No, and I think that Family First has latched onto a recent wave of pornography receiving media attention to coin it as a “public health crisis” to push an agenda for a porn inquiry, which is what they are currently proposing. I don’t think an inquiry would be a bad thing, but I think those resources would be better directed at supporting consent education. [...] The issue I have with Family First’s position is that it ignores the fact that people can, and do, engage with pornography in a positive way; that people can have really good experiences with porn. I think it’s an abdication of responsibility to suggest that this causes that.

within which localised sites, like universities, are delineated to give a really clear picture.

You mentioned a need for consent education. Do you think that is an effective tool in terms of preventing sexual violence?

My thesis proposed a number of recommendations. VUW has responded, I think, really well to discussions about sexual violence, and is a leader in terms of actively doing work to shine light on the issues. We’ve got the sexual violence prevention working group, the Thursdays in Black campaign has received a lot of feedback and attention, [...] We’ve got the consent posters [...] around campus. Residential Advisors in the Halls continue to receive training in relation to instances of sexual violence.

I absolutely think consent education is necessary in schools. What that would look like, exactly, I’m not sure — but it would certainly need a centralised focus, an open dialogue about what consent is and the types of situations young people are likely to navigate, and a focus on sex as pleasure. [...] Because the fact is that young people are having sex, so why deny that? We need more than “this is how not to get pregnant.” I know, when I was in high school, there was certainly nothing about what good sex looks like, how sex can be, is, for pleasure. [...] I think our generation is more open to these types of discussions. The fact that we can sit here and talk about sex and porn is testament to that. So I hope that momentum can keep up and that it will follow through to the younger generations.

What conversations and/or policies have been developed to establish standardised response protocols, improve training, and increase education surrounding sexual violence in VUW halls of residence since your thesis?

VUW has also developed a sexual violence policy guideline, which it never had before. They have a definition of what sexual violence is, what consent is, and a kind My thesis focused on the effects of sexual violence in halls, but of victim/survivor charter of [...] we don’t currently have any recent data on the prevalence Victoria’s commitment to of sexual victimisation in tertiary institutions. The latest study the issue. was by Nicola Gavey, in 1991, where more than 50% of those Lastly, what is your favourite surveyed at Auckland University reported experiences of sexual violence. [...] International studies suggest one in four colour? women encounter sexual violence in their university experience. [...] The reality is that to be able to Black, of course! address the issue, to make changes, we actually need to know — Brigid Quirke what we are dealing with. We need region-specific studies, Your thesis, “Risky Residences”, explored sexual violence in university halls of residence. Based on your study, and international examples, how prevalent is sexual violence in halls of residence?

OPINION

Opinion

HIT AND RUN Through Twitter, word-on-the-street, and a suitably mysterious Facebook private message, I found myself packed into Unity Books on a Tuesday evening like the proverbial sardine in a tin. For what? I don’t know exactly. As a Twitter acquaintance will later quip, Nicky Hager is one of only a handful of New Zealand writers who could pack out a book launch for a book whose contents are top secret. The book, it turns out, is co-authored with war reporter Jon Stephenson, a revelation which hears many gasps from the more savvy journo crowd. It is entitled Hit & Run (cue more gasps), and exposes that a New Zealand SAS raid in Afghanistan in 2010, which killed or wounded 21 civilians, was essentially retaliatory in nature. At this point I’m finding it difficult to focus on the authors’ statements given that the room temperature has reached somewhere in the mid-thirties; this is also because I’m standing directly behind NZ literary it-girl Ashleigh Young (like a bookworld Alexa Chung) and am fangirling ever so slightly. When the inevitable media melee calms, however, I can’t resist purchasing a copy of Hit & Run and settling down with it at home. Both authors have been careful to note that this is, at heart, not a political release, despite the upcoming election, and this is reinforced by the book’s own tone. I think that many arguments about Hager as some kind of egotistical or fame-hungry political activist would easily be deflated by reading any of his works, but perhaps especially this book. Without becoming uncomfortably preachy or moralistic, Hager and Stephenson speak of honour and integrity, juxtaposing these self-proclaimed values of the New Zealand Defence Forces against the horrifying tenor of the events the book describes. I’m not a non-fiction reader at heart and found the beginning chapter almost a little dense in detail. The wealth and breadth of

research, which spans Hager’s work in New Zealand and Stephenson’s in Afghanistan, is initially rather overwhelming. However, the easy explanatory style of the book soon sees the reader settle into its contents, guiding us through the context to, events of, and aftermath of the military operation, before providing a framework for further inquiry from the Government and Defence Force. The most significant chapter for me is when Hager and Stephenson pause to deliver “Through the Villagers’ Eyes”, which works to overcome any preconceived notions of Afghanistan, the village communities, and victims affected by the operation. This is Chapter Four, and so the book’s structure sets empathy strongly at the heart of Hit & Run. I would suggest Hager and Stephenson’s work is strongest when it calls on a central humanity to elicit compassion and desire for justice, rather than nationalism. Perhaps my lack of patriotism shows through here, but I’m not interested in an approach that calls for an inquiry into war crimes on the basis of our image as New Zealanders, or even the values our country purports to uphold. I understand this in terms of the book’s ability and scope to act as a catalyst for action, but this New Zealand-centric focus was an angle that I felt came through a little strongly at the launch event. If we truly believe that these civilian deaths were unnecessary, that international law has been breached — then Hit & Run becomes less about our country than our humanity. I’ve deliberately not elaborated on the contents of the book in great detail. I think that if you’re at all interested in investigative journalism compiled with evident heart and passion, you’ll read it for yourself. — Sarah Dillon

Opinion

THE LIVING COSTS CONUNDRUM

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What makes this conundrum worse is that living costs are indeed a loan. Whatever baby boomers might proclaim while resting on their virtuous laurels, living costs are not a handout. A loan is an adult contractual decision to forgo future earnings for present use. That means the government and voters gain nothing from withholding increased living costs from students, removing future value to New Zealand, and adding additional stress and hardship to an already tethered group of people. The whole point of a living costs scheme is to even the playing field so each student has a competitive shot at achievement. For some students, whose parents’ pockets aren’t as deep as others, insufficient living costs mean that part-time work on top of full-time study is the only option to supplement the cost of living. Those students whose parents do have deep pockets, and are willing to help with the cost of living, do not face this same burden. Enter stage a cycle of inequality. The work that the Victoria University Wellington Students’ Association is doing on transport costs is an important first step in acknowledging the unsustainable cost of living for students. The next step is for the Minister of Social Development to take responsibility for the welfare of students — the current state of affairs resulting from a housing crisis ushered in by her own Government’s regulatory and economic mismanagement. — Jack Close

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Ever crack open your internet banking and wonder where the fuck your living costs have gone? I have. StudyLink defines these living costs loans as “help to pay for day-to-day living expenses” including things like food, petrol, healthcare, and our old mate: rent. They are tied to New Zealand’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average cost of a basket of goods to calculate inflation. The CPI has had a grand 4.3 per cent increase in the last five years, indicative of very low levels of inflation for most of the things we buy. In the basket of goods, Treasury measures the price of things like durries, soy sauce, acrylic house paint, spa pools, nasal spray, and golf club memberships. What that means is if you bought a $200 basket of these goods in 2012, it would cost you $208.60 today. An incremental, insignificant increase — resulting in an incremental, insignificant increase in living costs payments, from $172.51 on April 1, 2012, to $178.81 on April 1, 2017. Compare this with the very significant 31.6 per cent increase in rental prices in the last five years for three and four bedroom properties. While living costs payments went up $6, the price of a $140 room went up by $44 per week. StudyLink’s atrocious “increases tied to CPI” policy will make up for a stingy 4.3 per cent of these rent increases. For the remaining 27.3, you’re on your own. If you were one of the lucky ones that managed to actually get a flat in Kelburn or Aro Valley this year, on average you’ll be paying $202.50 a week just for a room according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment. If you were like thousands of other Victoria University students that were forced to compromise with a remote outer suburb flat, you’ve also got substantial transport costs to grapple with. The long and short of it, wherever you are: bye bye “living” costs.

OPINION

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WHAKARONGO MAI E TAMA! Discussing rape culture can be hard for a bloke. We feel like we’re being attacked at our core, like we’re being accused of a horrific crime. It’s an uncomfortable feeling because we’re not quite sure what rape culture is. It was never taught at school and as far as we know we’ve done nothing wrong. On that basis it’s easy to see why we try not to talk or think about it. However, it’s even harder for women. It’s hard for women to discuss these issues because so often it ends up being a one way conversation — so often we switch off, and so often women go to great lengths, even sharing personal experiences, only to be met by silence. It feels wrong to call it a “difficult conversation” because that implies it’s being discussed by both sides. Currently, it’s a subject we’re eager to sweep under the rug. I’m not going to try convince you of anything, or fix any great issue with a student magazine submission. I’m not going to speak on behalf of women. I’m just going to make a few points from my own perspective — as a male, a dude, a brother, a bloke, a lad, a son… you get the drift. Growing up I had the gift of a positive female influence. My mother, my nana, and my oma are all powerful women, who have in their own ways faced adversity and pushed on in spite of it. In some ways I am writing this for them. I also currently flat with four strong, intelligent, courageous young women. This is partly dedicated to them too. But this piece is written for my boys. Good guys who I know sometimes get that strange feeling when they or their friends make a joke that’s a bit too edgy, and there’s that half second pause where everyone is waiting for someone to say something, but no one ever does. This is an opportunity to change that, or at the very least to think about why we should. As a 19-year old it’s only now, in the last week or so, that I’ve tried to think about life from a female perspective. I support equity

and equality, but only in very recent days have I actively tried to listen. This comes with a feeling of anxiety and a pinch of guilt. Confiding this in a female friend I was told not to feel guilty. We don’t have to feel shame. All we have to do in the immediate moment is listen, and think. Listen to the boys when they’re talking about pulling. Listen to the words they use to refer to half of the global population, which includes your mother, your sister, your future daughter. Listen to your friend when she tells you about getting catcalled on the street. Think about how “those assholes” used the exact same words your boys did just the other day. Listen to yourself when you swear you’ve been sexually harassed because of that one time you think your butt got slapped in town, even though a memory of that is not comparable to a fear of walking anywhere at night. And on that note, think about why you automatically offer to walk a girl home after a party. It’s obviously the right thing to do, but why? And think about that time you texted a girl to come over, but you ended up going over to hers, because of course she couldn’t walk to yours after ten. Think about how what you value changes when you’re on the piss. How quickly the atmosphere can turn toxic. When you’re a good cunt for 12 beers, and she’s tragic for three. And most importantly, listen to that one “annoying feminist girl” in your friend group. You don’t have to agree with everything she’s saying, just give her a basic level of respect to actively listen. Think about all these things I’ve written, and then think about what makes all of them happen, and then think about what this means for our society. I’m going to step out of line for a moment to speak for the opposite gender, and make a quick assumption. When it comes to women’s issues, the first and simplest thing they want

Columns Opinion but hopefully if we start listening then for our mums, nanas, omas, flatmates, and we the boys too, the world might be a better place. — Marlon Drake (a more than slightly concerned second year)

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us to do is listen. I can’t stress that enough. There’s a slight hypocrisy when it comes to how much we “the boys” get annoyed at gals getting offended all the time, but the moment the subject of rape culture or women’s issues of any kind comes up we retreat into a fortress of refusal and knowit-all-ism. We end up acting as offended as we accuse them of being. I think it’s because the nature of the culture is so fundamentally ingrained that it genuinely feels like there is an assault on our personality. It’s important to remember to not take every conversation as an accusation. It’s an emotional topic which can get heated, but when both sides are patient progress is made. The fact is we didn’t grow up sharing the same experiences as the opposite sex, and so it’s a matter of logic that we just can’t assume to know what women go through. Listening when they try share these experiences can mean the world. As one of my flatmates just said as I wrote this, “dismissal is the most offensive thing.” I don’t expect anyone reading this to strive to become a mastermind of political correctness, who counts and considers every word they say. I don’t want you to drop your BCom, LLB, BSc, or whatever it is you’re studying and pick up four years of papers focused on feminism and the effects of pornography on the human brain. All I suggest is thinking about the culture we exist in, how it affects women, and how it affects us as males. Just ten minutes a day listening and thinking. Such a small effort can go a long way. Ending on a personal note, if you asked me about the fine points of rape culture I would probably turn pale, because I honestly don’t know, and I will likely never fully understand. But it's important to look at the world through a different lens. Sexism, and the idea of a rape culture, is something that is easy to comment on as a political issue, but real change starts when we identify how these issues exist in the context of our own lives. We’re not going to get everything right,

