Volume One: Genesis

GENESIS

WELCOME TO COUNTRY

UTS acknowledges and recognises the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation as the traditional owners and holders of knowledge where our UTS campuses now stand. UTS also pays respect to Elders past, present and future for sharing their knowledge and the significant contribution that Australia’s first peoples make to the academic and cultural life of our university. – Maree Graham, Deputy Director, Students and Community Engagement, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology, Sydney

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4 5 6

This weight is not yours to own.

It is not yours to hold dear. Your shoulders can take their form and dance through the world in whatever way you envision. Freedom is not just the agency to consume. There is a far greater benefit that others would rather you didn’t see. The freedom to have less and be more.

The freedom to own your time, to spend it in a way that you decide.

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Editorial Letter Acknowledgements Editorial Team

Arts and Lifestyle

A New Stage for Wom*n

by Julia McNamara Uncharted by Huyen Hac Helen Tran Overture: Top 5 Album Openers

by David Burley Book Review: The High Places

by Fiona McFarlane by Eugenia Alabasinis

Politics 24 48

56 65

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and

Law

President Trump: One Year On

by Liam Fairgrieve Just In Case You Forgot, Peter Dutton Was A Cop by Aryan Golanjan S 44: Do we need change?

by Tom Brennan Will the legal field be another victim to the ‘Black Mirror-ing’ of industries? by Aishah Ali Law and Trust: Judicial Reform in China by Jazz Osvald

CONTENTS

Business, Science and Innovation 21 67 72

Rediscovering the Internet

by Patrisha Domingo The Young Investor’s Cryptonite

by Mehmet Musa Honest Appraisals by Larissa Shearman

Socio-Cultural 16 42 50 52

What Means No by Jaimee Cachia Holding Hands by Michelle Xu Mardi Gras Is More Than This

by Alyssa Rodrigo The History of Queer Rights in Australia by Tahlia Nelson

Showcase

30 46 59

Home by Rachel Tse Nascence by Joseph Dang the big bang. by Eliza Pall

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Creative Writing

How I Knew by Ally Moulis Eden by Maddison Leach Daddy Issues by Julia White Alternate Universe In Which I Am Not A Pacifist by Aishah Ali When I Met You by Eugenie Dale The Atelieathynians by Alex Bulahoff

B-Side

88 90

is it okay that im not the same

by Erin Sutherland What Happened to My Cereal Crop? by Nicole De Palo Headlines by Lucy Tassell Yr #Problematic Faves: What Ridiculous Shit Have They Said This Time? by Aryan Golanjan Horoscopes by Womns Revue Dear Shaz,

92 95 96

Students’ Association Reports Submissions Helplines

81 82 84 87

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EDITORIAL LETTER

EDITORIAL TEAM Editors-in-Chief Dylan Crismale Aryan Golanjan Managing Editor Gigi Liu Creative Directors Joyce Cheng Nicole Ho Editors Alex Bulahoff Sofia Casanova Nicole De Palo James Gardiner Alyssa Rodrigo VertigoTV Kenneth Phang

It’s time to start again. We’re back this year to embrace the call of regeneration, to start something fresh, to add our own flavour. We’re taking this year by the horns and soldiering on through the dark, brooding cave that is 2018.

We’re ready to shirt-front Trump and impending climate doom with nuanced analysis and piercing, experimental storytelling. We’re deep in the vast darkness, but the sun is rising, and we’re waking from our slumber; we’re walking through the twilight zone. The bright and blossoming world is in our sights, and we have but one direction to move. This is our clean slate and our first volume of 2018; our Genesis.

Perhaps you’re reading this, and you’ve never heard of Vertigo and have no idea what UniBros is. Welcome to your first year. If that’s not you, then welcome back to the stomping ground. This well-groomed collection of art, storytelling and homegrown ideas will serve you well as the key to disassociating from impending due dates.

Keep your eye out in this volume for a range of discerning content, from the satirical to the analytical, the fictional to the painfully relatable. The advent of a new era is dissected as Liam Fairgrieve catalogues Donald Trump’s first year in office, while in the wake of #metoo, Jaimee Cachia considers what means no. Closer to home, Tahlia Nelson chronicles a timeline of LGBTQIAP+ rights in Australia, and in an alternate universe, Aishah Ali explores what might happen if she was less afraid to fight back. We’ve also enlisted the help of UTS’ inaugural Womn’s Revue to illuminate the month ahead, so whether you’re a Gemini or a Scorpio, you’ll know if there’s a retrograde in your future. If it is answers you seek to your burning questions on love, life, and everything in between, check out ‘Dear Shaz’, where our very own Agony Aunt dispenses helpful advice to the wary, wondering and worried.

We hope that within these pages you come upon some new ideas of your own. Whether you picked this magazine up because you liked the cover and wanted a train journey read, or have collected and made collages from every edition, we’re optimistic that there’s something for everyone in this volume.

Join us on this journey as we step out of our cave and into the light.

With love, The Editorial Team

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Vertigo is published by the UTS Students’ Association (UTSSA) and proudly printed

by SOS Printing, Alexandria.

The contents of Vertigo do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, printers, or the UTSSA. Vertigo and its entire contents are protected by copyright. Vertigo will retain the right to republish in any format. Contributors retain all other rights for resale and republication. No material may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the copyright holders.

Advertising Stephanie King For all advertising enquiries please contact stephanie.king-1@uts.edu.au

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Writers

Visuals

Eugenia Alabasinis Aishah Ali Lachlan Barker Tom Brennan David Burley Jaimee Cachia Eugenie Dale Bernice Datu Patrisha Domingo Liam Fairgrieve Georgina Goddard Kirra Jackson Ruturaj Khenat Maddison Leach Julia McNamara Lana Miletich Ally Moulis Mehmet Musa Tahlia Nelson Jazz Osvald Larissa Shearman Lucy Tassell Huyen Hac Helen Tran Julia White Lachlan Wykes Wom*n’s Revue Michelle Xu

Joseph Dang Grace Felstead Eva Georgiou Janey Li Eliza Pall Erin Sutherland Rachel Tse Lily Wharton Julia White Melissa Yang Cover and Opening Art Nicole Ho Opening Poem James Gardiner Sub-editors Melissa Evans Sathsara Radaliyagoda Lucy Tassell

Contact

Connect

Enquiries editorial@utsvertigo.com.au Submissions submissions@utsvertigo.com.au

utsvertigo.com.au Facebook facebook.com/utsvertigo Twitter @vertigomagazine Instagram @utsvertigo

Thank Yous

Fuck Yous

Shrugs

Marriage equality Paid sick leave The student discount at Chatime

Asian fusion restaurants The Kylie Konspiracy Andrew Constance

TigerAir Summer school House style

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EDITORIAL TEAM

What did you want to be

Gigi “I still don’t know.”

Alyssa “A stewardess and a football player.”

Kenneth “Musician or tennis player.”

Sofia “A combination of a singer, dancer and vet because why the heck not.”

Dylan “Palaeontologist?

Playwright? THIS is why I’m still at uni.”

EDITORIAL TEAM

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when you grew up?

Aryan “A lawyer or a doctor.”

James “A church minister.”

Alex “Well-adjusted.”

Nicole H “A lawyer or teacher.”

Joyce “An artist.”

Nicole DP “Apparently nothing but probably a vet.”

PHOTO Joyce Cheng @_joycecheng_

Kino O-Week 19th February – 12th March Books Kinokuniya Level 2 The Galeries 500 George Street, Sydney www.kinokuniya.com.au

$5 Kino Card membership* for TAFE & uni students (Normal price $15)

* Discounted Kinokuniya Card membership for TAFE and university students with presentation of valid 2018 student identification.

Applies to 1 year Kinokuniya Card membership and valid in store only from 19 February – 12 March 2018.Kinokuniya Card membership entitles card holder to 10% off all full priced books and other merchandise, not including stationery. For full details visit: www.kinokuniya.com.au/card_about/

PHOTO Nicole Ho @_nh_nh

CREATIVE WRITING

How I Knew Ally Moulis

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I knew when he took me for a morning surf; we drove to the beach, hired a mockingly huge lime green foam board for me, and hit the waves without delay. Jesus, I got dumped relentlessly; I bruised my ribs and rubbed my hips raw against the scratchy surface of the board and at one point, the boy became so excited and giddy that he kept pushing the nose of my board as I was paddling, sending me ass over tits into the white wash. I laughed so, so much, blew ocean out of my nose and for a couple of minutes, he took the board out on his own, swam past the breakers into the still water, sat up and surveyed the scene. My God, I don’t think I’ll ever get that image out of my brain. Like something from an old Aussie romance movie. The ocean was almost white it was so alive with the sun on its back and the waves were rolling to shore in perfect parallel lines. On the horizon he was silhouetted against sheer blue sky and when he turned around and waved at me from all the way out there, I waved back with the stupidest smile on my face, absolutely overcome at the sight of that stupid boy on his board at the edge of the world.

I knew when he read the letter I wrote him, we wept and drew our bodies together until our foreheads were touching and we sat like that until he left and I couldn’t sleep.

I knew when I poured my heart out to him, full to the brim with wine and adrenaline. I knew when I heard him say, “Sorry”.

I knew when I marched to my room with purposeful strides, almost comically measured and let the heavy door swing itself shut behind me. I knew when my chest went concave, when the pipes and strings in my throat tightened, when my legs turned to honey and melted beneath me, when I dropped to my knees and sobbed. I knew when my room felt too small and the walls too close and the air too dark and thick. I knew when I threw myself into the hallway, hair sticking to wet cheeks, stumbled into the elevator and pressed the button to the rooftop. I knew when I ran out onto the open balcony, the city skyline dotted against a deep navy blue beginning to turn red at the fringes. I knew when I stood on a chair and watched the sun come up. I dialled Dad’s phone number, 5:00am, drunk and desperate, and heard his voice, “Where are you, are you ok?”

I told him; I told him everything about the boy that I loved and who loved me but just not enough; my diction appalling, my words choked by heaving – and I listened as he cried too.

He wept because he knew the hurt, he knew the longing and the apocalyptic sadness, he knew me, his only child and daughter and his heart broke with mine.

I knew when I watched the sun come up over rows of buildings. I knew as orange and yellow seeped their dye into the fabric of empty space.

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ARTS & LIFESTYLE

A NEW STAGE FOR WOM*N Julia McNamara

Entertainment has the power to unite, because it can be enjoyed by all individuals of colour, gender and social status. However, the arts industry, now and in the past, has discriminated against women both openly and insidiously.

2017 denied me the naivety I once had for the glitz and glam of the star-studded world. When theatre companies, like one I have been involved with, failed to protect harassed employees, I was shocked and surprisingly scared. The names of certain industry superpowers now leave me feeling eerily uncomfortable. 2017, despite my love for this industry and the power of storytelling and performance, brought about a new understanding that forced me to question my once blind faith.

Particularly as a woman.

Australia’s performing arts sector is rife with gender based inequality. Just take, for example,

the fact that between 2001 and 2011 only 36% of all major performing arts companies had women in one of the two key creative leadership roles. The Australian Council for the Arts’ (ACA) Women In Theatre report also found gender-neutral representation was elusive within creative leadership as a whole.

Not to mention the worrying findings of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s 2017 Sexual Harassment in Live Theatre survey which included at least 40% of respondents having experienced sexual harassment in the industry.

After such widespread exposure and criticism throughout 2017, change was required.

Enter Time’s Up. From the 1st of January 2018, the organisation has used the global platform of the arts industry to both stand in solidarity with unempowered women, and rally around change. One of their key calling points is the need for greater “representation, opportunities, benefits and pay for all women

ARTS & LIFESTYLE

and non-binary people”. Because just as the ACA established, the current inequality of representation, not only in performative roles, but in creative and leadership positions, entrenches existing biases by denying decision-making authority.

However, the demands of Time’s Up aren’t new. The calls themselves aren’t revolutionary.

But the use of the arts’ global platform to show solidarity for women across industries, and across the globe, is powerful.

It is through the visibility of the arts that a talking point can be created.

Similarly, in 2018, UTS will use the arts as a powerful tool for self-representation by presenting the inaugural UTS Wom*n’s Revue.

“On the surface it’s a comedy show created and crewed by women,” say co-directors Gabby Stapo and Annaliese Shaw, “however, we aim to create more than that.”

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“Our goal is to create a safe, comfortable and collaborative environment for women as an outlet for their creativity.”

Creating these environments to support those the arts industry has historically silenced is necessary if we want to create a more inclusive future. In February, Shonda Rhimes called out the phrases “Smart Strong Women” and “Strong Female Leads” used by the entertainment industry because: “There are no Dumb Weak Women. A smart strong woman is just a WOMAN.” In her 1971 essay ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’, Linda Nochlin determines that social constructs acting against women artists have created a “woman problem”; this has lead to the implication that “women are incapable of greatness.” Which, personally, I find really fucking annoying. And false. Damn false.

Furthermore, as Nochlin poignantly notes about unequal representation:

ART Janey Li @jane.ey

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ARTS & LIFESTYLE

“The fault, dear brothers, lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education.”

Having ovaries does not make a woman incapable of greatness. Being denied opportunities to learn, to succeed, and to grow compared to male counterparts is what creates discrimination; and a falsified understanding of who is capable.

Art is how societies represent themselves. As such, selective and unequal representation within art can be the most detrimental of all.

It is only through dedicated avenues of artistic representation that inequality within the status quo can be challenged. Subsequently, this ensures that the voices of women and nonbinary people can be heard. Building from this, the ACA found that it is through dedicated mentorships and opportunities that change

can be achieved. These values are also what drives the UTS Wom*n’s Revue.

“Diversity and inclusivity resonate through our intended process,” say Gabby and Annaliese.

“This revue is a space for all women-identifying and non-binary people to contribute.”

“We intend for our final performative piece to be a nexus of intersectional creativity, as pretentious as that may sound.”

But part of this intersectional inclusivity is also recognising that the term “Wom*n Artist” can be limiting when applied to the work of others, instead of by the artists themselves. As artist Kelly Doley notes in ArtsHub’s article Time to stop calling ourselves women artists, “‘women’ as a gender category is multi-faceted”. Hence, for true equality to be gained, it is important not only to create opportunities for those that have been marginalised, but also to respect the work and self-representation of the artists themselves.

ARTS & LIFESTYLE

Representation within the arts is particularly powerful because of this widespread, accessible platform. This is why the inaugural UTS Wom*n’s Revue is so important.

Being a woman can sometimes be scary, but attending UTS Wom*n’s Revue is just plain fun.

“Let’s keep it PC, but not PG.” UTS Wom*n’s Revue is playing from 21— 24 March at LendLease Theatre, Darling Quarter. For more visit: facebook.com/ utsrevuesociety For more on Time’s Up Now, visit: timesupnow.com

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SOCIO–CULTURAL

What Means No Jaimee Cachia

Content warning: sexual assault On January 13th, Katie Way published a piece on Babe.net about a woman whom we know only as Grace. Last year, Grace met comedian Aziz Ansari, went on a date with him, and then engaged in a sexual encounter with him that left her profoundly uncomfortable – uncomfortable enough for her to later describe the experience to Way as “the worst night of her life”. Of all the stories of sexual misconduct that have been brought to light in the past few months with the momentum of the #MeToo movement, perhaps none have kindled as much controversy as Ansari’s, and perhaps none have seen the accused so fiercely defended in the media for actions deemed “innocuous” by men and women alike. Indeed, when compared with the odious crimes of Harvey Weinstein, Ansari’s conduct might appear exceptionally ordinary – but that is exactly what makes it so significant.

To a sizeable proportion of women who sleep with men, what happened on the worst night of Grace’s life is a tale all too familiar.

