The Voice Issue Six

issue six // october

// issue six

“It’s hard to kill. Maybe that’s why his hand was shaking.”

Courage

I

Josh Dye

t’s a year since Pakistani schoolgirl and education activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating for the education of girls in Pakistan. She had the courage to stand up for her rights, to the very point of death. Miraculously, she survived the assassination attempt, and today continues her inspirational campaign for women’s rights.

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October is also Do It In A Dress month.

It’s courageous for a man to wear a dress for a month, and not care what anyone thinks. That’s exactly what this campaign is all about—it aims to raise awareness (and money) for girls in developing countries who don’t have an education.

This issue of The Voice is dedicated to courageous women—not just women like Malala in far-flung Pakistan, but women here in Australia too.

What we take for granted here—the absolute right to education—is something others in the world are literally dying to have. Imagine if, like Malala, your life was actually under threat for standing up for equal rights.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Some of you have been affected, or know someone who’s been affected, by breast cancer, whether it’s a mum, an aunty or a grandma. Maybe they beat it, maybe they didn’t. But you know the fight they went through, and the courage they showed.

This month, remember those who are courageous—whether it’s fighting health issues or battling for justice—and do your bit where you can. It might be a donation, a conversation, or a prayer. A little can do a lot.

Comments? thevoice@avondale.edu.au

Writers Editor

Josh Dye

Designer

Danelle Morton

Chelsea Mitchell, Claudia Houstoun, Josh Dye, Laura Mitchell, Lara Campbell, Mitchell Strahan

Advertising

Luke Ferry

Special Thanks to Colin Chuang

Submissions: thevoice@avondale.edu.au Advertising: thevoice.advertising@avondale.edu.au

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Vox Pop

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Feature

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“Winners are Grinners”

Competition “Twitter Fiction”

page six

Feature

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Feature

page eight

“A Royal Priesthood” “Don’t Rush The Rush”

Photo Album

page ten

Feature

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Feature

page fifteen

“A Broken Record” “Busy”

Culture Corner While You Were Sleeping...

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The views and opinions expressed in The Voice are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Avondale College of Higher Education.

Editorial

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// issue six

“If you were Tony Abbott, what’s the first change you’d make?”

I would allow New Zealanders to be entitled to Centrelink. Doesn’t the word ‘ANZAC’ mean we’re supposed to have one another’s backs?

–Brooke Davidson First policy change: That all politicians should wear Speedos.

–Kaden Pepper I would create a law that would force food and clothing manufacturer establishments to give their remaining leftover food and clothing to those in need of it.

–Jordan Pearce I’d get rid of the Labor party, period.

And then I’d quit and make dad prime minister.

–Lucy Johnsen Seeking asylum is a human right. Pirates are a military threat; people smugglers are a military threat; people seeking asylum are not a threat and require humanitarian aid. Australia shall respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and those that seek protection and a better life.

–Matt Schimpf

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A Vox Pop I’d fix the roads around Cooranbong and my hometown Murwillumbah so that I could actually drive on them. Seeing as the local council can’t do it, and being Prime Minister and all, I’d sort that out quick smart.

–Brent Whittaker Tony Abbott, it’s about time you stopped rich and powerful people controlling every inch of our Australian lives. It’s about time cost of living was reduced. It’s about time petrol prices went down, and it’s about time the carbon tax was done away with.

–Jemimah Scale

vondale has capped a historic year in university sport with the men’s touch football team claiming gold in division two at Australian University Games. The Eagles went unbeaten throughout the tournament, defeating several larger universities along the way, including QUT, UWS and Melbourne Uni. The grand final, against local rivals Newcastle Uni, was a tight match with Avondale prevailing 7-5. The speed and fitness of the Eagles continually forced Newcastle onto the back foot, with the even spread of performers a highlight.

An individual highlight was the performance of Damee Kea, a first year PE teacher, who was picked in the team of the tournament.

The outcome was a remarkable effort, ensuring Avondale qualified for division

Winners are Grinners Josh Dye

one next year, where it will face traditional powerhouses Monash, UTS and UNSW. After finishing fourth at Eastern University Games in July, the team worked hard to improve, and Eagles captain Mark Tipple was proud of the effort. “We’ve been building toward something like this for at least three years, so it was good to see the hard work come to fruition,” he said.

The men’s Twenty20 cricket team also performed well, finishing fourth overall.