OPINION

Columns COLUMNS

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Are we there yet? The campaign to see tertiary student fares introduced on Wellington public transport sometimes seems like the never-ending car ride to get to your family summer holiday destination, and you’re stuck in the middle seat. One sibling has to go pee every ten minutes, the other is playing “corners” (but really just wants an excuse to push you over for four hours), and your mum refuses to listen to anything but ABBA on the stereo. What I’m trying to say is, it’s been a hard slog — but there’s still more to go before we get to our final destination. The time has come to make submissions to the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s (GWRC) draft Annual Plan. What they’re proposing is to delay all public transport programmes until next year, and “consider” a tertiary fare in 2018. We need you to go to fairerfares.org and make a submission to ask that instead of their consideration, the GWRC needs to confirm they will, in no uncertain terms, bring in a tertiary fare rate in 2018. And then tell your mum, granddad, neighbour, employer, workmates, and flatmates all to do the same. Our aim is simple. We want to have so many submissions on this issue that it dominates their discussions around the table. It’s also very important to have non-students support the cause. Councils often hide behind the idea that ratepayers don’t want their money spent on initiatives that may not directly benefit them. But I disagree. I know there are many people throughout the region who pay rates and want to see students have better, more affordable access to higher education. If we’re supporting tertiary students, we’re going to be supporting and growing the Wellington regional economy — which ultimately benefits everyone. So tell everyone: now is the time to start submitting. We’re almost there. — Rory Lenihan-Ikin

VUWSA There are many issues that need debating, where minds can be changed, or the jury is still out. On the other hand, there are a suite of issues where the fact-based battle has already been won. We are hopefully on the same page in knowing that climate change is caused by people, that mental health matters, and that when women do better, all people do better. The good news is that regarding these issues, we have a solid foundation of shared truth (or a lack of alternative facts) to work from. But what do we do with all this knowledge? For most individuals, it means confronting some habits and changing them to reflect their beliefs. Take climate change for example. Living an eco-friendly lifestyle requires significant habit breaking and forming. Such a lifestyle would include; buying locally, using biodegradable cleaning products, recycling, switching off lights, going to the coffee shop with compostable cups and then actually putting that cup in the compost, to name but a few examples. It’s at this stage that you run into arguments like “I’m only one person, what difference can I make?” or “others have more influence/power/ wealth than me, so they should act — it’s not my responsibility.” But your choices do matter and we’re all responsible! Your decision to participate in Thursdays in Black could be meaningful to those who have experienced violence. Bringing your own drink bottle to uni prevents a heap of plastic bottles inevitably going to landfill. Asking for preferred pronouns at the beginning of a meeting could spare another person from unnecessary pain. Your actions affect others. You might be surprised to learn that knowing about an issue isn’t what motivates someone to change a related habit — it’s whether they think others are acting that way too. You are influential.. — Beth Paterson ( Wellbeing & Sustainability Officer)

Columns

TE ARA TAUIRA LET YOUR CARE GUIDE YOUR FOCUS I’ve been mulling over this thought for the past couple of weeks and the more I think about it, the more its peculiarity strikes me. New Zealand society/society in general humanises a lot of concepts, but this definitely isn’t one of them. “Follow your heart”, “let your emotions run wild”, are more familiar to us. But I’ve been finding that this gem is great for discerning the best places to channel my focus, both in and out of uni, and I hope it helps you do the same. Have you ever thought about why you care about some things and not others? Why, maybe, you love Māori waiata but can’t stand Shakespeare? Or math but not English? Or any other combination of disciplines or mediums. Why is it that our cares are drawn towards certain causes, topics or movements, but not others? While I don’t have an answer, we’re all gifted with different talents and cares for a reason; they challenge us to shape or tear down, further or redesign the status quo. Hans Zimmer puts it this way: “The seconds of your life are ticking away. If someone tells you there’s a rule, break it. That’s the only thing that moves things forward.” Our care is powerful — it spurs us on to keep fighting until we see change, like the Whanganui river gaining personhood or the Wellington College protests against rape culture. As you go about your week, experiment with letting your care guide your focus and observing what changes; fusing it into your essays or research papers, going back over that old dream you put on the shelf, or the job you’ve been tossing up applying for. Our focus is guided and demanded by so many things, why not make it those which we care for? Ngā mihi e hoa mā, — Trinity Thompson-Browne

ONE OCEAN Person: “Oh, so you’re from the islands?” Me: “Yep!” Person: “Wow, you speak really well! No, honestly! Your English is really good!” I’ve had this conversation ten trillion times — I’ve counted. I’d like to make it known that I’ve had more conversations like this with islanders than with palagi people I’ve met. The fact is, people of colour can, and do, show overt and subconscious racism and classism to one another all the time! Pasifika is the broad term under which anyone from the Pacific archipelago, who isn't Māori, is placed. There is an assumption that since we are all one people whose ancestors sailed and navigated one ocean, we have a homogenous set of experiences and therefore face the same harsh realities of “one” type of prejudice and discrimination. Let me just say, to those who think this — cool story bro. That’s definitely one of the highest forms of fiction I’ve encountered in my three years studying English Literature here at Vic. As “one” Pasifika community, we’ve done an amazing job addressing the discrimination that we have faced at the hands of “white society.” What we haven’t done well at is confronting and discussing the ways in which we look down on each other. As a non-New Zealand citizen, I have met several New Zealand Pacific Islanders who were condescendingly surprised at the “wonderful” progress that I, and people like me, have made by getting into university. It could well be that some people see this less-than-subtle, trying-to-compliment brand of discrimination as harmless. “We genuinely meant that you speak English well!” is probably going to get thrown about a lot. Well, I genuinely mean that I am genuinely offended by the revelation that you genuinely thought that I genuinely couldn’t speak a language that has genuinely been forced on us. This genuinely needs to stop. — Jasmine Koria

Columns

My love for The Bachelor is kinda like my taste in men: I love trash. Both these preferences could be described as atrocities that you can only bear witness to in abject • horror with one eye covered by a pillow; both solicit the obvious question, “what’s the fucking point?” I realise that The Bachelor epitomises everything I hate, by actively pitting women against each other, just as I realise that sleeping with someone on account of their man-bun alone is the worst possible vetting system. Yet, here I am, with a weakness for pretentious hipsters, avidly watching a Kronk look alike stumble his way through dating 19 of New Zealand’s finest. A gaggle of women getting cucked one by one until finally one of them is Stockholm Syndromed into getting engaged? Hell yeah. Or, in the case of The Bachelor NZ, until the inevitably sweet but simple Bachelor mumbles “aw yeah, you’re ok,” while making limited eye contact. The cucking though, naturally, is the best part. The Bachelor actively creates its own reality among the women. It’s seemingly Black Mirror-esque: isolating a group of women in a house and severely restricting the information that they receive from the outside world for weeks at a time. These women are manipulated to a greater or lesser extent, culminating in over the top reactions (that are good for attracting viewers, that is). “I’m not this needy bitch in real life,” sobbed one of the ostentatiously needy girls in the teaser for episode three of The Bachelor NZ ; and you know what? I wholeheartedly believe her. They’re living in an environment with an ambiguous sense of reality, only receiving information from Casanova himself and the morally dubious producers. It’s manipulation in the extreme. But you know why I’m sweet as with watching 19 women get manipulated for ratings? They fucking signed up for it. Let’s Get Philosophical Briefly But Keep In Mind I Know Nothing and Life Is Meaningless: not only does the environment

encourage this group of women to question their own reality, but it also encourages viewers to question it as well. Not to wank on along a post• modernist tangent, but “reality” shows like The Bachelor manipulate reality to capitalise on the viewers’ assumption that reality is knowable. We watch because we are mesmerised (see: Nothing is Real! Life Is Meaningless!): what is real, and what are you being manipulated to think is real? The performativity (h/t Judith Butler) inherent in these shows simultaneously creates an alternate reality and denies the existence of said reality; the convincing delivery of mistruths, and the subsequent acceptance of these, somewhat serves to consummate The Bachelor’s reality as the reality. What do The Bachelor, WWE, and Donald Trump have in common? They all playing u, bruh. I wake up in the morning and check the news with the same horrified fascination with which I watch The Bachelor: Trump is manipulating the American public similarly to how The Bachelor manipulates its viewers. By lying or misrepresenting something with so much conviction, oblivious or indifferent to the fact that he would inevitably be confronted with accuracies, Trump is somewhat consummating his word as fact. “Fake News” sounds like a term my sociopathic ex might use to justify his numerous relationships with other partners; “Alternative Facts” is a term being used to normalise the fact that Trump is systematically creating his own reality in which his word goes unquestioned. (Next Time: 10 Reasons Donald Trump And My Ex Should Grab A Beer). I don’t really know what I’m trying to say here, Life’s A Stage or something, Fuck Donald Trump. Give us The Bachelorette NZ already. If anyone sees me eyefucking a guy with a man-bun, spray me with cold water or something. Love you, xoxo — Sasha Beattie

REALITY � OTHER SHIT CHAT

Columns

FROM WITHIN THE FALLOUT ZONE

“Google: a terrorist’s best friend” read the Daily Mail ’s frontpage headline after the Westminster attack. The Mail, going out of their way to verify that Google truly is a friend of “the Terrorists”, investigated thoroughly: “it took the Mail two minutes to find a manual on how to use a car in a mass murder.” … As the Guardian, among many others, pointed out — two minutes? That’s a long time to conclude a car driven into a crowd will wreak havoc. By the Mail ’s logic, Google (or, more accurately, the Internet generally) is everyone’s best friend, constantly in our pocket, beckoning us to the next piece of information, whether that’s who our next date will be with, or how to turn fertiliser into explosive. Sadly, Google as an omnipresent “friend” is an interesting, altogether too intelligent, thought for the Mail ’s front page. Instead, a single line of thought, namely of fear, prevails. It is of course all too easy to say “don’t be scared, pay more attention to shoelaces, vending machines, etc, etc, etc, they’re more likely to kill you.” And yet after the Westminster attack, I’m thinking for the first time: “lots of people want to blow up as many as possible on streets I walk down on a day to day basis” — not something I thought often while living in Wellington. Of course in a city of multiple millions I should listen to my optimistic self; the thought doesn’t have to be more than a passing one — statistically speaking, anyway. Sadly, tabloid news media like the Daily Mail will do their best to exploit and extend the latent fear terrorist attacks inspire. In naming this column “From Within the Fallout Zone”, such fear mongering from news media, particularly “alternative media outlets,” is the type of fallout I had in mind. (Not to mention an egomaniac has the codes to the US nuclear arsenal in his wallet). The point hardly needs to be reiterated: whatever forces want to bring down democratic governments, whether they be Steve Bannon or IS, their work is done for them in headlines like the Daily Mail ’s. Turning the everyday into the feared. You should be scared when you use Google because terrorists do too. You should be scared using public transport because terrorists do too. Anyway. Despite all the hype of these so called apocalyptic days, they are nothing more than the conclusion of a failed neo-liberal experiment. There are already signs of something new taking its place, in both the strengthening of a once spineless liberal media, and the increased civic engagement of a generation who were supposedly the cause of it all. What with their hashtags, and their end-to-end encryption. Hopefully the errors of the Blair/Bush days have been heeded by at least one pillar of modern democracy. Along with the Guardian article calling out the idiocy of the Mail ’s headline, the news media seem to be becoming more genuine and careful in their own critique of fake news, or news for entertainment. Al Jazeera have been quick to put out a video segment in the vein of “ask a Muslim

why terrorists are not Muslim.” And the New Yorker is getting bolder in its coverage of Russian involvement in the US elections. It is a safe bet to say the Trump administration will only make the liberal media outlets richer. I’m not too bothered by that as long as we don’t continue headlong in making Vonnegut’s political fascinations a reality. — Joe Morris