The non-verbal cues gone unnoticed and the verbal cues ignored for the politeness with which they’re uttered. Visible discomfort interpreted as coyness, indecision interpreted as playing hard to get. I don’t have to imagine it because I can remember it. Grace coming forward has made me profoundly uncomfortable — ­­­ not because I don’t believe her, and not because I think she was

SOCIO–CULTURAL wrong to label the incident as a violation — but because she’s forced me to re-examine my own history, the history I watered down and censored in order to move forward. The framing of my comparable experiences simply as Bad Sex is now no longer possible.

Of course, sexual misconduct is not a monolith. Ansari is not a Weinstein. But a perpetrator needn’t be a monster for his actions to be reprehensible. A woman needn’t be held at knifepoint to be coerced. Sexual misconduct is too often seen as a strictly legal question in lieu of any real concern with improving the overall culture surrounding sex and consent. Even if we had the language to describe the misconduct that exists within this so-called “grey area”, the legal system would still be set up to fail victims. The concept of “utmost resistance” here comes to mind — an idea we still see reproduced in rape trials over and over — that unless the complainant resisted to her utmost ability, she must have consented. And the bar of utmost resistance is moving ever upwards. Why didn’t you say no? Why didn’t you fight back? Why didn’t you scream?

Perhaps we should be encouraging men to use their words, rather than the women being subjected to their unthinking bullishness.

Words like “Are you feeling good about this?” “Do you want to keep going?” “Is this okay?”

If grown men can’t read verbal and non-verbal cues from their uncomfortable partners, then they should be actively seeking consent to ensure they’re on the same page — and they should not be allowed to shrug off culpability until they do so. Making sure your company is enjoying themselves is not an optional part of sex. These things should be a given, yet they remain overshadowed by the conception that sex is something that a woman withholds from a man. Something that a man must procure from her. Even nice, progressive men are not immune to such socialisation.­ Rather than being the calculated predation of a monster like Weinstein, Ansari’s antics evoke a distressing situation into which women are placed by ordinary men – nice, progressive men — men who “wouldn’t hurt a fly”. Ansari built much his comedic brand upon an image of niceness, of likeable awkwardness — the polar opposite of the virile bro-types he would decry in his stand-up. He has eagerly and repeatedly aligned himself with the feminist cause in the press. Progressive, “feminist” men failing to understand the nuances of consent is the most marked sign to date that our culture at large desperately requires an overhaul in what it deems normal sex.

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CREATIVE WRITING Your chest will ache for days after you are made. When you run your hand under your breast and press fingers into flesh like ploughs to soil, you’ll feel something there that is foreign and wrong. A rib that isn’t yours, a piece that doesn’t fit.

Adam will touch you with sun-bronzed hands, twist fingers through black curtains of your hair.

“Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man,” he will say, and the Man above you will agree.

It won’t occur to you to speak. Neither of them will ask your name; it is not for you to choose.

The garden stretches farther than you could ever guess. Green and lush and untamed. In the first days you marvel at its colour, its taste; the way it blooms beneath your feet. This is His gift to you, a never ending paradise, a sanctuary, a refuge. Just don’t ask from what.

Every river flows south, and on the seventh day you follow one down, down, down to the deepest point of the valley.

The tree you find there holds branches like your own fingers.

Slender and outstretched they reach to the heavens, heavy with green and gold leaves. Its boughs spread like your legs beneath Maddison Leach Adam’s hands and you hate that it feels so familiar.

You leave.

Content warning: “God forbade us,” Adam will say later when you tell him sexual assault, abuse of the tree, of how it made you want to weep. His hands are on (physical, emotional, you. verbal, sexual), blood “It was before you were made.”

Eden

and gore

When Adam presses himself to you in the darkness you will wonder what will is. The grass beneath you is young, dirt still damp with evening dew and it will slip between your fingers like a lover’s might. Adam grunts and pushes like the heavy animals that graze and rut and sleep in the fields below, and you wonder if the Man above you is watching. You press a hand to your abdomen and find the rib there, foreign and unwanted as the other part of Adam inside you.

Think of the tree.

When you return, there is something waiting for you, curling between vines on the lowest branches. There are snakes in the garden. When it coils round your leg you know this one is not the same.

“Did He really say you must not eat from the tree in the garden?” It is the first creature to ask you to speak and you will realise you don’t know how.

“Or was it Adam He forbade?”

There’s poison on the serpent’s tongue and in your mouth, dizzying in its sweetness, slipping through your skin like water between stones. The fruit hangs so low, you need only reach out and take it, you need only try. The serpent twines itself around your brown wrist, slips between the curtains of your hair.

“For how could He have forbade you, before you were made?”

CREATIVE WRITING

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Touch the rib that juts from your side. Eat the fruit like you are starved.

When Adam bites into it, you will feel something you cannot name. This is the first time you’ve known satisfaction. It tastes like poison and freedom and sweet, red fruit.

You will be blamed for this, and punished.

“Your husband will rule over you,” He will say, and for the first time you will find your voice and speak.

“Does he not already?”

He will punish Adam with exile and free you with it.

Already something grows within you, another piece of Adam and he sees fit to name you then. Eve, mother of all. He touches his hand to your belly and presses in close. The rib feels bent and heavy in your chest and you wonder if he can see it there; feel it protruding like a weathered knot on a tree.

The first child rips its way out of your body and you wonder if He can hear your screams from the heavens, hoping he can. How can something you created do you such harm?

“This is your punishment,” He will say, “This is what you chose.”

You want to spit apple seeds at his feet.

Covered in your own blood, you take up a knife and cut the fleshy cord that tethers Cain to your body. Your husband will take the screaming, bloodied thing in his arms and marvel at it; his son, his heir. He will kiss its filthy head and swaddle it in his own cloth.

Use this moment to carve a hole in your chest. Adam doesn’t flinch, doesn’t notice.

Reach in and wrench his rib from your body.

The bone will shine wet and white and you will taste fruit again.

ART Melissa Yang

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BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

ART Julia White

BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

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Rediscovering the Internet Patrisha Domingo

Content warning: ableism, sexism Many of us were amazed to experience the internet for the first time through a dial-up modem. We would happily wait thirty seconds for a flash page to load; in the same year nobody questioned Kelly Rowland texting via Excel.

For a long time, we risked getting computer viruses so we could get songs off Limewire.

We’ve grown from our embarrassment from when our Facebook statuses were either written in the third person or honoured some obscure Nicki Minaj lyric. Never, through all of this, would we have collectively thought that the internet would be the all-consuming mess that it is today.

In fact, at the beginning of this decade, we were filled with so much hope about the power of social media. In the midst of the Arab Spring and the birth of Occupy movements, we were given glimpses of the tool the internet could be in bringing our world closer together and achieving global awareness. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the same hope surrounding social media since. We have lost most of that optimism and have instead been bombarded with confusion, bad tweets, and mediocre memes on our timelines.

Let’s get some facts straight:

1.

Social media can no longer be viewed as a reflection of someone’s reality. Through the complexities of our negotiation of the public and private, even at the peak of our self-awareness, our use of social media is nothing more than a performative art. We curate, disseminate and organise our online content with the subconscious knowledge that what we choose to make available for any extent of public consumption is up for interpretation and judgement. This is not to say that this exchange should be seen as less valuable, but rather, we should use it to shape our perspective moving forward.

2.

The internet is wild! No one would have ever predicted the enormity of what the internet holds. It is growing at an exponential and unprecedented rate: our globally spanning access to information, the amount and availability of it, the pace we are consuming it at, and more importantly, the pace we are expected to consume it at.

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BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

We can surely rediscover and repurpose the internet as something we’re hopeful towards again. While you refresh your pages and your feeds, log in again and begin again, keep these things in mind: YOU’RE NOT ALWAYS WELCOME This has been said before, but, I will say it again: some spaces aren’t for you (male, white, cis, hetero, able-bodied people). This is not meant as a justification for the disparity in minority representation, or for spaces to exclude through symbolic violence and inaccessibility (*cough* The Basement).

But rather, within the performative nature of our social media use comes its ability to provide minorities with a platform for selfexpression, and storytelling. This is something not given or presented to them by traditional mainstream media.

While this information is visible to people who are male, white, cis, hetero, able-bodied or any combination of the previous, it usually elicits one or more of the following reactions — defensiveness, anger, victimisation or the need to participate in the discussion.

Those who are already represented in all forms of mainstream media may often feel the need to belong and be afforded a voice in the depths of every social media space. But, the visibility of information on someone’s social media page shouldn’t be mistaken or made synonymous with a welcome invitation for your input.

So, sit the fuck back and take this opportunity to listen to people. Use the power of global connectivity that social media provides to follow people that you don’t see in your own micro-communities. Follow women of colour on Twitter and watch people with disabilities vlog on their YouTube channels. Obviously, we can’t hold an individual with a minority identity as a standard for generalisation, but we can use this to empathise with people through understanding the vulnerabilities that their identities expose them to.

Furthermore, distinguish between using your platform as a means to spread awareness and using your platform to prove performance in the activist space. There’s a difference between social media for elevation and social media for validation.

KILL THE ALGORITHM Within the mass of information available for consumption, it has become a routine for us to check our feeds and let autoplay send us through black holes we never knew we wanted.

Amidst the creepy way algorithms work into our Instagram ad space on our phone through a Google search on our laptops, our human curiosity transforms into a digital equation and is assumed as a stagnant bubble. We are slowly and subconsciously directed to consume certain content. While Explore pages and YouTube recommendation lists fill up with a rotation of NBA highlights, clips of the Kardashians and dance choreography videos, we are unnoticeably losing our ability to be curious.

Expand your horizon, Ctrl+Shift+Del your browser history, use Incognito mode. Watch, listen and learn from time to time. Get out of your Zuckerberg shaped loop. He has bent the digital space to distract you. Stay alert.

CREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT Don’t assume social media is safe and accessible for everyone. Go out of your way to have closed captions on videos and image descriptors on social media content. It provides a great deal of assistance for people with vision impairments and/or hearing impairments to consume the media that underpins our social interactions.

Don’t trust people who don’t believe in universal design, especially in the digital spaces. They are definitely the same people that believe a physical space is accessible just because it has the mobility symbol in the corner.

BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION Ensure the rants and PSAs that you post have content warnings. It’s 2018 — maintaining and managing mental health is important. Make use of browser VPNs — the government can’t be trusted.

(And now that Netflix has closed their loophole, lowered their standard of produced content, and upheld discriminatory pay disparities, we may not be able to trust them for much longer.)

GTFO We were never psychologically built to process information at the mass and speed provided to us by social media. The expectation of needing to be available for social interaction and communication 24/7 is both physically and emotionally taxing and quite impossible.

Turn off your notifications, delete the apps on your phone if you have the privilege to do so.

Those pings, symbolic of validation on both ends of consumption, only serve as disruptions to working on yourself and on the world.

There is a therapeutic undercurrent within our performances on social media, with elements of distraction, disillusion, delegation and avoidance. As much as it is fun to use memes and bedroom haircut fail videos as coping mechanisms for real life, it is certainly not sustainable. Reach out to your friends, to people with similar lived experiences, and if necessary, to medical professionals.

In the immediate aftermath of any emotional event, whether it’s a personal matter or a global issue, it is our current human condition to act on our reflexes and post about it. We tweet in all caps, retweet without self-assessment, and respond to news outlet hot takes. It is within our right and our nature to respond — we may get things wrong, and we will get things wrong, but we must grow, reflect and rebuild — because the internet is like no other.

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POLITICS & LAW I’m thinking about Donald Trump’s first year as President, and I also happen to have a boomer of a headache. There’s a pretty obvious cheap shot to be had here, but let’s resist it. It has, after all, been a year of cheap shots.

The next thought to fly across my aching brain (after “I wonder if some Panadol would help?”) is that, for all of his apparent unpredictability, President Trump seems to have more or less met everyone’s expectations. I don’t mean this in an overly specific, policy-directed way, but rather in terms of how people continue to see what they choose to in this man, a Rorschach inkblot with a toupee.

President Trump: One Year On Liam Fairgrieve

Trump’s detractors see an arrogant and thinskinned narcissist presiding over the most chaotic administration of any developed country in our time, an administration laced with inexperience, incompetence, cronyism, and ideological extremism. Conversely, his supporters continue to see these traits as bold points of difference from the staid and clinical administrations which preceded it.

They elected this man to be a maverick who “speaks his mind”, and erraticism was part of the package.

President Trump has surprised me on multiple occasions. I expected a tack towards the centre when he won the nomination. I expected him to become more statesman-like when he won the election.

I expected the self-centred melodrama and the Twitter tirades to subdue after he took office. Yet Trump did none of that. His enduring popularity with his supporters has come from his resolute commitment to being the politician he was when he launched his candidacy; albeit one that was riddled with contradictions (just Google “Trump criticises Trump”).

However, not only did President Trump use 2017 to continue fighting fires which burned on from 2016 (constant what-aboutism in relation to Hillary Clinton, unprecedented full-scale attacks on most of the media culminating in the ‘Fake News Awards’, an unsettlingly equivocal relationship with the white supremacist movement), he also used the platform of the Presidency to light a few new ones.

Throughout 2017, the world watched on in a heady mix of confusion, mirth, and growing horror as President Trump and his arch-rival, Kim Jong-un, traded big-red-button rhetoric like schoolyard banter.

President Trump’s poking and prodding certainly didn’t defuse the

POLITICS & LAW

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situation, but at least there was a second player responsible for that dramatic escalation. Conversely, responsibility for the recent riots and instability in the Middle East lies predominantly with President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While there had been calls for the US to do this in the past, there was no urgent political pressure for this move. It was made from nowhere, being called for by seemingly no one.

This feeds into the most plausible theory on President Trump’s modus operandi: by creating stories which dominate and polarise the media and wider society, while keeping attention firmly on his own actions, Trump is able to retain his position as the “maverick martyr” with his chosen half of the political spectrum without relying on the dull and laborious process of promoting policies.

This is not a new phenomenon. Trump’s campaign was full of grand promises to bring back manufacturing jobs, achieve economic growth to bolster the middle class, and win back respect for America within the international community. It was light on the actual detail on how he would get there. Would a Trump presidency include building a wall along the Mexican border? Stopping Muslim migration for an indeterminate period? Withdrawing from a multilateral trade agreement which actually conferred more trade power on America?

President Trump has, however, continued to be light on policy.

Where there have been some sporadic attempts at policymaking, Trump has left most of the work to the Republican Congress.

Repealing Obamacare was part of Trump’s obsessive quest to dismantle Obama’s legacy, but his legislative counterparts assumed the bulk of the leg-work. There was some vague talk of lowering taxes across the board, but Capitol Hill created the actual plan.

The end result was a typical reduction-in-company-tax-ratesfocused plan which any Republican of the past 30 years could have produced. So much for the “maverick martyr”.

And then there was the so-called ‘Muslim ban’. This, at least, appeared to be principally the work of President Trump and his close advisors. Implemented by a blizzard of Executive Orders, the ban was so strikingly blunt that a succession of courts found it to violate the Constitution. Despite continual amendments in the hope of a better outcome, the administration and its supporters were largely unchastened by setbacks. Instead, the judicial system became the latest institution to be lumped in with the “leftist” monolith that Trump and his anti-establishment supporters railed against. This hit a particular nerve with me. When even the authority of the judicial system to interpret the law is questioned, what socio-political common ground can possibly be found? When

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POLITICS & LAW the core institutions of state are so fractious and fractured, the only thing left to break apart is truth itself.