Despite having a small squad, the team played some great cricket, and were unlucky to lose their bronze medal playoff.

I’m too focused hating on Obama to think about the Australian government.

–Cory Chalker First, I’d get some speech training and a haircut. Then I would leave the smaller matters of running the country up to my hopefully competent ministers and concentrate on building a strong future for Australia in the global economy that doesn’t revolve around mining and fossil fuels.

– Gavin Bowyer

Vox Pop

Feature

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Winner - $150

She is 22, overweight, with droopy ears and wrinkled skin. Undesirable to say the least. But she’s the apple of this elephant’s eye.

—Joel Ferry Judges’ comments: This one stands out because it could be metaphor or actually giving an elephant a voice. Either way, it’s light and human and lovely.

Runner-up - $80

My king was dead moments after his wife. I sigh at the heap of my army, horses and castle ruins. I hate chess anyway; Pop never lets me win.

—Emily-Paige Thomas Judges’ comments: This manages to tell a complete story while also being clever and funny with a twist in the tail.

Highly commended

The agent thought hiding in a coffin was a clever idea. It felt cosy, warm and clean. He drifted into slumber. Bang.

Bang. He gasped awake.

—Lara Campbell I claim to love, I claim care, but of the truth, sinners beware. With open doors I bring you in, then shun you, judge you and condemn.

—Trent Sperring

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W

Twitter Fiction Competition “Write a story in 140 characters or less”

Finalists

With trembling hands, she covers her once smooth skin. She sighs and makes her way on stage. The crowd cheers. Will they ever know?

—Cassie Rogers ‘Why?’ The loopy black scrawl cuts through the purity of the whiteboard.

Beneath it, printed neatly in small red letters: ‘Why not?’

—Viema Murray Rain falls, mist descends. Slumber evades you. A voice from the past: green, rolling hills, murky lakes, calling you home. Will you answer?

—Jesse Herford I recall that first dinner; anxious glances, nerves, the ache of my last hour with you.

But I’d yearn ten years for your company once more.

—Mitchell Strahan I see a girl in the caf. I teach high, She’s primary. She’s vego, so am I. We wed and live in the valley. Our kids grow up and do the same.

—Lawson Hull

Competition

omen’s ordination. Undoubtedly the most divisive topic in mainstream Adventism, it has the power to shake people across the ideological spectrum, strike our philosophy to the core, distill our concerns about the church and make a lot of us rather angry.

But it’s been incredibly frustrating to listen to the discussions of the past few years because they’ve all missed the central issue. Everyone’s been asking, is it Biblical to ordain women? No one’s been asking, is it Biblical to ordain?

That was until Dr Bertil Wiklander, president of the Trans-European Division of the SDA church, presented his findings from a two-year study on ordination. In searching for the Biblical roots of the modern pastor, he’s concluded that our concept of ordination originates in the structures of Roman religion and politics.

The New Testament church was a homebased community of shared blessing amongst equals, while the Romanised church took on the pagan structure of a mostly ignorant congregation administered by a privileged hierarchy.

To which do modern churches bear most resemblance?

This isn’t to belittle the God-given calling of the many fantastic Theology students here. We need people who know what they’re theologically on about, and God is

Feature

A Royal Priesthood Claudia Houstoun

good at working within the structures of any given culture.

Imagine what might happen, though, if we stopped leaving full-time ministry to our pastors. Ministry wasn’t meant to be something that an officially sanctioned few do to everyone else, nor was church meant to be an hour-long performance to five hundred passive spectators.

We speak of ‘the priesthood of all believers.’ We need to stop using the Bible to argue about something that is, ultimately, a human institution and instead focus on becoming that priesthood.

The real reason this current debate is exciting isn’t because of its promise to reform some deeply held prejudices in our church, but because of its potential to revolutionise the way we think and go about being a church.

Claudia has never seen Titanic, and her most embarrassing memory involves K-Pop, jet lag and a plane full of Koreans.

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want to introduce as many people as possible to the outdoors, because it’s through stuff like this where you really get to know people,” he says.

And it’s that passion for people that convinced him to become a teacher.

Now in his second year of maths and science teaching, Mitch recently took the opportunity to visit Nepal on a MOTO trip.

He appreciates the challenges it brought, and he learnt a valuable lesson.

“We need to slow down our lives a little bit. It’s not about anything specific that you’re doing, it’s about the people around you,” he says.