Columns

THE QUEER AGENDA Gender is something some of us never have to think twice about. For others, it is the first thing on our minds when we wake up and the last before we fall asleep. Gender is something so ingrained, with so many unspoken and socially enforced rules, that as soon as you start to question it the only appropriate response is “oh, fuck.” Gender identity is complex. While there is value in searching for a label, a category, something that you can fit into and belong to, it is not the be-all-end-all. I am so grateful to myself for embarking on my own journey, not necessarily because of the promise of figuring out where I fit in, but because of the selfawareness it has given me. Genderquesting™ is a very introspective, personal experience. It has been hard sometimes, but also incredibly fulfilling. This would not have been possible without UniQ’s Gender Club. When I found Gender Club last year and the support it provided, I felt like I didn’t have to justify myself for the first time. It was so validating, and I am thankful to UniQ that a space like this exists here at all. It is a space to just be yourself and explore yourself, and is totally supportive of any questions or worries you might have. I will try my hardest, as Trans Representative for UniQ this year, to make Gender Club that again this year: an inclusive space where anyone who is trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, nonconforming, or questioning their identity can come to and feel safe, accepted, and valid to talk — or just be. At the end of the day we’re all human beings who deserve the same rights as one another, the same opportunities to live our lives to the fullest, to be respected, and, most importantly, to be happy. Gender Club enables this for our gender diverse whānau. — Erin Page

ACCESS DENIED My name is Georgie, I’m the current president of CanDo, and I’m blind. Blind in the sense (hah) that I have 10% of the vision of a fully sighted person. Being a young blind person and having some usable sight seems to confuse people, and they temporarily lose the ability to think before they speak. Here are a few of the more absurd things people have said to me, and the comebacks I wish I thought of at the time: 1. “I’m blind without my glasses too!” — You’ve misinterpreted me. You’re “blind” WITHOUT your glasses (AKA not blind), I’m blind WITH my glasses. Without my glasses, I’ve reached some next level sorcery. 2. “It’s okay, you don’t look blind.” — What… does a blind person look like?? Because I looked pretty blind when I fell down the stairs approximately 0.2 seconds ago. Stinks of “you’re not like THOSE disabled people” too. 3. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR EEEEYES.” — I had a moment of panicked OH SHIT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM before realising what this person meant. But apparently I “don’t look blind.” 4. “Don’t worry, there’ll be a cure one day!” — There’s a cure for douchebaggery too but you don’t seem to have found it yet. Eyes are complicated, brains are complicated, and I’m pretty happy being blind. 5. “So… what happened?” — I… was born? I don’t know what you want me to say, I don’t have a tragic backstory. Even if I did you need another 50 approval points before unlocking it. 6. “Have you ever considered laser eye surgery.” — Now this one was incredibly impressive since it came from the person who had the power to accept or deny my disability support. — Georgie Steel

Columns

SWAT Let’s talk about that one word university students have a love/hate relationship with: grades. We are now in week five of the trimester, meaning that you are either starting to receive some grades back or you’ve been up until the wee hours of the morning studying for a test or submitting an assignment. Unfortunately, there is no recipe to receiving an A+ (I wish!) — like your teachers have always said, it comes down to hard work. But what happens when you spend days studying or working on an assignment to receive a grade you didn’t want? I’m not going to lie, it feels like a kick in the gut. You spend hours memorising, researching, and studying, only to receive a grade you didn’t desire. As hard as it is at the time, remember that it’s just one grade. It’s not your final grade and you have so many opportunities to get clarification and help. There are tutorials, consulting the lecturer, group studies, and Student Learning Support Services located on the ground floor of Kirk. It’s easy to feel like you’ve moved five steps backwards instead of moving forward, and while grades can feel like everything, I promise you they’re not. Sometimes all you need to do is take an afternoon away, gather your thoughts, and take some time out for yourself (quite the opposite of what you would expect to do when you’re not happy with a grade). Taking time away, even just for a short while, will refocus your mind and give yourself a well-needed break. After all, your wellbeing is the most important aspect of who you are. So why not go for a walk? Go out to dinner with friends? Have a treat night? Light some candles and read a book? While grades can feel like everything, focusing on your own wellbeing will give you the best result of all — in grades and in life. — Jaylee Rolleston

POSTGRAD INFORMER My battle-scarred laptop, which if it were a human would have almost finished primary school, got to take a break this weekend. It dreamed sweet neural-network dreams about being recycled as e-waste as its owner played New Orleans jazz in Blenheim on Friday, comedy-folk and gothic chamber pop at CubaDupa on Saturday, and French cabaret tunes on Queen Street in Auckland on Sunday. Music has been an incredibly important part of my postgrad study, because it hasn’t technically been a part of my postgrad study — I sang and played and completely ignored my thesis all weekend, and as a result, I was excited to return to my research on Monday. Having an interest that sometimes quite literally ferries me away from my studies has been incredibly important to my wellbeing and academic success. Much like my long-suffering laptop, I need to reboot after a period of intense central processor usage, and music has been a key part of this process for me. There are so many opportunities in Wellington to become involved in the arts, as either a spectator or a performer. The Doc Edge International Film Festival, LUX Light Festival, NZ International Comedy Festival, and Wellington Jazz Festival are all coming up within the next few months, and all of them offer a number of either free events or solid student discounts. There are open mics and jam nights all over the city for folk, jazz, comedy, and everything in between, as well as music clubs on campus that welcome new members with no experience at all. Try something new, that has no connection to what you’re studying at all. Maybe you’ll enjoy it, and maybe you won’t, and maybe you’ll become the best mathcore bagpiper in Aro Valley. Your degree is one part of who you are, but it doesn’t have to be everything. With love, your friendly neighbourhood linguistics Master’s student, accordionist, and former pun battle champion! — Emma Wollum

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HERE’S TO A MID-TRI PEP TALK Written by Trinity Thompson-Browne

As we head into the grind of the trimester, I wanted to write a piece for anyone who’s already running on the dregs of yesterday’s coffee fix. In areas where we already know we’re lacking — motivation for starters — it can be really hard to confront and persevere past this. So in a bid to remedy the mid-trimester funk known to seize many people, here are five empowering thoughts to mull over as you go about your week. My hope is that they help you equip yourself to succeed this year. 1. PROCRASTINATION ISN’T SOMETHING TO SKIRT UNDER THE RUG, BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT, OR FEEL ASHAMED OF.

When I procrastinated in the past I’d do one or all of the above, though none of them ever got me far. It wasn’t until this year that I learnt instead to pause, and question. No one should venture into something new with failure in mind. If you asked yourself, “why am I procrastinating?” and actually created the breathing room to be honest, what would your answer be? Sometimes it really is because we’re feeling lazy, but a majority of the time there is a genuine reason. Maybe you’re afraid of failing; maybe you’re going through a rough time at the moment — we all have them; maybe the assignment you’re working on is worth a ridiculous percentage of your grade and you’re hella nervous you’ll choke; or maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed with the fast pace of university and onslaught of assignments. All of these reasons are totally valid and real. Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out where your procrastination stems from at a given time. From there, the questions become a lot easier to answer. If you’re afraid of failure, what can you do/who can you see to help maximise your chances of success? If you’re going through a rough time, talking to a friend, counsellor, or someone you trust is a great place to start. If you’ve got big assignment or university’s overwhelming you, think of some ways to break the bigness of the situation down into smaller, more manageable portions.

2. LEARN TO DISCERN THE VITAL FEW FROM THE TRIVIAL MANY.

Assignments, parties, friends, work, study time, flatmates. Social media, hobbies, family, kids, lectures, landlords, sports, church, boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other. Tutorials, travel time, sleep, chores, extracurriculars, leadership roles, clubs, finances. Wereally should get more credit for the amount of things we juggle simultaneously as

Trinity Thompson-Browne

Here’s to a mid-tri pep talk

university students, because it’s a lot. My question is, do you know what your vital few are? If it all hits the fan, or you come into a really busy season, do you know what to prioritise versus what to set aside? Do you know who your ride or die friends are and, more importantly, who they aren’t? After the two years I’ve been in Wellington, I finally feel like I’m beginning to understand this one, and if I can help someone discern this for themselves too, that’s a win. Not knowing what your vital few are when you’re going through a stressful time or a crazy busy month is extremely challenging! So, take advantage of your time now and pay attention to the people and things that bring you fulfilment, as well as those that don’t. That way, in future seasons of busyness or hardship, you’re equipped to prioritise the things that are meaningful to you and the people who you value. 3. WHAT DOES “GOOD ENOUGH” LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

It’s different for everyone — an A for some, a B for others, or any mark that gets you passing a paper. Good for you! Regardless of the grade bracket you’re aiming for, the fact that you’re here speaks volumes in itself. Being at university, you’re going to find yourself pitted or scaled against external measurements more than once, so it’s beyond important to know what good enough looks like for you. Being content with the effort, focus, and time you’ve expended on a given venture or assignment is a freedom so many struggle to live in because it's something no one else on Earth can give you; you give it to yourself. When you're yet to define and live by your own standard of good enough, this is where it can get tricky. If not my own, then whose standard am I using to appraise the quality of what I'm doing? Moreover, is the appraisal it's giving me of any substance or truth? I’ve talked with so many people who were downcast about different areas of their lives because of this, and it’s one of the saddest things to see. There is only one of you in this world friend, only one. I’m imploring you, invest your care and attention into developing your own scale of what “good enough” looks like so that you don’t fall prey to the downward spiral of comparison that blinds and disheartens so many.

4. ROCK YOUR WHARE — NO ONE CAN DO THAT BETTER THAN YOU.

As a follow on from number three, I wanted to dig deeper into this because comparison has become one of the most pervasive yet socially accepted forms of self-depreciation we see today. Attacking far more than the quality of what you do, comparison edges up to the jugular; eventually questioning the quality and substance of your humanity. I am so over it. I’ve absolutely had it with the culture of insecurity that comparison — especially by way of social media — ingrains into the hearts and minds of our generation. Imagine how much more good we could all do in this world if we lived by an internallyfostered definition of success, rather than subscribing to other people’s.

So as an alternative to comparison, let me introduce to you the concept of “rocking your whare” — I think you’ll like it. A nifty wee saying born out of a conversation a friend and I had at a party (of all places), rocking your whare is essentially dancing to the beat of your own drum, but it’s grounded in the knowledge that you’re too valuable to be another piece on comparison’s marketplace. With a price that comparison could never pay, rocking your whare means being proud of doing you and measuring yourself only by your own progress, rather than trying to be anyone else. Here’s the analogy behind it: imagine the different parts of your person and life as rooms that together make up a whare; it can be as big or as small as you like. Now think of the more guarded parts of yourself that not many, if any, people know about — what do those rooms look like? How do you imagine those spaces to be? And more importantly, would you want everyone’s eyes to be able to survey the spaces holding your life’s most intimate details? This is the first and most important step in rocking your whare — realising that every person has locked doors, closed curtains, and rooms that they keep out of everyone's sight. Everybody has them. Everybody goes about curating the spaces they deem worthy for others to see; this doesn’t equate to an absence of fallibility or flaws. It just means those aspects of their personhood are in rooms we don’t know about. Next time you find yourself comparing everyone's curations to your entire whare — the good, bad, and ugly of your humanity solely against the things immediately visible to you in another’s life — stop and pause. Remember that we can only ever see as far into someone else’s whare as they let us. Step two of rocking your whare is placing your focus onto the good things in your own life. Every single moment spent envying another person’s whare is a moment taken away from appreciating, renovating, and creating beauty in your own. And if you’re thinking anything along the lines of, “there’s not much gold in my life” then friend, start looking for some! Gold isn't easy to find for a reason. If it were commonplace, it would be as meaningful as concrete. Seek it out in your friendships, relationships, hobbies, and passions, using the significance and vitality these things create to adorn every room of your whare. Go crazy and make it something you're beyond proud of. Rock it with the confidence that there's no one on the planet who can do it better than you. Keep in mind that rocking your whare is a two-step process that needs both stages to create a sustained shift in perspective. If you've been outsourcing affirmation and self-worth from comparison's marketplace for a while, it's going to take time to stop exchanging yourself for another. This language may sound pretty cringe-worthy, but I don't use it lightly. Comparison severely erodes a person's ability to empathise and we need to set the record straight about how ugly it is.