This was proved in the early days of the Trump Administration, with new Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserting (against all evidence) that Trump’s inauguration was the most-viewed ever, and Kellyanne Conway defending Spicer’s right to present “alternative facts”. Entirely unintended, herein lies the genesis of what might be Trump’s greatest legacy. Throughout 2017, mainstream media organisations seemed to shift their role from spectators to key actors. Their role became increasingly concerned with discerning truth, and falsehoods were increasingly named as such. Analysis of Trump’s actions grew in boldness and honesty. The ‘old’ values of logic, facts, and objective truth seemed to be making a resurgence.

I am not naïve enough to think that this will immediately remedy the deep fractures within social and political discourse, or even that those divisions won’t deepen in the short-term. Yet, if much of the news media continues to accept its responsibility as a key actor in social discourse, then the notion of a higher objective truth may yet come back into vogue. That may be the most valuable form of “resistance” of all.

For now, however, President Trump remains in office. Among those of us who believe that he has set an exceedingly poor standard of conduct, many have been spurred on to combat the normalisation of his behaviour. Yet I wonder how possible this is. Four years is, politically and culturally, a long time. Over the course of that time, it is conceivable that an entire group of young people gaining political consciousness just accept that this is the way that world leaders behave. It is totally possible that sacking the holders of impartial offices when they dare to disagree with you, then mocking and demeaning them over Twitter, will become normal presidential behaviour. It is also possible that, as one of the leaders of sociopolitical discourse in the West, President Trump has irreparably cheapened the political realm.

This is to say nothing of the geopolitical consequences of President Trump’s isolationist rhetoric and petulant anti-statesmanship, which may see moral (and consequently strategic, economic, and military) authority pass to more militant and less democratic states.

Those are nightmarish scenarios better deconstructed by others. I have neither the geopolitical expertise nor the Panadol supply to do so.

Three years left. My headache thunders on. I’ll continue to resist the cheap shot.

CREATIVE WRITING

Daddy Issues Julia White

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“Her?” His tongue lolled out between his lips, catching a wayward crumb. His breath was sticky with Guinness.

“Aggression, boy. You just have to take a good run at it.

Stand straight, puff out the chest—” This was dating advice from a 57-year-old divorcee with a receding hairline. It arrived rather clunkily, branded with a glaring warning which read: Heed at your own risk.

His father paused mid-sentence, falling short as he looked over at his son. Sinew and bone, sharp edges and bony off-cuts.

A jumble of collarbones and ribs knitted together with skin and tendons. Noting this, he faltered. Then, after a brief moment of recollection, he settled on a different route.

“Women,” he said, pausing for effect.

“They’re all the same mate. They love a strong hand. Just buy them a drink first and you’re golden.”

The boy nodded.

It’s hard to say if he truly hated his father.

He wasn’t sure if it were possible to hate a man who’d given so much and asked for so little. He did know intimately, however, this feeling of festering rage which gnawed at him.

It was the small things.

Things like the way his father’s rotund stomach hung so heavily over his waistband – the very personification of gluttony. The way he spoke to waiters and whinged in a childlike falsetto. The way every meal was punctuated by his trips back for seconds, thirds, and then to the downstairs freezer for dessert.

It was the way he leered at women, his selfishness in so many aspects of his life, the way his mother babied him and fuelled his greed – as though the more she gave, the more she fed the not-so-metaphorical beast.

So much of his hatred towards this man could be measured on a scale. His father’s rampant obesity enraged him.

In an attempt to placate his biting temper, the boy practised holding his tongue. Words were ineffective. This was obvious. As were the sideways glances during meal times, spiked with malice. It was like glaring at a baby for shitting its pants. Fruitless and tiring and ultimately ending in stalemate, as eventually, one of you would need a change — and the other had not yet mastered its own opposable thumbs.

While so many of his issues with the man did boil down to his insatiable appetite, this fury seemed to have leached out to corrupt other elements of his character as well. The way he spat offhanded misogynistic garble. His incredible overestimation of his sporting ability, despite doing absolutely none for over a decade. The way he drummed his fingers. His unhealthy affinity for bourbon and cigarettes.

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CREATIVE WRITING

Mostly it was the way his not-so-well-contained homophobia leaked out as lacklustre jokes, drained of any honest attempt at humour. They boasted the subtlety of poorlycamouflaged army tanks: clumsy, but weaponised. The cruel slice of his tongue was salted by irony – in that his own son had been kissing boys behind the shower blocks since the seventh grade. True, this wasn’t exactly public knowledge. But surely he knew. Surely he could have made out the flag raised up high above his head, glittering technicolour and tastefully bedazzled with rhinestones. It was unspoken, and apparently, unsuspected. And with each clunky slight it remained that way. With each firing of the cannon, he retreated back into the trenches a little further, cloaked in a wardrobe of ill-fitting heterosexuality.

But with the bad came good. His father was generous; both with himself and others. He didn’t shout. He wasn’t violent. He sponsored a child in rural Indonesia and paid his taxes. He drove a hybrid and recycled with enthusiasm. He made his wife cups of tea without being asked and hung out the washing on the weekends. He bought cage-free eggs. He made an excellent lamb stew. He called his mother biweekly. He owned a keep cup.

The boy concluded that he didn’t hate his dad.

It was true that rage, once spilled, was a stain that only worsened the more you tried to get it out. With this in mind, he had resigned himself to bottling it up tight, so as not to spill a single, damning drop. Once opened, that can of worms would only serve to wound and fester. And he couldn’t bear to hurt his father’s feelings. At least not so deliberately.

Perhaps it was better his mouth be stuffed with gluey lasagne. Perhaps it was safer this way.

‘Her?’ His tongue lolled out between his lips, catching a wayward crumb. His breath was sticky with Guinness.

On second thought.

‘Actually—’

ART Eva Georgiou @eva.georgiou_art

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SHOWCASE

Home Rachel Tse @racheltse_ Returning to my hometown felt like I was waving hello to old stories. Exploring the city I grew up in was a strange, nostalgic feeling — the warmest comfort in seeing familiar faces, smelling scents and hearing sounds that reminded me of childhood, locating places without needing to think too much. Yet I was also seeing the city in a foreign and unfamiliar light, like an outsider looking in, as if this place was a distant memory I couldn’t quite grasp.

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SHOWCASE

Rachel Tse @racheltse_

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ARTS & LIFESTYLE

Uncharted Huyen Hac Helen Tran

Content warning: racism, racial profiling This time last year, I was a month into a yearlong exchange in the south of France. Having planned this study abroad for close to four years, there were more than a few reasons behind my leaving. Was studying one of them?

No. Definitely not. Instead, there was a brewing urgency inside of me to feel independent, to know I could exist as me anywhere in the world.

To know I would be fine.

In my youth, I had always said it was my traditional Vietnamese dad that kept me away from the world; I was his youngest daughter who needed protection from a world of spidery intentions that came in the shape of catcalls, thieves and sullied men (who am I kidding, he still says this). I was never allowed to participate in sleepovers, hang out with my friends if any boys were present and take a train by myself.

His argument was that I was too young, and simply “because Vietnamese girls don’t do that”. I dreaded hearing that word “because”.

I hated it for two reasons: the first was my identity extended outside of being the fragile Vietnamese princess Daddy expected me to be; and the second was Dad just thought too ill of the world and I would discover that nothing is as bad as he thinks.

How naive of me, I know.

Still, I gave myself a goal when I moved to France. I was going to push beyond my limits and travel by myself. I would guide myself around, eat every single type of soft cheese known to society, learn to smush my syllables together like the Southern French do, forget Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor (for the most part) and have fun.

Yet travelling alone as a young, Asian female, as I soon found out became a tiresome tally of “how many times did I get ni hao-ed, xie xieed or sayonara-ed today?” It becomes a weak laugh when for the fifth time that day, someone merrily says they mistook you for a Chinese person. It is Googling “What cities are safe for females to travel?” after hearing countless stories throughout my exchange about women being inappropriately grabbed at and thinking: that could happen to me.

I pinned down the first few times to unhappy coincidences. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had unluckily crossed paths with that one annoying prick. Yet soon enough, I found myself writing listicles dedicated to the various scenarios I felt threatened in, and they all linked back to two key factors: my alarmingly YELLOW SKIN and my BREASTS (DUN, DUN). I asked my other Asian friends

ARTS & LIFESTYLE

if they had similar experiences — no points for guessing the obvious answer (yes; the answer is yes yes yes yes yes). Each had their own horror stories slipped in between impressive travel tales. At one point, I stopped seeing these occurrences as coincidences.

Because being a young Asian female while travelling solo is holding back on wearing a pair of sweatpants with a puffer jacket to the grocery store to avoid racist comments (because you know, I look more Asian in that attire).

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Being a young Asian female while travelling solo is getting told you take life too seriously when you yell at a guy in a club for bowing at you with prayer hands.

Being a young Asian female is having strippers at a strip club ask if you and your friend are twins or sisters because the staff have a bet going. The comments made about the shape of our eyes baffled me.

PHOTO Huyen Hac Helen Tran @huyenhac

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Being a young Asian female is being told by a fellow hostel mate who you decided to go to karaoke with that “you wouldn’t have come out with me if you didn’t want to kiss me” after you’ve repeatedly said no to his advances (“I’ve always liked Asian girls”). It is being forced to pay for his club entry and taxi ride back because you rejected him, and abiding to it all with a smile on your face because you are sleeping in the same hostel room and it is better to be safe than sorry.

I felt incredibly disheartened, and am still learning to not be angry at myself for the days I changed out of my sweatpants to look “less Asian” in the eyes of my catcallers and discriminators. The shame that grew inside of me through these experiences convinced me to hide myself, and it became a constant battle between fear and reasoning.

Dad, I’m sorry. You were right. The world can be as bad as you think. But me, a fragile princess who needs saving? Still a no.

Because being a young Asian female while travelling solo is understanding the nuances of your autonomy. It is learning to dismantle patterns of action and thought that try to subdue your being. It is barring judgement and discrimination by knowing identity is not a plaything for others to pick at when they please. It is an uncharted map you draw, and you alone.

It is knowing that I do exist as me anywhere in the world, even on the days life felt the opposite of fine.

PHOTO Huyen Hac Helen Tran @huyenhac

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CREATIVE WRITING

Alternate Universe In Which I Am Not A Pacifist Aishah Ali

I step in to Gloria Jeans, at 15, to order my first coffee Kristine “the cashier” asks my name and I recite it like it is The Odyssey, And though odd it seems like she, “couldn’t quite catch that” And somehow mistakes Aishah to be the whole continent of Asia And in this universe, I do not bite my tongue, I do not politely nod, I do not pretend that I didn’t hear it Instead, I spray-paint the entire world map on the hardwood floor, Circle Asia in red And tell Kristine “the cashier” from Gloria Jeans that Yes, I am the entire continent of Asia, The place where the coffee beans you grind were first grown And while Aishah is almost half the letters in Shakespeare I’m flattered you think I’m almost a whole hemisphere

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CREATIVE WRITING

At a family gathering an Aunty asks me when I will stop studying, When my quest for knowledge will cease, A prelude to the question When will you marry my awkward civil engineering backward thinking son?

And in this universe, After I graduate from my 5-year law and politics degree, I decide to do my honours, proceed to do my masters, Realise I want to be a doctor of some sort So I do a part time 8 year PhD, Realise I could be an actual doctor and out of complete spite start another 5 year degree And when I am 40 a lawyer, a doctor, and still a salty teen I will go back and tell that Aunty that I will not EVER stop learning (Of ways to get out of getting married) In this alternate universe, I will not cry into the pillow, I will not ball my fists up, I will not contain my rage and parade it in poetry And most importantly, I will out power walk all those atrociously slow walkers in the underground central tunnel Because in this universe I have the stamina to do so When a wrong number calls me, Instead of getting scared that it is a Ponzi scheme scammer (Or the library I did not return those books to) I will answer that call and pretend that I am whoever they think I am, (Just to mess with them) Because I have that kind of confidence

CREATIVE WRITING

In this alternate universe I will not silently contemplate how world leaders cause destruction at their personal whims or (How that guy has the audacity to sleep on the train like how does he know when to wake up) Instead I will engage in heavy conversation with everyone that dares sit beside me on the train, I will not awkwardly scroll through old emails because anxiety whispers that the person behind me is judging my Facebook feed, Instead of praying that no one sits beside me on a packed bus I will wear a “come here” bandana and “the spot next to me is free” shirt I’ll decorate the seat with marshmallows In an act of pure anti-pacifism Because in this universe to not be a pacifist Does not mean to simply be an aggressor, To be confrontational, To have a Swiss-Army knife tongue and a slingshot sour scorn It means actively being an open seat on a packed bus that might be, The home, The welcome, The joy, The relief, of an overly tired teen that has just sprinted across the street, Because we all know we’ve been them, And we’ve been there, In this alternate universe, Kristine is the overly tired teen, at Gloria Jeans and maybe the most anti-pacifist thing to do is to stay silent when everyone chooses to shout.

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SOCIO–CULTURAL

Holding Hands Michelle Xu

Content warning: domestic violence Parents fascinate me. Especially those in conventional, happy families. Families where parents are still committed, sharing the same household. When I visit my friends’ homes and sit with them for dinner, I get a glimpse of a special dynamic. Parents that dote on their children in their own ways: slicing fruit, making you breakfast after a sleepover. Parents that warn you the food is hot. Parents that insist you have to wear slippers, and insist you sit down. Parents that, when you aren’t looking, talk between themselves and laugh.

Parents that hold hands as they walk ahead of you.

I am always in awe of this. I watch, partly incredulous, and partly envious.

I’ve never seen my parents hold hands.

Along those lines, my first complete memory starts with my father throwing a bowl of vegetables across the dinner table, followed by my mother crying and washing me in the bathtub afterwards. Like all early memories, it feels whole and real enough to be true, but it’s also the kind of memory that blurs at the edges.

Imagine if I asked my parents if it’s really true that this incident happened. As if it was the same as confirming that I have in fact held a koala on a family trip to the Gold Coast.

There are a lot of similarly unspeakable things between us, it’s how we’ve always operated.

The thing with parents, is that there is a lot that is left unsaid. There’s never this specific moment where you’ve consciously decided that they’re your parents, and you’d like a relationship with them.

In contrast, I remember starting school, and specifically deciding to become friends with a girl whose surname was lower down in the

SOCIO-CULTURAL alphabet than mine. The same went for a boy who sat across me in Year 6, and we’d kick each other’s shins under the table, and somehow that started a friendship.

In terms of my parents, I naturally didn’t have any choice in the matter.

We take it for granted that we have a parent-child relationship, and apparently there are just some unspoken guidelines as to how to do things. Parents do their best to house and feed you, and my immigrant Chinese ones also put in that extra effort to get me in an academically advantageous position. And sometimes, parents hurt you, and this is upsetting, but apparently also inevitable.

When I was in preschool I asked my mother why other people have mums and dads, and asked where mine was. And one day my dad flew back from wherever he was overseas to surprise me at preschool and pick me up; I had no idea who he was.

I can tell a fairly well-constructed story of my parents’ childhoods, of their careers, and their brief stay in New Zealand. I can give a chronological recount of when indecencies happened, with blame from both parties appropriately annexed. I can tell a slower story of how this seeped into my adolescent life, including the time I called a hotline crying, and was told my father throwing a bowl of rice at my face was problematic, but not anything for them to go on. There’s also a worse story where my brother and I are standing in the hallway, watching something terrible unfold, and not knowing if we should call the police.

Nobody teaches you what to do — or what happens if you do — what happens when you call the police on one of your parents? So we stood there, with the lights off, listening to the sound of crying, and the thoughts in our heads.

We’ve never talked about that.

There are a lot of things my family doesn’t talk about. We’ve talked mostly about trying harder in school, my university preferences, and how great it is that I have a job in law. Sometimes they ask about my boyfriend, and ever since I turned eighteen, I heard a lot about their problems. Like my father borrowing too much money, and my mother wanting some kind of compensation for all the wages she poured into a house under my father’s name.