Brenton ChelseaStacey Mitchell

Y

ou may have seen him at the Rez Banquet—not wearing an Elvis wig or lifting two beautiful girls on his shoulders like The Strongman, but dangling from a tree outside. He was watching over the jumping castle, and then he decided to fall from the tree just to “stir things up a bit.”

Born with adventure in his veins, Mitch was convinced by a friend to come and take on Avondale as his latest escapade.

Coming all the way from WA, he became

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Don’t Rush The Rush Chelsea Mitchell

an Outdoor Reccy in his first year because “the rocks are better on this side of the country!”

Learning the ropes over here helped him to realise his passion for people. “I just

Feature

“I just stopped and chatted to people, got late back to worship, and almost missed dinner a couple of times. But I was just rice planting and lost track of time, just talking to people and going to their houses,” he says.

Mitch’s experiences in Nepal might have planted the seed for something he sees himself doing in future, although he doesn’t like to plan too far ahead: “There’s something exciting about not knowing where you’re going.”

If anything, he plans on getting into basejumping, and considering he’s already jumped off cliffs by making his own swing in the Blue Mountains, he’s probably got this one covered.

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The Blue Mountains is also where Mitch conquered The Three Peaks challenge—a hike of more than 90km, including over 4000m of vertical climbing and descending.

He was aiming to complete it in 48 hours, but his torch died in the first hour (the bulb blew – spare batteries were no help), it rained both nights, and he didn’t have a tent. He still finished in 50 hours.

“I might try and convince someone to come with me next time! Then there’ll be a spare torch,” he says.

But it would be about more than a spare torch. It would be about spending time with people. “That’s what we’re sort of called to do anyway isn’t it?”

‘Be careful’ is something he hears a lot.

“People think I’m some reckless loose cannon that just does everything, but it’s always a calculated risk. I only do the things that are worth doing.”

And if you’re wondering why he rides his bike backwards: “If you can do something… why not do it?”

Chelsea is violent when tickled, is an expert at hoarding, and has a oneand-a-half-year-old goldfish named Oomps.

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Photo Album The 2013 Rez Banquet— 1950s carnival theme Colin Chuang

Jesse Herford

Jesse Herford

Jesse Herford

Colin Chuang

Touch football and cricket teams representing Avondale at Australian University Games on the Gold Coast.

Colin Chuang

Jesse Herford

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Photo Album

Photo Album

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W

hile driving one day, I went to change a CD I’d been listening to for a while. My ears were assaulted—I didn’t remember that album being so loud! The volume was the same, and the type of music similar, but there was no mistaking the blaring in my ears.

I’d been listening to the first CD for so long that I’d become desensitised to it.

It once played loud, vibrant music, but through repetition, the colour of the sound had faded, and I had to set the volume louder and louder to eke out some small pleasure from it.

As Theology students, we often make jokes that rely on taking theological language out of context, like shutting the class door at the time to start and calling it The Close of Probation.

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It’s not that we’re being sacrilegious—we still think the message is important—but we’ve heard the words over and over, to the point that they’ve ceased to have any meaning to us.

Do these situations have parallels to our spiritual walk? The sermons and messages, through constant repetition, sound all the more dim, until they’re like a broken record—the remnant church! the remnant church! the remnant church!

Constant exhortation to try, try, try—these messages get tiresome, to the point

Feature

A Broken Record Mitchell Strahan

where we shut ourselves off to the message. Not because we can’t be bothered, but because we’ve heard it so often that the vibrancy of the message has faded.

I don’t have the answers to make my faith a vibrant and varied experience each day.

But there is one aspect to spirituality that has never become meaningless to me: knowing more of Jesus.

Every morning, my first prayer is that God would make himself unmistakably known in my life; a prayer I know he will answer, because he wants it so much more than I do.

Just like there is always so much more to learn about our friends, how much more there is to discover of an infinite God!

Mitchell hates people who drive under the speed limit, can put his legs behind his head, and knows nothing about dating.

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I

t’s Sabbath and I’m sitting in church again feeling completely convicted and utterly guilty. I’m here in my fancy dress and high heels and my make-up is done perfectly—but I didn’t even think to bring my Bible. Where is my Bible, exactly?

Oh, that’s right. It’s on the shelf back in my dorm room. Covered in dust. Along with my devotional booklet and ‘2013 Prayer Journal’ that so far consists of only three entries. How did I get to this point?