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Trinity Thompson-Browne

If I’m using comparison to feel better about myself, it's at someone else's expense. If I’m using someone else's failures or hardships as self-affirming highs, if I am too busy leaching validation off of another person’s shortcomings, I am totally disempowered from being able to give any degree of empathy, compassion, or aroha towards them. The oneliners are everywhere — “I'm so glad that's not me,” “oh but I didn't do as badly as them so I don't feel as bad,” “sucks to be them,” or “they probably deserve it,” among others. Knowing who you are as an individual comes from investing into yourself, not by gauging how you measure up against everyone else. Focus on learning the unforced rhythm of competing with no one, so that no one can compete with you. The more we boycott the lose-lose game of comparison and invest into ourselves, the sooner we’ll learn to be content with who we are. Each of us are here to rock our own whare bigger and better; free from the insecurity to be anything or anyone other than ourselves. And if not now, when? I'll say it one more time. Rock your whare! 5. ONE CAN DO MORE THAN YOU THINK.

Summarising the theme of our pep talk to the letter, this point is crucial. None of the four previous points stand without it because doing life well — which is my hope for everyone who reads this — is done by understanding the power and value of one. One seems insignificant at times, but if we look through history's pages to Sir Apirana Ngata, Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammad Ali, Kate Sheppard, Sir Edmund Hillary, and countless others, it becomes clear that one can always do more than we think. All backed and championed by many, yes, but all with a dream that started out in one. As a writer it's interesting, because unless someone directly tells you, I never know the impact my words have. I don't have a clue who I'm empowering

Here’s to a mid-tri pep talk

or enabling, but I'll bet my bottom dollar that there's at least one, and that one could go on to create change that impacts twenty, and from that twenty, a hundred, and from that hundred, thousands. Or, maybe not. You just never know. One person wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, yet millions studied it. One split time itself in half, and now we live every year in AD. One invented the lightbulb way back when, and now we live in a world where Virtual Reality is something you can purchase in a store. While none of these ones were completely alone in their endeavours, they had the ultimate challenge of trailblazing the unchartered way for months, years, decades even, until others joined their cause. Irrespective of time or place, history echoes the same story over and over — one can always do more than you think. You can do more than you think. Thanks for taking the time to read this! I hope it encourages and challenges you to see the trimester and year through strong. Mate ururoa e hoa mā!

Aria McInnes Aria.mcinnes@hotmail.com

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SOMEWHERE IN THERE:

AN OUTSIDERâ€™S GUIDE TO AUCKLAND Written by Dan Kelly

Dan Kelly

Somewhere in there: An Outsider’s Guide to Auckland

“ The city is a fact of nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap.

But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban form conditions mind.”

— Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities (1938)

The women took my bag of plums, punched a code into the till. Where are you off to, she said, the van parked out front sticking out like a sore thumb. It was Friday afternoon, in a fruit stall just outside Tauranga. The road hummed with cars. To Auckland, I said, smiling, and she looked up, looked me dead in the eyes. Yuk, she said. Why would you want to go there? It’s a question many ask. Derision sets in somewhere south of the Bombay Hills, and seems to rise in proportion to their distance. In many parts of the country, to mention Auckland is a shame best avoided. It’s too expensive, self-interested, a drain on our tax dollar. Backpackers aren’t much better. There’s nothing to do, they moan, it’s not a real city. Yeah yeah yeah, I wanna say, but where did you go? I’m not from Auckland, but I have lived there — for seven years, studying, and then working, and then not really working at all — and while there was once a time I agreed with the backpackers, I now hold the other side. There is much I don’t know; indeed, my status is such that I may never know, and yet, the city is one that rewards engagement. So, without further ado (this is the sort of shitty thing you write when hungover and on a deadline but hey, hi) here’s a non-definitive, semi-narrative, and quite possibly misinformed guide to Auckland by me, one-time resident and now outsider, drifting through a long weekend in our biggest metropolis.

FROTH First things first, when you pull into the big smoke you’re going to want to light it up, and nothing gets the party stomping like a sixer of VB and some deep tunes. It’s no Berghain, but Auckland establishment Whammy has recently carved out a new space for those more doof-oriented, and the sweaty walls of Backroom regularly play host to a bevy of talented producers and beatmakers. Last Friday was no exception, with local dance music collective Inky Waves (an outgrowth of the K Road-based zine space Inky Palms) putting on a free gig to celebrate the scene. Free gigs are sick, as is getting juiced with some of the country’s finest froftas. Shouts to Inky for putting it on, Whammy for hosting, and everyone who turned out and frothed hard.

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Auckland absolutely overflows with cheap eats and I’d be a fool to claim anything other than a passing knowledge but if you’re juiced and fried chicken’s your thing then you’d be a fool not to check out Ah Ssak, on the top end of Queen Street, just a stone’s throw from K Road (if you’re good at throwing stones). Expect: Korean fried chicken, kimchi, and all the balance so absent from American attempts at the genre — no waffles and maple syrup here, just the contentment of spice, sour, and greasy, delicious chook. Bonus points for cheap beer, late opening hours (’til 3am Friday and Saturday) and the super friendly lady who served us.

FEET One of the great pains of any visit to Auckland is the difficulty of getting around. The sprawl is real, and many of Auckland’s gems lie far beyond the central city (past favourites include: Try It Out, the Vietnamese restaurant in an old library in Otahuhu; Ollies, the American diner of legendary milkshake fame, on the corner of Royal Oak roundabout; and the fish and chips at the Titirangi shops next to the new and excellent art gallery Te Uru, because I once went there terminally hungover and their fish burger saved me, as it were). I found myself at the top of Dominion Road, half an hour of walking in already, somewhat amused by the prospect of how far I still had to go to get to Balmoral Road. Still, there are worse places to walk, and in many ways Dominion Road is a nice cross-section of the city; its changing faces, here described in merely peripheral fashion, as I saw it, through a haze of dumpling lust. First up was Dahua, the Chinese supermarket home to Auckland’s cheapest produce, a long-time flatting staple and occasional fridge ruiner ($0.69 for a bag of kiwifruit, of which one will certainly be, ah, how shall I put this: optimally ripe?), closely followed by Target, shitty furniture shop and set for the season of Late Night Big Breakfast featuring Jeremy Wells — its immaturity and talk show spoof rivalled only by Back of The Y Masterpiece Television, the early 2000s piece of Auckland production responsible for introducing me to both Te Puke Thunder and New Zealand’s greatest daredevil stuntman, Randy Campbell. To the left was the Indian-owned Bank of Baroda; on my right was the delicious (and

Dan Kelly

Somewhere in there: An Outsider’s Guide to Auckland

notoriously oversubscribed) Eden Noodles Café, not a single spare seat in sight. I walked past the Albert-Eden Local Board, where a large poster showed the street in 1915, its pictured tram now nowhere to be seen, just the privately run Sky Bus, shuttling people from the airport into town. On the porch of the next house a woman rolled a cigarette; two kids in red caps played tag in the park across the road. There was a TAB, a pet store, a Wendy’s. Two girls in headscarves stood waiting for the bus, the bench occupied by a man of sprawling proportions, staring aimlessly at the Salvation Army shop. He had a t-shirt on that said: “I’m not always rude and sarcastic. Sometimes I’m asleep.” I waited at the lights, looking up at The Dominion’s fresh paint and the inscription that proudly announced the date of its construction (1912), the sign that proudly announced the price of its jugs ($20 — between 4pm and 6pm). Across the road I could see legendary junkshop Geoff ’s Emporium, with Australian-owned Countdown just visible in the distance behind it, the car park, as usual, full. Not far along on my right was the vape-shop VAPO and its industrial white decor, a new addition and proof (had you considered otherwise) of the success of literary staples such as The Vaping Advocate (seriously, this is a real magazine — look it up). I continued on, past Love-A-Duck Hong Kong-style BBQ and dumpling empire Barilla’s second restaurant (a literal display of how far they’ve come — their first a jam-packed, colour confused affair after Balmoral Road, infamous for both the food and how long you’ll wait for table), on past The Best Souvenirs, their signs for honey and a single awning-mounted sheep, past the vintage shop and their somewhat ridiculously niche but still somehow viable stock of “Mid-Century Scandinavian Furniture”, past the requisite Liquor Spot and the soon to be closed Nosh, gourmet supermarket and home to some of the best dumpster scores in Auckland, past the Tongan Methodist Church and Bilbo’s, one-time infamous fish and chip shop, now remodelled (“AND WITH CHINESE FOOD”), a far cry from the dive a friend’s father recalls working in. His best story was one of an ounce of weed that the

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young stoners had tried to dry on the grill before selling, with perhaps expected results. On I walked, my belly rumbling: new townhouses, the old freemason’s centre, a pharmacy; past the RSA and queue of cars in the KFC drive through, across a busy Balmoral Road and, the rain really coming down now, into the sanctuary of New Flavour, no longer new and just one of the many options on offer, but still all I wanted: cucumber and dried tofu salad, pork and chive dumplings (fried) — sometimes it’s better the devil you know.

FALE It’s an oft-repeated fact that Auckland has the largest population of Pacific peoples and there’s no better place to check it all out than Pasifika, the yearly celebration of the different islands’ lineages and cultures, held over two days in Western Park. The festival is divided into 11 villages, each representing a different nation, and it was with dusty steps that I passed through Niue and into the Cook Islands. The crowd was thick, and after the previous night’s froth some serious feeds were (again) in order. The guys in front of me had similar plans: “fuck that watermelon looks all good aye.” And in that way that knowledge directs attention, it suddenly seemed as if everyone had one — huge watermelons cut in half, precariously topped with scoops of ice cream, melting in the sun.

Dan Kelly

Somewhere in there: An Outsider’s Guide to Auckland

I got a mixed plate to start and was barely into my first piece of taro (#bulking) when out of proverbial nowhere Bill English gets up and it’s the usual blah blah we are of the same blood and we look out for you bullshit that’s so at odds with National’s policies that it’s almost insulting that he has the balls to stand up there and say it, but I guess that’s what you get in our world of post-fact and fuck me taro is filling isn’t it and Bill finishes to barely audible applause and some other MP gets on and soon he’s dancing and the music starts up again and it’s almost like Bill was never there. The next act was a group of secondary school students, winners of a Polyfest category I didn’t quite catch: drummers on stage setting the pace and in front a sea of flowing hips and patterned skirts, rolling drums, sharp starts and stops, the beat toe-tapping, starting and stopping, the drummers and dancers perfectly in time, stopping and starting again, skirts swirling to the speed of the beat. Over at the Aotearoa stage they were serving up mussel fritters and fry bread and not for the last time did I wish I had another stomach, but no luck there, just a crack-up MC working the crowd: “this next artist is taking us to the Caribbean, we’re gunna take our waka up because we can and because we’re voyagers” and then she’s on, Silva MC, dancehall and raps, rolling bass and lyrics that call out the culture, the privatisation, the loss of land while a group of her friends stand to dance and I feel a welling joy, to know the struggle lives on, in song, in dance, to see the spark and see its history, our part in the global play. We walk past Tonga, where a toddler is being taught some dance moves, the roll of the teacher’s wrist poignant and full of grace, the crowd laughing, the toddler clapping, and on, into Fiji, where there are different dancers again, men this time, chest slapping and foot stomping and it is muggy, oppressively muggy, so we wander to Samoa and retire to the field, eat ice cream and watermelon, picking the grass out (collateral from its spill on the way there but who cares), brush it off, eat it down, watching the high school kids practising their performances, school uniforms on a Saturday, blazers and shirts complete with lava-lava and tapa cloth, a different world (for me) but one that is part and parcel of the city, part and parcel of its appeal, the chance to explore, join in new knowledge: Tāmaki Makaurau, isthmus of a thousand lovers.