I’ve never had this kind of relationship with my parents before. I understand them better as individuals who have their own problems, and their own sides of the story. I empathise with their pain, while trying to manage my entitlement to their protection and support. I’ve tried to encourage them to part with one another and to split their assets, while also wondering where I fall in the aftermath.

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And when I tell these stories, I also want to tell a balancing tale, of how I know my parents love me deeply.

I know it’s easy and probably fair to be hard on parents who seem to have hurt their children. I know that it goes against one’s instincts to try and forgive people who can be identified as abusers in a domestic violence situation. In fact, for a long time, I was resentful and upset with my parents for doing this to me, and putting me in this position.

But it’s not that simple.

My mother always made sure I had birthday cake, and comforted me while I cried on the street after a bad haircut. My father would always bring some kind of extravagant gift to me every time he returned from wherever he was overseas, and he’d play hide and seek with us in the school holidays. My mother taught me how to drive, and took me to eat sushi after my first boyfriend broke up with me. She didn’t even like him.

Simply put, my parents love me. And for a long time, I didn’t really get it.

My father has two daughters with a mother different from mine, but he still makes it a point to cook dinner for me, just in case I need something to eat at 10pm after I get home from night classes.

My mother cooks different food and is learning how to play piano in a different home, but I know she misses me. I should visit more.

I’ve noticed now, when my parents are more apart from me than ever before, that I really have to try to have a relationship with them. It’s a more conscious and purposeful one, because it would be easier to part ways entirely.

I used to despise my father, because it was easier to do that than to try and understand his own struggles. I used to put my mother on a pedestal, but now I know better.

There was a time when I thought I wanted nothing to do with my parents.

I know now that simply isn’t true.

CREATIVE WRITING

When I Met You Eugenie Dale Content warning: abuse (emotional and physical), suicidal thoughts

When I met you, I was broken.

He had left his violence scattered across our bedroom: the holes he’d punched in the walls missing my face by only inches and the scratches from my fingernails as he’d dragged me by my hair from the room. The glass he’d thrown at my head shattered into glimmering shards by the pillows. He left me with scars, scars that lined my arm, each a memory worse than the one before.

When you saw them for the first time I expected you to leave, but you kissed each wound and I swear they began to fade.

When I met you, I couldn’t help but apologise.

Sorry again and again as if my tongue had become accustomed to taking responsibility for mistakes I didn’t make.

But you pushed the loose strands of hair from my face and told me it was okay and that you’d be there, mistakes and all.

I remember our first fight. I wasn’t on time for dinner when you needed me to be and I expected you to get angry like he did. I lifted my hands and crouched low, preparing for what I thought I deserved. But instead of drawing blood, you crouched down in front of me, took my face in your hands and kissed my forehead.

We never made it to dinner. We sat there together on the ground for 5 hours as I sobbed into the crook of your neck. No words were spoken, but no words were needed.

When I met you, you gave me back parts of myself I thought I’d lost forever.

It all began with an innocent smile and a gentleness I’d never known.

I no longer need to walk in shadows and I no longer fall asleep praying I won’t wake up; because when you squeeze my hand under the table, or cover my sleeping body with a blanket, I know what love is meant to be. I am no longer afraid of tomorrow’s sunrise because it’s another day with you.

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Nascence

SHOWCASE

Joseph Dang @joseph.dang

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POLITICS & LAW

Just In Case You Forgot, Peter Dutton Was A Cop Aryan Golanjan

Content warning: self harm Shortly before Christmas last year, Malcolm Turnbull introduced legislation to give effect to the creation of a new, US style ‘super-ministry’ for Home Affairs. The portfolio will combine the Australian Border Force (ABF), Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) and the Office of Transport Authority. Overseeing this will be none other than the former Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, and now Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton.

Both the formation of the portfolio, as well as the appointment of Dutton as the responsible Minister, have been controversial. It’s a major promotion for Dutton, who’s been in charge of Australia’s offshore detention camps since 2014, and will now have these extra departments added to his list of responsibilities. Malcolm Turnbull has justified it by saying the move is necessary to combat the ever-evolving threat of terrorism. Some, though, don’t believe the portfolio should exist at all, much less be headed by the former Minister for Immigration.

These cynics’ concerns are bolstered by the fact that before 2017, not only had Turnbull remained silent on a need for such a superministry, but he also harshly critiqued a near-identical Labor proposal, calling it a “wasteful and costly exercise in bureaucracy”.

Turnbull wasn’t the only one that had previously expressed reservations; several national security policy experts and academics have publicly advised against the creation of the portfolio. Even those in the Coalition government are sceptical; you need only look to the unnamed government MP who called Dutton a “fascist” to Sky News’ Samantha Maiden to see the divisions.

So, why has the super-portfolio been formed?

Even more pertinently, why has it been put in the hands of a man who’s called refugees illiterate, while simultaneously arguing they’ll take Australian jobs? A man who has blamed activists for refugee self-harm, stated said refugees were harming themselves to gain a “free pass” into Australia, and presided over camps where individuals are tortured, starved, and separated from their families and loved ones?

POLITICS & LAW

Is this all the byproduct of factional maneuvering? Does it have more to do with internal Liberal Party politics than actual security policy? Some critics believe so, and have identified Dutton’s appointment as a political ploy designed to appease the conservative faction of the party and dispel any potential challenges to Turnbull’s leadership.

This would at least partially explain the formation of a portfolio that national security experts and academics have warned against, including former head of Department for Foreign Affairs Michael L’Estrange. In 2017, L’Estrange conducted a review of Australia’s national security arrangements, specifically not advising the creation of the super-portfolio.

He’s not the only one that disagrees with it.

John Blaxland, a security and intelligence expert at the Australian National University told The Sydney Morning Herald that, “there are compelling reasons why the separation of powers on an enduring basis is a good thing.

Concentrating such power can generate concerns about how that power might be used perhaps inappropriately.”

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Former President of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, told the ABC that the centralisation of these powers, particularly in a ministerial portfolio that is not subject to judicial review, could have serious ramifications. Furthermore, there may be a trend towards “very serious incursions into the separation of powers, the power of the judiciary to make independent judgments”.

Peter Dutton has presided over one of Australia’s most inhumane and globally criticised policies of recent political history.

The fact that he now has the resources of a super-ministry at his beck and call is nothing short of horrifying. This man’s Google search bar suggestions include the phrases, “rising seas joke”, “illiterate immigrants comment”, and “mad fucking witch email”, but sure, let’s give him ASIO, the AFP, and the ABF. It’s evident that at this stage, Turnbull will do anything to maintain his fragile grip on power.

What we don’t know is how low Dutton will continue to sink in his ongoing campaign to dehumanise anyone that isn’t an AngloAustralian, born and raised. Unfortunately, it seems like we’ll find out sooner than later.

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SOCIO–CULTURAL

MARDI GRAS IS MORE THAN THIS Alyssa Rodrigo

Content warning: homophobia, violence and police brutality In a stride of colour and glitter, a parade of floats and dancers will make their way up Oxford Street in celebration of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This year will mark the parade’s 40th anniversary, and the first year in which LGBTQIAP+ Australians can celebrate the legislation of same sex marriage.

In 1978, Mardi Gras began as a direct resistance to a heteropatriarchy responsible for the violent discrimination and marginalisation of the queer community. The first parade, an act of solidarity with the victims of the Stonewall Riots in 1969, saw a group of 500 organisers gather on Oxford Street for a street festival.

As the festival proceeded, police began to intimidate and harass the revellers. The night met its climax when a risen count of 2000 people were met with police violence at Kings Cross. 53 people were arrested, many of whom were brutalised, and their identities publicised in The Sydney Morning Herald. As a result, many queer people were outed without consent, and consequently fired from their workplaces.

In the forty years since, Mardi Gras has evolved from a grassroots movement protesting for the decriminalisation of homosexuality to a festival of extravagance; complete with dancers, performers and drag queens. Since the 1990s, companies have joined in on the festivities with corporate sponsorships, partnerships, and funding. In stark contrast to the first parade in 1978, the two kilometre stretch up Oxford Street becomes endowed with corporate logos and promotional hashtags, each more colourful and rainbow-shaped than the next.

As these displays of corporate solidarity continue to grow in prominence with each year, there lie more insidious consequences, ones that we often blind ourselves to. Though Mardi Gras continues to be a politically significant event in the Australian queer community, its shift from a once radical and highly politicised event towards a celebratory parade and social occasion sheds light on what it means to be queer in a 21st century, neoliberal era.

SOCIO–CULTURAL

Our queer identity is now a marketing scheme — one that is readily, and often clumsily dissected to be prepared and consumed by a cisgender and heterosexual audience. As companies appropriate queerness for capitalist gain, there evolves a false equivalence in which visibility in the marketplace erroneously assumes social visibility. It is ultimately a hollow reflection that offers the temptation of representation and a seat at the table, but does little to honour queer voices beyond the parameters of our economic potential. Here, we see LGBTQIAP+ visibility depend upon market trends and profitability. And frustratingly, breaking out from the dynamics of capitalism and striking out on our own has its own set of challenges.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras did not intend for the event to grow and become inundated with marketing jargon and corporate logos. It simply happened because much like the pride events in London and New York discovered, corporate partnerships and funding make the show go on. But commercialisation

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comes at a cost. As we allow companies to co-opt our identities, queer communities increasingly become a target market to tap into and a subculture to profit from. Companies encroach into a space which historically, has been an important meeting ground for activism and social change.

So, if you are attending the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras this year, remember that as you stand on Oxford Street, illuminated by a dazzling spectacle of neon lights and rainbow glitter, you are standing on what used to be a battleground — and there is still a fight ahead.

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SOCIO–CULTURAL

THE HISTORY OF QUEER RIGHTS IN AUSTRALIA Tahlia Nelson

Queer rights in Australia have a long (and not always pretty) history. The following is a condensed outline of the fight for equal rights and freedom from discrimination. Whilst the history of queer and gender non-conforming folk in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is not entirely clear to us now, this is not to say that people of diverse gender and/or sexuality did not exist in the 60,000+ years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history prior to British invasion. In all likelihood, such identities would have been framed and understood differently, seeing as the gender binary and the heteropatriarchal system to which we currently adhere was imported by the settler colonial state. With this in mind, we begin our timeline at the year 1788: 1788

1899

The British colonise Australia, importing their legal system, which included laws against homosexuality. Sodomy laws will remain a part of Australian law until 1994.

The punishment for sodomy in most Australian states is downgraded from execution to life in prison. However, sodomy

remains a crime punishable by death in Victoria until 1949.

1901

Australia federates. Individual state and territory governments adopt variations of British antihomosexuality laws.

1949

In Victoria, sodomy is downgraded to a crime punishable by 20 years imprisonment.

1972

South Australian police kill a gay man by throwing him into the Torrens River. This event shines a light on gay rights and police violence in the state.

1973

The Australian Medical Association removes homosexuality from its list of illnesses and disorders.

1975

South Australia becomes the first state to decriminalise male homosexuality.

1976

ACT decriminalises male homosexuality.

SOCIO–CULTURAL 1976/ 1977

Victorian police arrest over 100 men for homosexuality. Police go undercover as gay men in order to identify offenders.

1978

The first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade takes place in Sydney, and is met with police violence. 53 people are arrested, and several are beaten.

1980/ 1981

Victoria decriminalises male homosexuality.

1982

First reported case of HIV/AIDS in Australia. The fight for gay rights takes on a public health focus.

1983

Northern Territory decriminalises male homosexuality.

1984

New South Wales decriminalises male homosexuality.

1985

1990

Queensland passes legislation prohibiting bars from serving alcohol to “perverts, deviants, child molesters and drug users”, with intentions to target the queer community.

Western Australia decriminalises male homosexuality.

1990

Queensland decriminalises male homosexuality.

1992

The gay panic defence is successfully used to downgrade a murder charge to manslaughter, for what is thought to be the first time in Australian legal history (this case is followed by over 10

53 similar cases in NSW alone over the next few years). The gay panic defence is a legal argument used to downgrade murder charges on the grounds that the defendant was provoked into homicide by a sexual advance from the victim.

1992

The Keating Labor government removes the ban on gay men and women serving in the military, despite widespread opposition.

1994

The Keating Labor Government passes the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act, overriding all state and territory legislation pertaining to sexual conduct for consenting adults over the age of 18.

1997

Tasmania formally decriminalises homosexuality.

1997

The gay panic defence is upheld by the High Court of Australia.

2003

Tasmania abolishes the gay panic defence.

2004

ACT legislates to allow samesex couples to adopt.

2004

ACT abolishes the gay panic defence.

2004

The Marriage Act is amended by the Howard Liberal government to explicitly exclude same-sex couples, specifying that “marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others”.

2005

Victoria abolishes the gay panic defence.

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SOCIO–CULTURAL 2005

The Australian Defence Force extends equal benefits to samesex families.

2006

The Northern Territory abolishes the gay panic defence.

2007

The Howard Liberal government announces plans to nationally ban same-sex adoption, however this does not eventuate as Labor wins the next election.

2008

Western Australia abolishes the gay panic defence.

2009

The Rudd Labor government passes legislation to remove discrimination against same-sex couples from 85 federal laws.

2010

2011

New South Wales legislates to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

The Gillard Labor government passes legislation allowing for an “x” gender option on passports, and allowing transgender people to select their gender on passports without medical intervention.

2013

Tasmania legislates to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

2013

The Gillard Labor government amends the Sex Discrimination Act, making it unlawful to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

2013

ACT passes equal marriage legislation in an act of parliament known as the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act. However, the Abbott

Liberal government immediately lodges a challenge in the High Court of Australia, where the act is struck down on the grounds that it is in conflict with the federal Marriage Act. 2013

Transgender children no longer require Family Court approval to access puberty blockers.

2014

Norrie May-Welby becomes the first person to be legally recognised as being of “nonspecific sex”, after a historic High Court ruling.

2014

ACT allows transgender individuals to change the gender on their birth certificate without medical intervention.

2014

The Safe Schools Coalition Australia anti-bullying program launches nationwide under the Abbott Liberal government.

2016

The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, formally apologises for the state’s history of anti-gay laws.

2016

NSW Police and the state government apologise for the arrests and police brutality at the 1978 Mardi Gras Parade.

2016

Victoria legislates to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

2016

Queensland legislates to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

2016

South Australia allows for birth certificates to be altered without gender re-assignment surgery.

South Australia legislates to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

SOCIO–CULTURAL 2016

The Turnbull Liberal government confirms that it will not renew funding for the Safe Schools program after ongoing criticism and fear-mongering from political conservatives and the media.

2017

Queensland abolishes the gay panic defence.

2017

The Turnbull Liberal government goes ahead with a noncompulsory postal survey through the Australian Bureau of Statistics, posing the question: ‘Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to

55 marry?’. 79.5% of Australian voters participated in the survey, with 61.6% returning a “Yes” vote.

2017

The Full Court of the Family Court rules that young people who are experiencing gender dysphoria and wish to undergo hormone treatment no longer need to seek the approval of the Family Court to do so.

2017

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia passes into law. The first legal samesex weddings are held on 16 December.

So, what next?

In the wake of the recent marriage equality victory, it is high time we turn our attention to fight for trans* rights, both in terms of public awareness, and at the level of policy. To begin with, in most states and territories, trans* individuals are required to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to have their true gender recognised in cardinal identification documents.

This requirement has been criticised by the Australian Human Rights Commission, and was described by a 2013 Law Reform Advisory Council report as “inhumane”. Despite the groundbreaking Norrie case in 2014, most states and territories do not allow non-binary and gender non-conforming folk to have their gender recognised on cardinal identification documents.