I tell my small group each week that I’m “just so busy.” But that’s not true. Okay so it is true, but that’s not my problem— I’m selfish. I’ve been pushing God to the side, over and over again, so that now I hardly notice Him in the margins of my life.

In such confident pride I’ve believed that I can run things my own way, even though they never turn out right. I cry to God in desperate moments and ignore Him in my daily routine. Why do I never learn?

Looking around, I see my peers coming across as wonderful Christians. They’re dressed to the nines, sitting faithfully in church and paying attention. They sing along to the songs and comment on the sermon afterwards. Sometimes I wonder if I’m alone in my struggle for spiritual motivation.

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Busy Laura Mitchell

People in AA meetings don’t hide their battles, because they attend with the intention to get better, with the help of other people who are sharing the same journey.

So why aren’t we as Christian young people doing the same? When was our burning desire to know Christ replaced with a burning desire to convince each other we’re perfect?

It’s time to take a stand—to share. After all, church isn’t a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for broken people.

If we could only admit that we’re not okay, maybe we could build a stronger community of young men and women seeking God’s heart.

Laura is a champion Boggle player, can do the splits, and if she was in charge of Avondale, she would replace defrosted mixed veggies at the Caf with real veggies.

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Culture Corner Josh Dye

cnet

Daily Mail

Room 233: Watson Hall

iPhone 5s/c/etc

Reptiles as pets

This cosy one room apartment is located in a serene, natural environment, with impressive views of the campus. Easterly facing, the morning sun pours in, bathing the room in summery warmth yearround. Located at the far end of the top floor, the resident is required to conquer a strenuous two flights of stairs, but that negates the need for a gym membership. At $300/ week (incl meals), it’s not the cheapest option around, but the camaraderie of 120 other mates is something money can’t buy. With the current tenant’s lease expiring soon, men of Watson Hall take note: this prime piece of real estate could be yours in 2014.

Fan boys (and girls) can once again unite in celebration, with Apple’s latest release of outdated technology. This time, there are two versions: last year’s model in colour, or last year’s model with a few small changes. One clear improvement is the battery, which now reportedly lasts longer than five minutes.

The Apple buzz of yesteryear seems to have diminished, but you’ll still find legions of loyal supporters queuing up to breathlessly sing the praises of their favourite corporation.

The big feature? There isn’t one. (No, fingerprint swipe doesn’t count.) But, they say the next one will be the best yet…

Snakes. So many people hate them, which makes owning, feeding and nurturing one a strange phenomenon.

However, a number of curious souls at Avondale seem to love them. Although reasonably costly to buy and maintain, they’re fairly low maintenance and provide good company— just don’t let them escape. If nothing else, perhaps owning one of these slithery serpents decreases your chances of graduating single. It could be the x-factor separating you from the rest. What could look cooler during open dorms than casually strolling around with a snake wrapped round your neck?

Culture Corner

Josh finds talking to strangers easy, flies the North Korean flag out his window, and faithfully calculates his fuel mileage every single time he fills up with petrol.

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“We have announced an animal-print ban.”

While You Were Sleeping...

Lara Campbell

A British zoo, Chessington World of Adventures, has announced a ban on animal print clothing following the introduction of a new close encounter ride where the animals began acting a little “overfriendly” toward patrons wearing similar print clothing.

In a world-first, a Chinese man has grown a nose on his forehead. Following a car crash, 22-year-old Xiaolian got an infection in his nose that caused the cartilage to corrode. Taking cartilage from his ribs, the doctors performed reconstructive surgery, shaped a nose and implanted it under his forehead.

Now that the nose is ripe and ready, doctors are preparing to transplant it to its proper place: in the middle of his face.

“Update to iOS 7 and become waterproof.”

A slew of iPhone owners are not happy after dunking their iPhones in water to test the new updates. A fake ad created by anonymous publishing site, Afghan girls aren’t generally allowed to ride a bike, but they can ride a skateboard. Skateistan is a non-profit organisation that aims to connect youth and education through skateboarding. They focus specifically on empowering girls: 40% of their students are girls—a high percentage in a country where women’s rights are limited. Visit www.skateistan.org

4chan.org, has been circulating on social media claiming the latest iPhone iOS updates include a “smart switch” that automatically comes on in water and prevents any damage. The ad also assured that the warranty covered this cutting-edge technology.

While You Were Sleeping...

Lara has been drooled on by an elephant, her special subject is the Berlin Wall, and she excels at getting lost.

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