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Written by Ali Burns

Someone once told me, “If I needed to have a hard conversation with you I would do it in public so you couldn’t get too upset.” We then proceeded to have a hard conversation. I shed some subtle tears, swallowing most of my feelings, composing myself at each sentence. The reality is that it doesn’t matter if I am in public or at home, I can’t always control if I am going to get upset. One of the reasons I find crying in public alarming is that I become hyper-aware of how my body is occupying the space it is in. Like stepping into a bath and feeling the water shift. It’s always easier to keep my emotions at home where they are safe and I am safe. When I am crying alone I can forget about my body and burrow inward. It’s harder to forget about your physicality and retreat into your head when you are out in the open, because you are sharing space with strangers. As a kid I found it easier to cry in public. My sadness didn’t really belong to me then; it belonged to my caregivers, they were the ones who had to take responsibility for it. My caregivers’ reaction to my sadness would indicate if I was okay. If I fell over and they laughed, I would laugh; if I grazed my knee and they fussed, I would cry; if they told me how brave I was being, I would be brave. I hadn’t yet learnt how to manage my own emotions. I was about six years old the first time I became acutely aware of myself crying. I thought I was alone; I was deep in my head and mumbling melodramatic statements to myself. I vividly remember exclaiming, “Nobody loves me!” My mum happened to be around the corner, her totally reasonable response was to utter, “Oh shut up,” which brought me forcefully back to earth and back into my body. I froze up, embarrassed, aware of my mum’s presence, totally aware of my physicality. The second time I remember being aware of my own body in this way was when my Poppa died. I felt uncomfortable in my skin at the hospital as I cried, exceedingly aware of each movement I made, wanting

Ali Burns

Brave face: Crying in Public

to go and stand by my mum, but not knowing how to move my body in a way that felt natural to get over to her. When I got home I sat on the couch and cried while cuddling my cat, until he uncooperatively peed on me. I wanted to settle in a nest inside my head and ignore my body, but I couldn’t because I needed to change my cat pee pants. I have become more and more aware of my body as I have grown. I find it hard to be vulnerable in public spaces, but sometimes I can’t make it home to cry. Sometimes I have put on a brave face and go out even though I am feeling heavy. But sometimes the heaviness hits me halfway through the day and I realise I have five hours until I can go home to do those shuddery breaths in my bed. So I just have to cry out in the open, and it doesn’t actually matter. Most people don’t care that you are crying. Realising this was heartbreaking, grounding, and liberating. Here are some things I have learnt from crying in public, and listening to stories of others’ experiences. This will hopefully be a helpful guide if you ever find yourself about to do the same.

Physically you will be squeezing your body really tight. You start to sweat and hold your breath and clench your teeth. This will give you a headache. When you try to stop yourself from crying you often start thinking about how you are being so brave and so strong holding it together, and how you are really just so sad right now, and you feel even sadder for trying to bury those feelings. You want to be in control of your body, but your eyes will well up, and you can’t push the tears back down. If you do really need to postpone the cry, here are some ways that, with extreme willpower, may help you to rein yourself in. You can try looking up, using cold sensations, and pinching yourself softly to try to stop crying. Shaking out your hands and focusing on your breathing and occupying your brain with a physical task are ways to try and gain control. If you feel it coming anyway, try and find a comfortable space to be in. Being by nature is nice; you can romanticise your problem by looking at the ocean or a lovely big tree, but then feel small again by thinking about nature and the size of the world or universe. Toilets are also great because as soon as you get that latch closed you can be alone; the access to tissues is also a benefit. Walking around is helpful if you are worried someone will try to talk to you. If you can’t find a space, or are stuck in one area, then choose a spot to look at, and keep your eyes on it, study that space and let it feel safe. You can spill over.

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It’s probably going to last longer than you think and definitely longer than you want. People will probably ignore you, not notice, or give you a sympathetic smile. If they do talk to you, they might say something like “don’t cry” or “why are you crying?” or “are you alright?” These questions are equally comforting and frustrating — try not to worry too much about responding in the “right” way. What is comforting to know is that people cry in public all the time, so here are some snippets of other people’s experiences, for solidarity: — I kinda just turned around and faced a bush, and just wanted to have a big cry but couldn’t so just had a little frustrated cry facing the bush. — Teresa Collins — I think I’d feel better if I didn’t get so sniffly, like if snot wasn’t involved at all, that’d be ideal. — Anon — Often I need to go to playground to swing on swings until I stop crying, this happened last week and took 1.5 hours… I don’t pretend I don’t cry. Crying is such a big part of my life that I find it part of my identity as an emo. — Alexa Casino — I went into the bathroom first and did the classic, looking at myself in the mirror, looking at how sad I looked and how my face was a true manifestation of my feeling, and obviously that was the worst way to try and compose myself. — Anon — I used to have the city clocked with where the nearest public toilet was because that was where I could cry. But now I’m just like, a tear is a tear is a tear… emotions happen whether John Smith finds it awkward or not. — Bianca Daniel

— I definitely pretend it’s not happening! Like nothing to see here, just a gal on a bus! That way no one will be kind and embarrassing. — Anon — I didn’t want to be anywhere because that would mean I would just be crying somewhere else, so I just went where I would feel the least embarrassed. — Anon

Ali Burns

Brave face: Crying in Public

You will look like you have been crying and you might start to think about whether it’s better to pretend you are high or have just had an allergy attack, rather than be honest about the fact that you have been crying.

If you feel like you need to carry on with your day, here are some tips to keep going: O Get hydrated — you have just leaked a lot of fluid so put it back in your body. O Physical contact with water can be grounding. It will make you feel clean and less salty, even if it doesn’t completely take away the puffiness. Press cold water to your eyes and face. O Blow your nose, and stash some extra tissues in your bag or pocket. O If you stand up straight and pull your shoulders back it can help you feel stronger. O Telling jokes and using humour can be ways of gaining control over your body again. It can break the tension and it can be cathartic to laugh.

Let someone know you are having a hard time. The university has free counseling services if you have no one around you who you feel comfortable talking to. Crying in public is normal, your emotions are always valid, and being vulnerable in public does not make you weak. A puffy face is still a brave face.

One Thousand Thoughts

Features

Written by Laura Toailoa

I like watching a movie for the first time knowing as little as possible about it prior. I avoid trailers and ratings — I like to keep an element of surprise. I went into The Martian thinking it was going to be about J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. All I knew about One Thousand Ropes was that it would contain a pregnant Frankie Adams (Ilisa) and a wall with missing photo frames demarcated. The Wellington premiere of One Thousand Ropes opened with speeches from Minister of Arts, Culture, and Heritage Maggie Barry, producer Catherine Fitzgerald, and director Tusi Tamasese. Once I heard Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi acknowledged as a distinguished guest, I realised this event was monumental — not just to local artists, the NZ film industry, and government officials who mispronounce every single Samoan name (does no one receive PR training for this?!), but to the wider Samoan, and Pasifika, communities. I suspected the film would address violence when the Honourable Maggie Barry complimented the film for “punching above its weight — pun intended, given the subject of the movie.” This film is h e a v y. Its pace is slow and, in the words of Tamasese, “demands a lot of your patience.” When watching the movie, my mind was overloaded with a thousand thoughts: whether violence is a legitimate form of protection, the normalisation of domestic violence in diasporic Samoan communities, indigenous spirituality and healing, the intergenerational disconnection between migrant parents and and their first generation New Zealand children, low socio-economic realities of the working class, the differences between the spoken gagana Samoa versus the English subtitles, the muted colour palette, the lack of a soundtrack but the visceral sound of Maea pulling a tooth out of his toe, the close-ups of dirty and bloodied skin, how Samoans laugh in such dire contexts, and if this film provided an accurate depiction of Samoan life. This movie is praised for being a gritty, unflinching look at the reality of Samoan and Pacific communities. I wrote in Issue 01 that Moana “does not claim to be an accurate anthropological telling of the Pacific.” One Thousand Ropes, in contrast, was framed as a film that sheds light onto “real” problems that “real” Pacific communities face — right here in Aotearoa. Pasefika Proud, an organisation dedicated to “promoting better well being by preventing violence in Pacific families and communities,” partnered with the film for their One Hundred Men Of Influence campaign, which is “a call to action targeting fathers to take responsibility for ending family violence in their family.” Actors Tuiasau Uelese Petaia (Maea) and Beulah Koale (Molesi) delivered emotive speeches at the premiere — urging the men in the room to think about their definition of masculinity and its implications for the people they love. They encouraged men to continue the conversation beyond the theatre, to take it back to their male friends and family members.

Laura Toailoa

One Thousand Thoughts

I fought hard to hold my tears back when Petaia spoke — he spoke English with a fobby accent that felt so familiar, familial; powerful and gentle at the same time. Koale thanked the women in his life for showing him that being a man doesn’t rely on an aggressive display of physical strength. This film explores different expressions of strength. This is shown predominantly through Maea’s contradictory character. His careful yet strong hands mili pregnant women and deliver babies from mothers who, out of social and cultural shame, don’t go to the hospital. These hands also knead the dough of the keke pua’a, an outlet for pent-up anger. These same hands also beat up a young colleague, for showing disrespect to an older one. They had also beaten his wife. These violent acts occur off-screen. Maea’s isn’t the only strength the film brings attention to. Women’s strength is displayed through Seipua’s relentlessness on living beyond the grave, and Ilisa during her pregnancy and delivery (which she handles completely alone). Ilisa’s strength is fully realised when she eliminates Seipua for good, as well as taking herself and her baby away from the abusive men in her life. Does the “realness” of the film rely on whether the characters or storyline would actually exist in our real world, things people have experienced themselves, truths they already know? Yet, fiction allows us to imagine a level of reality that doesn’t look exactly like ours, but touches on very real aspects of it. The language, the jokes, the cultural shame of young (and unmarried) women’s unplanned pregnancies, the reliance on physical strength to showcase masculinity — these all felt real. Even Seipua felt real. I only know echoes of stories about indigenous Samoan spirituality (taboo in most contexts I’ve been in). I haven’t lived them, nor have I heard direct accounts of people’s experience with them. But Seipua’s “realness” for me didn’t rely on whether or not she’s an accurate visual depiction of aitu; I cannot verify this. But I’ve seen her violent anger before, in my real world. The way she condemned Maea’s abusive actions, attacked Ilisa for telling her to go away, and yearned to live and be free — these all felt real. One Thousand Ropes requires a second viewing. It can be frustrating when you feel like a film is being elusive and difficult for the sake of being artsy — “I don’t get it.” This complaint often assumes there is one takeaway message, one moral-of-the-story hidden that only the exclusively artsy and/or “smart” people can find. I urge you to support this film with your dollars. Pasifika narratives within mainstream Aotearoa are often packaged in bright colours, floral designs, singing, dancing, and laughter: Fresh, Laughing Samoans, Pasifika Festival, Tagata Pasif ika. We need diversity in our narratives and One Thousand Ropes is one (monumental) example of it (there are many counternarratives in Pasifika art and discourse but often in lesser-known contexts). Go into the cinema with an open but critical mind; reflect on your own honest reactions. Pay attention to the parts that are unsettling, confusing, and enjoyable for you. It sounds taxing and it is, I suppose. But this is what I like doing in my spare time.