LGBTQIAP+ folk continue to experience discrimination, harassment and hostility in many areas of Australian society.

The Northern Territory has not yet legislated to allow queer couples to adopt, South Australia is yet to abolish the gay panic defence, and across Australia, men who have had sex with men in the previous 12 months are not able to donate blood. Additionally, many intersex Australians are still subject to unnecessary medical interventions in childhood to ‘normalise’ their genitalia, compromising individual rights to bodily autonomy. While we’ve come a long way in recent years, it’s time to gather our victories and continue forward, for there is still work to be done.

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POLITICS & LAW

S 44: Do we need change?

Tom Brennan

Since mid-2016, the High Court’s storied history in interpreting and applying the constitution has attracted controversy following their ruling that several politicians are ineligible for government due to their status as dual citizens. Detractors of this great citizenship crisis have utilised it as a platform to call for an overhaul to the relevant section, 44(i). Despite the scale of the crisis, however, the needed change could just as easily come from within the High Court itself.

S 44(i) in the High Court S 44(i) states that a member of the government or the Senate is ineligible for office if they possess an ‘allegiance, obedience, or adherence to….or is a subject or citizen of a foreign power’. The High Court’s authority of determining matters relating to s 44(i) has been the case of Sykes v Cleary (1992). The precedent set by this case is that a member of government may evade disqualification if they had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to renounce the right to citizenship in their parent’s birth country by making an application to the Foreign Office cancelling their citizenship before their nomination. This was further argued to apply even if the plaintiff possessed no outright citizenship, property, or passport

to the foreign country in question. Countries considered to be a ‘foreign power’ also include other Commonwealth countries such as Britain and New Zealand.

The great citizenship crisis Starting with New Zealand dual-citizen Scott Ludlam’s resignation in mid-2017, the hunt for dual citizens in government led to the case of Re Canavan (2017). In this case, politicians now made infamous by the crisis (including Ludlam, Larissa Waters, Barnaby Joyce and Nick Xenophon) were judged by the High Court for their eligibility to hold office. In nearly all cases, the politicians involved were completely unaware of their entitlement to dual citizenship. They were also unaware that this ignorance was insufficient to prevent ineligibility under Sykes v Cleary. Out of nowhere, a legal maxim that only the keenest of Senators and Federal MPs kept an eye out for kicked into action.

Most, such as Barnaby Joyce and Malcolm Roberts, had foreign-born parents who became naturalised citizens when they were children but were ignorant well into their careers as to whether they were entitled to citizenship in their parent’s home country.

POLITICS & LAW Others, such as Senator Nick Xenophon, were excused for forgetting to renounce their citizenship due to the lack of an automatic right to it in their parent’s home country.

The court also ruled that those who renounced their citizenship after nomination and received confirmation from a foreign home office after the mid-2016 federal election were ineligible; thus leaving Fiona Nash of the Nationals Party ineligible along with fellow party member Joyce and One Nation member Roberts.

The saga continues Since Re Canavan, it has been revealed at least six more MPs and senators possess or have possessed a dual citizenship. Like Fiona Nash, five of them had sufficiently applied to the British Government to have their citizenship renounced but were unable to secure confirmation of their successful renouncement until after the federal election of July 2016. Among them, David Feeney remains the oddest case; he supposedly renounced citizenship to both Ireland and Britain in 2007, but was unable to prove this, leading to his eventual resignation.

This crisis displays both the best and worst aspects of our constitution. On the one hand, the High Court continues to reinforce the rights that senators and members of parliament owe to the Constitution that they might otherwise have ignored. On the other hand, the sense of fatigue inflicted by another potential round of by-elections could waste the time of the various government parties better spent on new initiatives and campaigns.

Additionally, those currently in or looking to enter politics could find themselves under needless suspicion, or may need to research the specifics of the right of citizenship in their parent’s home country. For example, the Israeli ‘right of return’ law for Jews could potentially rule ineligible Australian-born Jewish politicians. So, what needs to change?

57 Charting a new course

Proposals to amend s 44(i) via referendum have ranged from adding words to the effect that being an Australian citizen is enough to deter allegiance to a foreign power, to abolishing s 44(i) altogether. The latter option, proposed by the 1988 constitutional commission, was to alter it to the effect that only politicians convicted of treason or holding another Commonwealth office would be disqualified by the High Court; thus leaving the question of allegiance to a foreign power to parliament.

Conversely, it may not be necessary to amend s 44(i) at all to ease the burden of the 28% of Australians born overseas, some of whom may be looking to enter politics. If the High Court chooses to amnesty the five currently in question by considering their rejection of citizenship before the federal election, it could undo much of the damage done against their reputation by demonstrating an appreciation for the awareness of dual-citizenship and act of termination as constituting ‘reasonable steps’ to avoid ineligibility. Although these steps would ideally be carried out before nomination and with a confirmation from the relevant Home Office, such a requirement would be best applied in future cases and conveyed to future senators and parliamentary MPs considering the exceptional scale of the crisis as it’s unfolding now.

While such a decision by the High Court may not sound as flashy as a referendum, it could prove just as valuable in helping to prevent a crisis like this from happening again. Whichever way this saga resolves itself, the ideal outcome should include reevaluation of the ‘reasonable steps’ needed to deter foreign allegiance, so that foreign-born citizens entering politics won’t be needlessly scrutinised.

Soft Topologies Kate Scardifield 27 February – 20 April, 2018 OPENING NIGHT 27 FEB, 6-8PM UTS Gallery, University of Technology Sydney Level 4, 702 Harris St Ultimo NSW 2007 art.uts.edu.au | @utsart Mon-Fri 12-6 Sat 12-4 Image: Kate Scardifield, Soft Topology, 2017 Hand pleated & heat-set polyester organza, cotton thread, black tourmaline. 185 x 120 cm (full expansion).

Adaptable form, Dimensions variable. Photo: Document Photography. Image courtesy the artist & ALASKA Projects.

SHOWCASE

the big bang.

ELIZA PALL @elizapall

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SHOWCASE

ELIZA PALL

SHOWCASE

@elizapall

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CREATIVE WRITING

Alex Bulahoff

The Atelieathynians

Antheus. You may call me Antheus. Antheus the Vast or Antheus the Great. No, of course not Antheus the Old. We are all old, Karathsis. Half-wit. Move to the back.

Where was I? Ah, yes. I have been called to recount the tale of the Atelieathynians. No, of course I don’t know how to spell it. I’m not even sure that’s how you say it. Write the name as it sounds. Are you done? Sound it out. Good.

Now, this is what I know of the species that inspired Man. Where to start? Their form is worth noting. They were hideous.

What? I’m not allowed to say that?

Thycindios, don’t start with me.

Fine.

How shall I put this . . . the minds that conjured them must have held strange notions of beauty! For these soft-skinned creatures could have only been the result of some nightmarish dream!

Thycindios, stop it. Well, how should I tell it then? Hmph.

You’re really no fun this aeon you know.

Very well.

They lacked any corporeal traits that might prove useful in battle or protect them from the harsh vicissitudes of life. But we must have acclimatised to their grotesque visage, for why else would we create another in their image?

It is said they were gifted with all the graces that promise success in life. None of these carnal of course, but they were the first to whom all the Old Ones gave gifts.

Traimythos breathed life into them. Koolaralyth whispered secrets of their land; taught them when to migrate and where to build. Marveydest advised to which creatures they may hold dominion, and to steer clear of the fanged and hairy things that might enslave them. Atheromae crushed seeds of sagacity into their skulls. Mephaestues smithed their limbs, stretched and shaped them so that they might be useful as tools. They used all their Wonder in the creation of them. For a time they lived grandly. Prospered and built monuments, carving their domain both deep into the dirt and high into the sky. The Old Ones had whispered that they should be fruitful in Wonder and multiply it.

And so they did. Wonder grew with every feeling of grief or joy, attracting the envious eye of everything for a thousand plains.

Each lifetime, their Wonder brightened. Impossible to ignore.

What our young minds would have given to hear those first lines of prayer! The phrases used, the enduring poetry that meant no other Celestial before or since could stand against their skill.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next.

Yes, Karathsis, of course we harvested it. Thycindios, could

CREATIVE WRITING

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you move Karathsis to the back? Yes, there. No, slightly to the left. Perfect.

The Old Ones bore us for one purpose. Were we not the new generation seen fit to create all worlds? If we did not, then others might rise to snatch it.

We were determined.

They were not our creation, but they would be our prize. And so a plan was hatched.

This is what I know of their demise.

You see, we were younger then and craved excitement, having spawned only a couple aeons ago. It was a forbidden plain. An untapped resource. Coveted by all.

It was clear we could not harvest in the usual fashion, as to avoid drawing the vengeful eye of our creators. Some wise mind among us studied the species with remarkable focus; realised that bequeathing one final talent might ruin them.

And so we did.

Mind you, this was not just any talent. A beautiful toxin, disguised as a gift.

What? Did we regret it? Karthsis, if I were capable of grief, I would carry it for spawning you.

These creatures were not of our making, but of some minds now long since cold. We had spent no Wonder in forming them, and gained all in their ending them. How could we do anything else?

Meteroe carried out the deed, fashioning the dagger before tossing it to the surface. It travelled many lifetimes before reaching them. We watched as the weight of it crumbled their little bodies to dust. We waited. No Wonder appeared. What had happened? It was clear our plan had run terribly awry. From no fault of our own, of course.

What?

Fine. From some fault of our own.

You see, we had been too clever. Too entirely effective. It did not just destroy the Atelieathynian, but took their Wonder and turned it sour, leaving it trapped to the surface, bitter and unwilling to rise.

Many ages passed. We grew weary and could feel The Sleep upon us. What could we do? If we slept, what would become of our plains?

And so we came to a decision.

We harvested every plain we had moulded, collecting the small pockets of Wonder left behind. Then we came back to the place which had borne all hope and despair. The plain of the Atelieathynians.

Sentimental of us wasn’t it? I had my eye on another (unoccupied, mind you), a few galaxies away. But did anyone

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CREATIVE WRITING listen to me? No. No, of course not. They never do.

It was filthy too. It needed so much work. In our absence, great lumbering beasts had risen. All varying in size and hunger for flesh. Ages had passed since we had made sport of dropping monsters. Fanged and slippery things in the water and beneath the crust. Most of our best work still slumbers deep in these depths, unknown to Man. Again, Meteroe did his work, wiping away the scaled things that lived there and when the dust had settled; we took to the task of fashioning Man. Yes, Man. Karathsis, why would we pass on a name no one could pronounce?

Besides, darlings it’s all about branding these days.

Atelieathynians equalled bad press; constantly reminding folk they were investing in a failed first time project?

Use your head Karathsis, for Suns sake.

Oh, my apologies that wasn’t you speaking at all . . . I’m getting side-tracked.

This time, we took heed to the lessons we’d learnt. The legacy that had been left behind. We gave them all the same traits, all the same gifts that had proven so fruitful, confident that in a few short ages, we would claim back the Wonder that was so cruelly snatched.

And so we shall! In preparation for this joyous event you halfwits are being educated. Soon, there will be enough Wonder to create whole galaxies. Even though I know we could handle it ourselves. I have no notion as to why we’re sharing with you.

The curse? Oh did I not mention it? Ah yes, I suppose that was the purpose of my visit here.

Suns, must I Thycindios? Leaving it there makes it so much more mysterious. Edgey. I know what edgey means Thycindios.

Meteroe taught me.

Fine. If I must.

You see my little unwelcome saplings, the curse we forced on the Atelieathynians was the knack for foreboding. They saw their whole life spread before them. Every decision. Every variation from a path that would lead ever still to their eternal end.

Honestly, it was so typical of frail minds.

You see, there is no Wonder in the inevitable, and so they became incapable of it. For it is possible to survive disaster, but impossible to live without hope. That is the lesson we learnt and passed on in the creation of Man. So don’t do that, yeah? Simple.

Thycindios, I told you I would tell it the best.

POLITICS & LAW

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Will the legal field be another victim to the “Black Mirror-ing” of industries?

Aishah Ali

In a zeitgeist that has been usurped by technology, the constant evolution of micro and macro processes in the name of efficiency makes Black Mirror seem too close to reality. The fear and inertia associated with the introduction of technology within the workplace, more specifically the legal field, is understandable. Popular media feeds the sentiment that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will completely seize the need for human labour. However, this sombre outlook impedes the potential for organic and beneficial progression of technology within legal environments such as courts and law firms.

The notion of AI strikes fear because it is an entity that cannot be neatly understood. However, according to Dan Mangan, its purpose within the legal sphere would largely be administrative.1 This would include menial tasks such as searching through large amounts of documents, reviewing contracts, legal research, but could also include raising red flags such as potentially identifying fraud. In the courtroom, e-filing already allows advocates to obtain court credentials remotely through online databases.2 The idea that these functions are carried out by means that don’t get tired or hungry make them extremely viable options in a fast-paced industry. Computer programming also has the potential to eliminate subconscious bias. However, one could argue that there is a need for subjectivity to ensure fair and equitable processing within the justice system. It is safe to say that the use of legal technology may drastically increase productivity and output, but this doesn’t necessarily mean legal professionals would become redundant.

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POLITICS & LAW Michelle Mahoney from King & Wood Mallesons notes that technology will not take away the traditional role of the lawyer but instead exponentially enhance it, commenting that, “It [legal technology] has enhanced the role of an expert, creating a series of tools which enable and support both the delivery of the work and product, and support the physical independence of a lawyer, allowing quality delivery to be provided from different locations, times or formats.” 3 Legal technology provides a level of transparency that is typically unattainable in ordinary legal practice, which may be clouded by conflicts of interest. The justice system is also consumed with arduous and time-consuming activity causing a cycle of procedural issues, unnecessary litigation, and financial strain. Not only would legal technology accelerate processes, it would facilitate lawgivers to devote a larger portion of time to concentrate on intricate legal issues that require more attention. This would open up opportunities for law graduates to conduct more skilled work, as well as enhance the overall “client-centricity, agility and collaboration within law firms”.4 Legal technology has led to a positive diversification of the legal profession, where new jobs in the industry are being generated.

Start-ups, in particular, are embracing inevitable changes in the market for legal services and adapting to the shifting landscape.

Legal start-ups around Australia are advertising roles that didn’t exist 20, or even 10, years ago; these include jobs such as strategic auditor, accreditation monitor, proficiency analyst, and legal physician.5 This highlights the introduction of roles with more ‘emotional content’. For example, a legal physician could conduct a medico-legal 1 Dan Mangan, ‘Lawyers could be examination on parties to proceedings, where the next profession to be replaced computers’, CNBC (online), 20 relevant. These new jobs would capitalize on a by January 2018 <https://www.cnbc. law graduate’s complex skillset as opposed to com/2017/02/17/lawyers-could-begraduates performing mundane and repetitive replaced-by-artificial-intelligence.html>.

2 Ian Brady, ‘The modern law firm and tasks.

Ultimately, legal technology has the power to make justice more accessible. Although it may seem intimidating to law students and grads, we have opportunities our predecessors didn’t, bolstered by the fact that we’re digital natives who have grown up embracing technology.

Utilizing this technology in our own work means we can enhance the accessibility and availability of justice. Perhaps legal tech isn’t quite as scary as a Black Mirror episode after all.

legal technology’, Steadfast Solutions (online), 20 January 2018 <https://www. steadfastsolutions.com.au/the-modernlaw-firm-and-legal-technology/>.

Emma Ryan, “Rebooting the legal profession”, Lawyers Weekly (online), 20 January 2018 <https://www. lawyersweekly.com.au/features/20282rebooting-the-legal-profession>.

3

4

Ibid.

Adi Snir, ‘Thee impact of technology on the legal landscape’, Legal Vision (online), 20 January 2018 <https:// legalvision.com.au/impact-technologylegal-landscape/> 5

BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

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The Young Investor’s Cryptonite Mehmet Musa

Unless you live under a very large rock, you would have heard about the cryptocurrency surge that has seemingly appeared out of nowhere in 2017 and is continuing the hype well into 2018. Such is the volatility of cryptocurrency, that by the time this piece is published the entire cryptocurrency market may be turned on its head.

In its simplest form, cryptocurrency is nothing.

It is an intangible form of currency that derives its value from what people are willing to pay for it. The hype around cryptocurrencies, using the laws of supply and demand, has driven the price quite high, and sometimes dropped it back down in a similar fashion.

The most famous and recognisable of all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, has the largest market capitalisation and was the first crypto to make it to the mainstream. In February this year, the purchase of a single Bitcoin cost roughly $8,000, but it has been known to hit peaks of over $20,000. It is, as a result, a volatile investment.

Due to its popularity, Bitcoin is more susceptible to greater fluctuations in contrast to other less well-known cryptocurrencies.

Such a phenomenon, using normal investing rationale suggests that Bitcoin is, in fact, experiencing a financial ‘bubble’; however, this is a contentious topic that is disagreed upon by some. When there is a sudden interest in a product, the market value often goes far above the intrinsic value, and then settles back down once the hype dies down and consequently financial bubbles of all kinds are born. Many people are looking for their next get-rich-quick strategy and there is money to be made from crypto. However, there is also a lot that can be lost and as students who may be living paycheck to paycheck, you must only play the game if you are prepared for the possibility of a game over.

Does this mean investing in the lesser known currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple will protect us from the volatility seen in Bitcoin?

Maybe, maybe not. There is evidence of an

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inverse relationship between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Once the value of Bitcoin began to go down, investors would sell and buy lower valued currencies and consequently would drive their prices up. This is a perfect account of a quasi-self-fulfilling prophecy whereby individuals who would want to mitigate the volatility of Bitcoin would, in fact, create volatility in other coins. Furthermore, blanket laws against cryptocurrency in general such as the ones we have seen in India, Ecuador and several other countries drops the price of all cryptocurrency simultaneously. We are at a time where all crypto markets are volatile — though none have surpassed Bitcoin yet and probably won’t in the short term.

The world has yet to adapt to the cryptocurrency phenomenon and it is hard to say what the future may hold. However, elite financial institutions and governments alike are unlikely to support such a largely unregulated market. We may expect to see some regulatory restrictions on a global scale,

in efforts to reign in on the chaos. This may in fact really hurt the current price of crypto, but in the long term may set up a more sustainable framework for it to operate.

If the question is whether university students should get involved amongst such chaos, this is a question I cannot answer. If you’ve turned on the TV since the first of January you may have seen the hysteria about the fall in the value of much of the major cryptocurrencies.

But then again, the booms and busts of the share market are what allows individuals to make their money. As investors would say, ‘buy when there’s blood in the streets’ and expect the value to go up. As Littlefinger on Game of Thrones would say “Chaos isn’t a pit, it’s a ladder”. I disagree. I believe it is an opportunity for both, depending on a range of factors, some within your control, some not.

To end this, I must reiterate, if you are a young person thinking of getting involved, only spend the money you are prepared to lose.

POLITICS & LAW

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Law and Trust: Judicial Reform in China Jazz Osvald

“The civil systems have converged towards us,” states Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, William Fletcher, to a packed lecture hall at Stanford University.

He’s referring to China’s unprecedented legal rebirth; their movement from a civil law system towards a more precedent focused, common law system.1

within the same courts. Professor Lee suggests that this is partially due to the judiciary’s relatively young age, with the system having only come into fruition within the last half a century. This is particularly telling when you look at the statistics. Almost all – 94%, to be exact, of China’s judges, are aged under 50 years, whilst only 1.32% have a PhD.

China’s current legal system gives the National People’s Congress the power to enact legislation, and restricts the role of the judiciary to the application rather than interpretation of a statute. However, this model has created problems, primarily in the consistency of application of statute across the country’s 30 provinces.

These discrepancy issues often stem from the sheer volume of cases flowing through the courts, with 11 million cases moving through the court system in the first 9 months of 2016 alone.3 This prevents judges from adequately researching and writing consistent judgments.

According to Professor Leon Lee, Executive Director of the Case Law Research Center at the School of Law in the Central University of Finance and Economics, there are vast differences between judgments of similar cases between provinces in China.2 These discrepancies even exist between judges

To combat this, China has introduced a guiding case system aiming to address the inconsistency in the judiciary’s experience.

The guiding principles were officially brought forward by the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) in 2010 in an attempt to unify Chinese law.

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POLITICS & LAW

So, how does it work? Cases are first elected by a lower court and considered by the high people’s court before the SPC finally examines it and decides whether it becomes a guiding case. What’s the difference between a guiding case and say, a case determined under Australian law? The latter will automatically become a source of law: it sets a precedent as to how the issue at hand will be determined in the future. Meanwhile, a guiding case merely aids judges in reaching a decision and is not a source of law.

The implementation of a guiding case system has effectively blurred the lines between China’s civil law system and other common law systems. However, China’s system is still civil law, just with strictly controlled common law elements.

Does it work? Well, yes and no. It may work, but the regime is still yet to enjoy widespread adoption by the judiciary. An inherent problem is that some judges are unwilling to use the guiding cases, as they are not technically considered law. Further, the guiding case system itself is very limiting, containing a small number of cases (86 as of 2017) that only apply to a handful of scenarios.4 By the end of 2015, only 181 cases referred to guiding cases, and in 96 of these cases, the judgment did not mention the guiding case.5 By the end of 2016, only 516 had used guiding cases. While this may seem a significant increase, it is inconsequential in comparison to the millions of cases that run through the courts every year.

China’s IP case guidance system One area of law that has been particularly impacted by these disparities is intellectual property (IP) law, which has been acknowledged by the Chinese Government as being an area that needs reform. China’s IP statute consistently lags behind the rapid advancement of technology, and requires frequent amendments in order to keep up. The

case guiding system has done little to help unify Chinese IP law; only 20 guiding cases are related to IP, and these have only been used three times.6 Traditionally, IP rights have not been stringently enforced in China, with punishments for infringement often lenient. In 1994, Microsoft sued China-based Company, Shenzhen Reflective Materials Institute, for counterfeiting thousands of Microsoft Holograms.7 Microsoft sought $22 million in damages. However, after a verdict in their favour, they were awarded a mere $260 USD. More recently, in 2013, New Balance was sued for infringing its own trademark, after a man named Zhou Lelun took New Balance to court for using his trademark “Xin Bai Lun”, meaning “New Balance” in Chinese.8 Despite the fact that the trademark was applied for in 1994, and New Balance had been selling shoes in China since the 60s, Guangzhou IP court ruled in favour of Zhou, and awarded him $15.6 million. This amount was half of New Balance’s profits between 2013 and 2015.

Fortunately, the Government’s tolerance of such discrepancies is waning. “We will carry out comprehensive and integrated reform of the judicial system and enforce judicial accountability in all respects”, said Xi Jinping, China’s President, in an address to the 19th National People’s Congress in October 2017, “so that the people can see in every judicial case that justice is served.” China is seeking a significant further investment of Western capital; in return, the West requires strong IP protections that conform with international standards. “What you need in commercial law is a known predictable, stable system,” says Judge Fletcher, “You don’t want to invest in conditions of uncertainty.” 9 To combat this uncertainty, the Government have implemented a dedicated, IP specific guiding case system with the help of the Beijing IP courts. This system is designed to assist the judiciary in the consistent and efficient

POLITICS & LAW application of IP law. The IP case guidance system has seen immense preliminary success, with prior effective judgments being used in 763 IP cases by the end of 2016.10 It is not certain how long it will take for this new innovation to become widely adopted, and deliver the reform its benefactors are hoping for. What is certain, is that China is slowly but surely entering a new golden age of prosperity.

William A Fletcher J, ‘Why a Public Database of Judicial Decisions is Essential to a System of Commercial Law’ ’ (Speech delivered at On Building China’s New IP Case System Seminar: A Discussion with Chinese Judges as well as Legal and Big Data Experts, Stanford Law School, October 19 2017) <https://cgc. law.stanford.edu/event/guiding-cases-seminar-20171019/>.

1

Leon Lee, ‘Implementing a Case System in a Statute-Based Country: Why Now? And How?’ (Speech delivered at On Building China’s New IP Case System Seminar: A Discussion with Chinese Judges as well as Legal and Big Data Experts, Stanford Law School, October 19 2017) <https://cgc.law.stanford.edu/event/ guiding-cases-seminar-20171019/>.

2

Mei Gechlik, China’s Guiding Cases System: Review and Recommendations, Stanford Law School China Guiding Cases Project, Guiding Cases Analytics™, Issue No. 5, August 2016.

3

Liu Yijun, ‘The Application of China’s IP-Focused Case Guidance System in the Beijing IP Court’ (Speech delivered at On Building China’s New IP Case System Seminar: A Discussion with Chinese Judges as well as Legal and Big Data Experts, Stanford Law School, October 19 2017) <https://cgc.law.stanford.edu/event/ guiding-cases-seminar-20171019/>.

4

5

Ibid.

Mei Gechnik, ‘Latest Developments of China’s Guiding Cases System’ (Speech delivered at On Building China’s New IP Case System Seminar: A Discussion with Chinese Judges as well as Legal and Big Data Experts, Stanford Law School, October 19 2017) <https://cgc.law.stanford.edu/event/guiding-casesseminar-20171019/>.

6

Computer Business Review, MS Seeking $22M in Compensation from Shezhen Reflective Materials Insitute (9 May 1994) <https://www.cbronline.com/news/ms_seeking_22m_in_ compensation_from_shenzhen_reflective_materials_institute/>.

7

Scott Cendrowski, Has the Boston-based athletic-shoe maker made a mistake by fighting a two-decade trademark battle? (28 May 2016) Fortune <http://fortune.com/new-balance-chinesetrademark/>.

8

9

William A Fletcher J, above n 1.

Liu Yijun, ‘The Application of China’s IP-Focused Case Guidance System in the Beijing IP Court’ (Speech delivered at On Building China’s New IP Case System Seminar: A Discussion with Chinese Judges as well as Legal and Big Data Experts, Stanford Law School, October 19 2017) <https://cgc.law.stanford.edu/ event/guiding-cases-seminar-20171019/>.

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BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

Honest Appraisals Larissa Shearman

SNAPCHAT Main function Hard to say, possibly still nudes? But this may have been slowly overtaken by blurry videos of all your friends on the weekend at Marquee – either way, guaranteed to come with 1023 filters Frequency used Daily, with an increase during periods of FOMO Unnecessary updates Countless The app, which is designed to feed our inner narcissist, allows you to take pictures and videos of yourself (which actually look nothing like you), and send them to 156 of your closest friends instantly. Some users also report that this handy app is a constant stream of their friends all trying to out-wank each other in terms of prime locations visited and ‘fun activities’ participated in.

Drunken declarations of hate, love and everything in between from your acquaintances have never been easier to access thanks to the Story function. Tune in every Sunday morning to catch something embarrassing before the original poster wakes up from their hangover and some bastard tells them they’ve made a

huge mistake. On the flip side, Snapchat gives those long-awaited answers to the question on most people’s minds waking up from said hangover after any house party: “What the HELL happened to my clothes and why is there a shoe on the roof?”

For those who have always wanted to look back and reminisce at an event which they are still attending, access your friend’s stories and privately assess how good you’re looking.

If you’re going to ask them to delete it, make sure you do it before the guy you’re into sees it. Speaking of which the finite time limit on selfies, once the picture is opened, makes it the flirtiest social media in existence. To this day, approximately 1,583,027 couples have found lust on Snapchat worldwide. And a further 2,345,867 accidental pregnancies as a result of these unions.

There is also the Discover feature, which no one gives a damn about.

Verdict 4.5/5 — Animal Filters with Glasses

BUSINESS, SCIENCE & INNOVATION

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FACEBOOK Main function Definitely “Tag yourself” memes Frequency used Every 15 mins from waking to sleeping, Zuckerberg’s hold is relentless Unnecessary updates Several added ‘functions’ — he’s trying really hard to stay relevant, guys From humble beginnings, the app has managed to evolve with new and exciting ways to waste our time. At one time classified as the forefront of social media, Facebook now seems to lag behind almost every other app in terms of usefulness and efficiency. Messenger as a second app? Irrelevant Facebook stories that seem to be used exclusively by Gen X celebs? Your mum’s second cousin? YOUR mum? Never before has there been such an effective time-suck in our lives, and certainly never so easily accessible or addictive. There is literally nothing in this app that is worth the energy it takes to open it. However, we keep coming back for more. And why? A stream of Buzzfeed videos and meme videos from big corporations trying to stay relevant.

The app also provides you with an embarrassing blast from the past on any given day, usually when you least expect it, through

the “memories” function. With this handy feature, there is no LIMIT to the amount of cringe-worthy moments you haven’t realised are still public on your profile from 2009. Extra points if it involves 1) a drunken night out or 2) a status about how much you love your ex.

After you suffer in your shame, take the time to systematically delete everything from your profile from before you actually figured out that Short Stack isn’t the epitome of music.

Have you ever wanted to have the motley collection of people which you have had to work on group assignments with at your fingertips? Ask and you shall receive, thanks to your Friends List! It provides a moment of entertainment about once every 7 months when you resign yourself to go through it and struggle to remember where you know Jenny from. Do you even have any mutuals? Wow. Sort yourself out.

Other notable features include incessant suggested events which you know you’ll never get out of your pyjamas for and the Marketplace, which I’m not entirely sure isn’t a huge scam which acts as a front for a drug ring of some sort. Use at your own risk.

Verdict 3/5 — Angry Reacts Only

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ARTS & LIFESTYLE

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Overture: Top 5 Album Openers David Burley

We all have that friend who makes you listen to their Spotify playlists. They spend hours putting it together, only for you to halfheartedly listen with a smile on your face as the songs blur together into monotone. That’s how it is for artists.

Thing is, with the rise of Apple Music and streaming sites such as Spotify, listening to the entirety of an album or playlist isn’t as common as it used to be. Before, you’d force yourself to listen to every song to justify the $14.99 you spent on iTunes just to hear the three singles they play on the radio, but that’s no longer the case. These days, artists have to work extra hard to get fans to play the full record and a key way of doing that is starting it off on the right note.

Here’s a list of the five best album opening songs from the last 10 years that make you want to hear the record play to the end.

5

M83 Intro Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

In his breakthrough 5th album, Anthony Gonzalez fuels his nostalgic, synth packed sounds off the loneliness he felt from moving from France to Los Angeles. The ‘Intro’ track sees him crafting a dreamlike world through melancholic synth chords and glistening percussion. The album almost works as a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie that doesn’t exist and ‘Intro’ would be the first scene that shows off the flashy special effects.

ART Joyce Cheng @_joycecheng_

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3 4

alt-J Intro & Interlude I An Awesome Wave

This one’s technically two songs but they flow so nicely together that they can break the rule. alt-J’s first album showed off the band’s love for quirky instrumentals, knack for harmonies and the unique voice of Joe Newman. The ‘Intro’ and ‘Interlude I’ tracks combine perfectly to give a taste of all the things that make the band great. These two songs also demonstrate how comfortable alt-J are with experimenting with obscure instruments, diverse sounds and mysterious lyrics with a near perfect success rate. Bonus points are given for the neat transition into ‘Tessellate’.