ARTS

Poem

hite

Over Rainbow

It has been so long, so long since I differentiated between the noises and signals. On my path to light, I’ve shot down all the black stars. Left them to crumble and decay in the cosmic dusts: they’re nothing but noises, to my heart. Time is up, light is on, and I am ready to sail, following the West wind, rushing, before I am murdered by empty dreams. This time, I allow my tears falling, in the rains. And learn to smoke the pains without getting high in furiousness. This war isn’t between me and the surrounded dark forces. Rather, it ’s a ‘fight-to-death’ episode of my angel and demon. Now, I have chosen wings over fire and decided to paint the sky in white over rainbow colours. “My son, don’t cry!” God said. A life that ’s written on a white paper will be lonelier than those under the sparkling nights. But it’ll be alright, alright — because I seek the ‘truest’ star, in spite of million scars on my chest. “Please, don’t despite all the worldly beauties!” she begged. The girl that is as lost as I used to be. Too late. Now, I’ve cleansed myself in the snow. I’ve already found answers in eyes of heavy storms. — N. Joung

Visual Art You tell these stories for so long that they seem true. In August 1955, Emmett Till, 14 years old, was brutally beaten, shot in the head, and dumped in a river in Mississippi. Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, alleged he had called her something “unutterable,” and told her he had done “something” with “white women before.” She told her husband. He and his half-brother took Till’s life for a crime Bryant recently claimed to not entirely remember. “You tell these stories for so long that they seem true,” she said, which seems like a particularly roundabout way of saying she lied. They were never convicted. Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, held an open casket funeral. An image of Till’s mutilated body was printed in J et magazine, which had a predominantly black audience. Audience matters. “Let the people see what I’ve seen,” she said, pushing his death into the spotlight and denying the grotesque the shaded corners of seclusion it so often demands. Images of black boys, black men, dying, come faster now to a wider audience. Maybe we are more accustomed. Maybe numbed. Maybe at too much of a distance. Maybe videos, pixel on screen, allow everyone to think they exist at a distance. The Whitney Biennial is in its 78th iteration this year. Curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks, it features the work of 63 artists and collectives, and aims to “gauge the state of art in America today.” Is to gauge the state of art to gauge the state of the nation? The answer rests in the audience’s reaction. Dana Schutz is one of the artists with work on display. Somewhere within the gallery hangs Open Casket , an abstracted image of Till, drawn from the image reproduced in J et . If the horror of the photograph comes from the distortion it depicts, the fact that the son Mamie buried looked nothing like the son she knew, then the horror of the painting comes from the fact that Schutz has rendered him again unrecognisable.

Visual Art

There have been calls for the painting’s removal, as of yet unsuccessful. Hannah Black’s open letter to the Whitney is eloquent, moving, and worth reading. I, a Polynesian woman, have little to add to Till’s narrative. But there are things we can draw from that of Open Casket . What I want to ask is how does history inform the present, how does it construct the present, and who has the right to represent it? Images are loaded. Whispering sweet nothings into the present’s ear, they present the opportunity to hijack history. In 2015, Jono Rotman’s large format studio portraits of Mongrel Mob members were exhibited at the City Gallery Wellington. They represent a different kind of distortion, closer to home. Search his work online and you’ll get headlines like “These Stunning Photos of New Zealand’s Largest Gang Will Give You Sleepless Nights”; “New Zealand’s Most Notorious Gang Pose For Photos That Will Make You Quiver”; “Staring Death In The Face”. Gangs act as a collective way of defining your existence, when as an individual, or minority group, you are otherwise denied that autonomy. They do bad things. They do good things. They are built out of urbanisation and migration. They are attempts to build community. They are acts of imperial resistance. They have many histories. They are easily sensationalised. Rotman hoped that his audience would be “forced to consider each man in person and consider deeply the forces that made him.” Schutz claimed art as “a space for empathy, a vehicle for connection. I don’t believe that people can ever really know what it is like to be someone else (I will never know the fear that black parents may have) but neither are we all completely unknowable.” Rotman and Schutz both display, I think, a kind of knowingness — or maybe a wilful ignorance — of the nature of their audience: it is them. It is white. It is loud. And it denies their subjects a voice by speaking right over them. — Hanahiva Rose

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CUTS FROM CUTS FROM THE DEEP THE DEEP

WESLEY WILLIS

Music Music

Wesley Willis is probably the wildest rock ‘n’ roll artist in history. Willis was born in the Midwest music metropolis Chicago, Illinois, and survived a traumatic childhood. He developed severe paranoid schizophrenia in the late ’80s as a result of the abuse he endured but, through this turmoil, emerged as one of the strangest, heart-warming, and lyrically astounding punk musicians and artists of the ’90s. The 300 pound giant became a cult icon not only because of his lyrically delightful verses, but also his engaging personality and peculiar demeanour. The base level of crude humour is apparent in songs like “Suck a Cheetah’s Dick” with great throwaway lines sprinkled in like “tell your barber you’re sick of looking like an arsehole” and “the lake of fire tore his arse up.” When you listen to his other records, there’s a level of depth, context, and emotion coming out of the frontman’s paranoia. The more politically informed songs pose questions to Ronald Reagan such as “what the fuck are you doing in my house?” and state the dread many African Americans feel — “when the police pulled up, I was doomed.” The production is about as lo-fi as it gets, however it’s undeniably heartfelt, reflective, and informed by Wesley’s own bizarre life. His artwork, despite its initially elementary appearances, is surprisingly astounding, and noted for its detailed recreation of Chicago’s cityscapes and public transport buses. But Willis’s personality was what sold many people, regardless of their thoughts on his actual records. Wesley developed a large bump on his forehead over his lifetime as he would always greet people by bumping his head with theirs and ask them to “Say Ra!” and “Say Raw!” for no reason at all. Despite his intimidating stature, people never seemed scared to come and engage with him to discuss how his psychotic episodes, known as joy (good)/ hell (bad) rides, were treating him, a bit of chat about the three demons “Heartbreaker”, “Nervewrecker”, and "Meansucker” that taunted him, and ultimately how the rock and/or roll lifestyle was. The man had an amazing circle of friends in record shops, including Sublime’s front runner Bradley Nowell, and Dead Kennedy’s founder Jello Biafra. Biafra said in an interview that Wesley, and the way he assembled his works, “are like no else. Ever.” Wesley passed away in 2003 due to leukaemia that ultimately deteriorated his health beyond repair, but he will live on in the hearts and minds of all those who dare to Whoop Spiderman’s, Batman’s, or Ronald Reagan’s arse. Rock Over London, Rock on Chicago. — Callum Turnbull

NZ MUSIC

Music

MUSIC

Kraus Kraus has been kicking around The record carries on Kraus’ blown out production style we’ve the Auckland underground come to expect from previous releases, but has some of his scene for quite a while now, most striking modular synth work on tracks like “A Cobweb frequently dropping albums My Dear” and a particularly great blokflüt part on “Boss Killer”. of l o - f i p s y c h r o c k Talking about his influences, Kraus explains, “I draw a lot on instrumentals recorded with East Asian folk traditions and traditional music so I’m kind homemade modular synths, of interested in those sounds and instruments. I really like the tape drum loops, and guitars contrast of high tech futuristic synth sounds with flute sounds, running through fuzzed out an extreme contrast I like to play with.” His influences on Grip effects boxes. His stream The Moon are more specific: “A Cobweb My Dear” draws of steady releases has gained from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, “a young woman who works with the attention of international modular synthesisers, in the fast arpeggio stuff that's happening indie labels and his latest on that track.” And Kraus suggests the repetitiveness of the record Grip The Moon album opener, “Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed”, comes from is set to be released on cassette listening to Hawkwind quite a bit — “it doesn’t really sound via US label Soft Abuse, like them but the hypnotic thing that they would get into is and on vinyl early next year coming through there.” via Belgian label Kraak. Up until about 2007 or 2008 Kraus released most of his music by making CDs and personally sending them to people. “It was a really good way to distribute music, I kind of miss that personal contact.” When the Free Music Archive was launched (freemusicarchive.org) Kraus began putting his releases up for free. His back catalogue is extensive, featuring a bunch of different instrumentation and experimentation such as the inclusion of the Guzheng (Chinese zither) on his album Workers in Kontrol. I asked where a good place to start searching through Kraus’s discog might be: “My album I could destroy you with a single thought which came out in 2004 is definitely one of my strongest albums. I have quite a varied style in a way, but it's reasonably consistent in terms of quality and approach, so I think you can dip in anywhere, but that's the album I’d recommend people go to first.” Kraus has spent a lot of time overseas lately playing shows, and is heading to Europe in September for a residency at the EMS studio in Stockholm (the Swedish national home of electronic music) where he’ll have access to their extensive synthesiser collection to work on new material. For now, check out Grip The Moon on kraussss.bandcamp.com if you're into proggy, psychedelic, ambient, fuzzy, blissed out aural experiences. — Olly Clifton

Podcast

52 Wednesday Eyegum Wednesdays with Disparo and Starving Millions. Whet your appetite for Australian punk with a side of Wellington hardcore with this stunner of a gig. Head remaining squarely on shoulders not guaranteed. San Fran, 9:00pm. Thursday and Friday Nadia Reid Preservation Tour. Nadia Reid’s deliciously serene folk may just slip you into a trance so lovely and full that you are able to spend the entirety of the rest of your life delightedly soldiering through capitalism, the patriarchy, the prison industrial complex, casual racism, and other such pleasant institutions with vim and vigour. The beauty will unfold at Meow, doors opening at 7:30pm. Friday Tenzin Choegyal. This dude is wild. He was from a nomadic family in Tibet, clandestinely escaped Chinese occupation to live in India, and learned to masterfully play the Tibetan lute and transverse bamboo flute as well as sing like a sweet baby angel, and you get to experience all this transcendental magic live in little old Wellington! Johnny Marks of The All Seeing Hand is also doing a solo throat-singing set, and this will all occur on the alternate plane of what I believe to be called “Pyramid Club”. Time is an indeterminate social construct, and if your belief is potent enough, you can access this realm whenever you choose. For the plebs who still wear watches, it’s at 8:00pm. Saturday Dual EP release tour. Dual are dudes. They make sounds with buttons and wires and stuff. It ’s psychedelic and nice, so you should probably go to Caroline at 8:00pm on Saturday.

GIG GUIDE

PODCAST In Our Time

Congratulations, you’ve made it to WEEK FIVE of university! You’re back into the student routine: your assignments are piling up, you’ve got a crush on a barista at Vic Books, and the Nap Paradox has reared its ugly head (the more you desperately need to nap, the less time you have to take said nap). Also, you’re LEARNING. It’s crazy how in the holidays you can spend 50 minutes watching blooper reels, whereas at uni in 50 minutes your lecturer will have taught you everything you need to know about NATO. Although the university experience is attached to many things — socialising, crippling debt, anxiety about your job prospects – it’s important to stop and think about all the things you’ve learned. Even if it seems weird or obscure, knowledge will always be important. Now that we’ve agreed we love to learn, check out the podcast In Our Time. Originally broadcast on the BBC, each week a different topic is discussed by host Melvyn Bragg and three academic experts. The advantage of having multiple experts is that there will often be some brisk debate around the topic, as they challenge each other's ideas and assumptions on the topic. The range of topics discussed is immense, from penicillin to Animal Farm to the Haitian Revolution. Each episode is 50 minutes long — it’s basically a lecture you can listen to in your bed and just enjoy, knowing you’ll never be tested on it. The pace of discussion is quick, and there is an assumption of a proficient level of general knowledge in the listener, so I would recommend dipping your toe in at episodes where you are a bit familiar with the topic. However it’s an extremely popular programme on the BBC, with over two million listeners tuning in each week. Knowledge is power, but even better, knowledge brings progress. We’re all better off if we know stuff. So next time you’re walking to uni, give In Our Time a listen and LEARN NEW THINGS. Episode to start with: Industrial Revolution — Annelise Bos

Film

FILM

BLACK AND WHITE Black and white has served a multitude of filmmakers as a means to tell a story since colour took over as the dominant form, as it offers a different technique for expression. Alfred Hitchcock famously went back and forth between the two, using red and green in the lusty illusions of Vertigo, but harsh shadows and spooky lighting in black and white for Psycho. And, of course, The Wizard of Oz starts in black and white before exploding in vibrant colours. Since nowadays black and white has become a deliberate choice, it pays to examine why filmmakers use it. The most obvious example is Spielberg's Schindler’s List; it prompts the clear discrepancy between good and evil, while also placing us temporally. Furthermore, the often noir-style cinematography lends itself to the format with shadows, smoke, and brutal violence often featured within the frame. 16mm black and white has also offered many varying filmmakers the ability to shoot their projects dirt cheap. Kevin Smith's Clerks managed to scrape by on no budget, Christopher Nolan used his noir tendencies to save money with The Following, and Roman Polanski brought a visceral portrayal of sexual anxiety to the screen with Repulsion in the ’60s — the lo-fi/low-tech nature of the film working to make it all the more disturbing. At its most essential form, black and white cuts out the middleman of colour and sends our brain images of pure composition without any frills or distractions. Here’s a brief collection of films (all of which, by chance, are documentaries) that have used the advantages of black and white memorably.