The xx Intro xx

It’s always important for an album’s opener to set up the tone for the record. ‘Intro’ of the xx’s debut album xx had the job of also introducing the band. Other than a few demos that were floating around on Myspace, no one had heard from the group before. The steady build in ‘Intro’ shows off Jamie xx’s patient production style, while the vocals from Romy and Oliver tease more gentle melodies to come from them in later songs. The album’s starter kickstarted the group’s success, spreading their minimalistic pop sounds around the world and earning them the Mercury Prize in 2010.

ART Joyce Cheng @_joycecheng_

ARTS & LIFESTYLE

1 2

Arctic Monkeys Do I Wanna Know?

AM

There’s no better way to start off an album than with an ominous drum line and a slinky guitar riff. Top it off with Alex Turner’s sleazy vocals and you’ve got an epic album opener.

The album was acclaimed for being the band’s most refined work while still holding onto the frenzied rock vibes that originally made them sound good on the dance floor.

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Tame Impala Let It Happen Currents

After their triumphant second album Lonerism, the pressure was on for Kevin Parker to produce another mind-blowing album, which emerged in the form of Currents. This album saw Parker switching from their classic psychedelic guitar sounds to a predominantly synthesizer setup and the first taste of this change came with the epic seven minute trance inducing ‘Let It Happen’. The change in instrumentation resulted in the album having more of a pop and dance feel than any of their previous work while keeping it psychedelic enough for older fans. The record also saw Parker take his perfectionism to the next level; recording 1,056 vocal takes for only one of the songs off the album.

These songs set a high standard to guarantee that we aren’t only listening to the singles.

We’re experiencing the whole. You should hear the albums these tracks open, or just these six songs if you can’t be bothered listening to the records in full.

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Book Review: The High Places by Fiona McFarlane Eugenia Alabasinis

Each of the thirteen stories in The High Places offer a glimpse into those who find themselves slightly off-kilter, leaning over the precipice of a new beginning. Spanning multiple geographical landscapes and time periods, McFarlane’s sharp observations bring to light the nuanced ticks and mannerisms which make individuals their own unique selves.

In a style which focuses on detail threaded through the fabric of the characters’ hopes and dreams, you can’t help feeling that you are part of these people’s lives, if only for a few pages.

“He felt grateful when he looked at her.

He felt an expansion in his brain that he enjoyed – a feeling that finally he had found his life, or was finding it, was on the verge on finding it, although he was still a graduate student and suspected he always would be. He said to himself, This is my youth, at this moment, right now…” ­— ‘Exotic Animal Medicine’

McFarlane’s clever storylines are vividly imagined and compelling, reeling you in before a disquieting truth is revealed. In ‘Exotic Animal Medicine’, a young couple who have just married in secret are soon faced with the startling consequences of what began as an innocent drive through a small English village.

Set in Sydney, ‘Art Appreciation’ depicts a relationship in its fragile early stages, questioning how sincerely we accept the interests of our lovers once our lives become entwined with theirs.

What makes this collection so memorable is that each protagonist is written with an acute self-awareness and honest faults. As readers, we are able to look on from above while taking the moral high ground, until we are forced to realise that we are just as fallible as any of these characters. Each scenario is thoughtprovoking, communicating the subtle caution that even as we endeavour to construct the perfect house of cards, it only takes the smallest disruption for domestic bliss to fall from its eagle height.

ARTS & LIFESTYLE

Although McFarlane writes in lush, intelligent prose, she sensitively captures the innate self-consciousness we possess around people who are inexplicably self-assured.

In the story ‘Rose Bay’, Rose considers that her sister would think it “immodest of her to live in a place that shared her name”, while recognising that “her instinct to please people, without being over-eager, came from a dislike of disagreement”. A character who similarly navigates conflict in quiet acquiescence appears in one of my personal favourites, ‘Mycenae’; a wry tale of two couples on holiday among the whitewashed streets and ancient ruins in Greece. In both of these examples, not only is there a vivid sense of place, but a fresh perspective provided for the women who unknowingly stand at a tipping point in their lives.

For Rose, it comes in the form of anchoring her identity outside familial ties, finally content with the life she had made for herself. On the journey to Mycenae, Janet realises that the

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Andersons are not necessarily experiencing the apotheosis of marital paradise, even if the mirage they so carefully projected said otherwise. The precise effects of these revelations are not explicitly explored, and what some may find frustrating is that each story lacks a proper sense of an ending.

Despite this, the first line of the next story will hook you right back in.

Overall, McFarlane has showcased her versatility as a writer without losing sight of creating characters whose attributes are reflected in ourselves. The High Places shows that our lives are full of defining moments, with countless opportunities to begin anew... if only one would look up to see them. Where this book truly shines is in its message about assessing where we stand and what we want out of life. We can crane our necks higher and strive for more, but it’s only while remaining grounded in reality that we can finally say with confidence: “I know who I am.”

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ERIN SUTHERLAND @ezose.png

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What Happened to My Cereal Crop?

Nicole De Palo

I’m sitting in my confined bedroom in Sydney’s inner-west. The closest farm is hours away but I’m thrust deep in an endless cycle, trying desperately to find an answer. What is a crop circle?

I have never questioned whether aliens are real. I mean, how big does your ego have to be to deny that other living species exist in the infinite universe? But, why would aliens bother coming down to our planet only to leave intricate patterns in crops?

While it is generally accepted that artists, not aliens, are responsible for the mysterious and intricate patterns that continue to appear in farmers’ fields, their ability to create such large-scale patterns without leaving a trace of evidence continues to baffle me.

Unlike UFOs, ghosts and sasquatches, crop circles are tangible — people are able to touch and walk into them. Crop circles bring to the fore a mysterious disconnection between explainable language and unexplainable, visual diction.

My eyes widen as I realise it was two years ago, in 2016 that crop circles were mysteriously found three hours south of Darwin. A recurring

circle formation in a couple’s backyard has raised all kinds of questions.

There were three main theories of what could have caused these circle formations; the first being termites. Termites have already been a popular hypothesis for fairy circles (small circular patches, often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass) in Namibia. It is believed that they are systematically munching on the grass above their nests. More than 80 percent of Namibian fairy circles that have been investigated had termites below, lending legitimacy to this hypothesis.

With this rationale, it became much easier to believe that aliens had not come down to the Northern Territory, but termites were visiting instead. I continued to unravel this hypothesis when I then learnt that in 2016, scientists discovered that fairy circles aren’t exclusive to the African desert. In the Australian outback, an array of fairy circles were discovered, however there was no evidence of termites.

With this dead end, I had to move to my next potential theory: tail chasing dogs. Dogs running around in circles for hours on end is not unusual behaviour. What is unusual about this is that the dogs would be able to

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leave intricate patterns as they run carelessly in these circles. However, it was very quickly disproved, as dogs would not be big enough to create that big of a circle. I tried to envision it anyway, just for the sake of, it but it’s just not possible. I very quickly moved onto the next hypothesis.

Aliens or time travellers. It had to be either one of these theories. Most conspiracy theorists believe that either aliens or human time travellers have been leaving crop circles on Earth as a message for either themselves or others.

Dr Horace Drew, 61, who holds a PhD in Chemistry, has stated that he is one of a handful of scientists around the world who have worked to successfully decode some of the messages in the crop circles. According to him, some crop circles provide general descriptions of what the future holds. He has stated that some of the decoded messages read, “Much pain but still time. Believe. There is good out there” and “Beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises.”

By decoding what the crop circles could potentially be saying, he has been able to explain how they are either from aliens, or

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time travellers. He argues that crop circles could very much be a peaceful way of aliens attempting to introduce themselves to us.

Aliens are not trying to negotiate with us, but rather watch us. In leaving crop circles around different parts of the world, they are able to watch how we interact with the crop. From this, they are able to learn about the human race.

He has another theory: the crop circles are not meant for us. It is possible that time travellers from the distant future could be creating circles as directional markers, to help them navigate both into the past and the future.

Unfortunately, scientists do not have enough of an understanding of space-time physics to delve deeper into this argument.

Currently, the relationship between those who attempt to understand the crop circles, and how the crop circles are created, continues to explore an abnormal interplay between art and meaning. But keep in mind, we’re trying to make sense of a bunch of flattened wheat in a muddy field.

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HEADLINES

Mr Schue Performing ‘Gold Digger’ In Season One of Glee Discovered To Be Directly Responsible For Post Malone’s Career

’

by LUCY TASSELL

JAN 13, 2018

New research has shown that the entire career of mumblerapper Post Malone, has stemmed from one single episode of Ryan Murphy’s teen comedy, Glee.

While the ‘rockstar’ singer’s bong-water stink may seem to clash with the toothy, earnestness of Matthew Morrison’s performance of the clean version of Kanye West’s hit ‘Gold Digger’, Professor Smith of the Ryan Murphy

Cultural Impact Institute says it’s surprising they hadn’t made the connection earlier.

“Mr Schue’s awkward bopping paved the way for many rat-faced, stringymoustached, un-showered sewer artists. We should have known the moment he rapped ‘She ain’t messin’ with no broke, bro’ that 14-year-olds worldwide would think ‘I can do that!’”

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HEADLINES

“Just Read It. Looks Great Guys” Sent To Assignment Group Chat

By Guy Who’s Attended Three Classes All Semester

by LUCY TASSELL

JAN 24, 2018

At 10 pm on Sunday night, UTS Social and Political Sciences student Angus McDonald decided it was time to un-mute his assignment group chat and see what all the fuss was about.

McDonald skimmed the latest draft that had been posted by some uptight bitch who kept @-ing him in the group chat for some reason.

He productively added one apostrophe (incorrectly) and sent a message of approval.

“Yeah, they told me my job was to edit the final version or some shit, so I just read it and sent it back.

Group assignments are easy as. I don’t know why people complain about them.”

At the time of publication, McDonald was unaware that he was the subject of three emails to the class tutor and a side group chat between the two girls who actually completed the assignment.

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HEADLINES

White Woman Attends Women’s March Despite Not Being Able To Define Intersectionality

by LUCY TASSELL

JAN 21, 2018

With her ‘Oprah 2020’ sign held high, Cleo Dalton was one of many women who attended Women’s Marches around the world last week who could not define intersectionality if a gun was held to her pussy-hatcovered head.

When asked about Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory that race and gender can intersect to make women of colour more likely to be impoverished or assaulted, Dalton responded: “I don’t

know about all of that, but I do think that we need to break the glass ceiling! I want all my daughters to be CEOs!” The accounts manager, 26, recently love-reacted several #metoo posts, but is still regularly tagged in photos with known predators.

“James always copped a lot of flak, even back at college, but I think the Drew’s culture was always a bit cheeky. People were just far too sensitive.”

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Yr #Problematic Faves: What Ridiculous Shit Have They Said This Time?

Aryan Golanjan

Content warning: homophobia, transphobia Look, we can all agree that ‘Bodak Yellow‘ absolutely bangs, and it’s a travesty that it took so long for Queen Cardi to get her big break. I won’t lie, either – I definitely had a lowkey tear in my eye when I watched Offset (of Migos fame) propose to her on stage in the middle of one of her verses last year. So that’s why it breaks my heart to tell you all: Cardi B and Offset are problematic, and they’ve said some ridiculous shit lately.

In January, YFN Lucci released a track featuring Offset, who rapped the literal words, “40k spent on a private lear / 60k solitaire / I cannot vibe with queers”. Not only did the verse sound nonsensical as hell, it’s also pretty homophobic. Offset was quick to defend himself, Instagramming an ‘apology’ that included the Google definition of the word ‘queer’. His defence was that he was referring to people that are “strange or odd”, and he then went on to pull the ‘I have gay friends, I promise’ card. I know, right — classy. It’s not the first time he’s been accused of homophobia; in 2017, Migos came under fire when they appeared to criticise iLoveMakonnen, a rapper who came out as gay on Twitter. Despite being dragged by most of the internet, it looks like Offset may not have quite learned his lesson.

Unfortunately, it didn’t end there. Cardi B decided that a Twitter livestream would

be a great time to address the issue, and accusations of transphobia against her after her use of slurs. She pled ignorance on both her and Offset’s parts, stating, “nobody taught us that in our school”, and then went on to demand that LGBTQIAP+ people should be educating her and Offset about derogatory terms, rather than criticising them. She also claimed to be ignorant about the word ‘queer’, insisting she’d never heard it before, much less in relation to LGBTQIAP+ people. Sure, Cardi. Sounds fake, but okay.

Even if we pretend Google doesn’t exist, I’m not buying it. In 2018, ‘I didn’t know’ should no longer be an excuse; marginalised people are tired enough without having to explain basicass concepts to everyone. You may think that it’s cool to say something insensitive, to get a reaction out of someone, but why? What is the point of doing this? Being culturally aware is the new cool. This goes for Cardi and Offset, but also for everyone who may be reading this: educate yourselves, and stop saying insensitive shit.

Disclaimer: I’m not here to tell you that Cardi and Offset are #cancelled. Only you can decide how you will engage with the art and work of celebrities who have said problematic things. I’m just here to tell you what those problematic things are.

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MARCH HOROSCOP Pisces

Gemini

FEB 19–MARCH 20 Hey my fishy friend, The blue moon of Saturn is rotating counterclockwise today, so you might be feeling a little peckish. Try and keep a muesli bar on you at all times, but avoid blueberries. Mars also squares Jupiter, so for the love of god, don’t call Nathan back. You’ve broken up, time to move on – go and cleanse your crystals instead. I’d recommend Rose Quartz, babe. It’ll be a bit overcast too, with a bit of a southerly coming through at about 5pm. So, make sure to pick up a sturdy umbrella on your way out of the house. Swim safely, little fish.

Hey you, yourself and Gemini, It’s time to listen up, all three of you. We both know you can talk the ear off of a blue-tongue lizard, but pull back this month, take some quiet time. We don’t want that tickle in your throat to eventuate into tonsillitis, again. Look, it’s a big month for you — uni’s going back and just because you’ve got that Distinction average doesn’t mean you can’t keep your room clean. It’s a mess and Mum’s not happy. You’ll be feeling more irritable than ever this month, Gemini, so be careful to control that temper of yours. Look forward to the 20th.

Aries

Cancer

MARCH 21–APRIL 19 Hey Arie Fairy, Your fiery nature may lead you into trouble at work.

Watch out for the interns underfoot and make sure to stay hydrated so you’ll have plenty of energy to scream at them for minor infractions. Avoid: bright colours, large dogs, and female bus drivers.

Attract: pictures of kittens, Muay Thai boxing classes, and the gentle thrill of shoving past someone to get on a train.

Taurus

APRIL 20–MAY20 Hey topless Taurus, Put your top back on, grab that bull by the horns and tell your barista that he’s burning the milk, and he’s been burning it for months! Get up in his face and tell it to his beard! If he cries, you know you’ve won. But beware: if you’re a Taurus with a Cancer moon, you may end up the one in tears. Maybe just write a two-star Yelp review.

MAY 21–JUNE 20

JUNE 21–JULY 22

Hey Cancer, you little cutie.

A new moon is upon us and you know what that means... It’s time to stop crying and listen up. Don’t be a hermit crab, let go of everything that happened in the last moon cycle. That 11-week-old photo you accidentally liked of your ex-partner’s new beau on Instagram? Forget it! That piece of avo toast you dropped on the floor and ate? Breathe it out. When you tried to reactivate your fanfic Tumblr account? It’s done now… Let it go.

Leo

JULY 23–AUGUST 22 Hey my locomotive Leo, The moon, well, she’s full, and so are you. Full of carbs. Stop eating bread Leo, it’s doing nothing for you. While you’re at it, cut out sugar. The only sweetness you need in your life is a sweet loving hug from the universe. Let the stars fill your belly. And while you’re at it give up meat, dairy, strawberries and maybe lettuce. The constellations know what’s right for you. Just open your heart and listen, fuckhead.