Film

The Ground We Won (2015)

Directed by Christopher Pryor and Miriam Smith It's honestly surprising, given our nation's apparent love of rugby, that more cinema hasn't come of it. The explanation for this may well lie in this primarily observational documentary, which follows the Reporoa Rugby Club through their season, and in doing so portrays the extent to which the sport is ingrained into the New Zealand community. There's all the swearing (“let’s smash these c*nts”), drinking (primarily crate beer), and hazing you might, or might not, have expected, but there's also a genuine camaraderie shown between the players. Indeed, all the “aftermatch” behaviour is bracingly upfront, with alcohol-fuelled masculinity bringing out what some would call the worst of rural New Zealand. In a way, the style is almost a reference to the polarising nature of the sport itself — while some are neutral or indifferent towards rugby, there are many who loathe it, and others who live and breathe it (I am referring to those who act as if “soccer” is a poncy frivolity which threatens their way of life and furthermore is played by girls). This is a sports film only in the loosest sense. There's no narration, so you're left with whatever the filmmakers capture the men saying, and it is in the lack of explanation that the filmmakers enforce the absurdity of rugby. Had this been a documentary about the All Blacks or any of other well known rugby team, all the beats and motions would have been predictable and familiar. But with the obscurity of the team, and the use of black and white, the film becomes a microcosm of a greater community. The removal of colour makes you feel as if you could be watching any provincial team at any time in New Zealand's history, and the film’s overall comment is all the greater for its stylistic choice.

One More Time With Feeling (2016) Directed by Andrew Dominik

Following 2013’s 20,000 Days On Earth, which chronicled Nick Cave’s thoughts and feelings on that particular time in his life (as well as semi-documenting the creation of the album Push The Sky Away), this film finds Cave in the wake of personal tragedy, and follows far more closely his creativity and creative process in the making of the album Skeleton Tree. Immediately reflexive in its format, the film finds Cave agitated and more concerned than usual — at a kind of crossroads. Not only in black and white, but also in 3D, you truly feel like an inhabitant of Cave's world. That said, you're also occasionally thrust back into the real world as the camera sometimes breaks and the filmmakers resort to split screen, with one camera flicking in and out of focus. To match that level of realism is a Nick Cave far more candid than he was in 20,000 Days, and he even admits this in relation to his songwriting. In the interviews the camera is often handheld and evocative, and intercut with lush cinematography of his surrounding seaside town, complemented by the sense of otherworldliness that black and white implies. As Cave describes how in wake of his son’s death he sees the world differently, we too see the world differently. It's not a morbid piece, or one that lingers in grief, but is rather a meditation on life when you're forced to readjust so drastically. And I haven't even mentioned the songs yet. The entire album is played (and filmed) throughout, and there is a filmic progression to all the songs. In the beginning

Film the filmmakers capture a distracted and hesitant Cave singing “Jesus Alone” and the set pieces get more and more elaborate and emotional, with the second to last song, “Distant Sky”, being filmed in colour and representing a progression as well as hope. In the end it's a beautiful portrait that is thoughtful and riveting, and one that will undoubtedly engage you with its thesis on life.

The Salt Of The Earth (2014)

Directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado This one’s a bit of a cheat, because it is only about two-thirds black and white, but the way this film cuts from black and white to the occasional use of colour is something worth talking about. Exploring the 40-year career of photographer Sebastiao Salgado, this epic and breathtaking documentary recounts his greatest expeditions and examines his attitude to his work, his life, and to our own species. All of Salgado’s photographic work is black and white, so the filmmakers match this with the interview footage and a lot of the other cinematography. It's not just stylistic however: Salgado's work is timeless through its lack of colour, and so too becomes the film. Most of interviews are Salgado himself recounting his experiences as he looks over his photography, and you slowly gain insight into his views on humanity. As he documents extreme genocide and famine in Africa, it becomes apparent that the human condition is one of perpetual, self-inflicted sickness, and his photography becomes confronting and brutal. Here the timeless nature of black and white serves as a reminder that the issues that Salgado photographed then are not only issues of that time, but of all time. Incredible humanitarian injustices occurred before he saw and photographed them, and they still continue today. Within the interviews a very sombre Salgado conducts himself thoughtfully, and his eyes give the viewer a hint of the suffering he has seen. In this way the black and white serves as a means to deconstruct human expression to pure composition, with the emotion somehow more tangible, something seen also in Salgado’s work. Towards the end of the film colour is used more, as Salgado in more recent times documents the purity of nature and restores his family farm in Brazil from virtual desert to a thriving ecosystem, and in that Salgado finds his resolution in the thought that humans can still bring positive impact to the world, ending a monumental legacy of photography with a fitting conclusion. — Finn Holland

Fin.

Games

GAMES You Can Play Too!

As much as I like to say that games are for everyone, the unfortunate truth is that the medium is nowhere near as accessible as it should be. It isn’t about subject matter or anything to do with a game’s artistic intentions; rather, it is a matter that most people wouldn’t even give a single thought to. How can you play video games if holding a controller is nearly impossible?

Think about it: how would you hold a controller? Presumably you grip it with both hands and hold it in front of your torso with your elbows at your side. That’s the way most controllers have been designed since the early days of console gaming. Unfortunately, most controllers are only designed with ablebodied players in mind, meaning that if you have a disability or other condition that affects your fine motor skills, the controller is (rather ironically) your biggest barrier to being able to play most games. Until very recently, the only real solution for mainstream games was to use unofficial alternative controllers. Some of these are amazing feats of engineering, such as the QuadStick, a mouth-operated controller designed for quadriplegics, and a number designed for use in one hand. As incredible and thoughtful as they are, most of these solutions are expensive and are not officially supported by console manufacturers or most games; the QuadStick only exists thanks to a Kickstarter campaign, and it will set you back at least US$399. Gaming may be an expensive hobby, and I’m certain most people with physical disabilities will do anything to feel comfortable, but you’d have to be really dedicated to fork over that amount of cash. Thankfully it seems that the big gaming companies are listening to this part of their consumer base and are taking accessibility into consideration more and more. For instance, the Nintendo Switch is probably the most accessible

console for disabled gamers ever released, thanks to the system’s Joy-Con controllers. Having two separate controllers that work in tandem with one another allows for all sorts of configurations, whether it’s having one controller in each hand, or one in your hand and another at your feet, or whatever works for you! The very nature of the system means that you can play in a way that feels most comfortable, even if you don’t have a disability. Despite this, some of the JoyCon features such as motion control go in the opposite direction, and as of writing there is no button remapping available. That ability to remap is the key idea behind a recent update to the Xbox One called Co-pilot Mode. This mode allows you to map controls for one player over two controllers, allowing for functionality similar to that built into the Joy-Cons. Remapping is already built into the Xbox One and PS4, so a mode like this should really be a no-brainer; as it is, it’s still kind of clever. Yes, it requires picking up an extra controller, but compared to the likes of the QuadStick it really won’t cost that much. If we want games to truly be for everyone then we need to think of those for whom the traditions of gaming are a barrier. It may be great to see more accessibility options being put out there, but true change needs to be put into systems from the ground-up, not just with system updates and unofficial accessories. If you want to find out more about accessibility options for disabled gamers, check out the AbleGamers Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of those with disabilities through gaming, at ablegamers.org. — Cameron Gray

Television

TELEVISION The Bachelor NZ, Season Three

Hear ye, hear ye, I do decree! Another season of the Bachelor NZ to be reviewed by me! Roses! Dates! Champagne! Michael Hill! Whose wildest dreams will our new leading man fulfil? Each week we’ll watch as he looks for his queen, Let’s just hope he’s more interesting than bloody Art Green. Desperate to avoid a repeat of last year’s

Bachelor catastrophe, when Jordan Mauger

ditched winner Fleur hours after giving her the winning rose, the producers have gone in a completely different direction with this year’s bachelor Zac Franich. He might look like just another tall, white, brunette man with a passion for sports, but you’re wrong, because he also has a very deep tan. And they got rid of Mike Puru and Dominic Bowden’s hosting it now — I’m telling you, it’s a whole new game! Zac is a 28-year old surf life saving coach from the Hibiscus Coast. He loves his family, he loves his students, and he looks a lot better in motion than in promo photos. His favourite book is Catch-22 and I was surprised to learn he can read. When asked what kind of movies he enjoys during a round of tipsy group small talk, Zac claims one of his favourites is the John Belushi classic The Blues Brothers — nice try Zac, but unless you have your own DeLorean à la Jordan I’m calling BULLSHIT on your passion for ’80s film. The Bachelor is only in its second week as I’m writing this so it’s still hard for me to tell the difference between any of the bachelorettes. All of the women standing out to me so far are not doing so for the best reasons: Taylar, who reminds me of every girl I was scared of at high school in Christchurch; Nina, who won’t stop babbling about how she’s not like the other girls

and how much she loves Harry Potter (and she wasn’t even the only contestant to mention HP in her opening interview — like, we all read them, but is a show about adult relationships really the time to be bringing child wizards up with great fervour?); Lily, who has the upper hand as a snowboard instructor but is unfortunately completely dead behind the eyes; and Bel, who LOVES. HER. CATS. There are some other nice and normal blonde girls who will stick around for a few weeks, but who will be this year’s Naz? It’s going to take a lot of sneaky editing to make any of these women look mean in a funny way. As per usual the group dates all involve some kind of physical activity and I look forward to the producers scrambling for ideas all but short of forcing the ladies to do the beep test. So far we’ve done relay races and touch rugby. Everyone pretends they love it — or maybe they do? I don’t. The one-on-one dates are a little more traditional, though still situated in the middle of a rugby pitch or a table on the beach safely between the flags (get it? Life saving). “I’m kind of like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman,” says early front-runner Viarni of her evening with Zac, catching herself to add, “except I’m not a hooker.” Let’s just hope Zac isn’t like Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride. What’s Jordan Mauger up to these days anyways? You didn’t hear it from me (you did) but I’ve heard he can be spotted at many the Auckland club getting down and dirty on the d-floor. Romance is still alive! Raise a glass of miscellaneous champagne to that, ladies. — Katie Meadows

Food

SWEET MOTHER’S KITCHEN The trip to Sweet Mother's Kitchen came after a torrid February afternoon in which we were on the hunt for fried chicken. After the enormous disappointment from an unnamed and well-regarded establishment being “out of chicken” we headed to the end of Courtenay for some much sought after butter-milked-bliss. Sweet Mother's Kitchen prides itself for its take on Southern food, with dishes from New Orleans, as well as Mexican snacks. The decor is very American, sporting a vintage hoarders look. All the waiters and waitresses are dressed without uniform and look like they'd rather be dead or at a Wellington Phoenix match — 50/50 isn't it? The fried chicken comes as boneless chicken strips, breaded to perfection. They remind me of human Schmackos (the dog treat), and I did indeed go whacko™ for them. Buttermilk was involved in the creation of these bad boys, and I almost had to arrange the menu over my lap as I took the first bite as arousal was the primary emotion. Several bites into my fillet of chicken you slowly realise the crisp crumb around the chicken starts to fall off the fillet and gracefully glaze the fries. Now we realise that Salient doesn’t usually publish erotic material so if anyone wants to read the erotic fan-fiction that I wrote involving SMK’s chicken and Burger Liquor’s fries, bling my line on the d-low. 4.8 out of 5. The curly fries were pretty good, but also got me thinking about why curly fries are one of the only foods that you can buy that are curly. Why stop there; their exemplary status should be something for other foods to aspire to. Like I mean I guess you have spiral pasta, but that’s just spaghetti all dressed up and ready for a more accessible meal that won’t splash your white shirt like spaghetti does. If you come at me saying curly fries are just fries that are curly you are wrong and uninformed as they have a special yet simple process behind the crispness.