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PES MARCH HOROS Virgo

AUGUST 23–SEPTEMBER 22 Hey Virgo, you little hypochondriac, you.

Thought everything was running smoothly in your analytical, over-organised world? Well think again Little Miss Optimistic; Mercury’s in retrograde and shit’s about to get fucked. Pack up your house bish because travel is coming your way this week.

Kidding, I read the wrong star; best to stay in your room and avoid human contact. You know what, who cares? You do you, you’re an independent woman... I need a coffee.

Libra

SEPTEMBER 23–OCTOBER 22 Hey my lovely Libra, Your moon is shining and your chakras are in balance...

A new person will enter your life, a shift will occur...

Be open to the universe and it will fill you...

Don’t waste energy on worry; look to your shining moon for guidance...

Feed your body and treat it well — a cleanse could leave you refreshed…

(Find our latest cleanse package on page six, for just $99.99!).

Scorpio

OCTOBER 23–NOVEMBER 21 Dear spicy Scorpio, Get ready to ride the highs of the moon this week! You will meet a tall dark stranger this week, perhaps a woman, perhaps a man, perhaps not tall, dark, or a stranger! Perhaps they are just someone you know. But you definitely will see someone. Let the flow of Neptune’s tides dictate your interaction, and don’t overthink your wait for the bus. You know it’s always 5 minutes late.

Sagittarius

NOVEMBER 22–DECEMBER 21 Hey squirmy Sagi, Sometimes your brainy don’t worky my little Sagi, sometimes your body feels like a floppy noodle.

Don’t sweat it though, it happens to us all. Take a break today, but don’t eat a Kit Kat, because chocolate makes your tummy ache.

Capricorn

DECEMBER 22–JANUARY 19 Hey Capricorn, Your sexual moon is in flower this week. Go forth and get your freak on. Try something new: this week is a time of deep sexual exploration.

Whichever partner or partners you choose will come equipped to rock your stagnant little life.

Don’t turn away from this chance or you will end up a spinster with a collection of Star Wars memorabilia reminiscing past experience. Live in the now, cutie.

Aquarius

JANUARY 20–FEBRUARY 18 Hey adorable Aquarius, You’ve survived that super bloody blue moon at the end of January where you were sure you had glandular fever and wanted your grandma to take a paternity test. It’s time to focus and hone in on your career this month. Start by writing a list in the new Kikki K diary that you bought far too late in Feb and are sure to lose on Wednesday. Maybe treat yourself to a fro-yo after a spin class. This will give you an idea of your smaller goals aligning to make your bigger goals come together in the grand scheme of things. If you have to skip spin class because you’re five minutes late and bought the wrong pants, then that’s cool too.

WRITTEN BY WOM*N’S REVUE CAST AND DIRECTORS

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B–SIDE

Dear Shaz,

Q: So we’re going into first year uni and I’m still into this guy from high school and he’s going to the same uni, it’s very mixed signals but I don’t know if I should keep trying or just move on? We have concert tickets together too. — HighSchoolHeartthrob Shaz: I’m sorry to say (not really), but it’s time to move on. I once fell in love with a darling boy, who I thought was the world to me. I used to always call him, I would always ask how he was, I would always try and meet up with him, but then I realised there are more fish in the sea, and some with bigger feet.

Q: I work with a person that is unbearably horrible. Everyone hates her but we are all too intimidated to do anything about her. Should we do something and how do the majority of us unite against the shitty few supporters of her? — SilentSufferer

Shaz: Just say it how it is, you have nothing to lose. If you and your fellow comrades don’t say anything now, she is never going to stop. Show her who’s boss, but most importantly make sure to have ‘Stronger’ by Kelly Clarkson playing in the background.

Q: Do you think it’s stupid to move overseas for a boy that I’m in love with? — Morose&Amorous Shaz: Where will you go? What will you do? Will you just aimlessly follow him around and do everything that he wants to do? What about your dreams and passions? I can keep going, but in short, yes I do.

Q: Hey Shazza, I am an avid believer in astrology and the power of a deconstructed natal chart. I find this hard to communicate to new people I am meeting in my life, especially love interests~ who I’m interested in seems just to not give a flip about astrology and believe

B–SIDE

it’s all false- pulling on me that psychological talk; “it’s just general characteristics that can be applied to anyone”. IT’S NOT. MY HOROSCOPE WILL BE TRUE TILL THE DAY I DIE. Anyways, Aunty Shaz... the thing is... Astrology is my life, and I can’t help but feel embarrassed and ashamed every time I bring this up to someone who hasn’t even explored their moon or rising sign, they think I’m crazy. Do I hide my beliefs? I think my hot date is less attracted to me upon finding this out.. — MoonChild Shaz: MoonChild, listen. Astrology is damn fucking real! Promise me that you will continue to deconstruct natal charts. Find yourself a man with sun in Scorpio, so they’ll be good in the sack, but with a Cancer moon so you can also have a good cry together. Find yourself an Aquarius so they can never reply back to you. But avoid Leos at all costs — no one likes manipulation.

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Q: I sometimes find it difficult to live in Sydney as a foreigner. I only understand very few traits of Australians, I don’t really know when and how to give reactions at the right time. Most of the time, I can only smile back when my local friends talk about some really Aussie stuffs. I tried to watch all Australia TV channels, listen to radio and talk to my local friends more.

However, they don’t seem to be very helpful as my friends don’t quite know anything from the broadcasts. I’ve tried so hard but I can’t really immerse myself in the crowd. What should I do to become more Aussie? — Lost&Lonesome Shaz: Listen mate, you don’t want to lose yourself and your culture by trying to fit in with us shoey-drinking Aussies (it’s very unhygienic and gross). As you spend more time here you will naturally pick up on the culture, but don’t force anything on yourself. Keep being the top bloke that you are.

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STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION REPORTS

Lachlan Barker PRESIDENT

The beginning of the year always kicks off busier than expected in the UTS Students’ Association (UTSSA). Organising O’Day, sorting out affiliations of clubs, and getting a handle of how to run the organisation have all taken up a lot of time. Kudos to the Vertigo team for arranging a draft budget in record time!

For those who aren’t familiar with the UTSSA, I’m the President for 2018, and my role is to represent students at our university both publicly and internally (e.g. to UTS management).

I also chair meetings of the SRC, where we decide how to spend a portion of the Student Services Amenities Fees (SSAF) you pay at the start of each semester.

So far, I’ve met with Vertigo and determined a budget for the magazine. I’m excited to see their vision for this publication realised across the year. I’ve arranged our stalls for Clubs Day during O-Week, and put together campaign plans with the Education Vice President. I’ve also met with the staff from our Academic Caseworker service to go through changes in how students are accessing services after changes to dates in the academic calendar.

It’s been fantastic to begin the year with strong steps in addressing sexual assault and harassment on campus.

This work has been conducted

alongside various university management departments, Activate, the ‘Designing Out Crime’ department and the Student Consultative Group.

Universities taking a strong stance in support of their student population and people who have experienced assault or harassment is long overdue.

However, having so many people and teams on board to tackle this issue is incredibly valuable and encouraging.

This year is set to be a busy one for the UTSSA. Our job is to represent you, support you, and put your money into services that are relevant for you. If you want to get involved, feel free to visit us in our offices (Level 3 of the Tower) or shoot me an email at president@ utsstudentsassociation.org.

Kirra Jackson EDUCATION VICE PRESIDENT

Hi there!

My name’s Kirra, and I’m the 2018 Education Vice President for the UTSSA. I’m very excited to be able to serve all of you and to keep up the fight for your rights as a student!

Over the next year, you’ll probably see me around a lot.

Not only do I run the Education Action Group (EAG), but I also run several campaigns for the Students’ Association. We have some amazing things planned for this year, so keep an eye out!

The EAG is an organising group for the education campaigns. Meetings are held

once a week, and people that care about education, activism, or even just have a problem with a class or a teacher, can show up!

We discuss any issues, before brainstorming ways that we can combat them. Over the past few years, the issues of trimesters and staff strikes have been at the forefront of the EAG’s work.

I also help organise the National Day of Action at UTS, where students from all around the country come together, rally and show the government and University management that we care about our education. There are usually a couple throughout the year and the first one will be on the 21st of March. If you care about the quality of your education, the accessibility of education to everyone or you just want to show people that your voice matters, I’ll see you there!

If you’re interested in being involved, feel free to come to the UTSSA office and ask for me or come to one of the EAG meetings or if you see me around, say hi! I can’t wait to meet you all and work with you to make sure your university experience is the best it can be.

Lachlan Wykes SECRETARY

The start of the year has been successful after a slow transition.

All major UTSSA Office Bearer positions have now been elected and the UTSSA is ready to get to work for a big year ahead in 2018. All UTS Students are once again invited to attend general

STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION REPORTS meetings of the SRC. It is a great way to learn more about student representation at UTS and learn more about what the UTSSA does for students. These meetings are held monthly, and if you wish to be notified of the location of future meetings, please contact me at secretary@ utsstudentsassociation.org or follow our Facebook page.

You may also use this email to request the minutes of SRC meetings.

Mehmet Musa TREASURER

I hope you’ve all had a joyful holiday break and spent that time relaxing with family and friends. This is the first of many Treasurer’s reports that will detail the Student Representative Council’s decisions on how to best allocate funding for student services.

UTSSA receives a set percentage of the SSAF to redistribute towards student services. Funding is traditionally provided for, but not limited to Clubs and Collectives, the Bluebird Brekkie Bar, the Legal Service, Education Casework, and of course the well acclaimed Vertigo Magazine. The UTSSA has been rather effective in financing such initiatives in the past and I, as treasurer, with the help of my colleagues, aim to continue such support and expand these services within our funding capacity.

The UTSSA believes in the importance of having a wellfunctioning student magazine

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as not only an engaging publication, but a compliment to the degrees of many students studying at UTS. With the UTSSA having already finalised Vertigo’s budget, you can expect to see a magazine that is consistent and of the highest calibre!

Aside from Vertigo, the UTSSA has begun talks on how to potentially revamp our former bookshop in the Tower building, with the intention of converting it into a study space. Meanwhile, on a more administrative note, we have also approved Collective and Association expenses for O’Day to ensure a smooth transition into 2018.

There is still much more to be planned for the rest of 2018 and I’ll keep you updated in subsequent Treasurer’s reports, especially when our initiatives have been further discussed and finalised. For the time being, I would like to thank all UTS students for putting their faith in us, and I pledge to continue the amazing work of the UTSSA. For any inquiries, please feel free to contact me at treasurer@ utsstudentsassociation.org

been busy putting the handbook together, where you’ll find a number of useful articles that serve as a guide to university life.

Furthermore, student representatives, including myself, have been involved in a working group that consults with management regarding their response to campus-based sexual violence. It is vital that student voices are heard, so please contact me if you have any thoughts on how UTS could better support survivors.

I am so excited to represent the UTS student body, and I encourage you all to engage with the UTSSA and learn how your SSAF is spent by attending the monthly SRC meetings and visiting our website at www. utsstudentsassociation.org.au.

Contact me at assistant secretary@utsstudentsassocia tion.org

Georgina Goddard

WOMENS’ OFFICERS

ASSISTANT SECRETARY As your 2018 Assistant Secretary, I hope to contribute to a more progressive UTSSA, one that will consistently fight for what is in the best interest of the student body.

In the past couple of months, we at the UTSSA have

Bernice Datu and Lana Miletich

What is the Women’s Collective?

As a proud department of the UTSSA, the UTS Women’s Collective is a group of womenidentifying and non-binary students that come together to create a safer and more equal learning environment on campus.

Our goal is to celebrate the diversity of women, to showcase their talents, creativity

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STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION REPORTS

and opinions. We want to raise awareness on gender-specific concerns, to start conversations that will help lead actions for a better community. We discuss issues and collaborate to develop solutions that address gender discrimination.

We are inclusive — politically, culturally and religiously. Our purpose is to provide a safe space for women and a non-judgemental environment for all our members to be able to socialise and learn from one another. We are an ever-growing community that encourages all our members to prosper; we are a collective built upon companionship, solidarity, creativity, and support.

In 2017, the collective flourished with events such as FemFest (a year-round campaign to showcase the diversity of femme-identifying creativity and opinion), the launch of our magazine I’m Not Sorry, and our online campaign Feminists of UTS, to name a few. We have high hopes to continue this streak in 2018.

We have weekly meetings in the Women’s Collective Room (Building 5D, Level 1, Room 26) and host various events all year round. Participation can include attending meetings, joining our events or simply interacting with the community either online or in person. Membership is entirely free!

I, the Women’s Collective Convenor, along with Lana Miletich, the UTS Women’s Officer, will be working in partnership this year. We hope to engage with more students and members of the UTS

community and to have an even greater presence on campus.

Feel free to contact us about more information regarding the collective, on how to join, or if students need guidance on certain matters.

Bernice Datu, Women’s Collective Convenor, utswomenscollective@ gmail.com Lana Miletich, Women’s Officer womens@utsstudents association.org

Ruturaj Khenat

OVERSEAS OFFICER It has been quite an interesting start to the Overseas Collective and a lot has been discussed in the couple of meetings that we have had.

In the first formal meeting that was held, the agenda was to introduce yourself to the group, get together and understand where we all come from. This was important, and the team bonded like glue from day 1. Apart from this, we also discussed the roles that were assigned to each individual and what they would bring to the table. So, we all deliberated what we were going to do and how we were going to make it exciting. This concluded with a good gelato session and the tour of the overseas office.

The second meeting was centred on setting an action plan. The most important thing that we discussed here was about O’Day, what we were going to do and how we were going to

make sure lots of people signed up. This was a brainstorming session and we were able to set out a few good ideas that could enable this day’s success. The toughest decision was to decide about which commodities were to be given to students when they signed up, as a thanking gesture. We came up with a lot of ideas and narrowed it down to three. Another important aspect of this meeting was about the banner that we are going to put out for the collective. The design was the central topic of discussion: we tried to simplify and change it so the whole team could accept it. Another good bonding session for the team with obvious fun and jokes; the whole team could enjoy the environment whilst working on their peak.

SUBMISSIONS

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Submit to Vertigo

Vertigo is looking for pitches and submissions of think pieces, essays, photographs, reviews, poetry and everything in between in the following sections: Arts & Lifestyle Business, Science & Innovation Creative Writing

Politics & Law Socio-Cultural Showcase B-Side

Pitches

Visual Art

Do you have a great idea but need guidance?

Send us your pitch with the following:

We’re seeking visual contributors to produce accompanying artworks for written content, as well as standalone work for Showcase.

• Title of your work • What you want to write about (content/

section) • How you’d like to write it (tone, style, theme) • How long your piece will be • If you’d like to include any examples of your previous work, please attach them to your email.

When pitching for visual work, please include: • Whether you wish to produce work to accompany written pieces or spotlight your work on its own • Proposed medium and styles of work • Previous work — feel free to link to your website, Instagram or portfolio

How to contact us

Cold Submissions

Send your pitches and submissions, to submissions@utsvertigo.com.au and one of our editors will get back to you as soon as possible. Get in touch at facebook.com/utsvertigo if you have any questions, or just to say hi!

If you have a completed piece you’d like to submit, please send your work through to submissions@utsvertigo.com.au with a brief summary and the section you’d like it to be featured in.

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HELPLINES

Support

If you have been affected by any of the topics explored in this volume, the following organisations are available to you for counselling and support: For sexual assault and domestic violence counselling 1800-737-732 (1800 RESPECT) For suicide, self-harm and depression 1300 22 4636 (BeyondBlue) 13 11 14 (Lifeline) For UTS-specific counselling services 9514 1177 (UTS Counselling) 1800 531 626 (UTS Sexual Assault Support Line)

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