Curly fries are always good though, like have you ever had bad curly fries? Curly fries are the restaurant equivalent of your emotionally unstable aunt’s potato salad at the family reunion: these did not disappoint. 4.0 out of 5.0. Each table comes with an assortment of various hot sauces that dare customers to play funny games such as “put lots and lots on your chicken as a funny joke that ruins your food and bowel movements” — a classic New Zealand pastime. Because I (Thomas) am white I had to let Kii tell me the subtle flavors in the sauces past that of my “it’s really hot why didn’t you tell me you dickhead.” He told me but I didn’t listen as I was too busy thinking about the sour cream in my fridge at home; a more reasonable spicy challenge. Speaking of challenges, do we all remember the Nutmeg challenge? What a time to be alive. Hot sauce: 1 out of 5 (Thomas), 4 out of 5 (Kii). — Kii and Tom You can catch Kii and Tom on SalientFM (88.3) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 6.00– 8.00pm. Find them on Facebook: “Kii and Tom”.

Theatre

ESCAPED ALONE — CARYL CHURCHILL Escaped Alone at first doesn’t appear to fit the nature of Circa Theatre’s Women’s Theatre Festival (WTF!). While it’s radical to see four women over 30 claim the theatrical space, there’s no obvious feminist subject matter, as with previous WTF! pieces The Journey of Miss Batten or Hen’s Teeth. Then again, when you consider playwright Caryl Churchill's career in theatre (being critically dismissed early on based upon an unwillingness to grant interviews, for her unashamedly experimental and political content and, dare I say it, being a female intruder on the old boys’ club of British Theatre) it makes perfect sense. Historically, whenever one of Churchill’s major productions has premiered, it has been directed by a man — but this New Zealand premiere is directed by Susan Wilson, making it a uniquely feminist experience considering the limited roles available for women on and offstage in international theatre. Unfortunately, Escaped Alone at times feels like witnessing the outcome of a three-way brawl between different scriptwriters, as if Churchill was in three minds about the piece while writing it. One writer is trying to produce a light-hearted ensemble comedy about the experiences of aging as women, while one is trying to cram in some deeply personal monologues addressing the ironic sense of isolation people can feel in the modern world. Then there’s the closet communist in the corner who delights in envisioning capitalism’s bloody downfall. I’m not sure how the communists’ pages got in, but they’re all there in the darkly comedic monologues of starving children watching Breakfast Shows on iPlayer and refugees on a three week NHS waiting list for gas masks. Ginette McDonald, playing Mrs Jarrett, performs these anomalies lit by a single spotlight between group scenes, and seems to relish the dripping malice of the direction. This isn’t to say that these three scriptwriters are bad at their job. Churchill is clever enough to keep us out of the characters’ worlds as long as

possible: we are introduced to the characters with an array of non-sequiturs, in-jokes, and gossip. You spend the first twenty minutes trying to look for a deeper feminist or postcolonial meaning, like the crown jewels of Churchill’s writing Top Girls and Cloud Nine. Then, just when you’ve written off Escaped Alone as an aimless, labour of love: the “cat monologue” happens, performed with tenacity by Irene Wood. What starts off as a laughter-inducing shpiel concerning Ailurophobia (irrational fear of cats) quickly turns to a deeply unsettling depiction of aging alone, and the paranoia that it brings. Suddenly, like the patio cracks in the floor of the set, the layers of pretense and fake smiles slip and break, and we are drawn into the murky past of endlessly charismatic Vi (Carmel McGlone) and the hidden depths of Lena ( Jane Waddell). But as a final point, even with four excellently directed monologues, my experience of Escaped Alone felt like a mirror of Mrs Jarrett’s experience in the play. I see women I recognise, and am invited in: they talk for an hour while I listen. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I gasp, and sometimes I make a noise somewhere in the middle. Then I leave, unsatisfied, having not understood what I should have been listening to and what was superfluous. The acting and direction of the piece is fantastic, with the characters instantly likeable and complex at once. The dialogue is paced beautifully. But I wish the individual acting, direction, and writing could have been focused upon one cohesive narrative, as opposed to trying to craft something out of three different experiences. As a counterpoint: it’s new theatre from Caryl Churchill. Even it’s extreme lack of cohesiveness has a certain charm. — Sean Harbottle Circa Theatre is currently offering theatre tickets for $25 for those 25 years old and under. Find out more at http://www.circa.co.nz/.

Invisible Cities — Italo Calvino

It is a fitting book to write about on a murky night, when the city from the office window is but a suggestion in the clouds, a gathering, formed from orange points between the dark structures of buildings. Invisible Cities is many conversations, or one dialogue, between the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and his Venetian messenger Marco Polo who describes 55 cities from his vast realm. Each is demarcated, given its own chapter, and five are ordered around a theme, eleven in total: e.g. Cities & Names; Hidden Cities. The cities are encountered on a narrative path that feels circular. It is like a descent down an unending spiral staircase: a motion of “leaving there and proceeding.” To read the description of a city by Polo is to move with him through an endless wasteland; the next city on the horizon, each somehow a return to the last, but no steps retraced? Respite come in the moments when the book narrates Polo’s meetings with Kublai Khan in the opulent and imperial, but unlocatable, settings of the ruling class — “reclining on cushions” or “beneath the silken canopy of the imperial barge.” These moments of conversation allow for a reflexive contemplation on the structure that underlies Polo’s wandering descriptions. Kublai Khan, as listener, believes he can discern a pattern like that in chess where “certain pieces implied or excluded the vicinity of other pieces and were shifted along certain lines.” He thinks: “If each city is like a game of chess, the day when I have learned the rules, I shall finally possess my empire, even if I shall never succeed in knowing all the cities it contains.” Here we must step out. The structure of the novel as we read it indicates nothing but the gaps, the darkness of the unknowable. It is created from language and, like the cities, the words used to evoke them are shifting and untethered in the mists. — TGM

Books

Where We Once Belonged — Sia Figiel

It’s a strange feeling reading stories set in contemporary Samoa. Having read books almost exclusively set in America or England, a defining aspect of the fictional world was that I never saw my real world in there. My fiction never had Aoga Faifeau, Pili (Tagaloa’s son), the makeki fou, and characters with names like Filemuepeiolelupeuatulelauolivemalueleonononafaauoiaue. The novel uses both prose and poetry, with Samoan mythology intertwined, and it feels as if you’re moving between the real and the imaginary, disrupting my understanding of fiction. The jarring experience of reading about places, people, and cultural nuances that I thought didn’t belong in books (especially books studied at university) is made moreso by Figiel’s matter-of-fact tone. The opening line reads: “When I saw the insides of a woman’s vagina for the first time I was not alone.” Far from being titillating, Figiel’s prose is aggressively confronting and it isn’t until you reach the chapters that are poetry that you find some room to breathe. This book describes a Samoa that is very similar to my experience of living in the village, but also brings new narratives that I’ve never seen or read about. It predicates the aspects of Samoan society that I took for granted in a form that allows it to be questioned: older men (often a family member) sexually preying on younger women, the pursuit of a palagi spouse because that’s seen as a rise in the social order, the extent of the beatings children receive from parents and other adults, and how “good-natured” mocking can quickly turn into bullying. The novel doesn’t overtly condemn these aspects, but describes them as just the way things are. At first I accepted them as merely realistic descriptions to set the scene. But these background details soon became the subject matters in the forefront. — Laura Toailoa

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EMAIL: DESIGNER@SALIENT.ORG.NZ

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Puzzles

CROSSWORD: â€˜PLAYER'S HANDBOOK'

ACROSS

1. Hit Netflix series featuring a world called the Upside Down (8,6) 9. Continuously hit, as with artillery (9) 11. One sixteenth of a pound (5) 12. Stomach muscles, for short (3) 13. Stockings and the like (7) 16. Black bird (4) 18. Things that everyone is aware of (6,9) 19. Albumen's counterpart (4) 20. Chest of drawers (7) 24. 2013 sci-fi film starring Scarlett Johansson (who is the person referred to in the title) (3) 25. Boise is its capital (5) 26. 'Napoleon Dynamite' character who says "Back in '82, I used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile" (5,4) 29. Marxist group above the proletariat... or a hint to the shaded squares in the grid (3,6,5)

SUDOKU

Sudoku difficulty: Hard

DOWN

TARGET Make as many words of three letters or more as you can. Each word must contain the letter in the central square.

LAST WEEK'S SOLUTION

Target goals: Good: 26 words Great: 31 words Impressive: 35 words

1. Take away from (8) 2. Aries' symbol (3) 3. Second Amendment group (abbr.) (3) 4. Comedian Izzard (5) 5. Right now (5) 6. Like some triangles (9) 7. Material used by Guy Fawkes (9) 8. Barack Obama, astrologically (3) 10. Ghost's shout (3) 13. One who believes that diluting a medicine improves its efficacy (9) 14. City that chemical element 67 is named after (9) 15. Time off, slangily (1,3,1) 17. Prepares a negative for printing (8) 20. Nature priest (that sadly doesn't fit in any of the shaded squares) (5) 21. Microsoft Office program (5) 22. Place for studs or drops (3) 23. Number of degrees associated with Kevin Bacon (my Bacon number is four, incidentally) (3) 27. Emergency key (3) 28. 'This American Life' host and hipster intellectual Glass (3)

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope

*Aubergine and Celeste hope their readers are feeling refreshed after last week’s new moon in Aries*

Aries: March 21–April 19 This is your time, friend! Stick to your gunz! This is the start of a six-month cycle of getting back to you, so get to work on any solo projects you’ve been dreaming up. Plan some tight looks to try out after Venus gets her sweet arse out of retrograde on the 15th. Taurus: April 20–May 20 Expressive Mercury is in your sign until the 20th of this month my lovely earth friend! Time for some introspection and personal healing. Tweet your truth, but do this before Sunday when Mercury goes into retrograde. Gemini: May 21–June 20 This is a rare time of intuition and compassion for you lol. Write down your ideas and dreams! This week focus on your professional image (gr8 excuse to go shopping, imo). Gentle reminder to be friendly at work. Cancer: June 21–July 22 Hey dreamboat, you’re super charming right now so get your hot ass out and network! Watch your mouth at work though Crab, don’t make weird/vaguely insulting jokes no one gets. And most importantly, please, don’t screw the crew. Leo: July 23–August 22 You are a career superstar for the next two weeks my hot fire friend. Want a promotion? You got it. This is the time for parties! You might meet someone who you can collab with on something cool. Virgo: Aug 23-Sep 22 You’ve got control of your life sweet honey child! You’ll have plenty of chances to be adventurous Virgin, you’re super popular right now — but don’t get distracted by that hottie! You need to get all your ducks in a row by Sunday.

Libra: Sep 23-Oct 22 You are about to do a major collab @ work this week (think you are Malik Jordan, and your boss is Drake). Listen to your heart, it’s gonna drive you through this time, and just hold on cause YOU are going home. Scorpio: Oct 23-Nov 21 The sun is in your house of work this week: YES! Sweet Scorpion it is time for you to work x6. You will be killin’ it this week, which might get you some haters but you gotta do what you gotta do. Sagittarius: Nov 22-Dec 21 It’s time to branch out and show your ever creative nature at work this week. Maybe instead of presenting a presentation you could write a song about the topic, but we are just spitballing here. Capricorn: Dec 22-Jan 21 Time for your smart-arse self to give some hot takes that will save the day at work. The 10th and 11th are your time to kill it and we are very proud of all that you will achieve. Aquarius: Jan 22- Feb 19 Make the best of this fortnight, my pal! Fuck your boss for a promotion or finally curse out the dick who complains about the coffee. Viva la revolution. (This guest horoscope brought to you by Madame Aura)+ Pisces: Feb 19-Mar 20 M8, you’re known as a bit of a shit talker, but this fortnight you gotta walk the walk, buddy. Your work might not pay off career-wise, but you will be respected for the effort you put in. — Aubergine amd Celeste

P.S. We thank the “constructive criticism” from our anonymous letter writer, and will strive to read at least three magazine horoscopes (That’s Life, Lucky Break, AND Women’s Weekly) a week to appease your concerns. xx

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